Activity Feed › Discussion Forums › Business, Finance & Legal › Question for all solo operators
There is something else everyone operating a solo business must understand and come to terms with. When you are employed elsewhere you have means to be paid for a full day’s wages despite being gone for a few hours whether it be a doctor visit, running home to meet briefly with the plumber or picking up a sick child from school. That does not happen for the solo operator, ethically speaking. You simply find a way to put in those extra hours later. But, when we do too much of such skipping out we start turning down or losing business.
On the other hand, we are the ones deciding what we will and won’t do. Attending daytime sporting events for our descendants, for example, is great. Being able to cover things for family members stuck with strict employers is great…..most of the time. There are plenty of such examples. But, they come at a price. Make sure they are worth the price. For example, changing your own oil in all vehicles may give you piece of mind but you pass up $100 of billable time to save the $30 charge at Walmart each time. Hiring others to do things for you is frequently far less expensive than doing them yourself.
Another issue is the “gotta get rich syndrome” that drives you to work every hour you aren’t sleeping. 80 and 100 hour weeks may fill the bank account but you will pay elsewhere for such behavior. Divorces and major medical issues can be extremely expensive. We are the ones who must control our working hours.
Does anyone remember Dan Beardslee’s book on running a survey company? I haven’t seen my copy in years but remember it was a great source of information when I went solo… I wonder if the CD is still kicking around somewhere.
Yes, you are correct, Andy, Dan’s book is an excellent source of information to anyone starting a new survey business. I have a copy of the CD. I got it from Mark Plog’s website; I just did a quick search and it looks like they may be down sizing…
http://www.lsrp.com/geodatum.html
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!@dougie
Does anyone know where you can get a pdf or hardcopy of the book, sounds like its out of print?
Like I said, I got mine through Geodatum.com; your best bet would be to try to contact them.
I saw Dan mentioned on THIS WEBSITE you might try contacting him through the contact information there.
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Management-Handbook-Land-Surveyors/dp/0980059631
Looks like Amazon might have it…
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!Dan used to post, but he dropped off the on-line radar a decade ago. I just checked the state website and he is still registered, address listed as East Wenatchee, WA. Somebody aught to call him and ask how he is doing. And about the book.
It was distributed as a password protected pdf. I must have that CD around here somewhere.
Bergeron’s A Pocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Surveyors is also good, in a similar vein.
Googling shows that a Dan Beardsee is serving on the Douglas County, WA Planning Commission. Probably our guy. He recorded a survey in Douglas County as recently as 2017. The company he worked for is called Erlandsen. They are in Chelan, Wa.
- Posted by: @norman-oklahoma
They are in Chelan, Wa.
All in all, not a bad place to be ????
I truly admire a lot of your guys’ ambition! I remember coming out of survey college 20 years ago all full of piss and vinegar and ready to take on the survey world. It didn’t take long to figure out that I didn’t want any part of the headaches of running a survey business. I realized I’d make a better employee than a business man. These days I have it great at a large construction firm managing our layout crews, laser scanning and flying drones. I get paid way more than I ever did, the bennies are phenomenal and the culture here is unlike anything I’ve experienced. You know what makes me happiest though? I get to work my 8-9 hours, go home and pick up my 4 & 6 year old boys from after-school care. I’m coaching their baseball and soccer teams. We go fishing some evenings. We’ve been on trips to east and west coast, and from Florida to Michigan and places in between. I wouldn’t trade getting to spend all this time with them for anything. I’ve been offered six-figures lately to manage/run survey departments around here and I don’t want anything to do with it because I know what time and stress is involved in it. I enjoy having a healthy mind and body. My wife makes the six figures which also makes things easier for me to be choosy. She’s the ambitious one that will be a VP at her company someday.
You only get so much time with your kids. (I grew up seeing my dad twice a year from the age of 5) I’ve seen the stress of the business bust up marriages. No thanks. It’s just more important to me than my career at this point. Just my .02.
Only you know whether or not you have what it takes to be a leader instead of a follower. If you feel you can do it then do it. It’s definitely a risk worth taking. I did, with 2 kids and a stay at home wife. No salary the first 16 months until the business started making money. After the first 3 years I have been in the 38% tax bracket ever since. ????
It’s a love-hate relationship!
@dougie
Mark Plog! Now there’s a blast from the past. I really admired his business style. I think we spoke on the phone a few times and he was about to start a new venture.
@norman-oklahoma
I think their main office is in East Wenatchee…
and they have a third office in Brewster
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!@dougie
Dan isn’t shown among their websites staff photos. So I’m presuming that he is not there anymore.
@norman-oklahoma
Yes, I think retired from there, about a decade ago
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!@dougie
thanks for that link, did manage to contact the man himself but no luck there, out of print and no digital copies available. Only hope is to find someone whose read it and is far enough along in their business they don’t need it anymore.
Log in to reply.