Opening a shop

[testingcheck]

Me and a friend plan on opening a Auto parts/Detailing shop. I was wondering what is needed when opening such a shop? I know i need equipment, Knowledge, lease a building. Buw the thing I am confused about is getting parts such as Momo. AEM, etc.. How would I go about doing it?

[JAYMEZ]

First off you would need to have a steady flow of customers , then after if you had around 100 customers for MOMO , you could start asking for MOMO for iteams at cost...

But do you think this is really worth it? Do you have the finances to do such a thing? Any marketing education ?

[testingcheck]

So if I opened a shop I would get say 100 customers in a month and they wanted to buy momo What would I be selling at if i did not have them at cost yet?

[b_t]

Customer Service
Customer Service
Customer Service

that is all that matters when you start a new shop. you need to bend over backwards for your customers. and, you won't make any money for like... 4-5 months

[testingcheck]

The thing is I dont get the product thing. If i started out and I wanted to buy products for customers where do I go about doing it if I cant get them for cost yet?

[MiG_Master]

Contact the makers directly. They can either provide you with items at cost, or give you the contact info of the nearest distributor.

[testingcheck]

Alright So whichever product brand I choose to distribute I would call the complany directly and they would guide me to the nearest distributer at cost? And how do I transfer money to the distrubter if they are over seas?

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by testingcheck
The thing is I dont get the product thing. If i started out and I wanted to buy products for customers where do I go about doing it if I cant get them for cost yet? lol you front up your own cash for a huge freakin order, then hope u can sell it all for a profit. dude, I think if you have to ask, you're pretty far off from running a successful store.

[jdmakkord]

If you have no experience running a business, and cannot afford to compete with contemporary or speedtech, or tunerworks. Give up now. The only way you could possibly compete would be to have a unique product or service, and momo isn't it.

[JAYMEZ]

I think this would be a bad idea.. It looks like you guys dont know what you are doing.

Also apart from parts that you would have to buy with your own money you would need. Debit/ Credit car machine , computers , security system , building space , probably furniture , lifts , tools , experience in auto body shop , a good shipping company and knowledge of how things work , pay electricity , water , and many many more.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Yeah you need massive cash flow to buy in otherwise you will go nowhere.

[testingcheck]

Well the thing is that I have 3rd year in Auto body and detailing and my friend has his journeymans.

[Si_FlyGuy]

Why not aim for a main revenue stream stemming from your autobody experience? It sure is a lot more profitable than retailing parts. It also allows you to provide a more differentiable service.

[testingcheck]

I wanted to start an Autobody/Mechanic service shop but I was thinking that if I opened a AutoDetailing, Parts, Mechanic shop it would be more profitable. BTW im in Edmonton.

[kaput]

.

[apples]

Originally posted by kaput
Start smaller and work your way up as business grows. You'll probably begin working for people you know out of your own garage doing the detailing and other body work. It could take a year before you have enough customers through word of mouth and are making enough money that you can get a real shop. Even then you'll want to focus on the nuts and bolts like you were doing in your own garage until you develop a good company name and are well established. At that point, you might want to look into bigger things like parts and stuff that you don't seem to know much about. You'll learn how to do that as the business grows.

:werd: lay the foundation before you build the house.