wanting to open up a shop

[BDI]

I have an opertunity to lease a nice little shop. I am not wanting to open up a motorcycle repair shop. More like a motorcycle performance shop. I wouldn't have a show room full of gear to buy. I would have an engine building room and possibly a dyno. What I'm looking for is advice from anyone who has or still does own their own business. Any type of advice anyone has to offer to someone who is concidering starting their own business would be greatly appreciated.

[Hillclimb#42]

bdi, I would also like to some day have an off road based business. I do run my own finish carpentry business presently. I am in a very good area for racing and motorcycles in general, but my past attempts to draw in enough customers for dirtbikes and atv's has proved futile. Even though I have very good connections to experts and services, getting people to pull the trigger on the work is super difficult. The best advice that I got to start up my carpentry business, (which I did not want to hear) is to moonlight as long as possible. I mean that you should keep your current job and work on this diligently as much as possible on nights and weekends until you cannot possibly keep your current job. reducing risk is a big part of starting up your dream. You have to get established, which may take a few years. Whatever stress you have working for somebody else, there will be twice that much in your own endeavor. Make sure you love it regardless of profits or losses. Good Luck, buddy...

[BDI]

Thank you. I have been turning wrenches out of my private shop for a long time. My regular job has ended with no return to my trade in sight. Things have kinda come to a head for me and if I was ever going to do this, the time is now. You could say the planets have aligned.You know the other day I posted a picture of a yfz 450 engine and I thought to myself these guys probably think I have been working on the same engine for a long time. The truth is I do a ton of yamaha 450 stuff and have built quite a few of them over the past few years. I have a fairly large clientele now with out cards or advertisment. the thing that scares me is how feast or famin it is do to the sport being seasonal.

[maddoggy]

my wife and i own a beauty shop which my wife operates. she is very talented at making people beautiful. when the economy first started to slow down, she got hit hard and the business was struggling. we came up with a plan to use existing customers to bring in additional customers. we gave business cards to the existing customers and had them put their name on the back. when new refered people came in with the cards she would keep track of it. for every 2 referals of new clients the existing customer would recieve their next haircut free. i know the deal would need to be different for you but it is a solid idea to start with.

my wife has owned her business for 17 years, 13 years were spent in a rented shop. a few years ago the opportunity opened up for her to leave that space and add a dedicated addition to the back of our house for her to run the shop out of. best decision we ever made. business is better and it allows her to be in our home in those times when she has a break. i'll pass along more advice later. good luck BDI, you've got the talent for sure to make it work. i know you need something good to happen.

[sandblaster]

Being Captain of the ship has rewards and head aches.
I worked full time at my day job for 5 years while slowly building inventory and clients.
I worked 12-16 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Of course I had no money to start a business with so everything I made I invested back into the business.
So, when I quit my day job I was already rolling.
I understand from most of the bike shops in our area that new bike sales are dead.
Even repair isn't doing all that well, although that may be just a local problem.
My advice is be prepared to work hard and for many long hours.
Don't make a few bucks and then spend, spend, spend.
Watch all your expenses carefully, keep track of where the money is being made and focus on that aspect of your business (Records are everything).
Be good to your customers and learn how to say no without giving offense.
Train your employees carefully and pay them well.
Remember, it's not what you do, it's what you get done  

[ShadeTreeFab]

have a web site, mods offered, price and turn around,learn quickbooks it really helps,
riding seasons are different around the country so once you get your name out there you could stay going year round
and stock k5 stuff.

[kaw rider]

Brian
The 2 big bike shop in my big town can't work on bikes with out a callback. And the local small shop thats doing good work is very busy and doing very well. When i had my shop years ago, we did the most snowmoblie tune ups in the area, more then all the other big shop included. But we did great work and are prices are fair. I think you would do good if you keep your overhead low. There are many memebers on here that one there own business. I own a heating & cooling business and we have over 120 contractor in are county so you have to be on your toes all the time.

[jonny500]

bdi, you sound just the same as me, i have a small ebay thing going on, where split mx bikes and sell the parts. it is going well and feel i could give up my main job but that is a risk. maybe taking a few older bikes and parting them out would be another string to your bow if you decide to take the plunge. best of luck

[bigbellybob]

do it. totally do it. the only thing i would say is even if you want to specialize in performance its the basic stuff that would keep you rolling valve adjustments, oil changes, suspension rebuilds, tires, and normal top ends r good money and every one needs it. plus the people needing this stuff ride year round here. any way i got your back let me know if you need anything. even if its just hitting the streets and getting the word out.

[BDI]

Cool bob  and your right about the maintenance work  It's the meat and  potatoes of it all. I have parted some stuff on ebay that's a good idea. I don't feel right about talking financial stuff but I have to tell you guys about the shop. It's a sweet in a newer building in a very nice part of town, it has one big role up door that opens into a one large truck bay, then the bay opens up into a 20X20 room. it also has a 12X12 office with with a door to the parking lot and another to the shop. The guy will rent it to me on a monthly basis with first and last down. $650.00 a month and an average power bill of $100.00 a month. It almost sounds like it would be hard to lose. I also allready have everything to fill the shop including a very nice computer for the office.

[ShadeTreeFab]

man your lucky, if that shop was in my area it would be like $3000 a month.

[bigbellybob]

that's a smoken deal.

on a side note look what im playing with. get the shop and lets pull this girl over there. i could be your first customer. this girl needs the crank rebuilt and all new bearings.

[blueoval]

This is my second sole proprietor business.  The first was successful, but sold it and relocated due to a divorce.  I recently opened my office doing it pretty much alone.  It is a doctor's office.  In general what has been very helpful to me is not borrowing money to get started.  I skimped and delayed purchases that in my younger days I would have deemed "necessary" to run the business and I would have falsely justified the incurred debt and mentally minimized the subsequent large risk.  Needless to say it's hard work, but well worth it. 

[kwakman]

BDI, only you can do the math on the financial side.I,m sure like me, many members would support you in this when funds/her indoors allows and I wish you well.My advice would be if you didnt have a go, would you regret it later? if the answer is yes, you know what to do.Good luck with whatever you decide.K.

[Danger4u2]

As a manager of a business, I'm actually janitor, manager, all most President.  All I can say is get your tongue ready to have a hole in it from biting it.  You HAVE to be nice to everyone even when they are A- holes to you.