biz advice

hope this is the right place for this post. anyways, as of now im unemployed and want nothing more than to start my own business in tinting. luckily i still live at home and my rents offered all the help they can give, which basically is the cash id need and the support im gonna want. i have no idea whatsoever on what to do to start my own business and have cards, ad in yellow pages....the whole 9. i decided on a name that will appear in the "A" section od yellow pages, which i think is a good strategy. i have tons of friends that wanna make a website for me. which i feel is good to have. i figured if 2 tinters vans pulled up to a red light on all u see is the backs of them and one has a number the other a number and a website 9-10 times most people will wanna browse in the privacy of their own home, then make a call. i have the cash im gonna need. i told my rents it might be upwards of 6k, but i dont really know where to start from here. do i need insurance? do i need a liscence? do i need to get on the horn with a tint manufacturer ie: llumar, madico, etc and set up an account and get warranties covering glass breakage and the like? as far as supplies go i know the necessary tools and where to get them. and as far as tint, i plan to get some 36in rolls in neutral(maybe a 48in too since we used the neutral shade the most) and some in srs220 and 330 just in case i get some skylites. and if i need bronze for an order, i suppose i will order it then. im afraid im going to fail and be in debt, but i see the cash he made(atleast 80k) a year and i know im good enough to make that or more if i hustle. i dont want to be kicking myself in 10 years for not starting what i can now. i know i can do it, so does everyone i know. but i just dunno where to start. what are some first steps i need to take? thanks alot guys and gals

Yep..it's that easy, open up and the money falls in your lap.

Dude, you have alot to learn

deja vu

need I start my ranting and raving now or save it for a better one?

i've been doing tinting for 3 years now,before i was just doing it for friends etc. and still working in an engineering factory earning some pocket money but i was so fed up at my job i decided i would go and get properly trained to tint and give it a go full time.....

i done the training then decided to stay at my engineering job while i became a bit better,but to be honest, i got used to having the security of a full time job and having a decent amount of spare cash every week because of my tinting....

but then they made me redundant, they said there was a downturn in work!!! the real reason was i wasn't doing overtime for them as i could earn 10 times what they paid me for tinting one car!!! ( i wasnt charging much for a car! they just paid very low overtime rates!!)....

so i decided to go full time, it's hard! very hard but at the end of the day i'm my own boss,i'm earning a good wage (but not great) and i'm doing something that i like (most of the time,damn bmw owners!)

there is soooooo much stress running your own business,especially dealing with annoying customers who want the best tint job ever and want it for practically nothing!! people dont know what we (tinters) have to put up with on a daily basis, believe me it's not good,i wouldnt change what i've done, just not sure it's what i want to do for the rest of my life??? but if i could do it for the rest of my life then i'd probaly would!

just don't think you'll wake up one day,become a tinter and earn major £££ sorry $$$$ it just doesn't happen! and in the beginning you'll have all these number's written down of how much you think you'll be able to earn in your first year and so on... from experience half that then half that again and thats a more realistic figure!!

good luck if this is the path you want to follow but please dont take it blind there is too much things in this business you need to keep your eyes wide open to see!!!

if you want to know what the first step is......get trained or start practising.

thats my two pence/cents for today.

Yet another shop opens only to close

Man, you REALLY need to do some more research. Like it has been said before, being in business for yourself is HARD in the begining. You have a lot of things that needs to be decided. like are you going to have a storefront, be mobile, auto, residental, both, all these things require something different. And if you have a storefront, 6K isn't going to get you very far!!!

Out of that 80k did you deduct for,phone,rent,advertising,materials,insurance,payroll,etc?

i see all those years of experience have made most of u forget that u were once in a position like mine. looking for information, help and advice to get to where u are today. im not expecting 80k to fall into my lap, thats absurd. i see the potential in tinting and the many years of experience my boss had that led him to that spot. thanks for the useless comments, especially from a moderator for this website. im ready for this challege to live outta the work van if need be, to throw all my effort to this. i was expecting advice here, i suppose im in the wrong place. thanks anyway.

You are ready for a real challenge. The tinting is the easy part if you have that experience. There is no way any of us can give you a business plan i na couple of posts. We can barely give you a couple pointers without taking up a page. if you have been watching him this close you should have things laid out already. You will not find much useless info here. You can take things how you will. But running your own shop, living out of your van if you will, is alot more then that. Find the post just like yours SouthFl Tinter made a day or two before. Then do some real research on this field and others on the internet if you want to learn how to run a business online. Try "small business plans" and stuff like that. The ideas you get on here, run with them. Think "outside the box" . Everything you do, someone somewhere has tried. Do something new. You don't get very far thinking in the same rutt everyone else has. Make it new, make it different. Think like Einstein

And don't disgrace the experience the guys here have gotten over the past 25 years

Plus you're a newbie and wanting advice on becoming a potential hack shop

not disgracing anyones credibility, but i wasnt looking for condescending bs either. i have alotta respect for anyone with their own biz and the company i worked for. i learned alot. i watched everything he did. as far as a hacker, hardly. i may be green but i was his helper which means i was his cleaner and he didnt let @#$% go by. i cleaned, he tinted. and we got work done fast. its when wed be doing a 5k house job and id be tinting 25% of the house and cleaning most the windows before and after....and cleaning up the ladders and drop cloths and @#$% that i realized i could do all this by myself. the advice i meant i was looking for was what things do i need (legality wise) to have a business in the yellow pages. do i start as DBA or do i get INC? he and all his friends were as i remember. do things need to be filed with BBB or with my local town hall? these are the things i was looking for. once i get said business permits, then im on my own and i think i have the brains to make it work. and make 80k appear outta my ass

"condescending bs"? Rich gave you some good advice, why throw it in his face when you are asking for help?

I honestly don't think you will benifit from this site if your reaction to good advice is to call it "condescending bs".

You wont get better advice than what you have recieved, and after that comment, i doubt anyone will be willing to help you any further.

this is so retarted, i was talking about all that was first said to my original post. not what he said just recently, which was more what i was expecting and was pleased to read it. jeez. cant @#$% win here.

TD is right. But I will give you a couple extra tips and send you on your happy ass.

Get a Fed tax ID number in a business name

Get a state tax ID number

Create a business and accounts

Get a business license

Don't bother with Inc. yet

GET INSURANCE general liabilty at least

Get @#$%ed and find somewhere else to get info. I am sick of newbies coming here for a business plan. This site is for information. Not a lifeline to turning yourself around. I officially started my business when I was 17 years old, so it can't be that hard. Work your ass off and make quality your top priority. When you are done with hammering users on here, come back and tell us we were right word for word. I don't flame newb's unless they make ignorant statements about 80K being "easy" . And even after that I have given you tips. Consider it advice and go work on making your business what you want it to be. What you have seen here is the easy part in your "dreamtintworld"

I'm done. I wish I had the "this thread suck" icon I think Blade or eclispe posted a day or two ago

I just read the entire post, i don't see anything derogatory, inflammatory, condescending, or "retarded".

I do believe the problem lies within yourself.

Please do us a favor, re-evaluate you motivations for being here, what you hope to accomplish, and try to empathize with those who have attempted to help you.

oh and you need the spell check IE add-on. "retarted" is spelled retarded

Perhaps before your "rents" shell out 6k to see you fall flat on your face, you could show them this site and let them realize their pride and joy is about to bite off more than he can chew.....NAH, it would probably do you good to fall flat on your face and go crawling back to your "rents".

thats great, i appreciate that. and richat22, thank u for that list u gave. i wasnt sure about the insurance. this is all i wanted from the start. god forbid anyone asks for a step in the right direction. but when people disrespect what i say at first. "u got a lot to learn" "should i start ranting now" wtf is that. u dont know me, and already frm the very first post ur lookin at me like a fool when all i wanted was general advice on how to get this off the ground. ok so noone was indirectly condesceding but some blew me off like an idiot and thats what i didnt appreciate and nobody would. and the u just gave me was real good. im glad u all want me to fall on my ass and fail. good grief.

I'm still blowing you off like an idiot. I just gave a couple of tips and general advice before I finished with this thread

Later....It's bedtime. I have to work tomm.

what we take offence to, spaceghost... is your asking to be spoon fed.

"Hi. I want to do what you do. Tell me exactly how you did it, please?"

we had to figure a lot of stuff out. "impress upon us" your dedication first by letting us know what you've figured out yourself to date, and we'll try to help you from there. show a man a fish and he eats for a day... teach him to fish and he eats for... you know... learn to gather info.

this is a great site. hang in there, and maybe you won't fall on your face.

You really want some good advice?

First thing you do is walk into an accountant's office and have them spoon feed you on what needs to be done before you even pick up a box of film.

All these questions you are asking is best answered by them, not us.

first of all, as if anyone cares, i wasnt going to come to this site again for anything. but i spoke with a person on this site that was very nice and i appreciated the convo. as far what u said susquenasolar said(and thanks for asking) , heres what i know and have come to know. i worked with a guy with his own business hes had for over 15 years. i started as a helper and eventually after watching, practice and many questions i finally was able to do back windows in one piece on my own, and side doors with ease. i tint at a stereo store and do whatever i can and enjoy a good challege with cars ive never done. all i wanted to know, after arguments, is just basically how to file to get a business liscense(if at all), insurance and where to file. thats it. thats my commitment to tinting. i didnt go to college, this is my future, this is all i have. and i think im pretty good. especially when i see people who have been tinting for alot longer than me and they still 2 or even 3 piece a back window. of course some still need to be done in 2 (i know i had trouble with the new corvette and the vw bugs are a pain.) as far as spoon fed anything, i dont need to be spoon fed anything. i asked for a few simple tips to get a business of my own off the ground. so tinitman, $%#@ off. i dont appreciate comments like that. because thats all ive been getting. and im sure the parade of more comments will just continue. either way ill still want to be a tinter and ill do it regardless of what a few people on a message board think about me.

Why? Because it wasn't what you WANTED to hear? It's damned good advice if you ask me.

If you think dealing with this forum is tough, be prepared to deal with MUCH bigger problems with clients. They have NO mercy, and you will be dealing with them in person.

Lighten up, this forum can really help you. You might want to adjust your attitude. These folks pick on everyone at first. Show some respect to those that have paid their dues.



This will not help you get very good advice.

u clowns are too much

Quit Whining already.

this guy is surrounded by a wealth of information and experience. and has the balls to tell us to $%#@ off? dude, you have no idea the kind of information you can acquire here. FOR FREE. if you had half a brain, you'd stick around, take your lumps, and learn some very valuable information.

would you PLEASE come back here in one year and let us know how you're doing with your biz?

spaceghost is now spacegoat. as in occupying his member in a goat's space . I hate :asshat

And let me add if you have to come here for tips on getting your business STARTED you have alot to learn. This site is for furthering your knowledge and sharing. If you can't get things going alone, you will never last. Not saying there isn't good advice start to finish, but you need to put your ducks in a row before trashing others that spent half their life making their business their life and livelyhood

Not always true. A few years back I was in the same situation on wanting to start a business. I did have business experience to fall back on but then I found this site & was a lurker for a good while.

I figured who better to learn from than people who do this for a living.

Ghostboy should have read a few threads & he would have gotten most of his answers, that is a fact, but I surely don't mind helping a newbie out if they want to do this the right way. I've always said the information I've gotten from this site is worth more than I could ever afford to pay, but I came here daily for over a year before I ever posted because I didn't think I had any info. to share that someone else didn't already know.

If a newbie would investigate this site a little bit before asking for all of our knowledge at once in one post then they could end up being one of the better tint shops in town. I would much rather be in real competition w/ another shop who had our info. than I would a hack shop next door.

Just my 2cents worth

GOOD POST!!!... ...except for the lurking part..

i agree w/ tintgod