Racer's Lounge - I know this is totally off topic but...

Anyone here own and run (or knows anyone who does) a high performance shop, or speed shop, succesfully? Basically anything far from just the regular automotive repair shop.

I want to eventually own and manage a speed shop, or performance parts shop as I get older, its my dream to have a career not only making cars go faster, but owning the whole business too.

I'm about a year from graduating Highschool and am trying to figure out how i can get there. Anyone know what way i should go?

I was thinking majoring in business management, but have no clue what do do after. please help me, i know at least one of you guys on here is an owner of a performance shop and making it big! I want to know your success story!
lol

Get a job where you can save up two years worth of wages plus money for the business. Thats recommended for any business. Getting your own anything started can be tough and takes time and money. Especially a speedshop when so many people just order from Jegs or Summit nowadays.

Take some business classes...particularly those with small business managment in the curriculum. ~50% of small businesses fail within the first year or so. Most of those are because the owner didn't have a clear business plan, have money and/or financing lined up, or any clue of how to run a business.

Don't buy anything on credit.. If you can't afford to pay cash for it you don't need it. So save money and learn. Get a job at a shop go to school and so on.

OP, I majored in Management. If you want to own/operate your own business, I would major in accounting with a minor in management. :2cents: One thing that screws a lot of small business owners up is improperly maintained financial records. Besides, if you were to get your CPA...you could maintain your own books (that would save you/your company a LOT of money).

As you're still in high school, see if you could attend a vocational technical automotive program to get some useful experience.

Don't buy anything on credit.. If you can't afford to pay cash for it you don't need it. So save money and learn. Get a job at a shop go to school and so on.

From a personal finance standpoint, that's great advice. However, there aren't too many businesses (aside from services run by an individual out of their home) that operate without a line of credit.

OP, I majored in Management. If you want to own/operate your own business, I would major in accounting with a minor in management. :2cents: One thing that screws a lot of small business owners up is improperly maintained financial records. Besides, if you were to get your CPA...you could maintain your own books (that would save you/your company a LOT of money).

As you're still in high school, see if you could attend a vocational technical automotive program to get some useful experience.



From a personal finance standpoint, that's great advice. However, there aren't too many businesses (aside from services run by an individual out of their home) that operate without a line of credit.

The CPA advice was great! As far as opening a business. No one these days is going to have the credit, especially a young guy like the OP to get a mill or two loan for a business... You're going to have to start small and work your way into a ig setup. Obviously once your business starts making money the credit will become available. No body can afford cash for thousands in tools and hi-tech equip. You're just not going to be able to start out at the top like that...

thank you all for the advice, i was thinking(from a teen perspective) that get into a 4 year business related major, management or accounting or whatever, then after that go on to uti for another technical degree i can use to show automotive experiance and hopefully meet some guys there i can use in the future,
but i have been reading up and geting advice that financially that wont be the best way to go. ill have to pay 30k for the uti schooling and on top of that be able to manage the costs of the business i want to make.
but yeah i figured it will be hard at first and i totally understand.

Anyone wanna tell me success storys though? or if anyone is in progress of what i want to accomplish?

If you're gonna pay 30k to go to UTI I'd say screw that and go to SAM...