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  #11  
Old 07-15-2021, 09:59 PM
Harpkatt Harpkatt is offline
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I've been building an A roadster,4 Cyl Hot rod for a while. I'm doing everything that I can to make it perfect. I'm hoping to use it as my sales pitch "look what I can do."
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  #12  
Old 07-16-2021, 10:42 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harpkatt View Post
I've been building an A roadster,4 Cyl Hot rod for a while. I'm doing everything that I can to make it perfect. I'm hoping to use it as my sales pitch "look what I can do."

The A roadsters can look good.

Will went wild on his 2-place with the rattle A engine. His build is on here.
Study up on fasteners, edges and such details .... aluminum racecar bodywork originated with aviation techniques ... and those air craftsmen who later went auto racing. (Jack Hagemann, Dick Troutman, Quinn Epperle) ...
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  #13  
Old 07-19-2021, 01:16 PM
Payupv8 Payupv8 is offline
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I am in the same boat. I have a regular job but want to get into the restoration business but only metal work, I don’t want to do turnkey builds I have been doing jobs on the side, nights and weekends I have one long term job that I am working towards finishing up. My goal is to turn it into a full time thing at some point I am trying to build my skill set to get better and faster.
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  #14  
Old 07-25-2021, 11:24 AM
Adam H Adam H is offline
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I can second every previous comment. I don’t deal with automotive work too much anymore - although I’m thinking of taking more on now. I do have a few restoration/ repair customers and do some work for film and television in addition to the actual items I produce.
Even with the “cushion” of a larger city and more opportunities for different sources of work, it still is very difficult and sometimes still very challenging because of the extreme overhead compared to a shop in a less urban market.
To the point made earlier, there’s no reality in reality TV.
The customers aren’t that nice (usually) or that patient OR that willing to pay .
The TV shows ( and I know this for a fact from working for certain networks) have trade out deals (I.e. free product for the builds in exchange for 5 seconds of air time,etc ) .
There are second teams and off camera teams that do a great deal of the actual work.I’m not saying the on camera talent doesn’t do anything, but part of their job is doing OTF’s ( talking to camera) ,still photos,etc. so they get pulled for things like wardrobe changes, hair,make up and can’t be there installing the new flares on the project bronco,etc.
In most cases the real money is in T-shirt’s,mugs,hats etc... not the jobs that come into their shops even after a show becomes successful.
Please don’t take this as me saying you believe everything you are watching on a show like AR- ( never worked on/for that show)it just makes it look like something it isn’t.
Sorry if I veered off topic a bit.
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  #15  
Old 07-26-2021, 03:56 AM
Jaroslav Jaroslav is offline
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Adam. You didn't turn anywhere. You are right in the subject.
Yes, it looks tempting, but the path to profit is very challenging. That's why I ironically divided it into the six categories. I also excluded the first three from my interest. Yes, I will talk to them nicely and friendly and refer them to far smarter colleagues. Count on the fact that someone is always smarter and can explain it to the customer better than you. If you do not get this job, do not consider it a loss. On the contrary, you have saved a lot of your time and subsequent worries.

If your customer does not respect you, there is no need to convince him to give you a job. He can always handle on his own and without you.
His motivation is completely different from yours. He solves the ego and his presentation and you solve the good result of your work. You would then like to be paid accordingly. Sometimes it works. But it is without guarantee.
If you have a lot of mortgages, you are trapped.
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  #16  
Old 07-26-2021, 06:48 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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in many ways, The tv show scene described above is a good metaphor to specialty hand work in general. There's so much to do to your "dream job" which seems peripheral (at first) to your goal of being a craftsman that its like a dream when you finally get to be in the shop/studio with tools in hand making like you want to be making...

To last and succeed, it's critical that you handle all the business responsibilities properly in conjunction with the actual craft work you yearn to do. Taxes, overhead, proper bidding, itemizing & write-offs to simultaneously acquire equipment with pre-tax dollars and lower taxable income, advertising (or not), customer & partnering business relations and so much more have to be done the right way. It's not fun, but such things cannot be avoided or neglected. Then, if you do it all right, you get to have some time on the tools in happy land.

Don't ask advice from some young business adviser who knows it all. Talk to actual btdt veterans who have succeeded in business. That might mean talking to a successful roofer or carpenter who sees you as no threat to his livelihood. As long as the business model and function is analogous, you can get a good perspective of what to do & not to do. They can also tell you about how employee paychecks always have to cash, even if yours doesn't.

This isn't meant to deter anyone. It's meant to prepare you to think ahead so you CAN make a good run at it. The big challenge is either doing it all yourself & getting it right or making enough money to pay other experts to help. Often it's a changing balancing act between these two extremes, which is as tough to do as having enough work & income to carry you between projects.
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