There’s an infinite amount of reasons why a person might consider opening their own business.

Becoming your own boss comes with a wealth of benefits, and allows you to set the path and the pace to your own success. There’s a reason that small business owners are among the most satisfied workers anywhere in the country. 

If you’re a mechanic looking to make this kind of change, you’re likely considering opening your own auto body shop. Opening your own shop can be a great opportunity.

However, if you don’t know too much about starting a business, it can feel as if there is a huge learning curve to get over.

It doesn’t have to be too complicated, however. Learning to get started is as simple as getting familiar with some basic business advice. What might you need to know to get your auto shop up and running? Read on and we’ll walk you through it. 

Start With a Business Plan 

No matter what kind of business you’re trying to launch, you’ll need to start with a proper plan in place.

This is the same expectation for an auto body shop as it would for a restaurant. The business plan is an all-important document that serves as a blueprint for yourself, and a communication tool for your partners and investors. 

A business plan is a potentially thick document that contains all the information about your business-to-be.

That includes basic information such as your brand name and services, elements as detailed and time-intensive as a budget for your start-up costs and first year, an assessment of risks, and a plan for marketing. 

Any task that you might need to tackle within your first year or so of business should be laid out on paper in your original business plan. Nothing should be left to chance and everything should be reckoned with ahead of time.

This business plan will force you to make difficult decisions about your business and come to certain realities about how you’ll go about making your auto shop a success.

It’s important to get all the way through this document before you sign any paperwork, put any money down, or take any serious steps.

Find a Proper Location

As you can imagine, one of the most important elements when it comes to opening an auto body shop is the location. You’ll need a lot of space when working on cars, and the location you’ll want needs to fit the needs of both yourself and your customers.

You’ll need to balance cost and convenience when it comes to your location. While a garage that is available on the outskirts of town might have cheap rent, you also will suffer from not having customers want to come out your way.

A convenient location can go a long way towards bringing business in, but it will often come at a higher cost as well. 

You’ll also want to consider if you’re starting your auto shop from scratch or are trying to pick up where another business left off. There are perks to each. Starting a new auto shop from scratch will be more expensive, as you’ll need to get all the equipment you’ll need on your own. 

That might mean everything from installing garage bay doors to investing in heavy machinery. 

On the flip side, an auto shop that you purchase and make your own will have everything you need already in place.

However, you might find yourself locked into a setup that a previous business owner made, and it might feel less like how you’d like your own business to flow.

You may also have to finance updating and replacing equipment that is getting on in years. Working on cars requires a lot of mechanical work, so this can’t be overlooked. 

Register With the State

Once you have a plan and a mortgage, the only thing left to do is register your new business with the state. This can be a somewhat lengthy process, so you don’t want to wait until the last second to get it done. 

Registering with the state in which you reside shouldn’t be too complicated and simply requires filling out a few pieces of paperwork. You’ll need to decide what company formation you want to register your auto shop as, whether it is an LLC or some other type.

There are many types of businesses, so you’ll want to do your research on what company form would best suit your needs. If you’re uncertain, speaking with a business lawyer or other professionals from the field might be a source of good guidance.

Once your paperwork is processed by the state, you’ll receive an EIN number. This is the official identification number for your business, which you can use to open a business bank account.

You’ll also need this number for filing taxes. It essentially functions as your business’s social security number.

With this EIN in hand, you’ll be an officially registered business, ready to open and start doing business.

While getting a handle on how best to operate your daily functions will be a whole other rodeo, you’ll have gotten through the difficult hurdle of getting started.

Opening an Auto Body Shop

Car businesses can be lucrative and rewarding, which is why you might be considering opening your own auto body shop. If you’re not sure where to get started when it comes to this process, the above information can be a great help. 

Need more business advice and information? Keep scrolling our blog for more.

Jane