Im tryin to talk my dad into startin his own shop hes been a machinist for 30+ years has always wanted to do his own thing now his current job is giving him the shaft way more work no more pay I say its time to do his own thing I would like to hear what everyone thinks im thinkin bout goin and gettin the money to get him started if I knew he could make it so what does everyone say do it or just fi d something else and work for the man some more
I just left a shop that was having a hard time but putting out amazing work. It is not entirely the economy either. Customers that are cheap and do not want to pay for good work hurt businesses just as much, especially young businesses. If you can.provide a service that yields a return that puts you in the positive financially then see where it takes you. Where would this business be located? What kind of machining?
agree with everything previously said. the overhead is high and in order to really make any profit you have to save your pennies/get a loan for cnc machines if you dont already have them and then source work through other jobs that are backed up and that money has to pay off the machines before you profit off of them. Not sure how the machinist trade is doing elsewhere but the wichita area and all the aircraft jobs are struggling constantly so the small shops can get pretty good contracts through other shops.
That is the way to make money in machine shops, get in good with busy shops who farm out work. I do know from the last two shops I have been at machines can be had for crazy good deals both used and new. The manufacturers still have bills to pay and shops that are hurting need to stay afloat so if you have the capital to buy now its a lot cheaper than a few years ago.
Definitely some good deals to be had out there right now. Just make sure you put together a good job plan and have some working capitol in the bank. Most shops I have seen not make it was because the owners lived off the shop's account. Manufacturing is like a big rollercoaster when it's good it's good when it's not it's not. Diversity is the key in my opinion. Don't just go after one market go after many. Aircraft, oilfield, etc.
50% of businesses fail in the 1st year, 80% by the 2nd year, and 95% fail within 5 years. For a business to be successful I'd suggest you do some research into Michael Dell of Dell computers. The jist of what he said is for a business to succeed and continue to be successful you need 3 things referred to as the "3 C's."
Content: Material. What do you provide?
Commerce: You and your employees must make a profit. In this day in age a 30% profit margin is doing pretty darn well. Figure up what your expenses will be and how much operating costs will be.
Community: This is the most important. What will keep people coming to you instead of others? What can you provide that no one else can? People that love the iPhone are an example of a community that Steve Jobs created purposely...not accidently.
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