Should i start a "Business" at 17y.o

[larissa007]

Im currently studying automechanics at my countries equivalent of a trade school, And working at an auto service for 50% as a student, I planned to leverage this job with school, but i got an offer from a friend to rent a garage and start a small junkyard, buy cars for cheap dismantle them and sell the parts for a profit, ive heard a lot of success stories using this Business model, But im not sure, should i first finish my studies and get some more practice working as a student or should i just dive head first and learn everything on the way. Im leaning towards quitting this job and starting the business because thats my end goal afterall, and a whole year to grow my business so after my studies i would already have some sort of income working on my own not for someone else who takes 50% of the money i earn. So any tips, words of knowledge? Is this a dumb idea, will i undoubtedly fail, am i too young?

 

[sheila51]

@larissa007 I started my first biz at 15. Go for it

 

[jerryargot]

@sheila51 I started at 10. By 18 I'd already done dog walking, car detailing, yard work/lawn mowing and care, pool cleaning and care, co-running a family business, mobile DJ with PA system, apartment cleaning and painting, worked in a bakery, sold cars at dealerships, played various instruments in bands, worked in a recording studio.

Go for it.

 

[lovefor3va]

@larissa007 Not sure what country you are in, but when you say “finish studies”, you are 17, so high school or university? What are you thinking of finishing?

 

[larissa007]

@lovefor3va im located in lituhania, And im not sure but i think my school is equivalent of a trade school. Or a collage, basically u get 12 grades + a profession.

 

[marilynliddell]

@larissa007 You might make money short term, but what is your goal long term?

A lot of areas are regulating gasoline vehicles out of existence - a lot of areas are 30+ years behind on infrastructure for vehicles because they are more interested in mass transit and rail/train - your customer base will continue to decline with time

Land and buildings continue to cost more, your rent will always go up as your demand for parts continues to go down

Generally speaking your better long term strategy would be to stay in school - learn the most you can about hybrid, electric, self driving camera/computer systems, diagnostics - specialize in the future

 

[larissa007]

@marilynliddell What is exactly short term? In the country im in i doubt they are gonna banish gasoline vechiles from existence in the near future, in 5-10years maybe yes. Most of the population is lower class and cant even afford electric, there is a huge lack of charging stations, i would say only 10% of cars are electric here. So i could definitely grow something in 5 years and then branch off to diffrent things like diagnostic, programming and other stuff. Because you are missing the point, Having some sort of an income working for myself would be great for me, because i could continue to study automotive branches like electric, programing etc. Im living on my own, just dont have to pay rent and taxes, i need some sort of an income, and i will definitely need it after finishing 12 grade + my 1st proffesion and i wouldn't be able to study other things because i would need to work 9 to 6, but working on my own i could still attend school and work after. And after 5 years managing a small junkyard i could convert to an autoservice with the skills i would learn in 5 years, also i would have gathered the tools.

 

[leonarduzz]

@larissa007 You’re not too young. But I would recommend getting more practice yes while on the way. So that when the time comes you already know what to do and you don’t feel lost at least. You can learn on the way but it will be tough in my pov. I think practicing and having the knowledge for now and saving your money as well would be great. Therefore once you’re ready you at least have somewhat of an enough knowledge as well as money to start so you wouldn’t feel as lost.
Goodluck

 

[valueofliving]

@larissa007 Running a business will be a huge amount of learning. There's the valid point that others are making about learning the craft from others but a counter point to that is eventually as a business owner you don't need to know the most, you just need to hire the right people.

Anyway, I would look at it with the assumption that you would fail. Now with that assumption look at the cost of both decisions. I'd you stay the cost is you won't learn how to run a business for a few years. This is significant and can cost you millions in lost years of you become good enough at running a business. So what is the cost of leaving?

• losing out on training opportunity from apprenticeship
• shop rent you can't afford

I would focus on creative solutions to minimize these two risks. Month to month instead of lease. Ask shop owner to let you use equipment one weekend or over the holidays. Share the risk among your school friends by doing it as a group of 4. Risks are normal. The key is to not do something that will kill you.

 

[larissa007]

@valueofliving i would say shop rent is not to bad, pretty cheap in my area, also doing it with a friend so even cheaper about 100-200 euros a month each. i get 300 euros a month from other sources, right now from the shop i get ~150-200euros a week (600-800 a month), after summer i could work for about 4 hrs so i would earn a very little amount, and i think i could earn more doing it myself and getting the 100% of the profit of my work, not 50% yes the money amounts are pretty small, Its a small lower class country.

 

[valueofliving]

@larissa007 So that just leaves the cost of losing out on training opportunity from your apprenticeship and anything else you can think of as a cost?

 

[consideredfaith]

@larissa007 yes. even if you fail you lean lessons for stuff early and that sets you up for success later. I wish I had started at 17 instead of in my 30's

 

[larissa007]

@consideredfaith I dont really have anything to lose, if i fail i would learn from my mistakes and lost money up to 500euros, Rent is cheap in my country, also doing it with a friend so split it in half.

 

[anthonyinalabama]

@larissa007 Started mine at 21 wish I did it earlier

 

[anthonyinalabama]

It’s easier when you’re young to get through the beginning phases since you don’t have as many expenses. If you don’t fuck off and actually get ahead you’ll be happy you did

 

[lemoene]

@larissa007 Find someone who is doing what you want to do and work for them for two years. Learn and then start your own thing.

You don’t know what you don’t know. Learn that from someone first. It takes a lot of drive to run your own thing. Make sure you have that too.

 

[valueofliving]

@lemoene It seems like that's what they're doing right now.

 

[larissa007]

@valueofliving yes im doing that already for a month, which is not much but ive been around cars and was interested from a young age so i learned a lot from YouTube, also worked for a month in a smaller garage (autoservise) have dismantled a car for a profit, can do basically anything on a car with the help of Google on more complex parts of a car.

 

[rrruff]

@lemoene A lot more to it, than just the automotive skills.

Definitely work for someone else, first. Even if it’s not the best pay, consider it an apprenticeship.

 

[peppermint_patty]

@larissa007 Modern cars are more and more complicated if you don't have the formal education the certification you're not going to be able to work on new cars.
Well there's nothing wrong with the junkyard there is more money on repairs of new cars then there is selling parts for junkers

You need a business plan so you can sort out the money and see the difference between the two types of business.

Visit score.org and in the search bar type template business plan