Talented Lad needs help...

Smigie

Ive been training as a custom spray artist for the past year and I'm looking to go into business for myself here in Dublin. Problem is I'm broke and need an investor or even some one who wants a bike or car sprayed and is willing to pay for the equipment to do it... Not as dear as you might think.. I've attached some examples of my work if anyone is interested..

melekalikimaka

one post??? i wish you best of luck, you seem talented but peeps are gonna be wary of a one poster

Savman

Do you take Western Union? :D:D

Looks cool but so many "1 post wonders" float thru here it's unlikely anyone's gonna take you seriously. More details would help also!

hellboy99

Good work there Smigie
Why don't you take them pieces along to a few modified car shows, very good place to start, you'll certainly get a lot of interest. Or why not start doing custom jobs to PC cases, there's bound to be some interest here on the board and you can pick up full airbrush kits for a couple of hundred.

skibum

Very nice, especially the fuel tank. Don't mind the begrudgers, we all have to start somewhere.

cormie

Looks cool arlight, how much would it cost to get you set up?

layke

hellboy99 wrote:

Good work there Smigie
Why don't you take them pieces along to a few modified car shows, very good place to start, you'll certainly get a lot of interest. Or why not start doing custom jobs to PC cases, there's bound to be some interest here on the board and you can pick up full airbrush kits for a couple of hundred.

That's actually a really good suggestion. Start small work you way up an all that.

cormie

Buy www.spray.ie (available) or something similar for €30, register a business name for €20 and get a site designed offering to spray anything and everything, get a portfolio built up and you'll be sorted. Boards will be a great place to get business for the likes of pc cases. Should take you about a month to get set up online fully if you work at it well. Go to a bank and tell them your plans and you might get some funding, but don't rely on that, trying to get investment in return for some spraying is a good idea, perhaps approach a few people who can trust you and offer them a spray that is cheap enough to get their interest but enough to get you set up.

tvr

if you got a business plan , pm me , also do you have any relevant qualifications , degrees in art & design , multimedia etc..

Smigie

I understand that . . I cant just breeze through and expect people to trust me on not even face value.. But maybe there might be someone out there who is possibly already a flat coat sprayer and is willing to expand their already established business and take a risk that is sure to pay off..

cormie

How much would it cost to set you up?

Smigie

Im not sure how much exactly it would be to get me going but on estimate It wouldnt be any more than €1000. Once I have the equipment to get a few jobs then I can build on and hopefully get a premise to work from.. course you are entitled to profit sharing as an investor.. pm me for more info..

Geek Nose

cormie wrote:

Buy www.spray.ie (available) or something similar for €30, register a business name for €20 and get a site designed offering to spray anything and everything, get a portfolio built up and you'll be sorted. Boards will be a great place to get business for the likes of pc cases. Should take you about a month to get set up online fully if you work at it well. Go to a bank and tell them your plans and you might get some funding, but don't rely on that, trying to get investment in return for some spraying is a good idea, perhaps approach a few people who can trust you and offer them a spray that is cheap enough to get their interest but enough to get you set up.

Simple as that, eh? :rolleyes:

Savman

Smigie wrote:

Im not sure how much exactly it would be to get me going but on estimate It wouldnt be any more than €1000. Once I have the equipment to get a few jobs then I can build on and hopefully get a premise to work from.. course you are entitled to profit sharing as an investor.. pm me for more info..

You're looking for an investor to put up €1000? That's not exactly a lot of money to launch a business. Hell a credit card would give you more than that and wouldn't own a share in your business.

Car Mad

Savman wrote:

You're looking for an investor to put up €1000? That's not exactly a lot of money to launch a business. Hell a credit card would give you more than that and wouldn't own a share in your business.

they would if you didnt pay them back:rolleyes: nice designs but i dont have 1000 for meself nevermind anyone else:(

franksm

Geek Nose wrote:

Simple as that, eh? :rolleyes:

that's your "input" is it ? At least Cormie gave the stock answer, but it's good advice

Smigie

The whole Idea was to get advice and help to even understand how to manage a business.. I think I might go with cormie's suggestion and wing it, learn as ye go.. Sure whats a better lesson than life itself. ye have been a great help... thanks so much..

cormie

Geek Nose wrote:

Simple as that, eh? :rolleyes:

To get set up, yes, it is that simple, I'm not saying he'll be earning a wage he can live off after a month, but he'll have his business set up which is a good start. We don't know his current situation, whether he's still living at home, or breaking his back with a trainee wage trying to pay rent somewhere.

I'm not saying to drop everything and go for it, if he's living at home, or has a current job that's giving him enough money, something like this can be worked at part time while a customer base is built up and word of mouth spreads etc. Like most businesses, it will probably take a few years to become successful, but you have to start at some stage.


So Smigie, since you're taking my advice here's what you have to do:

1) Go to http://forms.cro.ie/ and click next and register your business name (Personally I think Spray.ie would be a good name for you to get, I searched all companies and sole traders in Ireland, 59 with the name Spray, but none called Spray and none called Spray.ie ). With something like this you should probably just go with a Sole Trader starting off (you can always become a company later on if you need to). It will cost €20 to do this on the cro.ie website or I think it's €40 in post, so just do it online. Once done, it should take about 1 week to process and you're then the proud owner of your very own business for €20:)

---) Since you could have this done in 10 minutes from the time you read it, you should start to look into getting a web designer now. Post in the webmaster/flash forum on this site and look for somebody who will do it for your budget, or will allow you to pay them in 6 months if you want to spend a bit more etc. See what you can get. We use www.hotpebble.com for quite a lot of things, the portfolio on that site is quite bare at the moment. But for a good price you should be able to get a basic (which is all you need for the type of business) site set up, your logo designed or made into the proper format for printing/media etc and a business card template set up you could bring to a printer.

2) Register your website name (as I said, spray.ie is available) and I think the cheapest place to do this is www.letshost.ie, it will be €37+vat. I think you may need the business set up before applying for a .ie address, not sure.

3) Print out this form, fill it in, and drop it into your local branch and you'll probably have to arrange a meeting (not a big thing, it'll take 5 minutes, no shirt or tie necessary either;)) Or maybe arrange the meeting before you drop it in so they can set the account up in the meeting. (should take about 3 working days max to have your account number, or it could take 3 hours.)

4) tax/vat (:() You wont need to register for vat any time soon because your turnover wont be as much, but if you want to get back 21% on your investments (tools, supplies like paint etc, website cost, etc) you may as well, it wont cost you anything to do and requires very little work. Fill in this form and send it off to your local tax office. You'll need your business bank account set up at this stage as it asks you for the number. You wont need to fill in the employment bit, you wont be employing anyone yet, you can do it later if you ever want to:)


All the above forms etc are for a Sole Trader, the main sites you'll be using in setting up a business are: www.cro.ie, www.revenue.ie and then your chosen bank. Each all have guides to look through if you want but you really just need to do the above and then use your noggin to make it all work:)

Smigie

Jesus I was expecting a bit of Help but thats Unbelievable ... Thanks cormie for the effort alone in typing all that out. .. . I owe ye something big .. If it all works out for me, I'll get back to ye.. Thats a promise

cormie

No probs:) I'll hold you to that:D

Good luck!

Devon

Damn Smigie you have talent and don't let anyone tell you different. I wish you well in your venture. I love your work and stuff like that doesn't interest me at all. Go for it!

3ps

perhas you could get your work shown at some local motor factors? some youg lads might want some customer work done? You could pay the motor factor a finders fee?

Atomic Pineapple

3ps wrote:

perhas you could get your work shown at some local motor factors? some youg lads might want some customer work done? You could pay the motor factor a finders fee?

or just print out an a4 advert with pictures of your work and a few contact details and go around motor factors asking can you stick it up in there window, even get some pocket sized contact cards made to leave there, there relatively cheap to get made.

also if you want a website built i can make you a very basic one for free i'm only learning website design so it wouldnt be anything flashy but if you just want a web presence to show off your work and let people contact i'll do it for free.

@cormie, how do you check the names of all registered businesses and sole traders?

cormac_byrne

maybe s.welstead would let you spray his car

see recent thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055027565

you could rent the equipment from HSS etc...

http://www.hss.ie/g/61491/Small_Cellulose_Spray_System.html
http://www.hss.ie/g/61497/9_Cfm_Compressor__Psi_Gun.html

cormie

Draffox, click here http://www.cro.ie/search/

I wouldn't bother renting the tools to be honest, I mean, if you want to start, you may as well just buy them, work out cheaper in the long run.

bmoferrall

FAS do an excellent 'Start your own Business' evening course for a mere €200. I'd particularly recommend the Finglas one with Michael Campbell, if you can get on it (very popular).
Also, you may be entitled to grants, something the course will inform you about.
Plenty of money sloshing around Dublin at the moment, much of it seemingly being diverted away from property and towards creative stuff like art!

cormie

I forgot to mention, as far as I know, artists don't have to pay tax on their work. Whether or not the man will class this as art or not, I don't know. Metal is your canvas;)

cormac_byrne

cormie wrote:

I forgot to mention, as far as I know, artists don't have to pay tax on their work. Whether or not the man will class this as art or not, I don't know. Metal is your canvas;)

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/culture_and_recreation/arts_and_culture/exemption_from_income_tax_for_artists.html

Motorbike shops might be a good place to
put up ads advertising your services (for their customers),
or find out if they're working on any restoration / repair projects that might benefit from your skills.