This may seem like a weird place to be asking for people, but I am looking for one or two potential partners in a good business venture. I have two years experience in this busiess, and can help train you to be proficient in this. You will also be attending training from the best company in this industry in Phoenix, AZ before starting the business.

Ideally, one partner will have good sales and/or marketing experience and will run the dealership part, help us advertise the product, and talk to large business and companies that can sub-contract our services, and the other owner will be good at running the 3 or 4 person crew that creates the product, as well as schedule jobs and hire/fire employees to work alongside them. I tried bringing my two best friends into this field who have dreamed of being their own bosses since they were teenagers, and their reluctance to commit to going forward with this has basically made me decide to try finding other partners.

This is a TWO-tiered business system. We will be selling the product, and I also have EXCLUSIVE rights reserved to selling the equipment as a dealer in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. I will be working this job initially on a half-time basis with the intent of possible doing it full time. My wife is a payroll and benefits expert for a career, and has volunteerd to do those items for us for a SMALL hourly wage. I plan on doing this job on a half-time basis and commute initially from green bay on my days off from my firefighting job.

This business will be based out of Madison, WI. You must be able to move or commute to the Madison area daily.

Here's a little bit about the product we're creating for customers:

-Working outdoors.
-Seasonal work (NO WINTER JOBS!!!!!!) No work on rainy days.
-Markup on it is 200-400%, with it being sold at $4-$7 per linear foot. Jobs of 750+ liner feet of product per day possible once we're proficient at it. (When doing the math, that's $5250 potentially, with our costs being around $1500 inlabor and materials, leaving a $3750 PROFIT for one day's worth of work.)
-Equipment we will be using and sellling is state of the art, and easily the best equipment in this industry.
-Local traveling to job sites, overnight stays ONLY if VERY LARGE jobs are presented to us.
-This product has a VERy high referral rate. Jobs can create excellent leads for future jobs.
-Some weekend work may be necessary, but that will not be regular unless we have more jobs than we know what to do with (which is a GOOD thing!)
-Product can bring instant equity into someone's home or property, and most people genuinely love the looks of it once it's done.
-My experience in this business is a HUGE advantage to have when starting up. I know what has and hasnt worked in successful and failed attempts at this industry, and have a good plan of attack on being successful.

Here's a little bit about the dealership opportunity:

-Selling the top rated equipment in this industry.
-5 state EXCLUSIVE territory being held for us currently.
-Will sell equipment at around a 20% markup, and then will continue to sell additives and related equipment to customers once they go into business.
-The dealership WILL require work in the winter months, but you will be getting assistance from the other two owners when their seasonal work is done (SNOWMOBILING TIME FOR EVERYONE.)
-Traveling to the 5 states will be minimal. Some traveling to business trade shows in our jurisdiction will be required, but alot of business and follow up work will be conducted via email and phone.

Ideal partners will be good at customer service and have good charisma and an ability to discuss the product with clients and customers with confidence and professionalism.

The anticipated startup costs associated with BOTH TIERS of the business will be around $150,000. If you have a diesel pickup truck already that you are willing to use for a business truck, then the startup will be around 125k. Salaries will probably not be guaranteed, but there's a possibility somthing can be worked out with investors to acquire some amount of salary for a certain timeframe until we can get enough consistent work established. I anticipate forming an LLC or S-Corp to limit the liability involved in this, but nothing is a concrete guarantee at success. YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO TAKE A RISK TO SOME DEGREE. You must also be physically strong and able to work at a decent pace for 8-10 hours per day, 5-6 days per week. The ability to lift 75-100 pounds and able to climb on and off the job trailer will be required. Even if you become the owner who runs the dealership, you will still need to be proficient at the other aspect of the business as well, and you will be on site at jobs frequently to keep up on your knowledge of the industry.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please email me at firefighter_joker@yahoo.com. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY PLEASE. I am working a 72 hour shift starting tomorrow morning, and a 24 hour shift on Friday this week as well, so PLEASE be patient with return emails from me. I can not check this email account at work.

If you aren't interested in this, but know someone who might be, please feel free to let them know about it.

Rev

The wife and i own and operate a small garage door company in LaGrange il. if you are looking for some install support and sales maybe we could help. We cant help with start up costs but would love the extra work. just pay for the labor end and if it goes well, we would invest back into the company.

trackstand

We may be eventually looking to have salespeople based in different districts. If that is the case, I'll be sure to keep you in mind!

Gutters??

Nope.

Siding of some sort, I just haven't determined exactly what kind/style.

stucco?

Nope and nope. Having to do more with the yard than the house.

OK I will guess.....
Glass room additions....3 season rooms?

Hey, this is a snowmobile site. Only those w/sleds allowed.

Bill & Monica concrete yard decorations?

I would have to guess concrete landscaping curb.

Good Luck at whatever it is.

artificial lawn.. if it is im in. i hate cutting the grass

I bet it's stamped concrete.

Congrats to HCS's AMSOIL sponsor for guessing correctly!!!!


DING DING DING, we have a winner!!!!

what is concrete landscaping curb?

Concrete Landscape Curbing

Hello, I have some interest in this. What exactly are you going to be doing? Selling equipment or the actual installs of curbing? If you prefer to discuss this in email that is fine. I will email you as soon as I can figure out what the heck is wrong with my email. Thanks

We will actually be doing BOTH selling the equipment AND installing it. This may be considered two seperate businesses. This is why I need two partners. One who would be good at sales and marketing so the equipment selling part goes well, and one partner who is good at the installation and good at being a crew leader. I would "float" alot between the two entities once the installer is good at what he does in order to help establish good contacts throughout the sales district, but also be available for helping out with jobs as much as possible.

The owner running the equipment sales will also need to help advertise and market the installation business initially. We need to establish a good working relationship with landscaping companies around southern Wisconsin who would sub-contract our services from us and make their own profits from our installing it. We also need to advertise occasionally to get our own customer base, and I have some decent ideas as to what works for advertising of the curb installation, but would like an advertising/sales expert's opinions on how to maximize our advertising budget.

Hey Rev, be sure to think this one through, not trying to be negative, I jumped head first into my own thing and have not looked back but.... First if you haven't already contact SCORES in GB they can really help with any business start-up depending on what background you have. Second I know two different guys to try decorative curbing in Wisconsin maybe not quite to the investment level your looking at and all of them admit they can't stay alive with it like they thought they could. This was 4 years back, they both back into landscape but curbs is a sidelight. Good Luck either way but keep fightin fires, cant beat the benefits you guys get! Later.

THANK YOU for the info and the honest advice pertaining to it. I agree this is a hard business to be extremely profitable in, so I am making sure to tread water VERY carefully here and not get too deep into debt without having a means of getting out of it. I think I have found some approaches to marketing and sales that are new to this type of business that should generate some very consistent job offers for us. An idle curb machine does not make profits, and Im fully aware of that! I've also found alot of ways to keep our overhead costs as low as possible also. I am also adding the dealership sales as a means of keeping our business profitable, and the exclusive multi-state territory that comes with it.

Can I ask where did your friends start their curb businesses? I know Northeast WI is very saturated with curb companies right now, and that always hurts your ability to be profitable when you're fighting larger companies for the same jobs. Im looking to find areas in WI that have had some knowledge of this product, but not over-saturated with companies doing it yet, and hope to maximize my profits that way.

I agree with you though, it's easy to have a good vision in your head, but nowhere near as easy to make that vision a reality.

They are in northeast wisconsin down into the valley, I'm not sure what level of investment they made all I know is they went in saying how great this was going to be and now you ask and they have a shrug the shoulders and say ya it makes some money. Like I said contact scores in GB for new business counseling and have a solid business plan. Chances are if your accountant doesn't buy it the bank won't either.