Thanks for that Jeff- Shiner, i think it is really good advice. Yellow pages phoned me up, the man was really pushy and wanted a meeting. Perhaps I should just phone up and arrange similar to what you suggest now that I know it's not pie in the sky.
This is a very interesting thread, and I shall tell you why.
When i first came on the forum all I really wanted to know was how much people were earning per day. It was quite hard to get a balanced view of this because everytime someone ventured a price someone else had to trump it. In the end I decided £200 pd was the target, but in reality because of my time constraints I consider anything over £130pd good.
The next thing I wanted to know was how many customers should I have and what might be a reasonable capacity for a one man band.This thread comes as close to answering this in a sensible manner as anything I have seen.
There is a short story(you have probably seen the film verion) by Somerset Maughan- The verger of St Mary's-. This guy gets the sack when a posh new vicar takes over and finds out the verger can't read or write. He opens a tobaconists in his front room because he's unemployable in a depression and at his wits end. Things go well and he ends up with a chain of twenty tobacconists all across London. The denoument comes when the bank manager asks him to sign some important papers and learns that he still can't read or write.
"Good Lord. you own an empire of pipe and tobbacco shops stretching the length and breadth of London!! What on earth would you be if you could read and write?!!"
"Oh, that's easy, the verger of st Mary's"
So where might you be if you had a signed van, or had gone wfp five years ago?
Just kidding.
Before I went wfp, I called it a brush on a stick and wondered how on earth this method would not only work but do a good Job, I first discovered how good a job it did when I lost my very first customer to a wfp w/c who covers the same area as me, me and this guy are now very good friends.
I came on to this forum and asked loads of questions and as usual all the guy's responded with there own replies, now this became mind blowing and confusing to someone who knew nothing about wfp (this is why I wrote the guide) you have to take all the replies you get, then you have to sit down and look over them all, then you have to make your own decision at the best route that is best for you and your business, it took me months to make the desicion that I thought was best for myself and my business.
I first thought the trolley would be the best way to go and built 2 of my own, Mk1 and then Mk2 then I decided I didn't want the trolley and binned this idea, then I settled on my trailer system and I haven't looked back since.
I get loads of guy's reply to a topic I may post, saying ''when you get a sign written van'' I will get a van, but only when I and my company are ready too, then I'll spend weeks looking for the right sort of van before I make the commitment.
My advice to anyone who wants to change or add wfp to there own business is, do it as soon as possible, but not before taking the time to sit down and study your own business, look at your own customer base, then ask questions on the forums, get your answers, Talk to the suppliers and then make your decision on what you want to buy.
As for going wfp 5 years ago? I wish I did it 10 years ago.
who knows I may have had a fleet of them by now.
