gremlin76

I live in a town of 9,000 people and work at the local high school. A few days ago I sent out a district wide email saying that I would do basic tuneups for $20. So far, I have 8 bikes lined up, with new inquiries everyday.

I offered to adjust gears, brakes and bearings, clean the bike, and do a safety inspection and test ride. So I figure maybe 20 minutes of work per bike. The closest bike shop is 45 minutes away, charges $50 for the same service, and has a wait of about a week. I also offered free pickup/delivery at any school, since all 5 are within 2 square miles.

And I'm no noob, I wrenched at shops for 15 years until about 4 years ago, have most of the tools and a stand. Looks like some good beer money for now!

Let me hear your comments, I'm expecting somebody to flame me... Constructive criticism is good. Anybody else ever done this kind of thing?

roy5000x2

Only 20 minutes?

I mean yeah, some bikes need all of 5 minutes for a derailleur adjustment, but others require 20 minutes to get a frozen bottom bracket unstuck. Otherwise, as long as you can stay organized, it sounds like a great way to make some spare change!

JanMM

You use the school system email for advertising? They OK with that?
Any other avenues available for getting the word out? To attract other potential customers.

wrk101

There are always a couple of people advertising repair work on my local Craigs List. Can't beat a free ad.

Consider flipping a few bikes as well, as eventually, if you keep doing this, people will ask you for bikes as well. And flipping bikes makes great fill in work when you are in between repairs.

Good luck!

fholt

I don't want to buzzkill - but I would ask if you have liability coverage in case one of your $20 customers has a crash and wants to blame you? Buying representation (even if you're completely in the right) will erase every $20 tuneup you will ever do, and then some.

Torchy McFlux

Registered your business? If not, you could be in violation of some laws. IRS might want to talk to you.

MikeWinVA

A basic word of advice, don't ever sell on price. I ran my own service based engineering business for several years. There is always someone out there who will do it cheaper.

Advertise and promote quality, 2 decades of professional bike repair experience, etc. Advertise on bulletin boards in stores (a lot of supermarkets, restaurants, barber shops have them at the entrance). Get a little business card you can tape, tack up or leave places. See if there is a local penny paper and also list the service on Craigslist. Keep advertising until you are so busy that you need to hire help. Once you get the ball rolling it is easier to keep it rolling than to start it from a stop (momentum rules seem to apply to business). Get a copy of Guerrilla Marketing: https://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Mark.../dp/0395906253 .

Do you have goals or is this just to make a few bucks? Is the goal a retail store front? If so, write up a business plan...it is a road map to get where you want to go.

Keep clean books: Get a copy of Quickbooks, file tax paperwork as required. As long as you do business in your name, and keep records, you can file under your SSN for taxes as a sole proprietor. You might have local and state tax issues read: https://www.state.vt.us/tax/pdf.word....tobustaxes.pdf . Good luck!

HillRider

+1. At the very least get a large "Umbrella" personal liability policy. Also, you will have to report your income and pay both the employer and employee parts of the Social Security withholding tax on your income if you want to do it properly and if there is enough income to attract the attention of the IRS.

jputnam

A *personal* umbrella is just that, personal. Read the policy and you'll probably find an explicit exclusion for business liability of any kind.

Depending on your state and insurance company, you might even find your homeowners and umbrella nonrenewed if they know you're running an uninsured home-based business.

jputnam

More on the insurance thread, if you're going to sell bikes as well as repair services, make sure your insurance covers both. If anyone crashes a bike, third hand years after you sold it, you could still be included in the suit.

Grand Bois

It's called self-employment. You are only taxed on your profit, if any. You can deduct all of your expenses.

gremlin76

Taxes, insurance, liability, registering a business... What happened to the good old days when a guy could just turn a few wrenches in his garage and make a few bucks?

I checked when I bought the house, and I am actually in a residential/commercial zone. Thinking ahead about a bike shop or an art gallery. Insurance has been on my mind, but mostly what would happen if somebodies bike got stolen while at my house. I know I could probably be more legally responsible in the business aspect, but I'm just a guy trying to provide a service that is hard to find around here, and affordable to the local residents.

cs1

In a word lawyers. I'm sure your local trial attorney is just salivating at the fact you're working on bikes without insurance. I'm an insurance which is why I know. After an accident the first thing the attorney requests is a copy of your policy. If there's no insurance then they initiate an "asset check." That's a fancy term for getting ready to take your house. Don't laugh I've seen it happen twice in the last 3 years.

A GL, general liability policy usually pays cost to defend. Your homeowners policy won't if you have a business. Even if you win you're going to go broke from legal fees. Seen that happen too.

I'm not trying to be a killjoy but I wouldn't wrench anything but my own bikes. That's just me.

Lawrence08648

I can't clean my chain, chainrings, cassette, tension and jockey wheels, and derailieur in 20 minutes let along the whole bike and the adjustments?

gremlin76

It must be different where I live. People help each other out and don't worry about getting sued. We help each other cut down trees, work on cars, repair roofs, and all kinds of other "dangerous" things. Sometimes for free, sometimes for cash, sometimes for whatever else in return. Beer is often involved, sometimes even bacon.

We are all acquaintances, and often work at the same place, or our relatives work at the same place. Or we are just friends or neighbors. How ever we know each other and help each other, I've never heard about a lawsuit as a result from somebody helping somebody else.

I'm guessing you guys mentioning insurance and lawyers live in a big city. Out here in the country, things need to get done, and we get things done. We don't have some strange dude work on our bike because we are too cheap to have the nearest shop do it, we have a guy we know work on our bike because we know his wife and trust him.

Good example- We have a car repair shop across the street. My wife works with the owners wife. We own the house the car shop owner used to own. We are free to hike on their property. They do a ton of little car repairs for us, and we pay them with home baked food like cookies. We pay them cash for bigger jobs. If they ever didn't fix something right, why the hell would we sue them? Lawyers aren't the best way to solve problems, at least around here.

Anyways, sorry if you live somewhere that personally sucks and you don't know Dick from Harry. Here, if you trust me to fix your bike, it's because we know each other somehow and if I **** it up then you'll tell everybody that I suck and give me a bad reputation, which is worse than being sued. At least in this small town.

Torchy McFlux

Sounds like a nice little socialist utopia. Good luck with that.

operator

Sounds like you've never actually lived in the real world before. People will **** you in the ass if you let them.

ryker

Maybe you would have better luck posting your question on the bulletin board of your local post office instead of on the internet.

Ingleside

But... but... suing is the American way!

Sounds like you as long as you keep the bikes safe you'll be ok in your parts of the country. Out here people are itching to sue your pants off the second you blink at them. Its that attitude that I feel has wrecked out society.

illwafer

let's not even worry about the liability/legal issues at play here.

if you are looking to help the community (co-op style), then you are doing a great job. $20 barely covers your materials.

if you are looking to make a few bucks, it is simply not worth it. as thrifty bill said, you should start flipping bikes if you want to make some money. instead of tuning up 8 bikes, you can tune up 1 and make (easily) the same profit.

WNG

Ah, lawyers and insurance companies....how they have plagued our society.

BikeWise1

It doesn't matter whether someone fully intends to not sue. If someone gets injured while riding and requires medical attention and you were the last person to work on the bike, the insurance company will sue you. Your buddies will not be able to prevent it. They can't tell the insurance company to not sue.

I get this frequently when people want me to fix some unsafe POS and I refuse. "But I'd never sue you!", they say. I tell them that's fine but when your son needs reconstructive dentistry because he crashed on this thing, and you expect the insurance to pay for it, they sure as hell WILL sue me. No thanks.

Insurance isn't for the things you can think of. It's for the things you can't.

nymtber

Beer AND BACON???


I want in! *holds up sign reading: "Will push mow lawns for Beer and Bacon" *



I have thought about wrenching out of my basement, but then decided only for friends/family. Not worth the possibility of getting sued.

velo-orange

"Good example- We have a car repair shop across the street. My wife works with the owners wife. We own the house the car shop owner used to own. We are free to hike on their property. They do a ton of little car repairs for us, and we pay them with home baked food like cookies. We pay them cash for bigger jobs. If they ever didn't fix something right, why the hell would we sue them? Lawyers aren't the best way to solve problems, at least around here."

That example you cite is a bona fide business with overhead costs such as rent or mortgage, insurance, utilities, payroll, etc. A bike shop has the same overhead. You and your wife may be able to barter cookies and food sometimes, well great. The shop still has costs to cover- especially when parts need to be searched for and procured, consumables consumed during installation, and time spent wrenching on an automobile that could be spent on a car that will actually bring in cash to pay for lights ,rent, wages, insurance, etc.
Look at it another way- using the school email system is a subsidy of free advertising. The cookies for payment of car repair services is only able to be done if someone else is paying full boat for the mechanic. That person is unknowingly subsidizing your cookie payment. It's great for you, the cookie maker, but it's at the expense of someone else, all things being equal. 'Helping a guy out' is all good, but when money is exchanged there are whole bunch of things you, the seller, are responsible for. I'm OK with barter- I help out friends all the time, but there's no money exchanged.
I ask for a copy of a business license and proof of liability insurance, covering the business. If you don't have those basic documents, you don't have the right to do business with VO Imports. That's what our retail side is for.

noglider 

I do bike repairs for local folks as well as flip bikes. The income isn't much, but it helps, while my main business, computer consulting, comes up to speed.

My accountant said I can call it the "bike division" of Pure Gold Consulting (my company) which is legally established as an LLC.