I started 6 months ago. I'm in a strong market where there is a lot of work of all types and its going better than expected. I would recommend getting 4-6 months ahead on your house payment and have 4-6 months of living expenses saved up. It's nice to not have to worry about those monthly expenses when you start out. Start buying tools and supplies before you go into business. I spent about 15,000 on used equipment and its working fine. I didn't buy it all at once either, most of it was bought before I went into business. Put time into setting up a google business profile, it took about 2 weeks for mine to get traction.
Thank you, Bruce.
One last thing I want to mention that we did early on. Taxes are imminent. I've spoken with a lot of people who started a small business and then got caught unawares at tax time. Determine at the outset to set back a portion of each payment received. If you are disciplined, you can keep it in your main checking account, but it may be even better to put it in a separate account. We pay our taxes at the end of the year. This incurs a penalty, but we prefer the penalty instead paying quarterly. YMMV. I won't share our percentage, but let's say it's 20 percent, which it isn't, but let's take that as an example. Every payment we receive, we immediately take that 20% and put it into an interest-bearing account. At the end of the year, the accountant calculates our taxes and we pay our taxes immediately from this account. We intentionally put more back than what we need, so whatever is left over at the end of the year after the taxes have been paid is our "return", but since it's already in our account, we don't have to wait for the government to return it. We can then allocate this extra money as we see fit. Over time you'll be able to refine that percentage some. For this example, let's say we look back over the years and realize that 15% is enough. We could refine our withholding to 15%, but it's not really a burden to have saved an extra 5% and not have the stress of needing to come up with 16% instead of 15% because we estimated a little too tight.
We also tithe as a matter of personal belief, so along with the tax withholding we also take out 10% of our gross for that. I only add this because I believe our business success has been directly influenced by God.
I talked to a tax guy briefly when I set up my business and he told me to set aside 35%. I got the impression that was a safe amount and that the actual taxes paid wouldn't be that much. Either way yeah don't be a wesley snipes and go to prison for 10 years like an idiot. 😏
What do you solo operators and small business owners do for health insurance?
Treat health insurance like any other cost of doing business. Pay for private insurance and charge your customers accordingly.
Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York
Stay healthy until Medicare. If anything goes wrong, deal with it the best you can.
For anyone that would consider forgoing health insurance while starting a small business, I would really hesitate to do that. My ten days in the hospital last spring with two surgeries for viral pneumonia, the insurance paid out in excess of $180k and the alternative would have been me dead. It's a hell of a gamble. I also wasn't able to work for a good two months. I'm thankful I had insurance and savings and that I made a complete recovery. Life is unpredictable.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
@bruce-small Man I was thinking I was to old to start a business in surveying from scratch. I do however in the back of my head think I would like to keep doing some after I retire again. Good to know.
For anyone that would consider forgoing health insurance while starting a small business, I would really hesitate to do that. My ten days in the hospital last spring with two surgeries for viral pneumonia, the insurance paid out in excess of $180k and the alternative would have been me dead. It's a hell of a gamble. I also wasn't able to work for a good two months. I'm thankful I had insurance and savings and that I made a complete recovery. Life is unpredictable.
Health insurance is a tough one for sure. As long as the wife doesn’t lose her gig I am good. That’s why I could walk away from my govt job several years ago now and such. If she didn’t have the same good health insurance I would have still stayed on for sure. With kids and farming I am always getting stitches or breaking something.
- I have only used my robotic total station once since starting about 8 months ago. My base/rover pair has L1/L2/L5 bands and gets a fix in most places. I have recorded a rinex file on some iffy corners and post-processed with the base file and RTK was within .05 or better. Tilt compensation really speeds up topo work. If I could do it over again I would not have bought a total station and plan on renting it if needed.
- Marketing. I sent out a lot of emails when I first started and the response rate was low. Later on, I compiled a list of potential customers and spent days visiting them all in person. In person marketing has been much more effective.
- What kind of clients do you want? I started off taking on any and all work that came my way but am slowly weeding it out to only civil engineers and real estate attorneys. I know some guys make great money with the general public but to me its not worth all the phone calls and haggling. Too many people call wanting just one property line staked or petty boundary disputes I want no part of.
-I have no input on health insurance. I'm lucky enough to be on my wifes insurance.
For health insurance, marketplace or through your significant other. Blue cross has a short term ppo that lasts 3 months, while you shop around.
I set aside 35% of every payment into a business savings for taxes as well.
@olemanriver I'm only 84 now and still going. The money is really nice and I'm putting two wonderful grandkids through college, debt free. Cassia just turned 23 and has a BA in Criminal Justice, a MA in Criminal Justice, and an MA in Forensic Science. And her third book is out shortly. A murder mystery. Ha, who saw that coming.
Respect to the legends out there. Back when I was a 25-year-old greenhorn tech in our Geodetic Survey and Cartography Division (public sector), we had two old-school gents—62 and 80—working with us. Both had racked up fieldwork in over two dozen countries. Us rookie techs pestered ’em like pesky gnats, but here’s the kicker: they always had time to drop knowledge. Seriously, I’ve yet to meet wiser or more upstanding folks in this field, even at their age. Total pros
@bruce-small Now that is nice. It should not be to long I would not imagine for me to have a grandchild. I know since my son was married last year they have been saving up for a down payment on their first home as they are rent now still. They have been looking and hopefully they take their time and find a good deal.
If I could do it over again I would not have bought a total station and plan on renting it if needed.
I like that idea actually. Assuming you don't need or want to do any construction staking it seems like the far more efficient route.
@james-vianna I don't think that's true anymore. Newly licensed surveyors, many of whom, came up the ranks of OJT for 8 years or so, are now slowing down or retiring.
Now, with the requirement of 4 years targeted education, there is an ever growing shortage of surveyors. The very few surveyors who go into private practice, will ... not ... be ... eating beans, like many of us did ...
We were kinda in the golden age of surveyors having various route to licensure ... but often, there was a glut of surveyors.
We are seeing the real "GOLDEN AGE", of the practice ... I left in 2013, and I have looked back from time to time, but I felt I needed something else in life, I do wonder what if. Surveyors have become much more appreciated, and more difficult to locate and engage. Let the good times roll!
I often have nostalgic yearnings, even though my body feels beaten down. But a happen-chance introduction to camera drones and a new electronic(computer), methodology of photogrammetry, has awakened me, and I think I'm experiencing another "golden age", of opportunity ... sort of in the sidelines.
Who, better than a surveyor(?), knows about surveying, what surveyors want, and better yet, know what constitutes surveying, and what does not.
It's almost like surveying, but it's not.
BTW ... I like Beans.