Considering my own business...

[D23]

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So I'm in the midst of a trade change.

00134 MAT Tech?

 

[AGAVE]

All those unemployed bums just finished lunch and left a real mess.
Better clean it up before the dinner rush, the Mariachi band starts at 3pm, they are doing a soundcheck now.

PS> rmemedic, sounds like you have some good ideas, and some common sense, i think you will find a way to succeed.

 

[ZX600]

All those unemployed bums just finished lunch and left a real mess.
Better clean it up before the dinner rush, the Mariachi band starts at 3pm, they are doing a soundcheck now.

PS> rmemedic, sounds like you have some good ideas, and some common sense, i think you will find a way to succeed.

 

[rmemedic]

Would this business work as a mix of service/repair, custom fabrication, and manufacturing? If you started perhaps in servicing and repairing existing trailer installations and building up your custom fabrication business, it might give you a better understanding of what would sell in the way of a product line. Where are people having problems? Why do they want changes? What led to the failures that they are paying you to repair? What features appear to be missing and so on. This sort of information is also useful for a business plan if you need to get financing.

Another aspect or possibility of this approach is that you could use the time to research your manufacturing requirements. By this, I mean that while you may want to manufacture in Canada or the US, you may want to consider offshoring the manufacturing. Having said that though, the costs may not be that much cheaper considering the distances involved and the coordination issues.

I would also talk to business that are where you want to be in five years to see what they have done, what worked for them, and what didn't. And when I say five years, it would help if you could put together some sort of road map to help predict what your costs might be, what sales you need, and what you might require for cash flow.

Best of luck.

Yep, part of it will be doing repairs for people. Part of my new trade will be finding points of failure.
So far, I'm starting off relatively small, seeing how much interest there is, and then building on that. The good thing is I already have a solid source of income, so if things go slow thats ok, and I will have no issues taking any profit I do make and putting it right back in to the business.
A lot of what I'm basing business ideas off of is my own experiences. Not everyone wants frilly, some people need utilitarian things that work, and that doesn't get catered to as much.
It wouldn't be hard transfering products from one form in to another. I have lots of ideas, so I want to stay fluid with the plans.
My goal, would be to have something worth 6 figures a year, in 10 years so I can just work for myself. If it becomes bigger, great. And if it just turns out to be something I do on the side that covers my cost of living, that would be alright too.
A bonus of the military is I've learned how to manage people, so if I end up having employees that's not something I will have to learn how to do.

00134 MAT Tech?

00138 ACS tech.

PS> rmemedic, sounds like you have some good ideas, and some common sense, i think you will find a way to succeed.

Thanks for the confidence boost. Just have to get the skills down and a home base set up... Praying for CFB Trenton as a posting after my stint in Borden so I can stay as close as possible to where my biggest network is.

 

[D23]

00138 ACS tech.

Ah cool. I thought that was a sub occ of AVN. Didn't know it was still separate.

Spec 1?

 

[rmemedic]

Yeah, Spec 1 once I get my 5s... They dangled that spec pay in front of us medics for so long now. We finally hit all the requirements that the treasury board asked for and basically said "nope, too late, cut backs are coming". Awesome for a trade that spends over a year training with a college diploma just to do the basic job and then another 6-8 months to be a 5 plus all the other things like TacMed and the extra things like my DECON (did the live agent training in suffield and then a few months of other stuff at the unit).
Seeing genitalia monday morning to diagnose herpes, dealing with guys throwing up, and having to be "sympathetic" to all the MIR commandos that abuse the system to get out of a ruck march... And that's if we're at the clinics, most of us just count equipment and go in the field like a piece of kit. Not really my thing.
On tour the job is awesome. I loved it. I had a sense of duty, I had a job I was proud of, and I liked the patrols and the crazy stuff that goes on. But, that's over and done with.

 

[knowledge]

My face when I read posts of army people talking in acronyms and abbreviations

Anyway, good luck rmemedic. I hope it works out for you. It looks like you've got reasonable expectations and have put some real thought into it. The only advice that I can offer you would be from a marketing perspective:

Trade shows will really do lots to get your name out there (especially if you don't have a showroom in the gta core). The great thing about outdoor people is that they know quality when they see it and are a lot more open to lesser-known brandnames. The price of getting a spot will almost always be offset by the exposure that you get in the trade show. And position/placement is everything when you get a spot. Just don't forget to look into article writing/search relevance aspect of things when you get your business up and running. Those things ensure that your site shows up on google searches.

 

[D23]

But, that's over and done with.

For now. I'm surprised we are getting this long of a break to tell the truth.

I think I got it backwards too. Aircraft structures was a 500 series trade when we went by MOC that sucked in three sub occs Metals Tech, Machinist and Refinisher Tech.

Sounds like a decent spec trade free of the typical Army BS.

I was considering MAT Tech as an OT to finish my last 5 years (finished my 20 just recently and took the extension) but it would be weird being a Cpl again. I'd lose my Spec 1 but I'd be making WO pay.

Tempting. Would be my 4th occ. Technically 5th as I was out of trade at CJIRU.

Did you follow that Knowledge?

 

[K1200RS]

Yep, part of it will be doing repairs for people. Part of my new trade will be finding points of failure.
So far, I'm starting off relatively small, seeing how much interest there is, and then building on that. The good thing is I already have a solid source of income, so if things go slow thats ok, and I will have no issues taking any profit I do make and putting it right back in to the business.
A lot of what I'm basing business ideas off of is my own experiences. Not everyone wants frilly, some people need utilitarian things that work, and that doesn't get catered to as much.
It wouldn't be hard transfering products from one form in to another. I have lots of ideas, so I want to stay fluid with the plans.
My goal, would be to have something worth 6 figures a year, in 10 years so I can just work for myself. If it becomes bigger, great. And if it just turns out to be something I do on the side that covers my cost of living, that would be alright too.
A bonus of the military is I've learned how to manage people, so if I end up having employees that's not something I will have to learn how to do.

Sounds like a plan. Just another thing to consider is that if you develop expertise in the assessment of failures (I assume you are referring to Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and the like), you may want to consider doing work for Transport Canada.

Aircraft crash investigation involves a lot of highly skilled people at all levels (engineers, technicians, and others). It may be that your unique combination of being a medic, and the skills you will require could be of some use in the forensics required for this type of investigation. It may also be one of those offbeat areas where there is a demand for consultants that could be very lucrative.

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