Almost four years ago my uncle and I got laid off from a small local furniture store. We were collecting unemployment.
My uncle is in his 60's and has over 35 years of experience in repairing appliances. I remember sitting on the front porch of the apartment I lived in at the time reading some self-help book I can't remember the name of, waiting for my unemployment direct deposit to drop, when an idea struck.
"Let's repair and sell used appliance."
I put an ad in Craigslist that morning. "We buy nonworking appliances". I got a call from a guy who's Kenmore dryer wasn't heating.
I called my uncle and we went to this guys second floor condo, gave him 30 bucks and hauled it out with no dolly, just pure man power. We loaded it in the back of my uncle's green Dodge Caravan and took it to his house. He had all the tools we needed so we went to work.
About 30 minutes later he had it working again. I cleaned it up with some bleach water, took some pictures, posted it on Craigslist and later that day sold it for $140.
Profit!
We've been doing that ever since and now we have warranty repair contracts with Sears, LG, Amazon Home Services and a couple of other small insurance and moving companies. Our work mainly consists of repairs now but we still manage to sell some appliances out of our small shop here in town.
Although I'm happy with our progress I've had some lurking concerns for a while now.
1. Even though I've learned a lot about appliance repair from my uncle, it'll take a long while before I get to his level of expertise. He's not getting any younger and if something were to happen to either one of us, the business would crumble. It cannot work without either of us which also violates the commandment of time that @MJ DeMarco mentions in his book.
2. Lack of control. Since the majority of our work now comes from our contracts with Sears, LG, etc., that puts us at their mercy. If they decide to terminate our contracts we're back to square one. We don't have real control of our income in that aspect.
3. Scale. We can physically only service a small town here in Arkansas.
The good thing is there's definitely a need for affordable used appliances, especially given the price of buying new these days. The same goes for repairs. It's usually a lot cheaper to repair than to go out a purchase another appliance. So many people know nothing about appliance repair so there's a huge knowledge gap.
A few things that have crossed my mind to Fastlane this business:
1. Hire some people. Human resource seedlings as MJ calls them. Set up a business that can run without me. Only roadblock to that at the moment is money. We make enough for only the two of us.
2. Create a system that is franchisable. Wouldn't know where to start but I'm sure there are resources out there that I can learn from.
3. Create some kind of content system like "Start An Appliance Repair Business In Your Garage With Little To No Money Using Craigslist".
4. Start some kind of Craigslist-like site but specifically for appliances only.
I'd like to know what the community here thinks about all this. I'm open to any and all ideas.
My uncle is in his 60's and has over 35 years of experience in repairing appliances. I remember sitting on the front porch of the apartment I lived in at the time reading some self-help book I can't remember the name of, waiting for my unemployment direct deposit to drop, when an idea struck.
"Let's repair and sell used appliance."
I put an ad in Craigslist that morning. "We buy nonworking appliances". I got a call from a guy who's Kenmore dryer wasn't heating.
I called my uncle and we went to this guys second floor condo, gave him 30 bucks and hauled it out with no dolly, just pure man power. We loaded it in the back of my uncle's green Dodge Caravan and took it to his house. He had all the tools we needed so we went to work.
About 30 minutes later he had it working again. I cleaned it up with some bleach water, took some pictures, posted it on Craigslist and later that day sold it for $140.
Profit!
We've been doing that ever since and now we have warranty repair contracts with Sears, LG, Amazon Home Services and a couple of other small insurance and moving companies. Our work mainly consists of repairs now but we still manage to sell some appliances out of our small shop here in town.
Although I'm happy with our progress I've had some lurking concerns for a while now.
1. Even though I've learned a lot about appliance repair from my uncle, it'll take a long while before I get to his level of expertise. He's not getting any younger and if something were to happen to either one of us, the business would crumble. It cannot work without either of us which also violates the commandment of time that @MJ DeMarco mentions in his book.
2. Lack of control. Since the majority of our work now comes from our contracts with Sears, LG, etc., that puts us at their mercy. If they decide to terminate our contracts we're back to square one. We don't have real control of our income in that aspect.
3. Scale. We can physically only service a small town here in Arkansas.
The good thing is there's definitely a need for affordable used appliances, especially given the price of buying new these days. The same goes for repairs. It's usually a lot cheaper to repair than to go out a purchase another appliance. So many people know nothing about appliance repair so there's a huge knowledge gap.
A few things that have crossed my mind to Fastlane this business:
1. Hire some people. Human resource seedlings as MJ calls them. Set up a business that can run without me. Only roadblock to that at the moment is money. We make enough for only the two of us.
2. Create a system that is franchisable. Wouldn't know where to start but I'm sure there are resources out there that I can learn from.
3. Create some kind of content system like "Start An Appliance Repair Business In Your Garage With Little To No Money Using Craigslist".
4. Start some kind of Craigslist-like site but specifically for appliances only.
I'd like to know what the community here thinks about all this. I'm open to any and all ideas.
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