I have some business related questions, opinions and comments wanted!

Hey... the weirder the better in my opinion. I like working on oddball stuff.

 

1. Build a traditional rod and use it to showcase your work.

2. Drive it to traditional rod gatherings/shows/meets....put a sign in the seat, put some lettering on the door....put some cards/brochures in a little dispenser.

3. Enjoy

 

Thanks for all this input guys... maybe I'm having my mid life crisis at 33

I think I should just suck it up and go work on the 57 chevy thats about 20 feet away from me right now... the grass isn't always greener.

Once I learn the ropes around here more, I will look into some promotion of myself on this site. Maybe do the HAMB benefit auction like someone said to gain some more exposure in the traditional scene and on the site. Didn't wanna be the new guy coming on the site blabbing about my business right off the bat...

 

Most of the cars I build are muscle cars. Do I like it? NO! I throw up in my mouth a little every time another camaro, mustang, or nova comes in the door. BUT, they pay the bills so I can spend my free time working on what I do like. In an ideal work we would all do what we love and get paid for it, but this world is not ideal. And unfortunately the muscle car and street rod guys are the guys that pay most of the bills. Most hot rod guys will do as much themselves as possible! I've been looking at sewing machines just so I can do my upholstery in my cars. Will it be as good as yours. No, not even close. We saw your booth at pistons this weekend, really good work! But the more cars I have, the more I will do and get better! This is the problem, the work is always going to be limited to those who either have cash and no time, or time and no want to do it themselves.

 

That was the plan. I bought my wife a 1958 English Ford I was gonna built into a traditional styled car. The project drug on for 5 years, it was taking up space in my shop that I needed for customers cars, so it had to go.

I don't know about others, but when you work on cars 8-10 hours a day, the last thing I wanna do is stay a couple more hours and work on my own, or go back on saturday and work on it.

 

That's hillarious.

 

Was it you I talked to about sewing machine? Someone asked me about a good commercial machine for a beginner, and I probably blabbed on for about 15 minutes about sewing machines... I can talk sewing machines for awhile, a lot longer than most people would stay interested.

 

DUDE... you took the gross words out of my mouth. I had a string of like 3 camaros back to back a couple years ago, UGH. I have no interest in muscle cars or street machines or pro touring cars, or whatever you wanna call em.

 

No, wasnt me. I have a couple of friends that do upholstery and they have given me the lowdown. But, I understand the blabber. I can put people to sleep talking shop!

 

Be very careful in how you handle this. Most shops of any kind today would just like to have some business to pay the bills, to hell with being choosy about what you do. Maybe that's why they call it work. If you are interdependently wealthy then do what ever you want, but for me and I own my own shop (Hot Rods and Classics) I have to do work that doesn't always turn me on just to pay the bills so that I can do some jobs that I really like. Now tell me you never fucked an ugly girl, same difference. Good luck!

 

In this economy stick with what puts food on the table. and try not to jeprodize anything that would affect that

 

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Open up a second shop, call it an anex or diferent name that you can refer and send work to for lesser cost high quality work. Word will get out and you will have the best of both worlds and $$$. ( I have also seen two differant businesses in the same shop)

 

The biggest thing you must consider is to have a steady cash flow at as large amount as possible unless you have substantial money in the bank or some other reserve like a financial backer.

When I was an outside salesperson for a large engine parts warehouse in the northeast one of our customers had an auto parts with a machine shop in Orange County NY. The owner always complained about having to hustle each month to cover his parts supplier which meant collecting from his customers and running delivery trucks, keeping drivers and counter people etc. Well I paid a business call one day and he had gotten rid of the parts but instead of it being better he honestly admitted he screwed up because he killed his cash flow. The bills and overhead are steady so you need to have a steady cash flow because making big sales in spurts (unless they are HUGE big sales) can wear you down and make your supplier wary.

If you want to push into the vintage & traditional market do so and if you start to make inroads let that become a larger part of your business and if your are doing stuff you do not like at $XX.00 then charge the same on the hot rod stuff.

 

snapper beat me to it. Exactly what I was thinking. The shop has to be advertised as owned by you though. Your reputation standing behind the work even though a different crew performs it.

Advertise it emphasizing quality workmanship for the rodder/restorer that does not require a high judging point restoration.

 

It won't be a different crew. My current "crew" is just my wife and I. At one point my shop was 5 employees, then I realized for me, smaller is better. I wanted to personally do the work. Not manage other people doing the work. It's hard to put your name on something, and be proud of it, when you are telling someone else to do the work.

 

Ever used elephant? We did on a 67 camaro. Weird stuff. Weirder owner.

 

I worked in the garage business for years and my brother is an upholsterer. So I have some idea of being in business.

Is it possible the traditional work you like trailed off because of cost? And if you turned your back on the high end stuff you would either not have enough work to make a living, or have to work a lot cheaper and lower your income? Something to think about.

There is an age old way to steer the business the way you want. Advertise, as you already do, for the kind of business you want. Price the kind you don't want so high, you drive away most of it. Then when you are forced to do a job you don't like at least you make a lot of money.

Price the jobs you do want on the low side. Like I said before this is a good way to cut your throat but if you have the misfortune to be an artist what else can you do?

One good thing is auto upholsterers are always in short supply. Furniture upholsterers don't want the work because it is too hard, and everyone else thinks upholstery is harder to do than it is.

 

Yep. Have some elephant hanging in the shop, used it on a number of cycle seats. Plenty of shark, gator and crock, ostrich, snake, stingray...

 

Interesting. From a business stance I would keep doing what you are known for, as good or better then you do now. Add to you business by featuring a few traditional jobs that highlight your wanted direction. If it works great but at least you Might influence others.

 

Elephant was our weirdest. We didn't do a lot of high end street rod type cars though. We did a 36 cabriolet in brown distressed leather. Nicest car I ever worked on.

 

What they all say The top priority in this industry which is sorely lacking...be honest with your customers. I've always done that and it pays dividends.

I'm probaly one of the few pinstripers who has figured out how to monetize my passion, lives in the boonies, not so cal or the big city and I do fine. I haven't had a job since 1978 and don't do dealers like many stripers do because I won't whore myself out.

As with any business venture you will want to crawl ina hole and hide but you gotta stick it out if you don't want to end up like the 99% who never try. I went through the struggles and could have quit many times but I kept bangin' away. I went for the private car owners, passin gout cards and I've been going to car shows since 1980 which will be one of your best marketing strategies. The persistence has paid off. They come to me and pay my price without question.

I'm not rich, but I have a fun job where people let me draw designs on their pride and joy and pay me well. You will get there too but only if you like what you do and are willing to put up with the BS.

 

What they all say. The top priority in this industry, which is sorely lacking...be honest with your customers. I've always done that and it pays dividends.

I'm probaly one of the few pinstripers who has figured out how to monetize my passion, lives in the boonies, not So Cal or the big city and I do fine. I haven't had a job since 1978 and don't do dealers like many stripers because I won't whore myself out.

As with any business venture you will want to crawl in a hole and hide for all the hardships but you gotta stick it out if you don't want to end up like the 99% who never try or give up on their dreams. I went through the struggles and could have quit many times but I kept bangin' away.

I built my business striping one car at a time. I went for the private car owners, passing out cards and going to car shows since 1980 which will be one of your best marketing strategies. The persistence has paid off. They come to me and pay my price without question.

I'm not rich, but I have a fun job where people let me draw designs on their pride and joy and pay me well. You will get there too but only if you like what you do and are willing to put up with the BS.

 

I'm thinking more about it, maybe I stick to my current clientele to let them pay the bills, and create the things I like on my own on the side. I really think this might be a mid life crisis sort of thing...

 

What they all say. The top priority in this industry, which is sorely lacking...be honest with your customers. I've always done that and it pays dividends.

I'm probaly one of the few pinstripers who has figured out how to monetize my passion, lives in the boonies, not So Cal or the big city and I do fine. I haven't had a job since 1978 and don't do dealers like many stripers because I won't whore myself out.

As for you wanting to do trad cars, I would like to stripe traditional hot rods and customs every day too but that doesn't happen in my case. So I stripe many late models too. They pay just as well. I'm not prejudiced against any one vehicle, the money is just as green for new Maxima as it is for a traditional 40 coupe...

With any business venture there will be times when you will want to crawl in a hole and hide for all the hardships but you gotta stick it out if you don't want to end up like the 99% who never try or give up on their dreams. I went through the struggles and could have quit many times but I kept bangin' away.

I built my business striping one car at a time. I went for the private car owners, passing out cards and going to car shows since 1980 which will be one of your best marketing strategies. The persistence has paid off. They come to me and pay my price without question.

I'm not rich, but I have a fun job where people let me draw designs on their pride and joy and pay me well. You will get there too but only if you like what you do and are willing to put up with the BS.

 

WOW Sorry guys but not sure how I posted 3 of the same replies in a row...delete at my expense. Oh well its advice and reinteration helps get the point across.

 

The HAMB is no doubt the largest representation of traditional hot rods, and your prospective client base. If you look at the cars posted here for a while, I think you will find that 75% of the owners don't have as much invested in their entire car as the upper level street rods have in upholstery alone.

Even the more high dollar traditional builds, by nature of what they are, tend to not require a lot in upholstery. Only the most high end customs (likely 5% or less of the cars represented here) would approach the upholstery investment that the street rod guys are accustomed to in a mid-level build.

As popular as traditional cars have become, we are still not here in the numbers compared to the street rods.

It's great to change and move forward. Not knowing your personal situation makes it impossible to recommend anything, but if you are thinking that by simply changing the style of your product to traditional you can produce the same money from the same number of clients in the same amount of time......I can't see it.

Maybe it's time to move on to doing more than upholstery. Maybe hire someone to continue the street rods while you venture out to new stuff. You just have to carefully stand back and look at what you have and where you want to go.

Whatever you do, good luck! I admire your desire and ambition.

 

One look at your portfolio, you have the abillity to suceed at whatever direction you want to go. A quick count looked to be over 100 cars posted on your site and probably other projects that didn't get included, thats a quite an accomplishment for a 33yr old. Around here the street rodders are known as goldchainers, keep that in mind as they are the ones
that have to hire people to work on there cars. The guys here are trying to sew up there own stuff with a old sewing machine the found at a yard sale. I have to wonder is it the cars
that your working on or the people that own them that have lost its apeal? Seems in my business - floor coverings- the upscale jobs arn't worth the headaches due to the customers, alot of the rich folk seem to think that nothing is ever good enough for them.
I also wonder if you you would have 3 pages of replies to your post in just 2 days if you had posted this on a street rod form? Best wishes in whatever direction you go.

 

Thanks for the compliments. I must say I am surprised at the response I've gotten. I've been a lurker on here for awhile, and have been wanting to sign up and make this thread for awhile, but hesitated. I think the fact that I work on the higher end modern stuff, that drives my wants/lust/love for the simpler traditional stuff even more. The more I think about this and read these replies, I'm thinking maybe that working on the cars I work on isn't a bad thing. If it reinforces my love for the traditional stuff even more, then that's a good thing in my opinion. I'll probably advertise a bit more towards the cars I love to maybe get a few traditional cars into the shop a year, to keep my personal needs satisfied...

 

That reminds me of an old saying about keeping a business lean, with the lowest possible overhead: "Keep it small and keep it all."


BTW, I visited both of your websites ... excellent products! You upholstery work is top notch. By all means, keep doing those Camaros and Mustangs, and whatever else comes through your doors. You have a great portfolio showing a wide variety of cars and styles. If you want to do more old school styles, I think the idea of building a traditional hot rod to travel around in and showcase your work is a pretty good idea, plus it would be a substantial tax write off.

Whatever you do, good luck. Again, impressive work!

 

Do the high end stuff to bring in the cash, and set aside a certain amount of time to do what you enjoy, even if it makes you a little less money. I would not dump what you have working for you, just add in the stuff that will keep you sane