First year in business?

[wheresmykeys?]

already have a Ilco pick gun which I forgot to say. And I also looking at the Grand Master Z Tool kit heard great thing from other locksmiths and my old boss used them at his side business.

[gunbunny119]

already have a Ilco pick gun which I forgot to say. And I also looking at the Grand Master Z Tool kit heard great thing from other locksmiths and my old boss used them at his side business.

I have a full auto tool kit, but I find myself using either my Lishi picks or my long reach tool and an air wedge. I know a lot of locksmiths look down on the long reach tool. One guy even said if I use it I'm a "tow truck driver without a tow truck" but i dont care. If I can get into a car in 6 seconds with a LRT, why would I get my door tools out and take longer just to impress the client with my skills? In my experience, working inside the door brings more liability. If the lock rod mounting clips are worn (or the customer was playing around inside the door and didn't reattach everything properly) then you run a risk of disconnecting the rod inside the door. I did that once on a kid with a civic. I was working inside the door and heard that all-too familiar sound of the rod disconnecting and dropping inside the door. An 8 second job just became over 30 minutes because I took the advice of another locksmith who told me LRTs are beneath us. My order of approach.....LRT first, then go to the lishi and pick the cylinder, THEN go to the door tools.

[viking84]

Thanks for all the feedback. I just logged back for the first time this year. Im working on a business plan and website for my own biz starting 2013. Appreciate it!

JC

[Locksmith5]

I started my own Locksmith business as General Locksmith. I provide locksmith services in South Florida area . I've have almost 10 years of experience in this field. I provide services like Emergency locksmith Residential locksmith, Commercial locksmith, Automotive locksmith, Security locksmith in South Florida area. First year in my Business I provided service only in Miami area but I expanded my services to more areas in South Florida like Miami, West Palm Beach, Broward County and Fort Lauderdale.

[jruno602]

hello everyone!

Justed wanted to chime in on this thread

One of the first things i remember about my first year in the business is:

1. my first lockout lol...i had bought a cheap flea market lockout kit...all the tools in it where pretty much useless..and it took me 15 minutes to open the car ...luckily it was my friends....so lesson to be learned is:
"ALWAYS BUY TOP GRADE EQUIPMENT FOR AUTO LOCKOUTS"
i recomend buying high tech tool brand kits for auto lockouts...my set has paid itself at least 300 times over easily

2. the cheapest and most effective advertising that has been taught to me is word of mouth..."EVERYBODY" is a prospect or potential customer...good places to chum up people that u visit everyday would be ur gas station clerks, mall guards, and even tow truck drivers...u want to personally put a business card in there hand and smile and say im here to help and if you have ANY questions "CALL ME DAY OR NIGHT"....you'll be surprised how many people will call you with a lock question that becomes a lock job...even tow truck drivers will call you because they cant open a certain car or situation and if ur buddy buddy with a tow truck driver you will get in as the main referal locksmith for that company...trust me...tow truck companys want to make fast money and referal money and you can get in on the action...

3. this is something that i learn from my dad in the carpet biz..."If you find a locksmith distributor that actually has real locksmiths behind the parts counter"...FEED THEM LOL...I have bought pizza and had it delivered to my distrubtor randomly and when i go in there to buy locksmith stuff..they are always willing to help me all the way!

there experience has saved me tons of money!!..they will tell me if i really need to buy something or if there is a bypass or give me best pricing teir!!..they are like walking reference manuals when ever i have a questions

trust me..when these guys get busy and a pizza comes out of no where with ur name of ur biz on it saying thank you for help me so much guys...its worth its weight in gold...

more to come as i try to remember my first year in the biz

[wheresmykeys?]

hello everyone!

Justed wanted to chime in on this thread

One of the first things i remember about my first year in the business is:

1. my first lockout lol...i had bought a cheap flea market lockout kit...all the tools in it where pretty much useless..and it took me 15 minutes to open the car ...luckily it was my friends....so lesson to be learned is:
"ALWAYS BUY TOP GRADE EQUIPMENT FOR AUTO LOCKOUTS"
i recomend buying high tech tool brand kits for auto lockouts...my set has paid itself at least 300 times over easily

2. the cheapest and most effective advertising that has been taught to me is word of mouth..."EVERYBODY" is a prospect or potential customer...good places to chum up people that u visit everyday would be ur gas station clerks, mall guards, and even tow truck drivers...u want to personally put a business card in there hand and smile and say im here to help and if you have ANY questions "CALL ME DAY OR NIGHT"....you'll be surprised how many people will call you with a lock question that becomes a lock job...even tow truck drivers will call you because they cant open a certain car or situation and if ur buddy buddy with a tow truck driver you will get in as the main referal locksmith for that company...trust me...tow truck companys want to make fast money and referal money and you can get in on the action...

3. this is something that i learn from my dad in the carpet biz..."If you find a locksmith distributor that actually has real locksmiths behind the parts counter"...FEED THEM LOL...I have bought pizza and had it delivered to my distrubtor randomly and when i go in there to buy locksmith stuff..they are always willing to help me all the way!

there experience has saved me tons of money!!..they will tell me if i really need to buy something or if there is a bypass or give me best pricing teir!!..they are like walking reference manuals when ever i have a questions

trust me..when these guys get busy and a pizza comes out of no where with ur name of ur biz on it saying thank you for help me so much guys...its worth its weight in gold...

more to come as i try to remember my first year in the biz

Thanks alot that was a great lesson for my first year of biz hope you can remember more.

[Hollywoodpick]

Another update

As for the Z Tools i just got a full set in the other day i think i will like using them they seem to be well made and i will be selling my other larger set of in the door tools soon. It seems like the 3 main z tools do 80% of everything in the book. I like the bag that comes with it - it has room for more stuff you can put in it. Spend a few hours last night reading the looking at the book looking up common cars i run into a lot and frame less window cars this will be used on.

I still will be using the long reach tool a lot but i got the Z Tools for common cars i run into a lot that i feel i could open up faster with the Z Tools like a lot of SUVs and trucks that have very thick door frames i do not like opening up so wide with air bags.

I still love the strap tool for anytime i see a button.

I will be adding in 5 Lishi 2 in 1s very soon to and over time i would like to use them to get in. As i get better at using them i will buy more. Plus i will then be able to make some of the keys for lost keys for the non HS key cars.
I feel its best if you are going to do car lockouts to have many tools for the job even if they cross over i do not want to let anyone down.

Will also be adding on RV locks and lock out tools as i do get calls for that to.

May pick up some motorcycles lock tool readers i do not get a lot of calls for this but do get some maybe 5 or 6 this year i have turned down for lost keys that would of more then covered the cost of the tools.

Getting slow this time of year but still getting calls to get by on.

[snapisimo]

After working for several existing lock services, including apprenticeship, I Took a big deep breath committing to make 10 cold canvas calls per day. It never happened that way as it got too busy, and fast. Rolled all my own clients.
Great business but looking back I should have expanded rather than stay on my own. At the time I did not want what comes with hiring, firing, outfitting service vehicles, etc. No regrets.

snap

[alockguru]

Old post but has a ton of great info in it. Figured I'd add some.

One of the shops in my area that has a great store front focuses mainly with safes and high end locks. I myself don't do a lot of safe work so I usually send people to them when i get those calls. In return they send me most all of their customers who need a automotive smith (my favorite work) which is quite a bit. Also a few smiths I know only do res/com work, or auto smiths that only do dealer work. I try to get to know them all. Its not easy, some smiths can be pretty grumpy but having good relationships with other shops and smiths was a big help to me when starting out. Other shops love having someone they trust to refer customers they can't help too and when your just starting out those referrals are what makes a bad week into a excellent week.