The Upholstery Forum

I’m at that point where I’m too busy for have a full time job with upholstery on the side. But not busy enough to make ends meet without the full time job. The busy is only busy cause it’s not full time if that makes sense. At what point did you take the plunge those of you that do this full time. What where some steps you took to bring in more work other than word of mouth?

@Cody

You really have to way those options. Being a business owner has been a trying experience. Full time Upholstery may mean more investment in real estate, operating costs, advertising etc... When the phone is ringing and the work is coming in this is fantastic. Really consider things like a downturn in the economy or just slowing down in general. Basically look at your current Upholstery income and chop it in half. That would be a realistic approach to looking at income generated from Upholstery after taxes, expenses etc...

Does your job have a pension plan, paid sick days?, vacation pay? Disability pay if you get ill or injured?A full 40 hour work week?


Food for thought.

Are they coming to you because you do a good job for less than what you would have to charge as a business owner ?

@BigRig right now I work at a body shop doing pretty much all aspects of the business. But small town body shops don’t offer anything in the way of benefits. No 401k, insurance, paid sick leave. I do get a week paid vacation, and disability that I’m hoping I’ll never need. I did work another job before this for many years until getting married and kids etc and moving away from the cities, to the small town we both grew up in which has an amazing school system. (No metal detectors needed to enter) With that Job I made the most of my 401k and have since been investing with a reliable investor for it to continue to grow without me adding anymore to it weekly. For insurance I’m also lucky enough to have a wife 18yrs into the military and that covers me. I also have other avenues besides upholstery to fall back in like restoration work, custom fabrication, and custom paint/airbrushing. I was thinking of focusing on upholstery as it’s needs less space, overhead and all that.
Like you say sometimes there is the down times. It’s feast or famine in the collision industry often. But I’m working 40hr weeks also.

@hapyrdr that’s a possibility. I like to think it’s a combination of both quality and being able to charge less as I can do it from home and not worrying about the job feeding my family etc. but at the same time I can’t people think this is an excuse for doing work cheaper. Very good points form both of you to weigh out.

@Cody I am currently in a similar situation with The Lucky Needle. I would love to be able to focus %100 on the business but its not enough to to make ends meet yet. I understand the frustration and anxiousness.

My suggestion to you would be to raise your prices. Unless your already charging comparable prices to the top shops in town. Your in a good position now to raise your prices and build a better customer base because you have the security of your full time job to support a loss in business. Also start booking jobs out farther. There are lots of shops that have a year plus of work booked out. You can do the same thing. Your in a good position to start building a strong business now while your expenses are low and have consistent income. Set your self up for success before you make the leap. Get clear on how much money you need to make monthly in your business before you leave you job. Save up a nice safety fund for when things don't go as planed.

As far as bringing more work in other than word of mouth. Most important thing I think is build a website. You need to have a website showing off your work that people go look at before they call. Think about it. When was the last time you used a business with out checking out their website first? I know I wont even consider calling a business without a website.
Add your business to all the online local listing sites like yellow pages, yelp, etc Ive gotten a lot of customers from this.
I also suggest expanding outside of just auto upholstery. I always focus on Auto , Marine and Commercial furniture. Ive always been able to make good money on these types of jobs. And it helps limit your exposure to just cars. Plus the skills are the same so why not.

This forum topic on pricing might help you as well. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14

I hope this helps.

This is fantastic. A good advise. it's always good to have a customer base.

@Cody,

Your in a wicked position, it all goes hand in hand. To me it sounds like you could have a rocking non-stop shop!!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I don’t think this is something I’m going to jump into right away, more something I’ve been working on for a few years and finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

@John I know what you mean about branching out. Maybe it’s cause I have a full time job, but I’ve been picky with taking work on. I do some boats but don’t like them for some reason and really think about the project before taking them on. I have recently branched out to the hospitality industry and been doing bar stools and booths for a great lady/bar owner in town. My go to which I didn’t think would be is motorcycle/snowmobile/atv seats. Depends on the season.

I do have a website but am terrible with updating or maintaining it. Been over a year, I should do that. I’m not sure how to get listed on yelp or any of those other sites you mentioned. I use Instagram and Facebook the most.

As of now it’s just me and if push comes to shove my dad comes and helps where he can with upholstery. Usually tearing things apart some patterning, he excels with the auto body and mechanical aspect of classic and customs. We’ve always wanted to do a father son thing and with him being retired and not so worried about income as he gets pension. I don’t have to pay him as much lol.

Long post sorry. Just thinking out loud really

@BigRig id like to think so but money here in small towns is harder to get out the clutches of those who have it to get custom work done. I’ve been asked multiple times how will my money work for me on projects.

What do you others do during your day job?

Looks like your well on your way to getting there @Cody It will happen. I know what you mean seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Thanks for sharing your story. Were all here to help any way we can.

When I'm not doing The Lucky Needle stuff I work for different race car teams around the country. But like you I am working on phasing that out. I shared my whole story in this forum topic if your interested in reading it.

@John yes post a link to the story if you don’t mind.

Look for those niche markets, it’s surprising what’s out there. If you can supplement with things like restaurant seating or medical reupholster it can turn you from part time to full time.

I live in a very small town that’s pretty isolated but niche markets make up the most of my business. Look hard at your interests and sports and see if there’s something you can manufacturer that no one else is doing yet.

@Cody

I completely understand the small town situation. Heck my shop is almost 20 minutes from the nearest "town" and I specialize in Class 8 truck repair and fabrication. I've found that social media is actually a really big player anymore in the "custom" world. Heck I know I find myself checking out peoples work and projects on Facebook and Instagram while I'm waiting on glue or filler or fiberglass to dry. I know I've gotten a few jobs just off of people seeing my work on those platforms. My wife finally got our website up and going. Cost a little money and not sure how long it will take to pay off. Great thing about the social media stuff is most the time you can get a lot of exposure for free. Especially if you've got friends that don't mind sharing your posts about stuff.

Just my 2 cents.

@Cody,

Massive recession in my area.

BigRig wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 5:34 am @Cody,

Massive recession in my area.

Where's that at ? I've actually been seeing more stuff pick up around me.

Cody wrote: ↑Fri Jul 20, 2018 7:37 pm @John yes post a link to the story if you don’t mind.

oops sorry I meant to in that post but guess I forgot.
Here it is. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=63&hilit=never+sleeps

@SmokinSCustoms ,

The Country North of you. You guys usedto be a main buyer of petro and now are more of a competitor so it was kinda like the rug being ripped out from under our feet. My livelyhood is far from the oil and gas industry but sales have declined massively as a trickle down effect.


I am doing Big Rig Upholstery for service trucks and the work is coming in as long as the price is low. I am resoursefull so have found ways to compensate for the bargain pricing.


I am loving your work, have two interiors coming up all have to be done off site and installed on site.

@BigRig

Dang, well I hope things pick up for ya. I got a front suspension setup from 12gaugecustoms up your way not long ago, So Canada got some Midwest American $$ out of that deal haha. I can't believe some of the crazy stuff I've seen from up your way watching that "Heavy Rescue 401" and "Highway through Hell" you guys have some crazy weather. We just get the occasional tornado or 70+ straight line wind.

@SmokinSCustoms ,

Just lots of snow, the worst is the cold Iron and plastic crack in snow and it gets costly.

@John hey thanks for sharing the link to your story. Sorry it took me so long to read it. Been a crazy past few weeks, but that’s another story for later lol.

Also, it’s cool to see others send work to people on this forum. Makes it more of a family than anything. Keep it up everyone

Thanks @Cody!!
I can certainly relate to crazy weeks. Hope all is good and your getting some rest here and there.