The 12 Beasts of Custom Barrington IL

Hercules was a mythical hero in Greek literature who had to perform 12 labors. These were feats of strength that were impossible for normal men. One by one he had to defeat these terrible beasts set on devouring him. Against all odds he conquered all 12, and became a legendary hero.

While starting a custom installation business does not qualify you as a mythical hero, don't be taken by surprise when you have to confront these beasts that try to kill your young business.

Beast 1: Starting your Business. It seems temptingly simple to begin with your hard work, your vision, your enthusiasm, and your own money. Bootstrapping a cash-starved new business with sweat equity is a huge feat. Consider the risk: most new businesses fail within the first three years.

Beast 2: Dealerships. Major manufacturers will not allow you to become an authorized dealer unless you fulfill three conditions. First, you can't be a dealer if they already have enough coverage in your market. Second, you cant be a dealer until you have favorable financial statements. Third, you cant be a dealer unless you make large opening purchases and annual commitments.

Beast 3: Breaking into the Market. Open the yellow pages and survey the giants in the land. They have established infrastructures of storefronts, dealerships, trained employees, discounts, and happy customers. The builders and architects have working relationships already in place with your competitors. When you start out, you are a just a puny David with stones to hurl at Goliath.

Beast 4: Employees. Can you offer great money for experienced techs? Do you have time and budget to train newbies? After you find a great new hire and fully nurture him, train him, reward him, and praise him, how can you prevent him from leaving? Even with non-compete agreements, your best installer or salesman might go into competition with you and be a real beast.

Beast 5: Partners and Capital. At some point you will need more trucks, more employees, new dealerships, a better facility, etc. Growth takes capital. Money always comes with strings attached. Debt can cripple you, investors can take your business away from you and your best friend/partner can turn on you. After you work 80 hours a week, your wife may get fed up and divorce you, taking half of your business.

Beast 6: Bleeding Edge Technology. With rapidly changing innovations, it's all in your timing. If you move too slowly, you are left behind in the dust. If you move too quickly and start selling unproven products your systems can crash and burn, cutting your business deeply. How long do you wait?

Beast 7: Falling Prices. The most expensive products that we sell don't bring us the most profits. A few years ago, if a client wanted a great home theater you could sell a video projector setup for $50,000. Now you can beat that for $5,000. Your customer can get a plasma TV at Costco for $2,000less than your dealer cost. Where is your markup to compete with that? How can you sell up...

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