linebore141...I agree with all of the above...Self employment is incredibly risky as you must know, I was told it would be either "feast or famine" (by a neighbor woman that had a hair-do shop, and she was right!). Setting up a "competitive" service truck is a massive expense by itself... can't imagine the cost to build a service truck and shop at the same time (have to have two of everything!). I have found that nothing about the business is an investment (buildings, trucks, trailers, welders, presses, etc.) in the way that "at least at auction price, you can always get out of it what you paid for it later" concept (not necessarily true). I have always had to figure that over the next "X" amount of years, I will use candidate tool/software "Y"... "W" amount of times, thus justifying the cost of the tool that will inevitably bounce around in a cabinet or sit on a shelf most of the time...the flip side is unless you have a very specific niche, you will not always have the correct tool / resource, and when you are constantly borrowing special tools you soon become another business's PIA.
I was also told that you should also be financially stable enough and prepared to make substantial reductions in you and your family's standard of living for the first few years (which combined with very long work days can make for some stressful late night kitchen table conversations!) Also "BOOK-KEEPING"...make sure whether your books are done manually in a "dome record-keeping" or electronically like "quik-books", make sure you make time to do it and put the same attention to detail in your books that you do with your wrench turning! Many start-ups fail because what seems good in the checking account through-out the year does not add up well at tax time. Maybe you have already done so, but if you haven't taken any business classes, your local community college might offer some affordable night courses? You will definitely learn things like making a "business plan" or maybe do some networking that can only help you in your endeavor.
A smart guy (who owned a shop for many years) told me that "if your going out on your own to get "rich", you will need more than just luck!"...but you should at least eventually make a "comfortable" living and do it on your terms. Even still, there will be times when you are asked to take on jobs that you are not well equipped to do, you will probably lose money on the job and cost the customer more down time in the long run, (neither will benefit your ego or reputation)...you have to learn when to say "no" and steer the customer in the right direction (he will thank you for it, appreciate your honesty and eventually call on you again).
At any rate, Good Luck and keep us posted!
Regards, Bob
