Running a trade business can look pretty simple from the outside.
You get the work, do the job, send the invoice and get paid.
But anyone who’s actually self-employed knows it doesn’t always work like that.
You can be working six days a week and still wonder where the money has gone.
You can have plenty of work booked in but not enough cash in the bank.
You can finish a job and realise you’ve made nowhere near what you thought you would.
You can have a customer who won’t pay, a job that’s gone badly wrong, a tax bill you weren’t prepared for, or simply a feeling that you’re working harder than the business is rewarding you.
And sometimes you don’t need another article telling you what you should be doing.
You need someone to look at the situation you’re actually in and help you work out what to do next.
That’s what we’re trying to do here.
Got a Problem With Your Trade Business? Tell Us What’s Happening
We’re testing a new service for tradesmen.
Instead of giving you another generic checklist or telling you to “work smarter”, tell us about the actual problem you’re dealing with.
We’ll look at what you’ve told us and give you some practical advice on what we think you should do next.
It could be a problem with:
- Making enough money
- Pricing or quoting
- A job that’s losing money
- Cash flow
- customers who aren’t paying
- Tax
- Overheads
- Taking on an apprentice or employee
- Deciding whether to take a job
- Working too many hours
- Knowing where the money is going
- Or something completely different
The first 10 problems are free while we’re testing the service.
Tell us what’s going on below. Don’t worry about making it sound professional — just explain the problem in your own words.
We’ll ask for your email address so we can send you our response.
You don’t need to know exactly what’s wrong. That’s partly what we’re here to help you work out.
This Isn’t About Giving You Another Course
There’s plenty of financial and business information online.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
We’ve written plenty of it ourselves.
But sometimes information isn’t the problem.
Your particular situation is the problem.
You might know that you need to make more profit, for example.
That doesn’t tell you why you’re not making it.
You might know that customers should pay you on time.
That doesn’t tell you what to do about the customer who’s already £8,000 behind.
You might know that you should keep an eye on your cash flow.
That doesn’t help much when you’ve got three big supplier bills due next week and two customers haven’t paid you.
That’s where another pair of experienced eyes can be useful.
Give us the problem. We’ll help you work through it.
What Sort of Problems Can We Help With?
There isn’t a fixed list.
If it’s a genuine problem with your trade business and it’s something we can give sensible practical guidance on, tell us about it.
But these are some of the situations we have in mind.
“I’m Working All Week But I’m Still Not Making Enough Money”
This is one of the biggest problems a self-employed tradesman can have.
The answer isn’t necessarily to work more hours.
You might be losing money through pricing, unproductive time, overheads, poor job selection, unpaid work or simply not understanding what your business actually needs to earn.
We’ve looked at this problem from several angles, including Why some tradesmen earn £30k while others earn £100k and Why tradesmen can be busy but still broke.
The important thing is working out what’s happening in your business.
“I’ve Got Plenty of Work But There’s Never Any Money”
Being busy isn’t the same as being profitable.
You can have a full diary and still struggle with cash flow.
The money might be tied up in unpaid invoices, materials, VAT, tax, wages or simply poor timing between money coming in and money going out.
If that’s your problem, tell us what’s happening rather than simply trying to find another job.
“I’ve Lost Money on a Job”
It happens.
The question is what caused it.
Was the original quote wrong?
Did the job take twice as long as expected?
Did materials cost more?
Did the customer keep changing what they wanted?
Did you do additional work that never got charged for?
Or was the job simply never profitable in the first place?
We’ve written about [what to do when a job starts losing money] and [why tradesmen lose money on jobs], but your situation may need a more specific answer.
“I’m Not Sure What I Should Be Charging”
Pricing is one of the areas where a small mistake can have a huge effect over a year.
But there’s no magic day rate that works for every tradesman.
Your overheads, working days, utilisation, business structure and the type of work you do all matter.
If you’re constantly busy but the numbers don’t work, tell us what you’re doing and what’s happening.
“Customers Owe Me Money”
Late payment isn’t just annoying.
It can create a genuine cash-flow problem for a small trade business.
If you’re carrying the cost of materials, labour and overheads while waiting for customers to pay, tell us about the situation.
We can look at the circumstances and help you think through what we’d do next.
“I’ve Got a Tax Bill Coming and I’m Worried About It”
Tax is another area where the problem isn’t always a lack of information.
You might understand how tax works but still have a problem because you haven’t put enough money aside.
Or you might have an unexpected payment coming up and need to work out what to do.
We’ve got detailed guides covering [how self-employed tax works for tradesmen], [how much tax you should set aside] and [how to avoid the January tax panic].
But if you’ve got a specific situation, tell us what it is.
“I’m Working More But I’m Not Getting Ahead”
This is one of the most frustrating situations for a self-employed tradesman.
More jobs.
More hours.
More money coming through the business.
But somehow you’re not actually better off.
That can be a sign that the problem isn’t how much work you’re doing.
It could be how the business is structured, where the money is going, which jobs you’re taking or how you’re pricing them.
That’s the sort of problem we’d like to help you get to the bottom of.
I Don’t Even Know What’s Going Wrong”
Sometimes you know something isn’t right, but you can’t put your finger on the problem.
You’re busy. The work is coming in. You’re earning money. But you’re not getting ahead.
You might not know whether the problem is your pricing, costs, cash flow, the jobs you’re taking, the amount you’re working or something else entirely.
That’s still a problem you can bring to us.
Tell us what’s happening and give us as much detail as you can. We’ll look at it and help you work out where we think the problem lies.
What Problems Can You Bring Us?
It’s deliberately simple.
1. Tell us what’s happening
Give us as much detail as you think is relevant.
There’s no need to make it sound professional.
Just explain the problem in your own words.
2. We’ll look at it
We’ll consider what you’ve told us and try to identify what we think is actually causing the problem.
3. We’ll email you back
We’ll give you some practical thoughts on what we’d do next.
We’re not promising to have a magic answer to every problem.
And we’re not pretending to replace an accountant, solicitor or other professional where specialist advice is needed.
But if you’ve got a trade-business problem that needs another pair of experienced eyes on it, we’ll try to help.
Why Are We Doing This?
Because we think tradesmen need something slightly different.
There’s no shortage of generic business advice.
But running a trade business isn’t the same as running a generic online business.
You’re dealing with customers, quotes, materials, vans, tools, subcontractors, tax, late payments, jobs that overrun and days when nothing goes according to plan.
Sometimes you just want to say:
“This is what’s happening. What would you do?”
That’s the service we’re testing.
Got a Problem?
If something isn’t working in your trade business, tell us about it.
You don’t need to know exactly what’s wrong.
That’s partly what we’re trying to help with.
Give us the problem. We’ll help you work through it.
The first 10 problems are free while we’re testing the service.
A few useful links for the article
I would not turn this into a wall of internal links. The article’s primary job is to get the visitor to submit their problem.
I’d use around 5–6 highly relevant links, including:
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