Online Mentoring

[cathniv]

I am currently working on a business plan for a new business which will consist of renovation of second hand furniture and homewares (no antiques)
As i am new to this field i am looking for someone in a similar business interested in mentoring me online.
Basically just someone i can ask about trivial or day to day things.I am hoping to get some accurate information off people in the field to help prepare my plan and have a better understanding of the costs,market etc.I am in Australia NSW.

[Shane Watson]

Goodluck, there ain't much money to be made in it. Especially for us professionals who train for years and then get under qouted by backyard hacks who have no idea.

[cathniv]

Shane thanx for the good luck wish but there is money to be made if done properly and well planned.I am not into strictly restoring more so redecorating old furniture not antiques and it will be done on a larger scale with the correct systems in place for maximum efficency.

[Shane Watson]

Not matter how you approach this industry, the cost of running a legimate operation make it next to impossible to compete with unskilled shonky homebased business's. They have no overheads. The don't charge GST. There work is mostly cash based therfor tax free. Etc etc. & as you state that you want to do this on a larger scale & done properly I assume you don't fit into this catagory.

I agree though, there is money to be made, not much, but some. But your skills both in the workshop & in the office need to be sharp & high quality or you will not develop a good reputation which is a neccisity for a business to last. For a business to survive you need to look long term, not just short term & the only way for that to happen is to provide a survice better than your opposition & at a very comparable rate & yes that means competing with backyarders!

Unqualified workmanship also needs to be addressed, how can you market your work as being 'done properly' if you havn't recieved the training & necessary skills to do the job properly in the first place, as opposed to just doing an ok looking job. Consumers generally can spot somthing shonky & they ain't affraid to spread the word.

Hey, don't think I am trying to put you off it. If your generally looking into setting up a furniture restoration business or whatever you like to catagorise it as, then I honestly wish you all the best & hope you retire rich. But you asked for opinons from people in the industry & thats what I am giving you. No matter how golden an opportunity may look, it most likly will tarnish. The only way to avoid this is to do your homework & prepare. Market research is also an invaluble tool. I wouldn't set up a new business without going deep into market research. I see too many people think that its easy to restore/ repair/ redecorate etc furniture & think they can make there millions then after a couple of months in business find themselfs back in the handout line. Theres sooo much more to buisness than the actually hands on labour & don't think the government wants you to succeed either. They make life very difficult for the small business owner.

You've made a good move asking for opinons. And now you know about this resource, make good use of it. We are all here to help.

Cheers!

[ubeaut]

And so the mentoring begins.

Welcome to the Bulletin Board Cathy. I'm a bit curious as to what you mean by - not into strictly restoring more so redecorating old furniture - Are you going to paint it then stick sea shells on it or something like that? Or do you intend to antique with milk paint and paint flowers or similar onto chairs etc?

To quote another Queenslander (not Shane) "plase axplain". Without knowing what you intend doing it will be pretty hard for anyone to mentor you.

Have you had formal training of any sort eg. Polishing or restoration courses, art deegree or similar?

When you say, "larger scale with correct systems in place", what exactly do you mean? There will be a team of people working? You are fitting spray booths, stripping baths etc.?

Sorry to sound like a pain but these things would all be nice to know especially for a prospective mentor.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with Shane re the back yarders, they are ruining not only finishing/restoration, but also woodturning, carving and many more trades. A lot of it is helped along by the bane of the professional, the Life Style show.

I must also take some credit for a number of back yarders (in Victoria) over the years because of classes I used to run and "A Polishers Handbook" (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/book.html) But at least most of them at least had a pretty good idea what they were doing, and wouldn't endanger peoples health or even lives, with shoddy workmanship.

Cheers - Neil http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/smile.gif

PS Is your business plan being done for the NEIS scheme. If so you really need a lot more than an online mentor to make a go of it.

If nothing else you should be able to get lots of informative (and sometimes not so informative) help from this Bulletin Board. As Shane said: We are all here to help.

[Iain]

And to top everything else off, I have my own business and have done since 1993, it took about two years to establish myself and achieve a reputation.
Have about a years salary put aside and it helps if your missus works.
I'm OK now but it was a struggle to get going, all the expertise in the world and no one knows you are there.
I am not in woodwork of any kind but the rules are exactly the same, bloody hard and at times heartbreaking.
And don't trust the government experts who offer to guide you, they don't have a bloody clue.
Think about it logically, a $40K a year public servant advising you how to make $100K.
It a bit like me offering you my system to win lotto for $20.00, if it worked I certainly would not be offering it to you...

[cathniv]

Ian i am sorry to hear you are doing it so tough.
I realise business can be heartbreaking my husband & i have owned/run two small busineses ourselves and there certainly are times you wonder why you do it.
My husband will be working while i have the business (role reversal) so that helps.
As for the government well yeh i agree,They are good to get you started but no help once your up and running.

[cathniv]

Thankyou for the interest and advice.
Where do i start?
Firstly no i'm not through NEIS i am doing a Business Management course at Tafe which requires a detailed business plan by the end of the course.This is just one step on the road to getting there as i have worked on this idea for 6yrs now (kids!)I am trained in Myob & sml bus accounting,Have done furniture restoration courses though i will have trained people for this.I have been involved with art & craft of all differant types from an early age,.I have worked in Retail & Wholesaling along with office work & owned/run two small busineses to date.

My business will be based on recycled goods (not only wooden products) from furniture & homewares to art (sold on consignment)giftware,kids toys & soft furnishings.Each item will be restored or redecorated using painted finishes such as crackling,distressing,ragging adding mouldings etc.
I am looking more at changing the look or uses of items than restoring to former glory though good pieces shall be restored of course.
By systems i mean a complete operations manuals detailing the systems to be followed for everything within the business.I will be using a two man team to start with and introducing a spray booth as we expand
( dipping baths not needed due to the unpredictability of the range)
By larger scale i mean a plan to have four stores within 6-7yrs with a central workshop and distribution center.
I have done extensive market research & am currently focusing on the psychographic profile of my target market.
As for the backyarders and lifestyle shows i think it is wonderfull for people to be getting involved in the process.It not only gives them a sense of achievement but it helps other industries along the way.I understand the devastation it can cause to the restoration and other trades but they have to move with the times put strategies in place to cope with these changes.
Maybe some of them are after the wrong market and need to revise their own business plans and goals.
My business will be offering services to these DIYs along with product and i shall be constantly revising & updating my business plan to suit the needs.
I hope i have answered some of your questions.As for mentoring i am mostly interested in knowing things like costs,waste disposal,anything on the day to day stuff that is easily overlooked.
Thanx again

[Iain]

Hey!!!! I'm not doing it tough, I'm actually doing quite well, what I was saying was that it was tough for the first couple of years.
Now I'm looking forward to retirement..

[cathniv]

Good for you.
I'm glad to hear it.

[ubeaut]

I have a friend who has a large and very successful candle making business. She had a couple of sidelines that were quite innovative and brought in around $100,000 pa. A 5 minute segment on a lifestyle show stopped sales of 1 sideline completely taking almost $65,000 per year from her books.Her sales didn't drop they stopped completely from the day of the show.

Not to worry..... she's a great business woman and with the ability to diversify so she concentrated on the other sideline and developed a third bringing the projected extra earnings for the year back up to around $90,000. Nine months later in the same week 2 different Life Style Shows showed the viewers how to make their own versions of her products. Instantly sales of these 2 products stopped.

She no longer has any sidelines and concentrates entirely on the candles. Her candle business turns over around $2.5 million per year so the loss of these sidelines were of no great consequence to her, but to someone who was relying on them for a living it would have been devastating.

This is just one isolated instance. There are many people earning a living from their craft work. But over the last few years there a lot of them have gone back on the dole (from whence manyof them came) and largely because their particular money making hobby or craft has been demistified because of these shows. Have you noticed how even the Sunday markets are no longer brimming over with all the small craft workers.

Life Style Shows..... Cathy, you may live to hate them. Whatever you do don't be too innovative or at least make it almost impossible to copy, because they'll get you.

This is not sour grapes from me. I am not and will not be effected by them, apart from the fact that they insist on using overseas finishing products instead of the home grown All Australian products, of which there are a lot.

BACK TO THE MENTORING ISSUE
Maybe your best bet will be to ask the pertinent questions in these forums and get the opinions of a few rather than rely on those of just one.

By doing this you may also be helping others who are a bit shy or had never thought to ask the questions that you may pose.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/smile.gif

[Roly]

Very interesting discusion this. I will retire in two years, three hundred and thirty days (holidays etc not included yet). Anyway my dream is to open a woodworking gallery for the display and sale of local and imported (From within Australia only) woodworking products. My simple question is, Is it worthwhile to go into this from your opinions. I would not mind a bit of input into this at all. I am not traditionally qualified but have extensive experience beginnning from instruction recieved from dad. I believe my work is at the level of those put out by others I have seen in different galleries but I intend to mainly display the work of others. I will admit that ego will make me display some of my own. How about an opinion or two about that please.

Roly

[cathniv]

Thanks Neil,
I was aware of this problem but i shall now be looking into it further.I believe it to be a real threat to particular parts of my business and as the first store would be started in a small town i think this may be a bigger problem then i once thought.
Thankyou for your help.

[Shane Watson]

Another piece of valuable advice is to get deposits. Not always necessary & not applicable in direct retail environments but never be backyard in asking for deposits...... Also helps weed out the tyre kickers from the serious buyers...

Cheers!

[Brian]

Dear Cathniv: (American view)

Writing a business plan, even if start-up capital isn't needed, is like running nude through town with "willy" slapping your thighs while wishing he were some place else.

Why? You are obviously passionate with your idea. However doing a game (or business) plan forces you to know whether or not you should move forward. Most of all it forces you to evaluate risk! Are you really a risk taker?

Even if you have a viable product, more than half your time during the first two years MUST be devoted to MARKETING and BUILDING your business. Who's going to do the WORK. 80 hours per week is a safe estimate. Iain and Shane have already responded to this over riding necessity.

A business plan is (as we say) a piece of cake. You can get all you will ever need to know from www.hoovers.com (http://www.hoovers.com) . The tough part is filling in the form -- realistically!

So you must focus on "stuff" which may be alien to your experience set. This is ALL good, because even if you never open the business doors, you will understand why you can only make a "bouquet from flowers within reach".

I hope I have in, some way, influenced you on the decision-making process needed to make a GO-NO GO business decision which (I believe) is your fundamental help request.

No one can help you with this except your gut! I would never try to talk you out of your dream. It would be better for you to fail and learn from it than wonder and suffer the stress of "What if I had tried?"

I sincerely hope my slant has helped you.

Brian Swift


------------------
Brian Swift
http://www.pooltableplans.com