Small business owner

Good advice there markmotman. Our place over the last twenty years have covered it all. It's an absolute nightmare sometimes and customers can be very difficult as well. Keep it simple, keep the wolves away from the doors and take easy jobs for a faster turnaround. Don't be a hero. Best advise though as Hooters says, go freelance and let someone else have the headaches. 

I would be interested to know what the "low overheads" would actually add up to every month.
Rent could easily be £1,000 per month.
Rates could be 50% or 60% of this as they are based on the rent.
Initial Equipment costs and ongoing maintenance costs.
Electric, heating, water rates, insurance,
Broadband and phone line, connected alarm system and dialer with annual service.
Fire equipment and annual service.

If you look at a tyre machine you will have to look at electronic wheel balancing and Jack's etc. What about wheel alignment?
Diag equipment to code tpms sensors etc

How many bank holiday and annual holidays are you going to have? All the overheads are there even when you aren't.

Sorry to sound negative but if you are seriously considering this you need to be truthful about the answers and not live in a fantasy land like half the people on Dragons den.

I can tell you from experience that unless you have a couple of good lads to share all the above overheads you would always earn more being employed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm lucky in the fact that at approaching 65 I can now work by my self because I used to employ five previously.
But as they say - How do you end up with a million in the bank in the motor trade - Start of with two million in the bank!

I fear you aren’t asking the right questions in the right place.

i own a small station 1 test bat and 1 ramp i do 60+ hours a week if you want a life forget starting a station there is 1 in myarea for rent £1200 per mont and a 20grand bond up front its a hard way too make a liveing if i know what i know now i would not off sent 40k 30 years ago setting up a station
could off bought 2 flats and rented them out much easier ways too make a liveing

Thank you, you’ve highlighted my point perfectly 😂.

I'll go against the grain and say I'm a sole trader who only does mots! Average 10 to 14 tests per day don't work weekends and earn a good living.

It's not about putting you off, but trying to ensure that you see it is a difficult road to travel and the only guarrantee at the end of the day is that you will pay out money and not guarranteed a good income overall. 

Then I take my previous point back, if you’ve been turned off the idea that quickly, asking here was exactly the right thing to do and you certainly shouldn’t bother.

It’s bloody hard work, will certainly be challenging and fraught with risk. But has the potential to be hugely rewarding, even if not necessarily financially.

Just to clarify, as well as being a manager for some fast fit chain, I’m also a business owner, premises and all, though there’s not often an opportunity to talk about hair salons on this particular board. 🤣

Thats the way to do it take over an existing business with a good client base already in place.