BUSINESS START UP

I started my first business when I was 18 years old from my parents garage selling speed parts, eventually put a speed shop and ran it for 7 years and sold it to move to the U.S. mainland. I then went to work for others, and worked for 2 different companies in the automotive aftermarket for about 5 years. I then decided to go back into business and bought an established automotive repair business, that was a franchise, and was basically scammed. Lost everything I had, including my marriage, and had to go back to work for someone else, also in the automotive aftermarket, for about 4 more years.
At that point I found a partner, who had a warehouse full of parts, mostly truck accessories, and started selling parts on eBay with him while I held my regular job, did extremely well, about 6 months into this business I was making 3 times more money selling parts on eBay than I was at my regular job so I left my regular job to dedicate myself to sell parts on eBay. He suddenly got a really aggressive cancer and died unexpectedly. His Wife took over the warehouse and ran the business into the ground in 6 months. I then found another partner, well he found me, as he had heard how well I was doing on eBay motors (at the time I had the 3rd largest account on eBay motors by sales numbers) and he had a warehouse full of only speed parts. We partnered up, and did very well for a while, but this eventually went belly up too. He had another warehouse that he was trading product lines with, and when that warehouse started seeing the numbers he was buying and selling, the other warehouse decided to not honor their trading agreement anymore and they went in themselves to sell parts on eBay and basically copied our business model and auctions, cut us off from those manufacturers, and everything went to hell. while I was doing this I was also selling parts by myself from my home.

Thankfully I had made quite a bit of money with my 2 partners before everything went belly up, and also by myself from my home, and had saved all of it. At this point in time performance product manufacturers were not happy about small sellers selling their stuff on eBay and undercutting their prices, and they were really closing the doors on people like me. Summit and Jegs were not happy about the competition on eBay, and they worked hard to squash it with the help of the manufacturers. At this point in time, I knew that to make it, I would need to start importing product and making my own brand.

I then found my 3rd partner, who had also lost a business because of a previous partner, but he had the key to making product overseas and making your own brand, he had befriended a Taiwanese broker who supplied a ton of the major brands in the USA. I had saved up money and he had the connections, so off to the races we went. Anyways, its been almost 20 years now and we are doing well. We manufacture a ton of performance products, accessories and wheels. No, we do not make parts for classic Mopars, although I have been thinking about maybe doing so, as there is so much that is not made, what is made is sometimes of substandard quality, and everything is crazy expensive.

Anyways, here is what I have learned in over 35 years of being in and out of business, of falling miserably and succeeding.

If I had one suggestion that will make it almost impossible for you to fail is to start the business from your home on your spare time. I know this is not easy, I know it will put a toll on your family life, but it is the only way that I have found where you almost cannot fail. Being young and having a positive attitude helps a LOT. The younger you are, the easier it is to work 16 hour days.

You start your business from your home on your spare time, while you hold a full time job. Eventually you will get a steady clientele, this may take a couple of years. At some point you will start making more money on your side business than on your regular job. You need to save as much of your business money as possible. When you start making substantially more money (I would say 2-3 times more) on your side business than on your regular job, you can then quit your regular job and concentrate on your business. Keep working from home for as as long as you can, eventually you will need more space, you will need help (employees) and the business will force you to leave your home and put up a "real" business. Remember that you need a lot more money to run a business outside your home. You will now need a ton of licenses, permits, inspections, rent, employees, utilities, insurance, a CPA etc... As soon as you legitimize the business with a real location, business should keep growing. People will more easily find you, and they will be a lot more comfortable giving an established business money, than a guy in his garage.

Marketing your business is very important. When working from your home, you customers will be your marketing team. Word of mouth is free, and there is no better advertisement that a satisfied customer. Make business cards and give them to everyone, they are cheap and effective. If you are in the automotive world, go to all the local car shows, drag races, car clubs, car meeting places (like where the street racers meet up at night before they go racing), talk to everyone, give everyone your business card. It is work, but it is cheap and effective. Put up a website, tons of cheap "ready to run" websites are out there. Spend as little as you can, but maximize what you get out of it.