Technical Skills College · PDF ebook
The Trades Business Startup Handbook
For the tradesperson who is good at the work: the part of running a trade business nobody taught you.
one-time · 43-page PDF · instant download
The craft is the part you already have. The business is the part nobody taught you, and it is learnable: working out what an hour of your time has to earn, writing a scope that stops an argument before it starts, getting a deposit, knowing each Friday what is owed to you and by you, and deciding whether to stay one person or hire.
Read this if
- You are good on the tools and thinking about going out on your own.
- You are not sure how to set a rate that leaves you better off than wages did.
- You have unpaid invoices and want to understand cash flow.
- You want a list of the legal, licensing and insurance questions to take to the right professionals.
What’s inside
43 pages: an introduction, eight chapters and three appendices.
Chapter 1. The honest arithmetic of going out on your own
Why your old hourly wage plus a bit is a pay cut.
Chapter 2. The legal and licensing scaffolding
The categories you have to deal with, as a list to take to your licensing board, an attorney, an accountant and a broker.
Chapter 3. Pricing the work
Time and materials against flat rate.
Chapter 4. Estimating and quoting
Reading the job before you price it.
Chapter 5. Cash flow, and why profitable shops still fail
The gap between profit on paper and cash in the account.
Chapter 6. Getting the first customers
Starting with the people who have already seen your work.
Chapter 7. Contracts, change orders and difficult customers
What a short written agreement has to contain.
Chapter 8. The first hire, and what it changes
When to hire, and what changes when you do.
The appendices
The appendices are working tools you fill in, not more reading.
Appendix A: Build your own rate
Blank lines for your own overhead and billable hours.
Appendix B: Startup checklist
Categories with space for status and renewal dates.
Appendix C: Quote and scope template
Nine sections, each there because of an argument it prevents.
FAQ
What exactly do I get?
A 43-page PDF of The Trades Business Startup Handbook. After payment, the Stripe confirmation page shows a direct download link to the PDF. Save that link or the file.
How do I pay?
Checkout is handled by Stripe. You pay once; there is no subscription.
Is this legal, tax or insurance advice?
No. It is not legal, tax, insurance or accounting advice, and it is not a substitute for a licensed professional. Entity choice, licensing, bonding, insurance, worker classification and tax treatment depend on where you work. The book tells you to settle each with your state licensing board, an attorney, an accountant and an insurance broker.
Does it tell me what to charge?
No. There is not a single dollar figure in the book: no wage rates, shop rates, premiums, license fees or tax percentages. Appendix A helps you build your own rate from your own records.
Does it certify or license me?
No. Nothing here certifies, licenses or qualifies you for anything.
Get The Trades Business Startup Handbook
43-page PDF · one-time · download link shown right after payment.
Please read first — from the book
This book is not legal, tax, insurance or accounting advice, and it is not a substitute for a licensed professional. Entity choice, licensing, bonding, insurance, worker classification and tax treatment are governed by the rules of the place you work in, and those rules differ by state, county and city. Settle every one of them with your state licensing board, an attorney, an accountant and an insurance broker.
You will not find a single dollar figure in this book. No wage rates, no shop rates, no premiums, no license fees, no tax percentages. That is deliberate. A number printed here would be wrong for almost every reader and stale for the rest. You get the method instead, and a clear instruction about which office, broker or record to pull your own figures from.
Nothing here certifies, licenses or qualifies you for anything.