Working Alone

By Myron Ferguson

I have though about writing on this topic for some time and now seems like the right time

I haven’t had a full-time employee for some time now. I think since around 2008. I could and sometimes wish I would but choose not to because working alone is pretty relaxing most of the time. Yes, sometimes I am working way too hard physically and quite often I find myself doing tasks that require very little skill. I had employees for over 30 years and frankly it is a lot of work and responsibility having an employee. And actually, the year I laid off my employees I didn’t make any less money. At the time I only had two employees so it wasn’t as if I was running a large drywall company but still I though that was a good sign.

I am still doing drywall work and have had to come up with ingenious ways to accomplish the impossible and I have purchased some new tools that help me lift and hold drywall and help me tape and finish faster and easier. And if I plan ahead I can usually borrow a helper for a day or two from some of the contractors I work for. This summer I have had a nephew help me out once in a while. He is only 13 but very capable and fun to work with. So maybe I have found some summer help for the next few years. (Someone to do the simple tasks, like bring in all the tools and cleaning up at the end of the day)

Because I do not have employees my schedule can be more relaxed. For example today I am writing this blog post because my drywall delivery is postponed until tomorrow. No big deal because I always have other things to do and I am not responsible for keeping an employee busy.

I subscribe to a number of construction magazines and I do read through them all. What I have noticed is that they all talk about growing your business, training and keeping employees, and landing more jobs. Sure, I am interested in having better customers and increasing my income, but I want to do this and still work mostly alone. And Yes, I often take on jobs that are too big and time consuming and as a result work way harder that I need to but I am making that mistake less often.

Most of my customers are people who are not looking for a cheap price, they are looking for quality work done in a timely manor by someone they are comfortable working with. The key word here is cheap because I think most homeowners and contractors want quality work done on time but often haven’t planned on paying for it. There are plenty of customers out there willing to pay properly. It is just a matter of creating that reputation as being the person they are looking for.

But still I would say that a lot of the articles I am reading are very relevant to companies like mind. We are all looking for the customers who want our services. Even though I am not looking to expand or hire help I am still looking to build my business.