0:02 hello I'm Jake Valen cour with 10x
0:04 engineered materials I'm Jacob Magner
0:06 and I run encrypted codings here in
0:09 Jackson Michigan so Jake it's uh good to
0:11 finally meet you it's been years we've
0:13 been talking and then Co happened so we
0:15 would have done this a long time ago but
0:18 life got in the way yep um one of the
0:20 things that we want to talk about is how
0:22 to start a business specifically how to
0:24 start a powder coating business oh yeah
0:27 but before we jump into that and any of
0:28 the details I think it's actually
0:31 important as someone who's started two
0:34 businesses now should you start a
0:36 business yeah so you know Jake what do
0:39 you think about that uh I mean there's
0:43 there's so many hurdles to get over um
0:45 you know I always ask myself is it worth
0:49 the stress because a lot of people you
0:51 know a lot of people have this idea or
0:53 this ideology of like hey I don't want
0:56 to be working for anybody else but the
0:58 reality behind it is if you start up a
1:00 business you are now working for
1:02 hundreds of other people depending on
1:05 what you know industry you're in so that
1:08 there is a lot of challenges to starting
1:11 a business and should you if you can
1:13 handle the stress I I say go for it um
1:16 you get a lot of freedom but also a lot
1:19 of stress yeah yeah I think there's this
1:22 almost myth in like right this wonderful
1:25 American dream uh and and not just in
1:28 America uh all over the world if I start
1:31 a business I'm going to be free and
1:34 maybe but you actually might be less
1:36 free than if you didn't start a business
1:38 depending on how it goes it's it's
1:41 really to me first question is well why
1:43 do you want to start a business yeah if
1:45 there's something that you're interested
1:48 in that you're passionate about and you
1:51 want to further develop that can also be
1:53 able to help other people produce a
1:55 profit for yourself uh or the the rest
1:58 of the business okay that makes sense
2:00 but if it's just simply well I don't
2:01 like my boss or I don't like this or I
2:03 don't like don't do something because
2:05 you don't like something else do
2:06 something because you have some passion
2:08 There's real love there there's energy
2:10 and the reason I say that
2:13 is doing this starting a business is one
2:15 of the hardest things in the world you
2:18 could ever decide to do and unless
2:19 you're completely committed and have
2:23 that passion to carry you past the
2:25 really tough Parts you're going to
2:29 struggle you may not make it um so you
2:31 have you have to love what you do to
2:34 love it so much to where when say people
2:37 that work for you don't love it that
2:40 much you have to love it for them right
2:42 to continue the growth I mean there
2:45 there's lots of challenges you know so
2:46 that's the first question to ask
2:49 yourself is why and if you have a why
2:51 where you believe no matter what you can
2:53 commit to carrying it through and
2:55 actually doing it then I say go for it
2:57 it makes total sense if you don't have
2:59 that why you can be really happy and I
3:01 some of my best friends would never be a
3:04 business owner so yeah I appreciate the
3:06 uh the the open and candid conversation
3:07 but I just wanted to get that out of the
3:09 way because I feel like we really needed
3:13 to nail that um and and at least address
3:14 kind of the elephant in the room before
3:16 we start talking about the how so figure
3:17 out the why first and if the why is
3:20 there it's solid stay for the rest and
3:23 watch the how yeah cuz running your own
3:25 business is not for everyone yeah
3:27 absolutely so let's say you've decided
3:29 that you do want to start a business and
3:31 just so happens that you want to start a
3:33 powder coating business we're going to
3:36 use this as an example in this video so
3:37 uh to start a powder coating business
3:39 the first thing you need to really think
3:43 about is well safety that's that's huge
3:45 um for me especially if you know you're
3:47 looking at maybe bringing employees down
3:49 the road it's always good to start with
3:53 safety um proper protection uh is just
3:56 PPE uh different different types of
3:57 clothing that you might have to wear in
4:01 the shop so you got you got PP you need
4:05 insurance license registration all that
4:08 fun stuff yeah so I think the general to
4:10 just start and open a basic business you
4:12 need to decide what form of business are
4:14 you going to be we're not going to go
4:16 into all of that here but basically find
4:18 yourself a professional tax adviser who
4:21 can walk you through that yeah um you
4:23 know once you figure that out you need a
4:25 business name and believe it or not you
4:27 can't just name it anything you got to
4:30 make sure it's available in your state
4:32 um so those are some of the basics the
4:34 nuts and bolts and then when it comes to
4:37 you know are you going to be starting a
4:39 powder coating business that's a sole
4:41 proprietor no employees or you're going
4:43 to start with employees you might need
4:46 some structural stuff depending on that
4:48 um if you're going
4:51 to be batch processing or you're going
4:53 to have a continuous production line
4:55 there's a huge difference in investment
4:59 and Equipment um around that answer and
5:01 you really need to decide first what is
5:03 the market that you need to serve what
5:05 are you going to be doing and then you
5:07 can answer the question of how I should
5:09 be doing that uh you want to build a
5:11 business model so you can actually
5:13 understand your cost structure and make
5:14 sure that you're going to be able to
5:17 have a profitable business yeah so why
5:18 don't we talk a little bit first
5:22 about the easier version of a powder
5:24 coding business to start uh or maybe not
5:26 easier but less expensive that's more
5:28 likely that a sole proprietor would get
5:30 started with yeah absolutely you know in
5:32 in my group on Facebook that's like one
5:34 of the biggest questions for a new guy
5:37 to ask is what do I need to start powder
5:38 coating and a lot of guys just want to
5:41 do the garage coating um and when I say
5:43 garage coating I mean like the bare
5:47 minimum to get you by so the first thing
5:50 would be a decent powder coating gun a
5:52 lot of guys will skimp out on that and
5:55 the better gun you start with the better
5:57 your business will flow um it'll make
5:59 things a lot easier and it'll help you
6:01 uh you know tackle those jobs that might
6:03 be a lot harder than others like ones
6:05 that may have deeper recesses or Fair Day
6:06 Day
6:10 areas uh two is an oven uh this one can
6:13 get very expensive very fast ovens can
6:16 range all the way from an Easy Bake Oven
6:20 up to a you know $80,000 oven so there's
6:22 a huge range to look at but if you're
6:24 just starting out what a lot of guys
6:26 will do is they'll take just a home
6:29 range that they might find on Craigslist
6:31 or faceb Facebook Marketplace cut it up
6:32 on the inside and just have that one
6:35 element exposed build a little Rack in
6:37 it and there you go you can start out
6:39 doing small parts which is actually what
6:43 I did I started in a toaster oven uh
6:46 back in 2008 I started in a toaster oven
6:48 um doing uh brake lovers for
6:50 four-wheelers and selling them on
6:53 Marketplace and now my company does
6:56 stuff for John Deere case New Holland we
6:58 do some Tesla parts so there's
7:01 definitely a huge broad range of things
7:05 that uh you can start and get to um the
7:08 next thing would be sand blasting now if
7:10 you're just starting out maybe use one
7:13 of your local sand blasters because uh
7:16 there's a lot of them out there um now
7:19 the other thing with sand blasting is if
7:21 you do decide to do it in
7:25 house material is a huge huge huge
7:27 undertaking there's so many different
7:30 materials on the market and and in my
7:32 group on Facebook we've we've gone
7:34 through thousands of different types of
7:36 material and Jake I'm not just saying
7:38 this cuz you're here um we landed on 10x
7:41 engineer materials it just it works and
7:44 it lasts especially like garage coders
7:46 that are say doing it in a in-house
7:48 cabinet um you know when you have
7:50 employees or even just yourself you know
7:52 you want to you want to use a very safe
7:54 material and you want to use a material
7:56 that cuts really nice to give you a
7:58 really good finish because when you're
8:00 starting out your end product needs to
8:03 be perfect it has to every time you
8:06 cannot let bad stuff get out um unless
8:07 you're just doing it for buddies you
8:10 know and then they they understand right
8:11 but you're not making money at that
8:14 point so those are some of the key items
8:16 that you want to make sure you have
8:18 outside of just like a a general
8:21 respirator um we'll talk a little bit
8:24 about equipment so before we get into
8:25 the blasting equipment you're were
8:27 talking about how if you have a powder
8:31 go powder coated gun that's low quality
8:34 low cost mhm you end up paying for that
8:36 in terms of what you can actually
8:38 produce how quickly you can produce it
8:40 um and your cost to produce that you
8:42 won't be able to get the bigger higher
8:46 dollar stuff if you have lower quality
8:48 materials equipment whether it comes to
8:52 blasting or coating uh even your your
8:55 oven you if you have a really small oven
8:56 you're only going to be able to do a
8:58 certain size part so you got to really
9:00 think about that
9:03 um and I would say if you create a whole
9:05 business model and you look at the cost
9:08 to start up you don't want to make the
9:10 cost to start up into the category where
9:12 it's just impossible because the cost is
9:15 so high but you also don't want to make
9:18 everything so low cost that it's almost
9:20 not worth it you're you're barely going
9:22 to be able to eat and get by as a
9:24 business owner so you really got to be
9:26 careful with that where if we're going
9:28 to start this and you're going to take
9:30 the the risk and you're going to jump in
9:32 and do it do it right yeah you know
9:35 research first talk to other business
9:38 owners you know there this is a a quite
9:39 an impressive community that you've
9:41 built up on Facebook there's no reason
9:43 that you have to do it all alone and
9:45 think through everything on your own but
9:47 my my biggest piece of advice once
9:49 you've decided to start a business is
9:52 don't skimp you will you will end up
9:54 being less profitable and and your
9:56 chance of success is a lot lower if you
9:59 can't actually get to profitability
10:01 quickly and you know it takes money to
10:03 make money so if you have to get a bank
10:06 loan you know whatever it may be I'd
10:08 much rather be working in a business
10:10 where we're going to do that than just
10:12 start with friends and family or you
10:14 know what savings we have unless you're
10:15 really lucky and you hit the lottery or
10:18 something you know either way don't
10:20 skimp because you're going to end up
10:22 getting uh yourself into essentially a
10:24 corner where you have limited options to
10:26 get to profitability if you don't start
10:28 out right out of the bat with the good
10:30 stuff right right the good equipment the
10:32 good materials all that so keep that in
10:33 mind and to touch base on you know
10:35 pricing that's that's another huge huge
10:38 feat with having a business right a lot
10:40 of guys will get into it and and they'll
10:42 just look at you know how can I make a
10:44 little bit of money off of this well
10:46 that might not be what you should be
10:48 doing because Market might be a lot more
10:49 than what you're thinking you know
10:52 there's guys that'll get on there and um
10:54 they'll ask what for example what what
10:57 should I be charging for a 20-in set of
11:01 wheels and um the pricing will literally
11:04 range from 100 bucks all the way up to
11:07 5,000 I mean it's just it's wild and I
11:11 know that there's a um location based
11:12 pricing you know people in California
11:15 May pay a little more for than over here
11:18 in Michigan um but I think a general
11:20 rule of thumb is if you're looking at
11:23 margins and stuff you really should be
11:27 charging at a minimum and this is 2024
11:30 during the shooting of this um I think
11:33 575 for a set of 20in wheels is like
11:35 bare minimum especially with how we've
11:37 seen inflation and all that powder's
11:39 gone up you know everything everything
11:41 is more money and if you're wanting the
11:44 better powder the better media and the
11:47 better finished product you have to also
11:50 make your pricing according to that um
11:52 and from what I found you know being
11:55 that we've done like last year over 300
11:58 sets of Wheels um it works when congratulations
12:00 congratulations
12:02 impress it works when you output really
12:05 good quality stuff um people are willing
12:07 to pay a little more and you start
12:10 getting into the more higher-end clients
12:12 you know with the higher-end cars and
12:14 even you know the older school cars that
12:16 they want Perfection they don't they
12:19 will pay a little extra for perfect you
12:21 know finish and I think that's where a
12:23 lot of guys drop the ball off the bat
12:26 they're just like how how cheap can I
12:27 get this through I've seen things from
12:30 people not even sast just sanding the
12:32 substrate or the the coating that's
12:34 currently on it and then just hot
12:37 flocking over it and then it it it might
12:39 be good for that person when they pick
12:42 up but I guarantee you in 3 weeks
12:43 they're going to be mad about that
12:46 product you gave them so there's a lot
12:48 of lot of things go into this and when
12:50 you're building a business don't think
12:52 about just you know building the actual
12:54 structure of the business you you have
12:56 to develop a business model and what
12:59 you're talking about is you know are you
13:00 going to be doing how are you going to
13:01 figure out your pricing these are all
13:03 things to figure out in your business
13:06 model first and my Approach would be
13:08 maybe different than than yours or some
13:09 other people I don't know but my
13:12 Approach would be let's have a Cost Plus
13:15 basis as a minimum meaning okay we know
13:17 it's going to cost us say it's a set of
13:21 20in wheels or rims for for a car and
13:23 you know that you're going to be
13:26 spending at least x amount to get that
13:28 job done that's awesome to have that in
13:30 the model I'm always going to operate at
13:32 a certain percentage of margin so say
13:35 say it's 300 bucks if of cost just round
13:39 numbers you want to be at least at a 30
13:40 40% margin all right then you have to do
13:42 the math and make sure that your minimum
13:47 price for that job is actually in that
13:48 margin range that you're willing to work
13:51 in if you don't do that if you don't
13:53 come up with a cost basis you may end up
13:55 doing jobs where you're like oh my gosh
13:57 I'm not sure if we even made money on
14:00 this and and just don't set yourself up
14:02 for that so figure out your cost basis
14:04 then of course when you get into more
14:06 exotic applications or things where
14:09 you're not sure say it's going to be
14:10 like you said you have a big customer in
14:13 case New Holland MH well all right give
14:15 us a sample run and we're going to just
14:17 work with you by the hour for a day or
14:19 maybe a week or whatever we're not sure
14:21 what we can do for you on pricing but
14:24 give us a shot you at least cover your
14:26 cost and then you develop okay I can do
14:28 this for X you bring it to the customer
14:30 you say hey this is what I can do if
14:31 that's in the range great let's strike a
14:34 deal if it's not hey at least you didn't
14:36 lose and I didn't lose in the process so
14:38 there's ways to come up with different
14:41 opportunities where you don't kind of
14:44 get caught with you know being in an
14:46 unprofitable situation but you also may
14:48 not know the answer I think a lot of
14:49 people get that uncertainty and that
14:51 fear of hey we're not sure what to price
14:53 this at so I'm just I don't know where
14:54 to start so I'm going to pick a number
14:56 and now you're kind of stuck with
14:58 something where it may or may not work I
14:59 wouldn't want to run my business that
15:02 way you got any advice on that I mean
15:05 yeah so prior to doing my own thing I
15:08 ran a tier one plating company and we
15:12 did a lot a lot of cost models I mean
15:15 there was thousands of parts and I think
15:17 the biggest thing a lot of guys don't do
15:19 is just I mean I literally have had
15:22 close family that has started a business
15:25 and they just didn't sit down and
15:27 actually do the numbers and and figure
15:29 out hey what do I really need to be
15:32 charging not what does my customers want
15:34 me to charge right because at the end of
15:35 the day if you can't charge what you
15:37 have to charge then it's not going to
15:41 work anyways um so sit down do the cost
15:44 model figure out your margins most
15:46 Industrials is is right around 30%
15:48 margin but honestly powder is usually a
15:52 higher margin than that um I've seen 80%
15:55 margins from other companies that have
15:57 allowed me to see what they do I've
15:59 actually seen higher than that even but
16:02 um yeah so so it is important to sit
16:04 down and actually spend the time and
16:06 figure out what you need to
16:10 charge so we'll talk first about PPE for
16:13 blasting mhm if you're blasting not in
16:16 an enclosed cabinet mhm our
16:18 recommendation is always follow OSHA
16:21 they want you to be in a forced uh Hood
16:23 respirator so you're actually forcing
16:25 fresh breathing air in and you need to
16:28 have full protection on yourself hearing
16:30 protectionis as well obviously with
16:32 yourself being under a hood your your
16:34 eyes are obviously protected as well
16:35 that's what OSHA says there's a lot of
16:37 dangerous materials out there for
16:39 blasting 10x is not one of them uh but
16:41 you also don't know what you're blasting
16:43 off there could be lead there could be
16:46 all kinds of stuff in there so follow
16:48 the the recommendations from OSHA to the
16:51 te for blasting there's no reason not to
16:53 yeah don't skimp on that that's that's
16:55 one thing that I've seen way too many
16:58 times in the group the um our abrasive
17:00 that we make it 10x which is made in
17:02 Indiana by the way 100% us owned company
17:04 made in the USA uh we're very proud of
17:07 that but the material is mineral wool
17:09 insulation mineral wool's been around
17:12 for over a 100 years and back in the the
17:15 day there was a bunch of lawyers going
17:17 after asbest manufacturers insulation
17:19 manufacturers because asbest would cause
17:22 people to die if you inhaled it and and
17:23 when they went and looked at Mineral
17:25 wool it was figured out in pretty short
17:27 order hey this material is super safe
17:29 and the reason is simple
17:31 it's a biosoluble material so if it gets
17:34 into your lungs deep in your lungs even
17:35 in the insulation form not just the
17:38 abrasive form your body can dissolve it
17:40 in just a few days and it causes
17:42 absolutely no harm and that's proven uh
17:44 there's anch monograph on it from the
17:45 World Health Organization and it is
17:49 considered as safe as coffee and tea um
17:51 and um I hate to scare people but the
17:53 truth is if you look at the other Braes
17:55 on the market none of them have an arch
17:57 monograph and the data that's available
18:00 on them is it's frightening I mean it's
18:02 it's not favorable it shows that it can
18:04 cause real damage if you inhale that so
18:06 before you guys comment too not to
18:07 interrupt you but before you guys
18:11 comment please go look don't don't just
18:13 keyboard Warrior it just like for real
18:16 go look cuz 10x is actually they care I
18:19 mean I I know Jake is affiliated with
18:23 10x but they do I mean what why else
18:24 would they spend the money to go have that
18:25 that
18:28 done right so yeah it's the research is
18:31 there solid um it's the safest high
18:33 performance abrasive in the world and
18:36 and so that's part of why Jake
18:38 recommends it uh so many other companies
18:40 recommend it and some companies will
18:43 only allow that to be used um when
18:45 you're blasting for safety reasons some
18:47 other companies have quality reasons why
18:48 they only allow our products but uh
18:51 we'll get into that later as far as PPE
18:55 when it comes to powder coating um I
18:56 think you should talk about the minimum
18:59 right like don't do it without this yeah
19:01 respirator which we can show you let me
19:02 grab one real
19:05 quick all right so this is the
19:06 respirator that we use when we're
19:08 spraying powder honestly this is even a
19:11 bit of Overkill because powder you could
19:13 even use a standard mask I've seen it
19:15 before like almost like an
19:17 n95 um but this is what I would
19:20 recommend and I'm sure you know a lot of
19:21 guys would recommend using something
19:25 like this um now we date ours and we
19:28 change them out every 4 months I believe
19:30 is the schedule Whitney has us on um so
19:32 we'll change these filters out every 4
19:36 months um that might be an Overkill too
19:40 which one was that this is the uh uh we
19:43 use it also cuz it's an acid one okay um
19:44 so again this is probably an Overkill
19:48 but uh this is the 60 60003 NIOSA one
19:51 yep don't skip on safety uh you only
19:53 have one life to live so you let's not
19:56 make it shorter right um all right so
19:58 that covers PPE cool so we're going to
19:59 talk a little bit about materials
20:02 material quality U there's a range and
20:04 you know I I think the the biggest
20:07 mistake I see out there is people say ah
20:09 this brand is great I'm going to use
20:10 everything that they make and I'm not
20:12 going to use anything else yeah why
20:13 would you make that choice I mean that
20:16 it's there's going to be some companies
20:17 are going to be great at some things and
20:19 they may not be great at some other
20:21 things they may not even be offering a
20:23 particular color for example so you know
20:25 I I say don't put yourself in a corner
20:28 again options are there for a reason and
20:31 you know explore find out uh what works
20:33 well for this particular application in
20:35 this particular color range and run with
20:37 that and it it's not always going to be
20:39 the same forever either so always be
20:42 open to learning about new materials new
20:44 processes new methods that sort of thing
20:46 what do you think about powder well like
20:48 you had mentioned you know there's a lot
20:50 of different brands a lot of different
20:52 powders and what I've personally found
20:56 is each company makes at least something
20:58 better than the other company I don't
21:01 know if it's they focus on one thing or
21:03 you know what it is what their model is
21:06 but don't just you know don't just
21:07 listen to what other people say too go
21:09 out and do your trial on air and and
21:11 figure out what works best for you
21:13 because I've even seen some guys use
21:15 different guns and certain powders spray
21:17 through different guns better I don't
21:21 know if it has to do do with like um the
21:24 material makeup or what I I'm not sure
21:27 on that but um you know like certain
21:29 companies make gloss blacks that flow
21:31 out a lot smoother and some companies
21:33 make gloss blacks that are a lot more
21:35 durable and scratch resistant but might
21:38 not flow out as good so there's a lot of
21:39 different colors a lot of different you
21:42 know manufacturers and a lot of them
21:47 make a lot of different styles so yeah
21:49 um and then when it comes to equipment
21:50 mhm let's
21:53 say uh we'll we'll talk a little bit
21:55 about blasting first cuz generally we do
21:58 that before we powder coat I hope yeah
22:02 oh just saying I hope um so compressors
22:05 uh plumbing and air air quality I'm
22:06 going to kind of give you a quick
22:09 rundown yeah first thing you want to do
22:11 is answer the question what do I need to
22:14 be able to blast so how much and how
22:19 quickly now if you want to blast say 100
22:21 sare ft an hour or
22:25 more don't come to the job with you know
22:28 don't bring a knife to a gunfight right
22:30 if you you come to that job and say I'm
22:33 going to use a 25 CFM compressor you're
22:35 kidding yourself it's not possible you
22:37 need the right tools so don't under
22:38 sizee your air compressor if you're not
22:40 sure how to size it for blasting you can
22:43 go to the 10x website product support
22:45 page has all that um I think some of
22:47 that information is on the Forum as well
22:49 it is and of course you can always reach
22:51 out to 10x for free we provide that type
22:54 of guidance at no charge um you don't
22:55 want to undersize your connections you
22:57 don't want to undersize your air dryer
23:00 and you don't want to not account for
23:02 other air demands so if that compressor
23:05 is going to be powering uh your powder
23:07 operation and it's also going to be
23:11 powering a air for your uh hood you know
23:12 you got to count all that up it's not
23:14 like hey I'm just blasting and that's
23:16 all I'm using no you're using the air
23:18 for other things so you need to know how
23:20 much you need for everything and then
23:22 make sure you can get to the pressure
23:23 that's necessary for the speed you want
23:26 to go and with 10x the higher the
23:28 pressure the faster the blasting it's
23:30 that simple um so don't under siize your
23:33 compressor when we talk about equipment
23:35 let's talk a little bit about uh the gun
23:37 I know we talked a bit about that but
23:39 going into more detail yeah right if you
23:42 go with a cheap gun you're you're kind
23:46 of shortsighted decision already because
23:47 now you're going to be stuck in a
23:49 certain quality range or you may not
23:51 even be able to do certain kinds of
23:53 Parts um let's talk a little bit about
23:56 that sure um when you're first you know
23:58 looking for a powder coating gun there's
24:00 a lot of different options out there and
24:02 if you're in the group on Facebook
24:04 there's there you'll see there's
24:06 thousands of different guns from ones
24:08 that are over in China that have you
24:10 know they they say they can adjust the
24:12 amps and kilovolts they have injection
24:14 and dilution there's a lot of phrases
24:16 I'm throwing out but if you're just
24:20 starting okay I think the my all-time
24:23 favorite personal gun would be a uh cool
24:26 coat system and Columbia Coatings makes
24:28 these and the reason why I I say this
24:30 gun is because you can achieve a really
24:32 good finish with it it might not be the
24:35 best for like super deep recess areas
24:38 but for what you pay for this gun it is
24:40 a really really good gun um a lot of
24:43 guys will use like the redline easy um
24:46 we stay away from the PCS 1000 however
24:48 Eastwood they are coming out or have
24:50 came out with a new gun I have not
24:52 personally got to use it um I've I've
24:55 got to use you know all the gas Wagers
24:57 Parker ionics I've used tons of
24:59 different guns um as well as I have a
25:01 few different ones my favorite I
25:04 actually have two uh sus Kremlin inoc
25:07 cart VTS and the reason I have two of
25:10 them is I loved the first one so much
25:12 that I decided that I needed a backup
25:15 one um if anything was to go wrong now we've
25:16 we've
25:18 sprayed man hundreds of thousands of
25:21 Parts actually probably probably close
25:23 to a million Parts with the gun we
25:25 currently have which is the inoc car VT
25:28 and it just keeps going um it's it's
25:30 it's an amazing gun but that is not for
25:33 a entrylevel person because you have to
25:35 know how to adjust amps kilovolts based
25:38 off of the configuration of part you're
25:40 spraying um I don't want to go in too
25:41 much detail with that because it can
25:44 confuse a lot of people really quick and
25:45 kind of make them like I don't even want
25:48 to do this like if I have to learn all
25:49 that you know there's different
25:50 densities of powder that you might have
25:53 to uh inject and dude a little different
25:56 than others um even to like flakes where
25:58 you're like okay a metallic flake you
25:59 would you wouldn't think that you know
26:03 you need to up the kilovolts to 100 um
26:06 but you do because to get good coverage
26:07 again I I don't want to get in too far
26:10 with that but but uh a good gun to start
26:12 with if you're considering starting in
26:15 uh a good budget I think would be right
26:19 around $22,000 for an entry level gun um
26:22 so there there's some options out there
26:24 uh me personally I'd look at the cool Co
26:26 systems all right cool so we're going to
26:28 talk a little bit about location
26:30 all right if you're running a business
26:31 or you're going to start a business you
26:34 need somewhere to do that um this is not
26:36 a virtual business you have to do a real
26:38 thing and you need the space to do that
26:41 location location location yeah so we've
26:43 we've gone through ups and downs with
26:47 location um it's very important that you
26:49 look at a space okay so let's say you
26:51 are looking at a building for example
26:53 and you're not just wanting to do it out
26:55 of a garage you're looking at a building
26:56 and you walk in you said you think this
26:58 is enough space it's not it is not
27:01 enough space you're going to need more because
27:02 because
27:04 immediately you'll start getting parts
27:07 in and you know for us we try to follow
27:11 16949 which is a a standard of quality
27:13 and we have to have an incoming and
27:15 outgoing a quality area hold area I mean
27:17 there's just a lot of things that you're
27:19 like wow I didn't realize I needed all
27:23 this extra space um so yeah I think the
27:26 minimum space to to do a small siiz
27:28 powder coating shop would be about 40x
27:31 40 I I really would like even then
27:33 you're going to be like probably
27:36 utilizing outside um you know it's
27:39 storage and stuff like that um perfect
27:41 space I think to do a midsize would be
27:47 like 108 by 80 so those are those are my
27:49 two recommendations now um you're going
27:51 want to look at are you going to do an
27:53 electric oven or a gas oven because
27:55 let's say you find a building and it's
27:57 far away from the road well you need to
27:59 make sure that the pipeline coming in
28:02 could even run a large size gas oven and
28:03 if not you need to make sure you have
28:05 enough current to do a fulls sizee
28:07 electric of in which they use a lot of
28:10 current three phase power yeah I mean
28:12 some you could use like a phase
28:14 converter and I mean there's there's
28:17 ways around that but yeah I mean you you
28:19 want to make sure your power source is
28:21 accurate or adequate for what you want
28:24 to do um and then you start getting into
28:27 it right and uh you start thinking man I
28:30 need this or that and like tire machine
28:32 um a lot of guys fabricating um it's
28:34 important to have like a plasma table or
28:37 a laser table I mean it just it adds up
28:38 very very rapidly so you want to make
28:41 sure you have enough amp service and
28:44 enough natural gas or even propane I
28:45 really really don't recommend propane
28:48 ovens because I've seen way too often
28:50 the propane coming in is not always good
28:53 quality and it can leave defects in your
28:56 finish it's also expensive it is very
28:57 expensive man it I don't care what
28:59 anybody looked at that prop is expensive
29:02 man I've seen their business models yep
29:04 Y and then you also can get you know
29:06 certain credits uh discounts in certain
29:08 industrial areas so that might be you
29:10 know what you know this is for Michigan
29:12 I know Michigan in certain areas you can
29:14 get um discounts on electric and all
29:16 that if you're running a business and
29:19 then some areas you don't um but yeah so
29:21 there there's definitely you want to
29:23 look at a lot of things when you're when
29:25 you're looking at a building now as far
29:27 as my group goes there is a significant
29:30 amount of guys that are doing the uh
29:33 garage coating which uh you know powder
29:38 no voc's it's a very very low
29:40 non-invasive not very loud especially if
29:42 you have like a rotary screw compressor
29:44 it people wouldn't even know you're
29:48 doing it it's that quiet um so you could
29:49 you could do it at home it could be a
29:51 you know an at home business or you
29:53 could even maybe go to your Township and
29:56 you know get approval to do it there um
29:58 but yeah so there there's lots of
30:00 different ways to do it um even if you
30:02 just want to do it as a hobby you know
30:04 doing it at home is easy please please
30:07 don't use the oven that you use to cook
30:10 with that will definitely kill you over
30:12 time um so you want to make sure you
30:16 have a isolated area not in your house
30:20 to do it um yeah we talked a little bit
30:22 about proper business license paperwork
30:24 but maybe we run through that one more
30:25 time let me see what we have on the
30:27 website here check local regulations
30:29 from get the necessary business license
30:30 environmental permits to run your
30:32 business legally some states that's
30:35 tougher than others it is definitely um
30:37 you may need oh and Zoning you want to
30:40 make sure that you're not Mis zoned or
30:41 you'll get shut down it's as simple as
30:45 that um you've also got to keep in mind
30:48 that don't miss those expenses in your
30:50 initial budget because if you truly are
30:52 starting from scratch uh it does cost
30:54 some money to get those things um and
30:57 then business insurance you want to make
30:58 sure you know what your cost of
30:59 insurance is going to be to start out of
31:01 the gate cuz again if you don't account
31:02 for that as soon as you want to hire
31:04 somebody if you don't have insurance
31:05 well you're not going to be able to hire
31:08 them you know I think that was one of
31:11 the big things for me was realizing how
31:14 much insurance was going to be to run it
31:16 where I'm running it um I mean it's it's
31:18 very expensive I'm not going to put a
31:20 number out there but it is very it was
31:22 well way more than I anticipated it's a
31:24 real cost yeah and and trust me you
31:25 don't want to get caught without
31:27 insurance something happens uh
31:29 especially with with employees yeah then
31:30 then you're done you absolutely have to
31:32 have it it's it's a must it's not a want
31:35 to have it's a must yep all right so
31:37 just a recap first of all before you
31:40 start a business should you and what's
31:42 your why uh you don't want to just start
31:45 a business because hey I don't like what
31:47 I'm doing now you've got to have passion
31:49 if you have passion everything else can
31:51 be figured out but if you don't have
31:54 passion for that man it gets really hard
31:56 you don't want to be caught out in the
31:58 rain out in the cold where you've
32:01 started up and then you're like crap I
32:03 can't believe I did this I just want a
32:05 way out y so don't set yourself up for
32:08 that um we talked about safety we talked
32:10 about equipment we talked about
32:12 materials we talked about location
32:14 talked about insurance there's a whole
32:15 bunch of stuff one thing we didn't
32:17 really talk about yet is actually
32:20 marketing so depending on the customers
32:21 you're going after right the market
32:24 segment that you want to be serving
32:27 you're going to need a marketing plan
32:28 that brings you customers from that
32:30 segment because if you want to go to
32:33 case New Holland like Mr Magner has here
32:35 um I think if you just adverti on
32:36 Facebook you may not find them and they
32:38 may not find you you may not get a foot
32:40 in the door y it's also all about
32:42 networking you want to be part of a
32:44 community a business Community where
32:46 you're networking with each other you
32:47 may not be able to help each other all
32:50 the time but time to time you're going
32:52 to be able to get a customer because
32:54 somebody knows you you know half the
32:56 battle is just being known you want to
32:58 be known before you're needed if you're
33:00 known before you're needed you've
33:02 already got a leg up on the competition
33:03 so what do you think about marketing I
33:06 mean you you hit the nail on the head
33:08 with all of that you know just to
33:11 digress a little bit if if you do decide
33:14 to take this from like a garage small
33:16 just doing it for your friends into an
33:19 actual business hiring people you have
33:21 to take that idea of of your head that
33:24 the it might not succeed like there is
33:28 no option that it has to exceed succeed
33:30 um and then as far as marketing goes
33:32 there's a lot of guys that maybe
33:36 shouldn't Market themselves um you know
33:37 there's a lot of rough around the edges
33:39 guys and and there is ways around that
33:42 hiring people to market for you um you
33:43 know then there's a lot of guys that
33:46 just can't use technology and that's you
33:47 know it might just be a generational
33:49 thing but if you want your business to
33:51 succeed you need to make sure your
33:53 marketing well um there's a lot of
33:56 different Avenues uh and you know
33:58 there's a lot of different
34:01 apps that allow you to use loc allow you
34:03 to use location
34:06 based um marketing meaning if you just
34:08 want to Market in your general area you
34:11 can do so you know Tik Tok does that now
34:14 um Facebook does it Instagram does
34:16 it um
34:18 YouTube kind of does it but it does
34:21 throw it also a little bit broader to
34:24 get more viewers yeah um but yeah I
34:26 think marketing is important I'll add
34:28 into Google Maps I don't know about you
34:31 oh I use those a lot yeah but if I need
34:32 something even if I'm on a trip a
34:34 business trip personal trip doesn't
34:36 matter I need something the first place
34:38 I'm going is Google Maps yep I've got an
34:40 iPhone I don't care I'm using Google
34:44 Maps so if you want to be available in a
34:46 particular Market make sure you're on
34:48 Google maps I mean it sounds so simple
34:50 but I know so many businesses in this
34:51 industry where they're not on Google
34:53 Maps and then they're frustrated that
34:55 somebody didn't find them and and they
34:56 went you know miles and miles farther
34:58 away than what they had to and people
34:59 just don't understand it's like hey just
35:01 get yourself on Google Maps it's not
35:03 that hard to do I think it's free yeah
35:06 it is free y they they did change it um
35:09 so it used to be uh to get verified and
35:11 be able to have your business they would
35:13 they used to sound out a card and now
35:15 they they've changed it up so I don't
35:18 know exactly how to get verified I know
35:20 it's a lot harder than it used to be um
35:22 but there's going to be challenges no
35:24 matter what you do in business so you
35:26 know that figure it out and do it I'm
35:29 telling you Google is huge yeah it is
35:31 you got to get on there um all right so
35:34 we recapped everything essentially this
35:37 video was made to help folks who aren't
35:39 sure but they want to kind of think
35:42 through whether or not this is for them
35:43 um and whether it's a powder coating
35:45 business or any other business a lot of
35:47 the advice that we're giving here is the
35:49 same you do it safely make sure you do
35:52 it right and and don't skimp on the
35:54 startup if you start up with the the
35:56 good quality stuff you don't need the
35:57 best but definitely don't go for the
35:59 cheapest you know that that higher first
36:01 cost actually gives you that lower
36:05 ongoing cost and the ability to get into
36:07 higher margin projects as well so don't
36:09 skimp on it don't undersize your
36:11 compressor don't get the cheapest powder
36:12 gun out there and don't buy the the
36:15 cheapest materials either um safety
36:19 quality all of it matters and honestly
36:21 don't do it alone you know there's a
36:23 whole Community here this is an awesome
36:25 uh uh group that you've built up over
36:32 yep I I started this group just as a you
36:35 know I I want to see other people
36:37 succeed I want to see other people being
36:39 able to give their families good lives
36:41 and all that and you know there's
36:43 there's definitely been it's been a
36:45 challenge running the group there's a
36:47 lot of spam that can get in there and
36:49 you know for a while there I was paying
36:51 a entertainment company to help me
36:55 mitigate some of that um but I want I
36:58 want my group to be available for people
37:01 to you know even just have a secondary
37:03 source of income life's hard enough as
37:06 it is you know so hopefully it helps all
37:08 right thanks for watching we appreciate
37:11 you visiting uh 10x website PW coding
37:14 Forum however you found this and uh
37:15 again get involved find the group if you
37:18 haven't already find 10
37:20 xm.com uh and reach out for help
37:22 whenever you need it y thanks everybody
