Learning how to start a home security business can be simple after finding a place with the right steps. In our case, we are ready to provide you with them. Most businesses follow a pattern in how they can be started, and only certain aspects change, like business licenses, certifications, and the general structure.
Thus, it shouldn’t be hard to determine how you can proceed with your business venture. However, it doesn’t mean every guide works properly for a home security company.
Here, we will make sure to include the basics but also crucial steps. This includes the common business plan all the way to how you can promote your business.
Just remember, starting any type of business will require the same or more work than any you’ve seen so far. Hence, take the process seriously and expect to take time in each part as necessary.
Are You Ready to Start?
The first part you need to focus on is to determine if you are truly ready to get started. This isn’t only about having enough money or the people to support you. You need to know if you, as the owner, are ready to handle what this entrepreneurship entails.
You must be aware that there will not be a perfect moment for you to start your new business.
This takes us to the previous mention: Timing is not everything. It’s about mindset.
This will help you decide if your business is ready. In addition, are you all set to be successful? Many factors and elements influence. Take the time to consider everything properly.
It is not easy to declare that you are going to start your own business. But it is harder to see how it fails for not going through the required considerations.
Take a moment to reflect on yourself, your goals, the business, and your physical and mental health.
Start Your Business Plan
If you are set to start, get your business plan done before anything else. For any business, especially in home security, a solid business plan is crucial.
This guide will help to ensure that you succeed in your business venture and avoid common mistakes that can prove costly.
The company’s goals should be included in the business plan, along with details about financing and the time frame required to achieve them.
A successful business plan should be prepared with all the information of the future company and elements you will consider later.
These are a few considerations or more like reasons why business plans are so needed:
- Business plans can be more than a way for your business to communicate its vision. They can be a tool that helps you ensure your core ideas are sound and can generate real revenue.
- This will allow you to know when, where and why your business was started, as well as the steps you plan to take to make it successful.
- This business plan will outline how to start and grow your remodeling company.
- This involves sharing, refining, and organizing your ideas with mentors or business leaders you trust. It also includes making any adjustments necessary.
- A business plan is required if you are looking to borrow money.
What about the information and elements you should include in the business plan? We can name them, so you have, at least, the essentials:
Add an executive summary
No matter what business idea you may have, this page will be your first page.
It should include a mission statement, which explains your main focus. It also includes a description of the products and services that you offer.
Basic information such as ownership structure and a summary of your plans to achieve the desired results: Success, growth, and more.
A company description
This section will give anyone reading your business plan a brief overview of your business and its purpose.
It will always include vital information like the company’s registered address, and physical addresses, and the names of key staff.
It includes information about the company’s past, nature, and products and services. This section is not a summary of the entire plan but rather your introduction.
Include your statements and goals
Your business plan should include an objective statement. This will outline your company’s short and long-term goals. It will help you know what you need in order to achieve some objectives at specific times you have predicted or set.
This section is useful for explaining why you are seeking outside financing since it will help you show potential partners who can finance your business what they can expect.
The report will include details about how funding will benefit your company and your plans for reaching your growth goals.
It is crucial to explain clearly the opportunity for investment or loan and the benefits of your company. This will encourage them to contribute and approve your request.
Business structure and management
This section lists the legal structure of your company, including a partnership or sole proprietorship, and details about key employees and managers, whether you are the only one or you plan to add more people in the future.
It is also important to list the ownership percentage of each founder and owner and the roles and functions each owner plays in the company if you aren’t the sole proprietor.
Describe your products and services
This section allows you to describe the services and products you offer or plan on offering in your company. This section should be detailed in terms of what they are, how they help others, how you plan to deliver them, and prices.
Details should be tailored to each product or service and not just generalized.
You can also discuss any pending or current patents or trademarks related to your services and products.
Describe your marketing plan
Here goes a quick explanation of your marketing strategy. It will explain how you will execute it to build presence, generate leads and convert clients.
This section can be used to describe how you plan to persuade customers to buy your services or how you plan to build customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.
It will help you to highlight your strengths and make you stand out among the rest.
Financial analysis
It is possible that you don’t have enough information right now about your financials since this section depends on your business trajectory. However, you should work around the present and future.
Consider that you are an existing business looking for small-business loans. You will need to provide income statements or profit and loss statements, a balance sheet listing assets and liabilities, as well as cash flow details that show how cash is entering and leaving the company.
If you’re just starting the business, you might include a personal financial analysis to ask for loans or to show potential funders that you can rely upon certain aspects.
Financial projections
This section is essential if you’re looking for funding or investors. It is more detailed than the one before it.
It explains how your company will make enough profit to repay the loan and how investors can return a decent amount.
You can add information to it that will give investors a clear idea of the potential earnings. To make this section work, you must be precise and realistic. Your goals should be concise and not only optimistic but rather achievable, even if they seem ambitious.
It is crucial to show that your business has enough cash flow to repay the loan as well.
Close it by adding an appendix
Any additional information should be included. If your business plan is too long, you might consider adding a table at the end in the appendix. This will help you know where to go when you need to show someone the plan or when you are deciding on your next steps.
Arrange Your Finances
While business ownership is a rewarding experience, it can also be costly.
You may experience financial difficulties in the first few months or even years. You may end up spending a lot on your own to overcome these financial difficulties. This is when the struggle for money truly lies.
Make sure to thoroughly research the process before making any major decisions. You should have sufficient cash reserves and capital to cover any eventualities.
You can expect to spend at most $1,500 to get your home security business off the ground. To cover daily living expenses such as shelter, food, and transport, you will need to make substantial savings.
This type of business requires a lot of equipment and logistical support.
Take the time to assess your financial situation and determine how much money you can spend. This will help you plan for how long you can survive while you focus on your marketing and lead generation strategies.
To Franchise or Not to Franchise
A franchise can offer many advantages when you start a security company. A business structure and marketing plan will be available to you, and you won’t be alone in the whole process of setting and launching it.
This will allow you to learn about products and services, and it can help you become an expert in the services you offer.
However, a franchise will dictate the minimum and maximum wage you can charge for your services, and you have to deal with fees as well.
An independent security company can charge any amount it wants. It is possible to pick a specific area of your business, such as cybersecurity or door alarms, that is suitable for the elderly. This could help you outperform your competition in your niche.
Everything depends on your final goals and how you want to approach this. We would suggest you consider how much you are willing to spend and if you truly need the help.
Get Your Licensing & Documents
Many states require fingerprinting, background checks, licensing, and minimum age. However, nineteen states are exempted from this requirement. It is important to verify your state’s regulations first before you can determine what your case is. After all, other states may have additional security requirements.
Your state may require you to get a surety guarantee from an insurance company. General liability coverage is a great idea. Others may be more specific in the licensing and details you need.
A bonding company will conduct a thorough check on the security company. A homeowner can file a claim with the bonding company if the security system stops working, and you won’t have to handle so many issues.
A tax and employer ID number and an IRS one will be required. You also need to take a certification exam. Even if licensing and certification are not required in your state, it’s worth getting it to improve your company’s image and increase your chances of being successful during marketing.
You should also consider general liability business insurance. Although not required in every state, general liability insurance is a smart investment to protect yourself in case of an accident or if the homeowner or business takes responsibility based on your business structure.
General liability insurance protects you against the financial burden of having to pay for an expensive accident or robbery in case your system fails to do its job or if your employers steal something while installing t.
It is important to get all paperwork in order and to have the right licenses. Thus, don’t ignore this, or you won’t be able to start anything.
Set Realistic Goals
This is something that you should do before creating your business plan. However, it can be helpful to do it later.
When you plan and try to decide what to do, goals are often set. It is only natural that it can be more productive to go back to them and determine if they are realistic than trying to create them from scratch.
Naive expectations are a major reason businesses fail. It is not uncommon for thousands of dollars to be invested in advertising campaigns, thinking they will triple or quadruple their money, for example.
Many people approach their first business with false optimism, believing it is or isn’t right for them.
It is great to have optimism about reaching a goal and making your business succeed, but there are times when you might be a little too optimistic about what you can achieve.
If your goals are not realistic and you don’t have the resources to do it now, you won’t be able to achieve the goals you set in your plan.
Do you have the ability to promote your business, even if there are no customers or visitors for a month?
Are you able to identify when a strategy is not working? Can you be patient and wait until the right time to see results?
This is the most important question to ask yourself when setting goals. If you do, you will find your way to reality.
Although SMART goals can be used to assist you in goal setting, your business type and experience will determine your ultimate goals.
Financing Options
Once you have reached this stage and have your business plan prepared, it is time to start looking for investors.
Small business funding is vital to grow, start and sustain them. We don’t need to explain why. We do want you to know that now is the best time to begin looking for financing.
There are many funding options available to you. We will list the most popular ones based on your financial resources and accessibility for your home security business:
- Traditional banks.
You can depend on the banks to provide capital and funding if you have good credit and collateral.
Traditional banks are a good place to start, as they can help determine your eligibility for funding. A representative from one can help you decide what documents are needed and the best options.
This is even if your business doesn’t have sufficient assets or a track record of being eligible for funding.
Local banks are a great source for small-business financing because they often get involved in economic development. A 2020 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp report shows that 36% of small business loans are held in community banks.
Small businesses have many funding options, including credit lines, term loans, and SBA loans. This means you can choose from more than what you’re used to.
- Small Business Administration.
You can ignore banks if you have difficulty meeting their requirements and criteria.
When you apply for one, the U.S. Small Business Administration will provide federal guarantees for loans to lenders (mostly traditional banks)
Banks are less likely to lend you the money you need, which increases your chances of getting one with SBA.
SBA loans are guaranteed and can be connected to traditional lenders at attractive rates. Unlike bank loans, you can use an SBA loan to fund business startup ventures.
Although the application process can be complicated and may leave you with a lot of paperwork to complete, it is worth the effort to get the financing you need.
- Online lenders are reliable.
Although it is possible to get quick funding, you will need great credit scores. People with low credit scores who still need funding quickly can rely on this one when nothing else seems to be available.
Because traditional banks don’t have access to as much capital, online lenders are growing in popularity. This is especially true for startup founders who have never started a business or whose ideas aren’t financially viable.
Online lenders are much more beneficial, in our opinion, for your type of business. They are also available to provide fast cash and can approve funds in as little as 24 hours.
These peer-to-peer lending options are available, eliminating the need for banks or institutions to connect borrowers with investors.
But borrowing costs can be much higher than you think. You should evaluate whether it is worth the risk. Lenders can charge as high as 80% per year.
You have many options when it comes to financing small businesses. These include term loans, line of credit, and invoice financing. However, you should also consider other options.
- Credit unions.
Like banks, credit unions offer loans at favorable rates and support the SBA. They have also seen an increase in funding for small businesses.
According to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, between 2004 and 2020, there was a double-digit rise in the number of credit unions offering small business financing. This is why it can be difficult to access financing options while easy to find them.
In this entire step, consider the option of opening a business bank account before requesting any loan for your own home security business.
Consider Your Work Rate
Assuming that you have a steady job after setting your home security business or while thinking in your business plan, the amount you can make will depend on how many hours you work.
It is possible to decide to keep your business hours between 8:30 AM and 17:00 on Monday through Friday. Saturday mornings may be included for some business owners.
You might also consider working longer hours or taking time off not to sweat it that much.
Many home security companies offer emergency call-out services that are available 24 hours a day. This can be useful if there is a high demand for these services at times that aren’t regularly scheduled or depend on the services you offer.
If you are going to offer this service, however, it is important to ensure you are able to provide coverage at all hours.
To give a quote, a home security business should be able to estimate how long it will take to do certain jobs.
It doesn’t matter if it takes five days to finish the job. You need to be able to set the actual time.
The speed at which your work is done will depend on your abilities and experience. These factors should all be included in the rates and charges.
You should also remember that not all of your working hours will be used to make money, even if it is your job.
You might find your business busier depending upon the type of work you do. Therefore, you can determine the rates you charge based on the busiest months to attract more clients and earn extra.
Make sure that you accurately estimate everything. The amount of time you are willing to invest, the effort you put in, and all other factors. If you don’t want to work per hour, you can set a price per service and based on what you use.
Develop & Follow Your Marketing Strategy
You may be the best company in your locality and can set the safest security systems for homeowners. However, it is important that you know how to market your services to maximize your potential and bring more clients.
Referrals are an integral part of many home security businesses. However, they can also be a risk since inconsistent demand can lead to feast-and-famine cycles for your business.
It is important to develop a solid marketing strategy for your company and follow it to get steady work.
How do you make yourself stand out from other remodelers in your area? This is one of the most important questions you need to ask.
If your reputation is good, it will not help you get work from customers who don’t know you.
How can you make your brand stand out and draw attention to yourself? How can you make people choose you as their home security business? Answer the questions and focus on setting more than one marketing method to succeed.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Home Security Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers. Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Home Security Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Home Security Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.