@yinandyang How to get clients is always the worry when you start out your own business. I was very worried about this starting out. I was very shy at the time and I dreaded the idea of going to a house to give a quote. But it all came good and it always does if you are even half competent and you try hard for people.

The only difficult bit is getting the first couple of dozen clients. Soon it becomes self feeding as clients tell their friends about how good you are and it snowballs. But the first few you don't know what you are doing and you don't know quite how you are expected to go about things with them. (Actually its a bit like getting used to handling women). Remember the clients don't know you are clueless and so long as you don't actually defraud them and the job ends up done for a fair price, almost all will be happy. You are their expert. Listen to them thoroughly. Learn what they need, then take the lead.

I never actually every knocked on a single door uninvited. At the time there were phone directories and they would give you a single line for free. I took out a few of those single lines. In your case, just put yourself on some free local directories and community notice boards. I understand a lot of guys use Facebook too. Back in the day I had several thousand flyers printed and delivered less than 500 of them before I stopped needing to. The rest are still in a corner of my office. It amazed me how even a decade or more later I would get an old lady calling me and greeting me with the flyer in her hand. Some people will keep cards and flyers just in case.

I have trained quite a few young men in my trade, even taught it at a local college at one stage. My advice to them is always the same advice I was given. Qualifications mean nothing. Experience is everything but the fastest way to get experience is to get a qualification. So get on a course in your intended trade. That will give you an idea of what you need to learn and will open you doors by letting employers be covered by their insurance if they employ you to actually do your trade not just be a helper. Also get practical experience. Be prepared to be a helper at first, perhaps while you are studying and after too if you need but you will have the ticket when they need you.

Be prepared to work for free at first if paid work does not fill your first weeks. Call up the local tradesmen with good reputations and offer to help them. Just about no one will refuse to take you out if you offer to work for free. This gets you experience. Then if you approach an employer for a paid position you can say "I worked for Mr X and Mr Y and I have a qualification" If you put in a few weeks for free for X and Y they should be happy to say you are a good man. The guys I have encountered who have done this have all prospered. Free is a price no one will refuse and it buys you experience. Experience is golden in a trade. Some guys don't get it. They went to school for maybe 13 years and never got paid a bean but they can't put in a couple of months to actually learn something that will pay them. So they sit at home frustrated, get a few private clients and let them down from inexperience before then deciding that the trades didn't work out. Don't promise to work for free for too far ahead. Something better might some up and you don't want to be taken advantage of. But if you have 2 free days next week, offer to work for someone for free on one of them, work on getting clients on the other.

There is a niche in trade for just about every man who works hard. Some just walk into it (usually because they have friends in it) others have to try a few things out but unless you are really unsuited to a trade, you will always get there if you are thorough and persevere.

So if you want to be a plumber or landscaper, get on a course and then call up the local experts and ask for some work experience. If they are short, you might even get paid. One of the funny things about getting paid work in the trades is that there are times when no matter how good you are, the local guys have no openings and there are times when they will take anyone who is breathing out to a job and pay him because they need more hands and can find no one. (I have been that employer so many times). Once they know you are available, don't break expensive things and arrive when you agree, you will be called sooner or later. Call them every now and again to let them know you are still looking for work. It will come.

And soon enough you will start your own business too.