I have been working as a Handyman for the last two and a half years and have found that December, January & Febuary I have little or no work?
I leaflet drop on a regular basis but feel that it would be a waste of time right now as xmas is round the corner and my leaflet would be used to light the fire with.
I was wondering if any of you fellow Members have any ideas on or ways that you drum up business at this time?
Its nice to have a break but I would rather work :)

TIA

I've been a 'handyman' for almost thirty years now and work is always thin on the ground in the months you mentioned. You'll find as the years go by you'll build up a customer base (regulars) and these will give you little bits and pieces to tide you over the lean months. That is of course you do a good job so that people pass your name on to friends and relatives. You'll never make a fortune but you'll make a living as I have done, but like I say, it'll take a few years, but you have to take the rough with the smooth.

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By eck! ©

PS, my avatar is me when I started up!..

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By eck! ©

I have a customer base of around a dozen who repeatedly give me work, and so far I have had nothing but praise for my work.
I do however squirrel away a fund to see me through the winter, but would rather work as Im not the kind of person who likes to sit and do nothing.
I dont wish to do part time work as this is a pain with regards tax ect so was hoping for some ideas

lol

I also don't like sitting on my *rse but it's part and parcel of the job, so I can't give you any more ideas I'm afraid.................I'm 65 now and officially retired, but I still get calls from my regulars to do 'bits and pieces' which I can do at my leisure...........Anyway, good luck in the future..

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By eck! ©

Thanks

Enjoy your retirement

BiOK,

It might help here if you revealed your location and specialities. Then one of the members who is a bit short-handed could contact you.

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I started out with nothing, I still have most of it.

Directmail scam information site: http://astrocat.proboards.com/index.cgi?

Thanks for your reply

I am in the macclesfield area cheshire, I dont have a speciality but can turn my hand to lots.

@ gadget. i was through your way fitting a front door in tynemouth a couplea weekends back. right on the sea front. nice house. gotta go back at some point as the coustomer wants me to now remove the door so his painter can paint the bottom of it. wish he had told me before..... on the plus side i can see how the newly refurbed tunnel does for the traffic problems...

Working on my patch eh?....look out for someone slashing your tyres. .......I'm off to Hull for the new year, so it'll be a first for me through the new tunnel!

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By eck! ©

Hard financial time for everyone, people put off getting work done round these months.

Particularly bad for me, works thin on the ground as it is, I'm further in my overdraft than I should ever be allowed to be.

weve done a fair bit up on the dark side this past year or 2. though mainly up in ashington and cramlington. a bit in walsend. north shields and that little job i mentioned in tynemouth.

im sure polar bears can come down to ashington. its permanently freezing. like it has its own micro climate

THese months are the hungry gap alright. As said above your past customers are where it's at , I was stuck without work for next week, sent a few texts , a few calls , just seeing how things were going etc and now we're booked for 4 full days at least, all day long jobs but it's work.

Booked right through. Got 25/6/7 Dec off and then a job before new year and then back at full speed from 2nd Jan. Booking work for end Jan beginning Feb at the moment.

I am extremely lucky in that it has been years since the festive times have been slack for me and the beginning of the year. That is probably the clue, it doesn't matter how much you advertise, beg regulars for work ( I wouldn't) it is all down to luck, mainly.