What made you make the jump, and are you glad you did?

gabgab

I made the jump more out of necessity than anything but now that I have I am delighted, sure I will be living on the breadline and things I once would of not thought twice about buying are now seen as luxuries I still am much happier.

I previously worked in a sales role, and whilst I did very well financially I often wondered could I do it that little bit better and always felt a little too comfortable in the position. Whilst the new venture has been stressful and will continue to be I do feel that its alot more rewarding to be doing something like this and get a great sense of satisfaction in rolling down the shutter and locking up.

What made you make the jump to work for yourself and do you still get a buzz from it?

Caoimhín

I got sick of working for idiots. The last guy was the final straw, I brought the company through an examination process, worked 18 hours a day for a year and got it back in good shape.
The following year the fecking eejit went and blew all the company's recourses and cash on ego trips and tilting at windmills.

Out on my own for about a year now and while I wont be retiring to Portugal anytime this century, i still get a buzz when I land a contract.

gabgab

Cheers Caoimhin,

Yeh that was a part of it for me too. I remember going to one guy with a few idea's, nothing mind boggling but he made me feel like an idiot for suggesting them.

All I wanted to do was send each customer that bought a car off me a hand written letter to thank them for there business. Take me 10 minutes to do right and cost him a bit of stationary and a stamp,

Caoimhín

Yeah you know it is small things like that that make a difference.

I took the time to hand write and post about 30 christmas cards to all existing and contracted clients. It is amazing what a little bit of good will (and doing the job right) can do for a small company.

I know well that most of those lads will go down the pub at Christmas and will tell anyone who will listen what a good service they got. In my business, word of mouth and recommendation bring in more work than any expensive advertisement. Having 20 happy clients is like having 20 part time sales reps on the road, thats the way I look at it.

gabgab

Its funny that you mention it, one of the things we did was give all our customers a personalised and gift wrapped present with their name on it. They all got the same but it was set up to fit them and a colour they had chosen but did not realise what was planned.

It cost us a few quid but we wanted to give something back and felt it was a decent thing to do,

DubTony

gabgab wrote: »

Cheers Caoimhin,

Yeh that was a part of it for me too. I remember going to one guy with a few idea's, nothing mind boggling but he made me feel like an idiot for suggesting them.

All I wanted to do was send each customer that bought a car off me a hand written letter to thank them for there business. Take me 10 minutes to do right and cost him a bit of stationary and a stamp,

In the car business that has to be the simplest and a very effective way to build a loyal customer base. Yet I've never received a single one from any dealer I ever bought a car from. That might explain why I've never felt the need to go back to any of them. Well done.

I'm curious. Is that guy still in business?

gabgab

He is still trading, I dont know how heavily financed he is though