A performance shop of sorts for automobiles…
What state would you go to and why?
A few friends and myself are looking into things of this nature, to possibly get into in the next few years. Buffalo’s weather isn’t anywhere near a good enough area for many reasons (Climate and economy)
Suggestions and constructive criticism is welcome.
Go where money is. New booming cities. Charlotte is one that comes to mind.
I like the idea of the Carolina’s. I mentioned Myrtle beach, SC. I have no idea about the car scene there, but I know there is some big money there.
A) Make sure you have a rock solid business plan.
B) Incorporate
C) Make sure you trust your partners
D) Discipline
E) Be prepared to work harder than you ever have if you want to succeed.
A)Turn out a good product to the consumer that they will be pleased with, at a reasonable price.
B) Elaborate on this part please?
C) So far so good.
D) If it’s what banks the money, I’ll do what i have to.
E)It’s more or less all of our passion and all we enjoy doing. Success comes from hard work and dedication, and I know all of us aren’t happy unless we are satisfied with our finished product.
Thank you 
Opening a performance shop is a pretty risky business. I mean, any small business, has a very high likelihood of failing within a few years. But especially with a performance shop, your costs are absolutely huge, and there’s always a lot of overhead. Plus, your dealing with specialty stuff and people. Not trying to down you, but if you’re really considering it, I can only hope you got a WELL thought out plan of attack. The wrong approach could cost you a LOT. All the best.
I’ve heard this many times from many different businessmen. But everything in life is a risk. I figure it like this, I have one life and once chance to do something I love and be successful at it, or I could give it a shot and fail. I’d rather risk it and fail over not doing it and kicking myself years from then doing something I hate, never knowing if I could have made it or not.
Say it with me, limited liability corporation. It keeps your personal assets yours if you go out of business, i.e. Chapter 11.
I think I should take a few business classes next semester. Probably a REALLY good idea, huh?
business law will be your best friend.
rubicant is right… Corp. is huge
Does ECC offer this? I’ll find out tomorrow for sure if nobody here knows off hand.
Thanks for the good info everyone. This has been something I’ve wanted to do for a few years now. Nows the time to start doing some good research and get ready to prepare myself if I can see myself going through with it.
Yeah, I’d say that’s a start.
ummm… UB does… not sure about ECC… id assume theyd offer something along the lines
I figured so. I’m going to find out for sure and make sure I fit it in my schedule for an upcoming semester.
If it was me I’d look for an area that is growing but isn’t already huge. For example S.Florida has already peaked, so there are already tons of performance shops. If you started in a hot development area you’d have lots of rich suburbanite kids to sell to because there might not be a speed shop in their area.
Start reading real estate mags and see where the new hot areas are.
Are You Kidding me. Have you ever even worked in the auto repair business? I thought you were like 18?? Maybe you should quit smokin that stuff and concentrate on finishing school or something
A - a rock solid business plan literally takes months to put together. My advice: envision your business 10 years from now, and build from that. It’s back breaking, mind expanding work, and no matter how thorough you think you are, expect a LOT of surprises along the way.
B - decide what sort of business entity you’re planning on building (mine is an LLC, by the way)
C - be VERY careful
D - no offense intended, but I’m not sure if you know the scope of discipline involved in a venture like this. As much as you like to think so, it’s not all fun and games in this business.
E - The product (meaning finished automobiles) will account for about 20% of your efforts
Opening a shop should be a long time (10 year) goal. You need to put in several years working for someone else so that you can get experience, a good customer base and to find out if this is actually something you want to do for a career.
Go to college and work in a shop part time. That way if after a few years you realize you hate working on other people’s cars you have a degree to fall back on.
Experience is taking the exam before your professor teaches you the material.
Anyways,
I’ve seen plenty of businesses go under, and it’s not because of lack of intelligence, lack of market, or lack of responsible employee/partners. They fail for a MILLION reasons… and more than half the time it’s not even their fault.
Taking classes at UB is not going to HURT you per se, but instead it might just be wasted time + money. Applicable research is your friend, and more research is like your best friend. There cannot be too much planning in opening ANY small business. If anything, there is maybe ONE class you could get into… MGQ405 ( i think ) that COULD help you. It might be better just to sit in and not participate. The other ones would go wasted on you, and should be better left to professionals.
Just finding a “growing” city isn’t enough, you need to pull census information, look at demographics and all sorts of other shit. Maybe the taxes in the “ideal” city are just too high, and you’ll never make it past your first year.
Lots of people are going to give you good advice, and it’s good to ask. Personally, if I were you, I’d get some books, and start trying to schedule sit downs with ANY business owner you know or can get in contact with. Telling them you are a college student working on a project WILL help you get those interviews, and will loosen up the subject to be more open when discussing business plans etc.
FWIW I have an accounting degree and work as a systems analyst building procedure and policy in all aspects of business, cutting costs and creating fundamentally stout operating plans at the same time. I’d be willing to answer some questions for you over PM and MAYBE in person if you are really serious.
-Adam
Check out SCORE. I worked with them a lot when opening my business… it’s a free counseling service for small business owners (and those working to start a small business). They gave me great referrals, they had great advice, I could call them whenever I wanted to with any question big or small, and it was just generally nice to feel like someone else was on my side to help me get this started.