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Joe's Blog

A blog by Joe Marconi in AutoShopOwner Team

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About this blog

A Blog by Joe Marconi, co-founder of AutoShopOwner , owner of Osceola Garage, and Business Development Coach at Elite Worldwide, Inc.

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Expanding The Business, Step 12: When Things Go Wrong

Setbacks are inevitable. Some are controllable. Others are not. Three weeks ago we planned on pouring the cement slab and finish the sidewalks, but the weather turned too cold. With temperatures in the low 20’s and a bone-chilling wind, the mason decided to wait. This past week, Mother Nature cooperated, and with temperatures in the mid 40’s; we finished the slab and sidewalks. The mason and his crew worked till midnight the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I have a deep respect for people in the

November 30, 2008

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Expanding The Business, Step 11, Build A Company That Runs Without You

Where is your daily focus? This is a question I ask myself constantly. If your daily focus is fixing and servicing cars, then that is what you will accomplish on a daily basis. But, as the leader of your company, is this where your focus should be? We are in the business of repairing and servicing the motoring public. But in order to grow and be successful, the leader of the company must work on insuring the success of the business. The leader of the business must work on marketing, adverti

November 25, 2008

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Expanding the Business: Step 10, Maintain Strength When People Start to Doubt You

Some people ask me why I have taken on a project of this size in this economy. With the downturn in business, why not wait until things get better? Other shop owners question my sanity. They tell me; “don’t you have enough problems running the business you have already’? Why do you want more headaches? Well the truth is, I didn’t know the economy was headed into a downward spiral. And even if I did know, would it be reason not to expand? And is growing a business adding more headaches?

November 16, 2008

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Expanding the Business Update: Project Update

We are now in our 6th month of construction. The building is completely framed with the electrical work almost done. The windows, doors and siding should be complete by the beginning of December. This coming week will be a challenge. We need to put the binder coat of blacktop down before the blacktop plants close for the winter. This will mean loss of at least one to two workdays. And with Veterans Day on Tuesday (a usually great sales day), I do not want to loose much needed revenue. We will pr

November 9, 2008

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Expanding the Business: Step 9, Making Tough Decisions.

The construction of a new building involves a coordinated effort among many people and all must pull their weight in the right direction. Without teamwork and precise harmonization, things start to fall apart. And the buck stops with ME. No one else will share the blame when things go wrong. It’s a lot like running your business; every day you make tough decision that may not be favorable to everyone. This process of expanding the business has taught me to make those tough decisions based

November 2, 2008

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Expanding the Business: Step 8, Getting Your Signage Approved

After weeks of working with a graphic designer and reviewing tons of marketing information, we finally agreed upon the new signage and tag lines for the business. The new logo is redesigned from the old logo and will be more visible from the road. The tag lines are simple and to the point. The colors did not change: red, white and blue. We proudly took our new proposed signage to the Architectural Review Board for approval only to be shot down like a duck on the first day of hunting season.

October 25, 2008

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Expanding the Business: Step 7, Choose Your General Contractor Wisely

We have all seen botched automotive repairs by people who were either not qualified or who tried to save money by attempting to do the repair themselves. And in the end it cost more money then it would have originally been because now the job has to be done over or completed correctly. The same holds true when building an addition or new facility. Picking a General Contractor is perhaps one of the more crucial steps if you are going to expand your facility or build another facility from sc

October 12, 2008

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Expanding the Business Update: Getting the Loan Money

Tomorrow is the bank closing for the construction loan. A construction loan is different from a bank loan for property, home or condo. Let’s say you looking to buy a home that sits on an acre of land and the agreed upon price is $500,000. The bank will do its due diligence to determine if this is a sound investment. The bank will also insure that your income qualifies you for that particular loan. With a construction loan such as mine, where I am erecting a 4 bay facility on property that I alr

September 28, 2008

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Expanding the Business Update: The Sleepless Nights…

This past week the foundation for the new building was completed and the land is now being graded in preparation for the new blacktop. The process of constructing the walls will start within two weeks. The dream is slowly becoming a reality. Earlier in the week I met with the general contractor, bank project manager, electrician, plumber, architect, excavator, the building inspector, Hunter Alignment rep, Rotary Lift rep, advertising agent, overhead door company and the company that will be

September 21, 2008

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Expanding the Business: Step 6, Get Organized

Before I made the final decision to expand from 6 bays to 10, I asked myself a series of questions: Why expand? How will the expansion affect my current business? How much of an increase in car counts do we need in order to support the expansion? How much of an increase in revenue do we need to support the new mortgage? How will this affect the future of the property? Will the population in my area justify the expansion? Who is my competition? What legal steps do I need to take? Are there demog

September 13, 2008

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Expanding the Business: Step 5, Increase Market Share

In order for the expansion project to be successful, we need to increase revenue. With an additional 4 bays, we will have the opportunity to service more vehicles in a given day, but opportunity alone does not pay the bills. Filling those bays each day will be the challenge. I have put together a plan that will increase car counts by increasing our exposure in the community and by providing a while-you-wait service program. We have begun TV advertising the start of the summer and have alread

August 24, 2008

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Expanding the Business: Update!

Our building was approved by the Architectural Review Board last week, August 5, 2008. This is the final step in obtaining the actual building permit. We actually started in June demolishing the old building which will be replaced by the new 4 bay facility. As stated in earlier entries, this building will add 4 bays to our existing 6. The new 4-bay building will be a separate structure where all our quick, while-you-service will be performed. Our existing 6 bay facility will be our actual repai

August 12, 2008

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Expanding the Business; Step 4, The New Model

Once we made the decesion to expand, we realized we needed to create a business model that will take us to the next level. One thing we did know. If we continue to conduct business the way we did in past, we would fail. Times have changed and motoring public has changed with it. There were three factors that we considered when we developed our new business model. First, cars last longer, don’t break down as much and don’t require the same amount of service and repair work the cars did year

August 1, 2008

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Expanding the Business; Update!

My bank loan for the construction project was approved last Thursday. That is a huge load off my mind. The money is not in my pocket yet; the bank still needs to do the appraisal, review the construction plans in detail and do an environmental impact study. I will let you in a few key things that made the loan process go smoother than expected. It occurred to me years ago that someday I might want to expand, purchase land or invest. To do this I would need money, lots of it. What I felt w

July 26, 2008

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Expanding the Business; Step 3: Create Vision, Create the Plan

Our first strategic meeting was held at the local Chili’s Restaurant. Over a few beers and burgers my team and I outlined our future. We talked about the business today and the business yesterday. We talked about our successes and our failures. We talked about how the business has changed in the past 10 years and where we believed the industry was headed. Prior to this meeting we interviewed many customers to find out what they wanted from our company. We asked them what they didn’t like and wha

July 21, 2008

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Expanding the Business; Step 2:You Can’t do it Alone

In the year prior to making the decision to grow the business and construct an additional 4 bays, I did extensive research in learning about franchise businesses, quick lubes, national chains and also big businesses such as Disney, GE, Starbucks, McDonalds and others. I wanted to find out why these businesses have a higher percentage of success and growth, as opposed to so many general independent repair shops that seem to struggle and plateau after a few years. I also visited many quick lu

July 19, 2008

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Expanding The Business, Step 1: Overcome Fear

My first step in making the decision to expand the business was to overcome fear. Fear holds people back from achieving their potential. For me, it was the fear of failure and fear of the unknown. This project was doing something that was out of my comfort zone. For over a year I thought of every excuse NOT to expand the business: Where do I find more techs? How will I afford the new mortgage? Why do I want to start this at my age? Do I really need to do this? Why do I want the additional

July 17, 2008

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Expanding The Business will take a different set of skills

28 years ago I made the choice to become a shop owner. For years prior to starting my business I worked hard to become a skilled mechanic. By the time I was 24 years old I was rebuilding engines, transmissions, solving the most complex electrical problems and became an ASE Master Tech. How did this benefit me when I went into business? NOT VERY MUCH! How did this help me with expanding the business and creating a new business model? NOT AT ALL! I opened in 1980 and after struggling for

July 16, 2008

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Expanding The Business, Adding 4 Bays

After working for more than 2 years, we finally have all the approvals for our expansion project. My business plan has been submitted to the bank and hope to hear from them soon. Our next step is to have the building designed approved, which we do not anticipate a problem. We now have 6 bays and will be adding four more bays, which will be a stand alone facility. This facility will accommodate all our while you wait customers and light service work. The repair work and bigger jobs will be d

July 15, 2008

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