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Tips on doing sidework


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Fastlearner 
Silver - Posts: 346
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Joined: March 23, 2005
Location: United States
Posted: July 16, 2006 at 1:58 AM / IP Logged  
I am starting to try to do sidework out of my garage but I have some questions for people who are currently doing this or people who started out doing this. What are some ways of advertising yoursellf out? I have two car dealerships a stones throw away, do you think they will let me do stuff for thier cars or most likely not? Also my biggest problem is that most people i talk to don't have product, so they go somewhere and buy it then also get it installed there. Would it be a good idea to go to a distributor and drop a few grand on poducts or would i need to go through tax i.d.s and stuff like that? Thanks in advance.
josh1979 
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Joined: July 03, 2006
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Posted: July 16, 2006 at 9:59 AM / IP Logged  

get a tax id http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/moneymatters/a/needtaxid.htm this site will explain. find a local distributor (some thing you can drive to if possable) that will let you buy small. you said " let me do stuff for thier cars or most likely not?"you have all ready answard your own question before you asked it . try, dealerships are a great way to make money but thay want it now ,cheep, and flawless one or two F'up's with a dealership and you can give it up so make sure you have i togeathere before you go making dealer call . know what you can offer know how much it will cost them and how long to get the job done o ya the last thing about dealerships the thing i hate the most is kiss there ***. i work with  about 4 dealers steady and thay bring me multi thousands a month. because you work out of your garage do the work on site till you get a good rep with them. as far as advertising nondealer work create a budget for a demo car, does not have to blow minds just showcase what you can do the first car should be affordable products and install so the advredge person that see's it can say wow thats nice, sounds good and i could come up with that kind of money for it.

this is my advice good luck and you can pm me for any more questiong about this

bring back the rotary phone so i dont have to press 1 to proceed in english
Ravendarat 
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Joined: February 23, 2004
Location: Canada
Posted: July 16, 2006 at 10:34 AM / IP Logged  
If your gonna do this, than you need to get insurance man. Accidents happen and the last thing you wanna do is cause major electrical damage and then being stuck paying for it. I dont know alot of people who can just drop a couple grand to get  a vehicle fixed.
double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer
josh1979 
Silver - Posts: 320
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Joined: July 03, 2006
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Posted: July 16, 2006 at 11:26 AM / IP Logged  
yes thats very important .thank you Ravendarat for adding that.
bring back the rotary phone so i dont have to press 1 to proceed in english
Velocity Motors 
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Moderator spaceThis member has made a donation to the12volt.com. Click here for more info.spaceThis member has been recognized as an authority in Electrical Theory. Click here for more info.spaceThis member has been recognized as an authority in Fabrication. Click here for more info.spaceThis member has been recognized as an authority in Mobile Audio and Video. Click here for more info.spaceThis member has been recognized as an authority in Mobile Security and Convenience. Click here for more info.spacespace
Joined: March 08, 2002
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Posted: July 16, 2006 at 5:00 PM / IP Logged  
Doing this as a side business is great, but your going to have to give up alot of your free time if your wanting this to succeed. Long hours and thanksless customer's is what yor in for.
Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA
josh1979 
Silver - Posts: 320
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Joined: July 03, 2006
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Posted: July 16, 2006 at 6:13 PM / IP Logged  

Velocity Motors wrote:
Doing this as a side business is great, but your going to have to give up alot of your free time if your wanting this to succeed. Long hours and thanksless customer's is what yor in for.

come on now no words of discouragement he ask for our help, not to be talked out of it. but ya dont is suck not to even get a thank you some times.  A salesmansays "here your $80000 car that did not come with the shut your bratty *** kids up package but we took care of that for you" customer replies "what do you mean it's $1800 and why did it take four hours the guy down the street said he would do it for $900 and it would only take an hour"

bring back the rotary phone so i dont have to press 1 to proceed in english
Fastlearner 
Silver - Posts: 346
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Joined: March 23, 2005
Location: United States
Posted: July 16, 2006 at 7:50 PM / IP Logged  
I am going to actually thank you guys for the negative comments. Better to know whats coming that not know. Hopefully it will all work out for me.
josh1979 
Silver - Posts: 320
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Joined: July 03, 2006
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Posted: July 16, 2006 at 8:15 PM / IP Logged  

good point .i'm sory Velocity Motors i guess its good to know both sides.

Fastlearner just dont let it sway you from a dreem thats what happend to me. people said it a lot of work ,you know nothing of bussiness, you have no money ,and so on and so on i let i sink in instead of putting my mind on it and figgureing out how to overcome the obstacls i gave up the idea only to watch people who know less me about any aspect make it. so learn all u can about the pros and cons figgure out how to over come them and good luck

bring back the rotary phone so i dont have to press 1 to proceed in english
Melted Fabric 
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Posted: July 19, 2006 at 3:58 PM / IP Logged  
I would definately recommend insurance too as well as a contract written by a professional lawyer (will cost a few hundred possibly) for your customers as a layer of protection for the work you do to avoid lawsuits.
Other than that, I suggest get three seperate providers for each category of your inventory.
What I mean by that is, (all names are fictional, ...I think).
Big Jon's Autobody supply:
Sand paper
body filler
resin
brushes
Sally Joe's Autobody Outlet:
Sand paper
body filler
resin
brushes
Becky Sue's Autobody Warehouse:
Sand paper
body filler
resin
brushes
-------------------------------------------
Big Audio Outlet:
Subwoofers, tweeters, speakers, wire, dampening mat
Stereo Stanley:
Subwoofers, tweeters, speakers, wire, dampening mat
Crushglass Audio Store:
Subwoofers, tweeters, speakers, wire, dampening mat
etc....etc....etc....etc....etc....etc....
The reason I say that is because you may be getting supplies from one, and then months later you discover they want to double their prices, you can say "forget you guys and your crazy prices, I have two other suppliers I can get these same parts from for better prices"
That will prevent you from having a drought with your supplies and inventory which will and can lose you customers.
So from glue to subwoofers, to sand paper, to spools of wire, you will have flexible choices and not dependent on one distributors of the parts you will want to carry.
I know this is going to take up half a page, but I hope it was helpful.
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration.
xtremej 
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Posted: July 19, 2006 at 4:56 PM / IP Logged  

#1 get business lic. #2 get insured, #3 line up distributors as suggested always have alternate sources for your products, #4 do only quality work every time (word of mouth is the best advertisement) #5 take on only what you can handle, by this I mean if your a one man show I wouldn't take on more than 1 maybe 2 dealers. They want quick turn around times if you keep them waiting they cry like little babies.  Make sure you want people/customers coming to your home because you will lose any privacy you had. A competitor of mine lives within a 100' feet of his garage/install bay and he swears it was the dumbest thing he ever did. He now has a tall chainlink fence around his home.  Make sure you are zoned to operate a business of this nature from your garage also, I am sure your competitors will. Not trying to discourage you with this just some insight. If you enjoy installing go for it.

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