Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

[Andy jones]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

DrDill wrote:Really? you work for yourself, so nothing is more important than profit margin, its profit margin that is your wages that pays your bills, daftest thing I have ever heard.
Not interested in building up your business? wow!
I don’t think you need to be a genius to work out why you are struggling

With due respect if you’re making a good living then great, however I’m someone that wants to repair and repair only, yes I’m not interested in the slightest in employing people and so on and that works fine for me.
I also do a lot of pat testing to boost my income a bit, to get back to the original post yes it is a little quieter at the moment but then I only have myself to worry about and to have been self employed for 20 years I must be doing something right

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[DrDill]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

Martin, you do not know my business and are making assumptions my friend!
I have been in this trade 32 years now, from working out the back of my shed doing repairs on my own to where I am now, and today my business is just me and one engineer and my wife who works part time, I am not preaching but if you don’t grasp the basics needed for making profit then you are not going to get far.
I was a sole trader and then realised that you can not rely on others so have to expand on what you do, I moved away from the currys work before the plug was pulled, same with nesn and isdal, luck or judgement, who knows.
What I am saying is its no good burying your head in the sand and then moaning on a forum.

[Gazman1000]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

DrDill wrote:
What I am saying is its no good burying your head in the sand and then moaning on a forum.

I’m not burying my head in the sand, you might be making a living right now but in my view that may not be for much longer, if you can’t see the writing on the wall that is your problem.
A lot depends on where you are in this game location is everything. I moved out of London for a better life with my family, this area is nowhere near as busy and it is getting worse, I have no desire to own a shop or get into retail so for me the game is nearly up. I was not moaning I was just stating a point of view based on 27 years in this trade and another 13 years in the brown good trade. Things in this trade will never improve, only get worse over time.

[DrDill]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

Again your talking about retailing and even though you have not done it or any intention of doing it you cast an opinion based on what?
And you are moaning about the trade, read your last line. Others have a very different opinion, and location isn’t everything, I am in Cornwall and not heavily populated, and I compete very well against the internet, but then again I am very selective about what I display and sell, so sorry your opinion dosnt really stack up with the facts.

[philfish]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

I still think, well I hope there is a lot of life left yet in the trade! White goods ain’t the same as the brown goods there are many many differences. Might be a similar trade but it ain’t the same otherwise this trade would of collapsed at the same time the brown goods did.
As I say when you got the big boys in the game there as got to be some money in it especially when they are claiming to do millions of repairs at what is a very high premium to the customer, so that means that there is work there and people are paying! it’s just flash sales people, middlemen and fancy websites that are creaming all the best stuff.

Phil

[Gazman1000]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

DrDill wrote:Again your talking about retailing and even though you have not done it or any intention of doing it you cast an opinion based on what?
And you are moaning about the trade, read your last line. Others have a very different opinion, and location isn’t everything, I am in Cornwall and not heavily populated, and I compete very well against the internet, but then again I am very selective about what I display and sell, so sorry your opinion dosnt really stack up with the facts.

I know Cornwall very well, the poorest county in the country and a lot of people who only work the tourist season, so money is tight so repairs are perhaps more freely available. Before you say I do not know the area I am Cornish born and bread and have properties in the county. I bet a lot of your customers do not have the internet, Cornwall has not long got the hang of the telephone let alone computers. 😆

Location is half the battle if people do not want repairs in my area they will not be my customers, I do not do retail so they go to someone who does. Yes I could do battle and fight to win them over, open a shop and start selling but I do not want to, it is as simple as that. I am glad you are busy, long may it continue.

[Gazman1000]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

philfish wrote:White goods ain’t the same as the brown goods there are many many differences. Might be a similar trade but it ain’t the same otherwise this trade would of collapsed at the same time the brown goods did.
Phil

I know it is not the same and brown goods died as the TVs got better and almost impossible to repair in a backstreet workshop due to surface mounted components and a lack of service information, flat screens were the last nail in the coffin for most repairs shops. This trade has it’s own problems, that have arrived as technology has taken over, it will not be long before you need special tools to reset electronics to get out of a fault state, some are already going that way. It may yet go away from the smaller outfits due to the way they are made in the future and the cost of tooling. I do not intend to stick around like many did in TV. Let hope it does not happen for a long while.

[Andy jones]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

Don’t have internet and not long had telephones lol. Made me chuckle being a born n bred Devonian

[DrDill]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

There you go again Gazman, talking rubbish, Cornwall is not the poorest county and to make a statement because of that is not actually true at all, the real problem is the influx of cheep machines sold by the likes of argos, same as everywhere else in the country.Repairs down here are on the decline because of it.
You may have been born in Cornwall but it doesn’t mean you know the area as clearly you don’t, Cornwall was one of the first counties to get super fast internet, and over 50{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of my customers in Cornwall find me through the internet, it is a very important advertising form for me and without it I would probably struggle. L spend less than half a percent of my turnover on paper advertising.
Appliances Online is a massive competitor to us and any independent retailer, that is why I only sell the makes that I do and 90{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} built in.
I don’t think the location has much to do with it, you market and sell what your area needs, and look to other areas.

[Gazman1000]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

DrDill wrote:There you go again Gazman, talking rubbish, Cornwall is not the poorest county and to make a statement because of that is not actually true at all.

Are you sure about that.
http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/Cornwall-UK-s-poorest-area/story-20444842-detail/story.html

http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/Cornwall/statistics.htm

[DrDill]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

again rubbish, that dosnt tell the true story, its all about output and in reality its less than half percent, look at that against the population and different story, it dosnt measure all the things. Generally used as propaganda by polaticians or cornwall council to deflect from their poor performance and financial waste.

[Gazman1000]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

I will not be drawn into to a battle of wits with an unarmed man.

[DrDill]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

Well that just about sums you up, have a pop and then retreat,

Happy retirement

[Martin]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

Gazman has got it spot on Doc. His assessment of the sole traders position today echos throughout the UK. So to his take in Cornwall especially so when you spend your days swanning around its narrow byways eeking what you can from service calls spread far and wide across the county. It’s tough down there I have no doubt.

[DrDill]

Re: Is it just me or is anyone else quiet?

Martin, he has not got it spot on at all, it shows how out of touch you both are, if he was spot on explain why my fellow repairers, (who do not retail) in cornwall are busy and making a very good living?? Its because they have moved with the times, don’t sell themselves short and do a very good job.
Please don’t talk about things you know nothing about martin, you don’t live here, you don’t work here and you don’t retail, so basically your thoughts are just that, based on nothing more than your dreams.

[Author]

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