5 Indispensable Business Lessons From Mounting 100 TVs

Mounting TVs can be a lucrative service for any handyman.

• It has a high perceived value relative to install time, so you can easily make $100-$200 per hour.
• It’s a great, low-risk way for a new customer to test your services, allowing you to quickly build your client base.
• And it’s just a low-stress, enjoyable job.

That’s why I’ve invested time to promote and specialize in this service. And in this article and podcast episode, I’m going to share five business lessons I’ve learned after mounting well over 100 TVs.

And by the way, these lessons apply to any home service.

How I Started Mounting TVs

I mounted my first TV in 2012 for a middle-aged woman who found me on Craigslist.

I was surprised by the request when she called since I’d never mounted a TV before. So when she asked how much it would cost, I blurted out the first number that came to my head.

“Seventy-five dollars,” I said with fake confidence.

To my surprise, she agreed, and I scheduled the job for later that day.

When I knocked at her door, I was anxious (and probably awkward) because I wasn’t sure what to expect.

To make it even worse, she sat on the couch, watching my every move as I fumbled with the instructions.

It took me well over an hour (about twice as long as it should have), but I completed the project, and she paid me with a smile.

At first, I figured this was a fluke job because it was so easy, and I didn’t think many people would pay for this service.

I was wrong.

A couple of weeks later, I signed up for Service Magic (now called HomeAdvisor) and started paying for leads. I received my first lead to hang a TV shortly after signing up. I quickly jumped on the lead and told the customer it would cost $100 (again, just a number I pulled out of thin air on the spot).

The customer said yes, and I put it on my schedule. Later that day (my schedule was wide open), I arrived at this wealthy attorney’s estate and immediately realized the job was over my head.

The TV was a gigantic 80″ monster. I couldn’t put this thing on the wall by myself.

But I was already there, so I went to work anyway. Once the bracket was attached to the wall, I asked the customer to help me lift the TV to place it on the wall.

I felt very unprofessional, but she didn’t seem bothered. Again, she paid me with a smile and hired me for many more projects over the coming years.

Again, I felt like this service wasn’t something I could consistently offer. First, I didn’t think many people would need it, and second, I figured that few customers would tolerate helping lift the TV they paid to have installed.

Wrong again.

Over the next decade, I’d mount over a hundred TVs for hundreds of customers. During that process, I learned several valuable business lessons that can be applied to any home service.

Here are some of those lessons.

Lesson #1 – Some things can only be learned by DOING.

Despite doing thorough research before starting my handyman business, I’d never heard anyone discussing mounting TVs (again, this was back in 2011).

This service wouldn’t have crossed my path if I didn’t start my business. Only by immersing myself in the handyman business did I make this discovery.

This is true for countless insights I’ve gained by going deep with the handyman business.

Another example is marketing. My #1 most effective marketing strategy, responsible for 90% of all leads I’ve received in the last decade, was something I discovered after testing a strategy I’d learned from an online marketing course I took a year earlier.

But by immersing myself in marketing and doing it myself, I uncovered gold.

That marketing strategy now keeps me as busy as I want to be for my most profitable jobs with virtually no time or money.

I would never have discovered this strategy if I had just stayed at surface-level education, such as watching or listening to other people talk about marketing. I had to go deep, immerse myself in it, and do it myself.

But many people don’t take action. Instead, they watch YouTube videos, estimate the results they might get, and decide the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

So they do nothing and, consequently, don’t learn anything.

When you actually DO something yourself, that’s when you learn. That’s when your perception of the world shifts. That’s when new possibilities open up.

When you engage in the world and try things (instead of living vicariously through others), you make discoveries that no one is talking about online, propelling your business and freedom forward.

I’ve learned a lot from mentors, and I continue to read books, invest in my education, and learn from others. But, most of my most profitable decisions and discoveries resulted from taking action.

So, lesson #1 – Do things. Stop thinking about starting a business and try it. And then stick with it long enough to go beyond having just a surface-level understanding.

Stop thinking about raising your prices and try it. See what happens and what insights you gain.

Stop thinking about building a website and get to work.

Lesson #2 – View competition as a signal, not a stop sign.

It’s easy to look at a business idea and get discouraged by all the competition, but when you do that, you’re already beaten.

The truth is that there is always competition, but there is also always opportunity.

The competition for mounting TVs seems pretty steep. First, Best Buy’s Geek Squad seems to have a monopoly on the service. Then you have Costco, HelloTech, Walmart, Home Depot, and other big players offering the service.

It seems impossible for a one-person handyman with a small marketing budget to make any meaningful money from this service.

Yet, I continue to generate new leads every month WITHOUT paying a dime to advertise. I could easily get more if I wanted to invest in some advertising.

If I were an outsider, I’d assume trying to get customers for this service would be a waste of time. The only reason I know it’s not a waste of time is I’ve seen the reality myself by immersing myself in it (back to lesson #1).

When you see competition, view it as a signal that a given service is in demand. Competition indicates that people actively pay for the thing you want to sell.

That’s a good thing.

Also, you don’t need a 100% market share to make money. You just need a small chunk of the pie.

Lesson #3 – Execute the basics first

As a new handyman, it’s easy to get caught worrying about small stuff like having the optimal tool bucket, driving the ideal vehicle, or looking stupid in front of a customer because the project takes longer than expected.

And sure, those things probably do have an impact.

But the majority of your time and effort should be on two things:

1. Doing high-quality work.
2. Offering great service.

If you provide excellent customer service and do immaculate work, your customers won’t care if you drive a Honda Accord or if your cordless drill is eight years old.

If you take longer to do something right, customers will quickly forget about that extra time and mainly remember your great work.

If you mount a TV straight and securely to the wall in the exact spot the customer wants, they won’t care if you use a $30 mount from Amazon.

Sure, you may be able to charge more if you can expertly explain the benefits of a full-motion mount, but that is secondary to the main thing, which is doing the job well and being a pleasure to work with.

It doesn’t matter how many fancy features or extra benefits you add to the project if you don’t execute the basics.

Take the example of having the customer help lift the TV. This is clearly not ideal. Ideally you’d have a helper so the customers wouldn’t have to be involved. But as it turns out, that’s OK. A helper is just an extra benefit that goes beyond the basics.

This problem can be easily solved by asking the customer if someone will be available to help lift the TV before you schedule the job. Great communication is one of the easiest ways to improve service.

While mounting TVs, I’ve learned that most customers just want me to show up on time, mount the TV so it’s perfectly level, and have the peace of mind that it won’t fall off the wall.

Anything else is just a bonus.

Lesson #4 – Strive to be the best

It pays to be the best.

Once you execute the basics, continually level up your game and strive to be the best.

Never get complacent.

Sometimes, being the best can be as simple as investing in the right tools.

If there is a tool that will make me better at mounting TVs, I will buy it.

One example is a borescope.

This tool allows me to drill a small hole in the wall and then stick a camera in that hole to find studs or see what is behind the wall.

Most TV mounting companies don’t have a borescope because it’s unnecessary for 95% of jobs.

The magic of this little $200 tool is that it allows me to mount TVs to faux stone walls above a fireplace without drilling 20 holes to find a stud.

This makes me look more professional, increases my capabilities and confidence, and allows me to charge a premium.

One customer called me to mount TVs in a 100-year-old home with lathe and plaster walls. He tried to get other companies out there, but nobody would touch it.

I knew it would be a challenge (I’d never done it before), but I was dedicated to being the best at this service, and I viewed the challenge as a way to differentiate myself.

The project took a bit longer than expected (luckily, I charged a premium), but I learned a new skill in the process, and I’m now confident for the next century-old home I encounter.

When you commit to a specialty, it is much easier to justify buying expensive tools or honing your skills to become the best.

But even if you don’t specialize, always try to level up your game.

Lesson #5 – Don’t be afraid to test different marketing methods

Many new entrepreneurs are afraid to test new marketing strategies. They want to ask twelve people for their feedback before they “waste their hard-earned money.”

This is the wrong way to look at it.

Sure, in the short run, you may lose some money. Your effort may not pay off. So, in the worst case, you learn something.

But the more likely scenario is that your efforts will pay off, and you’ll learn something.

For example, I recently tested a Performance Max campaign in Google Ads. I didn’t think it was paying off until I got one of the best leads of the year from a wealthy CEO who needed many handyman services.

Another example is Home Advisor. I hated paying for leads, and I’m very happy that I no longer need to, but if I hadn’t tried HomeAdvisor, I wouldn’t been able to fill my schedule during my first months in business.

With each marketing strategy I try, I notice I get a different kind of lead that I probably wouldn’t have reached otherwise.

This inevitably gives me more ideas for attracting more of those customers.

Sometimes I lose money, but that’s just part of the game. The good thing about this game is that the odds are stacked in your favor, so it’s not gambling. It’s a calculated risk.

This advice comes with a couple of caveats, though. First, don’t try too many things at once. Otherwise, it’s too challenging to gauge the results. Secondly, whatever advertising method you are testing, don’t half-ass it. Do it well. Otherwise, no matter how good it could work, it probably won’t.

Conclusion

There will always be more information you can learn from books, videos, podcasts, etc.

But if you’re constantly waiting to start your business until you know everything, you’ll end up a very knowledgeable wannabe with no real wisdom.

So, go out there and do something. You never know what you might learn. If you aren’t sure what to do, you can follow my step-by-step guide to starting a profitable handyman business here.

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