Thinking about starting a online wheel retail company

indy99gpgt · 08-01-2011, 05:41 PM

Alright guys. Just looking for some advice here or if you think this might be a good/bad idea.

So to start this off im a 24 year old electrical engineer at an indianapolis utility and im starting to realize that i dont like my job so much. Im in an electrical engineering position but i seem to be doing a lot of IT work especially since I help run and maintain a control system for the indianapolis power grid. Nothing against IT but i find it boring even though im pretty good at it. Ive always had the dream of starting my own company doing something that I love which is modding vehicles. My father has started his own company a few years back doing communication engineering in the midwest so I have someone to get advice from if need be.

As for my idea. I dont want to list too much but here it goes. My cousin would also be going in on this with me. He is a mechanical engineer who has built some pretty nice cars the past few years. He has a pretty descent clientel in the 3000gt, dodge stealth, supra, and ls1 swapped rx7 community. Me, well im on a lot of car forums as well. Anyways, he already has a shop with a lot of space that we can use in the future. Right now, he uses it to do mods to customers cars. At first, we would like to just sell wheels online. Then if we do well, we would like to start doing tires as well. This would require us to buy some mouting and balancing equipment which we could fit in his shop. Then eventually, we would like to do more than just wheels. Maybe get into aftermarket performance products other than wheels. Together, we both have 4 cars that could be shop cars for promotions at car events around the nation.

The cons:
It seems the aftermarket wheel retail business is already pretty saturated today. That doesnt mean there isnt money to be made though.

I have some other ideas for a company pertaining to online hosted services, cloud computing, and real estate but I was going to use this first company as a learning experience to help with future endevours.

Anyone have any advice or comments please let me know. Thanks.

infinitekidM2C · 08-01-2011, 05:42 PM

Advice: Respond to emails/aims/posts when you start a Group Buy.

Red Bread · 08-01-2011, 05:45 PM

What do you plan to do to separate yourself from the existing online guys? For example, TireRack does the major brands already at a price that you'd be unlikely to match. Some of our vendors are pretty aggressive with BMW specific fitments. Many of the custom and semi-custom guys price fix their resellers and sell direct at the same cost.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just wondering how much you've thought about how to differentiate yourself from an already saturated market.

Blake · 08-01-2011, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by indy99gpgt

It seems the aftermarket wheel retail business is already pretty saturated today.

/thread

profits are slim in the aftermarket business because the market is so heavily saturated, especially with replicas of aftermarket shit (hello VMR). unless you have your own manufacturing and design, you aren't looking at much profit due to hundreds of vendors already competing against each other. if you can establish high volume, then you can make some money, but unless you're willing to undercut everyone else and eat into your profits, you won't have high volume. also, if you start selling volumes, prepared to be doing mundane work every single day creating shipping labels, invoices, tracking down cash from a stingy customer base, whiny customers, etc., etc. everything you see people complain about on here about vendors will become your reality. would i do it? not a chance in hell.

indy99gpgt · 08-01-2011, 06:05 PM

All good adivce guys. Like i said it was just an idea. Doing more and more research on the topic seems to show its a horrible idea. Something i can keep in the back of the mind i guess. Im not good a many other things so I probably just need to keep a normal 9-5 job.

Im also interested in women but i think those kind of companys are illegal.

I could probably start a company that thinks up shitty business ideas an sell them to suckers. Lol. Ive had quite a few the last year or so.

KGB7 · 08-01-2011, 06:07 PM

Strip Clubs and Porn is not Illegal.

indy99gpgt · 08-01-2011, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KGB7

Strip Clubs and Porn is not Illegal.

I meant in the retail sense but i guess i was only being funny in my mind. Lol.

KGB7 · 08-01-2011, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by indy99gpgt

I meant in the retail sense but i guess i was only being funny in my mind. Lol.

You can start a women retail website, i think they called Online Order Brides.

indy99gpgt · 08-01-2011, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KGB7

You can start a women retail website, i think they called Online Order Brides.

*Opens mouth and inserts foot*

UncleWede · 08-01-2011, 06:40 PM

What you could do, to harness your passion, is provide a garage service for modding cars. Your value added would be your insight, understanding, and aesthetic attention to detail.

Do a search around the board for LTBMW. It started more as a joke (I think) but Long's passion has turned it into a legitimate business. I drove 60+ miles so he could program some codes into my e90. When I got there and talked to him about some things I planned to do, his insight resulted in an on-the-spot upsale for something else.

08-01-2011, 05:41 PM	#1
indy99gpgt Private 13 Rep 98 Posts Drives: 2008 335i BSM coupe Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Indianapolis iTrader: (0)	Thinking about starting a online wheel retail company Alright guys. Just looking for some advice here or if you think this might be a good/bad idea. So to start this off im a 24 year old electrical engineer at an indianapolis utility and im starting to realize that i dont like my job so much. Im in an electrical engineering position but i seem to be doing a lot of IT work especially since I help run and maintain a control system for the indianapolis power grid. Nothing against IT but i find it boring even though im pretty good at it. Ive always had the dream of starting my own company doing something that I love which is modding vehicles. My father has started his own company a few years back doing communication engineering in the midwest so I have someone to get advice from if need be. As for my idea. I dont want to list too much but here it goes. My cousin would also be going in on this with me. He is a mechanical engineer who has built some pretty nice cars the past few years. He has a pretty descent clientel in the 3000gt, dodge stealth, supra, and ls1 swapped rx7 community. Me, well im on a lot of car forums as well. Anyways, he already has a shop with a lot of space that we can use in the future. Right now, he uses it to do mods to customers cars. At first, we would like to just sell wheels online. Then if we do well, we would like to start doing tires as well. This would require us to buy some mouting and balancing equipment which we could fit in his shop. Then eventually, we would like to do more than just wheels. Maybe get into aftermarket performance products other than wheels. Together, we both have 4 cars that could be shop cars for promotions at car events around the nation. The cons: It seems the aftermarket wheel retail business is already pretty saturated today. That doesnt mean there isnt money to be made though. I have some other ideas for a company pertaining to online hosted services, cloud computing, and real estate but I was going to use this first company as a learning experience to help with future endevours. Anyone have any advice or comments please let me know. Thanks. __________________ 2008 BSM 335i coupe- Sport.Premium.Dakota Sadel.jb4.dci.meth 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix-10.5 PSI.PRJ LL CAM.Supporting Mods
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08-01-2011, 05:42 PM	#2
infinitekidM2C Major General 4298 Rep 5,737 Posts Drives: 2019 M2 Competition Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Orange County, CA iTrader: (4) Garage List 2019 M2 COMPETITION [9.75] 2008 135i (my old car) [7.56]	Advice: Respond to emails/aims/posts when you start a Group Buy.
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08-01-2011, 05:45 PM	#3
Red Bread Major General 4458 Rep 9,160 Posts Drives: Smog machines Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Austin, TX iTrader: (0)	What do you plan to do to separate yourself from the existing online guys? For example, TireRack does the major brands already at a price that you'd be unlikely to match. Some of our vendors are pretty aggressive with BMW specific fitments. Many of the custom and semi-custom guys price fix their resellers and sell direct at the same cost. I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just wondering how much you've thought about how to differentiate yourself from an already saturated market.
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08-01-2011, 06:05 PM	#5
indy99gpgt Private 13 Rep 98 Posts Drives: 2008 335i BSM coupe Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Indianapolis iTrader: (0)	All good adivce guys. Like i said it was just an idea. Doing more and more research on the topic seems to show its a horrible idea. Something i can keep in the back of the mind i guess. Im not good a many other things so I probably just need to keep a normal 9-5 job. Im also interested in women but i think those kind of companys are illegal. I could probably start a company that thinks up shitty business ideas an sell them to suckers. Lol. Ive had quite a few the last year or so. __________________ 2008 BSM 335i coupe- Sport.Premium.Dakota Sadel.jb4.dci.meth 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix-10.5 PSI.PRJ LL CAM.Supporting Mods
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08-01-2011, 06:07 PM	#6
KGB7 Crazy Russian Bastard 30 Rep 819 Posts Drives: 01 740i sport Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Siberian Prison iTrader: (0)	Strip Clubs and Porn is not Illegal. __________________ B M W
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08-01-2011, 06:40 PM	#10
UncleWede Long Time Admirer, First Time Owner 18455 Rep 9,428 Posts Drives: G01 X3 M40i Dark Graphite Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Oxnard, CA iTrader: (0)	What you could do, to harness your passion, is provide a garage service for modding cars. Your value added would be your insight, understanding, and aesthetic attention to detail. Do a search around the board for LTBMW. It started more as a joke (I think) but Long's passion has turned it into a legitimate business. I drove 60+ miles so he could program some codes into my e90. When I got there and talked to him about some things I planned to do, his insight resulted in an on-the-spot upsale for something else.
	Appreciate 0 Quote