Small LBS Start-up advice

[Dan the Cycologist]

19 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Value your time, knowledge and expertise.

The 'Can you just' and 'will you quickly' jobs are worth money, mess with your workshop roster and take up time as they often put you on the spot.

Suspension service courses etc.... do them. Closing for 36 hours because you're away learning how to service the latest damper from RockShox shows your clients you value their kit enough to sacrifice your time AND you will learn awesome skills

i will be going almost strictly by a booking system, so it should limit those quick botch jobs. which I'm happy to take as long as the customer tells me what needs to be done in the booking stage.

As for the education side of things, ill look into that, to further empower me to do quality services, and a wider range of services. bc right now the thought of servicing a Shock or fork scares me😂 Thanks for the advice🤙

[OVERDRIVE]

All the best mate!

[ChrisF]

32 minutes ago, Dan the Cycologist said:

i will be going almost strictly by a booking system, so it should limit those quick botch jobs. which I'm happy to take as long as the customer tells me what needs to be done in the booking stage.

As for the education side of things, ill look into that, to further empower me to do quality services, and a wider range of services. bc right now the thought of servicing a Shock or fork scares me😂 Thanks for the advice🤙

 

Some of the best bike workshops send suspension away for servicing.  

 

At least you have access to the cycle training facilities up North.

 

 

As for stock and access to parts .... networking IS your friend in this.  Sadly even the biggest shops are having issues in getting stock at the moment.  My local bike workshop have always had a very good stock of the typical parts.  For the last two years their shelves are decidedly sparce !  As for order of magnitude .... he placed an order with Shimano for an assortment of items, few carrier bags full of stuff .... It came about 3 months later, and at nearly R 250 000 ....  So starting out you are going to be ordering from your network.

 

 

 

Wishing you all the best in this venture.  

 

[peetwindhoek]

3 hours ago, droo said:

You'll need 10x that at least for accounts with the bigger suppliers. I've been in business for nearly 10 years now and Coolheat still won't talk to me.

ja, but we haven't heard their side of the story 😆

[OVERDRIVE]

3 hours ago, Dan the Cycologist said:

I'll be based wayy up in North-west Brits. i appreciate the offer though.

i was thinking the same, i can't dish out R10,000 for hundred of parts when im only going to maybe use one, if it needs to be replaced.

I'm out that way. Will support, pinned followed chat

[OVERDRIVE]

1 hour ago, Jewbacca said:

Value your time, knowledge and expertise.

The 'Can you just' and 'will you quickly' jobs are worth money, mess with your workshop roster and take up time as they often put you on the spot.

Don't undervalue yourself. Time is money. If you don't do this from the start, people will expect free service and be bummed when you realise you need to draw a line in the sand.

Also, your friends should pay. Doing work for your mates for free almost always extends to their mates etc which puts you in a hole. Real friends will pay you more as they will want to support you.

My last bit of advice would be to chat to CCS and other suppliers about product education and courses.

Suspension service courses etc.... do them. Closing for 36 hours because you're away learning how to service the latest damper from RockShox shows your clients you value their kit enough to sacrifice your time AND you will learn awesome skills

Your new anthem: 

 

[Jewbacca]

1 hour ago, Dan the Cycologist said:

i will be going almost strictly by a booking system, so it should limit those quick botch jobs. which I'm happy to take as long as the customer tells me what needs to be done in the booking stage.

As for the education side of things, ill look into that, to further empower me to do quality services, and a wider range of services. bc right now the thought of servicing a Shock or fork scares me😂 Thanks for the advice🤙

Get some broken forks and shocks, take them apart and rebuild them. Get into the process and being meticulous about how you lay out the bits and pieces.

The problem with sending suspension away is it takes forever and costs, so it becomes pointless. Doing basic lowers/seals is easy.

You just need to have the process down.

I'm not sure how wide your skills range but these days things take longer with internal routing and other fiddly add ons. 

Become familiar with AXS and Di2. The industry isn't just replacing inners and outers or bleeding brakes anymore. The mechanics on a bike are basic, but you need to be familiar with all the bits and pieces, from cup and cone ball bearings to electronic shifting.

Fumbling on a job is frustrating and, you guessed it, costs time (money)

[Dan the Cycologist]

2 hours ago, ChrisF said:

As for stock and access to parts .... networking IS your friend in this.  Sadly even the biggest shops are having issues in getting stock at the moment.  My local bike workshop have always had a very good stock of the typical parts.  For the last two years their shelves are decidedly sparce !  As for order of magnitude .... he placed an order with Shimano for an assortment of items, few carrier bags full of stuff .... It came about 3 months later, and at nearly R 250 000 ....  So starting out you are going to be ordering from your network.

Yeah i'll have to get in contact with a few LBS in Gauteng perhaps, maybe strike a deal where i order through them and they get a X% bonus

Thanks for the advice🤙

[Dan the Cycologist]

2 hours ago, OVERDRIVE said:

I'm out that way. Will support, pinned followed chat

thanks man, appreciate it. Whereabouts are you located?

[Dan the Cycologist]

2 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Get some broken forks and shocks, take them apart and rebuild them. Get into the process and being meticulous about how you lay out the bits and pieces.

The problem with sending suspension away is it takes forever and costs, so it becomes pointless. Doing basic lowers/seals is easy.

You just need to have the process down.

I'm not sure how wide your skills range but these days things take longer with internal routing and other fiddly add ons. 

Become familiar with AXS and Di2. The industry isn't just replacing inners and outers or bleeding brakes anymore. The mechanics on a bike are basic, but you need to be familiar with all the bits and pieces, from cup and cone ball bearings to electronic shifting.

Fumbling on a job is frustrating and, you guessed it, costs time (money)

Taking notes, this is a good one! I agree, i'll have to get seriously educated on all new and old tech, hours of Youtube, fiddling around with parts, and PDFs later i'll probably be proficient enough to tackle any service.😎

[Fred van Vlaanderen]

Awesome to read all of this feedback. To OP, all the best with your endeavours. May it be successful and I wish you nothing but good things. 

Can't add much to what has already been said, but I do want to encourage the following - Always tell the truth to your customers & partners. Truth is a very powerful tool in business and life. Do things because it is the right thing to do and not because they are expedient. 

[Dan the Cycologist]

8 hours ago, Darko said:

Good luck with your venture!

If you need help with the booking system, happy to build it for you (free of charge) if you haven't decided on a system already. 

ill be more than happy to take this offer, how shall we go about doing this? Thanks in advance!

[Dan the Cycologist]

17 minutes ago, Fred van Vlaanderen said:

Awesome to read all of this feedback. To OP, all the best with your endeavours. May it be successful and I wish you nothing but good things. 

Can't add much to what has already been said, but I do want to encourage the following - Always tell the truth to your customers & partners. Truth is a very powerful tool in business and life. Do things because it is the right thing to do and not because they are expedient. 

Yes, totally agree. I'm a huge fan of telling the truth as much as im able to. it just gets things done quicker. and its better for our mental well being😂

Thanks for the luck!

Edited February 23, 2022 by Dan the Cycologist

[OVERDRIVE]

35 minutes ago, Dan the Cycologist said:

thanks man, appreciate it. Whereabouts are you located?

Work that end, Brits all the way to Marikana. Could actually drop it off when head out and fetch on the way back. Will you operate from home or you have a spot? 

[Dan the Cycologist]

2 minutes ago, OVERDRIVE said:

Work that end, Brits all the way to Marikana. Could actually drop it off when head out and fetch on the way back. Will you operate from home or you have a spot? 

we're still looking to set up a spot, depending on how things go, we might move into the old Platinum Mall, but its still very early stages of setup so it could change. but were going to try for the mall

[King_Crispy]

6 hours ago, droo said:

You'll need 10x that at least for accounts with the bigger suppliers. I've been in business for nearly 10 years now and Coolheat still won't talk to me.

Where you based Droo?