At a crossroad...

[b_faulk75]

Updated 3/13/17 I'm gonna bring this post back from the dead!  I will be opening my full time, family feeding, tinting business in May. Faulk's Custom Tint LLC has been organized and recognized. Gave a generous two month notice at my job to give the dealer time to find a sucker to replace me, lol. The stress of being a service manager was just not worth it anymore. Not to mention the fact that my side business is booming. The time has Finally Come!

 

Just wanted to share my excitement!

 

 

Original post:Long story short, i started tinting back in 04 using some video's i got off line to give me the basics, bought some film and tools and tinted for friends and relatives for about 6 months, then in 05 i took a leap of faith and opened a shop. I am a mechanic by trade so i did a little of this and that to get by at first but eventually tint became my primary business, wheels,tires and accessories second and turning a wrench became far a few between. over the course of 3 and a 1/2 years i built a great business with a good reputation and became very good at tinting. I have tinted in the thousands, old to new, hard and easy. Unfortunatly the location i was leasing came up for sale and at the time i wasnt able to make the purchase so i had to move. I located a less than ideal shop that would work, rented it, spent alot of money building an office and waiting area, cleaning and painting the shop and putting in lighting. Then before i could officially open a freak flash flood came along and destroyed my office and most of the stuff i had stored in the shop from my previous shop. Frustaded and broke i ended up taking my old job back and service tech at a local new car dealership

 

I did fix up my home garage and have been staying steady with tint at home with little to no overhead except my mortgage. BUT

after a year at the dealership i was promoted to service manager and have been since 2009. I feel like i have a good job now and it's nice to have a paycheck however my job is super stressfull and most days i hate it. I miss tinting full time and i have an excellent reputation. I could easily make it full time just doing window tint and that would be my only service IF i were ever to go back to a full time small business. Don't really know what to do, i recently became a parent and have a family to support. Common sense tells me to stay at my job where i have some forms of security but my heart tells me i should be looking for a location and going back to tinting full time.

 

Sorry for the long post, i just don't know what to think right now. I mean i wouldnt be quiting my job tomorrow or anything but everyday i go to work and come home miserable. Then i go in my garage to tint and make more money in 2 or 3 hours than i made all day at work and think hmmm, maybe i got this all wrong, i should be prepping for my next biz. Would you guys/gals leave a decent job to go full time as a tinter/biz owner... P.s i am in an area where my only competition does poor qaulity work and or the customer has to travel 80 plus miles to get a real tint job if i dont do it...

[TintWizard]

That suckks man. Sorry about your luck. I have you ask ..what's the crossroad? It looks like you chose a path from reading your post .

[hungry&fat]

Agreed. DO what you have to so that you can provide for yourself and your family if you have one. Pick a new goal and get to work.

[b_faulk75]

Well i guess i have kinda chose my path but i just needed a little encouragement. I am a bit apprehensive about going back on my own right now with all the obamacare crazyness and political crap going on, kinda scary. Also i have not one baby but twins so i have alot of people depending on me. Thanks for the replies. I stopped coming on this forum for a while but i have been back lurking and am glad to see the forum is still going strong.

[b_faulk75]

Other thing that freaked me out is i found out i have diverticulitus a few months ago, i am only 38 but this put me out of commisiion for like a month, that would have bankrupted me if i were still in business. That keeps lingering in my head too...

,

[TintWizard]

How about keeping with the job you have but doing some mobile tint work out of another shop or 2 as an independent subcontractor that has all the overhead and headaches ? That's actually how I built my business yrs ago

[whitehog]

Good advice TW.

[hungry&fat]

I got started the same way as TW. Had my full time career and tinted on the side for "hobby" money. Eventually the side work consumed more time and made more profit than my full time gig. Decision was made to switch to installing full time. However I think working 9-5 with a side job of installing is a great way to stay in the industry.

[TintWizard]

I should clarify. I always did tinting full time , what i meant was , when I moved back to my area many yes ago, that's how I did it to become full time using my own name . I figured I could make it on 2 days a week with my own business ( which isn't enough ) and sub contract myself to 3 different shops using thier overhead and name but promoting myself each shop 1 day a week. As I needed the extra day for myself, I would cut ties with the weakest revenue shop but not burn bridges and have them just refer customers and give them a kickback. Now that I'm at 3 days myself and 2 to other shops , I simply repeat the equation only when I build into it so eventually, I'm working full time on my own ( from home) , I have 3 shops that send me work ( that I give a kickback to at great physical locations now pushing my name yet I get to work from home. Eventually no kickbacks because your own name supports yourself but if you are of good character and take care if those shops that helped you in the beginning , no enemies created.

Not a theory but I actually built my full time business this way.

[WearTheFoxHat]

Have a look at Dave Ramseys Full Money Makeover and Entre Leadership books courses.

Or before you commit to any new direction at least listen to his radio show for a while to get a feel for his ideas

 

http://www.daveramsey.com/home/