I\'m official as of today!!!!!

[repare-brise]

Mike

Screenman speaks wisely and carries a big kit, listen to his wise words. Don't sell something you can't produce, and don't let them know you are just starting (unless they ask, then assure them with your training certificate). Being professional means delivering what you promise, you are not able to do that at this point. Limit your market research to walking the lots to see if they have repairs to do(they always do), so you can get an idea of how much work is waiting for you. One other concern I might have in your place is your other carreers, doing this part-time is good with retail, but dealers want you there 5 miniuts before they call(or preferably the day before), they will call you once or twice, and if they get an answering machine, they will move on down the list. That said your market may tolerate a longer response time.

At Your Service

[Mike Allen]

Mike

Screenman speaks wisely and carries a big kit, listen to his wise words. Don't sell something you can't produce, and don't let them know you are just starting (unless they ask, then assure them with your training certificate). Being professional means delivering what you promise, you are not able to do that at this point. Limit your market research to walking the lots to see if they have repairs to do(they always do), so you can get an idea of how much work is waiting for you. One other concern I might have in your place is your other carreers, doing this part-time is good with retail, but dealers want you there 5 miniuts before they call(or preferably the day before), they will call you once or twice, and if they get an answering machine, they will move on down the list. That said your market may tolerate a longer response time.

At Your Service

I'm not exactly a newbie to this. I worked for Vision Auto Glass in Colorado Springs about 5 years ago doing this exact same thing. I've got about 100 some odd repairs under my belt, but that doesn't mean that I know anything. I've been telling the sales managers that although I am starting out on my own I do have experience and that I am out guaging interest to see where I can best be of service. I spend a few minutes being very honest with the managers and they understand. All of them have asked me to return to see them personally when I am ready. They also undersatnd that I am Air Force and doing this part time. Just about everyone that I spoke too has a very similar setup already with someone else and it seems that there is only one guy in this area working. The same name kept coming up.
So I have at least my foot in the door and that's all I really want right now. I suppose that saying "I secured" was being a little zealous on my part.

[screenman]

This is why I think the new people should put more on their public profile, I seem to have wasted my time replying to this guys post,when I could have been helping someone else . How was I supposed to know he had so much experience.

[spanky]

Don't give up hope,Screenman,after all experience is in the eye of the beholder...

[Mike Allen]

Screenman, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic about replying to my post or not, so I will preface this question with I am not trying to be defensive or argumentative. What information would you like for me to have in my sig? How can I make it easier for everyone to understand where I am coming from.

I do appreciate your advice and everyone elses here on this board. I look forward to learning alot from everyone here and sharing as I become more experienced. Stumbling accross this site has been a blessing in disguise and made things so much easier for me. When I started getting serious about 6 months ago to do this again but for myself, I was only going off of what I retained from my training and limited experience 5 years ago. I do not know everything and will not admit to the fact that I might even know something.

I also feel that I should explain a little more about my approach to this. As I said, I started getting serious about my own business 6 months ago. Since then I have been researching the market in this area, studying up on small business, trying to remember what I was taught through training and experience, asking myself if I was still good enough to do this and clearing the way financially. The only reason I have not purchased a kit until today was purely financial. I had to pay off some personal bills before I could start something else. I knew that I would be recieving my tax return this week. I've been geting alot of positive response from people that I work with and folks that I mention this to on a sidenote. People that I have never said anything to are getting wind of this and are approaching me and understand that I am not ready yet.
With all of the positives that are going on around me and knowing that I would be able to afford a kit this week and be ready for business in another two, I believed that it would be a smart time to introduce myself to people and get my name out there. Companies do this all the time when they are about to launch a product. Movies are announced before they are ready to show. Why would I not be able to follow that same line of thinking and not have it work for me?

I have been honest with everyone that I have dealt with in telling them that I will be ready very soon. Some have taken my number, others have asked that I return when I am ready and everyone knows that this is part time for me and that I am looking for there business when they can't get ahold of their main guys.

I believe in my honest approach to this and believe that it will work out with my career and schedule. If the clients that I deal with now realize that I'm honest about my status now, won't they know I'll be honest with them in future dealings? I believe that I have a well thought out plan and timeline and so far, it is going extremely well. I intend to stick to it until I need to change soemthing to accomplish my goal.

My apartment manager asked today that I give them cards to hand out to all new residents in the complex and asked that I place flyers as well. That's over 300 potential clients right there. Someone else asked me today that I bring them lots of cards to place on display in their kiosk in the local mall and also introduced me to a vehicle inspector for a very large dealership in this area. All of this and I never said a thing asking for business.

I honestly can't see right now how my honest apporach in telling everyone that has approached me or that I have apporached that I am not fully formed as of yet but that I will be soon. Now I am a very trusting individual and want to believe everyone that I meet. But I am not so nieve or foolish as to do that.
If I recieve only 20% work out of what I have been blessed with this week, I'd be very happy.

Thank you for your time and I appreciate any comments.

[northidahotim]

I'm so excited to have a forum like this to learn from. experienced guys willing to help the new guy. Thank you Delta.

[screenman]

Unfortunately I have a go for it now attitude and believe in diving in head first. I would just put the cost of a kit on a credit card and get out to work, but thats only my way. At the moment you have not had to deal with the rejections you will get, these can be hard for a lot of people. I also feel that we have far to many part timers in this business and I believe for a lot of you over there it keeps the prices down, many charge less now than was charged 18 years ago when I started. I hope you will not be one of these.

Good luck in your venture and I hope you are still on this forum with us in the future.

[Sneck]

Hi screenman,

I also feel that we have far to many part timers in this business and I believe for a lot of you over there it keeps the prices down

I understand what you are saying about part-timers and how diving in and going for it (full-time) is better. I myself have been a part-timer for about 12 years, and although I would prefer to do my repair business full time, I currently am keeping my full-time job because I have been there for 16 years and love the people I work with - it would be hard to leave. If that ever changed, I would be out and doing repair full-time in a split second because I love this business too.

Any business that does not cost a fortune to start-up, and is relatively easily learned - by its very nature will produce a lot of part-timers. In this business, some people drop out after a short while, others like myself hang in there for a long time in hopes of going full time. And others go full time right off the bat.

I think part-timers are good for the industry for the following reason...

With the demand for equipment from many people getting into this business (part-time or full-time) it keeps the equipment manufacturers in business but also in competition with each other. Competition among the manufacturers is a good thing. It keeps pricing in check, and it keeps better equipment design and better service by the manufacturers at the forefront of their business where it should be - and i'm glad Delta is doing a fine job of that.

As far as repair pricing, there have been some poles taken - and naturally they have a range to them. One part of this country has a completely different kind of price market than another part of this country. For example - the cost of living in my state is very very different than the cost of living just two states away. And of course for insurance jobs-- that pricing is dictated to us by the insurance companies.

I think part-timers compete more on service than on price. We have to, because we are limited by our available time we have to do repair since we are stuck at work during other hours of the day (or night). For me, that means 90 percent of my jobs are on week-ends and the other 10 percent of my jobs are done at night (usually around my dinner time) at the customers home. It works out well that way because most people are done with their running around and are at home in the evenings where I do the work. And week-ends - same thing, people are usually home and have the vehicle available for me to do the repair.

I work my butt off in my regular job all week, and when I come home I am usually pretty beat. If I have a repair or two to do that evening, I don't charge less to beat my competiton, I charge fair or more because the way I see it - I am working during odd hours, and most customers would expect to pay more for odd hours (evening and week-end work).

... just my two cents.

[tyler99]

Wow, sneck you said it great. Nice post! :eusa_clap

As a part-timer myself, I cherry pick the projects that give me the best return (i.e. close by, no discounting, damage I can fix and the person sounds reasonable). I say "no" a lot more than I say yes. Of course, I refer the "no's" to people that I think might do the work.

Part-timers and discounters are the nature of any business. In my full-time profession (non-glass repair) I deal with competition that work out of there home, are not insured and charge 25% of what I do. Having said that, I have more business than I can handle because of quality, reliability and knowledge.

It's all in your perspective, I guess.

[screenman]

Ok point taken I can only say as I find and maybe things over here are slightly diffrent I apologise if I have upset anyone by my postings.

I am glad someone else really likes what they do for a living because I certainlydo, if I did not I am in a lucky enough position to be able to change, many are not. Every day of the week we meet people who hate their jobs this would be absolute hell for me. How and why do they carry on with so many oppertunities out there for us all.

Good luck to everyone full or part time good or bad tech.