Tips / Tricks for starting a business

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Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 8:17 am
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:53 pm
so do any of you guys have any tips or tricks as to starting a body shop?
I'll be graduating next year and I just recently got a job at a body shop and am starting to learn everything, I have decided that this is what I want to do. I really love working on vehicles and stuff so ... I plan on starting my own shop sometime after I graduate.
Learning How To Learn

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Posts: 174
Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 8:17 am
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:33 am
any suggestions anyone?
Learning How To Learn



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 11:55 pm
I'll give the best advice anyone can give you, take some BUSINESS courses!

I was a good bodyman, I was a good painter, I was a good people person and could work well with vendors, insurance reps, etc. But that is only the begining. A good bodyman makes does not mean he makes a good business man, it means he makes good repairs on cars, those are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS. I lasted 13 years of floundering in and out of making any money.

Most good bodymen who open body shops don't last, they end up working for someone again. They think because they know how to fix cars and that they own a few tools they can make a business. When actually, what they really have is the basis for working somewhere as an employee. And don't let anyone tell you the autobody repair business is so different from other businesses. Sales are sales, I don't care if it is a grocery store, a cat house or a body shop.

Take a number of business and economic courses and then think about starting a body shop business.

Brian
Free lance adviser

"Hitting the pavement at 100 mph really smarts"
Evel Knievel



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Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:21 pm
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:03 pm
Martinsr is 100% right on the money. I've been trying to fire off my business and its taken about two years now. I can honestly say my "trade skill" only equals about 5% of what running a successful business requires.
I thought that because I can fab, I can run a business. Not the case at all, I've been taking a lot of small business and entrepreneurship courses and seminars, and all of my trade experience taught me nothing about the business side of things. But if you are thinking about going into business for your self... go for it! It takes a while to get going but if you take your time, get educated, and are willing to put in the extra hours it is well worth it. A 100 hour week with my business is much more at the end of the week rewarding than any 40 hour week job I have ever had! As far as tips go, well I survived with the help of a good friend. I found a good friend that I can trust that has a full time job and was looking for side money so I took him. When I'm too busy he does the work, actually he makes the money for the shop. Very soon I will be asking him if he will come work for me full time. Anyway what I'm saying is that don't get in a hurry, and don't get in over your head, take your time and don't get greedy with work take what you can handle, do quality work and you will have a better chance of betting the odds of owning a business.

Good luck
Jerry



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 12:49 pm
I agree with both of the above.

Me on the other hand, i am a Computer/Business Major, graduating May.

And car customization is just what i eat/sleep, can't get it out of my mind. It's becoming a passion, if it isn't already.

Now i don't know how to do ANYTHING, except Car audio, and i'm no pro, but i know some stuff. And what i do know is a good majority of Business, and it's inerworkings. And i know i'd LOVE to open/operate a business, which for the remainder of my Senior year in college i will be conducting the research to do just so, hoping to launch it atleast a year after graduation.

But def take some business classes. The knowledge i've learned over the years, you would think ppl not in buiness would know, but will quickly learn that it's not the case.

I'm not starting it to become a master painter, or fabricator, i'm starting it because it's just something that I would love to put those 100hours a week, to ensure that my professional staff, who are the master fabs and painters, can do what they love which is painting//fabbing, and we inturn are all satisfied. So i guess having the mentality will also help.

RESEARCH RESEARCH!!!

I'm having a hard time trying to gather what necessary equipment i would need, and size on facility, the stuff u guys would know!! Which is why i'm on here, to get some Answers!



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Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:24 pm
Location: North Carolina
PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 9:32 pm
Old topic I know, but I have a question on this as well. Right now my major in college is Auto Body. But I have not started my major because I am taking ALL of my english, reading and math courses first. Now in the auto body class I can get a diploma in it, not a degree. For the business management and small business I can get certificates. For a diploma in business I have to take a TON of other courses that have nothing to do with a shop kind of business, they are for like HUGE companies, etc and I don't want to do that. Would getting just a certificate be ok or is that not worth it? I can do BOTH the auto body and certificates but that will take about 6 years to do. What would you recommend? My stepmother thinks that I need at LEAST a diploma but then again I don't plan to work for anyone my whole life. I have NEVER worked for anyone yet actually and have been doing my own jobs doing body work and painting cars and I am only 18 right now.
Thanks a lot for any suggestions here guys!
If you want something done right then you have to do it yourself!
My Hot Rods:
- 1948 Chevy Coupe
- 1966 Ford F100 (soon to be pro streeted)
- 1985 Chevy K10
- 1929 Ford Hi Boy 5 Window Coupe



Top Contributor
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Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:44 am
Location: San Francisco Bay area
PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:56 am
I have to tell you something right now, BUSINESS IS BUSINESS, PERIOD. I don't care if it is a body shop, a billion dollar shoe company, a toy store or a cat house, BUSINESS IS BUSINESS.

Take all the business classes you can. Take the marketing, manufacturing, etc. They will ALL help you have a leg up on the competition.

The money is made in the office, the shop is just a place to get the cars fixed. A body shop is a "time factory", plain and simple. You buy time at wholesale and sell it at retail.

Get the education guy, you will always use it in ANY business you get involved in. When I was 18 I thought I would be the custom body shop owner of the world, things don't always work out. It is not so much that I "failed" (I did make a living,bought at house, etc.) it is that I grew. We change, what I wanted out of life at 18 isn't what I wanted at 40, now things are different. You may never change your desires, but who knows. It is like the guy who thinks he is going to be a baseball star but finds out in the minors that there are another 50 "superstars" fighting for the job in the big show. If he isn't prepared to make a living some other way he is screwed.

Get all you can, you can never loose with education.

Brian
Free lance adviser

"Hitting the pavement at 100 mph really smarts"
Evel Knievel



Settled In
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:24 pm
Location: North Carolina
PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:00 am
Thanks for the advice. I plan to do the business classes as well so that should help me some.
If you want something done right then you have to do it yourself!
My Hot Rods:
- 1948 Chevy Coupe
- 1966 Ford F100 (soon to be pro streeted)
- 1985 Chevy K10
- 1929 Ford Hi Boy 5 Window Coupe



Site Admin
Posts: 375
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:02 am
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 2:02 pm
I would think getting a job in the administration of a busy body shop would be the best class available.



Top Contributor
Posts: 1531
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:44 am
Location: San Francisco Bay area
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:14 pm
Waltherj, and I guess tossing a 20 year old into Humvee with a gun and dropping him in Iraq would be better than training him first?

No kidding, EDUCATION can not be replaced by on the job. Sure, on the job can not be replaced by a school either. But if you really want to get somewhere you get educated.

Brian
Free lance adviser

"Hitting the pavement at 100 mph really smarts"
Evel Knievel
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