Because business isn’t just about what you know, it’s about who you know.
Chesky Ziegler of Flix Handyman
Chesky Ziegler has his wife to thank for his successful business. It was 2020 and Chesky was working with a janitorial supplies company. Then the pandemic hit, and their biggest customer base, which was schools were closed due to the pandemic. Chesky was out of work. His wife suggested he put his talents for fixing things to good use as a handyman. More out of a desire to keep busy than launch a business, he downloaded an App and it took off from there. “Turns out that sitting at home and staring at your four walls during a pandemic is good for something and someone! People noticed that there was a LOT of stuff that needed to be fixed.” And they called Chesky to do the fixing. It all snowballed from there. “ The Whatsapps and calls just didn’t stop, “he reminisces. “Before too long I was working twelve hours a day and making good money.” One thing led to another and he began to hire workers. As things grew he realized he needed advice. “I began to see that there was so much more to this running a business thing.”
That’s when he decided it was time to get guidance from more experienced business owners. He changed course and also worked on rebranding. And he narrowly avoided making some serious and costly mistakes. “I wanted to do the branding and marketing on a shoestring budget. I thought I could do it all on Fiverr and it would be fine.” Until a friend of his with a large, successful business gave it to him. “He told me I was being shortsighted! To be successful you need to be willing to invest in your business, and do it right! So I dropped $15,000 on my rebrand.”
Chesky did much more than rebrand his own business, he’s rebranded an industry. Handyman services are not among the prestigious of industries but Chesky has changed all that by leveling up the industry. “We offer a prestigious, white-glove service.” Response times are lightning fast, with jobs getting done within 24-36 hours of the original contact.
Everything in his business is systemized and professional, including payment. Many service people suffer a lot at the hands of customers who say they will pay and never do. But Chesky’s professional processes keep these issues to a minimum. “Every client has to give a working credit card on file before we come to do the job. 99.9% we have no issues with payment.”
Systemization is the key to success, in his view. Each employee gets trained to the Flix Handyman standards. Every employee manages their jobs and tools. “We have great tracking software. So we know exactly what’s going on with every single job.” And that’s a white glove service well worth paying for!
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