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HTI.WERKSTATT
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HTI.WERKSTATT

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Hey guys, I'm finally getting all my ducks in a row over at the shop. (Well for the most part). I should be receiving my LLC paperwork from the state of Ohio any day now. The DBA will take another couple weeks. As you all may have read in some of my prior postings we aren't a high volume shop at this point in time, but we are growing steadily. I'm loosing my best technician other than myself on Friday of this week. And come monday I have a college student with two years of automotive tech training from the local community college starting on Monday, he's only going to be part time until he finishes his education at the community college, as I have agreed to of course work him around his school schedule. As well I may need to bring in another full time technician, although I'm still having trouble finding one who is worth a darn. More on that later.

 

 

Well since my shop is about to be official within the next couple days, and I'm hiring technically my first employee. Where in the world do I start as far as accounting/book keeping? I can't afford to pay an accountant at this point in time, and I have the experience of doing my own 1099 taxes for the past 5 years, so I understand the basics of profit and loss, etc... My biggest issue here is not only going to be book keeping, profit and loss, but also: payroll, federal, state, city, social security, and workers compensation, and etc for my employees... What do some of you small guys use, or have used when first starting up.

 

I know from reading a lot on here I should just hire someone in charge of my quote un quote HR dept, service writing dept, etc... but as well I'm not in full bloom as many of you guys are, and need to save as much cash for the business as possible at this point. We still need more equipment and etc... Any help or words of wisdom here will be much appreciated guys. And as far as this forum goes should be a wealth of information for future use of any new comers, possibly a good "sticky"...

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

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      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
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