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GratefulHead420 t1_j6toiap wrote

Reply to comment by FITM-K in Most needed jobs in Maine? by Pleasentplayer1230

If you are in the trades and take phone calls, and respond to messages, you will drown in work.

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FITM-K t1_j6tx02d wrote

Well, the reason most of them don't take phone calls or respond to messages is that they're already drowning in work. But yeah.

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disposition00 t1_j6u62u6 wrote

Being an electrician that is absolutely the truth right now.

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The_Maine_Sam t1_j6wv3a0 wrote

Virtual assistants are really pretty cheap tbh and it must be either ignorance of their existence or the good ole boy resistance to change mentality. To u/GratefulHead420 's point, most tradespeople have incredibly lackluster customer service skills and would be able to do more and charge more with someone handling the phones!

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FITM-K t1_j6wzcg9 wrote

I don't know if I'd agree that's true of most tradespeople, but it's definitely true of some. That said, if you have all of the work that you want/can handle already, what would be the point of hiring a virtual assistant just so they can call a bunch of people back and say "no"? I guess it creates a slightly better "customer experience", but then, that person isn't actually going to be a customer so I understand why a tradesperson wouldn't want to invest in improving their experience.

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The_Maine_Sam t1_j6x0pfb wrote

It's the same reason successful tradespeople often hire someone to perform estimates. They're delegating low hanging tasks so that they can focus on money making activities. A VA allows you to take more jobs because you're spending less time chasing clients for scheduling, payment, fielding questions, etc.

The nice thing about the trades is it offers an opportunity to work for yourself and run your own business but for, again, I'll say, most tradespeople, they really could use some classes on how to run their business optimally.

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theharddog1 t1_j6u39yp wrote

And then you won’t be able to take calls….and so on, we need reasonable rentals sos people can move here, we need population growth in order to keep Maintaining Maine

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