New Business Venture - Auto Repair Shop

Good plan.

Thanks for all the positive encouragement guys. It's scary as hell jumping off the cliff, wondering if you're going to land safely or land in disaster. I have a family to support and the success is what drives me, the failure is what scares me to death.

Sounds pretty exciting, keep us updated with your ventures and I wish you the best of luck. If you have any tax related questions, please feel free to reach out, email or post here!

In reply to Enyar:

Awesome! Thanks man, I have a feeling we will need an accountant. That's not my strong point at all. Don't know about Gabe. LOL

Looks like a really good day to own a body shop in Austin.

HAHAHA!!! That's what I hear. People in that town can't drive to save their lives. It's insane.

Conquest351 wrote: Thanks for all the positive encouragement guys. It's scary as hell jumping off the cliff, wondering if you're going to land safely or land in disaster. I have a family to support and the success is what drives me, the failure is what scares me to death.

You've got the support of your family, that's really important. As someone who's owned and run a couple of businesses I would suggest that while it's OK to be scared of failure, you'll have to be OK with allowing yourself to fail, otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy.

I don't mean setting yourself up for failure, more like "I'm starting this business, it's going to be a success but on the very small chance that it isn't going to be, I'm OK with taking that risk". My first business imploded pretty expensively (I was young, inexperienced and made a bunch of mistakes) and it took me a while to get back on my feet, but it was still worth it. And no, I didn't repeat those mistakes with the two businesses that followed them .

Be prepared to work for the most infuriating boss (yourself) and yes, you really, really want to get a good accountant.

A word of support.

My F-I-L worked for a "large meat packing company" (think opposite of slow) as a meat cutter for many years, making barely above minimum wage. (At times he worked three jobs) They did have good bennies, because they were unionized. He decided to go out on his own and did so slowly, working out a converted storage room in his house supplying a nursing home. The business grew, so he built a small building behind his house. He was very successful and he finally left the "large meat packing company" and went all out. He took all of their savings and mortgaged the house (without the M-I-L's knowledge) to build his first free-standing meat market. My M-I-L nearly freaked out, but he was offered a chance to sell the land he had just bought for a handsome profit. 30ish years later he died a wealthy man. He told me several times that he didn't know a lot (he only had a 7th grade education), but he knew the meat business. And he did. I guess the moral of the story is nothing ventured nothing gained. But nothing ventured nothing lost either. He once offered to build a store for my wife (his daughter) and me, but would never talk money. I passed because I'm just too damned cautious and I didn't want to throw away two college degress. Not the smartest thing I've ever done.