# how did you start your shop



## deesz

Hey all. 
I have been really contemplating opening my own shop. I have been in the field for 9 years and I feel I am in a place where I am stuck and its either leave this industry behind or try and make it on my own as a shop owner. I have so many concerns as I'm sure all of you had when you first started. 
How much did you have to get started with, (money wise)
How did you know when to start paying yourself out.
I know it's better to start small and build up, but could it be a downfall to start to small. I guess I'm just curious on where and how the veterans and newbies started and how they made it in this tough industry. 
any insight would be helpful and thanks for the input.


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## JayinMI

Not all the way through planning yet, and I'd say I'd need AT LEAST $100k to start and make it through the first year-18 months.

Jay


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## dman

i wouldnt say $100k, good planning and you can do half that easily.. What you do need to plan for and consider, is a good laid plan for 3 yrs. MINIMUM.. And why i say that, is most any lease term you look at will be a min. of 3-5 yrs.... alot out there will do 2, maybe even 1, but thats very thin if so, and landlords will NOT consider any type of buildout on a lease less than 3 yrs... So literally if you feel comfortable putting some money back to get you by for the next 3 yrs. You can negotiate a lease term with the lanlord providing a majority of the build out if not all.. That will save you a ton right there.. Try your best to not do any terms with manufacturers or suppliers, ask about prepay with percentage discounts... decide on a flagship product and work them the most.. I have some with pretty good discounts, prepay the account, and take the free freight, and the additional percentages they offer me with a prepay.. Will all make a difference.. Good Luck if you decide to give it a shot..

Another thing to consider, hit up your local dealerships, offer to pick up and deliver, and put them on discount cod, or net 20 terms with enough business.. Or have them finance in some nice upgrades for their buyers, weve pulled in some nice sales that way.. again good luck.


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## deesz

thanks for the thoughts guys. Im thinking of starting out in a little car wash bay and seeing if I can turn it into something. the hardest part for me will be the hours I can work. If I give this a full steam ahead approach then I will need to quit my job and Im a little nervous in fear of not making it. Im in middle of buying a house and after all of that I dont want to deplenish my savings account. I guess I feel I love this industry and have been installing long enough I dont know where else to go from here.


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## dman

deesz said:


> thanks for the thoughts guys. Im thinking of starting out in a little car wash bay and seeing if I can turn it into something. the hardest part for me will be the hours I can work. If I give this a full steam ahead approach then I will need to quit my job and Im a little nervous in fear of not making it. Im in middle of buying a house and after all of that I dont want to deplenish my savings account. I guess I feel I love this industry and have been installing long enough I dont know where else to go from here.


Save the rental fees, and start off by dedicating your full garage at home for it... If you feel you can move on up, then go the next stop with a small bay rental.. then move up from there... I will tell you a great way to start small and possible part time.. Go visit your local body shops... ask about renting a BAY.. and in return for a great rental rate, offer to do the insurance audio repairs/replacements for a VERY good price for them..


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## cobb2819

JayinMI said:


> Not all the way through planning yet, and I'd say I'd need AT LEAST $100k to start and make it through the first year-18 months.
> 
> Jay


I made it through the first 2 years with only an $80 investment. 


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## Angrywhopper

cobb2819 said:


> I made it through the first 2 years with only an $80 investment.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Care to elaborate?


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## cobb2819

I negotiated all of my dealer agreements with no buy in, allocated space out of my garage, $80 was for the business license and setting up my LLC. After the first month I was moving into a larger shop and it's been growing ever since. Like dman said, start small with what you've already got and grow from there. If I ever had to walk away, I'd be out $80. The company itself has paid for everything from then on. 


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## JayinMI

Cool that it worked out for you. Admittedly, ALOT of my $100k estimate would have been backup funding to make sure I could get product and pay my guy(s).

A friend of mine started a shop like 2 years ago, and the landlord gave him his first 3 months for free. The building had previously been a car audio shop, so it didn't need a bunch of renovation.

He already had a pretty large clientele so he's been doing pretty well. As a matter of fact, during Remote Start Season he had so much custom work he had to do Starters by appt only. That's pretty much unheard of around here.

Sometimes it works out. I was planning for the worst and hoping for the best.

Jay


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## Driven Audio Tony

If your wanting to open a retail store - yes $80-$160k is reasonable. 

If you wanting to open an install shop and do some sales on the side - then $5-$10k or more would work.

Really depends on the type of shop/store you want to be, market size, competition, brands you want to carry etc.


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## JimAckley

A good friend of mine started his business as a mobile installation service. From there, he's "attached" himself to a wheel/tire shop, and has done quite well there. I'm sure his own car audio space is in the plans, but honestly, he kills it off of the wheel/tire customers, with things as simple as LED tail lights, dome lights, etc. I'm not sure how much it cost to get started, but I figured as long as it's worked well for at least one guy, it's worth mentioning.


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## Sleeves

I was fortunate enough to be in a position to "buy out" the business that had laid me off a year and a half earlier. I invested about $10K but received a location that had been a mobile electronics business for 7 years, working displays, operational wood shop, a install bay that was decently stocked with kits/harnesses/antenna adapters, and a small amount of equipment to sell. I had to be conservative with the money and initially set up accounts with distributors using a personal credit card for a few months until I could transition some money in to the store accounts. I'm estimating that if I was trying to start a business from nothing it would have easily taken $25-30K to get a _building_ set up to be considered a serious car shop (this is a conservative estimate and reflects the small, low-income area where my business is located). To answer the other part of you question: it was about a year before I started paying myself out. I pretty much used my store to sell of parts of my personal collection of hoarded equipment to support myself up until then.

I think a few other people mentioned latching on to another business by renting a bay and working from there in your spare time. If it isn't a conflict of interest with your current job and have a reputation that will allow you to schedule customers in your free time this would be a nice low-budget way to start up your business. I would try to get set up with a reputable local distributor (1 day shipping, no minimum order), stock your bay with some of the most popular kits & harnesses (about 30 SKUs will cover over 70% of the cars you'll run in to), and order whatever else you need so you can do the install the next day. Doing it this way you can probably easily start up for less than $5K if you have a good rep and call in any word-of-mouth advertising favors you can manage. As someone else mentioned: it can be done for even less but it's really going to depend on if you're trying to make a business out of it or test the waters as a side hobby.


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