What would you do differently if you could do it all again?

alek95 · Dec 30, 2022

Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently with your business?
What mistakes did you make?
What piece of advice do you wish you could give to your younger self?

BarnFab · Dec 30, 2022

I would buy the biggest building I could afford ....

MrWhoopee · Dec 30, 2022

I would choose a different business partner and hold out for more money when I sold.

Garwood · Dec 30, 2022

Do not go into business until you can communicate effectively and confidently with your customers.

Thinking you can work for less than other shops which will win more work is a completely flawed and self defeating mindset.

Underpromise and over deliver. The opposite is much worse than you think.

Take care of your health from day one. Find a good doctor and see them regularly.

ManualEd · Dec 30, 2022

Don't get into a partnership.
Still haven't seen one that ended other than badly.

Sell your service, not your parts.
Joe Blow's garage shop will beat your price, but if you can offer 1-2 day turn around and parts that fit in the current world, price wont matter during a break down.

boosted · Dec 30, 2022

If I had to do it again, I don’t think I would start a job shop. The market is just too competitive now, and customers have been trained to expect Asia pricing on everything. Wages have skyrocketed while part prices continue to drop. Customer loyalty means nothing, because there is an army of conglomerates looking to buy up any midsized company that is actually making money, and with the conglomerates come a rotating army of purchasing agents…

I’d probably just study my local market real hard, and identify where there is an opportunity for a needed business. Around here it would probably be a damn pizza restaurant.

If I was hellbent on opening a machine shop; I would tell myself the the first hire should be an admin. Owner duties suck up an insane amount of time, and get harder and harder to hand off to somebody else as the business grows.

Larry Dickman · Dec 30, 2022

you asked for it

Bondo · Dec 30, 2022

As someone who built their business solo, I would say

Find a partner that works great on your level of commitment, then buy the biggest box of chocolate and a gun. This way the love hate relationship is out in the open, and pray the 1 bullet is used on them before it gets used on you.

I would say learning how to deal with stresses is a big thing. I do a lot of business face to face with people who would punch you in the face for a quote 3% over what was expected, but then hand you a job for 30k just because your there.

MwTech Inc · Dec 31, 2022

Stop every few years and actually evaluate what you are doing.
We all tend to put blinders on (think of the plow horse) and continue to do our thing.
We get comfortable in our daily grind, its working, so we keep going.
Take the blinders off, turn your head and look around.

One example of mine is moving "stuff" around the shop, customer work.
Why I didn't buy the 20 ft jib crane years ago.........stupid, stupid on my end.
Crane gets used constantly now.
Forktruck seemed fine to use, so we didn't need a crane...or so i thought.
So much improvement we relocated machinery to better use the crane.

The crane is a simple example, but this evaluation applies to your all aspects of the business.

SND · Jan 1, 2023

It went how it went with the $, time and work I had.
One thing I should have done it build bigger in 2009, quickly ran out of space, then had to build another detached shop, that I already ran out of space in again. Now looking at putting up a 3rd building.
Oh and try to have more free time.

john.k · Jan 1, 2023

One thing for sure is have everything in one place ,,,for years having three locations was a killer..........but then some people have made having 3,000 locations work for them.

john.k · Jan 1, 2023

I had a good business partner in the 70s,we made a lot of money....but the guy couldnt stay away from women,he d marry one,immediately start cheating with another ......three wives ,three divorces .....and for all I know he s married again.

Hebrewhammer8 · Jan 3, 2023

Doug said:
Another thing I know now is I should have been more aggressive in buying better equipment rather than depending on such marginal equipment I could afford.

This x100000000000000000000.

If you are gonna do it, you better do it right or not do it at all!

Stirling · Jan 3, 2023

Speed of execution vs “saving” money bootstrapping solutions I otherwise could have bought.
(Still a trap I fall into)

Not understanding marketing has been crippling as well,
Hiring a marketing person or taking a class would help.

DouglasJRizzo · Jan 3, 2023

I would've started it earlier.
I would've also searched out some better commercial space.
Other than that, it went, well.

john.k · Jan 6, 2023

I had a good time,worked hard on ocassion ,generally to get myself out of trouble,did what I wanted to do ,........back in the day ,there was no big brother with a million computers and cameras.......I never borrowed money for machines ...only for land .....and paid it off as quick as possible...........everyone said you must have debt....the tax man works for you......but I never wanted debt hanging over me....................The finance man on the telly tonight has a maze of charts about the massive debt carried by average people.......and the possible effect of trillions in fixed interest 2-3% loans coming due in the next six months,and having to be refinanced at 5-6-7%

moonlight machine · Jan 8, 2023

I was 3 1/2 years into a 4 year electrician apprenticeship program, I quit to go racing! What a dumbass! Indy Cars and top level Sports cars. I traveled the world, won the Indy 500 and the 24 hours of Daytona and various championships. Now I am to old to go racing and wish I had that union electrician's pension.

EmanuelGoldstein · Jan 9, 2023

moonlight machine said:
Now I am to old to go racing and wish I had that union electrician's pension.

THAT made me laugh

yeah but ... we're going to go pretty soon anyhow, had more fun with Plan A along the way, didn't we ?

moonlight machine · Jan 9, 2023

EmanuelGoldstein said:
THAT made me laugh yeah but ... we're going to go pretty soon anyhow, had more fun with Plan A along the way, didn't we ?

Hell yes it was for sure more fun.

Freedommachine · Jan 9, 2023

alek95 said:
Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently with your business?
What mistakes did you make?
What piece of advice do you wish you could give to your younger self?

I would've started a bank.

"What mistakes did you make"
I started a machine shop instead of a bank.

"Piece of advise for your younger self"

Study finance, learn to use money as the primary tool for your business, not physical labor and time.

What would you do differently if you could do it all again?

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