More and more businesspeople are trying their hand at the skilled trades. Over 180,000 skilled trade businesses are looking for a successor by 2020. As a result, there are a wide variety of opportunities for businesspeople to acquire and continue a successful skilled trade business. Business exchange platforms and specialized sales consultants provide valuable assistance in this process. In doing so, the businessperson can put their skills to good use. They analyze financial statements, draw up business plans, and secure financing. Buying a business offers the advantage of building on an existing foundation and being able to quickly bring their own ideas to life. In fact, the chances of success are many times greater when buying an existing business than when starting a new one: The buyer of an existing business can assume that the previous owner chose the right location and has the right products in their portfolio; otherwise, the business would have ceased to exist long ago.
Even if the purchase goes quite well, the real challenge begins once the takeover is complete—navigating the balance between the trade and business management.
The traditional career path in the skilled trades goes from apprenticeship to journeyman to master craftsman. While the focus for an apprentice at the beginning is on learning technical skills, a journeyman is already expected to take on a certain degree of personal responsibility and plan their own work. The path to self-employment then leads through master craftsman school, despite various amendments to the Crafts and Trades Act. This is an important institution, since the skilled trades involve more than just installation or repair; without the ability to calculate costs and issue invoices, a master craftsman can quickly find himself without funds. It is an undisputed given that a master craftsman must also be a master of numbers.
But what about the reverse? When working capital, cash flow, and financial management suddenly enter the world of angle grinders, workbenches, and wire strippers, opposites collide that could not be more different.
Mutual understanding breaks down barriers. Listening builds trust.
Prejudices arise very quickly here. On one side are the undisciplined tradespeople—often forgetful and rough in tone—engaged in an eternal battle of clichés against the suit-wearing snobs who have no idea what hard work really is. While such thinking might still lead to animosity after work, it’s a fatal mindset in the trades. Presumably, no boss is as dependent on the support of his employees as the business graduate running a trades business. It’s up to him to be willing to learn and understand the bigger picture. The temptation to be arrogant because of that degree hanging on the wall leads quickly to ruin. This challenge can only be overcome by showing appreciation for the employees’ technical skills.
Just a little bit of technical know-how.
However, the business graduate quickly falls into the trap of becoming a self-taught apprentice. Courses are taken, training programs and seminars attended, and technical literature pored over. From there, it’s not far to “helicopter syndrome,” with constant questioning, monitoring, and interference in day-to-day operations. Frustration and discontent among employees are inevitable. The boss does need to know how the engine runs, but doesn’t need to be able to take it apart, clean it, and put it back together. Just as you wouldn’t expect a wine merchant to know how to press grapes. And if there’s ever a misunderstanding regarding a construction project or a specific customer request, employees are happy to help thanks to the trusting working relationship.
After all, no one is born a master.
