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Hello from Colorado
- Thread starter Recelect
- Start date
Awesome pic. Love it.My little girl loves GofG. She's strong and likes to tip over boulders.
Recelect
New Member
What the heck happened! I went on vacation for 1 week, and I come back to a completely highjacked thread... Just in case anyone was confused or wondering, "ERE" is not part of my business, so all the discussion going back and forth has not been by me, or anything to do with my business, model, or opinions. I am pretty sure everyone has already figured that out, BUT I just feel like I need to say that. This was a member introduction thread, and I just wanted to say HI.
To give an overview of me and my business model, I am not new to business in general, and I have learned over the years the inherent problems with charging less to try and grow a business. It flat does not work. I started this business as a mobile service out of my truck in 2007 and nearly went out of business multiple times trying to play that game. I can honestly tell you my attitude now is I am not in the business to do it cheap, free, or to loose money; like so many are. I am systematic, very well documented on actual costs to produce what we produce, make a profit that is reasonable, and am 100% ok not doing work that doesn't meet my requirements for a profitable job. This approach makes me very confident in my bids, and justified when I give an estimate. Plus, I know I can build a vehicle to the standard it should be. This attitude has taken me significantly farther then low bid, cheap no profit jobs ever would.
There are some that are fairly skeptical about this plan of mine. Which I get. You see hundreds of people buy a Chinese plotter and say they are going to do vehicle graphics, not having a clue what they are really getting into. Are we going to learn some lessons? sure, BUT we have already learned lessons in other divisions we have added. We expect some hard knock education, BUT we also are very stable and able to take a few hits as we grow. (I also did not buy a cheap Chinese plotter...) Not to mention, I hired industry professionals to run this division, they already have plenty of experience in wraps, reflective, printing, plotting, design etc..
We were told the same things about investing in a fab shop, "don't do it", "keep sending it out". "fabrication is hard". but I can tell you that attitude nearly put me out of business too. Waiting for parts to come back, waiting for the right thing to be cut, dealing with fab shops that were capable of producing my parts, but were also too busy to get parts on time. I tried Smaller fab shops but none of them have cnc capabilities, and cut everything by hand, I could never get the same part twice... and they all had to send stuff out for powder coat. So I made the investment, purchased the equipment to cut, form, weld, and powder coat in house, hired a fabrication guy and fabrication engineer, and now we produce 3 times as much stuff as we used to because we can... It was a solid investment with a solid return.
One of the main reasons I am doing this is not because I think it will be a way for me to make tons of money, or because I think I can do it cheaper than a vendor. I am doing this because it is dumb not to have this division in my own shop. My business is growing profusely and just like with fabrication, graphics vendors are struggling to keep up. I am very over quality issues, product errors, vehicle damage, scheduling conflicts, poor communication, installers that are high, vendors that can't produce insurance, etc.. All of which we continue to have to deal with from multiple vendors. Sometimes, we cannot start a project until graphics comes in and white vinyl wraps the roof and the doors, and that hold up can screw up my entire assembly line and monthly schedule. at least being in house I have a fighting chance to stay on top of it, and 23 other people on the payroll that are able to help produce and install if needed.
Coloradosigns, I very much appreciate your opinions and candor. I am guessing we probably have many of the same opinions and thoughts on business in general... Growing a business is anything but easy and I often say I have learned everything the hard way. The statement "perfect what you know, and perfect it again", is sound advice, But I would say we have different ideas of where that stops... Your idea of what that is (probably) is to perfect vehicle wraps and be the place anyone would go to for a wrap. I 100% agree with that. Being the place customer have to take it because they know it will be awesome is much better on the wallet and far better for business. You probably also produce other bad ass vehicle graphics, and signage, and store displays, etc... Which is fantastic...
My idea however, is to build a perfect Police Vehicle, Fire Command Truck, and public works vehicles. However, To be perfect at building the best vehicle, I have to do the graphics in house
(but I will not be doing store displays and signage).
I am almost forced to look at the perfect scale at a much bigger level, so as a whole, my business will build a perfect police vehicle, but my harness division will build the perfect wiring harness, and the fabrication department will build the perfect brackets, and the graphics division will produce the perfect graphic. All because the individuals in place are the perfect people to make that happen. If I personally was trying to do everything, I would absolutely fail.
I am sure I will need some help, I am sure we will have a machine go down at some point during the worst time possible, and I am sure there will be struggles. but I am here to meet, greet, share stories, befriend, and promote success.
Thanks all!
P.
To give an overview of me and my business model, I am not new to business in general, and I have learned over the years the inherent problems with charging less to try and grow a business. It flat does not work. I started this business as a mobile service out of my truck in 2007 and nearly went out of business multiple times trying to play that game. I can honestly tell you my attitude now is I am not in the business to do it cheap, free, or to loose money; like so many are. I am systematic, very well documented on actual costs to produce what we produce, make a profit that is reasonable, and am 100% ok not doing work that doesn't meet my requirements for a profitable job. This approach makes me very confident in my bids, and justified when I give an estimate. Plus, I know I can build a vehicle to the standard it should be. This attitude has taken me significantly farther then low bid, cheap no profit jobs ever would.
There are some that are fairly skeptical about this plan of mine. Which I get. You see hundreds of people buy a Chinese plotter and say they are going to do vehicle graphics, not having a clue what they are really getting into. Are we going to learn some lessons? sure, BUT we have already learned lessons in other divisions we have added. We expect some hard knock education, BUT we also are very stable and able to take a few hits as we grow. (I also did not buy a cheap Chinese plotter...) Not to mention, I hired industry professionals to run this division, they already have plenty of experience in wraps, reflective, printing, plotting, design etc..
We were told the same things about investing in a fab shop, "don't do it", "keep sending it out". "fabrication is hard". but I can tell you that attitude nearly put me out of business too. Waiting for parts to come back, waiting for the right thing to be cut, dealing with fab shops that were capable of producing my parts, but were also too busy to get parts on time. I tried Smaller fab shops but none of them have cnc capabilities, and cut everything by hand, I could never get the same part twice... and they all had to send stuff out for powder coat. So I made the investment, purchased the equipment to cut, form, weld, and powder coat in house, hired a fabrication guy and fabrication engineer, and now we produce 3 times as much stuff as we used to because we can... It was a solid investment with a solid return.
One of the main reasons I am doing this is not because I think it will be a way for me to make tons of money, or because I think I can do it cheaper than a vendor. I am doing this because it is dumb not to have this division in my own shop. My business is growing profusely and just like with fabrication, graphics vendors are struggling to keep up. I am very over quality issues, product errors, vehicle damage, scheduling conflicts, poor communication, installers that are high, vendors that can't produce insurance, etc.. All of which we continue to have to deal with from multiple vendors. Sometimes, we cannot start a project until graphics comes in and white vinyl wraps the roof and the doors, and that hold up can screw up my entire assembly line and monthly schedule. at least being in house I have a fighting chance to stay on top of it, and 23 other people on the payroll that are able to help produce and install if needed.
Coloradosigns, I very much appreciate your opinions and candor. I am guessing we probably have many of the same opinions and thoughts on business in general... Growing a business is anything but easy and I often say I have learned everything the hard way. The statement "perfect what you know, and perfect it again", is sound advice, But I would say we have different ideas of where that stops... Your idea of what that is (probably) is to perfect vehicle wraps and be the place anyone would go to for a wrap. I 100% agree with that. Being the place customer have to take it because they know it will be awesome is much better on the wallet and far better for business. You probably also produce other bad ass vehicle graphics, and signage, and store displays, etc... Which is fantastic...
My idea however, is to build a perfect Police Vehicle, Fire Command Truck, and public works vehicles. However, To be perfect at building the best vehicle, I have to do the graphics in house
(but I will not be doing store displays and signage).I am almost forced to look at the perfect scale at a much bigger level, so as a whole, my business will build a perfect police vehicle, but my harness division will build the perfect wiring harness, and the fabrication department will build the perfect brackets, and the graphics division will produce the perfect graphic. All because the individuals in place are the perfect people to make that happen. If I personally was trying to do everything, I would absolutely fail.
I am sure I will need some help, I am sure we will have a machine go down at some point during the worst time possible, and I am sure there will be struggles. but I am here to meet, greet, share stories, befriend, and promote success.
Thanks all!
P.