Is this a good idea for a business?

[IsThisAGoodIdeaOrSilly]

I’ve got an idea of what I’d like to do next for work and would be grateful for feedback.

Background: I quit my full time marketing job 11 years ago to be a SAHM. I enjoyed my job but mostly because of the people I worked with, and although I studied evenings for three years to get qualified in the field and was good enough at my job I never felt passionate about it. I then left to be a SAHM and 10 years went by. My professional skills are now quite out of date and I’m not confident to get back into that world, and don’t much want to. I’ve always been practical, did a furniture making course a few years ago, and have done lots of big and small making / building / decorating jobs in our house. What really fires me up is mentoring people and watching their confidence grow.

My idea is advertise myself locally as a “DIY Coach”, aimed at SAHM who want to get smallish DIY jobs done at home but don’t have the confidence or tools to know where to start without a bit of help, and/or who don’t want to pay a man to do the job and maybe make them feel stupid in the process. So a sort of mix of a handywoman and guide.

YABU: this is a weird / dumb idea / not much demand for it / will never make enough money to be worth the faff / you’re not skilled enough to charge people and you should just update your marketing skills and find a normal job in that field.

YANBU: go for it, I would have loved to have found someone like you when I didn’t know where to start with DIY projects.

Thank you for reading and for your time!

So eg. Putting up a shelf - I’d have to pay you to tell me what tools I need and to supervise me doing it, as well as actually buying the tools myself too?

I’d rather just pay you to do the job for me in the first place.

Advertise as a female handywoman and do the job yourself - your target market is older people and women, many of whom might feel more comfortable with a female tradeswoman in their home rather than a male.

I thought You Tube covered that sort of thing? Plus if I was going to pay someone it would be a handyman to do the job for me. There are several where I live and assume the same applies in most towns.

Not necessarily so. Not many handymen live in Hampstead, for example.

They are like hens teeth round here. Say they're coming & don't turn up, etc

I think it's a great idea OP. Tutorials are al very well, but it's having the confidence to start.

You'd be better off creating an online course in my opinion

Yes I think you'd do better just selling your skills as a handyperson for small jobs. Maybe offer coaching as a sideline or run short courses on specific skills, say one evening a week over 4 weeks. But you'd really be limiting your market if you were targetting people who want to pay someone to do it AND spend the time learning about it. But, you're the marketing expert, not me.

My first paragraph above is a quote. I see when you're quoting someone while using the app it doesn't italicise for you .. oops.

I'd love something like this. As PP have said, as a course/class on general jobs rather than overseeing a task at home.

I have used YouTube etc for various tutorials but with varying success. I'd much prefer what you are offering!

I'm rubbish at following videos, but I'd certainly attend a class.

It's not something I would ever pay for. Most of the little jobs in my house are outstanding because I just haven't had time to YouTube, buy parts and do the job. There's no way I would pay someone to show me then still have to buy the parts and do the job. It's not a good use of my time or money.

But I can see a lot of people think it's a good idea, which surprises me, so you might be on to something.

Weekend courses in power tool, diy, etc could definitely be a good thing.

I think YouTube has this covered.

Exactly. Anyone motivated enough to do their own DYI will be motivated to figure it out for themselves. Paying someone to teach them when literally anything you could possibly want to know is on YouTube and the internet for free is just silly. I am very competent at DYI and have used YouTube countless times for various projects. I would never pay someone to teach me something when I can learn for free.

Agree with the history of the comments here that there would be a very small market as most people would rather pay you to do the job.

I do like a previous poster's description of the "Garden with me" service though, and I could totally see the market for that (learning about plants/helping loneliness/giving confidence); equally if someone set up a similar "Cook with me" service, but I just don't think DIY lends itself in quite the same way.

Female handywoman would be a much bigger market.

I like it!! Perhaps have a YT channel too? That will help to promote your business. Good luck

Gist of comments , not history of comments (although not a bad auto correct to be fair!)

I'm not personally sure I would use this. But actually I would love someone who was sort of a woman DIY person. I don't personally feel comfortable having male workmen come in the house. Thankfully, I have dh and he just does pretty much anything we need done. But I would like a sort of female 'handywoman' I could hire to do DIY jobs I couldn't do. If you also offered coaching on the side, that would be a bonus.

I think it’s a good idea.

I can't imagine many (any?) people will pay for this service, sorry.

People either look it up online or actually pay someone to do it.

The idea isn't bad, it would of course needs polishing. But as some pp pointed out, you don't really have proper experience. I would want to see a good portfolio before paying someone for this.

I think its a great idea but as people have saud would work better as a 6 week introduction to DIY class. You could run one evening weekly or full day weekends.
Plus giving your card out for people who attend if there's suff they are not competent to tackle. Look into women in business funding and grants.

I have always wanted this! Tbh I often can't translate YouTube tutorials into exactly what I need to do - it's usually different enough, or takes specialized equipment, so I don't feel confident that I can do it. No one taught me how to do this growing up so I am not comfortable with it. Having someone come to my house would be perfect! (I'd also like a grandma to come and cook with me, using the tools I have and my oven!)

No, I don't think it's a good idea, sorry. If I have a job that needs doing, I either:

• ask DH to do it (he's quite handy)
• google it/YouTube it and do it myself

or pay someone else to do it.

It would never occur to me to pay someone to supervise me and guide me through it - why wouldn't I just pay you to do the job for me?

Actually I think its a good.

But the first question id ask is what experience the teacher has. I'd want someone with twenty years plus in the building trade with qualifications. Not a good domestic diyer

Oh, and what qualifications do you have to teach people how to do all these tasks, and would you have insurance to cover you if it all went tits-up?

Advertise as a female handywoman and do the job yourself - your target market is older people and women, many of whom might feel more comfortable with a female tradeswoman in their home rather than a male.

That would be a very good business to run. It'd be a complete pain to teach someone - you have no idea of their skill level, it would take more than twice as much time (so twice as much money.)

Are you a qualified trades person.If not, to be honest I wouldn't be interested.

I think it’s a no go. Your market is very small - not many sahm. Of those that are sahm only a small percentage would be interested in diy. So a small potential market. Practicalities - sahm means small children underfoot. You can’t safely show them how to use tools etc.
A female handy person would be a viable business - no job too small. Putting up shelves, curtain rails and hanging curtains etc