aight this might sound kinda strange but, my homies and I are wanting to open a shop, not anytime soon, but in the next couple years, and i just wanted to get any info i can. i was wondering if anyone owned a shop and what exatcly it takes to run in. currently im still in school studying management, cuz we gonna need some business and management skills to open a shop. we have bout six guys who we all love cars and all have some kind of knowledge bout them. three of them are in community colleges studying automotive, and the others are working full time to have money to make this a possibility. does anyone know real good places, prices, anything about opening a shop? my civic is our project car that we all put money toward in order to make it our official teack car as a team. that will be the beginning in order to get to the shop. we have a name as a teamand we constantly are coming up with new ideas on how to make this a reality. any advice from people who are in a similar situation or have their own shop would be helpful. thanks

 

Advice, start as small as you can

I am 25 and am just now starting to get my stuff going, take your time, research till you are blue in the face and grow up a lil because they will not be your "homies" they will be your Partners.

 

werd to teh mudda homie.

 

Opening a shop with 6 friends is a horrible idea. You have to cut profits 6 ways........no way youre going to be able to make a good living. My advice.......save money, open your OWN shop and HIRE trained ppl to work for you. This way you dont cut all your profits by 6. Oh and the rule of thumb in business.....dont mix business and pleasure.......I own a business, and having friends work for you is a bad idea. Ive got 1 business partner, and we rarely bump heads........but we get along well and we split our profits down the middle........so if we make 100K a year, we each get 50......whereas if you made 100K a year, youd each get 16,600.......Kinda chitty for a years worth of work if you ask me.

 

word son...word. if u guys are really serious about the business, u need to take every bit of it maturely. its big bucks ur dealing with and also ur reputation. im no business man but i think everyone can agree that a well thought out plan will be a very good start. u cant just hop into this expecting to make loads of money and think all will be fun and games. have back up plans. set money aside just incase. location is key, depending on where the shop is will determine how well the busniess will go. not just that but advertisement/word of mouth, u and ur buddies may kno some ppl but u need to spread word like the plague. i've heard alot of stories about ppl trying to start up their own shop/buisness and most seem to not turn out so well...best of luck!

 

My friend and I want to open our own shop also. Im going for engine adn interanls and hes going for body. Things is we have been wrking together for a couple years. We worked as managers at an cie cream place together andwe do side laborjobs adn split the profits. I handle the management and money side of everything and he is the people person. Ive taken accounting and am currently studying business management. I would highly suggest getting rid of a lot of your homies

 

You need ALOT of money to get a shop off the ground. Up until recently i was working at a shop and it was just 3 of us there. The owner had already put 150K into the shop starting in August until now and he was just now seeing some profit back. We had 3 lifts and 5 bays. It was general automotive stuff (oil changes, alignment, fixing anything, etc.). Takes alot to get it going.

 

Thats actually a fast return for any business. Most small businesses dont see a profit for a couple years. It would be easier to start in a small garge and not really go commercial until you have a small customer base at least. Auto garages are hard to start because most people pick one and stay with that one.

 

Yeah it was a return but it still wasn't enough to keep me on. They are still just scraping by as it is without me. They had to let me go because profits were too low. Luckily he was a mechanic who had been in the area for a long time and already had some customer base when he went solo. All Im saying is that it takes alot of money to get it going.

 

^^^You hit it right on the nail! Even going into business with your family can be a bad thing if they are not married to you... Eventually EVERYONE has their own ideas on how to use the profits to expand the business, thus creating a possible collapse.

My mother owns a shoe store in portland, or which is now the largest independent imported shoe store in portland... they literally threw it together over a process of 4 months BUT that is only because my father had alot of money to put into it.

I have my own SIDE business (the real money is from my occupation) that my wife mainly runs for me that is communications related and I work with overseas clients, namely Japan. I translate to english, my wife spell checks it and I send possible marketing and wording ideas back to multiple companies that probe possible consumer markets.... okay that sounds like I do something cool... I am a spell checker for japanese marketing companies! Hahahaha

As for starting an actual shop, it is all about LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! Know the clientel you want to sell to. If you're a japanese tuner, expect a clientel that is younger and you also have to keep ethnicity in mind... in portland there are alot of mexicans and asians that go to the tuner shops, so build near mexicans and asians! That is just my idea on that!