Tired

[hosspuller]

Been a wage earner all my career. But I know, the only way to keep more of your earnings is to be the owner. Our gov't system is all about the wealthy and connected. They have the political connections to get the tax and business rules to benefit them. They have the political connections because they contribute to their election. I'm retired from wages now, but have a small business that produces a small income (not enough to live on) yet produces a much larger tax benefit. I'm using the rules set for the powerful, though I'm a nobody.
A few current observations:
...The trade unions supported Bidden yet he canceled the pipelines and banned drilling, throwing thousands of union members out of work. Who controls the unions and benefits from this ?
... The renewable energy industry is taking money from the gov't and individual consumers. Without the tax benefit, most installs aren't profitable. My electric bill has a "renewable energy" surcharge. Why am I subsidizing the wealthy through taxes and wallet?
... Electric vehicles get $7,500 tax credit , while areas suffer rolling blackouts due to electric shortages. Who benefits from electric vehicles ?

 

[Truck Shop]

Boy's There isn't any Of This Sh!t that's really rewarding-Let's get real about this subject. Any of you notice I don't comment in any of the So Called BiG term YELLOW IRON threads. You know why?
I worked that years ago , 215's, 225's, 235's, 245's, 953's 963's, D6, D7, D8, 570 up graders, Ingersoll and Raygo but that crap is so obsolete there is no reason for me to post. Oh yeah working in
muddy slop, fingers, toes about froze off plus some smart ass hard hat wearing operator knows it all except which end of the grease gun to use. Just as bad as working trucks and being around
drivers. All full of sh!t right up to their brow.
Worst are farmers they always come in wanting free information, don't ever want to spend any money to have someone else repair it, Something for nothing. I had a farmer some years back bring
his truck to the shop just for me to look at {Fu@king arrogant know it all, he could fix anything knew everything} BC II engine constantly huffing blue out the stack he was just sure as hell his kid
had screwed up changing the air filter and dusted it. I stood there listening to it and noticed no real blow-by, then I noticed something else. It had at one time a ether start. I asked him pointing
to the 1/8" grease Zerk screwed into the aftercooler did you do that? Oh yeah he said-I needed to plug it off. I then turned to his 17 year old son and asked him have you been coupling the grease
gun to that? Yes sir he said dad told me to grease every fitting. And how long have you been greasing that fitting? Two years was the reply. The dad embarrassed as all hell rips his kid a new one.

I stopped him-maybe instead of being a cheap ass you should have bought a pipe plug for it plus explained how to grease and do maintenance to your son instead of yelling at him. It's your fault
he was only doing what he was told-DAD.

I have dealt with all kinds worked all aspects of repair. There is dumb asses everywhere you go, dip sh!t bosses, and dishonest dealers or companies at every turn. I have had 28 jobs in my life,
I learned early on it's reason the tool box has wheels. I was notorious in the last town I lived in, if someone got in my face they better be standing 6 feet away out of range. I had a boss that
that thought he was pretty tough-I hurt him really bad. I've never regretted it.

 

[BigWrench55]

Truck Shop,
I whole heartedly agree with everything you said. Whether it's trucks or yellow iron there's always a expert telling you how to do your job and what the problem is going to be. I personally don't like to work on trucks for. For one the truck shops around here pay crap wages or flag hours. Flag hours are great if you been there long enough and kissed enough a$$.
But usually you starve and the service advisor will figure how to screw you on your rate. And secondly I think they are harder to work on. But I will work on anything if you are paying me what I want. For me the worst customer are automotive. They are cheap!!!!! They don't want to fix dick, and they think that you will build a engine for beer. Plus they blame you for everything that goes wrong with the car after you worked on it. I had a guy blame me for his muffler falling off after I changed his starter. I will work on anything but someone's truck or car. F@#k automobile owners. I will clean toilets before I would even look at someone's car if I needed money. (Would make more money too)

 

[Vetech63]

Mike,
I will most likely take that leap of faith. I have been doing this for a long time and the one thing that I have learned is. It doesn't matter if you are a dealer and have access to all of the secrets. They are plagued with parts changers and the customer knows it. A few things are stopping right now. I have some debt and would like to take care of it first and I don't want to spend what I have now to get debt free. I figure in about two years I would be debt free. I like you want to do this with little to no debt at all. The other thing stopping me is the taxes. I don't have a f@$king clue of how to avoid getting into trouble with the man. Nor do I know the tricks used to write of expenses to keep my income from being taxed into the oblivion. I have done some homework on the subject, but the only thing that I learned is. Most anyone in the tax business doesn't have a clue either. You can ask 10 tax preparers the same question and get 10 different answers. My dad got hung up with the tax man and owed a million. He eventually beat it down to 10% of what it originally was. I really don't want that headache. I want to fly right and rat hole as much money as possible until retirement. Stay tuned and I will let you guys know if I have a pair.

Ide be happy to school you on the necessities. There is another here that has been "thinking" about it also

 

[Mike L]

Ide be happy to school you on the necessities. There is another here that has been "thinking" about it also

just reinforces my statement about this place being a great resource. Guy once told me “you don’t need to know all the answers, but you need to know where to find the answers.

 

[Vetech63]

just reinforces my statement about this place being a great resource. Guy once told me “you don’t need to know all the answers, but you need to know where to find the answers.

Yes, no doubt about that. Great, helpful people that have more knowledge than a service manual.

 

[Vetech63]

You make good friends here also.

 

[DMiller]

I agree

 

[Vetech63]

Just don’t trust Dmiller. LMAO

 

[Nige]

Guy once told me “you don’t need to know all the answers, but you need to know where to find the answers.

I agree 100%.
My response to most questions - "I dunno. RTFB (Read The F'kin Book)."
When asked (like Mike L) why i don't have all the asnwers in my head - "All I need to know is where to find them or who to ask. That's the difference between me & you. My head isn't full of useless information which enables it to be far more efficient in diligently searching for the information that I DO need at any specific moment in time."

 

[BigWrench55]

My head isn't full of useless information

If you'd ask my wife. My head is full of useless information. I told her from the day we met that I know everything, I'm always right, and nothing is ever my fault. She's tested those statements over the last 13 years. And I rarely lose. She's slowly coming around to the idea that I am always right and I know everything, but she won't subscribe to nothing is my fault.

 

[Welder Dave]

Sometimes what you think is the most useless information is the most valuable to someone else. I worked in a shop with a guy that was from the UK. He wanted me on his trivia team because I knew who Captain Scarlet was. Nobody else had a clue. There's stuff I'll kind of remember from the past when it's brought up and on another forum I've been called out because all I know how to do is look stuff up. If I didn't have some recollection I wouldn't have a clue to where to look it up. I tend to remember things from a long time ago a lot better that things more recent.

 

[Nige]

If you'd ask my wife. My head is full of useless information. I told her from the day we met that I know everything, I'm always right, and nothing is ever my fault. She's tested those statements over the last 13 years. And I rarely lose. She's slowly coming around to the idea that I am always right and I know everything, but she won't subscribe to nothing is my fault.

Be satsifed with two out of three and quit while you're ahead is my advice.

There are two rules in our house. Rule 1 says I'm always right and Rule 2 says in the unlikely event of me ever being wrong refer to Rule 1.

 

[Welder Dave]

Kind of like, I'll believe you this time but never lie again.

 

[lantraxco]

My take on going the lone wolf service truck route, charge just a little less than the stealers, but a little more than most of the competition. Make sure the quality of your work is well worth your prices. NEVER drop your rate. Don't discount. If you feel the need to give a customer a break, drop an hour here or there. If customers get the idea you will work cheap, first off, you will ALWAYS have to work cheap, and some of the better customers will avoid you because YOU don't believe you're worth more, so why should they think your quality is top notch? Lot of human nature involved. Charge fair for travel time, cleanup, research, parts ordering, parts trips, etc. Don't work for free. Don't overload your schedule, especially at first. Pick your jobs. Let the cheap guys take the nasty crap, hold out for the good jobs with good customers. Somebody has a machine down emergency and wants you to work a weekend, add 20% or whatever, make it clear up front. Then take a day off midweek to get some rest.

As far as taxes, lots of different ways to go, but I take a percentage (mine is way different than yours will be because I do mostly parts sales and manufacturing) of all my receivables and split it off into a separate bank account, then have my bookkeeper do my quarterlies. Adjust your percentage as needed. At the end of the year if you owe a chunk more after the quarterlies, next year bump them up. I file with Turbotax and try to make sure my numbers at the end are in the green range of businesses my size in my type of business for profit and expenses, makes audits a lot less likely. Expense EVERYTHING you can, and plow money back into the business for assets, tools, equipment, etc. If it ain't making you money, don't buy it. Buy used when it makes sense, let somebody else pay the depreciation. And expense it all in the year you buy it, forget depreciation if you can.

JMHO, YMMV

 

[92U 3406]

I've always pondered the idea of going on my own but honestly I'm not sure I'm quite at the skill level needed to be successful.

 

[Mike L]

100% agree lantraxco

 

[Mike L]

I've always pondered the idea of going on my own but honestly I'm not sure I'm quite at the skill level needed to be successful.

I hear that a lot from guys wanting to go independent. I don’t think I’m much smarter than average but My work ethic is above average and mama didn’t raise no quitter. I am stubborn to a fault and refuse to give up.

 

[92U 3406]

I hear that a lot from guys wanting to go independent. I don’t think I’m much smarter than average but My work ethic is above average and mama didn’t raise no quitter. I am stubborn to a fault and refuse to give up.

I can't let the machine beat me.

Maybe its because I'm in the industry and I see how many independents are already out there. Seems a little intimidating to try and carve out a piece of the market for myself.

 

[BigWrench55]

I've always pondered the idea of going on my own but honestly I'm not sure I'm quite at the skill level needed to be successful.

I've read some of the advice you have given on this forum. And I think that you could make a go at it. If you have never worked in the field then I would do that first. In the field you have to make what you have work and be able to think out of the box. As for being efficient will depend upon how well you can troubleshoot. I haven't had a customer complain about how long the repairs take. But they will certainly won't have you come back if you wasted their time and money swapping parts. And self motivation is key. No one is going to make sure that you get up and go to work. And no one will drive you to finish what you started. If you can do that then you have what it takes. Everyone here knows that there are more parts changers than skilled mechanics. And the customer knows it to. That is motivating me to make the leap of faith. Customers want their equipment fixed quickly and done right the first time. It doesn't matter if you're one of the big players. It just matters if you can do it right and do it now. I think that I am selling myself on the idea even more.