Blog Tour! The Handyman's Guide to Profit (+$50 Amazon Giftcard Giveaway!)

 

Tour Schedule

~Guest Post!~

The View From My Workstation 

Photo One shows the view of my workstation from my chair. Directly ahead is my 23 inch monitor that is invaluable when doing layout, formatting, and creating covers. To the left is a granite light I received as a gift long ago and just feels good and soothing. At the far right is my 17 inch laptop that I move to the deck or living room to work. Behind that are several external hard drives I use because I am definitely somewhat of a backup freak.

Photo Two is the view of the window in my office that is directly behind me and is just open to the trees and my neighborhood.

At present I share this office with my wife Barbara who is also a writer. She has her own desk in the opposite corner. I am presently working on building an office outside in what was formerly a storage area. My wife has dubbed this my man cave.

~ Try an Excerpt~

Advertise Carefully To Avoid Wasting Money

It is easy to over spend on advertising and get little if any benefit. Try to pinpoint your best prospects and how best to reach them. A good place to start is with local weekly newspapers. The ads cost much less than the daily papers and they are kept around for a whole week instead of just a day.

Keep the ads in the paper for a few weeks before deciding if there are any results. A one-time ad will seldom generate results. The same ad over several weeks may start to generate interest from readers. Continue to run the ad as business comes in and until your backlog grows sufficiently.

Use The Internet

Don't overlook the Internet for advertising. Get your web site noticed by always mentioning it in every ad. This way with just one long word you put prospects in touch with your photo album and information about your business. Don’t just build your web site and forget it. Add to it every time you finish a good job. Ask the owner for a testimonial and permission to use it on your web site and your album. Also ask if you can use them as a reference that prospects can call. This may help turn a prospect into a customer.

Remember that the emphasis of any advertising should be on the benefits to your prospect, not on you. Potential customers want to know what is in it for them. Don’t tell them how wonderful you are. Instead, emphasize the valuable the benefits they gain by dealing with you. Tell them how they are guaranteed a good job that will satisfy them completely for a reasonable price.

Tell them that you realize how difficult it is to live while a messy job is going on in your home so you will make clean up after yourself regularly to avoid leaving a mess behind. Make a list of all these benefits and include that as part of every sales pitch, ad, web page, etc. People want to know what is in it for them so you need to tell them clearly so they will choose you instead of your competitors.

From age twelve I spent my summers and weekends working with my dad, a general contractor, building homes and buildings. I contracted my first home at age nineteen and built my own home by age twenty. For more than 30 years I have operated one-person businesses. Twelve years of my life were spent working for local government managing federally-assisted housing programs. I started as an inspector with a three month assignment and was Director of Community Improvement with 78 employees when I resigned to do writing and consulting.

Writing, Publishing and Consulting

During the 80’s I established Rehab Notes Library, a publishing company that published a monthly newsletter (Rehab Notes) with subscribers in all 50 states, Canada and England. I also did consulting and public speaking on housing related topics for agencies and organizations in cities across the country and testified before the U.S. Congress on housing issues.

I wrote and published nine guidebooks on the subject of housing rehabilitation. After 1980 when most federal funding was pulled from housing activities, I took advantage of my construction and business experience and started a handyman and woodworking business.

Over Twenty Five Years of Handyman and Woodworking

For over twenty five years, first in Tampa, Florida and then in Austin, Texas, I did handyman and repair jobs and built hundreds of small and large cabinet and furniture projects for individuals, companies and government agencies. During these years I began writing books about my woodworking business experiences.

Positive Publishing

In 2007 I established Positive Imaging, LLC, to publish a children’s book for my wife and then begin publishing my own books on the handyman and woodworking business and also books written by others using methods I call positive publishing. To date we have published twelve paperback books, a half dozen ebooks, and presently have several books in various levels of completion.

Computer Experience

My computer experience dates back more than fifteen years and began in response to poor technical support for our computers.   I used home study to acquire A+ and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Certifications.

I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and moved to Austin, Texas in 1986, where I now live with my wife, Barbara Frances. We have three adult children, eight grand-children, and two great grandchildren.

Links: Blog / Website

GIVEAWAY

The author will be awarding a $5 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop and a Grand Prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found HERE.