Just to let you all know i'm taking the plunge and setting up my own Mechanic/Engineering shop in ayr. Will hopefully get the keys tomorrow and should be up and running by the end of march. Milling and turning will be on the cards, and although i doubt i'll see many locosts roll through the door, i'll still give discount rate if business comes from here
For the record, the 'shop will be called "Overdrive Auto Engineering" (catchy huh?)
Will let you all know the nitty gritty of addresses/fone numbers by the end of the week.
Tom

good luck in new venture tom,you will never look back,best thing I ever did working for myself.
cheers Paul

yup good luck but a bit of advice to ignore if you wish.
health and safety will be round telling you they know more about your machines than you do,make sure you got all the answers ready,you will get plenty phone calls asking you to subscribe to/advertise on callenders/wallcharts for display in hospitals/donate to charities you have never heard of and all manner of scams to relive you of your hard earned cash

Best of luck with the business mate. I'm hoping to be in a similar position in a couple of years (different line of business though).

Are you planning to offer plasma cutting as well?

Cheers

Nick

All the very best of luck Tom
I can only echo conrods advice with regards to 'unwanted' phone-calls. Oh, and keep on top of ya paper work too!
Congrats mate!
ATB Fozzie

congrats i would love to do that, and hope to one day,

Congrats are definitely in order. More advice - two of my mates went bust with a full order book a while ago. They were superb engineers but didnt keep eye on cash flow. More concerned with getting rich and retiring at 50 with a Ferrari etc. They expanded at a phenomenal rate, got loads of fantastic machines on tick, took orders from blue chip companies but fell foul of their 90 days payment terms. Loads of money went out, not enough came in - in hindsight the maths are simple. Another of my mates started at a more moderate pace, focussed on customer service, controlled debt (didnt have any for first 3 years!), offered discounts for immediate payment or insisted on stage payments for bigger contracts and is doing very nicely now and looking for second apprentice.

Best of luck, not that you'll need it im sure.

to echo someone elses comments (i got these from my business tutor 10 years ago)

Balance sheets are wonderful at showing how much your making but cash flow actually pays the bills!

Its cheeper to keep a customer then it is to get a new one.

The cheepest advertising is word of mouth - good and bad!

yeah good luck . keeping on top of paper work would be top of list , ive got stacks to do at the minute

Best of luck with the venture...

My tip...(what I get bashed at work to keep doing.... and I do it!!)

Keep the customer informed with regular updates and contact, even if not much is happening. The dont like like to think they have been "forgotten". It costs very little, especially with an Email or a quick phone call (phone is best - Its the human touch)

Acknowlege reciept of orders, etc to let them know you have got their order, update, instructions ammendments etc. They then know you have it, and are caring about them.

We get this as our biggest feedback from customers (not being updated), and we use NoP (Nat Opinion Poll) to question our customers, and thats several million of them!.
I have tried this myself, by giving a not nice customer the ultimate attention but not sucking up to them (just contact / update wise), and got a big thanks to my boss (surprised even him!), and getting nowt from a good customer who normally says thanks for almost anything. It does work, and pays off.
ie build the relationships with the people you deal with. Its a little effort, and pays back big time, as they become much easier to deal with. Of course this does not work on 100% of customers, but the ones it doesnt work on you are usually better off without them.

Good luck mate. i'll swing by to say hi when im out an about in the summer

Good luck with the venture

quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeR
to echo someone elses comments (i got these from my business tutor 10 years ago)

Balance sheets are wonderful at showing how much your making but cash flow actually pays the bills!

Its cheeper to keep a customer then it is to get a new one.

The cheepest advertising is word of mouth - good and bad!

---

only ever handle paper once. I have had to learn the hard way in the family busniess since September due to illness.

Now I try to only ever handle paper once. It comes in and I instantly input all invoices etc and file them. Really bugs me when stuff gets left lying around. Office is still a tip though

Good luck and remember to offer a wee discount for payment on order/collection. Anyone who tells you that tehy dont cary plastic these days isnt worth dealing with!!! We just turned 580 accounts to 84 active accounts and fired the rest onto cash/plastic/cheque ~ sulked for a week but like it now

Did your RX3 V8 used to live in Blantyre ?