thinking of setting up my own business

[twostroker]

can any one give me any advice?

basicily ive been thinking about setting up on my own doing mobile smart repairs,ie bumber scuffs etc for a while now and its basicly its either i do it very soon or not at all,im a qualified paint sprayer,with 7-8 years experiance,ive been made redundant twice and its looking possable my 3rd time is round the corner.

.the way i see it is as long as i work for somebody else i wont ever get any where eg in currently working for a small company and i only get 25% of what ever i invoice so basicly the boss is earning a fortune out of me while i scrape through life. admittedly i do earn reasonably good money and im not treated bad but im worried if i dont give it a go il always wonder what if?

worst case scinario is i chuck my job in,spend £7000ish on a van and tools plus insurance etc,get no work and end up selling the van and having no job for a few months,
im just unsure about quitting a pretty well paid job with the possability it will end in tears but if it goes well i should earn a load more money and have the luxury of being my own boss etc

[ally]

bloody go for it!

am wanting to do the same but have a lack of funds at present.

used to work in the bodyshop game, very tight margins etc etc.

with the crunch coming i'm sure you will find plenty of work, people won't want large bills, the best source of work as i'm sure you will be aware is the second hand car market so butter up some independents and especially the main dealers, they hate to spend (big) money on repairs.

I used to live in the Croydon area and a local guy had a unit at Biggin Hill, earned a fortune of repairs to private planes and helicopters, BAT motorcycles was local too and did loads of work on bike smart repairs, not many car shops want to touch them so it's main dealers only who mainly just supply pre-painted expensive plastic.

don't forget you only have to go half as much work (your original 25% plus overhead costs) to earn the same money and it's all yours!

If you're friendly with and accountant they will advise what you can legitimately claim for, which will be quite a lot. ie you can claim back the capital expenses of start up costs back as dividends which you don't pay tax on....

My ex girlfriends is a small business accountant director, shout if you want details, she very good and cheap!!

best of luck


ally

[twostroker]

im about 60% convinced to go ahead with it,its a big jump like you and said im going to test the water first and ask about before i commit my self and thinking about it with the help from my old chap i could get set up for less than i originaly thought.
fingers crossed if i do go ahead and do the jump il be able to paint a few bike panels if anybody wants any doing,
if my current job gets much quieter it will give me more of an incentive to make the jump.

[twostroker]

another problem i face is the acountancy side of it,i wouldnt have a clue where to start?
at the moment im working 60 to 65 hours a week and thats only monday to friday,another bonus of working for my self is i wouldnt have to work so many hours just to get a decent/average wage its just having the balls to make the jump i suppose.

[stevebozzy]

twostroker
where are you ,my bike has got a couple of stonechips
steve

[twostroker]

"chips away" and few others are franchises,basicaly you pay between £17k-£30k depending on the franchise you decide to trade under and for that you get about £1000 worth of equiptment and a training course plus you have to buy all your materials from them at a rip off price plus you have to pay them a % or your earnings each month,depending on the individual franchise.
im thinking of being fully independant and not getting a franchise,im just going to have to do a bit more research before jumping in at the deep end,im confident in doing the work its just getting the work that worries me.

[doy]

I've just done exactly what you are thinking about mate.Was in quite a good job but hated every minute of it.It's a bit scary at times eg thinking what have i done etc but hopefully it will work out ok in the end.I havnt particularly done it to make more money more the fact that i can do what i want.
It's hard to keep positive sometimes ,in the last 2 weeks everything seems to have gone wrong for me,was really ill last week after a dodgy chinese,compressor broke down,vapourblaster broke down,found pure oil in the water header tank on the van,new soda blaster didn't arrive on time and today woke up with major flu lol.
Also i ran way over the budget i thought i needed with hidden things i didn't account for and still am doing lol.
I have looked at it exactly like you,if it all goes tit's up at least i have had a go and a lot of my outlay has been in sellable assets so if the worst happens i can sell up and just get a job again.
I also do a couple of days a week working for a mate just to pay the bills which helps.I highly recommend getting an accountant too,it's one less thing to worry about
Another bonus is you get to meet some really great people and can chat with them as long as you want without a boss glaring at you ;D
"Better to have tried and failed than never tried at all"

[carlos]

Twostroker, where are you?

I've got a bloke who used to do work for me in Newcastle when I worked for an independent garage who used to work for chipsaway then went on his own! He might provide you with some advice!

[twostroker]

im in north essex,yep the chips away franchise is very similar to what im planning but obviously i wont be buying a franchise il just buy the van and tools that i dont own yet (ive got some from previous jobs).like doy said its better to try and fail than not try at all.
its not just for the extra money its just because every job ive ended up getting ripped of with wages or not being fully trusted like not being alowed the company fuel card and not being alowd to bring company vehicles home etc,

[kwack10]

Good luck mate, im redundant end of nov if i cant find a job gonna set up on my own.

Sod it "in for a penny in for a pound" ;D ;D

[carlos]

Will you paint the wheel arch on my BMW once you're set up? I scraped it in the garage!

Clearly I should keep the garage for the bike

[twostroker]

as long as all goes well il take on most minor paint repairs,its only bonnets and roofs that i dont fancy painting mobile,if i had acces to a propersprayboth id take any thing on.

[uncleelsie]

nice one twostroker, go for it!! just a word of warning i learnt from bitter experience, do it on your own, dont invite anyone in with you, i did and got ripped off by my so called mate to the tune of several hundred!!...........i paid out for materials the customer paid my mate and he buggered off