I'm excited!! I'm following my dream...

[Cyprus106]

Welp, in a kind of crazy turn of events, I'm in the works looking into buying a speed shop from the local owner. I've been building a business plan, full on research and all for months to set up an internet shop. I've got packets of research material and my bix. plan in a folder an inch thick... And this "offer" kind of fell into my lap a week or so ago and it was what I'd been working up to for a while. Me and a business owner talked and he wants to sell out. I mean when this guy opened up shop I was actually like jealous in the back of my head. I remember hearing about it and seeing it and going, "omg he's got the best location in town! Man I bet that guy will make a killing. Lucky bastard, he's living my dream..." I mean owning that kind of shop has been THE dream of mine for the majority of my life. And finally it can be realized, and for MUCH less than the internet business I was getting ready to set up. My running costs per month will be thousands less and he's already making profit and been making a steady profit. It seems like a decently solid investment with only a few major concerns. Granted, I've got a ton of checking into, but I'm awfully excited about the whole prospect. Of course, I've got to look at it level-headedly, but just giving it those steps that I can carry out what I've really dreamed of doing, in the EXACT location that I've dreamed of doing it... Man I don't even have to compromise and say "ok I can't open what I wanted, instead I can open this... " Both me and the owner have kept it on a low profile. I've only told my girlfriend and mentioned 'a prospect' to one of my roommates, and been awfully vague, and they won't tell a soul. Not even my best friend knows.
Before I even think about making the decision and coming up with the money, I've got a TON Of work to do. I mean a ton. Insurance and liability, federal, state, city tax IDs and biz. licenses, looking over receipts, contingency plans, wages, meeting with my lawyer, my business development consultant, and insurance agent, assessing running costs, expendature to revenue comparisons, renovation costs, city ordinances, pricing structure, stock, contacts, disposal fees, debts, supplies, maybe getting it appraised...
I mean I've got a lot to stay up on sleepless nights worrying about... And you know it's hard to gauge when to get into it too. I mean, potentially, I won't be making that much of a pay cut from my current job, but it's a pretty mortifying prospect that this could run into the ground, or a fire starts, or some kid sues us, etc... You know I kept thinking "well this could be bad. I mean what if it all goes to shit and then I'll be stuck jobless in debt, won't be able to get my old job back, blablabla..." Normal concerns that any small business owner would have. But making that huge transition... I've been working here for months and going back to working full-time in just weeks, making a lot more money, again. If I stayed on for another year or two I could be set here in a big way. And I'm talking about giving that up to pursue my dream? I spoke with my father briefly about it, as he's always a great constructive critic to my ideas, and at first he was skeptical but now he's really supportive, which is actually almost surprising. But he was apprehensive too about losing my job... you know, "Well, if you stay where you are maybe for another few years, you'll probably be in an really good place." But then when I'm in that place, what? I'm not going to want to quit and take a pay cut in half! or less! And what if I got married and/or had a kid? I mean what time would be the right time? Certainly not then, when the risk wouldn't just be with me but with my family, that I could potentially destroy. Or when I had a mortgage on a house or a loan on a car that I could default on. I'm really afraid if I keep letting it slip, it will have passed me by before I knew it and I'll never be able to do it... and all it took was a down payment of 6% of a simple loan and a lot of initiative... I've seen it happen to a dozen people and I swore a while back I wouldn't let it happen to me at any cost. It'll be a tough gig if I decide to go for it, but it's what I love to do. And my responsibilities are exactly what I want to be doing. Exactly. And the owner wants to work there and HIS responsibilities would be EXACTLY what HE wants to do! I dunno. It's a risk, but sooner or later, if I do what I truly want, I'll have to take it. And now would be a hundred times better than if I was gambling with the lives of those that depended on me or gambling with mine when I had too much at stake. Such a conundrum, but still such a GREAT feeling, just even realistically WORKING on the POTENTIAL to do what I've always wanted to do; my dream and my dream job rolled into one. How many people get that opportunity? And how many people spend teh rest of their lives wondering what would have happened had they done that? Looked back and said, 'I've always regretted not doing what made me happy. not even trying...' hmm...

[SeXy_AnGeL]

Cliff's notes...come on there are a few of us who have ADD...

[lordvektra]

Man, lots of luck to you I hope everything works out. just keep a level head and be realistic. It sounds like you have most of it under control and know it takes more than just a building and the ability to work on cars to start a business. keep us posted on how it works out

[91300zxtt]

Cool man, now all you need to do is give us AF members a discount if you get this place.

[lordvektra]

Originally Posted by 91300zxtt

Cool man, now all you need to do is give us AF members a discount if you get this place.

[Andydg]

Originally Posted by lordvektra

Good luck with everything, I hope it works out great!!!

[96Civ]

How old are you Cyprus? I want to get a shop of my own in the future as well!

[WickedNYCowboy]

Originally Posted by SeXy_AnGeL

Cliff's notes...come on there are a few of us who have ADD...

I am one of those few too. But I don't think it's as bad as it used to be but I think with some of the rediculous ideas I keep coming up with tend to make it look worse then it is. One of those was to pull an engine using a tractor as engine hoist.

[WickedNYCowboy]

Originally Posted by Andydg

Good luck with everything, I hope it works out great!!!

[Cyprus106]

20s

[uranium235powered]

So...how much discount do we get? 0%? 100%? Somewhere in between?



J/K...good luck, I hope to own a speed shop someday too. Just....don't steal all my customers in the future

[-Josh-]

I have the same dream to...wow this is weird, so many of use future entrepeneurs out there wanting to do the same thing. Congratulations and good luck Cyp.

[T6Y5]

Thats awesome! I hope you best of luck.. Btw I stopped 1/3rd of the way in because im my sad ADD.. sorry sounds awesome though! Get some pics alright!?

[Cl0ak]

Hope it all works out good for you, sounds great.