hi i live in elkhart indiana and hav tried several times to start up a weld shop been welding for 20 yrs, but i am more of a hands on person than a salesman, hav torches ,tweco mig,all the right tools not portable yet (had tried that too) hav a small garage set up! someone that wants to make some good money and would be trustworthy, I would seriously consider a partnership with. Must live close to elkhart indiana. @mail me at snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com god bless
In my opinion, partnerships are not very wise. You need to either learn the skills you need, higher somebody who already has those skills, or keep working for somebody else.
Who would be interested in purchasing your skills and services in the community you live? Is it an industrial/manufacturing community? A farming community? Who is your customer?
You may have to move to an area where there is a demand for the skills and services you offer or the type of welding you like to do.
From this you should have learned that running your own business is
80% marketing and 20% actually doing what you like to do and are qualified to do.
OK
Then you should hire a salesman but, what is this salesman going to sell, and whom is he going to sell it to? This is still your decision. Why would the saleman want to sell it? Why would the customer want to buy it?
OK
You need to quantify: How much "good money" per annum?
Do you have financial records to support your "good money" claim? What is your Current Ratio? What is your Quick Ratio? What is your Net Profit on Sales? What is your Collection Period? What is your Inventory Turnover? What is your Return on Investment? A partner worth having will want to know the answers to these.
Define criteria for "trustworthy". Person "A" is trustworthy. Person "B" is not trustworthy. How does one differentiate between person "A" and person "B" using YOUR criteria?
Define "partnership". What does "partner" bring to the business? Money? Talent? Time? What does a partner do?
Why would someone be interested in partnering with you? You have to sell yourself to a potential partner just like you have to sell yourself to a potential customer. The only difference is that customers come and go while a partner stays forever, just like in marriage.
You need to take a long, hard look at the above statement and why you made it. One does not tell a partner what to do, let alone tell them where to live. Are you sure that you yourself are partnership material?
Those are good points, but they don't warrant the problems associated with having a partner. You could achieve the same results from employing somebody with the skills that you are lacking.
If the OP absolutely must have a partner, make sure it's not a good friend, cause when it's all over, they won't be anymore.
Save yourself a huge amount of time and money. Check with your local community college and take one or more classes [most likely not for college credit -- magic words are "continuing education"] in starting and running your own business. After you have done this, see a good small business lawyer and set up a sub-chapter-s corporation to protect your personal assets from company liability in a no-tax state like Deleware.
Saddest comment I ever heard was about the bankrupt machinest "he made it in the shop, but he lost it in the ledger...."
im going to copy your reply to my ad, made me think ! thank you, i need some one as , bright as you! so bright in fact your words wer twice as bright as the welding flash, lol are you for hire on commision?thank you!
I haven't worked for somebody for so long, I know I couldn't stand to take orders. They might even expect me to work EVERY day.
It takes a certain type to be an enteprenuer. You have to spend a lot of your time on tasks you're not that good at / don't enjoy (in my case sales) and being self motivated is not for everybody.
I can't agree more with this...If you aren't interested in the marketing/sales end of running your own place, either contract someone who is (for a HIGH percentage) or kiss off the idea of ever working for yourself.
I'd say the 80/20 numbers are about right...except at start-up where it's more like 150 (more than an 8 hour day)/ 5 and the 5 is spent making marketing samples to show examples of your skills. Of those marketing efforts, 95+% of the time will be wasted on customers you later find to be low to nil potential. Business doesn't just wander in...you are against 200 other guys trying to do the same thing as you and you have to be BETTER than them at convincing potential customers to choose YOU...and choose you AGAIN.
Oh yea....add in a ton of labor time to cover the paperwork that goes along with owning a business. People like to dream of working for themselves but with rare exception, you spend most of you time doing office and sales jobs, not the more interesting work. It's quite a slap in the face to find out that you don't get to do what you actually thought you were doing by running your own place.
Think LONG and HARD as to whether you can stand the job of paper pusher and salesman before running your own business. If you hate that kind of thing, find someone else to work for or expect it to be a hobby business for a looooong time until (through quality work) you have enough of a reputation with enough people from simple wanderings and word of mouth to pay the bills. That day may never come.
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