inwoodcutter
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2005
- Location
- Tell City, Indiana
So my brother and I have embarked on this journey inbusiness ownership. We’ve known since we were young teenagers that we wanted to work for ourselves/owna shop but the vision and path has changed over the years. Right now we’rethrough the front door of being a real shop. We officially became WAMCO LLC in 2009. Both working part time to knock stuff out. Now we are both in our early 30's. He just went full time in June of ’15at the machine shop. And has been able to stay afloat. I still have a day jobas an engineer, but split the rest of my time at the machine shop or working inthe millwork (woodwork) shop. I’m hoping to walk away from the day job and goto work for myself within the next year.
The machine shop is a job/repair shop. The largest runs ofanything we do are 300-500 at a time. Most of our work is 1-10 of something ormaking and repairing gearboxes, bearings, ag and construction equipment, somefab work, etc.
In the millwork shop I focus on short runs of custom andreproduction moulding. I will also do dimensioned and assembled unfinishedcomponents (doors, table tops, etc.). So the millwork shop is a bit of a jobshop too.
Both shops started out as hobbies. The woodwork was my dad's shop that we inherited in our parents divorce when I was 12. We bought our first mill and lathe about 12 years ago.
My question to the group is starting out what would you dodifferent? Looking back from where you are now what do you wish you had donesooner? What do you wish you’d never done? I ask this both in general and alsowould like to hear specifics on things like soliciting work, debt load (Nealand I hate debt and only make payments on the building, everything else is cash),preparing for your first employee, machine purchases, quoting and job tracking(knowing what it actually cost you vs your quote), material inventory,balancing work & family (Neal has wife and 4 kids under the age of 4, Ihave nothing), time away, dealing with walk ins & interruptions, takingcare of shop improvements around the busy time, etc.
We are definitely a “slow and steady wins the race” type. Itend to try and experiment with different equipment and techniques just tobreak us into a different aspect of the business. But even at that theinvestment has to be minimal enough that the impact if it goes wrong won’t killus. We won’t bet the farm without doing LOTS of homework and trying somethingout on a small scale.
Also, I’ve read lots of the threads regarding partnershipsand the cons that go with. Neal and I have that conversation quite a bit. Wehave a Tuesday night “war room” where we discuss the coming month, and longterm plans as well as strategy. This really helps us stay focused on the goaland keeps us from making spur of the moment and impulse decisions. We’ve oftenlooked at jobs, purchases, & auction bounty and classified them as bulletsor calibrated or uncalibrated cannonballs (thank you Jim Collins). We also havea rule that during it there is no holding back, all contentions must be settledand we walk out as brothers and partners in business. If one of us made astupid decision or is dragging ass, we put a spotlight on it, identify the rootcause and make it a point to remind ourselves of it so it isn’t repeated. Oftenif one of us does it the other is bound to repeat it at some point without thisreminder. Sometimes this cuts deep but it also brings to the surface lots offrustrations and in the end makes both of us stronger, better, and more committed.
I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Dan
The machine shop is a job/repair shop. The largest runs ofanything we do are 300-500 at a time. Most of our work is 1-10 of something ormaking and repairing gearboxes, bearings, ag and construction equipment, somefab work, etc.
In the millwork shop I focus on short runs of custom andreproduction moulding. I will also do dimensioned and assembled unfinishedcomponents (doors, table tops, etc.). So the millwork shop is a bit of a jobshop too.
Both shops started out as hobbies. The woodwork was my dad's shop that we inherited in our parents divorce when I was 12. We bought our first mill and lathe about 12 years ago.
My question to the group is starting out what would you dodifferent? Looking back from where you are now what do you wish you had donesooner? What do you wish you’d never done? I ask this both in general and alsowould like to hear specifics on things like soliciting work, debt load (Nealand I hate debt and only make payments on the building, everything else is cash),preparing for your first employee, machine purchases, quoting and job tracking(knowing what it actually cost you vs your quote), material inventory,balancing work & family (Neal has wife and 4 kids under the age of 4, Ihave nothing), time away, dealing with walk ins & interruptions, takingcare of shop improvements around the busy time, etc.
We are definitely a “slow and steady wins the race” type. Itend to try and experiment with different equipment and techniques just tobreak us into a different aspect of the business. But even at that theinvestment has to be minimal enough that the impact if it goes wrong won’t killus. We won’t bet the farm without doing LOTS of homework and trying somethingout on a small scale.
Also, I’ve read lots of the threads regarding partnershipsand the cons that go with. Neal and I have that conversation quite a bit. Wehave a Tuesday night “war room” where we discuss the coming month, and longterm plans as well as strategy. This really helps us stay focused on the goaland keeps us from making spur of the moment and impulse decisions. We’ve oftenlooked at jobs, purchases, & auction bounty and classified them as bulletsor calibrated or uncalibrated cannonballs (thank you Jim Collins). We also havea rule that during it there is no holding back, all contentions must be settledand we walk out as brothers and partners in business. If one of us made astupid decision or is dragging ass, we put a spotlight on it, identify the rootcause and make it a point to remind ourselves of it so it isn’t repeated. Oftenif one of us does it the other is bound to repeat it at some point without thisreminder. Sometimes this cuts deep but it also brings to the surface lots offrustrations and in the end makes both of us stronger, better, and more committed.
I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Dan
