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Recent content by steve schweitzer

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    Down markets and the ability to find qualified employees

    PEOPLE 
    I appreciate the reply. The main issue is the local trade schools ONLY train for the collision industry. That is not the skills required for this niche. Already been down that road
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    Down markets and the ability to find qualified employees

    PEOPLE 
    I tried the develop them yourself route and all that did was cost me about 300K of lost labor money. The issue is unlike a collision shop, where you can have trainees doing basically the grunt work, in this type of niche that was only about 20% of the process. The other 80% absolutely requires...
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    Down markets and the ability to find qualified employees

    PEOPLE 
    Hello and thank you for the reply, I will address your comments: yes, the auto restoration business is a very minor subset of the general auto collision and repair world but the demand is HUGE as there are so few professional shops around the country that can actually turn these jobs fairly...
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    Down markets and the ability to find qualified employees

    PEOPLE 
    You are absolutely right! The labor market now is so bad that basically most of the available workers are idiots. When I sold my shop in Atlanta in 2004 finding professionals was not too much of an issue. I had no idea how much the labor market has changed in 20 years! You are absolutely...
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    Down markets and the ability to find qualified employees

    PEOPLE 
    The ability to have good, wealthy, high paying clients is absolutely not the issue. I had over 1m of work booked out and close to that much currently in process. I am very well know nationally as an expert in this field and getting work is no issue I was able to complete and deliver about 600k...
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    Down markets and the ability to find qualified employees

    PEOPLE 
    Hello Everyone, I have not posted for a while but check in here daily. As I had posted previously, I opened an auto restoration business 4 years ago just outside Fort Smith, Arkansas. This business model is setup to run a manager, shop helper and 5-7 technicians. I had a business similar to...
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    Opportunities in Food Business Entrepreneurship: Don't Dismiss It.

    NOTABLE! ASSERTION 
    Are there any good healthy, organic gluten free baked products out there that are shelf stable and dont taste like crap? My Daughter in law has Celiacs too and finds it impossible to find anything like that. The ones she has tried all feel like powder pressed into a shape and have no flavor...
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    Has Moving to a Warm and Sunny Climate Made You Happier?

    NOTABLE! MINDSET 
    I can deal with the heat but not with the high humidity we get in Arkansas. We are also looking at Delta and possibly Montrose.
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    Has Moving to a Warm and Sunny Climate Made You Happier?

    NOTABLE! MINDSET 
    We are planning to move to Western Colorado in the next 2 years for the low humidity and are looking at the Grand Junction area. This swamp they call Arkansas is absolutely unbearable for 3 months out of the year with the heat and humidity. The older I get (59 now) the less I can take these...
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    How do you scale a trades business when it is basically impossible to find qualified employees

    Demand for our work is not the issue at all. I am currently booked for over a year and could bring in more work anytime just by making a few calls. Pay has not been the issue. I have been paying very well and it is a real job with w2 and all the insurances needed to have employees. The issue...
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    How do you scale a trades business when it is basically impossible to find qualified employees

    Hello, thank you for the reply. I did not make this post to have anyone cry with me. The main issue with trainees is I cannot afford to have employees that cannot produce. In the auto repair industry (both collision and mechanical) the only shops that really can do training are the...
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    How do you scale a trades business when it is basically impossible to find qualified employees

    Hello and thank you for the reply. They have robots that are just now starting to come into the body shop paint world. These are for production work and not the custom, one off stuff that I do. Every vehicle we do is a little different. Also, the actual paint application is a very small (like...
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    How do you scale a trades business when it is basically impossible to find qualified employees

    Hello and thank you for the reply. What I am running into is that to be good enough to do this type of work without constant supervision requires YEARS of professional hands on experience. This is not a job where you can just hire a person with ability and train them for a couple months and...
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    How do you scale a trades business when it is basically impossible to find qualified employees

    Hello MJ and thank you for the reply. The compensation package is not the issue. The issue is that are basically no qualified employees to hire no matter what the pay.
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    How do you scale a trades business when it is basically impossible to find qualified employees

    I appreciate the reply and I too will be looking into something that is more automated and less dependent on skilled labor.
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