Small business owner? What advice do you have?

[ercchry]

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It’s extremely slow right now which is why my boss basically told me end of the month I’m done. Unfortunately you need a lot of capital to do it which is why I work for someone who bank rolls it.

I would assume the margins are currently going to shit, but with $85k capital… and only needing $2,500/month in the growth stage I don’t see how this isn’t possible (unless amvic requires proof of commercial space for storage or something).

You’re an experienced buyer, if you can turn over a vehicle or two per month and get a track record of financials, you’d most likely be able to then qualify for a working line of capital to then move up to a viable volume to maintain a business.

[max_boost]

work for the man, he/she/they gives you shit but you ignore it and shit on their time, take your holidays, etc. etc.
but i do respect the desire to go out and give it a shot, just know statistically the odds are against you so do your best to be dang sure
respect the entrepreneur spirit we need more of that amen

[89coupe]

Dropship

Find a consumable with a high return, market it better than everyone else.

[you&me]

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I would assume the margins are currently going to shit, but with $85k capital… and only needing $2,500/month in the growth stage I don’t see how this isn’t possible (unless amvic requires proof of commercial space for storage or something).

You’re an experienced buyer, if you can turn over a vehicle or two per month and get a track record of financials, you’d most likely be able to then qualify for a working line of capital to then move up to a viable volume to maintain a business.

This is what I said earlier... I used to know some guys that would get paid just for finding and laying eyes on a car, whether a private seller, a dealer trade in or at an auction. With some connections on both sides of the border, surely you could build up a roster of buyers that would pay a few bucks to verify condition / calculate recon costs... Keep the $85k as dry powder for the instances where there's a good enough deal that it makes sense to buy on your own... This should be an easy $5-10k (potentially much more) for someone with the industry knowledge and contacts.

[max_boost]

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Dropship

Find a consumable with a high return, market it better than everyone else.

like what

[never]

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This is what I said earlier... I used to know some guys that would get paid just for finding and laying eyes on a car, whether a private seller, a dealer trade in or at an auction. With some connections on both sides of the border, surely you could build up a roster of buyers that would pay a few bucks to verify condition / calculate recon costs... Keep the $85k as dry powder for the instances where there's a good enough deal that it makes sense to buy on your own... This should be an easy $5-10k (potentially much more) for someone with the industry knowledge and contacts.

James can be Canada’s Wayne Carini!

[suntan]

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like what

Like in Aliens. That kind of dropship.

[dj_rice]

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like what

Fleshlight

[TomcoPDR]

Paintless Dent Repair, go down to the States for just 2 weeks training. Come back and guys make a boat load once they start their own mobile biz.

https://thedingking.com/pdr-training-courses/

[schurchill39]

Professional carpet cleaning. Either get hooked up with a realtor or a property management company and offer some marginal discount to clients refered to by those people. You need a van, the machine, and chemicals. You can run it yourself or pay someone else to do it. When you're done sell off the assets and the book.

[Brent.ff]

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like what

He literally just is a TikTok junkie. He 100% saw a TikTok on drop shipping and how it’s huge money, just need to be better advertising..

[Flexray]

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Lots to think about thanks everyone. I agree that buying a business in an industry I don’t know much about isn’t likely or the least risky. I’m mulling over a couple things like a side business doing vehicle reconditioning (do a lot of that already at my job) and still looking at jobs in the auto industry. Potentially may be able to get some more schooling done online to make myself look more attractive for other jobs that I don’t overly qualify for now as well.

I'm not sure if this is good advice or not. The automotive industry is the world that you know already. There are tonnes of podcasts, FB groups, professional forums, etc of shop owners talking about mistakes they made, what worked and what didn't. Billed time, profit margins, government/tax problems, account relationships all basic business stuff. Start collecting knowledge on how to run a business in an industry that you understand. Even if you decide to get out of the automotive industry, I would assume that many of these skills would transfer over to another industry?
A lot of automotive shops fail because a technician gets pissed off and thinks he can do better. He is good a fixing cars but doesn't realize that running a business is a totally different skill set and fails. Absorb as much business/management material as you can so you don't jump into something totally blind and unprepared.

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I would assume the margins are currently going to shit, but with $85k capital… and only needing $2,500/month in the growth stage I don’t see how this isn’t possible (unless amvic requires proof of commercial space for storage or something).

You’re an experienced buyer, if you can turn over a vehicle or two per month and get a track record of financials, you’d most likely be able to then qualify for a working line of capital to then move up to a viable volume to maintain a business.

You have to give AMVIC a 50k security deposit.
https://www.amvic.org/business/busin...cense-classes/

City of calgary won't give you a business license without a properly zoned commercial property with enough parking to meet your business plan. I have been told the city is fairly easy to work with, but AMVIC is the difficult one.
https://www.calgary.ca/for-business/...intenance.html