iTrade Marketing
- Oct 9, 2021
- 4 min read

iTrade: Supporting Sole Tradies

Positive Electrical Solutions: iTrade as the Supporting Act for a One-Man-Band

iTrade helps with organisation and itemisation. It helps paperwork-wise.

- Kevin English,

Owner, Director, One-Man-Band

The Business: An Introduction

It’s a story many workers starting in the trades can aspire to; a skilled, one-man-band venturing out on his own to deliver great services to a local community. Kevin English from Positive Electrical Solutions has been in the game for 5 years and has built a reliable, customer focussed electrical business servicing councils, commercial and domestic customers.

Kevin and Positive Electrical Solutions as a business specialises in:

Electrical installation of all kinds, industrial, commercial, domestic. From basic renovations to high-end electrical automation covering dairy, manufacturing, processes, pumping systems, and irrigation.

Being a lone worker has its benefits. With complete flexibility, autonomy, and a good work ethic, you can ensure the highest quality of work and customer service possible.

Kevin falls into this category of being a sole trader whose goal is to deliver the best. However, it’s useful to have some support when it comes to the mundane and often time-consuming tasks of managing administrative and operational systems. That’s where iTrade comes in. By offering simple to use solutions to the daunting task of staying on top of paperwork as a sole business owner, our job management software can step up to support and ease an already busy schedule.

The Heart and Soul: Meet Kevin

Owner, director, and all-around-doer at Positive Electrical Solutions, Kevin English, began his journey in the trades after leaving school and taking up apprenticeships and work experience in the field. Focussing on electrical, he honed these skills over the years in employment, until making the bold decision to go out on his own and try his hand at being a sole trader. He has been doing this for the past 5 years and counting.

Working for himself Kevin upholds a high standard in customer service. We asked him his thoughts on great customer service, and what makes his business stand apart from the rest.

His response was to be prompt; in arriving at jobs, delivering on time, billing, and also maintaining good communication. This is how he builds trust with customers. Delivering on your word is key in a competitive industry when maintaining a reputation of reliability. Like many in the trades, Kevin’s business relies heavily on word-of-mouth, therefore, reputation is everything.

Another point of difference is Kevin’s commitment to transparency in his business model, particularly when it comes to billing. iTrade, with its itemisation and cloud-based features, has helped hugely. Kevin itemises everything he uses via the app and includes it in the bill. That way, there is clarity for clients as to exactly what they are paying.

Customers are often surprised at the amount of material used. Including it in the bill justifies the cost and is upfront. They don’t know your trade, so they don’t know what’s involved.

While unsure if this was too much information when he first started, he’s found that the practice suits his clients, and is something that sets his business model apart in a positive way.

The Problem: A Jack of All Trades Can Still Only Do So Much

While multi-skilled and dedicated to his business, sole-operators like Kevin sometimes need some assistance to keep things running smoothly.

The biggest challenge his business was facing before introducing an effective job management system was:

As a one-man-band, I had little time for paperwork.

After trialing iTrade with our free 30 day trial, he found that our job management solutions helped streamline his business, particularly when it came to “quick time and materials allocation. It is also easy to sync to Xero”.

Our Xero integration is a huge drawcard for many of our clients, as it allows them to create a seamless flow from quoting to invoicing, keeping things simple and consolidated.

Once completing the trial, Kevin’s feedback was that

Bugs were fixed quickly.

The more I put into it, the more I got out.

Following the trial and once the program was up and running in his business, Kevin has found that he “uses it more in comparison to mates”.

iTrade helps with organisation and itemisation. It helps paperwork-wise.

This is great as he “wants to get it off the books as quickly as possible.”

We strive to create systems that are quick, easy, and effective.

The Solution: More Free Time = More Work in the Field = More Money!

It’s simple, the more time Kevin saved by using iTrade, the more time he had in the field, and according to him, the more money he was making for himself and the business. In our eyes, that’s a huge win! Kevin reported saving up to 5 hours a week by reducing manual admin processes.

The most valuable benefits he found by integrating this software are:

Gaining more time.
Keeping track of materials.
Things aren’t being missed when it comes to materials and invoicing.
Everything being itemised.
Every purchase being accounted for.

While Kevin is still operating solo, he believes that iTrade will help with growth when the time comes, with easy use and time allocation for future staff.

Final thoughts?

And now for the all-important question, we ask our iTrade clients:

What advice would you give a business looking for a new job management system?

Kevin responded with:

Invest time in learning your software at the beginning. It will make it far more streamlined.

Thanks, Kevin for taking the time to speak with us about your experience with the iTrade job management software. For more details on his business, or to read other customers' experiences with iTrade, follow the links below.