If I start a rod shop,Will they come ?

Make sure that your business plan covers a fair number of the "what ifs", and that you have sufficient capital to cover those.

I have three delinquent customers right now. None of them is poor or hard up for cash. I have no good explanation for this. This has locked up the majority of my capital, and is putting the business in potential jeopardy.

 

Sounds like it's time for a couple of lien sales. You are in control of the cash in your business. When you let the customer control it, you're out. Send your three delinquents a notice stating that their cars are going on the auction block as lien sales and that they have till Feb 1 to pay up. If they have the money they'll come get the cars and if not, you'll your money buy selling them for what you have in them plus admin fees...

 

That is exactly what is in the works, as are several policy changes, to ensure that this does not happen again.

 

A friend of mine has had his shop for over 20 years. He learned a long time ago to not put much of his own cash into customers cars. Now when he needs parts for the customers car, he has the customer come to the shop to check the "progress" and explains that to move forward, " you mr. customer need to purchase this, this and this" while pointing at a speedway or summit catalog then hands the guy his phone. He also gets paid for every 50 hours of work before any more time is put in the car. He's never more than 50 hours into a project w/o being paid and never has more than a grand in parts from his pocket. If it gets to be more than a month w/o payment the car comes out of the shop and into the yard.

 

I don't want to start a speed shop . Not going to have loads of parts ,Mostly used stuff . And will concentrate on fabrication . I build all kinds of stuff ,from slot cars, hot rod scooters,go karts,to complete turn key cars . I do alot of welding for people now . And have a chance to get a bigger shop . I was mainly trying to get a feel for new customers .Since the HAMB is full of Hot Rodders what better place to get a feel !

 

If I start a rod shop, Will they come? Yes they will come, and it will be that they also will come by the house uninvited. Usually at the worst time, like when your trying to eat dinner, or take a dump, or when your in the shower. Expect that too.

 

i dont think here would be the best place to decide your future
9 out of 10 people will say dont do it but if no one did anything then there would be nothing done hahaaa
i say if its what you want and your good at what you do and willing to work hard then go for it
but you know it wont be easy

 

A lot of great info and stories in this post.I can relate to a lot of them and all are true. I started up 5 years ago After spending 20 years as a bodyman I left the trade 7 years ago and spent the next two in business school. Learn only about half of what you need to know about the business end. Most you will have to learn as you go. I was told the same thing. your nuts to start a shop. But I always dreamed I having a custom shop and felt that it was now or never. So I told myself that I would do this for a few years,fail and move on,that way i could say that I did it and have no regrets about not doing it.I am in my 5 year now.shop full of cars. work long hours, Not making no amount of money but one think I notice is each morning I get up I look forward to the day ahead.This I never had when working for others.I have had good days and a lot of bad days,but I find it a challenge and I live for that.I find if it is easy I find no interest in it but something that gives me a hard time I love trying to figure it out. This is why I married for 19 years. I still can figure her out!! Follow your dreams,Don`t dream too big and remember that the worst thing that can happen is you can fail.We learn a lot more in life by our failures. Being a failure don`t make you a looser it make you stronger for the next challenge in life. You ask almost any successful business man if he still has his first business and you would be surprised to find out that some have had more then one business over the years that failed.

 

One thing no one mentioned is to put the business in your WIFE'S name, and/or make her President when you incorporate. By that, you will qualify for all kinds of funds that you would not normally be able to get. Women and minorities DO receive preferential treatment, when it comes to SBA grants and that sort of thing. The BIG downside to this, is you have the gub'mint involved in a BIG way.

The best way is to go in with a solid business plan, and sufficient start-up cash and essentials to get going. You are not going to make much money at all for what will seem like forever, that is a guarantee! If you can operate as a one-man shop, do that! Don't get big in the head and hire a couple of guys upfront, because all of your money will be going to pay them, along with all of your other business expenses.

I sold trailers for seven years, until I was wiped out by a tornado. I was my sole employee, but I also had another full-time job during that entire time. I did not have to feed my family by selling trailers. I sold enough to stay busy, had flexible hours for the business, and had a good relationship with my builder and my banker. My inventory never exceeded a dozen units at any given time, and were parked in my front yard (acreage). Overhead costs were minimal. It worked out well for me to do that. I had an ad in the phone book, signage out front, along with signs on my truck. After the tornado, my interest in selling trailers went to zero, as I was concentrating on rebuilding everything. But, I gave it a shot, learned a lot, and got out when it was the best thing to do for me.

Best of luck to you!

 

Not to be Debbie Downer here but we have a few shops in this area that have been around a while running ragged, and a few that started up 5 years ago that went belly up.

You may want to examine other things: rod shop and house flipping shouldn't be on the list.

 

Being self-employed isn't a cake walk at all. when the economy is tanking people get real tight and unless you have some exceptional talents to offer and some $$cash reserves squeeze the trigger carefully. a shop full of vehicles with unpaid bills doesn't keep the lights on.

 

i started my shop 3 years ago,after being a dealership mechanic for 23+ years(had a paycheck)..in my opinion, if you do quit your job,and "start" a shop.. .. you're an idiot.
sorry, just my opinion,.. i used to love to build hot rods. now it's just a struggle every day to pay the bills,, stress removes all the FUN of building hotrods,and just working on them is zero fun now (at work anyhow)my friends all warned me, about turning your passion into a job,, but..duh..i didn't listen, (same friends that told me not to marry my x-wife)
just trying to save you heart break... unless you have a GIANT pile of money,and need zero income.. then go ahead and do it, great idea.
reality sucks..

 

"So I told myself that I would do this for a few years,fail and move on,that way i could say that I did it and have no regrets about not doing it."

What Fitzee said.
When the end comes near it is not the things you have done that you will regret, it is the things you didn't do.......

 

My thoughts are pretty much summed up here...

When I started my own shop back in the 90's, I did it every night and almost all weekend until I found that I was staying up until one AM on nights where I had to get up in a few hours to go to the "real" job. I didn't have a lot of money to start with, but ALL of the profit from the sideline business went back into the business. I wouldn't even take beer money out, that's how tight we ran it. Funny thing is that one night I was joking around with my wife that I almost wished that I'd get fired or laid off so that we could take it full time, and within a few months my company lost a few contracts and I DID get laid off and we DID take it full time. BUT after five and a half years of working 7 days a week in the store and at car shows all summer, my own projects sitting absolutely still & NEVER touched, cutting my lawn by the headlights on the pickup truck shining across the yard... I'm back to working for "the man". I still LOVE tinkering with cars, still do a little on the side here & there, and DO have fond memories of working at car shows, driving customer's WAY cool cars on shakedown runs, meeting famous people from racing and just being a part of "the business"...

Do it on the side until you're absoluetely swamped and it is starting to affect your real job and you're making enough $$$ to pay your taxes, overhead, medical benefits, rent on a building, new tools and supplies every couple of months, a separate phone line, etc.

 

I hear you about working for the man. I think it would be great to open a rod shop, I have never ran a business, but If I could do it, I would. Yes there will be bad times, but hell we all go through bad times in our regular jobs. I think if you live in the right area, and you know a solid number of people around you who are into rods and may need a service for a rod shop, then go for it man.

 

There is always gonna be a thousand motherfuckers telling you you can't do this, the economy that, blah, blah, blah. A follower will never be a leader, so just the idea to them is out of the question, ie: it can't be done.

Get off the computer, follow your dreams and make your life happen.

 

Gotta love all that can't do attitude out there, that must have been what made the good ole USA so great. Actually, you can learn from them as well, because ultimately only you know what type of person you are.

I read a lot of good advice here ie business classes, lawyers, dealing with customers and such. This thread really was a good read.

Here is a business model that I have pondered because my skill set is probably not adequate to take on real customer's cars, they might ask for something that I cannot deliver. And if I break something its already mine.

Buy several out of state cars to create a project car inventory -- need to start with some good tin. Take a couple good ones and start building them, put the rest up for sale. When you finish the first ones, put them up for sale as completed cars and cycle in fresh projects from your inventory. Buy fresh inventory as the current is depleted or you get good deals.

What would this accomplish for me? Customers wouldn't dictate my schedule for completing a car and would have little input into the design (of course I still need to pay attention to what will sell and what will not). So I wouldn't need to stall on a project because someone didn't have money this month (unless that someone is me) Likewise I could stall a project to learn how to properly do something. This also gives me the opportunity to find the right people to work with for the things I cannot do.

The side sale of project cars and parts does 2 things. It brings in some extra cash and it brings in potential customers, someone buying a project car just might want help to do some of it. They are there already to buy and you can show them your shop and explain what you can do for them.

I know this would cost much more than the regular work on someone else's car plan figure this could cost as much as $100K more to get going, but I thought it would much better fit my needs. This is something I have been working on because although I love my daytime job, the politicians keep trying to downsize me.

 

I find it fascinating how many negative comments have been posted on this thread. Sure, being your own boss is damned hard and there are times that going back to being a wage-slave looks mighty tempting, but if you've got the entrepreneur's spirit, you'll do all right.

As someone who was told that he was unemployable during the recession of the early '90s (apparently I had too many skills and too much experience; in other words, I was better then the guy wanting to employ someone and I'd have to be paid accordingly!), I was able to build a number of successful businesses. Some short-term (automotive restyling products distribution) some longer-term, and all during a slump.

It may be that you have to move what you're doing part-time to a different location to keep the neighbours happy and let it build from there. In the meantime, you can learn all those other business-type skills that you feel you need and build a reputation in the marketplace.

One last suggestion: The most successful businesspeople have a team of specialists behind them, i.e. accountants, lawyers, bank managers, etc. who look after the boring Admin stuff and will always know more about tax and legal issues than you ever will. Your time is better spent building your business (usually termed:working on your business than all the back-room detail stuff, termed working in the business.

I recently sent a friend of mine to my accountant to get him to free himself from doing endless spreadsheets of motor vehicle inventory and spare parts records. As a result, he's now got time to go our and make sales!

Finally: Always remember that cash-flow is king (my friend mentioned above is finally getting that message) and you need to be turning over stock (or getting progress payments, in the case of a long-term build) to ensure you're at least covering your operating costs.

Hope that helps.

 

Here's my 2 cents. If I were you, I'd start building cars in my spare time, and see what kind of money I made, then if you get some clientele take it from there. There are Rod shops out there that will sell you parts at discounts. try danny's Rod Shop or Yogi's. like they say don't quit your day job, till you are making good money at something else. It is a hit and miss business. I used to have a street Rod Parts Business and couldn't make enough money at it. Good Luck