Matthew Cumberbatch is one of those people who likes to keep busy. He knows what it is like to be unemployed for a protracted period without any money.
So, after finding himself on the breadline, a conversation with a relative led him to start his own business offering a variety of services. In fact, you can call him a jack-of-all-trades.
“I’m good with my hands. I’m good at putting together fixtures and odds and ends and I know a few trades and tricks. I was always good with my hands,” he told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
“One day, me and my sister-in-law, who I usually help around the house, were reasoning. She asked what it was I really liked to do and I told her I like to do things with my hands. She told me to write down a couple things, I did and then she said that I could as well call myself a handyman.
“I said, ‘come to think of it, that’s a good idea’ and we ran with it,” he recalled.
Mac’s Handyman and Gardening is about 16 months old and offers plumbing and electrical services, landscaping and gardening maintenance, indoor and outdoor painting.
Cumberbatch will also change light bulbs, do grocery shopping, and during this Christmas season, he will even hang curtains, decorations and lights to cistomers’ specifications although no higher than two stories as safety is paramount.
Having started with a few dollars, the businessman is moving to buy his own equipment so that he can undertake jobs and not have to turn them down because he does not have the tools.
Business “has its rough moments” particularly with the gardening maintenance, as householders and companies tend to go with established businesses,he said.
However, there are requests for handyman services and he is adamant that he will not be quitting.
Cumberbatch said he grew up helping people and has no qualms helping householders and families who have just moved into a new home or apartment, women who live alone and might need something moved or set up, or the elderly who do not have any relatives.
“I see it as offering extra help. I cater for everyone. Not only a single mom or someone who just moved into a new home. I never really had to supervise an elderly person, but I had one or two aunts who had reached that stage and I would go visit them, say hi, although they didn’t need my help.…I have a cousin who lives with my mother and I who would want help at times. I grew up helping others,” he said.
“None of my customers had any trust issues, to my knowledge. My personality speaks for me and I’m not that kind of person. People make small talk or have conversations to assess you and if I have to give you a portion of my life story, I have no problem.
“Once I realise that you’re a down-to-earth customer and I’m out working and break a sweat and you bring a jug of water for me and we talk, then we’re okay. So far, I haven’t had any bad or negative complaints from any of my customers.”
In addition he has a valet company – Mac’s Carwash Valet Detail 246. Managing both requires strict time guidelines, something he is hoping to improve on from January.
As the business grows, he will be using social media such as Facebook an Instagram more because his initial focus was on getting customers and maintaining jobs.
He does “80 per cent” of the work himself, but is willing to hire like-minded people as he expands. His grouse is finding people who are willing to stick to the tasks required.
“I’m trying to find people around my age [27] or younger who might be interested in gaining something out of life instead of just being idle. People say they want the work until it comes and if it is not completely constant they give up. I don’t know if that is what deters people, but I look at it this way: if you have someone who is close to you, someone who might just know you from seeing you and they try to guide and encourage you to work along with them in an area that could be big in the next two to three years, you should try to stick with it,” Cumberbatch said. (GBM)