[theaudioclub]

l have been in the car audio field since i was 18 i am now 36. I owned my own business for about 13 years. I started with $2000 and after 8 years had a great location, 7 employees, and was grossing around $500,000 a year. I thought i had it made, well i live in Michigan and the economy fell apart all the GM plants picked up and went out of the country. This caused me to lay off a few employees and get back to the basics of just getting through. Well then my landlord passed on and i ended up not getting my lease renewed. They sold the building it was affordable and a great location. So i just decided to take a break and live on the funds i had left for a while till i decided what to do next. I worked in the winter for the past 3 years for a local stereo shop and installed remote car starts it was a pretty good gig i worked 14 hours a day for 3 months made about a years pay and had summers off. Well this winter was a little slower and it got me thinking that i need to do something else. Well the good news is i am not hurting for funds for bills or anything, just need a business investor for my idea i have all my bills paid up for the year and my wife has a pretty good job so were set there.

MY IDEA

I want to sell wholesale to the public. I will sell radios, amps, subs, speakers, navigation, TVs, DVD, wheels, tires, all at my cost the exact price i pay. Now here is how i make the profit i will sell memberships for $99 for 1 year. Kinda like Sam's club the difference is Sam's marks up there items and sell in bulk i would sell at me price no markup. Now the great thing is this idea is not only marketable locally as a shop but can be huge on the Internet and also someday could be franchised to a few states so people could shop online or at a local store. I would promote this locally and on the net and my goal would to try to get 3 sign ups a day for around 1000 sign ups a year and if i get 1000 the first year that is $100,000 then the nest year with the people renewing there memberships and new members it would double then the next year it would grow again i would expect about 5000 members around the country by 5 years, or it may take off and get double that well at 5000 members that is $500,000 a year and up from there. Now some questions i know you may have i will try to answer now. The reason they would pay $99 is because they save that easily most companies retail mark there products up 100% so an amp that cost $150 they would sell for $300 well i would sell for $150. So the $99 is saved quick and easy. Believe or not people never buy one system they buy and buy and buy, always buying something bigger and better, so they will always be repeat customers. Any age buys also nowadays with car starts, alarms, navigation, ipods, mobile video for the kids. I will only sell custom wheels and tires usually 18" and bigger. I do have some wheel and audio companies that i have dealt with for years that will drop ship to my online customers which is great they pay the membership order the item and we don't even touch the product. Some people may say why don't you just do a website an sell online well everyone thinks its a scam they don't believe it they think you will rip them off for there $99. So the way i figure it is if i have a store front stocked with merchandise, pictures of the store on the website, and have a phone at the store they can call or they can even come visit the store then they have to know its not a scam. So with that being said you never know my goal of 3 members a day may be 10 or more a day. Now on the really bright side of things not only will we sell we will install at the store but installs will be just regular install prices just as any shop so they buy at cost of course most people need it install so we get 100% profit there on labor which with enough members could be $1000's a day in installs. I can install and i do have a installer ready to work to pay just commission usually the rate is 40-50% to the installer but he gets paid and we get paid. It works out great. We also can eBay merchandise we have in the store we just put it on eBay for the price we have into the item and let it sell for whatever we may only make a couple bucks but we send flyer's and business cards for our website and store in every shipment. Now for the great news car start season i always made the best money in the winter months here in Michigan, i did about 2000 starts a year. So we have a car start sale to the public to anyone in the winter no membership required. Because some people just want a start and that's it. We do $99 installed for starts and the average sale with up sells is $159 this is about a $100 profit per start. My average install time on a start is between 30-60 minutes i have been doing them forever. So between starts and install it is just a huge bonus. Now more MONEY one is all merchandise has a handling fee so every time you sell something you will make a small amount around $5 well if we get a lot of members buying daily that just ads up. Also a lot of people will bring back there audio merchandise and want to trade up for bigger better equipment well lets say they go to a retail stereo shop here is how it works they buy amp for $150 they sell it for $329 lets say then the customer comes back to upgrade there amp to a bigger one. The store will give them a store credit but people get made because the store wont offer more for a used amp then they pay for a new one so they can only give the customer credit of less then $150 then the customer complains and leaves and never comes back. Not after just paying $329. Well we got this we only sold it for $150 bid deal that's cost they come back we give them lets say $100 or a little more that's more then fair and were all happy because we can either sell it used and make a few bucks even on eBay or most the stereo equipment we buy has a return policy that we send it back and get a full credit of $150 for new merchandise. Now i have so much more to say but this is the basics, if you have any questions let me know also if your interested in investing or even just came across this page do me a favor let me know what you think is this a great idea or tell me why you think it wont work please. I am looking for a silent investor i will run the shop and do everything, I need a minimum of $50,000 this will pay the shop bills for one year and i can get a pretty good inventory and sound board. This is all negotiable, but i will be doing all the work for ever so i will give up 35% of the business and i get 65%. You just set back and get a check at the end of each month for your 35%. A few more things i would like us to per back a little percentage so the business and inventory can grow we can discuss this percentage. I also would like a chance after lets say 5 years, to buy my investor out if we can agree on something up front in the contract. Now if you invest more then $50,000 i would be willing to give more of the business because the more inventory and the fuller the store then the more sales and members, I really think this could be a million dollar idea. Eventually we could add things like home audio plasma TVs etc.

[Fanatik]

Shoot me an email: jay@fanatiknetworks.com

I won't be able to invest $50k, but I have owned and operated car audio and performance businesses since 1999... I've done the internet side; you've done the retail side. I have some thoughts you may benefit from. Hell, you might even take my old site(s) lol... www.audiofanatik.com // www.racingfanatik.com

Jay

[ChadFraz]

I am interested. Please PM me. I would neeed to review a business plan. Thanks.

[jasaunders]

I didn't read the whole thing once I realized it was the longest paragraph ever, but basically your plan is unlikely to work. You aren't the first person to think of this, there is a reason you can't sell at cost; it's because the manufacturers won't let you. In most industries, the manufacturer specifies the minimum amount you could sell the product for and maximum discount you could give. If you start selling a company's product at cost, it cheapens their brand and makes the manufacturer's other customers disgruntled. You should check with the manufacturer of these products you plan on selling first, because chances are, you won't be allowed to sell them at cost.

[Fanatik]

SEMA's legal pros informed us last month that congress is in the process of passing an anti-MAP law. if that goes into effect, Manufacturer's are screwed... I think as a business owner, I should be able to sell whatever I want, however and whenever I want. There are always ways around it though.

You may not be able to ADVERTISE the prices to non-members - so the companies would never know unless they joined and saw the prices. Furthermore, you will often see CCity, BBuy, etc setting their MAP price and then showing a lower price once you add to cart... reason being - it's not "advertised" at the MAP price... there are ways around if you're creative enough. I sold Car audio/performance for 7 yrs online, always below MAP prices... was just creative enough to avoid violating anyone's terms. Also - "THE AUDIO CLUB" I have PMed you and replied to this post - and have rec'd no contact from you. What's the deal? This is limited time only help here, lol.

J

[bsg]

I used to own my own stereo, tint, detail shop in the twin cities. I also thought of that idea a while back but this is the problem that I ran into. The larger companies like: Alpine, Eclipse, JL Audio will never open you without a store front. The other thing is that if these manufacturers find you selling their products wholesale, they will shut your account down. I think it's a great idea but I don't see a way around the barriers. Let me know if you see a loophole.

[Fanatik]

Very true - JL especially; better make sure to know those regs before committing to that kind of strategy. I agree, BSG - that's a sticky situation, and one that needs to have all avenues explored and tested.

J