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| A little business can seem like a good idea. |
It seemed like a perfectly good idea at the time. The time was the beginning of 2007.
There had been a history of business ownership in my family dating back to the early 1960's. My Father had to take several weeks off from work due to a foot surgery. I was in the second grade and I remember that my Dad couldn't walk very far on his recuperating foot. He put this downtime to good use by taking a mail order class on electronics repair. Electronics at that time meant vacuum tube powered radios and televisions. Part of the class was the task of assembling a multi meter that he would need in evaluating and repairing circuitry. Then he assembled a tube tester as well as some other equipment. I distinctly remember the smell of melting solder as my Dad used his new soldering gun to wire the devices. After my Dad developed some confidence he started an after work, garage based business. Our garage was a single car garage, deep enough that there was the laundry facilities against the far wall along with a door leading to the back patio. There was a short stairway and entry into the kitchen along one side.
He built a partial partition wall and a deep shelf that he could use as his work table, as well as allowing our 1959 Impala's hood to fit underneath. How could he advertise his business? He could have placed an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper. But how could you be sure that your potential customers could find it?
My Dad solved that by buying two 8'x4' sheets of plywood. He painted them white and carefully laid out his business name, offered services and phone number using stencils and pencil. He then brush painted the letters black.
He attached one to the gable side of the house and another to the north facing front porch.
Our house was located next to a very popular drive in hamburger restaurant. Patrons entering or exiting the parking lot had a clear view of the signs. These must have worked as he received a steady stream of customers for the several years that he ran the business. My Dad was very careful about expenses when starting and running his business. He worked out our garage and he used our new station wagon to carry his equipment and ferry sick T.V.s to his little shop.
My Mom didn't want to be left out of all this business enterprise. She had always wanted to run her own grocery store. My folks looked around until they found a satisfactory location that also included attached living quarters. It was only the business itself that was for sale, the building was to be rented. My Mom gave the business a try for a year before she decided that they should find a complete business with residence for sale. My folks found a cozy little neighborhood store in a nice established neighborhood. Our family moved into the attached residence and my Mom ran the business for over ten years. A small neighborhood store was not a glamorous business or a great moneymaker, but it was steady. They also saved on the cost of food and shelter for the family. The profits from the store's sales paid the mortgage. Again, my folks were very careful about how they invested their money, they weren't about to go off half cocked. If only I had learned from them.
Back to 2007.
I had read an article in Hot Rod magazine that related that some car clubs and even individuals, in Texas were renting industrial shop space. This type of real estate was supposed to be pretty affordable at this time, car clubs and even individuals were renting this shop space for their own personal use. The space could be used as a service shop and car storage for their members. Kind of a "garage away from home."
What car lover has never dreamed of having their own shop? Especially located away from home so that there was privacy with freedom from distractions. Wouldn't it be great to have a place to work on and store your cars? It sure sounded good to me.
What if I could run my little car parts business out of this shop, maybe it could pay for itself. Even better, maybe it could show some kind of profit!
Last post I mentioned that I had started buying used Datsun parts with the idea of reselling them. I looked on Craig's List and bought up hoards of Datsun parts. I visited wrecking yards purchasing parts that I knew that I could make a buck on.
I was specializing in the first generation Datsun Z car. I felt that I had become pretty knowledgeable about this model. Sellers also had lots of 510 parts available, so I bought those too.
I bought body parts, sheetmetal: doors, decklids, hoods hatches, and fenders. Interior parts like door panels, arm rests, window cranks. Even widow glass, seat belts, seats dash gauges and parts.
I was keeping all these parts in a public storage space.
At first I thought that I would use these parts to refurbish Zs that I would buy and resell.
Now I needed to find a shop that I could work out of and store my parts. This was going to be the fun part. It was.
After looking around the area I found a great place. A 1,200 square foot shop, with a little office and even a recently remolded bathroom. Could I make enough to pay the rent?
I bought a '72 Z from a tow company with the intention of sprucing it up and reselling it, of course at a favorable price.
I has chosen this car because it was not subject to the smog test requirements. However it had not been registered for several years. Maybe it was out of the system? Have you ever read those Craig's List ads where the seller claims that all the fees that haven't been paid for several years, were no longer pending because the car was "out of the system?"
Don't believe that malarkey! The DMV always has a way to extract their pound of flesh. If a vehicle has been out of the system, then the fees for the last three years, plus penalties, will be collected. In my case, the Z wasn't out of the system. It was just three years past due in registration. There had also been two non completed transfers in the system and I had to pay those transfer fees, plus also those for my own transfer. I paid almost half of what I paid for the car to the DMV to complete the transfer to my ownership!
The economies of "car flipping" are a tenuous thing. You've got to make your money on the buying side. Especially when you discover that there aren't eager buyers lined up.
I fixed the body, filling dents and repairing some rusted areas. I had it painted a nice Viper Blue at a local Earl Schieb shop. It actually looked pretty good.
Unfortunately It didn't sell for anywhere near the price I had hoped. There just didn't seem to be the demand for early Z cars that I had anticipated. It appears that it wasn't the Z's time, yet.
So the refurbishing idea sort of died out. Instead I started buying cars to part out. This providing me with a wealth of parts of all kinds. My inventory of parts really grew.
I had been keeping all these parts in a public storage space until I rented my shop. Unfortunately I didn't do my due diligence before signing the lease. I just jumped in feet first. I should be embarrassed to reveal what happened next, as it demonstrates a total lack of planning. I guess that I'm not really a businessman.
The shop was great, but I found that it wasn't zoned for retail sales. There were already a couple of auto repair shops and an electrical component rebuilder located in the complex. So I naively assumed that it was all good to go. As it turned out, only the first storefront was zoned for retail sales. I had not contacted the city zoning office beforehand to confirm that the location was appropriate for my usage. I was told that I would have to petition the planning commission to obtain a waiver. I would have to put together some kind of documentation. I had no idea what to do. I should have contacted some type of professional consultant but I didn't think that I could spare the money. Worse, I didn't want to call attention to my business if it wasn't going to be operating legitimately.
So I thought that I would conduct my business online. I placed series of several ads in the ZONC ( Z Owners of Northern California) club newsletter and in Nissan Sport, a Datsun enthusiast magazine and waited for the dam to break.
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