all this talk about jobs..., long term plan for starting a shop Options

[xsboost90]

since i was a kid all i wanted to be was a business owner. My parents convinced me i wanted to be an engineer, but everyone i know that was one either didnt like it or couldnt find a good job. I took a year of industrial design and some autocad classes for mech. engineering that i need to finish. My problem is the idea of working in an office isnt what i want.

Ive always wanted to start my own shop- seems everyone does- but im not doing it unless im sure i am prepared and can be successful. I have plenty of mechanical experience, and can fabricate things like crazy, mostly whats holding me back is money and tooling. My plan is to build a nice sized garage in the next year or two and start collecting more tools and building/restoring p-cars and such. I may try to get into fabbing custom parts as well, we'll see.

My QUESTION is , should i go to work for a reputable shop first and learn the rights and wrongs , ins and outs or just jump in and learn on my own. Currently im a safety director for a health care facility, but have been a mechanic for two years and worked at a body shop for some time + learned alot from my father =bodyman for 20+ years. I may get him to come work w/ me as well...may even be interested in building street rods. Or how about this, street rods w/ porsche motors and drivetrain! There is a shop nearby that restores old bugs and buses, called metalcraft coachwerks. I always want to ask for a job there when i see the owner but, health ins 401k etc may not be an option. I think ill wait till my g/f graduates from nursing school before i make a big change. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/unsure.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/confused24.gif)

[MikeP]

KEEP GOOD RECORDS!!
My business is accounts receivable finance. You wouldn't believe how many of my clients are dependant on me to meet their payroll simply because they don't keep track of who they owe and who owes them. There is a lot of good advice in this thread but I can't stress enough what the others have said about a cash cushion. My clients pay me a lot of money because they ran out of cushion somewhere along the line. Good for me, not so good for them. Run it like a big company right from the start. Figure out how you are going to buy, bill, store, etc. before things get crazy and time to do the planning just isn’t available. Good luck!