Question for you guys?

[mxbundy]

I have an idea I would like to run up the flag pole and get some honest feed back from you guys.
Well my wife has been unemployed since Nov. And she has been looking for a new job, with out much sucess. She was a business office manager for a couple of new car dealerships and they had a change of ownership and General managers, so to make the story short, she was sent packing after 11 years.
She has applied for a couple of positions that are open, but that is the problem, there is not alot of turn over for that position.
Well this got me to thinking about a business oportunity that came our way a couple of years ago. We were thinking of moving back to Fla. and a friend offered to sell us his small accessory shop.
We didnt make the move so we never bought the business.
So now I am thinking why not open one here? There are 2 bike shops in Corona, but they are pretty exspensive on there prices.
Corona is a good spot I think for this type of business, just about everybody going riding from Orange county passes right thru here on the way.
I have visited all the local shops and because I know what the dealer pricing is like on most things, it would be realitivly easy to beat them on price.Providing that I keep overhead low of course.
Plus what about internet sales? Do you guys think that this market is already flooded?
Is a web site exspensive to build and maintain? That may sound dumb, but I work construction so I dont have a clue.
I know that I will need a good business plan.
For this I will need to do some research. So how do you find out the thinks you need to know. Like how big the market is, how much your competetors sell, margins? Is there businesses that will help you with this?
But before I go to all that trouble, what do you guys think?
And tell me that it is a bad idea if that is how you feel. I know that it will be tough for someone with no retail business back ground to succeed, but I will work my but off to make this happen.

bundy

 

[Patman]

Have you priced a place to setup shop? Insurance? What about marketing costs? Which one of your wives is this? Are you going to take care of your buddy Patman? What kind of accessories? Are you going to offer installation? What kind of hours of operation? Have you considered carrying race gas? Maybe a carne asada stand on the side?

I guess the biggest question is this. Why not? If you think it will work in an area your familiar with I'd go for it!

 

[Jaybird]

Bundy, I too am a dumb ole construction type guy. Only thing keeping you from doing what you want to is will and time.

I'm gonna e-mail you this weekend.

 

[mxbundy]

Ah Patman,

These are the things I am gonna get the wife working on.
First would be rent on a small store front around 1500 sq ft should do. I realize that this would probably be tha single biggest cash outlay, so a compromise between cost of rent and location will have to be worked out. But I want to be as close to the freeway as possible.
Insurance, what type would you need for a retail business?
Strick, hook a brother up.
As far as what type of acc., well dirt of course! But would like to exspand as the need and cash flow allows to a full line of street stuff also.Harley type stuff is always in demand.
As far as ours, 10 to 7 on weekdays and for Sat. was thinking about a 6 am opening so that guys could stop in and get that last minute thing on the way out to go riding!
And of course, taking care of all my DRN brothers would be a priority! I have allready considered some things that maybe would strike some interest. Like a flat rate discount for all DRN members? But alot of things have and are being done allready by other places, so some creativity would be in order in this area.
As far as installation, I dont know,I was planing to contiue working, so I dont know on that one. But other people have said that mounting tires for the customers is a good thing.
Race gas, sure! Vp comes in those 5 gallon cans now, so it would be easy to have some on hand.
Marketing is the one thing that I need some advice on for sure. Because you will definatley need to get the word out.

Jaybird,

Bring it, I diffinetly want to here what you got to say.


bundy

 

[MrLuckey]

Originally posted by Jaybird
Only thing keeping you from doing what you want to is will and time.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with that but add 'guts' to the list. Not many people get rich or make dreams come true working for someone else. If you look at a lot of really successful folks with their own businesses, you'll see that they all took some risk when starting out. With you and your wifes personalities, you would have a head start on a lot of folks running similar shops too.

 

[Chili]

Well obviously I like every other member of the board would love to see another option for dirt accessories. I'd just like to share a conversation I had with the dealer we bought my son's KX from last season.

I was in the shop making the deal for my son's bike and was in no rush so I got to chit chat with this small town dealer as it was a slow day in the shop. A fella comes in and needs a part for his son's RM125, I can't recall what it was but the dealer quoted the person $11.95 the guy wiggles and shakes until the dealer sells it to him for $10.95. Right behind this customer is the next guy in line who needs an extravagant accessory for his Goldwing I think it was, dealer quotes him $750 and the guy says ok when can you have it here? After he finishes we start talking and he's telling me that people think he is getting rich off dirt bikes and kids and always want everything for nothing when he says in reality without the Goldwing and other cruiser guys he'd go broke.

I realize as I've progressed in this post it has gotten kind of negative. Don't let this scare you from doing your research in your market. My main reason was just to let you know not to get set into one market right away without at least an open mind for other markets that might make your business thrive. Best of Luck!

 

[JWW]

I cant really say much about the business side but the one thing I can talk about is customer thoughts.

1. Be open on Sundays. I always need parts on Sunday and can never find them.

2. Dont put a teenage know it all behind the counter.  They are always cursing back and forth with their buddies while customers are waiting.

3. I like the idea of a 6 am opening time.

4. I think of the best spots would on the 15 somewhere around the 10 or 60. Then you could pick alot more drive by traffic. I would think store fronts would be a little cheaper up here. They are building a new strip on the 15 freeway at Summit ave. It has alot of small stores. Not really a good spot for Elsinore bound people but perfect for Glen Helen, desert and mountains. Plus it would right around the corner from me. :)

5. Try and carry maps for the local ohv areas.

Good luck

Jeff

 

[Danman]

Before you sell fuel you might check into the regulations for city codes and state codes. Storage and such. Not sure there is any, but its something to keep in mind. It might also have a rising effect on insurance if you tell them you will be storeing flamables in the building (not sure about that).

Also, have you contacted any suppliers? Parts unlimited or Tucker Rocky. I don't think its all that much to get into. You might talk with any of the Reps for those in your area and ask about pricing and getting set up.

Would you sell new (like a dealership) or used bikes on consinment?

A strong business plan is an asset. Its a must if you plan on taking out a loan. Its very possible that you will not show a profit first year or longer on the business and that is proably going to be the hardest part. It can take deep pockets or loans to swing it. That is were the "guts" part comes in. Its deffinatly and up hill battle, but if you can climb the hill I sure the grass is greener on the other side.

I would start making a list of questions that need to be answered and things that need to be done now to help formulate the plan.

What ever you decide

Good Luck :yeehaw:

 

[bclapham]

hey Bundy, you might want to shoot [email protected] a line. he is also an LTSM on DRN and has gone from fixing bikes for friends to having a full service shop just north of LA on the I-5 (Slymar). Hes doing a great job up there btw! You can allways find him also changing tires and doing track support at Piru on the weekends.

my little few titbits if they are worth anything,

1. Be prepared to reduce the amount of time you ride (Brian doesnt get to ride much these days)

2. Dont have a downer on quads, they sell more than bikes, so that is where a very big customer base will be.

3. a stop off point on the I-15, maybe near a gas station or meeting point would be an excellent spot for a shop

good luck

Bruce

 

[JPIVEY]

Hi Bundy,

I found a lot of good E commerence type site when I was looking for mine, the start up and monthly fees are not bad and there is a lot of them out there.

As far as the internet market being flooded, I don't think that's a problem,as a matter of fact I think it's still a huge asset.

Any location North or South of the 91 on the 15 would be great and you could have store hours like Tues - Sunday, a lot of shops take Monday off because Sunday is a Hot day for riding.

And last but not least, have lots of KTM parts, be open at 4 am sunday mornings and have Lots of coffee.

 

[CAL]

I'm glad to see this post, Bundy!  I'm in the same boat as you, only I'm already taking steps.  We hope to have our retail business(auto. wheels & tires) open this summer.  I'm as green as you are and also coming from engineering/construction.  Our philosophy is to take small steps and not bite off more than we can chew at one time.  We're going to start smaller than we'd like to, and try to build off of that.  We're also basing alot of goals on 2 years time.  I've been told if your business can make the first 2 years, your good to go(to a point of course).  We're shooting to be out of debt within 2-5 years...just depends on the market and the economy.  I FIRMLY believe in the fact that will and determination can take you anywhere you are "willing" to go.  I may end up having to sell my bike, work 100 hour weeks, and live off Ramen noodles, but if that's what it takes in order for me to make a living in a field that I enjoy as a hobby, then I'm all for it!  I'm tired of making money for someone else.  I've always been told that in order to be truly happy with a career, to take something that you love doing for fun, and find a way to make money doing it.  Just make realistic goals, start small, and work hard!  Go for it!

I'm also wanting to find out more on e-commerce.  And off course DRN members will get discounts, and I hope to be a sponsor at some point in time.

Also: I had a friend who owned a salon supply wholesale business and then decided to buy out a local Suzuki dealership.  He lasted a year and gave it up.  He said he hated retail (no one wants to pay retail), and he went from riding 2 days a week, to one day a month.  But, imo, he started to big.  He immediately turned a mediocre(sp?) shop into a super nice facility.  He added close to $100,000 of new construction to the building before getting his customer base.  The shop looked great, but now there's no Suz. dealer.

Good luck! :thumb:

 

 

[CAL]

Originally posted by mxbundy
Like how big the market is, how much your competetors sell, margins? 

Talk with your distributors.  They can give you alot of information(not about specific competitors) but which products move.

Also, physically watch your competitors.  I drive by our closest comp. every day.  I've even gone in and picked up brochures of the products they carry, studied their shop layouts, and I watch their customer traffic on a daily basis.  I've also called local competitors as a "prospective customer" to check availability and service to the common customer.

Just some thoughts for research.

 

 

[mxbundy]

Wow,

Thanks for all the replys guys! All good points.
This will primarilly be for the wife,but believe me I have already thought about what a commitment this would be and what it would do to my riding time.
Also, if the wife does get a good job offer here pretty soon I might just quit my job and still go forward with this.
I have been busting my but for all my working live and it is starting to catch up with me. My trade requires me to crawl around all day and my knees are just about shot. They ache constantly and they have started to bother me when I ride. :think: Not good. Its a sad day when a work related injury is affecting my riding instead of the other way around. So that is part of the resoning behind this, I want to get out of what I am doing.


bundy

 

[yzguy15]

Originally posted by CAL
but if that's what it takes in order for me to make a living in a field that I enjoy as a hobby, then I'm all for it

Ahh, but don't they always say that when your hobby becomes your job (living, profession, whatever) it is no longer your hobby? My dad thought he wanted to work on cars all his life when he was young, and ended up hating it because of the retail end. I'm not saying you're gonna be the same, but I've just seen it firsthand. Just make sure this is something you REALLY want to do. Good Luck. :thumb:

 

[Timr]

Bundy,

I'm an advertising guy.  The thing that I see with most small buisinesses is that they are so strapped for cash that they don't budget anything at all for advertising and marketing.  I'll give you two examples:

1.  Julius Pleaser got a great deal on a helmet here in Birmingham.  He told my he got it from a shop called Alabama Motorsports.  I had never heard of this shop and I've lived here over 10 years.  He told me where it was, and it was off of the beat and path, but only about a mile from a major MC shop.  So, I go and check it out.  WOW! it's a family run accessory shop.  They have a pretty large inventory and will order anything that they don't have a prices competitive with mail order.  Cool.  So, I order some stuff and get to know the owners.  It's a family run biz with mom doing most of the office stuff, dad working in the service shop and the son helping out and racing lots of MX.  I asked them how long they've been in biz and they said almost 4 years.  I told them that I spent a lot on parts, and had never heard of them.  I asked them if they did any advertising.  NO, they can't afford it.  When I worked for a local radio station, I called on all of the local shops.  Only a couple of them advertise.  They get co-op advertising dollars from the major manufactureres, mostly Yamaha and Honda.  What the shop doesnt realize is that for relatively cheap, they could do a TV spot on the local cable company and have it inserted into MOTOworld.  Even if it was the only thing they could afford to do, it would be a big help.

2.  Same story, different buisiness.  Last Saturday, my wife and I went to a local New York style Pizza restaraunt.  It's a family restaraunt.  Pretty good pizza.  Located in a strip shopping center that doesn't face onto the main road.  They've been there about 3 years.  No one knows about them, and they do no advertising. 

Just remember to set aside as much as you can for advertising.  That doesn't mean that you need to flood the market or anything, but you need to take a targeted approach that will inform your potential customer base where you are.  And, you have to do it more that once.

Good luck.

 

 

[CAL]

Originally posted by yzguy15


Ahh, but don't they always say that when your hobby becomes your job (living, profession, whatever) it is no longer your hobby? My dad thought he wanted to work on cars all his life when he was young, and ended up hating it because of the retail end. I'm not saying you're gonna be the same, but I've just seen it firsthand. Just make sure this is something you REALLY want to do. Good Luck. :thumb:

That has been in the back of my mind.  But I was raised around muscle cars and have been into customizing vehicles all my life.  It's burned too deep for me to become disinterested in it. :)   I get giddy just thinking about waking up in the morning in order to go to my shop and mount up some 20" wheels or slap on a 6" lift kit for someone. <--as weird as that seems. :silly:

 

 

[mxbundy]

Timr,

I have thought about this.
I want to advertise in the local mx and District news letters.
Some friends have told me that you can become a "sponser" of the local races and have your logo on the flyers for cheap.
Maybe cycle news?
Cycle trader?

bundy

 

[Okiewan]

Bottom line.

The ONLY way to be successful in a venture like this is to sit down and look at what you have. All those years of work have netted a lot of stuff. How important is that stuff to you? Or as mentioned, how important is your riding time?

Point? As Mr. Walton said, you can't be successful unless you are willing to risk it all. How bad do you want to do this? It's about mindset, ie; go big or don't go.

I had to go thru this very thing. I walked away from a regional sales position in which I was pretty successful. Yes, I thought my BMW company car was important at the time. I wanted to do my own thing and was willing to risk it. As importantly, Scooter was fully behind me. 12 hours a day and 7 years later, I'm still here. The income has never been replaced actually, we living on less than before (yes, we make less than we did 7 years ago!), but... and this is a big one, we're happier. Be prepared for ups and downs in your business; make absolutely sure to keep your eye on the target.

Doing your own thing is great in some and not so great in others. Best thing is that every time you "make a sale", you know it's a direct result of YOU doing something right. There's a level of satisfaction that can't be achieved when you are working for someone else. On the other hand, when you screw-up, there's no one else to blame, lol!

Again: It's about mindset, ie; go big or don't go.

 

[Chili]

One other thing I wanted to mention is the tire mounting/flipping that I saw mentioned in others posts. The local KTM dealer here has a trackside support truck at all the races, he charges $20 to mount/flip tires or $10 if the tires were purchased from him. Either way he is busy mounting/flipping tires most of the evening Saturday before the races for the early campers and all day Sunday. The attitude of the other dealers trackside guys is they can have the money as that's the last thing they want to do all day is mount tires. The difference? The KTM dealer is a mom and pop shop the others trackside guys are dealership employee's. At $10-20 a pop it has to add up to a decent amount of coin for the weekend. Race sponsorship here gets you some exposure but I think having a decently stocked trackside service vehicle is also a huge attraction.

 

[Ol'89r]

Bundy.

Go for it! :thumb: I need a good place around here to get my tires changed. :laugh:

My only advice would be to stay out of the city of Corona. Look for a shop just outside of the city limits in the Riverside county area. The city of Corona is very greedy. You will have people from the city stopping by your shop on a regular basis with their hands out. Permits, fees, fines, etc, etc.

My brother-in-law has a shop in Corona and he goes through all kinds of crap dealing with these people. My little shop is just outside of the city limits and I don't have to deal with any of this. Rent is a lot less out of the city also. Corona is running out of commercial space and that has made the rent pretty high in this area.

Owning your own business is not easy. You will spend a lot more time making a lot less money than if you just went to a nine to five job. But, your future is up to you, not someone else. If you want to make more money, you just make more time.

Good luck and let me know where you wind up. I gotta whole bunch of tires I need changin'. :thumb:

Ol'89r

 

[XRpredator]

All I can say is, anyone who opens up a business (or drops everything to start the best dirt bike site on the web ;)) has got balls. Big ones, at that. My hat is off to you :worship: all of you.

Now, excuse me while I go back to being a wage slave for the man . . . :confused:

 

[CAL]

This is probably the most relevant thread to me personally.  Alot of invaluable information here, and at the perfect time(for me anyway).  You guys are getting me pumped up!  Thanks for starting the thread, Bundy.  And thanks for the tips and info.  It's good to hear from some experienced business owners.  Even though most of the points are for Bundy and relating to DB accessories/service, they apply to me as well.

 

 

[mhardee]

Originally posted by XRpredator
All I can say is, anyone who opens up a business (or drops everything to start the best dirt bike site on the web ;)) has got balls. 

I'd like to add one more "teeny" bit to the equation.. I started my business 14 years ago and have been very sucessful until the last year or so. Business (along with the economy) is declining. We are basically a service shop and the service we sell is being replaced (somewhat) by software. It STILL takes a brain in front of the keyboard to do it, and that's what vendors eventually learn - whether or not it's too late - remains to be seen.. The "moral" is it is a BIG risk.. be willing to lose it all...

One other LARGE thing - if there's ANYWAY POSSIBLE.. do it alone withOUT partners... I made that mistake.. I have one that knows not a iota more today than he did 14 years ago, leaves everyday at 5:00 on the dot and because of the way we (stupidly) setup the corporation (50%-50%), he gets paid the same exact thing as I do working 12-20 hours a day..

Partners and Fish BOTH smell in three days.....

Mark

 

[Okiewan]

If you do have a partner, just make sure the percentage is right so you can buy them out whenever you feel the need. Make sure you always have controlling interest. Make it impossible for anyone to have, or a couple of other people to have a larger percentage than you, even if they join forces.

 

[zio]

I think entrepreneurship is a great thing, one that can't be measured just by "will I succeed or fail". It's entrepreneurs that have made this country so great. Even the ones that fail. Those folks who have tried at least appreciate what it took for the ones who succeeded. And they're much better for it. Case in point- those brats (age 5-50) who piss and moan over a shop's price most likely haven't experienced the stress of not having enough $$$ in the bank Friday afternoon to cover the payroll checks that'll be cashed on Monday.

And I also don't think there's any sure-fire way to predict success or failure of a business venture. I'm scared to death of doing it myself. I have two very good business prospects (one is just doing what I currently do, but going out on my own), the other is an idea I have in a field that I know nothing about, but I think it could be incredibly lucritive. I feel for ya, brother.

On a different note, I have two suggestions to throw into the pot:

1) do tire changes for free, for tires purchased in your shop. It's small gimmicks like that that'll make folks think twice about going to another shop instead of yours. Some guy says (gee, XYZ Cycles has those Tech 8's for $20 less than Bundy's, but I need a new rear bad and his price on tires is the same, but he'll mount it for free....) I dunno, it's like odd-pricing, it's a mind trick, like saying "you too can have this amazing Ginzu spoon for only 20 easy payments of $0.99!!!"

2) It's very irritating when car dealers won't tell you up front how much they're marking the vehicle up. The law says they have to furnish the shipping invoice upon request, which shows the actual price the dealer paid for the car- not MSRP. Most industry experts say $1-2k is a very fair profit for a dealer, considering overhead, advertising, etc. This doesn't include manufacturer incentives paid to the dealer for volume, etc. I'm not saying you should advertise your cost on every item in stock, but maybe at least advertise MSRP. I hate not knowing if the price marked on a tool or pair of goggles is fair when I'm ready to impulse-buy. I try to picture the ad I read in RacerX for the cool MotoGizmoTron, and when I can't remember what they said MSRP was, it drives me nuts.

Anyhoo, good luck with your fact-finding & decision making. :thumb: