Sticky work situation - what would you do?

Another quick update - all working well, and I encourage others to pursue self-employment if practical and you're sure you have a field that'll pay the bills.
It's the best thing I've done so far - every day is a new challenge, but since leaving my job I've moved into a 4 bedroom house, finally got the ZT-T automatic I was after and have more time to spend with my family.

Go for it - you never know if you don't try. :)
 
Well done chap, nice to hear its worked out well for you.

I haven't seen your site so not sure if its named / themed on Rover but how are you handling the parts for other marques, adding to the existing site or creating a new more generic side company?

If it keeps improving I'll be expecting to see you with a ZT 260 :D
 
While i will never ever understand the Rover love, this is a great tale and i am glad it is working out for you. :)

I am jel i must be honest, i would love my own little business. Getting one off the ground which could genuinely replace a decent salary though is something which i am probably never going to manage :(
 
Cheers guys!
To be honest a lot of the reason was an 'out' to working in Burnley with nearly 100 miles of driving a day - even if as a short term endeavour.
MonkeyMan, you can tap MG Rover Spares into Google and I'm the first result. I can't put a link in, as last time I did, I got told off. :p

I do like the 260, however I've always wanted a well-specced ZT-T Auto, preferably diesel. Not many were made, so finding one was a right struggle - the extra 'T' denotes estate - and most people after something a little sporty went for the saloon version of the car.
Finally, I found one a while ago. I paid £1,500 for her, but given the joy I've had I've since sold all of my other MGs, and have since ordered a private registration too. Excuse the awful Vistaprint door magnets...!
I spent a bit more to avoid the usual sheds - full history, not written off, good overall condition and most importantly, all tests passed on the T4 kit I took with me when purchasing the car.



Finally, I have to say it again. If you're good at something, make something of it. :)
 
Found it, good job on the google ranking but get a pic of a damn car on the front page :P

I like the blog posts, a lot of people make the mistake of trying to look like a big company but I think for your market coming across as an enthusiast is a good thing.

Not to sound critical but check your mission statement page as there are a few mistakes. Mission statement sounds a bit weird too, perhaps just call it "Our Story" or even just the standard About Us.

Hope it goes from strength to strength chap.
 
Thank you - I forgot to finish that one, I ran out of time. :D
Fingers crossed, I'll have to move on eventually (going to move to Jaguar parts, seems logical after dealing with the 75/ZT), but for now it's going well. :)
 
ilcp said:
No, you can get a job in the call centre again if your ROVER business doesnt work out but will you get another nan again?
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Forgot to add, I do spend a lot more time with her now too. She's also very healthy now, which is good news.
Also, there's no risk (in my mind, anyway) of me having to go back to a 'regular' job for a long time - I'm moving into Jaguar parts in a few years, with an XF on the drive to tie in. :)
Currently building a portfolio of parts, suppliers and local Jaguar specialists I can contract to.
 
Quick update - almost a year later!
This month one of our products made the cover of Car Mechanics magazine - fantastic news!

The kit on the cover:


Close up:


Part of the article:

** No business promotion **

It's a good step in the right direction!
 
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Just so you're aware, none of your login / account creation stuff is protected by SSL until you hit the Shopify checkout page.

Google are going to give sites that use HTTPS across the board better scores when it comes to ranking them in search results, so you might want to explore your options.
 
pastymuncher said:
I am really glad it worked out for you. Then again, someone who is as passionate about Rovers as you are was always going to succeed.
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Thanks mate. I always thought it was just a useless hobby, turns out it's not! :p

Caged said:
Just so you're aware, none of your login / account creation stuff is protected by SSL until you hit the Shopify checkout page.

Google are going to give sites that use HTTPS across the board better scores when it comes to ranking them in search results, so you might want to explore your options.
Click to expand...

Shopify do allow HTTPS on the whole site from what I remember - I'll see if I can get it changed over. Thank you mate. :)
 
In b4 gay... :p

I wrote a bit about the company's plans for the future - thought I'd post a copy here so you can all see what we're up to these days. :)

We have a lot of customers, both old and new, that seem to worry about future parts availability. A post on a well-known forum has inspired this particular message - so sit back, and prepare to relax in the knowledge that all isn't as bleak as it seems for our cars.

Our main focus is on the 25, 45, 75, ZR, ZS and ZT models - so this post will mostly relate to those. It doesn't mean we won't work on spares for other models in the future, however.

In 2 years we've grown from a small office set up in a spare room, to a company with over £500,000 of turnover in the last 12 months - and a staggering 80% of our profit goes back into either R&D for re-designing parts, or in buying stock from SAIC MG and their dealers to store for future use. We buy around 250% more stock than we sell (roughly worked out on my tea break!).
We now have extensive stock of items that simply weren't available 12 months ago - for example 75/ZT Rear Number Plate Lamps, 75/ZT Rear Upper Arms, and various other essential bits and pieces - a saviour for owners come MOT time.

Our plan is to continue buying and warehousing stock from SAIC MG over the next 2-3 years, making sure it's all sealed and stored in an environment that'll preserve both the metal and rubber components. We're constantly expanding our storage network - we use a network of warehouse space leased from other companies to keep costs down.

Once we've bought all available stock of essential parts from SAIC and other sources, we'll then focus on having difficult-to-find but essential parts re-manufactured. At the moment we have a few projects on the go in this regard (75/ZT Fuel Tank Straps, and a few rubber bushes) - but this will be stepped up massively once we've finished buying and warehousing stock.

Finally, as numbers dwindle, we'll keep working with owners across the globe to continue building our reputation as the source for hard-to-find spares, but also as a company that will take any requests for parts to be re-made - and will do our best to make sure this happens. This may be through club-organised 'Group Buy' projects, or funded by ourselves upfront.

Our main aim is to supply OEM-quality parts at realistic prices - I'm more than acutely aware that every company on the planet seems to promise this, but our incredibly low returns rate of around 0.15% within 12 months shows the quality of our parts.

Remember, it's never really over for Rover. Let's keep our Viking Longships and MG Octagons moving for many years yet. :)
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Small update, we have 3 pallets of stock from MG arriving on Wednesday / Thursday - got to try and find somewhere to put it.
We now rent 3 small storage spaces in warehouses local to us - one is a supplier of my old business I'm still good friends with, and the other two current suppliers we're friendly with. Just corner stack of boxes in each. Bit of beer money their way... :)

The bits and pieces that are landing will hopefully turn a market of 'oh, that's not available anymore' or 'blimey, that's expensive' to 'here you are sir, and here's your change'. That's the aim, anyway!
 
Going to throw some bad in there, for anyone considering the same - today has been absolutely hellish.

All of our suppliers closed over the holidays - tried to stock up as much as I could, however with limited space I had to be quite picky. Turns out that it was mad busy over the holiday period, to the point where we had nearly 200 orders outstanding.

135 picked and packed today, the rest are back-orders for custom items we only order on requested. 18 hours from when I started, I'm getting ready to drop the last few parcels off at the local depot, and then will head to bed.

Being self employed is great, but remember you get some absolutely crazy days chucked in too.
 
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