Disclaimer: Im in no way trying to be a dick just saying basically how I live!

I guess it all depends on how much you wanna do it. When my family moved here from New York 7 years ago we left behind a thriving business. My parents opened up a dry cleaners in Britton Plaza which was practially out of business. When I was in middle school when we were just starting out sometimes I would not see my parents after school and was in bed before they got home at night. When I got into high school I started helping out and about the beginning of my sophomore year I was helping out after school every day. We now have 2 stores and (not to brag) were doing ok. Yes the hours suck. currently I work every hour of every week we are open. 7am-7pm M-F and 9-2 Saturday. When college starts up again I will be working from 7 till I go to class and then straight from class back to work like I have been since starting college 2 years ago. the hours suck ass but I dont have to live week to week so its worth it...besides I find plenty of time to get into trouble at night. I guess it really depends on how hard you wanna bust your ass. Obviously the harder you work the better it will turn out for you. You know how hard it is because you already had a shop.... I would think it would be fun to play with cars all day..It sucks when you are fixing them all day becase it becomes a pain in the ass but playing with them is different. Just go with whatever you feel comfortable with!

 

My dream is to open a shop.. a Dyno would be nice. But to make it clear up front I do NOT want to deal with tune ups and oil chnages. Just serious people doing serious things to their cars.

Drop your car off and tell me how many horses you want and what sorta power adder (If any) and give me a blank check.

sounds SO GOOD.. but you have bills to pay and with 2 or 3 people a year giving you a blank check you would starve to death so you have to do the tune ups and oil changes to pay the rent.

I am a small business man too.. I know how it feels to want to do so much more than you currently are doing.. my biggest problem is finding anyone with a brain in their head who wants to learn a real trade and not just sit in A/C and get paid more than they are worth.

good luck least you know what you are in for this time.

 

Id just do what you feel you can handle. Obviously the shop made you happy in some ways. Figure out the reasons youre holding back and fix them.
This time around though Id definately look into getting some more hands to help you out.

 

Well john I dont know all the facts about what happened with the shop the last time but Ive heard enough to understand where you are comming from after all it is your bussiness and your equipment you should have full say of what goes on in there. I think if you found a good balance between your opperating cost and doing strickly what you want to do then more power to you. I would come straight out and tell people you were strictly a performance shop not a god damn auto salon. I think a lot of people would respect the shop more because everyone would realize that you are not some bullshit speedshop. I mean look where word of mouth has gotten you. shit I know i think youre the tampa auto gods because every one says so. You do have to keep in mind that your opinions are yours and you should have full control BUT you are catering to an audience. And like every broadway show there will be critics with their own opinions and own likes and wants. It is your job as a store owner to try to keep a happy medium and please that audience as best as you can. Sure the equipment is great and you would like to have that as you primary source of income but how big is that market? I know a lot of people are curious about their power to the wheels but how many are there that are actually serious to come and spend a lot and have you tune it? (am I wrong in implying that the majority of revenue collected from dyno time is made my tuning on the dyno not just strapping it on and posting numbers?) Untill that market gets large enough or the market that exists relies more solely on you as a their first choice youre going to have to make some sacrifices. dont do altezzas or wings or any of the shit that we rag on. But throw some intakes on strap those cams gears in. I say do some of the bitchy performance mods. At least that way your headed in the right direction of what you want to do.
Just think a lot of us went through our rice stage or at least I know i did. we were all still learning and eventualy started to make the turn towards effective performance minded modification. I see that the scene is slowly headed that way as well. I know jeese and I have converted a handfull to spending there money wisely. So look ahead and see what is down that tunnel for you and your market...you may just be happy with your projections. As far as what adam said that is true as well but just think of how great it would be to have a job that you love going to and take pride in. And Im sure you could still find peace either in the shop or elsewhere as crewcheif for a race team somewhere........(speculation shall arise for future plans..........)......anyway I say go forth this time wisely and more prepared for what is in store for you and your business and market yourself wisely. I think that you can definately work out previous differences and be really happy with what youre doing. my .02 damn thats long for 4 in the morning.

 

Maybe you should get someone to run it along with you. Someone who would be willing to manage the business end and keep the little kiddies away from hanging out there all day. That way it would leave you to do what you really enjoy working on the cars.

 

The only advise I would give is that if you do open up shop again is that you get some extra help. Like GTIxpress said somebody to keep the kiddies away.