For established plumbers and HVAC techs
Mentor a new solo.
What it is, in one page. I'm helping one recently certified tradesperson start his own business this fall, here on the island. He gets the business side set up for him: a site, a verified directory listing, quoting, invoicing and getting paid. What he doesn't have is someone who has actually done it. That's the part I'm asking you for.
What's in it for you
Who gets your customers when you stop?
You built a book of people who call you by name. When you slow down, that book goes somewhere: to a franchise, to whoever answers the phone first, or to someone you chose and shaped yourself. Four conversations is how you get a say.
Now: the jobs you turn away pay you
About 10% of every referred job that closes and gets paid. Work you were saying no to anyway.Next year: someone who works your way
A solo who quotes like you, shows up like you and treats your customers the way you would, because you told him how.When you're ready: a successor you picked
Someone who can take the book, the truck or the name, on your terms and your timeline. You know him. Your customers already do.
The commitment
Four conversations across his first 90 days.
Roughly an hour each, at a time and place you pick. If you can only do two, do the first and the third.
- 01
Before his first job
What you wish someone had told you the week before you started. - 02
After his first quote
Is the number right. What he missed. What he should have asked. - 03
After his first paid job
How it went. What to do differently on the second one. - 04
At day 90
Whether he has a business or a job. What the next year looks like.
The overflow
Send him the jobs you don't want. Or don't.
when a job comes in that you don't want, you can send it to him, or not. On a referred job that closes and gets paid, he pays you a referral fee of about ten percent of that job. That comes from him, on his invoice, after the customer has paid.
What it is not
The fine print, all of it.
no on-call duty, no site visits, no vouching for his work, no paperwork beyond a one-page referral note you both sign, nothing out of your pocket. If it isn't working, one text to me and we stop.
Know someone?
If you know someone thinking about going out on their own, introduce us.
A journeyperson in your shop, a former apprentice, someone at the supply counter. A text or an email with the two of us on it is enough. I take it from there, and you have a say in whether they are the one.
What happens next
Say the word. I'll text you when I have someone.
I'm choosing the person now, so you have a say in who it is. Could be a few weeks. If you're open to it, a text or an email with in or maybe is all it takes, and we set the first conversation when I have him.
And if you know someone who is thinking about going out on their own, an introduction would mean a lot. A text or an email with the two of us on it is enough.