Well I'll give yall a run down on my plans here in the next few months. I'm 22 and gonna graduate from Texas A&M here in December with a Rangeland Ecology and Management degree with a minor in Agronomy. I want to move to the Hill Country area (central Texas, hopefully near Fredericksburg) and start up my own brush management company. I will/want to buy/lease a skid steer loader that has a pair of hydrualic shears and "manage" brush on private ranches for wildlife or cattle operations. I've talked to a few landowners in that area and the ones who own their own skid steers say that they are running them 24/7 just about and everyone and their brother is looking to have their land cleared/sculpted. I plan on doing all the work myself (no employees yet).

As far as other work with the skid steer, I'm open for anything (debris clean-up, and so on). Being an Ag major, I never had to take any type of business classes and don't know very much in that field. What I have done so far is just named my company and gotten my DBA. What else can yall think of that I will need to do? Insurance?, sales tax use? and so on.

I have an idea of how much I'm gonna charge, whether it be by the acre or hour. I'm not 100% sure how much work I will have either, just kinda taking a risk, cuz every business has to start somewhere. What would you reccommend guys? I'm open to all suggestions.

I'll have to make enough to pay rent, pay for the skid steer, and feed my dog, and thats about it.

 

Get with a good financial planner or tax advisor, or both and have them help you write up a bussiness plan.
That is realy the first step in starting ANY small bussiness, and is required by the IRS if your bussiness should ever be audited.

http://www.sbishere.com/article2.html/619

There are a lot of great resources online for the small bussinessman, I have used a few of them and they realy do help.
The Federal Small Bussiness Administration offers the following and it has some good info.

http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/startup/guide.html

there is also a group composed of retired bussiness execs who volunteer thier time to help start-ups, but I can't remember their name.. I got help with my bussiness plan from them.
GOOD LUCK....
love the Fredericksburg area, one of the nicest towns I have ever been to. Fredericksburg has a treaty with the Comanche Nation going back to the early 1800's when it was settled, I went there a few years ago for the 150th anniversary of the treaty signing, and they were realy great folks...

 

I believe you're thinking of 'S.C.O.R.E.' and it stands for the 'Service Corps Of Retired Executives'. They're a partner with the Small Business Administration.

Here's their website; http://www.score.org/

Hope this helps!

chaikwa.

 

Thanks for the great links. I have contemplated writing up a business plan, but never actually wrote one up. I didn't think it was a must, but for IRS reasons, I guess it is just in case. Thanks alot.

 

Hey man glad to hear about you starting your own business! I am wanting to do that myself. Soon I hope. I turned 21 last week and if I lived in texas I would ask you if you wanted a business partner.

Good Luck!

 

YEP, thats it!
Thanks....

and DD, you'll find that one of the best ways to figure out wether you can make a go of it or not is to spend the time and draw out a good bussiness plan.

 

Hay, I have owned my own business for 3 years. However I am also a Full Time firefighter for the Houston Fire Department, so it has not been to bad. I curently do tractor mowing for Development Compines. and I am also looking into brush managment, Using a Hydo Axe and Skid steer. I curently have 2, 15 foot Bush Hogg mowers and a 4x4 102 HP, McCormick Cab Tractor. One Big piece of advice is dont get discouraged and dont grow your company to big to fast. I may take you as long as 3 to 5 years to get established, and Always carry lot of Insurence and make sure you set up as a LLC. Good Luck

 

If you like to work hard, having your own business is great! Its no "walk in the park", but I think its very satisfying.
Here are some thoughts:
All types of businesses are pretty much the same statistically. This is where all those now defunct internet businesses blew it, thinking they were different. This is important. The reason businesses are largely the same statistically is that all businesses have customers...and all customers want basically the same things. Customers are everything. (ask Wal-Mart, or McDonalds)

A good rule to remember is that you need to have enough capital when starting up to last you through about 1 1/2 to 2 years. I mean, be prepared for a slow start. You may be lucky, or unusually skilled at promotion, and that can speed up the crossover of your graph from loss to profit.
One of the main causes of failure is undercapitalization, in any case.
In my Internet Service Provider business, it took 18 months to really get in the black. But, for my computer networking company, profitability began in the 2nd MONTH, and stayed that way. So, it depends on many factors. Learning curve is part of it. If you already know everything about how to do your business, then its much easier, especially if you already have most of the required tools before you begin.

Don't overexpand. At some point you will get so busy you can't handle it...then it will be a "quantum leap" to another level. You may have to hire another person(s) or purchase some expensive equipment. Carefully evaluate the expenditure. The expansion may bring you way down below zero profitwise. Hopefully, it will rise to profit in a short time again as your new capability is utilized more and more. In some smaller communities, however, the curve may flatten out due to not enough potential customers in your area.

Making your company known (advertising) is essential, but very expensive. If you personally have to be involved in promotion or calling customers to get business, that directly impacts your profit. You're needed to do the work too!
Everything in business is a tradeoff. It takes constant monitoring of your business statistics to know when you need to add/delete employees, increase/decrease advertising, etc. And, of course all that messing with the numbers eats into your time to do the actual work. Its a fun juggling act, and fortunately can be done successfully. However, sometimes it means being able to accurately predict the future, not an easy task. Luck plays a role, but usually just watching the business trends, or talking to several other business owners in your area is enough to gain valuable information about current business trends. This is where business organizations are good. But...they eat up valuable time, and there is a tendency to belive the conclusions drawn by groups like this. The information you need is NOT their conclusions, its the raw data. YOU draw your own conclusions directly, ignore their evaluations.
More important than anything, do work that you enjoy. Then you will do a good job and the money will be much more plentiful.

Overall, I think all the work is worth it. Heck, a guy has to do something.
Sorry to bore you. Best of luck on your new venture.
-Del

 

Thanks for all the great advice. Well, writing up a business plan is no walk in the park, let me tell you that. Its gonna take some time, and some help from others to get me on the right track w/ that. I still have a few more months before I (hopefully) graduate (darn math class ). I'm gonna write up a business plan and have my current boss and hopefully his accountant look at it.

Now lets say that I do get this business plan written up and it suffices to the boss's/accountant's expectations. Where do I go from there? All I have done is get my DBA and not really sure what to do from there. Thanks for all the help.

 

the best advise i can give you is DO NOT GET A PARTNER. i have seen many friendships get ruined over this and many familys also. the chipper/mucher fronts for skid steers have been getting a bunch of work out my way and no brush to haul off or burn. check out http://www.equipmenttraderonline.com/ and see what you find. and get a skid steed with a 4bt

 

couldnt agree more with the dont get a partner deal.

had a buddy started a water pipe laying business, any piping etc. (of some sort)
started out all good, then they really started to grow fast, soon enough one guy was going behind the back of my bud, and now they are split, He was his cousin.... just another reason why i never trust a family member.

never trust blood in business, they just have a better way of getting out from paying you. I know that from my own business. Dont hire family either, youll regret it, they just have more excuses.

Al

 

You are a business man, make sure you look the part.

I have gotten more than a few jobs because I looked more presentable than the other guy they talked to. A few of those have become regular clients, calling me back every few months, because they like my work.

FWIW- I am a high end trim carpenter, mostly remodeling. I show up in a clean truck and matching trailer. I wear starched Wranglers, and a starched tan Pearl Snap shirt. More often than not I get comments on some of the above when meeting a potential client for the first time.

Image counts. 99% of my work come from referrals.

 

Sounds like youre buying yourself a job.

Hopefully that status changes quickly for you though as you grow and can move on to running the business instead of working in it.

best of luck

 

Well I talked to my boss and he told me the best way for me to go is sole propietorship (sp?). I've been telling him about my plans for months and he has a good understanding of what my plans are. He was a business major and he knows how much money I make, so financially right now, a sole propietorship is in my best interest. I don't have that much to lose. He also said that I don't NEED a business plan to get things started, but it wouldn't hurt though. I guess right now, I need to looking at getting business from possible clients and go from there. Thanks for all the help.

 

Sometimes I feel like it.

I work alone, I want to keep it that way, I enjoy it, and am very meticilous in the way things are done. This way every thing is done the way I like it done.

The work I do is VERY high end trim, it is not unusual for me to work on kitchens in the $150000 range. In the market I am in image really does count for a lot. And it is making me more concious of things like that, first impressions really do count and what they see is the first thing they notice.