wlhequipment
Senior Member
Howdy Folks,
I was curious to start a conversation about small businesses and income, and hear what others had to say. I started my shop a few years ago with some money lent to me by my father in law. I've been in business for a little over 2 years. I run a repair / modification / fab shop in Colorado. I'm a one man operation. I do my own bookkeeping (and screw it up plenty), except for at tax time, I let a local accounting firm prepare my stuff.
What I was curious about is where you smaller operations get most of your income. For instance, I get about 75% of my income from just doing repairs on larger machines (concrete pumps, skid steers etc); replace parts and send it out the door. 15% comes from fabrication and welding; someone brings a trailer that needs a ramp, as an example. 5% from small engines (lawnmowers and little stuff, I'm going to get away from this, it's a PITA). 5% from drug sales. Just kidding. I also sell rain barrels. What does your income breakdown look like?
Also what interests me is how you decided to go out on your own. I was in the IT field for several years, and getting older and "phased out" so to speak (my boss was younger than me). I had been a mechanic previously and loved the work. I knew several small concrete pumping companies that needed a mechanic to work on their pumps. I thought getting in with them would also generate more leads, and now I have a small but loyal customer base. I fill a niche that the small operators need. I'm bigger than "my cousin who knows something about engines" and smaller than the big guys like Stewart and Stevenson and Motion and Flow.
I'm kinda new around here and just curious what everyone else does. Maybe we can compare notes and help each other grow the business, who knows?
I was curious to start a conversation about small businesses and income, and hear what others had to say. I started my shop a few years ago with some money lent to me by my father in law. I've been in business for a little over 2 years. I run a repair / modification / fab shop in Colorado. I'm a one man operation. I do my own bookkeeping (and screw it up plenty), except for at tax time, I let a local accounting firm prepare my stuff.
What I was curious about is where you smaller operations get most of your income. For instance, I get about 75% of my income from just doing repairs on larger machines (concrete pumps, skid steers etc); replace parts and send it out the door. 15% comes from fabrication and welding; someone brings a trailer that needs a ramp, as an example. 5% from small engines (lawnmowers and little stuff, I'm going to get away from this, it's a PITA). 5% from drug sales. Just kidding. I also sell rain barrels. What does your income breakdown look like?
Also what interests me is how you decided to go out on your own. I was in the IT field for several years, and getting older and "phased out" so to speak (my boss was younger than me). I had been a mechanic previously and loved the work. I knew several small concrete pumping companies that needed a mechanic to work on their pumps. I thought getting in with them would also generate more leads, and now I have a small but loyal customer base. I fill a niche that the small operators need. I'm bigger than "my cousin who knows something about engines" and smaller than the big guys like Stewart and Stevenson and Motion and Flow.
I'm kinda new around here and just curious what everyone else does. Maybe we can compare notes and help each other grow the business, who knows?