Advice on venturing out on my own

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Hello, new to the site and haven't used punctuation since high school so bear with me haha. little bit about me is im 23 and  a welder at a local company that makes oil filter vessels for the oil field. Ive been there for 5 years now and the pay is great and I would love to retire from there but I would like to startup a business on the side. My father has his own buisness with my grandfather and they did alot of work for the gas companies for 4 or 5 years and made good money at it but now the price of gas has dropped and they haven't done much in the past year. he told me I could start my own gig using his equipment ( Esab multimaster 300, plasmacutters, band saw, bridge crane) untill i can afford my own equipment. i was thinking of going along the rout of manufacturing sings like chairs, benches, furniture, or pretty much any thing and selling them locally or on websites . is there any one on here that does this and would be willing to give me some feed back on doing this or maybe an alternative. I just want anyone's 2 cents on what they do for there business and ideas so i could look at my area and decide if it would be possible for me to do that too. If i could make $10,000 my first year i would be happy so im not really shooting for the moon just a head start.
Reply:You are making plenty of money to buy your own equipment. Like the latest inverter technology for portable work as well as shop.Do you live with parents still? Oh, you are doing well at your day job, keep it. Being your own boss is not all it's cracked up to be.Last edited by shovelon; 02-11-2016 at 08:20 AM.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:It is a rough road. Many times I wish I could just cash a pay check at the end of the week and have the weekend off for fun like normal people.12v battery, jumper cables, and a 6013.I only have a facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/VPT/244788508917829
Reply:Most small businesses fail, not because the guy can't do the work, it's because they can't manage the business. Many guys who do side work think they are doing "great" while in reality they are constantly loosing money because they don't carefully track expenses. It's not the big things like steel that get forgotten, it's all the little expenses like fuel to go get the stock, grinding disks or overhead costs that can be harder to put a number on for a specific job.Many places will tell you if you want to start your own full time business, start off with at least 1-2 years worth of operating and living expenses squirreled away to carry you thru the slow times. It can be even worse in this economy right now. Expenses like rent, electric, phone etc will keep coming in whether you are working or not..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Because you are wanting a part time business I see no reason not to.  I will say that you better find a way to let people know you are there though if you want to clear 10K the first year.  The way I looked at it when I started is if I can make enough to buy the equipment I need I will be alright. It took me 3 years before I actually made money that I could use for myself.  I only work part time and that is all I want to do but it took a while to get there and I had connections that I made it easier for me than others would have.  Almost all my work comes from word of mouth.  Before you do any work find insurance . Doing it after the fact is very difficult. If I were you I would get myself ready to take over part of the business your pop and grand dad were doing. They can not keep doing it for ever. The oil prices will come back and be ready for when they do. All types of business have boom and bust times. Put away some money to get through the bad time. The way it looks it will be after the election before oil starts going up. The Dems want everyone to forget how high it was for most of their reign.Last edited by thegary; 02-11-2016 at 10:20 AM.
Reply:Shovelon I have a mortgage payment. And thank you everyone for the advice. I couldn't afford to quit my day job welders a start there at 23$ an hour ( or they did before the union reps signed a contract to lower the starting rates to like 18) but I was thinking of making a bed frame for my bed room. 14 gauge 2x3 tubing is only $1.50 per foot at my local steel yard in Binghamton newyork. Say I put 150$ in a bed frame headboard and everything then sell it for 300 that's the stuff ide like to do. Idk if it would ever work that way in the real world though
Reply:And thegary that will eventually happen once grandfather is ready to retire.
Reply:Originally Posted by ZrobAnd thegary that will eventually happen once grandfather is ready to retire.
Reply:Keep your day job and tinker on the side. do that until your "tinker" evolves and morphs over a long period of time. Your skills, equipment and product will all, hopefully, make steady gains over several years time. Do that until you are swamped busy with your side business that you can no longer burn the candle at both ends and you have to make a decision, job or self employed. If you are indeed that busy with side work, then you are good and have something viable and marketable because people are buying it. Most people side hobby does not start out as something viable. their early customers are really just paying guinea pigs that you are experimenting on, seeing what works and what doesn't. constantly getting better and making changes along the way. Just get started as a hobby and do your best, the market will tell you if you are any good or not.
Reply:I do some arts and crafts stuff as a side job. It makes enough for me to buy more tools but not enough yet for a full time gig. Beware of how expensive it really is to go down the art/side job/furniture route.I would use a site called www.etsy.com for my small stuff and www.custommade.com for your larger items and furniture. make sure you really look into how expensive it is to ship larger items. I made a 23 pound sculpture and by the time I made a crate to protect it, it ended up weighing 120 pounds and cost $320 or so to ship.Check out a thread by Barn118 for some items like what you are talking about making. Maybe try to contact him for advice.Millermatic 252 MIGMiller Dynasty 200DX TIGMiller Spectrum 625 PlasmaAltas 12x36 Metal LatheBridgeport Milling Machinewww.psacustomcreations.com
Reply:I started out working on the side until all of my nights and weekends were busy, then I left my corporate job. I left 5 weeks paid vacation, nights and weekends off, overtime pay, health care and retirement benefits. I make more money, but am constantly working, and there is no mental break, you can't just turn it off at 5 o'clock. If you are planning on getting married and having kids be very cautious of what you do.  I have always done side work when I was employed, mostly because I enjoyed the work and have a need to stay busy. The extra money was just play money, so I bought nice tools and machines with it.
Reply:Originally Posted by walkerI started out working on the side until all of my nights and weekends were busy, then I left my corporate job. I left 5 weeks paid vacation, nights and weekends off, overtime pay, health care and retirement benefits. I make more money, but am constantly working, and there is no mental break, you can't just turn it off at 5 o'clock. If you are planning on getting married and having kids be very cautious of what you do.  I have always done side work when I was employed, mostly because I enjoyed the work and have a need to stay busy. The extra money was just play money, so I bought nice tools and machines with it.
Reply:As everyone has said, "don't quit your day job".  Do things on the side in the evenings and weekends.  See how that goes.  It's nice to have a little side cash, but it's really nice to have a steady paycheck.
Reply:Originally Posted by dee_veloperas everyone has said, "don't quit your day job".  Do things on the side in the evenings and weekends.  See how that goes.  It's nice to have a little side cash, but it's really nice to have a steady paycheck.
Reply:Originally Posted by Dee_veloperAs everyone has said, "don't quit your day job".  Do things on the side in the evenings and weekends.  See how that goes.  It's nice to have a little side cash, but it's really nice to have a steady paycheck.