Can a brick and mortar service business ever be fastlane?

[steve schweitzer]

Hello Everyone, I have not posted in a while but am here daily.

As I posted about a year ago, I started a brick and mortar vintage auto restoration/paint and body shop. We only work on vintage and musclecars and do not do general collision insurance work.

Fast forward a year and it is a total time suck, like working 80 hours a week minimum, missing out on all family time, working until dropping from exhaustion and getting burnt out.

Keep in mind I have 3 employees that are good at their job and do not need micro managed but the real super technical and ultra specialized work falls on me.

It is basically impossible to find someone with my skill level that is not doing this for themselves, as this is such a specialized profession. It is not the same as collision repair so general bodymen and production painters are not a good fit ( I have been through a couple of them last year with spectacularly horrible expensive results).

The 3 guys I have now can do the general work required but need direction from the master, which is me.

I am already 57 1/2 and do not want to spend the next 10 years doing this for only a couple hundred thousand a year, if that.

Picture our shop like the car restoration shops you see on tv working on really expensive musclecars and building street rods. Most of our customers cars are six figure rides at the minimum.

My wife is telling me this is killing me as it is starting to affect my health with the 7 day weeks and 12-14 hour days. I could do this in my 30-40s but coming up on 60 it is not sustainable. It is also causing me to miss seeing my youngest son and grandchildren grow up.

She suggests we start a youtube channel to to showcase my knowledge and also the car builds we are doing.

Before anyone suggest it, I already know the emyth book inside and out and do have systems in place. I probably should have thought a little more about Gerbers advice to not ever build a business that relies on experts, like myself.

Does anyone have any advice or thoughts on how to fastlane a business like this?

Thanks in advance.

 

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[Antifragile]

A few thoughts:

1. First year in most businesses (even first few years, often more) are heavy, bad years. Maybe it's not just the business but a general reality of a start up. Heck, it can take 5 years to be in a good spot. How long did it take Elon Musk with Tesla before he was able to bring Model S out? Remember those little sports cars he used to sell in Hollywood? Any business takes time.
2. To fastlane a business like yours, think long-tail success. Become the best. Most sought out.
3. At what price can you do half the jobs but twice the revenue (thus much higher profit)? Think massive gross margins. And if people don't want to pay it, they go somewhere else. But if they want YOU, they must pay the price. In short, work half the time for twice the money. Then... Repeat.

 

[steve schweitzer]

A few thoughts:

1. First year in most businesses (even first few years, often more) are heavy, bad years. Maybe it's not just the business but a general reality of a start up. Heck, it can take 5 years to be in a good spot. How long did it take Elon Musk with Tesla before he was able to bring Model S out? Remember those little sports cars he used to sell in Hollywood? Any business takes time.
2. To fastlane a business like yours, think long-tail success. Become the best. Most sought out.
3. At what price can you do half the jobs but twice the revenue (thus much higher profit)? Think massive gross margins. And if people don't want to pay it, they go somewhere else. But if they want YOU, they must pay the price. In short, work half the time for twice the money. Then... Repeat.

I agree the first year in business is the worst. I went through 5 employees that either totally lied to me as far as their abilities, stole from me, basically checked out (quiet quit) as soon as it stopped being fun or were drama queens. Things are not quite as stressful now that I have good guys here.

I am already regarded as an expert in my field with 40 years experience and have a decent following on my business facebook page.

Getting in the top paying work in not the issue, I already am doing this and have as much work as we want waiting.

My main question is how would I use this business to not be a time prison and most importantly make life changing money. I am not seeing this in ANY b & m service business that requires me for operations.

 

[Antifragile]

The question of "Fastlane" business boils down to the basics, don't force it to become "complicated" or put big words like "time prison". That's your choice!

Ok, what do I mean by simple. This. Scale happens through the following:

• Money.
• Labour.
• Technology.

Money buys technology & labour. But it doesn't have to be YOUR money. That's what investors are for.
Labour is employees. If you can't hire well, you won't grow. If you think you are the only person who knows how to do things great and everyone else can't, you won't scale.
Technology give you an edge. Having a proprietary method, maybe a patent, maybe a great way to life changing money.

Let me put it another way. If you are already at the peak of your skills as a "mechanic" in your own "shop", you are forgetting what Steve Jobs said to Steve Wozniak "You play the instrument well, but I play the orchestra". Want a fastlane B&M business? Start playing the orchestra! Get off the tools.

If you think you can't. You are right. Shut it down.

But if you think you can... but presently struggle with how, consider:

1. Bringing on partners. Young, fanatical people who want what you want.
2. Creating proprietary methods, documenting them, selling the method - franchises, whatever.
3. Making your business huge. Think BIGGER than anyone else in your space. This way you'll have 500 employees. Sy Sperling once told me that when he ran one location, he worked crazy hard. But when he had 30 locations, he had a lot of free time, he hired a "President" to run things for him.

You get the drift here... I am sure. Good luck.

Looping in @Kak into this. He's a bright light on this type of stuff.

 

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[steve schweitzer]

The question of "Fastlane" business boils down to the basics, don't force it to become "complicated" or put big words like "time prison". That's your choice!

Ok, what do I mean by simple. This. Scale happens through the following:

• Money.
• Labour.
• Technology.

Money buys technology & labour. But it doesn't have to be YOUR money. That's what investors are for.
Labour is employees. If you can't hire well, you won't grow. If you think you are the only person who knows how to do things great and everyone else can't, you won't scale.
Technology give you an edge. Having a proprietary method, maybe a patent, maybe a great way to life changing money.

Let me put it another way. If you are already at the peak of your skills as a "mechanic" in your own "shop", you are forgetting what Steve Jobs said to Steve Wozniak "You play the instrument well, but I play the orchestra". Want a fastlane B&M business? Start playing the orchestra! Get off the tools.

If you think you can't. You are right. Shut it down.

But if you think you can... but presently struggle with how, consider:

1. Bringing on partners. Young, fanatical people who want what you want.
2. Creating proprietary methods, documenting them, selling the method - franchises, whatever.
3. Making your business huge. Think BIGGER than anyone else in your space. This way you'll have 500 employees. Sy Sperling once told me that when he ran one location, he worked crazy hard. But when he had 30 locations, he had a lot of free time, he hired a "President" to run things for him.

You get the drift here... I am sure. Good luck.

Looping in @Kak into this. He's a bright light on this type of stuff.

Yes I guess referring to this as a time prison is just a reflection of me getting a little burnt out.

The market for vintage auto paint and body is massive as there are very few shops doing it and even fewer doing it well.

I have thought about developing a system that is completely replicatable so it can be sold as a franchise or at the least I can open several locations.

In the collision world the real money makers are the ones that have multiple locations and hire hundreds of people.
The smaller shops have nothing but tired owners that make very little money.

There is a way to do that with classic cars, I just have to develop a system that would allow it to operate without a super skilled master at the helm. Kind of like what Gerber said when he discussed the “franchise model”.

There are also a few really large restoration shops around the country and they all employ 20-50 people and for sure the owner is not out there painting cars!

I should probably look into becoming one of those.

Thanks for the reply

 

[Antifragile]

You got this!
Go after it.

 

[ZackerySprague]

Yes, with Iteration Intention. A Brick and Motar business can become Fastlane if this methodology is adopted. MJ Describes this process in the 10th Anniversary of TMF .

It may not have scale or reach ability right now, but by adding a new single business everytime it will.

 

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[ZCP]

Raise your prices. A lot.
Coach others to do what you do for a fee.
Limit your hours and availability.

Your current limit is you and your time.
Own that and rebuild this around what you can do AND be healthy / happy / providing value.
Learn to say 'no'.

 

[steve schweitzer]

Raise your prices. A lot.
Coach others to do what you do for a fee.
Limit your hours and availability.

Your current limit is you and your time.
Own that and rebuild this around what you can do AND be healthy / happy / providing value.
Learn to say 'no'.

Thanks for the reply.

I am raising my prices for sure as the level of work we are producing is truly world class and ranks right up there with the best shops around.

This first year was really about getting traction and getting systems established but also was a massive stress inducing time for me. I feel my health has suffered as a result but am starting to feel better knowing things are turning around.

The issues with employees the first year caused over 200k worth of work to have all the profit sucked off the top and left me in debt. I actually had to borrow money for payroll multiple times. In retrospect I should have just fired these guys on the spot but when you have 10 builds going at the same time it is hard to do, especially when you do not have replacements lined up. Like all skilled trades good people are really hard to find and they ALL already have good jobs. You have to steal them from other shops.

We just finished up the metal work on a custom 1968 Mercury Cougar that we basically built from scratch and the owner and his business partner inspected it today. They had not seen it since we started from rusted wrecked pile 7 months ago and were so impressed with the work they were taking videos and pictures and basically smiling the whole time. This really made me and my guys thrilled as they have a shop that builds 200k dollar custom lifted trucks that you see on the tv shows. They are pretty well known and always have features in magazines and displays at the major shows around the country.

They decided our work was so good that they are having us finish it up with a very expensive, custom candy brandywine paint job and some other custom features so they can take it to a huge show later this year. This exposure really will open the doors for these 6 figure builds.

We are also building several super high end musclecars like the ones ones you saw selling for 200k plus this year at the Barrett Jackson and Mecum auctions on TV. For you car guys, we are doing 2 original Hemi Mopars and a custom purple 1971 Challenger convertible, among others.
If you are into old cars you know what these are.

Part of my stress last year was getting the shop setup as the paint booth, frame tables, paint mixing systems, lifts, special custom built stands and frame jigs, air compressors and other really expensive equipment cost close to 400k and I have really not started to see much of a return yet.

While I was oversee all this setup, which took 6 months ( I thought it would take 2 months), The guys I had basically took advantage of the situation to steal, waste time, lie to me about what they were doing and basically cause me even more stress.

I finally blew up at the one guy that I had hired to run everything while I was setting up. He was a huge drama queen and was trying to turn everyone against me I found out later. I wondered why things were getting so tense with the other employees but realize now he was telling them I was talking crap about them when I was not. Keep in mind I was paying this guy 75k a year and he was destroying the business from the start! I am not a violent person but I was about to become one!

All the initial guys that were with me that first year are now gone and the ones there now are really stepping up and are super proud of their work and skills.

One young 22 year old bodyman I hired basically as an apprentice has very quickly become world class in his abilities to produce absolutely stunning showcar quality work. I have been working closely with him showing him the skills I have learned the hard way (the stuff you do not learn at trade school and only gain from decades of real world experience) and he is taking off like a rocket. In a few years he will truly be one of the best around and a massive asset to the business.

Now that we are gaining traction I can start charging lots more for future work and expand with more guys.

One thing with our trade, and really any other business, is you have to give top talent a reason to want to work for you and that does not include just money. They are basically artists and want a place to show off their skills.

If anyone want to check out some of our builds check out our Facebook page, Retro-Muscle Automotive.

I feel a lot better about things today and am looking forward to making this a 10million dollar a year shop in the next 2 years. The really high end shops that do what we do are all doing at least that much and some way more.

That will require about 12 guys total but we have the facility that can handle it and now getting the reputation to match.

Thanks for everyone that responded and I will keep making updates.

 

[ZCP]

@steve schweitzer = amazing

Time to talk Dream 100 ... both customers AND staff

dm me. let's do a quick call

 

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[steve schweitzer]

@steve schweitzer = amazing

Time to talk Dream 100 ... both customers AND staff

dm me. let's do a quick call

Dm sent thanks

 

[Ing]

I m fascinated about your success and business!

After the first half of your op I thought about some youtuber my son is fascinated about .
And than you wrote, what your wife said. I think you should follow your wife’s advice with a youtube channel. It works at some good ppl very well.
And veteran cars are predestined for that!

And don’t be afraid to give secrets away when showing your work on YouTube. When you don’t get good employees, they will not get good at looking at you doing it, too.

One example: GP Performance Europe
Second JPperformance. Look at yt!

There are several doin fine.