I do alright with marketing and visibility, but service agreements have been a tough sell for me. I essentially give them away to sell a job. Lets face it, it's good for business to have a look around and point out the hazards. Some people want safe homes. More work = more money. As for coaching, I've had some very good advice over the years. I've paid for about half of it. Some of it was worthless.
A basic obstacle to good business is an overabundance of ECs. If the area can only really support 100 ECs and there are 150, some are going to be hungry. Some hungry ones bid very low before they quit, making it a little harder for the rest. In this area the unions have had massive layoffs from the dying housing market. All those union ECs are hungry too. They might have made $45/hour when they worked, so they'll work for $45/hour...with no license, and no liability insurance.
Marketing, a good client base, and experience are what has saved me from going hungry.
Dave
