I'm going on year 2 of being a mobile mechanic. Done side work while working for other shops for years before branching out on my own, so I had a small client base right from the beginning. Starting out, I did make some really nice business cards and handed those out to everyone I did jobs for. Made friends with the local parts stores and left cards there. Making a facebook business page has been where most of my business is coming from now. (Have been debating on starting up a youtube channel as well) Im still very much figuring it out, but have big dreams of investing in real estate and eventually setting up a brick and mortar shop. This is my first time watching any of your content, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what else you have! Thanks for the info dump
Great advice! I started out doing side work - took me about three years of that and making some real estate deals to build up enough cash to put a down payment on a building. I had $60k left over for working capital, and even though I was busy non-stop I ran out of money within two years. Absolutely anyone considering starting their own shop needs to watch the basics videos from Changing The Industry Podcast, and actually set their business up for success from the start. "That feels about right" is the quickest way to ruin. One unpopular opinion I might add when trying to build your capital: Used car dealerships are always looking for the lowest price repairs they can get. Shield yourself well from these relationships, they will do everything they can to hang liability on you, but it's generally cash flow for early on in business. Once you have established yourself, start building a system to eliminate this relationship (just price yourself out of it). Also - you won't gain many if any good clients from this relationship.
Car dealers are the worst option, this is what happened to me, if you get busy with them you can't look for other customers, for five years I got nothing but paying the bills
I’m an airline mechanic and started a BMW repair business on the side and it’s hard to keep up lol I stay booked 2-3 months out. But that’s only taking 1-2 cars at a time on the weekends.
Literally was looking forward to this video ! But that’s my end goal. Right now I have a day job but I try to get as much side work possible on weekends so then I can start leasing a small shop. Being mobile for me is just a means to an end, nothing like working at a shop with everything you may need for when something goes bad. I’m 23, very healthy, workout and still wake up all beat up and sore anytime I do side work and gotta be crawling on the ground and what not, definitely not long term plan idk how some can do it I give them props
Yes or helps but a lot of people I’ve doing don’t have the discipline to do the research to know which items to buy or end up going cheap and buy a piece of equipment that’s not as good because they are trying to save money and end up double paying. Not in every case of course but I have seen that quite a bit. I have a 90 day list and anything I think I want or need I put it on that list. Then after 90 days I reassess that list and see if I still think I need it or not or can I go another 90 days
Solid video. Only issue I have is the 50k in savings. I believe ur LLC should be set up before u take any sort of jobs for tax right off purposes and also to establish ur business early so that after 2 years of odd jobs you have an established business& can open a line a credit on that business to afford these bigger purchases you'll need. Also the LLC protects your personal finances and assets incase you do fuck up a job or two in the way to opening up your shop.
The issue is understanding taxes and write offs. Starting out as a sole prop is much better for taxes unless you come out the gate crushing it in revenue which most do not. When you have nothing to take it doesn’t matter as much. Until you start generating a good amount of revenue a sole prop works great instead of an llc/s-corp Saving the money is imoortant Because of most people’s inability to make decisions without fear or emotion
Great info. Do you ever plan on hiring other techs or even a service writer in the future to help you out? Doing everything yourself everyday must be exhausting.
You have the mobile mechanic part WRONG. Buddy. you can make a lot of money doing mobile And flipping cars on the side. A shop is useless. 7/10 shops struggle. I’ve been a mechanic for 17 years. Tell me I’m wrong.
Saving 50k is pretty hard especially working for someone else as a Tech given how screwed up most shops pay structures are. Reality is though you would get a loan for a majority of that. And maybe have 20k at least of liquid cash to start. You would probably need to do side work or flip some cars on the side while working full time to realistically save up a good chunk to open the business
I also have a unique situation where mobile works for me as i live in a small community n bush ak. And i could do brick and mortar and share the 5k population with 4 other shops or i can fly to surrounding communitys where there is no compitition. I specialize in hravy duty but there is no shortage of additional auto repair when i travel to these isolated communitys. Yes the conditions can be rough especially in the winter but at 57 im tough and make good money
Nice video Ya said alot of truth in video. Maybe eye opener for a tech that wants to start his own shop 50k you were lucky ya made it and congrats. 100k plus is a safer haven.
I didn’t realize the camera was moving with my head movement that much. I apologize for that. I will make sure on the future videos it does so that as much. 😅
@@EnrightautoI think about 25-35% of where it is would be perfect. It'll look more subtle and draw the eye without being jarring. Normally I listen without watching so I didn't even notice until I read the comments.
I'm going on year 2 of being a mobile mechanic.
Done side work while working for other shops for years before branching out on my own, so I had a small client base right from the beginning.
Starting out, I did make some really nice business cards and handed those out to everyone I did jobs for.
Made friends with the local parts stores and left cards there.
Making a facebook business page has been where most of my business is coming from now.
(Have been debating on starting up a youtube channel as well)
Im still very much figuring it out, but have big dreams of investing in real estate and eventually setting up a brick and mortar shop.
This is my first time watching any of your content, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what else you have!
Thanks for the info dump
Great advice!
I started out doing side work - took me about three years of that and making some real estate deals to build up enough cash to put a down payment on a building. I had $60k left over for working capital, and even though I was busy non-stop I ran out of money within two years. Absolutely anyone considering starting their own shop needs to watch the basics videos from Changing The Industry Podcast, and actually set their business up for success from the start. "That feels about right" is the quickest way to ruin.
One unpopular opinion I might add when trying to build your capital: Used car dealerships are always looking for the lowest price repairs they can get. Shield yourself well from these relationships, they will do everything they can to hang liability on you, but it's generally cash flow for early on in business. Once you have established yourself, start building a system to eliminate this relationship (just price yourself out of it). Also - you won't gain many if any good clients from this relationship.
Car dealers are the worst option, this is what happened to me, if you get busy with them you can't look for other customers, for five years I got nothing but paying the bills
I’m an airline mechanic and started a BMW repair business on the side and it’s hard to keep up lol I stay booked 2-3 months out. But that’s only taking 1-2 cars at a time on the weekends.
Literally was looking forward to this video ! But that’s my end goal. Right now I have a day job but I try to get as much side work possible on weekends so then I can start leasing a small shop. Being mobile for me is just a means to an end, nothing like working at a shop with everything you may need for when something goes bad. I’m 23, very healthy, workout and still wake up all beat up and sore anytime I do side work and gotta be crawling on the ground and what not, definitely not long term plan idk how some can do it I give them props
Thanks for watching. It’s definitely not an easy field to be in for sure. Keep you head up and keep grinding!
The other part of the side hustle. Is it allows you time to aquire the large ticket items you will need.
Yes or helps but a lot of people I’ve doing don’t have the discipline to do the research to know which items to buy or end up going cheap and buy a piece of equipment that’s not as good because they are trying to save money and end up double paying. Not in every case of course but I have seen that quite a bit.
I have a 90 day list and anything I think I want or need I put it on that list. Then after 90 days I reassess that list and see if I still think I need it or not or can I go another 90 days
Solid video. Only issue I have is the 50k in savings. I believe ur LLC should be set up before u take any sort of jobs for tax right off purposes and also to establish ur business early so that after 2 years of odd jobs you have an established business& can open a line a credit on that business to afford these bigger purchases you'll need. Also the LLC protects your personal finances and assets incase you do fuck up a job or two in the way to opening up your shop.
This also doesn't account for SBA loans either
The issue is understanding taxes and write offs. Starting out as a sole prop is much better for taxes unless you come out the gate crushing it in revenue which most do not.
When you have nothing to take it doesn’t matter as much. Until you start generating a good amount of revenue a sole prop works great instead of an llc/s-corp
Saving the money is imoortant Because of most people’s inability to make decisions without fear or emotion
Great info. Do you ever plan on hiring other techs or even a service writer in the future to help you out? Doing everything yourself everyday must be exhausting.
Thank you and thanks for watching Yes I’ll be hiring as soon as we buy/lease/build our larger location
You have the mobile mechanic part WRONG. Buddy. you can make a lot of money doing mobile
And flipping cars on the side. A shop is useless. 7/10 shops struggle. I’ve been a mechanic for 17 years. Tell me I’m wrong.
You are wrong
Saving 50k is pretty hard especially working for someone else as a Tech given how screwed up most shops pay structures are. Reality is though you would get a loan for a majority of that. And maybe have 20k at least of liquid cash to start. You would probably need to do side work or flip some cars on the side while working full time to realistically save up a good chunk to open the business
It’s not as hard as you think IF you are smart with your finances which most aren’t. You would be better off start with no cash than taking a loan
I also have a unique situation where mobile works for me as i live in a small community n bush ak. And i could do brick and mortar and share the 5k population with 4 other shops or i can fly to surrounding communitys where there is no compitition. I specialize in hravy duty but there is no shortage of additional auto repair when i travel to these isolated communitys. Yes the conditions can be rough especially in the winter but at 57 im tough and make good money
Yea that’s a unique situation for sure
Nice video Ya said alot of truth in video. Maybe eye opener for a tech that wants to start his own shop 50k you were lucky ya made it and congrats. 100k plus is a safer haven.
Appreciate the kind words and you watching. Thank you!
I didn’t realize the camera was moving with my head movement that much. I apologize for that. I will make sure on the future videos it does so that as much. 😅
I didn’t mind it. It actually looked natural like there is a camera operator
@@andrewleets4015 good to know thank you for the feedback. I can slow the response down of the camera so that might be a happy medium.
@@EnrightautoI think about 25-35% of where it is would be perfect. It'll look more subtle and draw the eye without being jarring. Normally I listen without watching so I didn't even notice until I read the comments.
Should i take a bank loan to start up my auto shop. I don't have any cash at hand
No absolutely not. If you don’t have any cash on hand do not start a shop
Should I print out call cards
Business cards? Yes you should always have good business cards on hand. Professionally made and something to grab attention