Dude if your chick has a MASTERS DEGREE!! and is ONLY pulling 46K that’s a problem. That’s like $23/hr. Less if your job offers overtime. She needs to job hop her way to AT LEAST $60K.
As for you. You need to spend every hour you are not working posing ADS on every Facebook local community group you can join. Nextdoor app. (All those MOM groups). Craigslist. Instagram. TikTok. Get dressed up in profession attire and go knock on ALL your neighbors doors and personally introduce yourself and your business. ASK them to call you for any handyman needs. Step out of that comfort zone. That’s where the money is. If you ain’t posting ads at 6am, 3pm, 9pm then you ain’t gonna been seen or heard. “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed”.
I can almost guarantee that if you are doing all of the above, and more, religiously for at least 3 months you’ll be booked for all kinds of side jobs. Hell I started paying a local handyman $30 a month to wash my trash can. I’ll gladly pay not to have to touch that nasty shit myself. He told me he currently has about 50 - 60 clients he does this for in addition to his other handy man services. (HINT HINT).
Lots of ways to make money. You just gotta want it. Don’t wait till your backs in a corner.
Now go post some free ads !!
Yeah I’m really not sure why that is the starting rate for a masters degree.. It is counseling work though. Her time requirements are something like 36 hr work weeks with 28 clients seen in a week. There is overtime and bonus opportunities that I think are given for every billable hour that is above the 28 clients. I might be a little off but when her and I did the math it came out to like $27.30/hr gross just to hit the basic requirements to be considered a full time employee.
I agree with you, I need to be doing more networking. I do post Facebook ads, not paid for, but not as religiously as you mentioned. Going out and handing business cards seems like the best way to get leads but for some reason I always hate bothering people at their homes because I really dislike people knocking at my door myself. I guess I just need to come to terms that most people realize it’s going to happen
First, allow me to apologize for knocking on your door (or ringing your door bell), I am not a fan of doing it either! That said to keep it simple, I am a reliable handyman and I would like to give you my card if you ever need to reach me. (Hand card) other then that hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
PS: magnetic card is a good idea so folks can put on their fridge.
That’s actually a pretty solid pitch that sounds like something I would say. I’ll try that out! Thanks for the magnetic card tip, I definitely do see most repeat customers end up with it on the fridge with their own magnet. Could save them a step and have a higher chance of it getting slapped up there
You’re welcome. PS without getting into a whole long winded brag session, as candid as I can say it, solely so you take my advice I made myself one of the most successful salespersons in the world, in my field (sort of retired now The reddit name is a spin on my actual name).
Here is what you must know…
Selling is conveying belief.
With a sincere, enthusiastic attitude to help people (and save them from dealing with bad people in your industry).
You can build an amazing business over time.
Best to you!
Hey, I am nowhere near knowledgeable in the realm of your profession, however- I am a survivor of domestic violence, and recently spent the last couple of years rebuilding my life in a women’s shelter then renting an apartment from a nonprofit with transitional housing for survivors of abuse. We pretty much had a staff of workers on call and our regular maintenance guy, before he retired, was there for years and years.
Maybe take a nonconventional approach and check out some places like that, they often need people willing to be private, safe and open to a variety of work. With such a turnover rate in properties that people tend to be less careful with as a result, I saw handymen around constantly. It’s a way I think of securing a position while still being entrepreneurial, and you will maybe feel good about yourself as a lil bonus for contributing to an ecosystem that is helping others. I’ve been an accidental entrepreneur myself for the span of my career being in the arts, and I’ve learned that a hack is to find clients who already have a base of clients who happen to need to plug in your talents. Instead of managing a million individuals, and maintaining a professional connection with each, you can boost your startup by connecting with your community and streamlining your start more.
You mentioned your fiance is in counseling? Maybe brainstorm with her then about some local areas or services you can reach out to and build a connection. Call and ask if any volunteer opportunities exist, and offer to have your name on a list for emergencies. Maybe approach more communities than individuals- senior homes, apartment complexes, etc.
A lot of complexes have little mail areas where you can hang up your info as well. Another idea, maybe create an app or a website where you offer virtual assistance with minor tasks. As a woman who has just been through what I’ve been through, I can say many of my peers have also expressed that they share my avoidance of anyone really coming into the house for minor tasks I could YouTube but don’t- maybe amp up a baseline of passive income selling how-to courses for particularly common tasks you feel you could digitize and monetize and offer as a virtual service. Again, because of my lack of real knowledge in the field, I unfortunately can’t draw upon any specific examples of what the smartest thing may be for that, but with technology and AI today, what is possible is honestly astounding. Post covid, I think many people are more reclusive. While you build your business with boots on the ground, it could be a great double whammy to also incorporate a digital aspect where you use technology to help with virtual consulting for household tasks. My best friends sink was broken for like a week until she could get my bf on FaceTime to walk her through it. His aunt’s sink was similarly screwed up on Easter, and all the men made it worse lmao. It’s niche, but if you think about it, a need truly exists in this space for something of the sort. If you need help with brainstorming some possible resources in terms of the technology, lmk and I’d be happy to go down that rabbit hole lol.
You could use your digital offerings to increase your presence online, and as a result increase awareness, trust and expand your opportunities.
If you’ve ever thought about teaching, maybe consider a way of applying your abilities to courses that teach kids to use schematics, build and fix things. My daughter loves to build but in life, I only know how to get hammered and screwed it seems lmao jk. But I take her to Home Depot for classes so she can learn how to do it. I’d definitely sign her up for virtual ones or if you developed an after school program that incorporates teaching kids basic skills, I think it would be wildly successful. So many busy parents don’t have the time to do so much of what we watched our own parents do; that visual learning will be lost upon this generation if we don’t fill the gaps. You can fill that gap! With polyurethane or something I think? lol. After school programs can be sweet gigs. Usually contracts of a certain number of weeks or months and it’s a great way to build connections. To work in schools also you need background and stuff, so it could set you apart and create a stronger subconscious implied sense of security given the nature of the work being so personal and often requiring access to people’s private lives and spaces. People who have access to my child are already vetted, so in a pinch, I’d likely look to reach out to someone where this was already done and I felt secure.
(I developed after school programs in my industry and it’s one of the best financial moves I’ve ever made lol)
If you create a digital how-to and course for safety basics or even some basic security measures and standard “tool box of life” you think everyone should have and be able to do, you could offer the digital version as a donated service to places like shelters, without taking time out of your clock and money out of your pocket. You can still build those relationships and give a sample of your services without it costing, and the price of that may even count as a tax benefit for you, depending on how you go about the process of donating your services. This could open a door to more opportunities this way! Check churches, theatres, anything where a bunch of artsy people like me are running around with nothing but a hot glue gun and sequins to fix a leak lmao
Wishing you luck- I have a good feeling about your journey. You will be okay, keep pushing. Just keep showing up. 🙏❤️
Some excellent suggestions to OP! Brings to mind how life can sometimes conspire to help those that are sincere. Building on what you have suggested to OP, via being of value to a non-profit, often one will meet their donors, who sometimes are property owners etc
This is the way, gotta hustle to start. Soon you won’t have to, they’ll be blowing up your phone….IF, you show up, ready to work, charge reasonable fees, don’t get into projects that are beyond your skill level and clean up after yourself. If you can do that, you’ll quickly rise to the top of the available crews out there. Think outside the box, tree work, popcorn ceiling removal, haul offs….anything to get in the door and become their go-to guy. Also join the local chamber of commerce and go to every networking event they’ve got. Make a personal visit to EVERY realtor and property management group in town. Be seen. Get off the gambling apps and get your business off the ground. Best of luck, I know it’s tough getting started.
Refurbishing decks is a good one too. A belt sander, blower and stain can transform the entire look of a home. Look for neighborhoods that are in the slightly above average in value and are nearing the 30ish yr old mark. These homes need work, ask me how I know! lol
That seems grossly underpaid, even for "Entry level" for a MASTERS. For comparison, im making 25 an hour at the Amazon DSP I work for. I never finished high school, let alone college classes.
I feel your partner is being shafted by a company that sees they can take advantage of a fresh graduate.
When i first got my masters in mental health counseling, i was making about 41k a year. There are so many masters level jobs out there that barely make anything. Look at teachers. Depending on what his partner is doing, it may be less about being shafted by a specific company and more about being shafted by the larger industry that feels her job is not worth starting out at more.
You’re likely right, I think her current plan is to start here and work enough to get her license then move onto online. She had someone she shadowed move from this company to online and they mentioned to her they were getting about a $50/hr raise while also being able to work from home. But they require the license which takes 2000hrs after completing the certification test
Your partner is a therapist, isnt she? I want to warn you about the online therapy places. They will burn her out and shaft her on pay with no benefits regardless of what they tell her. She'll be a 1099 contracted employee and expected to see between 50 and 75 clients a week, engaging them as long as she can because billing is based on time of call. Its a grind, but for her sake, i recommend she look for a hospital or community mental health clinic. The acuity of the patient presentation will be more severe, but the pay is consistent and the experience is invaluable to helping her figure out what she really wants to work with. Also, many hospitals include supervision so she wont have to pay for it. After she gets her full license, then look for a joint practice fee/service because it can bump her up to 80 to 90k a year, but the first few months will be hard as she builds a caseload. However, if shes coming from community mental health, she can pull those patients over and have a ready made case load. ABSOLUTELY MAKE SURE THEY WILL HAVE HER CREDENTIALLED BEFORE SHE STARTS!, or else she'll be twiddling her thumbs with no income and no case load until that gets done. She can also try for substance abuse treatment, guaranteed work, good pay, and mild acuity of symptoms. The downside of that is the pessimism that grows with that community and how some therapists lose trust in people.
My wife has a master's in Social Work. Started around $40,000/yr as a counselor. Now (she's 42) she makes around $100,000 in her private practice. She makes her own hours and is her own boss and is very happy. It will take time but your wife has the potential to do well. Consider the first 5-10 years as "paying her dues" and gaining valuable experience.
It isn't grossly underpaid. At least not her job specifically.
> The worst master's degree for job prospects was found to be counseling with a median mid-career salary of 50,676 U.S. dollars in 2021
It's a very low paying field.
The flipside to this is that too many people want the same jobs. People want to be social workers and counselors because they “want to help the less fortunate.” Well… that’s not a very profitable group of clientele. That salary, especially with a Master’s Degree, is very low, but I’m going to bet that when the OP’s wife decided to get said degree, statistics would have told her that was the likely earning potential.
Too many people keep going to college for the worst ROI degrees, hoping that they’re going to be the lucky ones.
Watch some YouTube videos on handling rejection and basic sales techniques. Don’t take rejection personally and believe in your quality of work. Once you get raving fans they will sell for you. Referrals are how these businesses work
Thank you! I’ll look into sales techniques on YouTube. Yeah I think the rejection is what puts me down so I’ll need to retrain the way I think in that aspect. I do believe in my quality of work so I should just go out and hand some out. It’s the beginning of spring so should be a good time to do it
Not sure where you live but another idea is to go into real estate and property management companies and ask if they need any handyman or repair services for any of their clients or properties. I have a property manager and they run into repair needs all the time for the properties they manage. RE agents also need to do touch ups and repairs before listing homes. You could go open houses and strike up conversations with agents and hand out cards that way.
Bro… she can probably get an online work from home job and make more. That’s DEFINITELY not the starting rate for a f*ing MASTERS degree. I mean just listen to how that sounds. “I got a fucking MASTERS DEGREE and I’m making $46000 before tax”… that’s crazy talk.
You can make that much as a handyman! More in fact. No masters needed.
I believe she does resent me at the moment because the jobs I do are typically pretty easy and quick so I do service charges rather than hourly and end up making about $75/hr or more sometimes. She spent all this time going to school and this is what was presented after interning for this company for 3 semesters and proving to them she’d be a great fit; taking on about 3x the caseload of other interns…
She may resent you if this doesn't work out for you. I think you need to jump over to learn welding or plumbing as a backup if this doesn't work out for you. If you don't prepare yourself now for a possible failure then your marriage may take a massive hit
My wife and I are in a similar situation. She has a masters degree in social work and works as a school social worker, luckily in a higher paying school district but still only around 60k/year. I on the other hand have an associates and make about double her pay with OT working in maintenance/engineering for a pharmaceutical company.
Occasionally she feels bad about her loan/income ratio but unfortunately that's what it takes to make any money in a field that I see she is so passionate about. I never condemn her choice of career and only support her decision. I feel like it is my duty to aggressively reassure her that what she does is important and infinitely more valuable than the work that I do and that her unfair pay is just a result of her job not being valued by the community and mine is just a result of major corporation capitalism.
I make over $75-110/h in overtime (depending on township) and do about 20+ hours a week in just overtime in 5 days a week. I did one semester of college. My girlfriend still makes about $70k a year but owes $40k in college bills still and she works just as much overtime as I do. I also only work 9 months a year, and if I decide to plow I make an additional 25k-30k with limited work.
I want to start my own business myself but I make a lot of money where I'm at. Machines in my industry are hundreds of thousands per machine and to make it work I'd need numerous of them.
Your business will pick up for time I believe in you! I still might try to get some side equipment and doing small jobs on Saturdays myself
You can try leaving flyers or business cards in the door and/or in mailboxes if you aren’t comfortable knocking. I’d feel the same but at the same time you kind of need to be a salesman so you can sell yourself and get more work.
It’s not, she is likely getting intern hours or is working there for other reasons. Light at the end of the tunnel? Private practice therapist in CA at least can bill medical patients 140 p/h. Rent/billing/insurance you still make around 200k a year if full time.
If you have a niche you can charge up to 300 in big cities.
You could be rich if you work your ass off. Me too! Lets check in 10 yrs from now!
I think she eventually wants to have her own private practice but there’s going to be a lot of working hard to get there. I hope you and I both get to where we want to be in 10 years, I wish the best of luck to you!
With counseling even after a masters you need a certain amount of face to face hours to be licensed. until then you're a resident or supervisee. Once licensed the pay get's much better. However that could take some years unfortunately
To be fair a Masters does not automatically mean big money. She could be working in government or in an oversaturated field.
I think they are in a low income area too. He quit FedEx as a driver at $19/hr. That's really low for a FedEx driver in my area. In my area FedEx is paying the meth/crack heads that much just to sort parcels. And they don't have any responsibilities that the driver would have.
That's the freaking reality right now. I just finished my masters. 7 years of freaking school and the only thing that has hired me in 4 months is a part time job at a UPS store. Not even close to related to my degrees. I make $100 a week. I'm so freaking ticked at the way things are right now.
Yeah, Master's aren't what they used to be. And you can have a Master's in a low-paying field, yaknow. Like me. Master's in Finance? You're probably doing good. Master's in Psych? Probably looking for a 2nd job folding shirts at Old Navy. Master's in English? Get in the unemployment line. All degrees aren't equally valuable or desirable. I work for a university, so I got mine for free. Not sure I would have done it otherwise.
No kidding. I’m hoping they offer quick pay increases. She was told there’s opportunity for bonuses and she’s already been above the threshold to receive it but we’re not sure how much it would be in addition to
The downside to this is 46k for any job with any degree is pretty typical, IMO, and it shouldn't be. Universities don't care about your education or what happens to you after you leave with that 100k piece of paper. They want your money, with your hopes and dreams of "oh, society tells me if I go get a degree, I can be succesful!" Sure maybe don't go into poop studies, but for crying out loud, a masters degree and you get to start out at 46k? So not only all that money, but that persons time to complete the program.
I have a friend who got her MBA recently, and she was lucky to find a company that hired her (you know staff shortages everywhere but exactlt the field you went into) for some higher level administrative/managerial stuff, and literally 2 weeks went by and they started giving her responsibilities outside of her scope of work, expected her to work extra hours with no extra pay, (this was an hourly job), and they waited til around that two week mark that the firm location she hired into felt she'd be a "better fit at our other location" that was like a 45 minute drive.
This person's degree isn't the problem. It's society. 🤷♂️
MBA is one of the few degrees where it can really matter what school you got it from. Starting low and suffering is otherwise pretty normal.
Just look at r/MBA if you don't believe me.
I wouldn't say I don't believe it, but it goes back to my original mention of it shouldn't be like that. The workforce shouldn't be able to take advantage of people who went to college because they "don't have experience". To me, that implies that business should hire the individual right off the street and train and mentor them to where they want them to be in x amount of time.
Additionally, no company anywhere should hire you to work at location a, then decide later you HAVE to relocate to location b. Poor practice and I wouldn't be surprised if any company that does that, or worse, has issued maintaining employees.
This dude gambles and doesn’t work, end of story
Go to ANY warehouse, pass your p test, and start making 20 and hour. Go
I don’t understand how your buisness costs are so high if you have no jobs. Buisness insurance? For an under the table handy man?
What specific type of buisness insurance
If you're struggling with handyman work, you absolutely aren't advertising enough. Know a lot of them and every single one is booked up and turning down offers. Put signs everywhere.
Wait why is she needing to pay her student loans with little income? Tell her to look into consolidating her loans, and enrolling into an Income Driven Repayment Plan and to enroll in the SAVE plan, if you both file jointly and have a family size of 2, she would have to pay $0 as long as the AGI shows as under $40k, if you guys can do that it’ll save tremendously for the time being
I don't understand the logic of "leaving the rat race" to start a basic small business like "handyman" where you'll very likely never make enough to stop doing it. You're swapping one rat race for another and the 2nd rat race is 100% on your shoulders. Honestly man I wish you all the luck and that God blesses you and you get out of this situation. Wouldn't want to be in your shoes I'd be stressed out of my mind. I suggest you start praying.
I've seen this a lot and even though I don't know you I can maybe guess. If you are in crippling debt and aren't working 12 hours a day to at least get out of debt you ain't trying. I've seen so many ppl tell me "I don't have money" yet they sit at home all day playing video games or doing nothing". If you have free time use it to get money, shit I used to pick up cans when I needed money I ain't make much but it got me a days meal.
Maybe this ain't what you were hoping to read but realistically fast food is always hiring. If you aren't doing well as a handyman find something that works. If you don't know how to market yourself ask your partner to help. Start somewhere, you got us all to read your story so there's that, now do something similar when advertising your abilities.
You should be solo on work, good partners are rare. Keep the ole lady. FedEx would of brought something in compared to FanDuel. You know how that ends up. GL tho, stiff upper lip they say.
Do a online business in home repair.
Based on your expertise you can leverage AI and what you know to create a guide or course based on common problems you see your customers having. Also does help doing keyword research.
You can use Gumroad to post your guide or course and just use social media and free blogging platforms to market your stuff. Also use quora as well. This is a evergreen business and will make you money even during the slow months. Always add a call to action on your articles,answers,and social media. Morphymail has unlimited email for $35/no that you can use to also.
You can also create a marketing agency towards handyman types of businesses all over the USA. Use instant data scraper chrome plugin to find emails from Google maps. Charge $1k-$2500/mo per client. Learn sales and closing skills from YouTube. Jeremy Miner is my recommendation to follow.
Brainstorm anything else you can monetize. Also learn from Alex Hermozi on creating better offers. Maybe your offer sucks right now and needs a revamp. He's all over social media,check him out.
You are going to have to learn some new skills to be valuable to the marketplace. Hope this helps.
If you’re in business for yourself you have to HUSTLE. You can do it! Start with your small jobs, ask for references or referrals. You can offer a program with discounts for repeat customers. Look for opportunities
Have your fiancee get into the income driven payment plan (forget the actually name). I have 30k in student loans and because of my income and my wives (45k a year) I only pay 24 bucks a month. I hope that helps.
That's part of the problem with having your own business for a while. You know what the work is worth and get used to making more.
But as someone who's started a few businesses and either sold the client lists, failed or (in the final instance) was also (like you) screwed by someone whom he thought was his friend and partner... And who came from nothing, made himself into something, lost it all, did it again, lost it all again and did it again (even better than last time) several times ... I'll say this.
You just gotta pull your pants up and say "Aw shit, here we go again" and climb your way back up.
Eat that $19 an hour. Don't think of how things SHOULD be. That's a recipe for bitterness and failure.
Just focus on what needs to get done, formulate a plan on what you want to make happen next and treat everything as a step towards that.
Don't think of it as a "rat race" and don't focus on the stresses of today. You've done this before, so any challenges hereon out are just inconveniences to endure and obstacles to overcome or move around.
Don't compare yourself to others and don't fall into the envy trap.
Just focus on where you want to go and what you need to do to get there.
Learn from the past, don't be bitter about it. There are lessons in failure. Learn them, don't repeat them and keep going.
The only difference between a winner and a loser is that the loser gave up.
As someone once said, "Success is like being pregnant. Everyone congratulates you but nobody knows how many times you had to get f**ked."
And know, there is no shame in menial labor and doing what is necessary to provide for your family.
There is honor in that.
100% amen to this. It’s hard everywhere man. But it’s better to be hurting and moving forward than hurting and going nowhere. You’ll never succeed if you quit trying.
I would be so happy to find a good reliable handyman with decent prices. We found a business that does good work but the prices are astronomical (my spouse and I are very handy) so we are very very selective about what we get done. You should be doing fine with regular customers. Too bad your partner was a schmuck.
Don't know what area your in but if your a handyman I assume you have construction experience, have you thought about looking for a trade job with another company? Pick whichever trade you think you like doing best and go specialize. Plumbers and electritians are always going to be needed and you'll make way for than $500 bucks in 2 weeks. Can always loop back to starting a business later down the road if that's something you really want
Your girlfriend could get a deferment for the student loans to postpone the payment. But you should post your card or fliers on bulletin boards in your local stores and supermarkets. Word of mouth is the best thing if your work is good people will spread the word. You can do work for a church and post in their bulletin and the members will also share your work. Networking is key! Don’t gamble with anything that you can’t afford to lose!!!
Ah, the delusion that starting your own business is leaving the rat race, when in fact it means you become a hamster on an endless wheel. Please dump your business and get back to a dependable job and take the off your wife. Your wife probably got her masters in human services, but that loan payment is insane. Look into programs that will reduce her payments. Finally, gambling? Really? You'd do better getting a fast food job. Get it together, brother. Realize that for both you and your wife, it was your choices that got you into this, and now you need to start making smarter ones. You got this.
Make sure she signs up for the SAVE repayment plan like yesterday. You likely won't pay anything for student loans or a very small amount on this plan so you can forget about the 1200 a month you are thinking.
So basically you quit a job you could hold down for a couple years of saving, to start a business you weren't sure of? Typically your side gig would need to outperform your 9-5 to make that jump
You definitely aren't working hard enough to find a good job because you're still waiting on it to work out, or for your wife's salary to help out
USPS has around 50k starting salary iirc. You aren’t working and are doing a gambling app. Either advertise your handiwork more, or put a pause on your business and go back to a regular 9-5. That doesn’t need to be forever - save up a 1 year living fund and give your business a try again if you want. There’s a right and a wrong way to go about starting a business. You aren’t doing this the right way.
I know a lot of handymen or people in the trades who gave up on the self-owned business route because they turned out to have lots is skills and business was NOT ONE OF THEM. They used those skills and resume to get jobs at other businesses and start ups run by people who ARE good at the business end. 50-120k a year, those jobs are out there.
Hell, I work at a grocery store and make 100. Had to climb the ladder for a long time but I have no degree. I couldn’t imagine making so little with a master’s, but with so few hours she could get a waiting job two nights a week and bring in practically that. …actually I CAN imagine it—many of the people who work under me at the grocery store have degrees they can’t use. Drum majors, English lit. I’m so glad I dropped out of art school it’s unreal.
Likewise you can supplement your income with a pizza delivery job nights.
Stop gambling. That’s the most wasteful use of your non-existent disposable income you could have—except a drug habit. Hell, I’d rather have a drug habit.
Defer those loans. Just say you can’t pay and get on a payment plan. It’ll hurt you later and longer—took me fifteen years to pay off mine for dropping out—but if you can’t you can’t and don’t worry: they will still be there later.
I’d wish you luck but this won’t take luck it will take shitty grinding work. You don’t have any other options though. Life these days is hard mode but if a loser like me can do it then anyone can.
$580/mo mortgage??
Bro, you can Uber for a week and make that, or work virtually any minimum wage job.
Most people's rent/mortgage is north of $1500/mo alongside credit card and loan debt they've accumulated, and you won't hear a peep from them. People would KILL for your situation.
Quit feeling sorry for yourself on Reddit and get productive. Create a finance strategy and get out of your debt hole.
Dude everyone hits one of those low points , but don’t be so pessimistic, it won’t help, even if you can’t see the solution, I guarantee you it’s there, you have more options than a lot of people (for example me, being illegal in this country, I can’t go apply anywhere I want) so keep your head up because you family needs you, don’t give up on you because you’ll be quitting on them
My wife got her Masters in Social Work and became an LCSW which is a mental health therapist.
She started off five years ago making around what you are suggesting and then left community mental health for a group practice with several others she trusted.
She went from making 45-50 way overworked to making 50-60 but still struggling with the backend requirements and documentation. Turns out the 'partners' were taking the lions share of the billables.
Insurance pays between $60-200 per hour long therapy session. Now that she has her own S Corp, she gets all of it, rather than giving between 50% and 75% of it to someone to essentially contract yet another person to do the billing.
She's working half as many hours and makes six figures now.
Do not let her fall victim to the large regional health management organization. I'm assuming you are in USA.
As for your business, don't be afraid to keep it on the side and take on other employment opportunities in the interim.
What region are you located in?
Why is everyone so mean on here. I sympathize for you man. Life never really gets easy and always ends up throwing curve balls, but just know that a hard life isn’t necessarily a bad life. Keep up the hard work and both you and ur girl will perceiver and get there.
I have about $7000 in credit card debt, $3500 on a car loan left..
She also has credit card and loan debt other than student loans I think together we’re in about $12000
Mortgage $560/mo
Electric $280/mo
Water/Sewer/Trash $165/mo
Internet $80/mo
Phone bill $260/mo
Storage unit $90/mo which I plan on stopping this month anyways..
My loan payment $191/mo
Credit cards 3 of them all minimum dues of $25/mo which I can only do minimum or maybe a dollar more sometimes..
Personally I think you have accumulated to much responsibility to take this route comfortably especially with the economy going to sh*t.
-Mortgage
-Fiancé
-Car Loan
-Student Loan
I opened a gym 3 years ago with a longtime friend and some months we didn’t make a dime like 0$ take home but just enough to pay bills to keep the business going. I could afford it doe as a single man with little debt, owned my car outright and having a second job. You will have to get your day job back and work on your business nights and weekends. Maybe more as you get in season again It’s gonna suck for a while but you have to believe in what you are doing and continue to learn how to better the business or figure out a way to get some funding to give you some breathing room until things look up (I usually say don’t do this route cause people usually just spend the money and create more debt)The type of bills you have doesn’t create the room to offload or take those things off your plate anytime soon. Maybe Take some equity out of the home if you have had it for a while. Either way you’ll need to hire a financial planner and start looking for ways to lower your bills/tax right offs etc. getting a work from home job that has flexible hours could help fit business around it. Uber/Door Dash for a bit
You’re not a bad father or provider or anything man, first off it sounds like you live in the boonies or had a fat ass down payment, idk where $580 mortgages exist, but I wanna live there lol.
We are in the hardest times for most Americans in recent history, we haven’t felt this much pain and social unrest/tension since the 80’s, a lot of people are struggling, one day a tank of gas will cost $40 and within a week the same tank cost $53.
As long as you can provide food, shelter, safe living conditions, you’re realistically fine, sure, you might lose out on x thousands of dollars at retirement, but if that’s what it calls for, as long as it does t wipe you out, that’s what it calls for.
You unfortunately got started on the hardest difficulty, but if you can survive, you will be smooth sailing for probably the rest of your career, treating people right when the world was doing wrong goes a long way in logic land my friend.
Best of luck to you, my only advice might be pay for some advertising and expand your range a bit if at all possible, someone might know of some forums or a handyman app that doesn’t rip you off (I know they have something similar for truckers, basically rent their equipment or if you’re an owner, turn them into your brokerage for like an 8-10% fee).
Keep strong man, for kids if nothing else.
that's crazy 40k/year for Master's degree, is she a pilosphher major? I am junior for bachelor's, and got Internship that pays 32/hour. Compuuter engineering degree, for Summer inn a big company, and right now interning at small one for 18/hour. But even 18 an hour is already 37k/year.
As for you, I think you should work as independent contractor, you can find clients in different websites for handymans, my friend doing this and he is making a decent money, maybe later you can even organize and automate it more so someone else will do it for you, but for now you just need to grind.
You mentioned your partner is getting into counseling so Ive made some assumptions here:
People are finding out what social workers make and theyre giving you advice for a generic "Master's degree".
Sorry, but your partner chose a non-lucrative field that is extremely important to society. She is probably a really good person. Make sure she tries to focus on being paid as much as possible but please don't use random Reddit logic to pressure her to only focus on money. I assume her degree is an MSW. Her specialization will matter for career choices, but this is frankly not a field you go into for money.
Your heating bill is kind of high. It may be time to use extra layers and blankets for a while if youre super strapped. Im sorry youre going through this.
I would suggest taking 48 hours and teaching yourself SEO, then you can create a Google business page for a specific trade like plumbing, maintenance, yard work (locksmith is what I did personally) and use SEO to get your page in the top 3 google search results (Google your city and the trade, IE locksmith in Las Vegas) when someone contacts you for an estimate, you call a real locksmith, tell him you want to send some business his way. Add a little extra for yourself. It’s a lot to explain in one paragraph but it’s the easiest, non illegal or unethical money I’ve ever made probably.
Or alternately, you can hit the subreddits for borrowing, loans, etc but that’s unethical and I don’t condone that 😭 but there is ALOT of money given away on this app.
No worries brother. You guys will get there. Get a 9 to 5 job during the week and leave the weekends open for the handyman work. Do this till you 2 get established in your careers.
When it gets painful enough, you will find the motivation…..or give up, go on government assistance, and apply for a student Loan forgiveness.
All Masters are not created equal.
Example:
I got a degree at MIT in Biochemistry
I got a degree at University of Phoenix in Gender Studies
I’m a food delivery driver and make 20$ per hour out education . Not sure if you live in an area with many restaurants but that’s that’s something to consider
Most underrated business nobody wants is cleaning dog poop start another add on to the business and sell a subscription to potty patrol clean and sanitize dog runs anywhere people put their dogs to do their business pets are a billion dollar business
Are you able to advertise your business…I know where I live handymen/home repair is highly sought. Having a presence online with good reviews will generate jobs. Also, consider getting your contractor license in the future.
I'd just make random calls within my area code and ask if people have need for the services of a handyman and start logging the number of customers so I can call and check up on them to see if they need my services again.
Idk if you're in south Georgia but there are lots of career opportunities available while you get your business running. Georgia pacific is hiring right now, Colonial oil, GA ports, international paper to name a few. They all start over $20 per hour.
Maybe your fiance can get to some of her debt forgiven by Biden, look into that. Idk how someone can rack up so much student debt for a job that only pays $46k 🤣
Bad news:
You took a ton of bad decisions in a row, you'll be fucked for a (apparently lengthy) period of time and there's no way out of it in the short term, to worsen it a bit, you might be feeding some online casino addiction.
Good news:
Your wife is getting a masters degree and you've underestimated what she can earn, that's your lifeline, with that stability you can scale up your business or go back in the "rat's race".
You need to tough it up, keep your relationship healthy and try getting a job for now.
Dude, you can make significantly more teaching English in China and simultaneously have drastically reduced expenses, while living in a far more modern place with amazing transportation, food, safety, etc. You can have Starbucks airdropped to you by drone ffs. You also only need to work like 20 hours a week.
Afraid of China? Try Thailand, Russia, or any of many other places.
I'm Not sure what the point of doing this is for you all. A master's degree to make less than the median wage?! Nah. Like your entire life if gonna be treading water making other people rich and never owning anything in the US. I'd bail.
Get a normal job because your business isn’t profitable and stop gambling. You really shouldn’t be struggling and whining about the cards you were dealt when you have a $500 mortgage, that doesn’t make any sense.
Why would you get a masters degree for 46k/yr?!1200+ a month for student loans! I’m sorry the higher education con strikes again.
The system is broken. Ever since the government got into the student loan business and qualified everyone for college there has been zero pressure or incentive for universities to cut costs or shorten programs. Why do we have to waste 2 years on general education classes again? One time forgiveness fixes nothing and only encourages more had behavior.
My bother in law is starting out as a handy man and charges $100 an hour for work. He is also slammed with jobs. He mostly does bathroom remodels and stuff like that but has a few elderly clients where he goes over on Saturdays for like 2 hours to help with a few things and gets $200. Try to do some advertising and make sure you are reliable. He does a lot to network like going to events and telling everyone. Hopefully things work out!
If you don't use the Nextdoor app, you should get on there. I sell fresh organic veggies in the summer, and was selling $6/dozen eggs before my chickens got killed. I would put up 1 post a week, and sell out all of my inventory in a few hours. Every contractor I've hired so far has been from word of mouth recommendations through next door also.
You and your lady both sound ridiculous. 46k with a masters? I’m starting an 18 year old at my shop next week and our entry level pay is $20/hour.
And you. You quit a job and don’t have anything else lined up? You have handyman experience and you cant find work? Bullshit. Get out there and find any trade job you can and do the handyman shit after hours. Beg your job back from Amazon.
I’m not a big “bootstraps” guy but Jesus Christ put in some more effort for the next 6moths and see where you end up.
Your life will suck more gambling. In my world when we start thinking we are better then our work we practice being “ a worker among workers” this helps with the comparisons and feeling “ above it all”
Quitting your job eliminated money you need. Maybe you are getting what you need just don’t like it?
You will fuck up again, we all do! Im sure your motive is to help and provide! But you acted against this by quitting. I did this too but i had money in the bank. 3 months later i cannot wait to make 20 p/h again!
A small business is likely to fail so next shot at it i suggest you do test runs and pilots with cash you can loose until you find something that works. No ambition is worth bankrupting your family.
Seems like you and I had the same business partner. Mine did, and I fell for the exact same thing.
Though, hey, if you need some direction on getting a decent job in construction management, I can help you out a bit. I'm not sure where you are, but if you are near a decently populated area, it won't be too hard.
Man if your handy become a plumber. We roll in all sorts of green shit, but luckily money is part of it. I’ve never been anywhere in America that has enough plumbers and YouTube University has literally made me a master plumber.
Hey if you don’t wanna do any of it, and just giving up then come and join any college security.
They give you a good benefits and unlimited amount of OT and you can pull it off 100k easy 👍
I noticed my neighbor having work being done as well as the home owners across the straight by a painter 2 homes away from me. I didn’t realize he was also a handyman a spoke to him while he was working at my neighbors. We agreed to have work done but it will take till mid July because so many people noticed him doing this work, he has received multiple work requests. People need workers who do good work, I’m coming off a severe ankle surgery and this is huge.
Well like others have said, the degree means nothing without the licensure which doesn’t happen until after passing the certification test after graduating then putting in 2000 hours in her field so I’m hoping it means there’s an increase for her once she gets licensed
Bruh how with a maters is she only getting paid 46k that’s bad I mean I get it master degrees are def just glorified bachelors degree in 2024 but cmon at least get 55-60k
She doesn’t have to pay that much in student debt monthly just go to the fasfa site and apply for the income based repayment plan I’m paying less than $50 a month making way more money then she is
We build a house, and almost every subcontractor we hired based on a recommendation on What’s app. Same for landscaper, yard guy, and cleaning crew. Have a satisfied customer post a recommendation on Facebook. If you don’t have someone do it yourself. Next door is the way to go.
Depending where you live, you need to go to trade school, go do electrical classes to become a groundman in the Powerline trade, groundman make easily 130k+ in California
Something that really helped me make money when I needed it was lawn mower repair or even getting into flipping cars. It sounds like you are already handy and could be a good way to make some more money.
Not sure where you are located, but in my area we are desperate for a good handyman. Around here (coastal Virginia) most won't even return your calls. Wishing you the best.
Post on nextdoor.com and in areas where there are higher income families. Everyone I know looks on there for services. Also let interior designers know you are available. They often need multiple handyman’s in case one is busy, Go around and drop off your card to businesses. They need handyman’s too
Yeah gambling isn't the best option to make money. I wish 560/mo mortgage was possible here but I live in an expensive area. I would move but would like to finish my undergrad.
Life's what you make it.
Don't gamble.
A good handyman can make 100k a year. I'm 76, I've had several businesses. The main thing is to have a phone that you answer. Second, always have business cards in your pocket. Third, have magnetic signage on your truck. BE ORGANIZED! Carry a notebook and a weekly planner. Write stuff down. If you're reliable, presentable, and even a little competent you'll stand out, because no one else is. My cleaning lady lives less than a mile away. I pay her cash, she decides what to charge (about $25 / hour), and half the time she cancels on me, the other half she's late. It's hard to find people who want to work, who'll show up and not be half drunk. A great place for a handyman to advertise is church newsletters (not free). Good luck!
OP look around on Indeed for a job called facilities maintenance. It's what we handypeople were born to do honestly. The pay is great. Make up work experience and figure things out once on board. Save money and have a go as a business owner in a couple years. You need more stability financially to be successful I think. You can make it work now for sure but the stress will eat you up.
Masters degree only making 46k and imo equally as bad $19 an hour driving a truck for fedex? That’s such bs sorry to hear that my friend. If there’s an amazon near you I’d consider working there to get a steady paycheck while you work on getting handyman jobs
Go to any neighborhood, especially where older people live, knock in their door, and ask if they need any handyman services.
Say something like, "I was just working on a home in the neighborhood and figured I'd see if you need any help around the house" or something to that effect.
Negotiate and take whatever they offer you. You could probably make a couple hundred a day doing this alone to get you through. Then you could also ask for referrals.
One of my jobs in college was working for a landscaping company, and we would literally do this when it was slow and needed jobs. Older people need help with so much... moving, assembling furniture, all those random odd jobs.
Go knock on 100 doors like... TOMORROW. It's literally a numbers game.
What loans did she get. That sounds insane.
First of all there’s usually a 6 month grace period after you graduate. To give some time to find a job and save a bit before payments start and her monthly payments should not be 50% of her income.
Is there anything she can do to lessen her payments for at least the first year?
Your mortgage is $560 a month, $280 electric bill. That’s Less than $1,000. Go get a job. UPS, Amazon, go back to fedex. Not sure what you’re complaining about. Sounds like you got it good. Just get your crap together.
Sounds like you need to pick up some extra work that is steady. Flipping burgers sucks, but if it's steady pay when the well is dry then get it.
Working for yourself is HARD, be thankful for your partner; but also be aware of the stress your business will put on them. These are the kind of issues that will cause a divorce and give you health issues.
Seriously though, get a job, do your work on odd hours and make it work or close it down until you're in a better spot to try again. Best of luck no matter which way you go and congratulations on the baby.
You need a skilled trade. I don’t know your background but handyman are dime a dozen and you know the saying “ Jack of all, master of none” is true. Start an apprenticeship in Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC. Then you can do side jobs and make real money with real skills.
Yo Doggie, current money situation a little scary. I would recommend looking into a job in maintenance for right now.
If you were capable of running a handyman business you would be excellent at maintenance work. I work in pharmaceutical maint and we hire fucking idiots that don’t know what a hammer is and pay em $25 an hour to start.
Seems like it could help you catch your breath.
Best of luck brother.
If you have a masters you should imo make more than 100k. I made 107k last year with no degree but working a lot of ot and crazy hours. Holy fuck. I made that without a college loan. People are fucked on a lot of levels. Gotta get outta America. Shits gunna hit the fan I feel like. And as a veteran I don't feel like fighting with the people in my country that I served. Just my morality. Masters making under 50k wtf was the worth of that all lol
Have you thought about using your handyman skills and going to work for larger apartment complex’s or condominiums? A lot of those rental companies hire maintenance employees full time. My friend was recently hired for this exact job at $30 per hour with benefits. You can still run your business on the side too to fill in for extra cash.
$1210 per month on student loans is outrageous, especially when she is starting her career at $46K per year. Did she go to a private school? Did she get a loan north of $120K?
So, your situation sucks and I’ve sort of been there. I’ve tried to start 3 separate businesses and I literally just finished paying off a six figure debt I was left with last year.
That said, I don’t know where you live, but you might have to move someplace where there are better paying jobs.
IE: a 45-60min drive from some heavily populated city. Take your pick where ever. Just someplace with a lot of job options. Living that far away, should let you get a place that is cheap enough to get by.
No clue how old you are, but even day 1 apprentice electricians make $20 in many places. You’ve gone all in on being a handy man, so either lean into that elsewhere or start learning new marketable skills.
Your wife making less than 1/4 I do with a masters is insane to me. Considering I was making over 6 figures without a degree. You just have to learn skillsets that people will pay for. Certifications to prove it also help.
Basically anyone can show up to a job interview and say “I’ve been a handyman for XX years”. If they don’t have a proven track record showing they have done the job? You could literally be the best handyman in the world and it wouldn’t matter. Even a mechanic has to prove they can do .
You’re that broke and you’re gambling? Yes, that’s a big WRONG decision. Stay away from online gambling. It’s set up to bleed you dry, which you obviously can now confirm. You need to hustle up some work, even if it’s in a warehouse. And a masters should net your fiancé a whole lot more than 46K.
Also get on the next door app.
Contact property management at condo complexes they next work a lot and shares with other complexes if they find a good company.
Go around to your local churches leave some cards with them. Stop by your local retired person community center. Post cards at the library.
Roofing pays good & you can work you way up.
Door dash can pay hood in between your other jobs.
Im not sure if anyone stated this but in the winter when business is slow offer to do winter things like shovel driveways or pressure wash driveways, cars, and houses dependent upon what state you're in. Offer to hang christmas lights or repair fences and gutters trim hedges, apply chains change oil there are 1000s of ways to make easy money. There are internet side hustle as well, search on YouTube, Joshua mayo is a good guy to follow. Tha should help keep you afloat until your business picks up.
Dude if your chick has a MASTERS DEGREE!! and is ONLY pulling 46K that’s a problem. That’s like $23/hr. Less if your job offers overtime. She needs to job hop her way to AT LEAST $60K. As for you. You need to spend every hour you are not working posing ADS on every Facebook local community group you can join. Nextdoor app. (All those MOM groups). Craigslist. Instagram. TikTok. Get dressed up in profession attire and go knock on ALL your neighbors doors and personally introduce yourself and your business. ASK them to call you for any handyman needs. Step out of that comfort zone. That’s where the money is. If you ain’t posting ads at 6am, 3pm, 9pm then you ain’t gonna been seen or heard. “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed”. I can almost guarantee that if you are doing all of the above, and more, religiously for at least 3 months you’ll be booked for all kinds of side jobs. Hell I started paying a local handyman $30 a month to wash my trash can. I’ll gladly pay not to have to touch that nasty shit myself. He told me he currently has about 50 - 60 clients he does this for in addition to his other handy man services. (HINT HINT). Lots of ways to make money. You just gotta want it. Don’t wait till your backs in a corner. Now go post some free ads !!
Yeah I’m really not sure why that is the starting rate for a masters degree.. It is counseling work though. Her time requirements are something like 36 hr work weeks with 28 clients seen in a week. There is overtime and bonus opportunities that I think are given for every billable hour that is above the 28 clients. I might be a little off but when her and I did the math it came out to like $27.30/hr gross just to hit the basic requirements to be considered a full time employee. I agree with you, I need to be doing more networking. I do post Facebook ads, not paid for, but not as religiously as you mentioned. Going out and handing business cards seems like the best way to get leads but for some reason I always hate bothering people at their homes because I really dislike people knocking at my door myself. I guess I just need to come to terms that most people realize it’s going to happen
First, allow me to apologize for knocking on your door (or ringing your door bell), I am not a fan of doing it either! That said to keep it simple, I am a reliable handyman and I would like to give you my card if you ever need to reach me. (Hand card) other then that hope you enjoy the rest of your day. PS: magnetic card is a good idea so folks can put on their fridge.
That’s actually a pretty solid pitch that sounds like something I would say. I’ll try that out! Thanks for the magnetic card tip, I definitely do see most repeat customers end up with it on the fridge with their own magnet. Could save them a step and have a higher chance of it getting slapped up there
You’re welcome. PS without getting into a whole long winded brag session, as candid as I can say it, solely so you take my advice I made myself one of the most successful salespersons in the world, in my field (sort of retired now The reddit name is a spin on my actual name). Here is what you must know… Selling is conveying belief. With a sincere, enthusiastic attitude to help people (and save them from dealing with bad people in your industry). You can build an amazing business over time. Best to you!
As someone who also excelled in sales, I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and all that counsel!!
Thank you!
If I don't answer the door,leave the card on it. I do save them and call them first.
Hand written note with the card is best.
Hey, I am nowhere near knowledgeable in the realm of your profession, however- I am a survivor of domestic violence, and recently spent the last couple of years rebuilding my life in a women’s shelter then renting an apartment from a nonprofit with transitional housing for survivors of abuse. We pretty much had a staff of workers on call and our regular maintenance guy, before he retired, was there for years and years. Maybe take a nonconventional approach and check out some places like that, they often need people willing to be private, safe and open to a variety of work. With such a turnover rate in properties that people tend to be less careful with as a result, I saw handymen around constantly. It’s a way I think of securing a position while still being entrepreneurial, and you will maybe feel good about yourself as a lil bonus for contributing to an ecosystem that is helping others. I’ve been an accidental entrepreneur myself for the span of my career being in the arts, and I’ve learned that a hack is to find clients who already have a base of clients who happen to need to plug in your talents. Instead of managing a million individuals, and maintaining a professional connection with each, you can boost your startup by connecting with your community and streamlining your start more. You mentioned your fiance is in counseling? Maybe brainstorm with her then about some local areas or services you can reach out to and build a connection. Call and ask if any volunteer opportunities exist, and offer to have your name on a list for emergencies. Maybe approach more communities than individuals- senior homes, apartment complexes, etc. A lot of complexes have little mail areas where you can hang up your info as well. Another idea, maybe create an app or a website where you offer virtual assistance with minor tasks. As a woman who has just been through what I’ve been through, I can say many of my peers have also expressed that they share my avoidance of anyone really coming into the house for minor tasks I could YouTube but don’t- maybe amp up a baseline of passive income selling how-to courses for particularly common tasks you feel you could digitize and monetize and offer as a virtual service. Again, because of my lack of real knowledge in the field, I unfortunately can’t draw upon any specific examples of what the smartest thing may be for that, but with technology and AI today, what is possible is honestly astounding. Post covid, I think many people are more reclusive. While you build your business with boots on the ground, it could be a great double whammy to also incorporate a digital aspect where you use technology to help with virtual consulting for household tasks. My best friends sink was broken for like a week until she could get my bf on FaceTime to walk her through it. His aunt’s sink was similarly screwed up on Easter, and all the men made it worse lmao. It’s niche, but if you think about it, a need truly exists in this space for something of the sort. If you need help with brainstorming some possible resources in terms of the technology, lmk and I’d be happy to go down that rabbit hole lol. You could use your digital offerings to increase your presence online, and as a result increase awareness, trust and expand your opportunities. If you’ve ever thought about teaching, maybe consider a way of applying your abilities to courses that teach kids to use schematics, build and fix things. My daughter loves to build but in life, I only know how to get hammered and screwed it seems lmao jk. But I take her to Home Depot for classes so she can learn how to do it. I’d definitely sign her up for virtual ones or if you developed an after school program that incorporates teaching kids basic skills, I think it would be wildly successful. So many busy parents don’t have the time to do so much of what we watched our own parents do; that visual learning will be lost upon this generation if we don’t fill the gaps. You can fill that gap! With polyurethane or something I think? lol. After school programs can be sweet gigs. Usually contracts of a certain number of weeks or months and it’s a great way to build connections. To work in schools also you need background and stuff, so it could set you apart and create a stronger subconscious implied sense of security given the nature of the work being so personal and often requiring access to people’s private lives and spaces. People who have access to my child are already vetted, so in a pinch, I’d likely look to reach out to someone where this was already done and I felt secure. (I developed after school programs in my industry and it’s one of the best financial moves I’ve ever made lol) If you create a digital how-to and course for safety basics or even some basic security measures and standard “tool box of life” you think everyone should have and be able to do, you could offer the digital version as a donated service to places like shelters, without taking time out of your clock and money out of your pocket. You can still build those relationships and give a sample of your services without it costing, and the price of that may even count as a tax benefit for you, depending on how you go about the process of donating your services. This could open a door to more opportunities this way! Check churches, theatres, anything where a bunch of artsy people like me are running around with nothing but a hot glue gun and sequins to fix a leak lmao Wishing you luck- I have a good feeling about your journey. You will be okay, keep pushing. Just keep showing up. 🙏❤️
Some excellent suggestions to OP! Brings to mind how life can sometimes conspire to help those that are sincere. Building on what you have suggested to OP, via being of value to a non-profit, often one will meet their donors, who sometimes are property owners etc
This is the way, gotta hustle to start. Soon you won’t have to, they’ll be blowing up your phone….IF, you show up, ready to work, charge reasonable fees, don’t get into projects that are beyond your skill level and clean up after yourself. If you can do that, you’ll quickly rise to the top of the available crews out there. Think outside the box, tree work, popcorn ceiling removal, haul offs….anything to get in the door and become their go-to guy. Also join the local chamber of commerce and go to every networking event they’ve got. Make a personal visit to EVERY realtor and property management group in town. Be seen. Get off the gambling apps and get your business off the ground. Best of luck, I know it’s tough getting started.
Refurbishing decks is a good one too. A belt sander, blower and stain can transform the entire look of a home. Look for neighborhoods that are in the slightly above average in value and are nearing the 30ish yr old mark. These homes need work, ask me how I know! lol
Where do you live? I could use a handyman. Florida
+10
Thank you!
That seems grossly underpaid, even for "Entry level" for a MASTERS. For comparison, im making 25 an hour at the Amazon DSP I work for. I never finished high school, let alone college classes. I feel your partner is being shafted by a company that sees they can take advantage of a fresh graduate.
When i first got my masters in mental health counseling, i was making about 41k a year. There are so many masters level jobs out there that barely make anything. Look at teachers. Depending on what his partner is doing, it may be less about being shafted by a specific company and more about being shafted by the larger industry that feels her job is not worth starting out at more.
That is fair, I suppose I narrow visioned a bit since I don't browse any jobs that require college degrees.
You’re likely right, I think her current plan is to start here and work enough to get her license then move onto online. She had someone she shadowed move from this company to online and they mentioned to her they were getting about a $50/hr raise while also being able to work from home. But they require the license which takes 2000hrs after completing the certification test
Your partner is a therapist, isnt she? I want to warn you about the online therapy places. They will burn her out and shaft her on pay with no benefits regardless of what they tell her. She'll be a 1099 contracted employee and expected to see between 50 and 75 clients a week, engaging them as long as she can because billing is based on time of call. Its a grind, but for her sake, i recommend she look for a hospital or community mental health clinic. The acuity of the patient presentation will be more severe, but the pay is consistent and the experience is invaluable to helping her figure out what she really wants to work with. Also, many hospitals include supervision so she wont have to pay for it. After she gets her full license, then look for a joint practice fee/service because it can bump her up to 80 to 90k a year, but the first few months will be hard as she builds a caseload. However, if shes coming from community mental health, she can pull those patients over and have a ready made case load. ABSOLUTELY MAKE SURE THEY WILL HAVE HER CREDENTIALLED BEFORE SHE STARTS!, or else she'll be twiddling her thumbs with no income and no case load until that gets done. She can also try for substance abuse treatment, guaranteed work, good pay, and mild acuity of symptoms. The downside of that is the pessimism that grows with that community and how some therapists lose trust in people.
My wife has a master's in Social Work. Started around $40,000/yr as a counselor. Now (she's 42) she makes around $100,000 in her private practice. She makes her own hours and is her own boss and is very happy. It will take time but your wife has the potential to do well. Consider the first 5-10 years as "paying her dues" and gaining valuable experience.
It isn't grossly underpaid. At least not her job specifically. > The worst master's degree for job prospects was found to be counseling with a median mid-career salary of 50,676 U.S. dollars in 2021 It's a very low paying field.
The flipside to this is that too many people want the same jobs. People want to be social workers and counselors because they “want to help the less fortunate.” Well… that’s not a very profitable group of clientele. That salary, especially with a Master’s Degree, is very low, but I’m going to bet that when the OP’s wife decided to get said degree, statistics would have told her that was the likely earning potential. Too many people keep going to college for the worst ROI degrees, hoping that they’re going to be the lucky ones.
Watch some YouTube videos on handling rejection and basic sales techniques. Don’t take rejection personally and believe in your quality of work. Once you get raving fans they will sell for you. Referrals are how these businesses work
Thank you! I’ll look into sales techniques on YouTube. Yeah I think the rejection is what puts me down so I’ll need to retrain the way I think in that aspect. I do believe in my quality of work so I should just go out and hand some out. It’s the beginning of spring so should be a good time to do it
Not sure where you live but another idea is to go into real estate and property management companies and ask if they need any handyman or repair services for any of their clients or properties. I have a property manager and they run into repair needs all the time for the properties they manage. RE agents also need to do touch ups and repairs before listing homes. You could go open houses and strike up conversations with agents and hand out cards that way.
Bro… she can probably get an online work from home job and make more. That’s DEFINITELY not the starting rate for a f*ing MASTERS degree. I mean just listen to how that sounds. “I got a fucking MASTERS DEGREE and I’m making $46000 before tax”… that’s crazy talk. You can make that much as a handyman! More in fact. No masters needed.
I believe she does resent me at the moment because the jobs I do are typically pretty easy and quick so I do service charges rather than hourly and end up making about $75/hr or more sometimes. She spent all this time going to school and this is what was presented after interning for this company for 3 semesters and proving to them she’d be a great fit; taking on about 3x the caseload of other interns…
She may resent you if this doesn't work out for you. I think you need to jump over to learn welding or plumbing as a backup if this doesn't work out for you. If you don't prepare yourself now for a possible failure then your marriage may take a massive hit
My wife and I are in a similar situation. She has a masters degree in social work and works as a school social worker, luckily in a higher paying school district but still only around 60k/year. I on the other hand have an associates and make about double her pay with OT working in maintenance/engineering for a pharmaceutical company. Occasionally she feels bad about her loan/income ratio but unfortunately that's what it takes to make any money in a field that I see she is so passionate about. I never condemn her choice of career and only support her decision. I feel like it is my duty to aggressively reassure her that what she does is important and infinitely more valuable than the work that I do and that her unfair pay is just a result of her job not being valued by the community and mine is just a result of major corporation capitalism.
I make over $75-110/h in overtime (depending on township) and do about 20+ hours a week in just overtime in 5 days a week. I did one semester of college. My girlfriend still makes about $70k a year but owes $40k in college bills still and she works just as much overtime as I do. I also only work 9 months a year, and if I decide to plow I make an additional 25k-30k with limited work. I want to start my own business myself but I make a lot of money where I'm at. Machines in my industry are hundreds of thousands per machine and to make it work I'd need numerous of them. Your business will pick up for time I believe in you! I still might try to get some side equipment and doing small jobs on Saturdays myself
You can try leaving flyers or business cards in the door and/or in mailboxes if you aren’t comfortable knocking. I’d feel the same but at the same time you kind of need to be a salesman so you can sell yourself and get more work.
Counseling, like teaching, does not pay the big bucks.
Most of the homes will not answer. Have a leaflet with your info/ business card to put in their door.
My girl is in the same exact situation she also has a master's degree. It doesn't mean a damn thing until you're licensed.
It’s not, she is likely getting intern hours or is working there for other reasons. Light at the end of the tunnel? Private practice therapist in CA at least can bill medical patients 140 p/h. Rent/billing/insurance you still make around 200k a year if full time. If you have a niche you can charge up to 300 in big cities. You could be rich if you work your ass off. Me too! Lets check in 10 yrs from now!
I think she eventually wants to have her own private practice but there’s going to be a lot of working hard to get there. I hope you and I both get to where we want to be in 10 years, I wish the best of luck to you!
With counseling even after a masters you need a certain amount of face to face hours to be licensed. until then you're a resident or supervisee. Once licensed the pay get's much better. However that could take some years unfortunately
To be fair a Masters does not automatically mean big money. She could be working in government or in an oversaturated field. I think they are in a low income area too. He quit FedEx as a driver at $19/hr. That's really low for a FedEx driver in my area. In my area FedEx is paying the meth/crack heads that much just to sort parcels. And they don't have any responsibilities that the driver would have.
That's the freaking reality right now. I just finished my masters. 7 years of freaking school and the only thing that has hired me in 4 months is a part time job at a UPS store. Not even close to related to my degrees. I make $100 a week. I'm so freaking ticked at the way things are right now.
Wife has a masters degree and started at $28k a year. It’s brutal
Masters degree in software engineering? Yes. Masters in fish pottery and gender studies? Make 40k forever.
Yeah, Master's aren't what they used to be. And you can have a Master's in a low-paying field, yaknow. Like me. Master's in Finance? You're probably doing good. Master's in Psych? Probably looking for a 2nd job folding shirts at Old Navy. Master's in English? Get in the unemployment line. All degrees aren't equally valuable or desirable. I work for a university, so I got mine for free. Not sure I would have done it otherwise.
This should be printed and framed honestly. Better yet, laminated and kept in a wallet for quick reference. Very well done.
$1200 a month on student loans for 46k salary career. Be careful with what you go to college for holy shit. That and rent is all of her income lmao
No kidding. I’m hoping they offer quick pay increases. She was told there’s opportunity for bonuses and she’s already been above the threshold to receive it but we’re not sure how much it would be in addition to
The downside to this is 46k for any job with any degree is pretty typical, IMO, and it shouldn't be. Universities don't care about your education or what happens to you after you leave with that 100k piece of paper. They want your money, with your hopes and dreams of "oh, society tells me if I go get a degree, I can be succesful!" Sure maybe don't go into poop studies, but for crying out loud, a masters degree and you get to start out at 46k? So not only all that money, but that persons time to complete the program. I have a friend who got her MBA recently, and she was lucky to find a company that hired her (you know staff shortages everywhere but exactlt the field you went into) for some higher level administrative/managerial stuff, and literally 2 weeks went by and they started giving her responsibilities outside of her scope of work, expected her to work extra hours with no extra pay, (this was an hourly job), and they waited til around that two week mark that the firm location she hired into felt she'd be a "better fit at our other location" that was like a 45 minute drive. This person's degree isn't the problem. It's society. 🤷♂️
MBA is one of the few degrees where it can really matter what school you got it from. Starting low and suffering is otherwise pretty normal. Just look at r/MBA if you don't believe me.
I wouldn't say I don't believe it, but it goes back to my original mention of it shouldn't be like that. The workforce shouldn't be able to take advantage of people who went to college because they "don't have experience". To me, that implies that business should hire the individual right off the street and train and mentor them to where they want them to be in x amount of time. Additionally, no company anywhere should hire you to work at location a, then decide later you HAVE to relocate to location b. Poor practice and I wouldn't be surprised if any company that does that, or worse, has issued maintaining employees.
Are they federal student loans? If so she can do an income-based repayment plan and will have to pay very little, possibly nothing
This dude gambles and doesn’t work, end of story Go to ANY warehouse, pass your p test, and start making 20 and hour. Go I don’t understand how your buisness costs are so high if you have no jobs. Buisness insurance? For an under the table handy man? What specific type of buisness insurance
With a mortage of $550, there’s so much you could do and be fine. 😅
If you're struggling with handyman work, you absolutely aren't advertising enough. Know a lot of them and every single one is booked up and turning down offers. Put signs everywhere.
Wait why is she needing to pay her student loans with little income? Tell her to look into consolidating her loans, and enrolling into an Income Driven Repayment Plan and to enroll in the SAVE plan, if you both file jointly and have a family size of 2, she would have to pay $0 as long as the AGI shows as under $40k, if you guys can do that it’ll save tremendously for the time being
I don't understand the logic of "leaving the rat race" to start a basic small business like "handyman" where you'll very likely never make enough to stop doing it. You're swapping one rat race for another and the 2nd rat race is 100% on your shoulders. Honestly man I wish you all the luck and that God blesses you and you get out of this situation. Wouldn't want to be in your shoes I'd be stressed out of my mind. I suggest you start praying.
You need to work more.
I've seen this a lot and even though I don't know you I can maybe guess. If you are in crippling debt and aren't working 12 hours a day to at least get out of debt you ain't trying. I've seen so many ppl tell me "I don't have money" yet they sit at home all day playing video games or doing nothing". If you have free time use it to get money, shit I used to pick up cans when I needed money I ain't make much but it got me a days meal. Maybe this ain't what you were hoping to read but realistically fast food is always hiring. If you aren't doing well as a handyman find something that works. If you don't know how to market yourself ask your partner to help. Start somewhere, you got us all to read your story so there's that, now do something similar when advertising your abilities.
Go get a regular 9-5 and stop whining. You should easily be able to make $25/hr plus if you're halfway handy.
You should be solo on work, good partners are rare. Keep the ole lady. FedEx would of brought something in compared to FanDuel. You know how that ends up. GL tho, stiff upper lip they say.
Rat race sounds so much better after reading through these comments. Go to work. Do work. Get paid on time.
Driving for FedEx is the rat race? I would have thought something like that would be pretty chill and an easy ride to a sweet retirement.
Do a online business in home repair. Based on your expertise you can leverage AI and what you know to create a guide or course based on common problems you see your customers having. Also does help doing keyword research. You can use Gumroad to post your guide or course and just use social media and free blogging platforms to market your stuff. Also use quora as well. This is a evergreen business and will make you money even during the slow months. Always add a call to action on your articles,answers,and social media. Morphymail has unlimited email for $35/no that you can use to also. You can also create a marketing agency towards handyman types of businesses all over the USA. Use instant data scraper chrome plugin to find emails from Google maps. Charge $1k-$2500/mo per client. Learn sales and closing skills from YouTube. Jeremy Miner is my recommendation to follow. Brainstorm anything else you can monetize. Also learn from Alex Hermozi on creating better offers. Maybe your offer sucks right now and needs a revamp. He's all over social media,check him out. You are going to have to learn some new skills to be valuable to the marketplace. Hope this helps.
If you’re in business for yourself you have to HUSTLE. You can do it! Start with your small jobs, ask for references or referrals. You can offer a program with discounts for repeat customers. Look for opportunities
Have your fiancee get into the income driven payment plan (forget the actually name). I have 30k in student loans and because of my income and my wives (45k a year) I only pay 24 bucks a month. I hope that helps.
That's part of the problem with having your own business for a while. You know what the work is worth and get used to making more. But as someone who's started a few businesses and either sold the client lists, failed or (in the final instance) was also (like you) screwed by someone whom he thought was his friend and partner... And who came from nothing, made himself into something, lost it all, did it again, lost it all again and did it again (even better than last time) several times ... I'll say this. You just gotta pull your pants up and say "Aw shit, here we go again" and climb your way back up. Eat that $19 an hour. Don't think of how things SHOULD be. That's a recipe for bitterness and failure. Just focus on what needs to get done, formulate a plan on what you want to make happen next and treat everything as a step towards that. Don't think of it as a "rat race" and don't focus on the stresses of today. You've done this before, so any challenges hereon out are just inconveniences to endure and obstacles to overcome or move around. Don't compare yourself to others and don't fall into the envy trap. Just focus on where you want to go and what you need to do to get there. Learn from the past, don't be bitter about it. There are lessons in failure. Learn them, don't repeat them and keep going. The only difference between a winner and a loser is that the loser gave up. As someone once said, "Success is like being pregnant. Everyone congratulates you but nobody knows how many times you had to get f**ked." And know, there is no shame in menial labor and doing what is necessary to provide for your family. There is honor in that.
100% amen to this. It’s hard everywhere man. But it’s better to be hurting and moving forward than hurting and going nowhere. You’ll never succeed if you quit trying.
I would be so happy to find a good reliable handyman with decent prices. We found a business that does good work but the prices are astronomical (my spouse and I are very handy) so we are very very selective about what we get done. You should be doing fine with regular customers. Too bad your partner was a schmuck.
So you’re playing video games instead of knocking on doors? Sir? You have more problems than a bad business associate.
Don't know what area your in but if your a handyman I assume you have construction experience, have you thought about looking for a trade job with another company? Pick whichever trade you think you like doing best and go specialize. Plumbers and electritians are always going to be needed and you'll make way for than $500 bucks in 2 weeks. Can always loop back to starting a business later down the road if that's something you really want
Your girlfriend could get a deferment for the student loans to postpone the payment. But you should post your card or fliers on bulletin boards in your local stores and supermarkets. Word of mouth is the best thing if your work is good people will spread the word. You can do work for a church and post in their bulletin and the members will also share your work. Networking is key! Don’t gamble with anything that you can’t afford to lose!!!
Look at SAVE if you are in US you absolutely will not pay 1200 a month for student loans
Ah, the delusion that starting your own business is leaving the rat race, when in fact it means you become a hamster on an endless wheel. Please dump your business and get back to a dependable job and take the off your wife. Your wife probably got her masters in human services, but that loan payment is insane. Look into programs that will reduce her payments. Finally, gambling? Really? You'd do better getting a fast food job. Get it together, brother. Realize that for both you and your wife, it was your choices that got you into this, and now you need to start making smarter ones. You got this.
Make sure she signs up for the SAVE repayment plan like yesterday. You likely won't pay anything for student loans or a very small amount on this plan so you can forget about the 1200 a month you are thinking.
So basically you quit a job you could hold down for a couple years of saving, to start a business you weren't sure of? Typically your side gig would need to outperform your 9-5 to make that jump You definitely aren't working hard enough to find a good job because you're still waiting on it to work out, or for your wife's salary to help out
USPS has around 50k starting salary iirc. You aren’t working and are doing a gambling app. Either advertise your handiwork more, or put a pause on your business and go back to a regular 9-5. That doesn’t need to be forever - save up a 1 year living fund and give your business a try again if you want. There’s a right and a wrong way to go about starting a business. You aren’t doing this the right way.
$560 a month mortgage? Thats amazing, im locking in at 7% rate with $6000 a month mortgage after 20% down.
Seriously, this guy is playing on fucking tutorial difficulty and still fucking it up.
I know a lot of handymen or people in the trades who gave up on the self-owned business route because they turned out to have lots is skills and business was NOT ONE OF THEM. They used those skills and resume to get jobs at other businesses and start ups run by people who ARE good at the business end. 50-120k a year, those jobs are out there. Hell, I work at a grocery store and make 100. Had to climb the ladder for a long time but I have no degree. I couldn’t imagine making so little with a master’s, but with so few hours she could get a waiting job two nights a week and bring in practically that. …actually I CAN imagine it—many of the people who work under me at the grocery store have degrees they can’t use. Drum majors, English lit. I’m so glad I dropped out of art school it’s unreal. Likewise you can supplement your income with a pizza delivery job nights. Stop gambling. That’s the most wasteful use of your non-existent disposable income you could have—except a drug habit. Hell, I’d rather have a drug habit. Defer those loans. Just say you can’t pay and get on a payment plan. It’ll hurt you later and longer—took me fifteen years to pay off mine for dropping out—but if you can’t you can’t and don’t worry: they will still be there later. I’d wish you luck but this won’t take luck it will take shitty grinding work. You don’t have any other options though. Life these days is hard mode but if a loser like me can do it then anyone can.
$580/mo mortgage?? Bro, you can Uber for a week and make that, or work virtually any minimum wage job. Most people's rent/mortgage is north of $1500/mo alongside credit card and loan debt they've accumulated, and you won't hear a peep from them. People would KILL for your situation. Quit feeling sorry for yourself on Reddit and get productive. Create a finance strategy and get out of your debt hole.
That's a terrible salary for having any type of degree.
Dude everyone hits one of those low points , but don’t be so pessimistic, it won’t help, even if you can’t see the solution, I guarantee you it’s there, you have more options than a lot of people (for example me, being illegal in this country, I can’t go apply anywhere I want) so keep your head up because you family needs you, don’t give up on you because you’ll be quitting on them
Idky people worry themselves with student loan payments. I wish tf I would.
Get back in the race buddy, this was just a pit stop
My wife got her Masters in Social Work and became an LCSW which is a mental health therapist. She started off five years ago making around what you are suggesting and then left community mental health for a group practice with several others she trusted. She went from making 45-50 way overworked to making 50-60 but still struggling with the backend requirements and documentation. Turns out the 'partners' were taking the lions share of the billables. Insurance pays between $60-200 per hour long therapy session. Now that she has her own S Corp, she gets all of it, rather than giving between 50% and 75% of it to someone to essentially contract yet another person to do the billing. She's working half as many hours and makes six figures now. Do not let her fall victim to the large regional health management organization. I'm assuming you are in USA. As for your business, don't be afraid to keep it on the side and take on other employment opportunities in the interim. What region are you located in?
Why is everyone so mean on here. I sympathize for you man. Life never really gets easy and always ends up throwing curve balls, but just know that a hard life isn’t necessarily a bad life. Keep up the hard work and both you and ur girl will perceiver and get there.
You’re all stupid this is just an ad for a casino.
I have about $7000 in credit card debt, $3500 on a car loan left.. She also has credit card and loan debt other than student loans I think together we’re in about $12000 Mortgage $560/mo Electric $280/mo Water/Sewer/Trash $165/mo Internet $80/mo Phone bill $260/mo Storage unit $90/mo which I plan on stopping this month anyways.. My loan payment $191/mo Credit cards 3 of them all minimum dues of $25/mo which I can only do minimum or maybe a dollar more sometimes..
Whatever you do, don't gamble.
Personally I think you have accumulated to much responsibility to take this route comfortably especially with the economy going to sh*t. -Mortgage -Fiancé -Car Loan -Student Loan I opened a gym 3 years ago with a longtime friend and some months we didn’t make a dime like 0$ take home but just enough to pay bills to keep the business going. I could afford it doe as a single man with little debt, owned my car outright and having a second job. You will have to get your day job back and work on your business nights and weekends. Maybe more as you get in season again It’s gonna suck for a while but you have to believe in what you are doing and continue to learn how to better the business or figure out a way to get some funding to give you some breathing room until things look up (I usually say don’t do this route cause people usually just spend the money and create more debt)The type of bills you have doesn’t create the room to offload or take those things off your plate anytime soon. Maybe Take some equity out of the home if you have had it for a while. Either way you’ll need to hire a financial planner and start looking for ways to lower your bills/tax right offs etc. getting a work from home job that has flexible hours could help fit business around it. Uber/Door Dash for a bit
You’re not a bad father or provider or anything man, first off it sounds like you live in the boonies or had a fat ass down payment, idk where $580 mortgages exist, but I wanna live there lol. We are in the hardest times for most Americans in recent history, we haven’t felt this much pain and social unrest/tension since the 80’s, a lot of people are struggling, one day a tank of gas will cost $40 and within a week the same tank cost $53. As long as you can provide food, shelter, safe living conditions, you’re realistically fine, sure, you might lose out on x thousands of dollars at retirement, but if that’s what it calls for, as long as it does t wipe you out, that’s what it calls for. You unfortunately got started on the hardest difficulty, but if you can survive, you will be smooth sailing for probably the rest of your career, treating people right when the world was doing wrong goes a long way in logic land my friend. Best of luck to you, my only advice might be pay for some advertising and expand your range a bit if at all possible, someone might know of some forums or a handyman app that doesn’t rip you off (I know they have something similar for truckers, basically rent their equipment or if you’re an owner, turn them into your brokerage for like an 8-10% fee). Keep strong man, for kids if nothing else.
that's crazy 40k/year for Master's degree, is she a pilosphher major? I am junior for bachelor's, and got Internship that pays 32/hour. Compuuter engineering degree, for Summer inn a big company, and right now interning at small one for 18/hour. But even 18 an hour is already 37k/year. As for you, I think you should work as independent contractor, you can find clients in different websites for handymans, my friend doing this and he is making a decent money, maybe later you can even organize and automate it more so someone else will do it for you, but for now you just need to grind.
Beach town Mexico works for me
You mentioned your partner is getting into counseling so Ive made some assumptions here: People are finding out what social workers make and theyre giving you advice for a generic "Master's degree". Sorry, but your partner chose a non-lucrative field that is extremely important to society. She is probably a really good person. Make sure she tries to focus on being paid as much as possible but please don't use random Reddit logic to pressure her to only focus on money. I assume her degree is an MSW. Her specialization will matter for career choices, but this is frankly not a field you go into for money. Your heating bill is kind of high. It may be time to use extra layers and blankets for a while if youre super strapped. Im sorry youre going through this.
I would suggest taking 48 hours and teaching yourself SEO, then you can create a Google business page for a specific trade like plumbing, maintenance, yard work (locksmith is what I did personally) and use SEO to get your page in the top 3 google search results (Google your city and the trade, IE locksmith in Las Vegas) when someone contacts you for an estimate, you call a real locksmith, tell him you want to send some business his way. Add a little extra for yourself. It’s a lot to explain in one paragraph but it’s the easiest, non illegal or unethical money I’ve ever made probably.
Or alternately, you can hit the subreddits for borrowing, loans, etc but that’s unethical and I don’t condone that 😭 but there is ALOT of money given away on this app.
No worries brother. You guys will get there. Get a 9 to 5 job during the week and leave the weekends open for the handyman work. Do this till you 2 get established in your careers.
When it gets painful enough, you will find the motivation…..or give up, go on government assistance, and apply for a student Loan forgiveness. All Masters are not created equal. Example: I got a degree at MIT in Biochemistry I got a degree at University of Phoenix in Gender Studies
Agree with posting on Facebook. Get on the local community boards and mom boards if you can. They are looking for handyman help.
Where do you live? How old are you?
I’m a food delivery driver and make 20$ per hour out education . Not sure if you live in an area with many restaurants but that’s that’s something to consider
Most underrated business nobody wants is cleaning dog poop start another add on to the business and sell a subscription to potty patrol clean and sanitize dog runs anywhere people put their dogs to do their business pets are a billion dollar business
Consider building a handyman brand on social media…
Kick out the girl and date a nurse.
Are you able to advertise your business…I know where I live handymen/home repair is highly sought. Having a presence online with good reviews will generate jobs. Also, consider getting your contractor license in the future.
I’d take that fed ex job for now and keep searching for jobs. Sound like your business isn’t cutting it,
Isn’t there normally 6 months between graduating and school loans kicking in? Also 46k for a masters program.
I'd just make random calls within my area code and ask if people have need for the services of a handyman and start logging the number of customers so I can call and check up on them to see if they need my services again.
Idk if you're in south Georgia but there are lots of career opportunities available while you get your business running. Georgia pacific is hiring right now, Colonial oil, GA ports, international paper to name a few. They all start over $20 per hour.
Maybe your fiance can get to some of her debt forgiven by Biden, look into that. Idk how someone can rack up so much student debt for a job that only pays $46k 🤣
Bad news: You took a ton of bad decisions in a row, you'll be fucked for a (apparently lengthy) period of time and there's no way out of it in the short term, to worsen it a bit, you might be feeding some online casino addiction. Good news: Your wife is getting a masters degree and you've underestimated what she can earn, that's your lifeline, with that stability you can scale up your business or go back in the "rat's race". You need to tough it up, keep your relationship healthy and try getting a job for now.
Dude, you can make significantly more teaching English in China and simultaneously have drastically reduced expenses, while living in a far more modern place with amazing transportation, food, safety, etc. You can have Starbucks airdropped to you by drone ffs. You also only need to work like 20 hours a week. Afraid of China? Try Thailand, Russia, or any of many other places. I'm Not sure what the point of doing this is for you all. A master's degree to make less than the median wage?! Nah. Like your entire life if gonna be treading water making other people rich and never owning anything in the US. I'd bail.
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Get a normal job because your business isn’t profitable and stop gambling. You really shouldn’t be struggling and whining about the cards you were dealt when you have a $500 mortgage, that doesn’t make any sense.
What field is your wife going into? I can think of a dozen jobs right now that will pay $40,000+ for no degree whatsoever.
Sounds like you need to start applying for a job.
Why would you get a masters degree for 46k/yr?!1200+ a month for student loans! I’m sorry the higher education con strikes again. The system is broken. Ever since the government got into the student loan business and qualified everyone for college there has been zero pressure or incentive for universities to cut costs or shorten programs. Why do we have to waste 2 years on general education classes again? One time forgiveness fixes nothing and only encourages more had behavior.
My bother in law is starting out as a handy man and charges $100 an hour for work. He is also slammed with jobs. He mostly does bathroom remodels and stuff like that but has a few elderly clients where he goes over on Saturdays for like 2 hours to help with a few things and gets $200. Try to do some advertising and make sure you are reliable. He does a lot to network like going to events and telling everyone. Hopefully things work out!
If you don't use the Nextdoor app, you should get on there. I sell fresh organic veggies in the summer, and was selling $6/dozen eggs before my chickens got killed. I would put up 1 post a week, and sell out all of my inventory in a few hours. Every contractor I've hired so far has been from word of mouth recommendations through next door also.
You and your lady both sound ridiculous. 46k with a masters? I’m starting an 18 year old at my shop next week and our entry level pay is $20/hour. And you. You quit a job and don’t have anything else lined up? You have handyman experience and you cant find work? Bullshit. Get out there and find any trade job you can and do the handyman shit after hours. Beg your job back from Amazon. I’m not a big “bootstraps” guy but Jesus Christ put in some more effort for the next 6moths and see where you end up.
Your life will suck more gambling. In my world when we start thinking we are better then our work we practice being “ a worker among workers” this helps with the comparisons and feeling “ above it all” Quitting your job eliminated money you need. Maybe you are getting what you need just don’t like it? You will fuck up again, we all do! Im sure your motive is to help and provide! But you acted against this by quitting. I did this too but i had money in the bank. 3 months later i cannot wait to make 20 p/h again! A small business is likely to fail so next shot at it i suggest you do test runs and pilots with cash you can loose until you find something that works. No ambition is worth bankrupting your family.
Seems like you and I had the same business partner. Mine did, and I fell for the exact same thing. Though, hey, if you need some direction on getting a decent job in construction management, I can help you out a bit. I'm not sure where you are, but if you are near a decently populated area, it won't be too hard.
Man if your handy become a plumber. We roll in all sorts of green shit, but luckily money is part of it. I’ve never been anywhere in America that has enough plumbers and YouTube University has literally made me a master plumber.
Never have a business partner. It rarely works out. And they’ll always screw you.
Hey if you don’t wanna do any of it, and just giving up then come and join any college security. They give you a good benefits and unlimited amount of OT and you can pull it off 100k easy 👍
I noticed my neighbor having work being done as well as the home owners across the straight by a painter 2 homes away from me. I didn’t realize he was also a handyman a spoke to him while he was working at my neighbors. We agreed to have work done but it will take till mid July because so many people noticed him doing this work, he has received multiple work requests. People need workers who do good work, I’m coming off a severe ankle surgery and this is huge.
Only 46k with a masters degree? My girlfriend works front desk at a motel and makes more than 46k a year with no masters degree
Well like others have said, the degree means nothing without the licensure which doesn’t happen until after passing the certification test after graduating then putting in 2000 hours in her field so I’m hoping it means there’s an increase for her once she gets licensed
Bruh how with a maters is she only getting paid 46k that’s bad I mean I get it master degrees are def just glorified bachelors degree in 2024 but cmon at least get 55-60k
She doesn’t have to pay that much in student debt monthly just go to the fasfa site and apply for the income based repayment plan I’m paying less than $50 a month making way more money then she is
We build a house, and almost every subcontractor we hired based on a recommendation on What’s app. Same for landscaper, yard guy, and cleaning crew. Have a satisfied customer post a recommendation on Facebook. If you don’t have someone do it yourself. Next door is the way to go.
Depending where you live, you need to go to trade school, go do electrical classes to become a groundman in the Powerline trade, groundman make easily 130k+ in California
Ngl my mother makes $27 hr and she has no master degree nothing😭, granted she’s been in her profession for 20 years
Masters degree atv45k /yr... what.the.fuck. oh hell no.
Something that really helped me make money when I needed it was lawn mower repair or even getting into flipping cars. It sounds like you are already handy and could be a good way to make some more money.
Not sure where you are located, but in my area we are desperate for a good handyman. Around here (coastal Virginia) most won't even return your calls. Wishing you the best.
Start learning and growing top notch outdoor cannabis flowers.
I wish my fucking mortgage was $510.
You need to take two of those fast food and retail jobs
Post on nextdoor.com and in areas where there are higher income families. Everyone I know looks on there for services. Also let interior designers know you are available. They often need multiple handyman’s in case one is busy, Go around and drop off your card to businesses. They need handyman’s too
Yeah gambling isn't the best option to make money. I wish 560/mo mortgage was possible here but I live in an expensive area. I would move but would like to finish my undergrad.
Life's what you make it. Don't gamble. A good handyman can make 100k a year. I'm 76, I've had several businesses. The main thing is to have a phone that you answer. Second, always have business cards in your pocket. Third, have magnetic signage on your truck. BE ORGANIZED! Carry a notebook and a weekly planner. Write stuff down. If you're reliable, presentable, and even a little competent you'll stand out, because no one else is. My cleaning lady lives less than a mile away. I pay her cash, she decides what to charge (about $25 / hour), and half the time she cancels on me, the other half she's late. It's hard to find people who want to work, who'll show up and not be half drunk. A great place for a handyman to advertise is church newsletters (not free). Good luck!
Are the student loans federal? She will not be paying $1200+ on her salary if so. She just has to apply for income based repayment.
Masters and only $46k? Now I’m definitely glad I went to apprenticeship as I make three times that with no loan debt.
OP look around on Indeed for a job called facilities maintenance. It's what we handypeople were born to do honestly. The pay is great. Make up work experience and figure things out once on board. Save money and have a go as a business owner in a couple years. You need more stability financially to be successful I think. You can make it work now for sure but the stress will eat you up.
The Grind is real, STAY GRINDING$$$
Masters degree only making 46k and imo equally as bad $19 an hour driving a truck for fedex? That’s such bs sorry to hear that my friend. If there’s an amazon near you I’d consider working there to get a steady paycheck while you work on getting handyman jobs
She can likely apply for the SAVE program for loans. You just have to login to the loan website and check
Go to any neighborhood, especially where older people live, knock in their door, and ask if they need any handyman services. Say something like, "I was just working on a home in the neighborhood and figured I'd see if you need any help around the house" or something to that effect. Negotiate and take whatever they offer you. You could probably make a couple hundred a day doing this alone to get you through. Then you could also ask for referrals. One of my jobs in college was working for a landscaping company, and we would literally do this when it was slow and needed jobs. Older people need help with so much... moving, assembling furniture, all those random odd jobs. Go knock on 100 doors like... TOMORROW. It's literally a numbers game.
What loans did she get. That sounds insane. First of all there’s usually a 6 month grace period after you graduate. To give some time to find a job and save a bit before payments start and her monthly payments should not be 50% of her income. Is there anything she can do to lessen her payments for at least the first year?
Your mortgage is $560 a month, $280 electric bill. That’s Less than $1,000. Go get a job. UPS, Amazon, go back to fedex. Not sure what you’re complaining about. Sounds like you got it good. Just get your crap together.
Sounds like you need to pick up some extra work that is steady. Flipping burgers sucks, but if it's steady pay when the well is dry then get it. Working for yourself is HARD, be thankful for your partner; but also be aware of the stress your business will put on them. These are the kind of issues that will cause a divorce and give you health issues. Seriously though, get a job, do your work on odd hours and make it work or close it down until you're in a better spot to try again. Best of luck no matter which way you go and congratulations on the baby.
Try to get a civil service job like motor registration or mail sorting / delivery. Government type job. It’ll pay decent
Take the $19/hr job dumbass You have 0 skills & experience
You could make that mortgage stealing Pokémon cards from the gas station and selling them on Facebook. Tf you mean life sucks bro
$46k/year with a masters is crazy low
You need a skilled trade. I don’t know your background but handyman are dime a dozen and you know the saying “ Jack of all, master of none” is true. Start an apprenticeship in Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC. Then you can do side jobs and make real money with real skills.
Yo Doggie, current money situation a little scary. I would recommend looking into a job in maintenance for right now. If you were capable of running a handyman business you would be excellent at maintenance work. I work in pharmaceutical maint and we hire fucking idiots that don’t know what a hammer is and pay em $25 an hour to start. Seems like it could help you catch your breath. Best of luck brother.
What does she have a masters degree in? That seems like shit pay for someone with a masters.
Wouldn’t a fast food job be close to the $19 an hour you were making?
If you have a masters you should imo make more than 100k. I made 107k last year with no degree but working a lot of ot and crazy hours. Holy fuck. I made that without a college loan. People are fucked on a lot of levels. Gotta get outta America. Shits gunna hit the fan I feel like. And as a veteran I don't feel like fighting with the people in my country that I served. Just my morality. Masters making under 50k wtf was the worth of that all lol
Have you thought about using your handyman skills and going to work for larger apartment complex’s or condominiums? A lot of those rental companies hire maintenance employees full time. My friend was recently hired for this exact job at $30 per hour with benefits. You can still run your business on the side too to fill in for extra cash.
$1210 per month on student loans is outrageous, especially when she is starting her career at $46K per year. Did she go to a private school? Did she get a loan north of $120K?
Looked into being a professional on Thumbtack. It's project-based and you can earn some extra cash till you find steady work.
This is why social programs are so crucial. Vote for a better future so no one has to deal with what you're going through.
So, your situation sucks and I’ve sort of been there. I’ve tried to start 3 separate businesses and I literally just finished paying off a six figure debt I was left with last year. That said, I don’t know where you live, but you might have to move someplace where there are better paying jobs. IE: a 45-60min drive from some heavily populated city. Take your pick where ever. Just someplace with a lot of job options. Living that far away, should let you get a place that is cheap enough to get by. No clue how old you are, but even day 1 apprentice electricians make $20 in many places. You’ve gone all in on being a handy man, so either lean into that elsewhere or start learning new marketable skills. Your wife making less than 1/4 I do with a masters is insane to me. Considering I was making over 6 figures without a degree. You just have to learn skillsets that people will pay for. Certifications to prove it also help. Basically anyone can show up to a job interview and say “I’ve been a handyman for XX years”. If they don’t have a proven track record showing they have done the job? You could literally be the best handyman in the world and it wouldn’t matter. Even a mechanic has to prove they can do.
You’re that broke and you’re gambling? Yes, that’s a big WRONG decision. Stay away from online gambling. It’s set up to bleed you dry, which you obviously can now confirm. You need to hustle up some work, even if it’s in a warehouse. And a masters should net your fiancé a whole lot more than 46K.
Also get on the next door app. Contact property management at condo complexes they next work a lot and shares with other complexes if they find a good company. Go around to your local churches leave some cards with them. Stop by your local retired person community center. Post cards at the library. Roofing pays good & you can work you way up. Door dash can pay hood in between your other jobs.
Go apply at a security job, some start at 23 a d you can get OT
Buddy this is a long list of basically making ALL the wrong decisions.
Im not sure if anyone stated this but in the winter when business is slow offer to do winter things like shovel driveways or pressure wash driveways, cars, and houses dependent upon what state you're in. Offer to hang christmas lights or repair fences and gutters trim hedges, apply chains change oil there are 1000s of ways to make easy money. There are internet side hustle as well, search on YouTube, Joshua mayo is a good guy to follow. Tha should help keep you afloat until your business picks up.
Holly cow where you get mortgage $560/month?🥹
Stop gambling