# What do you know now you wish you knew then?



## tcollins (May 21, 2014)

Going through the forums, I see a lot of newbies asking for advice and what to expect and it got me thinking:

What have you learned or know now after being in business for awhile that you really wish you would've known when you started? 
What one bit of information would you provide to somebody just starting out that you wish somebody would've told you?

Tracy


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## Kowboy (May 7, 2009)

You're going to get your a$$ kicked occasionally and there's nothing you can do about it but minimize the frequency and severity. Nothing is more pitiful than someone whining about a lesson they learned in the 1st grade, that life isn't fair, that they've somehow forgotten.

Move on. It's a cost of doing business.


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## Kowboy (May 7, 2009)

In the post-it-and-it-comes-true-department, here we go. I just sent the following email to the real estate management company in charge of renting the home for where I just replaced the sink for the previous owner. Since the job was an hour and a half away, I told them to hire a plumber to stop the leak, send me the bill, and I'd pay it if it were my fault:

"Dear Pat:

I just put check # 2066 in the mail to Curry Plumbing for $131.10, despite this not being my fault. I had no control over where the new sink drain went or over where the existing plumbing was. Although I am a licensed Florida Building Contractor, CBC1259693 and sink replacement falls under the category of "maintenance" and does not require a permit or license, moving the stack, the only solution here, does require a licensed plumber. The sink did not leak when I left the premises.

I would very much appreciate Ms. Jones (my client and the home's previous owner) expressing her acknowledging she hired the right guy for this job in an online review at www.homeadvisor.com."

I could have blown this off with a clear conscience, but chose to take a slight whuppin' to make my customer happy and maybe get some nice ju-ju on the interwebby out of the deal.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Marry the right person, and be careful about choosing business partners.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

tcollins said:


> Going through the forums, I see a lot of newbies asking for advice and what to expect and it got me thinking:
> 
> What have you learned or know now after being in business for awhile that you really wish you would've known when you started?
> What one bit of information would you provide to somebody just starting out that you wish somebody would've told you?
> ...


Fair game - you have to answer your own question....


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## tcollins (May 21, 2014)

hdavis said:


> Fair game - you have to answer your own question....


Okay, that is only fair. I have learned a lot here are just a few. 

Not everyone is your ideal client don't try to make them be, don't overpromise and under deliver, if you have never done the task tell the customer. Run your biz don't let it run you and finally, while customer service is important don't let them walk all over you draw a line in the sand and don't cross it.

Tracy

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

...


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## Lunicy (Dec 24, 2004)

Trust no one.
Kowboy is right, sometimes you are gonna get your butt kicked.
The little old lady, that is an old, repeat customer, may be the one to stab you.

Take care of your knees.

Wish I'd have known about the 2008 thing ahead of time. That one hurt a bit.


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## JAH (Jul 27, 2014)

1- Never put a ring on it.
2- Have everything in writing.
3- Always have a plan B or exit strategy.


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Wish I knew everything I know now, then.


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## rrk (Apr 22, 2012)

It is so much easier to live your life backwards.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

rrk said:


> It is so much easier to live your life backwards.


A lot of truth in "youth is wasted on the young"... :laughing:


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## Unger.const (Jun 3, 2012)

Invest in the good tools.

If you come across a sweet deal on something you DO use . Get it even if you already have one because you'll never see that deal again.

But.......

If it ISN'T something you use then let some other guy win. Sure a truckload of day old bread for a dollar is a good deal. But if you only eat toast twice a year. Your just wasting your dollar.


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Unger.const said:


> Invest in the good tools.
> 
> If you come across a sweet deal on something you DO use . Get it even if you already have one because you'll never see that deal again.
> 
> ...


What are you trying to say?...

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


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## Robie (Feb 25, 2005)

> What one bit of information would you provide to somebody just starting out that you wish somebody would've told you?



Quickbooks.


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Excel


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## Unger.const (Jun 3, 2012)

VinylHanger said:


> What are you trying to say?...
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


Get the chopsaw instead. Lol


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## Jay hole (Nov 12, 2013)

If I knew then what I know now... I would probably eff things up worse!!!!!


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

Maybe 8 years of law school wouldn't have been so bad after all.


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## illbuildit.dd (Jan 7, 2015)

Its a lot easier to pick up chicks than I thought.


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Lottery numbers.


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## RangoWA (Jun 25, 2014)

SmallTownGuy said:


> Send pics or it didn't happen.


Send pics of my folded face first.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

RangoWA said:


> Send pics of my folded face first.


When you grow the stones to tell Colin f2f he's full of it.

I'll get you his address if it'll help.


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## RangoWA (Jun 25, 2014)

SmallTownGuy said:


> When you grow the stones to tell Colin f2f he's full of it.
> 
> I'll get you his address if it'll help.


Sure, give me his email address. I'll bring him up to speed.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

RangoWA said:


> Sure, give me his email address. I'll bring him up to speed.


Straight Blast Gym 
Conor McGregor 
1a Concorde Industrial Estate 
Naas Road 
Dublin 12 
Ireland 

Let me know if you need film...


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## RangoWA (Jun 25, 2014)

SmallTownGuy said:


> Straight Blast Gym
> Conor McGregor
> 1a Concorde Industrial Estate
> Naas Road
> ...


I need you to come along to hold my beer.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

RangoWA said:


> I need you to come along to hold my beer.


So long as it's St Pauli Girl Dark. I hate Irish ale.


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## RangoWA (Jun 25, 2014)

SmallTownGuy said:


> So long as it's St Pauli Girl Dark. I hate Irish ale.


It's just mind over matter. If you don't mind it doesn't matter.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

RangoWA said:


> It's just mind over matter. If you don't mind it doesn't matter.


This is what I don't mind, and if I lose my mind then it don't matter...


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## RangoWA (Jun 25, 2014)

You've lost your mind. Beer is all you're getting.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

RangoWA said:


> You've lost your mind. Beer is all you're getting.


Damned good looking beer holder, ya got to admit...


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## Jay hole (Nov 12, 2013)

Trying to get back to op..... this is a quote that lately I find very true. "Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life."


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## B.Johnson (Sep 17, 2016)

Jay hole said:


> Trying to get back to op..... this is a quote that lately I find very true. "Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life."


If you think hard enough it becomes apparent that everything is on topic. :blink:


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## J L (Nov 16, 2009)

I now know I should have unsubscribed about 100 posts ago :whistling


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

J L said:


> I now know I should have unsubscribed about 100 posts ago :whistling


don't let the door...


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

RangoWA said:


> You made my case. Thoughts must be acted upon to make anything happen.


The happening or any act begins with the thought... the act doesn't exist without the thought first... 

And act (i.e. - reality created) can't happen without the thought first... the thought therefore is the genesis of the reality created...


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## Texas Wax (Jan 16, 2012)

-I think therefore I am
-Where the mind goes the body tends to follow
-Only real truth? We don't know anything really for sure

---Wish I didn't know all that know, yet alone back when.


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## mattsk8 (Dec 6, 2009)

Good grief, it's like you guys all sat around smoking a blunt together and decided to open a debate about what you can and can't control.



SmallTownGuy said:


> That no matter what I dreamed, I should have dreamed bigger, risked more, laughed more, cared less about what others think, and spit in the eye of anybody that wished poor on me.
> 
> Life: Eat it up and spit out the bones - or it will do the same to you.





Robie said:


> If I knew then what I know now...I would have increased the price of my estimates.
> 
> Being new to all this, I was afraid I would miss a job because I was $100 higher than the next guy or...that the job just didn't seem like it was worth a higher price. I worried too much about that.
> 
> If I could go back in time, I would have charged more.


These both :thumbsup:. But it's easy to look back and change things. I thank God for what I have... and don't have. No matter what... it's never enough. Wherever you are now, whatever "thing" you think will make you whatever it is you think you need to be... once you have that it gets replaced with something else, there's no end to it.

"Poor man wanna be rich,
Rich man wanna be king,
And a king ain't satisfied,
'til he rules everything"


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

mattsk8 said:


> ..................
> 
> "Poor man wanna be rich,
> Rich man wanna be king,
> ...


Copied and saved to my journal. Thanks!


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## mattsk8 (Dec 6, 2009)

SmallTownGuy said:


> Copied and saved to my journal. Thanks!


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

that "can i borrow your semen extraction unit"...was not a very good pickup line at a bar.


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## B.Johnson (Sep 17, 2016)

Finally... back on topic!


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