High Volume shop owners. Advice?

Ryker · December 8, 2014

I would say to you what an older guy told me years ago. He told me that employees are a hassle and that if I found that I had more work then to focus on the jobs I actually wanted more. If you have the volume of vehicles coming in and are booked out then raise prices. Keep it to where you are not really booked out very far.

As for having employees doing tinting in a volume shop and you getting to "sit back", I doubt you will find that very likely. Most tinters are either self employeed, want to make more than you would pay, or you probably don't really want them and could not trust them to be on their own.... sad fact of this business. Drug addicted messes are the more common from what is said!

Roach · December 9, 2014

Haha yes being in business is fun. Lots of different paths, none wrong just different. Im glad i decided to open shop, nothing like getting a referal from a very happy customer. I want to start slow, who knows maybe i wont like having to deal with multiple employees lol

It actually can be a lot of fun... or at least enjoyable and rewarding. Having happy customers - that's what it's all about. At the end of the day we're just putting plastic on glass, but what we do actually helps, be it on cars or homes. And for the most part, people see the benefit in having it done.

Not to mention you get to meet some very interesting people.... both good and bad. lol

Tint Wife · December 9, 2014

Sorry I have to disagree. Profit has nothing to do with volume. It understanding the cost of you doing business and making the needed profit

There's no right or wrong way to run a tint shop in respects to keeping it small or grow it large.

Pros and cons to each, it's about knowing yourself , your needs and what works for you. Focus on becoming successful and what the definition of successful means to you . When this is your focus , your business will grow to to the size that fits your definition of success.

Both Tinitman and TintWizard, have offered you very good advice... my advice heed their words.

I would be what you class as a high volume shop and I can honestly say that price has never been a factor, if anything I am well known for being more expensive, but I don't lack for custom. I don't advertise very often, but I refresh my shopfront signs every couple of years to remind people that I'm still here. Reputation is everything, but it takes time to build. Repeat custom and referral is probably the mainstay of my retail market and I have solid trade contracts to keep things flowing.

If I can offer you any advice as a new venture it would be this...... Don't become your own competition. What I mean by this, is price yourself where you want to sit in the market from the beginning. I'm not saying you can't increase your prices, just that the margins have to be reasonable enough for a repeat customer to find justifiable... in other words, if you cater for the McDonalds market today you'll find it hard to become a place of fine dining later :twocents

Tintmaster08 · December 9, 2014

Sorry I have to disagree. Profit has nothing to do with volume. It understanding the cost of you doing business and making the needed profit

There's no right or wrong way to run a tint shop in respects to keeping it small or grow it large.

Pros and cons to each, it's about knowing yourself , your needs and what works for you. Focus on becoming successful and what the definition of successful means to you . When this is your focus , your business will grow to to the size that fits your definition of success.

Both Tinitman and TintWizard, have offered you very good advice... my advice heed their words.
I would be what you class as a high volume shop and I can honestly say that price has never been a factor, if anything I am well known for being more expensive, but I don't lack for custom. I don't advertise very often, but I refresh my shopfront signs every couple of years to remind people that I'm still here. Reputation is everything, but it takes time to build. Repeat custom and referral is probably the mainstay of my retail market and I have solid trade contracts to keep things flowing.

If I can offer you any advice as a new venture it would be this...... Don't become your own competition. What I mean by this, is price yourself where you want to sit in the market from the beginning. I'm not saying you can't increase your prices, just that the margins have to be reasonable enough for a repeat customer to find justifiable... in other words, if you cater for the McDonalds market today you'll find it hard to become a place of fine dining later

x2

tintshoptx · December 10, 2014

You've gotten some very good advice here. I can tell you from owning a few shops in my years of tinting that high volume isn't all that it's cracked up to be!

I've owned shops that did 10-15 cars a day & a shop I own right now that does 5-6 cars a day during the busy months & 1-2 cars a day Dec/Jan. I am my only employee right now & I am much happier now than I ever was with the busy shop. The headaches of dealing with most window tinters as employees is a pain in the butt. Good ones need to be paid very well & your profit with doing the extra volume is only about 8-10 % to you. For me it wasn't worth all the extra work involved to only make that much more. That's just me.

Being happy is what's important to me now. I control what I take on a day, I know I don't have to look over my shoulder to see if the work is up to par & most important I don't have to worry about me stealing from myself.

That being said. . . take your time growing & best of luck!

TINT · December 28, 2014

You've gotten some very good advice here. I can tell you from owning a few shops in my years of tinting that high volume isn't all that it's cracked up to be!

I've owned shops that did 10-15 cars a day & a shop I own right now that does 5-6 cars a day during the busy months & 1-2 cars a day Dec/Jan. I am my only employee right now & I am much happier now than I ever was with the busy shop. The headaches of dealing with most window tinters as employees is a pain in the butt. Good ones need to be paid very well & your profit with doing the extra volume is only about 8-10 % to you. For me it wasn't worth all the extra work involved to only make that much more. That's just me.

Being happy is what's important to me now. I control what I take on a day, I know I don't have to look over my shoulder to see if the work is up to par & most important I don't have to worry about me stealing from myself.

That being said. . . take your time growing & best of luck!

Bingo