O/T How to start own shop on the side

[Fralex_francois]

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It is hard to compete against other shops charging $25/hr shop rate

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Find something that other people don't do and that way you can charge, get known for good quality job. The price you charge is not as important as the quality.

Somebody happy about your job will talk of you to 5 person, if he is not happy he will talk of you the wrong way to 50 person.

You can also do parts for person that want it yesterday: they will pay the price

 

my own opinion...

[mario]

mon numéro est le 450-687-5116 ext:239

il faudrais organiser une visite des deux shop

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

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...My wife has not worked for 8 years (raising our kids) and we like it that way...

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Mine has been raising ours for 10+ and we like it that way also.

[Nominal]

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It is hard to compete against other shops charging $25/hr shop rate.

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I know of one we work with in Europe thats $5/hr.

 

With that kind of equipment the work you'd be competing for is being snatched up by Mexico, Taiwan, China, Singapore etc.... if there is any kind of lot size involved. What that leaves is stuff you probably wouldn't want and/or would have a hard time making any money on. Good luck.

[Fralex_francois]

Ma shop, la visite ne sera pas trop longue: j'ai seulement 1000 pi2...

...il faut commencer par quelque part!!

Qui sait je vais peut etre vous acheter...

[Jack Mitchell]

Just a few words of encouragement, or perhaps an ounce of wisdom.

 

Forget about mass mailings and do very few mailings with a follow up phone call on each and every prospective, and keep a journal with the target, contact date, and a short brief - like I got the brush off, etc!

Don’t get discouraged after six months, because during that same amount of time you will find that many of the people you tried to contact are no longer with that company which means fresh game/new blood.

Personally, I had always had most success with cold calling engineers; they are the easiest for me to read and alternately they also easily read you and your professional ability as well; the overriding factor here is what are your skills and strengths? Purchasing managers are considerably more difficult but worth the effort especially if pursuing production type work. It’s not what you know in this business but who you know. In fact, one of the most successful machine shop owners I ever worked for knows virtually nothing about machining.

Visit your local library and take out some of those audio tapes like How to sell and other motivational material for conversing with people.

 

Never bad mouth a competitor for this will always come back to you in waves; this is fine if you’re a surfer/machinist but really, you must avoid this at all costs.

On the same token, when a competitor is down on his luck or effort, then do the right thing – kick out his teeth – (don’t leave any behind). Sounds cruel but just think about it if the tables were turned.

 

Keep you business to yourself otherwise people will blab it all over the place.

This may sound funny as well, but half of those around you will wish you very well and half will become jealous for some reason and would rather you fall on your face; human nature I suppose.

 

If you’re doing very well, then be modest and keep this to yourself.

If you’re having a tough time, then be modest and keep this to yourself.

 

I don’t know what the others think, but I am actually getting on to reading these French responses.

 

Good luck.

 

Regards, Jack

[Mike okislong]

A lots of good tips and advice. I haven't started yet. Just got the machine but haven't set it up yet. I'm going to do this with very little investment. The machine is paid for. The tooling is stuff I collect through out the years. In this area there is just one job shop. I could probably out bid them. Because of almost no overhead. I'm setting this machine up in a place where I'll have no rent. I will program set-up and run by myself. I have 25 years of knowledge in a wide range of machining experience. I'll keep you all up to date on my progress. Thanks guys! I knew you'd come through.

[mario]

pas de trouble si tu veux nous acheter mais nous avons été acheté par le Royal Group Technologies

pour la visite mais je suis très curieux et j'aime bien apprendre.4axe je ne connais pas tellement.

[Fralex_francois]

LOL

 

pour la 4e axe, je devrai y aller molo moi non plus je n'ai pas beaucoup d'expérience mais je compte bien l'approfondir...

[mario]

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...My wife has not worked for 8 years (raising our kids) and we like it that way...

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Me to I have 3 kids 5year 3 year and 10 month my wife does not work either

 

It's a good choice

 

 

Years we shall say it

 

[ 08-18-2004, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: mario ]

[Scott Bond]

A man comes home from working in his shop and is greeted by his wife dressed in a sexy little nightie. "Tie me up," she purrs, "and you can do anything you want." So he ties her up and goes back to the shop.

[mold100]

Scott, that got me divorced ,

 

However I am so charming I got'er back now. I take as little work home as possible now, and when she asks "waht are thinking about" I got a whole lot of responses that just pop out of my mouth.

[Andy]

When I first started my shop, 30yrs ago I would cold call, in person, to manufacturers, distributors, mechanics, in my town. I did not quit my day job. About 3 years later I was making enough to quit the day job. However, 12-15 hours a day. Of the 15 hours, I billed out 4. This is very typical in a small shop. Plan on LONG hours. Be willing to do ANY job---repair, stud removal, welding, and if your real lucky an occasional design and build job. I slowly acquired equipment and a good reputation over the years and today I just work real hard long hours.

We do anything that comes in. You will probably end up divorced, I did. Married again to a lady in a small business. Works much better. Make sure you get the jobs done BEFORE promised. Work at night to accomplish this. Stick to your estimates, even if you have to eat them (you will learn about realistically estimating quicker). Have it be that the ONLY complaints your customers have is that you are expensive (If you worked cheaper, they will still say you are expensive). Get Paid! There are two kinds of customers: Good Customers and Bad Customers. When your able root out the bad ones. Never ever get mad at your customer. One of my best customers unjustly, yells and insults occasionally. You are now a psychologist. Dont take it personally. Read everything about the trade you can, and ask questions, learn forever. It never ends.

Being in business is not for everyone.

Buy your own health and business insurance at ever increasing rates. Deal with hazardous waste record keeping. Sales and resale Taxes. Quarterly tax prepayments. Business license. Personal property equipment taxes. Inventory tax records. Repair your own equipment (endless)

And if you have 1 or more employees: Triple the above amount of regulation and paper work.

 

But life is short, and if you dont try it you will never know!

Good luck.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

One thing I can think of is to do everything on the up and up. BUY your software, however tempting it may be to download off the 'net for free, it's not right. Do the little things honorably and it makes it easier to do everything that way.

 

JM2C

[Mike okislong]

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One thing I can think of is to do everything on the up and up. BUY your software,

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At my place of employment, If they allowed me to clock out and use their software for my own shop on mt own time, would this be breaking any MC agreements??

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

As long as it's not Pirated at your work, I would not think so..