Rich, I started my business without much more equipment than you have now. The only thing you should do along with getting insurance is talk to your accountant. He may suggest some type of incorporation, or not, but talk to him anyway. I recall those years of working part time on my welding business (all night, all weekend) and then going to my day job. I never turned down any work, no matter what it was I found a way to do it. I even coerced my family to work the weekends with me before I hired some help (I have 10 full time employees now). I started out with one mobile truck and no shop facilities, I now have both, you will eventually want a place to fabricate the stuff you want to take to jobs. It is a difficult and intimidating decision to go at it full time. I have no regrets. It takes alot of dedication and alot of missed "family moments". You sometimes will find it hard to get a job done and still make it to family events. You cannot leave the customer hanging, if you are not willing to work holidays, birthdays and anniversaries (I have not had a holiday off in years!) you may not be entirely successful. You should have welding certifications for the type of welding you think you might do, I find the customer is easily comforted when you can pull out your wallet cards that show you can weld structural and high pressure pipe. After you have pipe and structural certs, you will only need to aquire more as the customers demand it. These two are more than enough to show the customer you are qualified. Get some business card printed up and drop them off at every factory and construction site or construction company you drive past and I mean all of them. It takes years to build up clientele that will sustain you in the lean years. Do not dress like a slob, you know, that shirt and pants that have all of those holes in them from welding. Customers are impressed with a clean cut business man who works hard. Dirty is okay at the end of the day, but not impressive to anyone at 6 am. There are a hundred more things I could tell you, but I do have work to do myself. Others will provide their particular point of view and if you ask more questions I will try to answer them. After all is said and done it will be your decision on how and when to start and operate your own business, so just do it!! Good luck.

Respectfully,
Mike Sherman
Shermans Welding

How do you beat the ethics of MSherman? You don't. Anyway, I am not self employed, but I have a lot to do with financial decision making as it pertains to welding and code issues. I would suggest thinking hard about which codes you want to be compliant with (or work to) before you find yourself spending a ton of money on books that only get used once or twice. They cost a bunch and are changed often enough to warrant careful consideration before buying. The other thing is to consider how you will respond when a client wants you to do welding you are not qualified for (no PQR/WPS). Options are: say no, say yes, say yes but the client pays for the PQR or say yes and you pay for the PQR. As you can see, it comes down to: who pays for the qualification? Typically, we try to put the burden on the client. However, if it is something that we see a growing need for, we may eat the cost of qualification. The point is, one day you'll be put on the spot. It's worth thinking about ahead of time. Good luck to you, Charles Hall.

Along with the previous sound advice I'd like to add that your reputation for being fair with your clients is very important. No one expects you to work for free, but be prepared to justify your estimates, and be as flexible as you can. There may be ways to save your client some money that you can suggest. Ask questions to make sure what you think you heard the customer say is what he thinks he meant.
Never bad mouth your competition, even if he's doing it to you. It's better to show why the customer can have confidance in you. They'll be able to tell who the professional is.
And lastly, everyone makes mistakes, but we are judged by how we accept them (no whining), and how we correct them (sometimes we take it on the chin). If your customers truly feel you want to do a good job, you will soon be looking to expand your business.
Hope you do well,
CHGuilford

hey guys,
thanks for all the advice! my biggest worry is that i work for my dad in the family bizz. and i have to give him at least 40 hrs. i just dont want to get too much work that im lettin someone down.my other questions are how do you get an official name? pay taxes? pay helpers? etc.
thanks, rich

RICH,I HAVE BEEN IN BUSSINES FOR MYSELF FOR 3 YEARS AND MY MAIN CONCERN IS STILL
FINDING THE WORK TO STAY BUSY.I GO THROUGH TIMES THAT I HAVE TWO OR THREE HELPERS
BACK TO JUST MYSELF.ITS HARD STARTING OUT ON YOUR OWN.I WOULD SAY DONT WORRIE
ABOUT CERTS OTHER THAN YOUR BASIC STICK ETC. YOU CAN GET THEM AS NEEDED,THERE ARE
TONS OF CERTS AND TO GET THEM ALL IS IMPOSSIBLE.

TAXES= IN MY STATE YOU MUST GET A STATE TAX LIC & A SEPARATE TAX LIC FOR EVERY
CITY OR TOWN YOU DO WORK IN.BUT ITS NOT AS COMPLICATED AS IT MAY SOUND, IN MY CASE
I HAVE THE STATE AND THREE CITY LIC-S.THIS LETS YOU BUY YOUR MATERIALS WITH OUT
PAYING TAX UNTILL YOU CHARGE THE CUSTOMER THE TAX (BASICLY).
MY FIRST YEAR I HAD TO SEND IN MY TAXES MONTHLY THEN THEY PUT ME ON YEARLY
I JUST KEEP ALL MY MONTHLY RECORDS TOGETHER THEN I DROP THEM OFF AT THE CPA
ITS PRETY SIMPLE AND MY CPA ONLY CHARGES ME ABOUT 50.00 PER MONTH.

YOU DONT HAVE TO BE INC. BUT IT CAN BE GOOD INS IF YOU EVER HAVE A PROBLEM, BASICLY BY
BEING INCORPORATED IF SOMEONE SUES YOU THEY ARE SUING YOUR BUSINESS AND CAN ONLY
COLLECT FROM YOUR BUSINESS AND ITS ASSETS, IT PROTECTS ALL OF YOUR PERSONAL PROPERTY
HOUSE, CARS,ETC.
YOU CAN ALSO GO INTO BUSINESS AS A SOLE-PROPRIETOR BUT BY DOING SO YOU TAKE ALL THE
RISK AND CAN LOSE ANY ASSETS YOU HAVE.


YOU MAY ALSO BE REQUIRED TO GET A CONTRACTORS LIC BOTH COMMERCIAL & RESIDENCE
IT DEPENDES ON THE TYPE OF WORK YOU WANT TO DO.

MY ADVISE IS GO FOR IT,BUT BE PREPAIRED YOU CAN HAVE ALL THE EQUIP,CERTS,LIC-S,ETC
IN THE WORLD BUT IT DOSINT GUARANTEE YOU WILL STAY BUSY.IN MY AREA I SEE ABOUT
10 TO 15 NEW WELDING BUSINESSES EACH YEAR AND ABOUT THE SAME NUMBER GO OUT OF BUSINESS.

GOOD LUCK,I HOPE THIS HELPS YOU IN SOME WAY
GUY O
PORTA-WELD

There has been some misinformation disseminated here about legal issues concerning trade-names and liabilities and, quite likely, other details as well. While not overtly incorrect, even a mediocre attorney will tell you there are serious exceptions to consider at this stage of planning.

Take a course or consult with an attorney.

I stated my own welding business two years ago. Like one of the other postings says....be ready for lean times. The first month I officially went full time I grossed $350. I now have a few steady clients and the best advice was already said....be fair and always always always work as hard as you can.

As far as certs go....I only get what I need. I do alot of petroleum tank work so I invested in certs for that.

I also found out that while at first all the jobs were fun there are some not so fun ones. I live in northern wisconsin and welding outside in Feb. is what I consider fun but I dedicated myself to making my business work and doing the not so fun jobs is just as important as the fun ones.

One thing not to do is assume anyting regarding a customers wants. If you can get a print or drawing or have him sign something that says what he wants be sure to do it. I've been stuck with a client telling me...."that's now quite what I envisioned"

Good luck
Eric