Another "What business?" thread...

Okay, so you've decided you want to run business out of your house.  What motorsports-friendly services that involve relatively low capital investment and feasible levels of expertise/skill?  I'm thinking welding/sandblasting or maybe rudimentary auto body work or snow removal...  What I'm trying to do is acquire ideas from The Hive of complementary services I might not think of as marginal revenue streams for my retirement.

Do something no one else wants to or can do. Then charge a lot. 

Something you're good at and can do at a high level unless you're just wanting to sell things.

If you're a good welder do that.  If you're good all-around mechanic do some quick brake jobs and such.  I have a whole bunch of things I can do pretty well, my problem is that I don't know how to market myself.  

I had an idea for a middle man between shops and a consumer looking to have work done( A "High Performance Consultant").  Most shops are going to push whatever product they sell regardless if it's what the customer wants/needs.  And shops always try to talk above the customers' heads.  I would be a consultant in the middle to sit down and talk to the customer about their specific needs and wants and then talk to the shop on behalf of the customer to make sure they get what they want without BS.  You could feed the good shops more business and possibly get a kick back if you sent them alot.  You could also blackball the bad shops because you would represent a large number of customers instead of just one.

What you just said is good. Welding, powdercoating, other certain tasks. 

I have a friend here in OKC who used to do something similar and he helped with a bunch of little projects on two different cars. 

For exampley, when I bought sport calipers to put on my old NA track car. Everything was rusty/gummed up, sent them to him. He disassembled, blasted, powdercoated and reassembled them with new seals/bleeders for a reasonable price. 

 

Maybe specialize in rebuilding certain components, like race shocks or brake calipers. Stuff that is small enough to ship easily. 

You can either become the local wizard in something general - bead blasting, welding, whatever - or you can become the world wizard in something niche. Like, custom-cast emblems. Do a 3D print and cast from that. It's not a unique skill but it's fairly unusual and if you offer custom services you'll probably keep yourself as busy as you want to. As a bonus, it's not physically hard work the way that building roll cages can be so it's easier to do if you're not as young as you were.

If you are good with a computer and designing things  the cast emblems will work ,  engraving dash plaques , vinyl numbers and stickers  and  other things , 

 a vinyl cutter , 3D printer , laser engraver , and screen printing set up is less than $2000 for all of it. 

Or go to Pick a part and sell your treasures on ebay  :)

Or, and this is serious, building V8 Miatas. Get enough money up front to cover the cost of the parts and the actual investment is pretty minor.

I suppose you could do other things like put Subaru engines in Vanagons or something. But you get the idea.

Is this food on the table or side-gig level?

NOHOME said:

Is this food on the table or side-gig level?

Yes.  

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I've thought about this before considering how fast, and how much, the customer v8 miatas you've advertised sell for. Or honestly, you could pick 2-3 LS swap platforms (Jeep Wrangler comes to mind) and sell them for crazy profits. 

What typically gives the best ROR, starting with a used Miata, or buying a new one to swap? 
 

Find a niche. Be the absolute best in you area. So good that you attract the quality customers that don't mind paying more for the best in the business. 

If this is about earning a living, don't limit yourself to just car stuff. I'm in the commercial and automatic pedestrian door business. Not to brag, but my company is the best in the state. We are willing and able to fill that gray area between building security and door operation that no one else will touch and we are good at it. We can make differing systems work together and deliver a finished product that works. We charge accordingly. I don't bother to even bid on the cut throat projects with slim margins. The Wal-Marts of the industry can fight over them. I frequently end up getting called on those anyway because of that gray area.

Find something no one else does. Then be the best in the industry at it. You will work less and make more. 

Vapor blasting. Not many people do it right now so there's less competition and a better chance to build up a good reputation.  Low investment, minimal consumables and no real inventory that sits on the shelf waiting for buyers.

When you are not doing customer work, do work on parts that you can easily sell online and ship anywhere in the world.

Scotty Con Queso said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I've thought about this before considering how fast, and how much, the customer v8 miatas you've advertised sell for. Or honestly, you could pick 2-3 LS swap platforms (Jeep Wrangler comes to mind) and sell them for crazy profits. 

What typically gives the best ROR, starting with a used Miata, or buying a new one to swap? 

Have the customer supply the car. That way they get exactly what they want and you never actually have to own it. Cuts down on risk. Singer works like this, they just modify cars brought to them. The ND is the easiest one to convert now that the engineering is done and certainly gets the most interest.

The trick is to "productionize". Custom work is slow and you'll never be able to charge enough for it. Come up with a standard spec and a clearly defined list of options and work on optimizing them. Doing the same thing over and over isn't just more efficient, you'll end up doing better quality work. 

I loved building cars, modifying cars, racing cars, driving cars, going to car shows...

I made it my business.

I love my job, I really do and I don't want to do anything else for a living.

Now, I have no project cars. I don't race and my daily driver is a boring, silver Toyota Tacoma. I ride motorcycles if I want to go fast.

Think long and hard, make sure this is what you want.

You won't take my advice. I didn't listen when everyone else told me the same thing.

I'll add this from the auto restoration world.

We need skilled trimmers, chromers, porcelain coaters, woodgrainers, instrument repairmen, cloisonne emblem repairers, pick-and-file trim restoration guys and skilled radiator fabricators / repairmen.

Pick one of those, be the best at it and the industry will pay you whatever you want to charge.

I have two woodgrain guys I use. The last time I called one of them, he sounded so bad on the phone I thought he would drop dead in the middle of the call.

My instrument repair guy passed away last year, now I have to send them to another shop and get on the 6 month waiting list.

There are plenty of crappy autobody guys and lots of upholsterers who do a great job with boats and hotrods but a terrible job with proper, quality restoration work.

There's one radiator shop in the US and one in the UK that can build cellular, square tube, wire separated and honeycomb radiator cores. The last one we had built cost us $15,000.

There's two guys left doing porcelain work on engine componets, only one of them is any good.

Our chromer just shut down a couple months ago and we have to babysit the new guy. We hired their trim repair guy ourselves because we need the work done.

Figure out how to repair the enamel in cloisonne automotive badges and name your price.

Seriously. The average age of the guys doing this work is "dead". We're losing skilled people faster than anyone is able to learn this stuff.

In reply to ShawnG :

Great post. I get the need and the demand. However how are people supposed to learn, if the teachers are dying? 
 

for example, if I said "Shawn I will move to BC and work for free for a year to learn one of the things on your list," who would be the teacher ? 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

That's the problem, nobody wants to learn and soon there won't be anyone to teach them.

Besides, trades are for the stupid kids.

bearmtnmartin said:

Do something no one else wants to or can do. Then charge a lot. 

This. I still do tube amp repair from time to time, I have yet to come up with an amount someone wouldn't pay for a repair or mod. Just not my idea of fun so I don't do more. 

stroker said:

NOHOME said:

Is this food on the table or side-gig level?

Yes.  

The reason I ask is because there is a huge difference between running a registered above board business and a cash paying hobby. I have done both and sworn to never start another business.

The time overhead to services regulatory, finances, government, customer inquiries and marketing means that you are dead weight, The work now needs to be done by an employee. There is a reason these shops do not exist anymore; they do not really generate that much income when all said and done regardless of how much they seem to charge. And as much as the craftsmen are dying, so are the clients.

Side gigs are good but they dont add up to a ton of $$$ because you still have the day job, The reward is that you can pick and choose clients and do stuff that you enjoy for the most part. You meet some cool people  who expand your network and have a nice cash stash in the sock drawer. But you need to keep the flying under the radar mentality going at all times both for neighbors and other invasive species who would not approve, As a training exercise in doing this as a business, a side gig will teach you where all the money goes in the way of consumables, bits and bobs that add up and wear and tear on your tools. Drills and grinders that last forever dont when you use them every day, MIG gas and wire adds up when you burn for hours. Grinding accessories are stupid expensive and lets not talk nuts and bolts that you want to keep in stock because sorting piles for something takes time. You own mistakes and no project gets done without some re-do of some sort. I dont touch drive trains for this reason without some very clear understandings from the owner. The fun stops when you inadvertently get that one shiny happy person client who decides he is not happy and is going to not pay, abandons the car in your shop, or reports you to someone if you dont make him happy at your expense. 

In reply to NOHOME :

Excellent point and I appreciate the post.  Seriously, this is something to bring in some extra cash, not a Serious Business idea.  I'm looking for something to augment a fixed income retirement "paycheck"...

mr2s2000elise said:

However how are people supposed to learn, if the teachers are dying? 
 

for example, if I said "Shawn I will move to BC and work for free for a year to learn one of the things on your list," who would be the teacher ? 

McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas has a highly regarded 2 year automotive restoration program, they teach a lot of the old school techniques. They also offer 1 week "summer school" courses for enthusiasts. I signed up for their 1 week paint course a couple of years ago, but had to cancel because of a new job starting two weeks before the course. I have been trying to sign up again but haven't had the timing work.

Here's a link to the Summer school for enthusiasts.

if you are doing it for a retirement hobby that pays some what do you want to learn ?

because you better do something that excites you to get up in the morning  , 

And something that does not take $10,000 of equipment to start , 

There are lots of great ideas here ,  

I  wish you well , once you  pick what you want to learn ,  hopefully you can find a Mentor to cut the learning time down  ,

A lot of the old-school trimmers are ex-cons. 

They used to teach upholstery in prison but I don't think they even do that anymore. 

In reply to stroker :

"I will wire your hot rod chassis  for $1500" not to include EFI  (Pick whatever price you want.)

Bury a few basic tools and a proper weatherpac connector kit and your are good to go.

Pick any of the aftermarket wire kits and get familiar with it and the next job will be a no brainer.

Neatness counts