Dono

Kmiller, yea i work with Larry. He is a real nice guy. I tease him about his old mans boat. ( 39 searay).

jeaston, thanks. I think iron workers are the crazy ones

MILD THUNDER

iTrader: (3)

I too am in the same boat. 25, recently engaged. I worked thru high school at a local shop working on foreign japanese cars. Then I joined the GM program thru a pontiac gmc dealer. Did that for almost 2 years. Then I got a seasonal construction job for the City. It paid good during the 9 months I work. Then in the winter season I drove a snowplow for the state. It made ends meet but I realized it was just not practical.

So I have applied with the local county sheriff. I went thru all the processes, now its a waiting game. The drawbacks are the hours, having to work nights and weekend makes for less boating time.

I too have kicked the idea around of opening a shop on my own. I would love to open a full service detail/custom shop. I thought about buying a piece of property just outside of town, and putting up two metal buildings. One for a Full service detail center for cars and boats. The other a shop for stereo installs, alarms, truck accessories, spray in bedliners, etc.

My advice, take the chance now, if we do and fail, so be it. If we dont, everyday we go to work, we will regret it. Good Luck, MT

Edward R. Cozzi

Don't make the same mistake I did.
I spent too much of my working life making OTHER people rich.
Now I'm in my mid-fifties finally enjoying life.
I wish you luck no matter what path you follow.

tomtbone1993

iTrader: (3)

three types of people in this world

1) people that make things happen

2) people that watch things happen

3) people that go what the hell just happened



also

you can

a make yourself rich

or make somebody else rich

I hope this helps out
Tom

fund razor

Ya know.... something that nobody has mentioned. Guys who have been self employed make GREAT employees. So whether your own business pans out in the end, the experience of being responsible for everything right down to the bottom line is incredibly valuable. I'm 38. I was self employed from about age 28 until just after 9/11. Now I work for the man, but the things that I learned being self employed are so valuable, that it takes the sting out of losing my azz on the business.

My worst problem: Employees. Can't live with em. Can't shoot em. It was hard to get past the hump of being able to do all the work myself.
You can buy supplies, you can rent an office, but the people are the big variable. If I were self employed again I think that I would run it out of my truck and hire nobody. Keep costs low, but let word of mouth get around.

One more thing. Don't discount. Whenever you are bidding against another guy for the work, and the client says "Will you give me a discount?" Say no. Explain that you have priced the job very carefully, and at this price you can afford to give them the good service that they deserve. Tell them they can go with the cheaper bid, but chances are that those guys will start resenting any extra effort needed to complete the job, whereas, you have so much experience doing custom work that you are expecting to have to do some extras and there will be no problem or resentment in doing so at the price you have quoted.

Good luck. If it works out for you, I would like a job.

tomtbone1993

iTrader: (3)

good advice Fund Razor

fund razor

Thanks. Once in a while I get lucky.

That "no discount" trick really does work in the custom field. Never lost a bid.

You just have to look em in the eye and be really nice about it, like it's no big deal... whatever they wanna do is fine.

Edit: I am available for hire and will entertain relocating.

Edward R. Cozzi

Ditto that.

JPD Motorsports

If you have the will, and the funds to do it then do it. Like fund said the employees are the hardest to deal with on this, as you will want to be the one doing the installs and making sure its right, been ther done that. Also make sure that you have enough for your overhead set back for a few months for when the times come and its slow you can cover the bills. Don't let the people talk you out of it that are close, folks tried to here, but proved them wrong and like buck said they then want a piece of it. With those skills you should have some sort of client base now anyways, when the time comes and your all set up let them know before you leave with a flyer or if a dealership a visit to let them know. Good luck if you venture this way.

RollWithIt

There are definate benefits to working for yourself. Hours are flexible or variable. Depending on if you can take time off or need to put in extra hours. All of your hard work comes back to you and not to somebody else. Makes you feal really rewarded. You can be as successful or not depending on how bad you want it. One definate draw back is finding good reliable employees. Brother and myself found this out with our landscape company. Finally found a couple. Now its time to keep them. The other thing is that there are lean times. Build up a buffer to cushion the finances. I used to do police work. Got out at age 28. There were benefits, steady pay, medical, etc.. to that job. But you had to work shifts, weekends, limited number of days off a year, answering to some other idiot who was in charge.

My advice would be to go on your own. I think you will be happy in the long run.