Top 20 RULES when starting an Auto Mechanic Shop | Must know business hacks

Casey Putsch talks about the top 20 rules and life hacks mechanics need to know before thinking of starting an auto business or shop. Whether it is a racing shop, restoration, tuner shop, restoration, daily driver cars, machining, paint and body, or welding these rules and concepts still apply. Doesn't matter if you are working on Ferraris and Lamborghinis or Ford trucks and Hondas, this is the MUST WATCH video!

Casey is also building the King Zero V12 supercar instead of doing a commercial for Avalon King ceramic coating because commercials are lame! HAHAHAHA!!! But ceramic coating still freaking works, so that's why he actually uses it in real life!

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[MrSageOlorin]

When I was in auto repair/maintenance school, one of my teacher's most common catchphrases was, " Don't spend 90% of your time trying to please the 10% of your customers that will never appreciate it. Cut them loose and let them be someone else's problem."

[kkknnniiiggghhhttt]

Nobody ever finishes the quote. "Jack of all trades, master of none, still better than a master of one"

[bryancohn]

I ran a race prep shop for 13 years, closed up after business crashed after 9/11. Didn't owe anyone a dime, no debt. I've worked for myself since 2008. My thoughts: 1 Adapt. Your business has to adapt to changes in its chosen market. In the 80's and 90's everyone made a great living on open wheel formula cars, S2000 and Spec Racers. In the 2000's and forward its all Miata. Not just Spec Miata but all classes that Miata can run. Adapt or die. 2. To Casey's point about profit, you can go broke working on your own project, why would you go broke working on someone else's project? 3. Don't make excuses, just do it. Seriously. Stop making excuses for not taking the chance on yourself. You know the difference between the person running their own business and you, who is still working for the man? They are brave enough to take the risk, to bet on themselves. What's the worst that can happen? Structure the business correctly and you risk little. Get off your ass and do it. 4. Find a mentor. A business mentor. A mechanic mentor. A life mentor. I've had so many its almost hard to count them, all had positive influence on me and my abilities to succeed. Now, get out from behind the computer and go build something!

[brianspenst]

The first rule is an important one. I do woodworking as a hobby. I have enough customers to keep it going as a hobby but if I went fill time I would run out of customers in less than a year. So I keep it as a hobby and enjoy it.

[DouglasClaude]

Don't go into business with family.... just don't. My two uncles were best friends and decided to do just that. We used to be a close family. Now they hate each other and the family is torn in two.

[ScottsSynthStuff]

9:49 oops, forgot to bleep that... :)

[mike]

Amen! I wish I could have shown this to my father at the end of WW-II when he got out of the Navy. He had developed his skills for bodywork, trusted most people and he taught everyone in the area who wanted to learn (College-educated, he went broke teaching in a one-room schoolhouse before the war) and gave back to his community even when his community wasn't doing its share. He wore himself out on cold concrete, no lift, painting without a mask and breathing asbestos dust. He was essentially worn out in terms of being a body man or mechanic.

He switched to selling wholesale auto parts, soon created his own business, but by the time he became comfortable owning another business, he quit smoking and died soon thereafter. If there had been people like you around to offer good advice A-Z, especially when it came to finances, how to manage customer debt and your own personal debt.

I like to believe he was a smart man, at least smart enough to get through college and he knew how to teach; however, he had no one to teach him skills necessary to profit from his abilities to repair bent and broken cars. In my field of teaching children, especially in the vocational trades that I am a strong advocate for, our research showed over and over that our graduates and those people in a trade in the area did not fail in sole proprietorships because they lacked the skills to do the job, they lacked the "job related skills" that were necessary to be successful a well-rounded, successful business person. I'm convinced and have been for years that there are many talented people out there with tremendous, innovative and maybe even groundbreaking skills who resign themselves to mediocre jobs under mundane circumstances because no one has ever helped them understand how talented they were, what their future could be and the absolutely essential "job related skills" necessary to succeed in and grow a sole proprietorship in a field that built a fire under them. I could go on and on more about how jealousy and fear in the business world suppresses young talent, but that's for another day...

[palmermonsen]

Yes! More Jacob! Great video, very informative even if you're not planning a shop but just a business in general.

[whatsnext]

I'm a construction contractor, so much you said is so true and applicable to any business...

[derekbicha]

Very much appreciate watching. Extremely useful to the point straight forward information that I absorbed well and will utilize going forward in many areas of my life. So, with all do respect. Thank you.

[noisydrift]

Man, that's a awesome way to put things în perspective, i had a garage, but when covid hit, i had to close, still recovering from a tumor, but you just sparked my passion again
God bless you!

[caroliner]

Very good explanation Casey. In my experiences with business ownership your employees can be just as difficult to work with as some troublesome customers are.
Our motto at Cash Pawn Auto Center was making friends, not just money, yeah right.

[vladpiranha]

Another Clint Eastwood quote comes to mind: "A man's got to know his limitations".

[jaideepsinghsidhu]

It is so great to hear you talk, transparently. Also, totally love your energy!
I have been thinking of starting my own gig for a while. Being a customer of the auto service repair industry myself, I first hand know the pains of someone going to a dealer/shop for repairs or even preventative maintenance. So, I have been thinking on starting a small auto-repair business and then try to grow it.
However, with no knowledge or experience in fixing cars (apart from being technically inclined), would it be suicide to start such a business, especially with today's shortage of labor in general and of skilled labor in particular?
Its not a dream per se, but rather a problem that I see all around and try to fix it.
Thanks!

[SchrodingersBox]

Great presentation. Man you really nailed it with “we live in a time where people don’t want you to be successful”. That’s so true. If you work hard, sacrifice, do the right thing, be responsible, get educated, and execute with purpose and become successful as a result, there will be about 1/2 the population who do none of those things but somehow think you are a bad person for being successful AND on top of that, you somehow owe them!!
One rule that might fit in your agenda is “sometimes you have to fire a customer”. It’s not very common but once in a while you can have customers that are such a resource drain that it is a better business decision to separate from them.

[svallin]

Serious wisdom being dropped. Awesome advice. Love your content!

[garrettarney]

I’m a auto mechanic now that specializes in diagnostic with Harley factory training and General Motors factory training planning on getting mopar factory training and Ford factory training to then try and open my own shop in about 6 years. Want to plan on marking it as a domestic specialist shop specializing in diagnostics. It does take a lot of planning and I’m already trying to do pre planning to help and it’s a lot and the info that we need to find isnt always easy to find. Thanks for the video

[LMM]

Great video, I’ve been in business for 8 years and agree with everything on this list!

[andreasokol]

Thank you sir for you words! I am helping my husband with his mobile mechanic business. This really helped me understand his side of thinking and how to better assist him.

[i.am.ronin.]

This video is very valuable💯. Definitely learned some things.