Getting Started with Your Spray Foam Contracting Business: Part 3

Greetings, spray foam contractor!

If you’ve been following our “Getting Started with Your Spray Foam Contracting Business” blog series, you have accomplished a lot by now!

You’re a business owner – how does it feel??

Pretty nice, we bet.

You have a lot to be proud of.

And the adventure has only just begun!

There are so many exciting doors yet unopened!

And Freedom Foam & Equipment is here to walk with you through each and every one of them.

What’s our next suggestion for starting your business off on the right foot?

We’re so glad you asked!

After all the work you’ve put in, you have the necessary components for taking these next steps:

• Opening a business bank account.
• Applying for the financing you’ve researched (if needed).
• Choosing how your clients will contact and pay you.
• Deciding how you will keep track of your business finances.

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog series if you need to catch up to this point – items discussed in those first two parts are necessary to moving forward with steps in this post.

Ready to get started? Super!

The first thing on the docket is opening a business bank account for your new spray foam contracting business. 

Open a Business Bank Account

One of the best things you can do for yourself when you own a business is separate your business and personal finances.

As thoroughly as possible.

With certain business structures, this is imperative, while in others, it is simply a suggestion – but regardless of structure, separating your personal and business money will make your life A LOT easier when tax season rolls around.

Seriously, don’t take this step lightly. We HIGHLY recommend that you open a separate bank account for your business.

And pay for business transactions with strictly business credit cards, debit cards, or checks.

The specific bank you choose to use is up to you! To open a business bank account, however, you’ll likely need an Employer Identification Number (or EIN) from the IRS. (See Part 2 of this blog series from more information!)

You may choose open a business account with your personal bank – but you may not. Fees differ from bank to bank, and the ways your business will receive and spend money will be unique – so choose the bank that makes the most sense for your business!

You can always change banks later if your business finances proceed differently than initially thought.

There will be a lot of things that play out differently than initially thought in business. We’re all just doing the best we can with the information we have in the moment, right?  Cross future bridges when you come them, man. For now, choose the options that seem best, and stop losing sleep!

If opening a business account with a bank isn’t feasible at the moment, consider opening a separate personal account and using it like you would a business account. That way, your finances are still separated, and you aren’t tempted to spend business funds for personal needs (like fancy ramen and fishing gear).

That brings us to the next topic of today’s blog post: choosing how to receive and keep track of business finances.

Choose How to Receive & Keep Track of Business Finances

If you start a business, you gotta have a way for your customers or clients to pay you.

There are many payment options available – and you (and any other owners) are the boss(es) in your company, so you get to make all the decisions!  

As a spray foam contractor, you likely won’t have a brick and mortar office to open every day.  As such, it might not make sense to use a “traditional” credit card reader to take card payments – maybe an online option is better for your business.

Or maybe you don’t intend to take credit cards from your customers – only bank transfers or checks (which must clear before you complete the work, of course!). 

Regardless of the payment types you choose to receive, you will likely need the capability of sending invoices and receipts to your clients.

There are many options available for this – even if your clients are only allowed to pay with checks.

QuickBooks, Wave, and PayPal – to name a few online options – all offer invoicing capabilities and allow you choose the payment options your customers can use.  Some of these platforms also double as accounting software for tax preparation purposes.

The takeaway here? You have options – but you’ll want to figure out both how you will receive money from your customers and your business policy regarding when payments are required from them.

If your business policy is to receive payment in part – or in full – before you complete any work for your clients, communicating that upfront will be appreciated and cut down on the likelihood that people “forget” to pay you for your work.

People will try to get away with not paying you.  

Even good people.

Or friends and family.

So.

Protect yourself (and your relationships) to the best of your ability by putting payment policies in place for your business before you ever get a customer! This will let people know you’re not messing around, and you won’t stand for a “Dine and Dash” situation.

At the very least, ensure your customers pay enough upfront to cover the cost of the materials you will use on their job.

Just a word to the wise.

The next topic for discussion today? Applying for financing.

Apply for Business Financing, if Needed

While we are on the topic of money, let’s touch on applying for business financing.

There’s no shame in needing some capital to start your business or receiving a loan to do so.

We aren’t all Lord Baron, living in our Castle on the Hill…or whatever.

Sometimes, we need financial help.

And sometimes, ya gotta spend money to make money, right?

Investment 101!  

Okay, anyway – if you need to apply for business financing, do it! 

You have formed your business, thought through all your options, and it’s GO TIME!

If you aren’t sure where to start, your local Small Business Administration is a great resource.  We also suggest talking to your Chamber of Commerce for more information, and checking into business loans offered by your bank.

While we are on the topic, don’t be afraid to attend networking events – there may be investors in your area that are willing to take this business leap with you!  

But you’ll never know unless you ask, right?

There are likely more options available to you than you think.

So don’t panic, and take one day at a time!

You are a business owner.

You can handle what comes your way!

Do you know it?  We do too!

Okay. Let’s move on to our last topic for this blog: deciding how clients will contact you. 

Decide How Clients will Contact You 

Phew!  

You’ve made it through some stressful stuff in this blog post, and we applaud you!

Let’s cool down with a lighter topic and discuss how you plan for clients to contact you in your business.

In today’s world, it might be second nature to offer up every phone number and email address you have access to for your clients’ use – but we strongly warn against this practice.

You need some time away from work in life.

So.

What are your working hours, and how would you like your clients to contact you during that time?

We suggest opening up a separate email account for your business. This can be as simple as creating a new Gmail account.

Do you have a website? Along with a contact form on your site, maybe you want to consider creating a professional email address that features your domain name – like todd@freedomfoamllc.com.  

Prefer talking to people on the phone? Maybe you should invest in a business phone – or create a phone number using Google Voice (or another similar technology) that rings to your personal phone but separates your clients from your personal phone number.  

However you decide you want clients to reach you, the most important point of this exercise is that you think about and set up your work boundaries!  

There will always be clients that push your limits – but without boundaries in place, it is MUCH easier for people to take advantage of your time.

And time is all we truly have in this life!

Your time is valuable – and your mental health will greatly benefit from acting like it.

Conclusion

Freedom Foam & Equipment is here to help you through every part of the business-building process!

If you’ve been following this blog series, you’ve come a LONG way.

Awesome work!

Need to catch up?  Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this post to do just that.

Do you need foam to spray? Hit us up!

Whatever you need, we are here to help.

Give us a call.

We look forward to hearing from you!