This is surprising, but failure when creating a business in the personal services sector, whether self-employed or a franchise, is quite common. In fact, despite very strong demand in a buoyant sector and a flourishing market, there are many who quickly cease their service activities in personal home services. Why ? We take stock of the pitfalls to avoid and the conditions for success. A survival kit for businesses in the SAP business.
Be sure to make the right choice
You have a propensity for the field of social, assistance and help to the person at home. Do you have skills or experience as a carer for the elderly or in activities such as DIY, gardening, home maintenance, cooking, childcare? Do you want to become the boss of your own business in the home services sector? These are already good assets, but they are not enough to succeed. Even if this sector is on the rise, it is essential, when creating a business in personal services, to be aware of the imperatives and sacrifices that you will encounter. Indeed, by becoming an entrepreneur, you gain freedom, but you will find yourself alone to launch and develop your company and your daily work. Prospecting, performance of services or recruitment of home workers, administrative management of clients, so many examples of the activities that you will have to take care of. In short, you have to manage multiple activities beyond your basic knowledge . It is therefore necessary to demonstrate a real entrepreneurial spirit and a good dose of motivation . It is therefore important to know if you feel capable of it.
What are my strengths?
Creating a micro-enterprise in France is now a very simple process. Going into Human Services is obviously a good choice because there is no demand problem and building a quality offer is a guarantee of success. However, like any project that is conceived, preparation and support throughout development are essential and deserve a little prior thought, such as:
- My personal values of altruism and empathy reassure me because I am made to provide quality services to people,
- I want to be able to organize myself as I see fit and I am sufficiently autonomous to run my micro-enterprise;
- My strength of character, my rigor and my abnegation will allow me to develop my business
- I know how to surround myself with people who can help and support me in my business
The success factors in self-employment and in the personal services sector are always linked to a good knowledge of the trade with high rigor and high-level professionalism, and above all a very thorough understanding of customer needs.
Business plan and market study
A business plan in SAP, really? Yes, a business plan for a company in the personal services industry is an important document in several respects . This minimizes the risk of failure. It will allow you, among other things, to:
- Define upstream the roadmap that the company must follow, it will constitute your line of conduct throughout your professional path;
- Define a realistic development strategy beforehand;
- Define the budget available to market your business in relation to your expenses;
- Have a forecast vision of your profitability, according to your structural costs and your potential turnover.
Likewise, do not hesitate to get help to carry out this business plan including a short market study which will allow you to:
- To know the feasibility of his business project in the personal services sector;
- Analyze real market demand and understand the exact needs of customers;
- Identify and study competitors, as well as their strengths and weaknesses;
- Clearly understand how the market is changing;
Follow the evolution of the sector to adapt accordingly.
Training, one of the key success factors
Training is probably one of the points that future entrepreneurs should particularly take into consideration.
Having the basic knowledge to create and manage your business, but also in the particular field of human services in which you want to evolve is essential to succeed in the long term. Obviously, creating and managing a business, even a micro-business where the administrative procedures are deemed to be simplified, requires taking on the ancillary tasks of prospecting, communication, customer relations and after-sales service, accounting, etc. It is therefore necessary to be able to take charge, yourself or with help, of this type of organizational and fiscal obligations. Moreover, even if you have the basic skills, you should know that clients in the personal services sector are often demanding. Thus, you must be as efficient as possible and provide quality services as quickly as possible in order to be able to take care of several customers during the day and thus maximize your turnover , this is called excellence. operational . It is with this idea in mind that we have developed a training course with training institutes, in order to help SAP entrepreneurs and particularly micro-entrepreneurs to train in order to be able to meet a standardized quality label. . This support is the very foundation of our desire to become the partner of personal services professionals.
Don't drown in management
According to INSEE, 26 % of failures come from deficiencies in management and its procession of questions and interrogations: how to declare personal services? How? ‘Or’ What a client must declare his expenses for personal services in order to benefit from the tax credit ? How to start a business in the home services sector? How to manage cash, invoices, reminders, unpaid bills, declarations, the search for customers? While for some it will be easy to manage a microenterprise, for others it will be much more complicated. And feeling lost and overwhelmed in your day-to-day management is one of the main causes of business failure… Especially in a field like the home services sector which requires rigor, autonomy and organization. Augias is there to help you with your day-to-day business and allow you to focus on your core business.
The lack of visibility
Why communicate? Even if the turnover thresholds applicable to micro-enterprises are relatively low, the fact remains that to develop one’s activity and sustain it, it will be necessary to communicate. And yes, without a minimum of publicity, no visibility… And therefore no customers! For this, you can create fairly basic communication media (flyers, business cards, etc.), create and feed a Google My Business or Facebook page, or even a website and above all pamper your existing network. Your customers and their satisfaction are probably the best asset you have, but you still have to let it be known! The good old word of mouth still allows you to make yourself known, but to develop your business in a sustainable way, digital is often the best technique. And this is even more true in personal services where customers place their trust in you… and often the keys to their home. They are particularly attentive to the ratings and comments that your customers may leave. Y ou are your best business card! But there again, don’t panic, Augias helps you find your customers thanks to its connection platform which allows your customers to leave you notes that will convince your prospects.
Don't try to go too fast
This is indeed a pitfall for many entrepreneurs in the activities of home help and personal services… If skipping the steps can be exhilarating at first, it quickly turns out to be complicated. Do not try to go always further, always faster. Get to know yourself and your business, manage your time and your customers, and move forward little by little. Do not try to have too many customers at the beginning, at the risk of disappointing them and losing your very first customers and any chance to develop your network and benefit from recommendations.
Last but not least, don’t be alone. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you can’t get valuable help. It is with this objective that the Augias team offers you its help and to benefit from the advantages of our network of independent professionals in personal services! Whether you need support for the administrative management (quotes, invoices, etc.) of your customers, occasional help to ensure your services or the replacement of an absent or sick speaker, we are at your disposal and help you. find the solution best suited to your needs.