Start Up Capital

To all business owners (tinting) who have gotten their own shop....how much did you all invest at the beginning? Please include inventory, signage, advertising, tools, etc....

I started mine with about 10k and was wondering is that in the ballpark.

Thanks in advance!!!!!

I started mine with nothing


...and I still have most of it

Bought one roll of film and stole some tools. 10 Grand, I would have missed out on all of the bologna sandwiches, no cheese.

Are you mobile?

I started out at about a grand... I only do flat glass, and my office is in my house.

I wish I had more - I think I would be further along then I am currently, but I'm getting there... slowly but surely. One thing I wanted to do with the business is not operate in the red. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to stick with that 100%, but in about another month I should be out of the hole that I got into over this past winter. (Bills kept coming even though jobs weren't - go figure that one! LOL)




RoAcH

No......... I have a small shop and a film tool company

both are pretty new
I started the shop with the fixtures and tools I had,
and some promo film and partial rolls

and some grass-roots marketing

the tool biz has been a long road for several years
from design to prototypes to patent to marketing and production
it is just now starting to blow up

I started my business with $500 in 1985 tinting out of my house and 6 months later got my first shop with a door laying on 2 file cabinets for a desk

One thing alot of people overlook is how much money they have put back to live on , a new business venture does not become profitable over night no matter how much start up capital you have.rather then put alot of money out in the begging I kept most of my money to live on an did not take any money out of the company for while I just put all the earnigs back into the company

No matter what level you come in, that is sound advice from a veteran right there! I did the same thing

Started with my last paycheck from the job I had just quit.
That was 8 years ago yesterday.

I feel the same sometimes.

The more we make the more we owe.

That was my biggest mistake... not putting enough back into the business. I should have put 90% back and just kept what I needed, but my thinking was off and didn't figure that out until this past fall.


RoAcH

i started up with about 30k and our shop was bare. within the first year we put almost 100% back into the bus. and we ended up spending another 100k within the first year. about 30k was towards advertising. you do everything right and dont skimp on the important things like advertising and you will never have to worry about the amount of jobs you will have.

All the above can be true. It is going to vary on what you are trying to do and where you are trying to go.

For those who start with cash - How much went where? Inventory, Office, Marketing, Insurance? Did you start with flat glass, automotive, both? I've had other businesses- now film, but I can see marketing is the life or death of any business. I'll dump 20k into marketing this year. Got about $1000.00 in tools. Home office for now. Small inventory, I order when I have deposit for jobs. Just did 60,000 coupon mailer for $1,700.00 We'll see how it goes? Only doing flat glass don't need a store front. Will sub for now maybe hire later.

What coupon mailer did u use?? Can you keep us posted? I've looked into doing this... called a handful of other shops who use it to see what there response was. Most people said it paid for itself, but that's about it. Now, I have no idea what kind of area they covered... and who knows how many customers they got from word of mouth from those who did respond...

I don't think I'll do it this year, but next year I plan to give it a go.


RoAcH

I used Pakmail. Seems that most people I talk to will open them and at least look. I'm on the coast -south. They cost about 2.9 cents to mail. Hell, I can't touch that doing it myself. I'll let you know if I loose my as@ or not. If so it will be a smaller bite then if I did it myself. Also I'm running TV spots at the same time. That doesn't cost much more - $500.00 for the month. I pick where and when it shows - 30 second spots with them doing the production of the spot included! That the one I will watch like a hawk!! We'll see. Gotta be to win!!