And that's service differentiation within the market. Which is always excellent.
And that's service differentiation within the market. Which is always excellent.
Disclaimer: Didn't read the whole thread, so apologies. I've been on vacation since the 8th.
I am about to recommend a place I don't necessarily like. Right here in Harrisburg PA. Housing has ballooned during the pandemic, but you once it blows over you can find a nice, perfectly-livable house for under 6 figures. I bought mine four years ago for $87k and it's a small 2-bed 1-bath gem. Cheap to heat and cool, and it had been flipped in 2012, so all the appliances were relatively new. Right now, my house would likely sell for $125k, and there is a markedly reduced supply. Plenty to rent in the $850-1000 range until you find something.
The job market around here is pretty crazy. Between Harrisburg and Carlisle and down toward York is turning into a warehouse farm. Amazon, Chewy, and every trucking company known to man has monster warehouses here for their logistics branches. There are billboards everywhere advertising $1000 sign on bonuses, good salaries, and benefits. If you just need work until you find something better, you're already hired.
Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Philly are definitely mostly blue, but the rural areas are pretty hardcore red. Suburban areas like mine are a 50/50 mix. There is a pretty good Libertarian faction around Harrisburg. My next door neighbor still has her Trump sign on her house and I have a pride flag on mine, but we love each other to death.
Our alcohol laws are changing, but slowly. We're somewhere between half of Utah and a Baptist Church. Some convenience stores actually are allowed to have beer now. Shocker.
I have lived in L.A., Austin TX, Tampa area, Miami area, New Orleans, Evansville IN, Pittsburgh, and some shorter times in other cities. Your desire to not be on a right or left coast removes L.A. from the list. Hill country TX is fantastic, but getting bloody expensive, and I don't recall the job market being wonderful. New Orleans is pretty expensive, but some of the outlying towns (Slidell for instance) are more affordable. Pittsburgh is really booming. I didn't really like it, but that is probably a bit flavored by the fact that it's where I got a divorce. Housing was dirt cheap there when we bought in 2010. I bought a 3 bed 2 bath house on 1+ acres for $51,900. It needed some work, but it was live-in ready. For many years Pittsburgh had a complacent feeling to it as if everyone was below average and that was all they wanted to be. That is changing rapidly, and if you want to get in it, I would go sooner rather than later before more Millenials and Gen Z figures it out and drives prices up.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, you missed the majoritty of the thread here. I wasn't looking for a place to move to, I was looking for a possible career change and that moving wasn't out of the question. It was supposed to be more "what job" not "where". Being GRM that devolved into me trying to start a side-gig doing something I loved doing and mixing it with my hobbies.
Sooo.... the answer could be miata :)
I mean, there have been miata's on my trailer and in my garage but they are most definitely not the answer.
Had a very fruitful luncheon today. Things appear to be slowly progressing in the right direction. Should have a meeting next week with some higher ups to discuss further.
15 minutes I'll have my second meeting. A littlemore formal thistime around. It's going to be wierd going in as an outsider after almost 6 years as an insider.
Ok I can't read meeting requests... 23 hours abs 30 minutes will be my meeting.
I've missed the updates over the past two weeks, but I think there is a market for a more customized oil analysis. I run a high mileage fleet, and once a year I'd love to get a read on engine oil and transmission fluid samples to ensure I'm not throwing good money after bad on any of our vehicles. I have a pretty constant flow of maintenance/repairs lined up, and it would be great to know if a major problem was lurking before I dumped a bunch of time/money into repairs.
In reply to dj06482 (Forum Supporter) :
So how many can I put you down for? 
Great meeting today. Already have the quote from them. Now to do the work on my side.
I want to say thanks to all the enablers here for getting me moving on this. IT's going to be awesome.... or suck. Either way, I will have tried to make something of my own and however it ends I'll be better for it.
In reply to bobzilla :
Personally, I think it's gonna be awesome. But even if not, I'm quite sure it's not gonna suck! I don't think you'll ever look back and think "ya know, I shouldn't have tried that"
I glad to help enable, and am sincere about being a customer. With only 2 cars, one diesel 350, and 2 (maybe) bikes, I won't be making you rich, but I'll at least be "A" customer
Even if it goes awesome, there will be times when it sucks. As long as sucking resulting in learning and improving of processes, it's then part of organizational growth, development and needed for future success. The sucking can lead to awesomeness.
In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :
I hope no one ever asks you for pep talks. 
Way to go for it bob. Cheering for you. I think a simple site with an embedded form would work great for you.
if you need help with hosting I can put you on my account at dreamhost while you are building your business.
In reply to 03Panther :
That likely sounded way worse than intended. Even if something is awesome 95% of the time and is vastly successful and highly profitable there is 5% of suckage involved. That suckage is opportunity for growth and improvement. It's not a bad thing, especially if recognized and used as a point of emphasis on evolution and improvement instead of being complacent. If a person or entity embraces the suckage and then listens to it to find out why and how it occurs and makes adjustments, then it goes away. That builds trust within an organization whether it be clients or employees.
I strongly feel that it is going to be awesome. But realistically there will be hurdles at times, those hurdles and that suckage doesn't mean stop. It means think about how things can be done in a different way or how things can be approached to make it more awesome.
I fully expect that this venture will be beneficial. Both profitable, of benefit for the customer base, And I think that Bob will enjoy life more. I feel that his outlook and expectations along with that of everyone in this thread is realistic and we're not drinking Kool-Aid and merely being supportive of an idea that we think would be nice but is infeasible. I feel this is 100% viable, otherwise I wouldn't have jumped on the train earlier.
I also learned last week that even though my CLS expired at the end of June, I still have 3 months (thanks covid!) to meet the renewal requirements.
Ok, so I have pricing figured out. Logistics for processing and submitting. I have a name decided. Now I need a logo, a website and to create the business itself.
weve (wife and I and sone of y'all) about an LLC. Seems to be fairly straight forward. I believe that I'm going to need a separate bank account set up strictly for the business. Only business transactions to be processed. Orders, shipping, supplies etc all through the separate account. Still need to find a web host but it looks like the domain name e in looking at is open and google offers KF for $12/mo.
am I in the right track? I think so but I'm in such uncharted waters for me. I know this is all kids play to many but I dint want to f up this early in the game.
Educate yourself on tax deductions. Put your internet, in the name of the LLC, your cell phones, have a specified home office space that is specifically for the LLC, etc. It is all tax deductible. Every single business expense should be recorded, receipts kept, etc.
I would recommend every cent you spend on this, keep the receipt/invoice, save it all to a file on your computer and cloud, and document it in Excel at a minimum. It'll make tax time much easier.
In reply to mtn :
I replied to this before but I think the spotty cell service lost it. Those are all great ideas that I will definitely do.
last night I e-filed with the state and created an EIN with the feds. I have a new email for the business set up as well. As soon as the state provides me the approval and paperwork I plan on opening a meeting separate account with our bank. Then I can set up electronic payment options. From there I need to get something online and I'll be live.
how am I doin?
In reply to bobzilla :
You're doing it spot on proper. :Thumbs up:
Emails have been sent, this is 10000% a go. I still need to get some form of web presence and payment forms other than cash going. I've got at least another 2 weeks before they have my account ready to roll but maybe by Mid-Ohio Grid Life event I may be close.
Once again, thanks to all the enablers here that pushed me over that ledge. I'll either thank you all or curse you later... but thanks for getting me motivated. IT's the best thing going on right now and I needed it.
In reply to bobzilla :
This is going to seem silly and I may have said it before even, but I'm proud of you.
The way you've approached this the way you've planned the way you've executed, The way you're not certain in a fashion that shows concern and wanting to make sure that you're doing things properly for success. Those all show that you're going to be successful at this because you're willing to make adjustments and you're willing to listen and you're willing to analyze instead of just jumping.
I'm also proud of you beyond those reasons because to do this you had to take control and initiative during a time where control has been lost. It feels good to have control and take ownership of something, You don't feel that you're just merely along for the ride. It hopefully puts you in a better place and there's nobody else that can do it for you. That's the difficult part, the incredibly difficult part, it's the hurdle that most people never get over.
I look forward to becoming a client and I also hope that you have decals.
Thank you for those kind words. I don't hear many at the current place of employment.... I should be able to TM the name with the state tonight. Once that's done I'll post up a contest for designing a logo. The sneak peak is the logo should have a ginger lion in color.
things have progressed but not as quickly as Id hoped. Financials are ready but I still need to figure out the website hosting things.
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