| Author | Message | ||
     Thumper74 |
I've made an offer on a two bay shop to start my own transmission shop! I'm almost done with a degree in business management, I've been a store manager, I'm a master tech, I have enough to live on for around 6 months, etc. I'm going into this with minimal debt, but I love to learn. What would you have done differently when you were starting out? I'm looking forward to taking my dog to work day being everyday! | ||
| Jon |
Work your ass off. Long hours. Love all of it. Understand who your customers are or are going to be. Be mental about quality and customer service. You must be a service freak. Your competitors are your enemies. Don't hate them, but don't get friendly with them. Ever. Write down your goals and stew on them. Keep them physically visible at all times. Always re-evaluate them. Leave your dog at home. | ||
| M1combat |
"I'm going into this with minimal debt," Keep it that way unless you're almost CERTAIN that your plan will work. Don't use debt in risky situations. "Your competitors are your enemies. Don't hate them, but don't get friendly with them. Ever." Agreed Bring the dog to work but only if he's VERY well trained and doesn't even understand that his teeth could be used as a weapon. The docile lab/retriever type. Figure out how to advertise to your targets. Start doing that NOW! | ||
| Thumper74 |
Ha! He's a lab and a big pansy! I have someone in advertising that will help with getting that going in exchange for work on her car. | ||
| Raceautobody |
Know your overhead. If you don't know your cost of doing business you will be lost. Y Your competitors are your enemies. Don't hate them, but don't get friendly with them. Ever. I disagree with that statement. Your competitors should been your best assets. You must service your customers better and have a better product. As long as you know your overhead and have a realistic profit margin per job and you loss a repair to another shop, you will know that other shop is working at a loss. Appearance is very important. People will do business with ones they trust, even if it costs more. Look trustworthy, be honest and do what you say. Also do not give people a reason not to do business with you. Leave the dog at home. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
leave the dog at home I love dogs, but theres places they dont belong | ||
| Tpoppa |
When starting out minimize your fixed costs and financial exposure. I plan for "worst case scenario" and then make and objective assessment on whether or not I could survive that scenario. | ||
| Buelliedan |
Do not be tempted to take on a partner (unless it is your wife) | ||
| Redbuelljunkie |
There will be more costs than anticipated (especially state and local gov't fees/taxes/permits, etc). Pay state and local gov't fees/taxes/permits, etc on time- always. Understand that the system seems designed to ensure you fail. Everyone else gets paid first, and they don't care if there's none left for you. Do not compromise your morals, ethics, or standards- even though people will tell you that it's impossible to succeed without doing so. ALL ordered parts must be paid for BEFORE ordering- no exceptions. Have faith in the basic goodness of humanity... because they will try to convince you otherwise. Starting a small business from scratch has been the scariest and most rewarding experience I've ever had- and I wouldn't change it for the world. | ||
| Sifo |
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| 86129squids |
Someone needs to post up Erik's business motto, the "Buell Values"... I've always appreciated it, hate that I've not memorized it. | ||
| 86129squids |
On the dog: ONLY if you can 120% trust EVERYTHING it does, leave it at home. I once knew a Sheltie who owned a guy that ran a coffee shop- the dog would either lay by the door outside, or stay under a bench inside, ALL DAY, until his guy was done and took him home. Completely off-leash. The one thing that was his weakness was if someone picked up a stick- he'd be ready to go get it! That dog was pretty much a legend around downtown Knoxville, a great dog, until he passed. You love your animals- BE SURE, 150% sure, that you and the dog can figure it out. | ||
| Daves |
Have more money than you think you will need. If it is your money that's great. If borrowing, borrow more! If you don't need it, pay it back early. It is easier to get plenty than go back 6 months later and need to ask to borrow more. The dog? Depends. I have both my dogs here in my archery shop every day. Never been an issue, even a couple weeks ago when my 2.5 yr old lab about dropped my BANKER with a "nut check" glad he likes me. I figure if they don't like dogs maybe this isn't the shop for them. Lol. Depends on your customer base. Good luck! Don't let people get you down. Sounds like you have a great background to make it work! | ||
| Thumper74 |
I've got the Buell values memorized from the book. I would like to get an engraved version made for the shop. | ||
| Steveford |
You want to sock away a ton of money before you leap and don't let the customers burn you out - they can be real good that way. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Make sure your advertising is an easy read with your values clearly stated within the text. Make sure it's clear, to the point. If you don't have it right, you'll lose that potential customer. And, make sure every word, every sentence, is correct English. Make the outside attractive as it will set your shop apart from your competition. You'll probably have a fair amount of female customers. Keep your shop spotless! People appreciate a shop that doesn't smell. When you employ others, make sure they share your values. Your employee(s) can put more of a bite on customer relations than any pooch ever can. Don't hire bad apples! This is your business, don't let another speak for you. Ensure you and your vendors have a no-hassle policy, that is, don't make them chase you down for the dough you owe them. Don't let problems live rent free in your head. Fix them as fast as they occur. You'll sleep better! Finally, your family should always come first. Get the shop in order for the next day and get out of there. | ||
| Etennuly |
Never feel bad about charging a fair price, for even as you do customers will often try to wrench you. Always get the parts deposit before starting a job. It has become the standard business practice for about the last ten years. It can be done even with insurance companies if you are tactful. Bleeding hearts will come to your door with stories of 'woe is me', I fell for that once, actually doing the work for almost nothing, and then found the guy lied and was in much better financial position than me, bastard still had his 401K and other savings and retirement funds, when mine were gone. He literally did a con job on me. Never feel bad about making money. It is what you are there for. Trading out favors, like with your friend, is not deductible. Get a good accountant. Let him handle the stuff you learned about in college. You cannot keep yourself up to date on the laws and rules changes while running your business. Every time you pay for that service you are free to make money. Count everything because everything counts. Dogs at a repair shop are only good if customers are aware that they are there to protect the property that their vehicles will be left at. Rover will be a distraction when you need to be focusing on customer interaction and transactions. | ||
| Ratbuell |
+1,000,000 on proper English. Signage. Advertisements. Spoken word. Email communication. ALL of it. Your-you're-your. They're-their-there. Know the difference and do it properly. NO POLITICS. The ONLY thing your customers need to know about you is your values regarding fixing their transmission. PERIOD. No sex life, no financial discussion, no favorite movie, no favorite song, they don't care what concert you went to last weekend or what your favorite food and drink are. Don't take the risk of alienating a customer just because of something you like...because they may not. The ONLY common ground you have with customers is "your transmission is broken - it will take me this long, and this much money, to fix it - you're going to be very happy with the result, and I will meet my deadline and budget every time." Manners. Hold a door open. Say THANK YOU. Smile. Shake hands. Eye contact. If you're angry, go into another room to vent. Successful business anymore is more about PEOPLE than about BUSINESS. Lots of folks can fix transmissions; not many have the added ability of making people feel GOOD about paying someone to do it. People buy from people they LIKE. If they don't like you and trust you...they won't buy from you. And I'm on the fence about the dog. Bigger dog...keep him in the office, not out in the shop. Small, timid people will be intimidated by a lab, and there are non-dog-people out there (see NO POLITICS up above). Do you want to risk alienating anti-pet customers? Cat-people customers? I'm a dog person - have a pug, a border collie, and a husky/pit mix. If ANY of them were to ever go to work with me, it would be the pug. 1000% non-threatening. I love my dogs, but they're my pleasure, not my job. Want people to feel secure about leaving their cars at your shop? Install cameras and signage about cameras/security monitoring. | ||
| Buellish |
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| Thumper74 |
Perry is a lab mix, all of 30 lbs, completely non-threatening and started therapy dog training, but I do realize that not everyone loves him like I do. Proper English is a pet peeve of mine. I'm an insurance adjuster now and it drives me nuts when someone is using text speak and/or no formality in a professional e-mail. What's a sex life?! I'm trying to start a business! I have someone that will set up the social media aspect of things for me and get me started on managing it. I learned just how detrimental politics can be due to the last two elections... Dirty shops drive me crazy. I don't plan on making it a BMW dealer in the front office, but I would like people to not be afraid to touch anything or sit down. | ||
| 86129squids |
Thanks, Buellish!  | ||
| Strokizator |
What would I have done differently? Easy, back in 2000 I sunk $500K into a new building that I later sold for $850. Should have kept renting, paid the income tax on it and spent the rest on Apple stock, which I think was below $7.00. It's worth over 100 times that now. The suggestions stated above are good ones. Run a professional operation and keep track of your costs - you don't want to find out at year's end that you've been losing money for months. Don't go into debt even though the bank may be offering an attractive rate on a line of credit. Reinvest your profits and don't buy any toys for awhile - you don't want the reputation of "all flash and no cash". Now for some free advice from you. Is the BG transmission flush worth the money? What should I be doing for a Chrysler 6-speed auto in a T&C van with 40k miles on it? | ||
| Thumper74 |
Stroks, thanks for the advice. I don't like ANY flushes. On a lower mileage car, it's usually not an issue, but higher mileage stuff always comes back, usually needing at least a valvebody refresh. The issue is that the detergents break stuff up too quickly and may block the small fluid passages, preventing the fluid from getting where it needs to be. Think a piece of plaque in your arteries breaking loose and blocking flow to your brain. Now, depending on the year of the van, you might not even have a dipstick. To even check the fluid, you need a scan tool and the correct measuring tool from Chrysler (not sure if available after market yet). What I generally do with this is siphon the fluid out with a vacuum pump and refill with the same amount. Make sure you get OEM fluid since 'universal' fluid scares me. Doing it this way gets you clean fluid, without the risk. If it's under warranty still any Chrysler van from 2010-current carries a 5/100,000 mile powertrain warranty... I'd let the dealer do it since they would be replacing/rebuilding it anyway... (Message edited by Thumper74 on July 20, 2015) |
