Needing some advice.

Ive been doing quite a bit of junk removal and house clean outs lately. There is this couple, no business EIN, no insurance, nothing, but they have been taking more and more of my work because they are doing clean outs and even junk removal(stuff with no resale value at all! I mean bags of peoples garbage type junk!) for FREE! Any advice on how to compete with these ding-dongs? I went to school with the guy and he's been on welfare ever since he graduated. Any words of wisdom or any ideas on how they can do this for free?




Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood.
George S. Patton

CD pretty much said it. It is an old Idea, another" get rich" sham from the internet. "clean out attics and garages and make !00K a year" type stuff. " I'm working on a school project I need your old computers" "I repair computers for poor kids" ect There are some here have used that tac, you just have to let it play out. It will.

after they damage a few places and people see they are fly by night , which these types fit to the max


fly by night
1

: one that seeks to evade responsibilities and especially creditors by flight


2

: one without established reputation or standing; especially : a shaky business enterprise

IMO there are two types of failure; poor planning or poor execution. If you focus on yourself you should be ok. If you don't plan or don't execute you will fail.

These types of people that are "stealing" your jobs are everywhere, especially in an easy entry type business. They will fizzle out and unfortunately when they do another one will take their place. If you want to grow; don't worry about the types of jobs people like them can get. You typically will want better or bigger jobs than they could ever handle. You will never " out cheap them" don't ever get into a price battle with someone like that because price based modos typically will fail in the service industry unless you have a ton of money backing you.

Would you rather do 1 $500 job or 5 $100 jobs?

Thanks for the insight fellas. I've already planned some advertising in a bigger city targeting the upper middle class and higher. I've also started a referral program that pays. I have no doubt I'll persevere, they are just so annoying lol! Hopefully, if all go as planned, I'll be taking the junk removal/cleanout business to the next step. It's funny, because that was never intended to be my main focus, but because of a lot of wise folks on this very site I learned to diversify my model and I've learned what works best! My model has completely changed and what was my main focus has now become my last focus! Lol. Thank you all for being such an inspiration and freely giving advice like you do. I will definitely be "referring" people that don't want to pay anything to these clowns.

I like the suggestions you've gotten so far. One direction you have mentioned is looking for more upscale clients. I am going to suggest you start prospecting for business clients.

One idea that has stuck with me for nearly 50 years now is the more you charge the greater the value is perceived by the customer. The opposite is also true the cheaper the price the customer knows what they are getting. Mike

MikeD makes a great point. I will try to explain further, from my perspective. A lot of times price will be king but inly for certain clientele. Be efficent and professional: those who find this more important than cost will call you...repeatedly. Hint hint...commercial accounts.

With that being said; if you want to go that route you must play the part. Being attentive and thorough will allow you to charge what you are worth.

Thanks Russell, I was hoping you would respond to my original question. I'll be getting some shirts end of month and getting my box truck wrapped. There's nothing like what I'm building in my town nor in the surrounding cities. I'll just ignore these little jobs these ding dongs get and focus on the bigger jobs and focus on maintaining professionalism. Thanks everyone!