u/204mafia

Pozdrav,

Zanima me koji su najjeftiniji autodijelovi u Sarajevu, jedino sam bio u Motorexu i kad su mi rekli 300KM za mali servis sa popustom oci su mi ispale, pa me zanima gdje vi uzimate.

I’ve been working independently as an electrician for around 6 months now, based in the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

I do:

- electrical panels,

- troubleshooting/fault finding,

- CCTV/security cameras,

- installations,

- and general electrical work.

I also made an Instagram page where I regularly post my work, before/after photos, finished jobs, etc. I’ve spent a decent amount of money on social media ads trying to get clients and build a name for myself.

The problem is that work has been really slow. On average maybe 3–4 jobs a month, mostly very small repairs and minor callouts.

Recently I started pushing harder with ads, posting more often, replying quickly to people, and I actually got a lot of messages and conversations — probably 40+ in a couple of days — but almost none of them turned into real jobs.

It feels like:

- people only ask for prices,

- everybody wants the cheapest possible work,

- or they expect electricians to work for almost nothing.

What confuses me is that everyone keeps saying “there’s a huge shortage of electricians”, but from my experience it feels extremely difficult to actually build stable work when starting out.

I’m not trying to complain — I genuinely want to hear from people who went through this stage.

How long did it take before referrals and repeat customers started coming in?

What actually helped you build momentum?

Did social media help you at all?

And how did you survive the beginning financially and mentally?

Would appreciate honest experiences from other electricians/self-employed tradespeople.