Opportunity Of A Lifetime Missed ????

[Bob_Roller]

I mentioned last week that the independent BMW shop that I had found about three months ago went out of business.

The owner had not realized that finances are pretty tight the first 2 years of a business, and didn't have the financial resources to continue on.

The co-worker that I have mentioned that has a BMW repair shop operating out of his garage, called me this morning at work, with this news, he had been offered the closed repair shop , a turnkey operation for $50,000.

We talked about it for about an hour or so, and while the financial aspect was well within our means, neither of us wanted to quit their 'day job' to persue owning and working in the shop.

Our work schedules are not flexible enough to pull this off.

If our job security at out present employer was shakey, it may have made the decision easier to take the leap into running our own business.  

I'll bet some years from now I'll regret not doing this !!!

[nhmaf]

Wow, that is a tempting, tough call...

Maybe if our next president manages to straighten out our health care system, re-balance our budget and find a fix for social security, then it would certainly have been worth it to wave your hand at the big corporation and go it your own way... but, without these things, there is certainly a greater security in staying with the devil you know..

IT would seem like a dream like opportunity, though.   Someone once told me when I was thinking of taking up the music business professionally, that once they turned their passion into their daily business, it lost all its lustre.   I suppose that you can take consolation in that motorcycles and puttering on them will stay more interesting for you much longer this way, than if you had a bunch of weirdos like us lined up at your front door every Monday morning, wanting their beloved 30 year old antique motorcycle running perfectly again !

[scottyintex]

I hate to say this but I think you were wise not to have made the plunge.....at this time. The dollar is dropping rapidly against other currencies, sales are slipping, consumer confidence is not good, my wife groans every time she checks her stock. There are no oil reserves to speak of.....any ripple in the supply will cause prices to rise. If we are not in the beginning  of a recession we are at the knife’s edge of one. A good team in Washington could tip us the other way.....but I don’t see that happening.
       The war in Iraq will......hopefully will be coming to some kind of an end in the next year or two. ......At least I hope so. Which is great...........except for a little footnote in history books that points out the end of a war is almost always followed by a recession.  The end of a war is hard on the industrial complex that supplied it.
      I walked around my truck the other day.......kicking tires so to speak. I wanted to buy a new one but...........decided it might be better to wait a year. ....... or two. And so have many other Americans............our toys will have to wait a bit I think. To many of us our cycles are more toy than necessity.
      We all have our........what if I had...........but this time your thinking was right on...........So don’t lose ant sleep over it....ya did good.....but it was a pleasant thought wasn’t it. So you will think back about it from time to time. My mind some times drifts back 50 years to the little red head that sat in front of me in home room and I think...what if..... Then I see my grands kids and think....nope I did good and so did you.
                                                                  

[donbmw]

I can speek from personnel experince that going into a motorcycle dealership to work made me not want to ride as much as I use to. Back in 98 I needed to get out of aviation for a while. A good had the Honda dealership and needed and service manager. Over the years we had talked about working with each other but I was not ready then. When I did final it made my hobby not as fun. I stayed at the Honda dealership for 5 years and then got back it to Aviation. I think anything that you love to do as a hobby is best not to do it for a living. I got into Aircraft Maintenance because I love working on aircraft but it was not a hobby. The wife and I started making stained glass items for people as a side job it started as hobby but you can only have so much to hang and set that we turned this into a side job and this has help give us a break for our normal work.

Don

[Bob_Roller]

The offer to buy the business, was only good for 24 hours, that's too short of a timeframe to make a major decision like this.

It's very true about making a job of something to love to do, I was always involved in aviation since I was a small child.

Now after a little over 30 years working in avaition, I don't want to see the inside of  an airplane, or see the inside of an airport terminal, if I'm not working !!

When I'm on vacation, I drive or take one of the bikes, I don't even want to fly anymore. The last time I flew on an airplane while on vacation, was October, 1998 !!

[Danie]

Things are getting pretty  tight in our part of the word as well - due to higher interest rates - and enormous debt by many citizens.

Untill quite recently the banks went completely overboard, and offered debt - specially credit carts , to every Tom, Dick, an Harry.......with disastrous results...........Higher interest rates.........higher inflation.........higher food prices..........about 4500 motor vehicles are getting reposessed every month (according to Tv news this morning).........more and more home ownners already started selling their property - due to unaffordable bond repayments.........and possibly more crime - because the poorest of the poor are  battling even more to survive........

On the positive side - the sun will always shines tomorrow.

[MrRiden]

I was advised many years ago by a wise old gent to "Never make your hobby your job, you'll end up hating it". Council I've always kept in mind. Some can pull it off but I figure why take the chance.
rich

[Ed Miller]

I know I don't care that much about working on other people's bikes.  But the money gurus say "Do what you love and the money will follow."

So far I haven't figured out a way to make money by sitting around drinking beer and watching the scenery or reading books.  So I haven't quit my day job.

[Bob_Roller]

Since this independent BMW shop closed up, my co-worker has had to turn work down, because he is just overwhelmed, right now he has a backlog of about 6-7 weeks of work.

He is charging about half of what a dealer would charge for labor, and he works on all of the BMW bikes, can't get a dealer to even look at an airhead bike, or anything more than 7 years old here in Phoenix !

[Justin B.]

Well, Bob,  buy it and I'll come out and work for ya...

[MrRiden]

I'll vouch for Justin's machine work. A tool he made for me is spot on!
rich

[NC Steve]

I'll vouch for Justin's machine work. A tool he made for me is spot on!
rich

And I can vouch for his paint work: my gas tank still looks like brand new!  
Hail, between the wrenchin' and the paintin', you two might be onto a regular airhead gold mine out there... [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[Danie]

I vouch to send my airheid for the first repair job