Lockout business, general education questions

[jacksonm1234]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to this forum; its looks like there are a lot of knowledgeable people here, which is great. I have a few questions.

I currently have a full-time job that pays well and that I enjoy. The thought of doing part-time locksmithing on the side has crossed my mind (and when I say locksmithing, I mean mostly the lockout side). I figure that I can do it part-time in the evening and weekends, and not be completely overwhelmed with work, but still make a few extra bucks. This brings me to my questions:

- Is my assumption correct? Can I make a few extra bucks doing lockouts while not getting burned out?

- What is the best way to get educated so that I could proficiently do lockouts? I've seen the foley belsaw institute program mentioned several times, but will that sufficiently prepare me? To be perfectly honest, I don't really have the time or the desire to do an apprenticeship.

- Is there another (possibly cheaper) way to get prepared as a lockout locksmith? I've seen some websites out there that teach mainly lockpicking and such. Are those worth anything?

That's all I can think of at this point. Thanks for the help![/list]

[dougfarre]

Do you have any locksmithing experience at all? Have you ever picked or opened a lock before without a key? Where are you going to advertise your lockout company? How do you think are are going to get by just doing "a few" lockouts to gain some "extra cash" and not get burned out. Do you live in a small community where you could offer your services, or a large city where you are just going to throw your cell phone number around and hope for some business? Do you plan on having anyone helping you in case your sick? What happens when you can't open the lock?

So to answer your questions:

- Is my assumption correct? Can I make a few extra bucks doing lockouts while not getting burned out?
You have not thought this whole situation through. So unless your just going to be doing lockouts for friends on occasion, chances are you have no idea what your getting yourself into. No one can tell how sucessful of a business your going to be able to run, that all depends on your abilities, the population in your area, and the number of locksmiths and lockout companies already present.

- What is the best way to get educated so that I could proficiently do lockouts? I've seen the foley belsaw institute program mentioned several times, but will that sufficiently prepare me? To be perfectly honest, I don't really have the time or the desire to do an apprenticeship.

What inspired you to become a lockout specialist anyways? The majority of residential lockouts are going to be homes and automobiles. So thats what you are going to need to look into. If you don't already know that then maybe you should reconsider your new venture.

- Is there another (possibly cheaper) way to get prepared as a lockout locksmith? I've seen some websites out there that teach mainly lockpicking and such. Are those worth anything?

There really is no way to prepare yourself except to... prepare yourself. Just put yourself lockout situations, and get yourself back in. There is no alternative. Locksmithing is an applied profession.

Why does everyone just have this idea where they can become a locksmith in 24 hours and make a whole bunch of money on the side? Its like at some point in peoples lives they wake up and think "today, Im going to become a locksmith. Its going to be easy, I'm just going to start my own company, and have a regular job, and make money on the side just for extra cash... I can handle it."

How bout you try something else, like scuba instructor. I'm almost a scuba instructor, it's much more relaxing and you might even make a few extra bucks without burning yourself out.

[globallockytoo]

Very nice answer Doug!


I'm blown away by the quantity of people who want to enter my profession, yet dont want to train or learn the fundamentals and just believe they can make great money from the start.

There is a whole lot more to locksmithing than just lockouts. I've been in the trade over 25 years and lockouts is the least interesting and probably the least profitable part of the business. To remain competitive, taking into consideration, tools, training, overheads, fuel, insurances, advertising etc, there is not that much profit in $45 - 70 cost to the client.

sure it might be fun - now, but when you cant open a few doors by picking, will you even know other methods of entry, like bypass or impressioning.

As i said above, I've been doing this 25 years and I hvaent been able to pick every lock, but I have found other ways to service the client and if i needed to drill, I always have the parts to replace.

By all means, do it as a hobby. But leave the profession to the professionals. By you wanting to supplement your income, you are effectively cutting a professionals throat or making it harder for them to earn a quid.

[jacksonm1234]

[quote="dougfarre"]Do you have any locksmithing experience at all? Have you ever picked or opened a lock before without a key? Where are you going to advertise your lockout company? How do you think are are going to get by just doing "a few" lockouts to gain some "extra cash" and not get burned out. Do you live in a small community where you could offer your services, or a large city where you are just going to throw your cell phone number around and hope for some business? Do you plan on having anyone helping you in case your sick? What happens when you can't open the lock?

[color=red]Wow. You must be having a bad day. I apologize, I didn't know that I had to post my entire business plan in order to receive a polite answer. However, I will do my best to answer your questions, friend.

I have no locksmithing experience whatsoever. I have never opened a lock without a key. I am well aware that I cannot do this without training and practice. If you recommend that I start this as a hobby first, please say so, instead of biting my head off.

I would advertise, this wouldn't be just for "friends". I live in a town of 40,000 people. I don't plan on having anyone else work with me. If I'm sick, I don't take the job. Simple as that. If I can't open the lock, I tell them to call someone else. What do normal locksmiths do in this situation?

[/color]


So to answer your questions:

- Is my assumption correct? Can I make a few extra bucks doing lockouts while not getting burned out?
You have not thought this whole situation through. So unless your just going to be doing lockouts for friends on occasion, chances are you have no idea what your getting yourself into. No one can tell how sucessful of a business your going to be able to run, that all depends on your abilities, the population in your area, and the number of locksmiths and lockout companies already present.
[color=red] Chances are, the reason why I posting in this forum is to get an idea of what I would be getting myself into by talking to knowledable, COURTEUS, people. [/color]

- What is the best way to get educated so that I could proficiently do lockouts? I've seen the foley belsaw institute program mentioned several times, but will that sufficiently prepare me? To be perfectly honest, I don't really have the time or the desire to do an apprenticeship.

What inspired you to become a lockout specialist anyways? The majority of residential lockouts are going to be homes and automobiles. So thats what you are going to need to look into. If you don't already know that then maybe you should reconsider your new venture.

[color=red] A lockout specialist would be good because I thought it would be the easiest to do part-time. Yes, I did already know that the majority of lockouts would be autos and homes. So, do you have an answer for my question? What is the best way to get educated so that I could proficiently do lockouts? [/color]

- Is there another (possibly cheaper) way to get prepared as a lockout locksmith? I've seen some websites out there that teach mainly lockpicking and such. Are those worth anything?

There really is no way to prepare yourself except to... prepare yourself. Just put yourself lockout situations, and get yourself back in. There is no alternative. Locksmithing is an applied profession.

[color=red] This response is no help at all. Thanks. [/color]

Why does everyone just have this idea where they can become a locksmith in 24 hours and make a whole bunch of money on the side? Its like at some point in peoples lives they wake up and think "today, Im going to become a locksmith. Its going to be easy, I'm just going to start my own company, and have a regular job, and make money on the side just for extra cash... I can handle it."

[color=red] I dont even know how to respond to this. I made no implication on how much time I wanted to spend learning the trade (24 hours? Are you serious?). I understand that this is going to take time and money. [/color]

How bout you try something else, like scuba instructor. I'm almost a scuba instructor, it's much more relaxing and you might even make a few extra bucks without burning yourself out.

[color=red] Why does everyone just have this idea where they can become a scuba instructor in 24 hours and make a whole bunch of money on the side? Its like at some point in peoples lives they wake up and think "today, Im going to become a scuba instructor. Its going to be easy, I'm just going to start my own company, and have a regular job, and make money on the side just for extra cash... I can handle it."

See? It really doesn't make much sense, does it?
[/color]

[/quote]

[jacksonm1234]

[quote="globallockytoo"]Very nice answer Doug!


I'm blown away by the quantity of people who want to enter my profession, yet dont want to train or learn the fundamentals and just believe they can make great money from the start.

There is a whole lot more to locksmithing than just lockouts. I've been in the trade over 25 years and lockouts is the least interesting and probably the least profitable part of the business. To remain competitive, taking into consideration, tools, training, overheads, fuel, insurances, advertising etc, there is not that much profit in $45 - 70 cost to the client.

sure it might be fun - now, but when you cant open a few doors by picking, will you even know other methods of entry, like bypass or impressioning.

As i said above, I've been doing this 25 years and I hvaent been able to pick every lock, but I have found other ways to service the client and if i needed to drill, I always have the parts to replace.

By all means, do it as a hobby. But leave the profession to the professionals. By you wanting to supplement your income, you are effectively cutting a professionals throat or making it harder for them to earn a quid.[/quote]

"I'm blown away by the quantity of people who want to enter my profession, yet dont want to train or learn the fundamentals and just believe they can make great money from the start."

I never said I didn't want to learn the fundamentals. I just want to know the most efficient way of doing so. Please don't assume I'm an idiot.

"There is a whole lot more to locksmithing than just lockouts. I've been in the trade over 25 years and lockouts is the least interesting and probably the least profitable part of the business. To remain competitive, taking into consideration, tools, training, overheads, fuel, insurances, advertising etc, there is not that much profit in $45 - 70 cost to the client."

Good to know, thanks.

"sure it might be fun - now, but when you cant open a few doors by picking, will you even know other methods of entry, like bypass or impressioning. "

Well thats the question I'm asking -- what kind of training would I need? Would foley-belsaw be appropriate to get me started?

"As i said above, I've been doing this 25 years and I hvaent been able to pick every lock, but I have found other ways to service the client and if i needed to drill, I always have the parts to replace."

Okay, that makes sense.

"By all means, do it as a hobby. But leave the profession to the professionals. By you wanting to supplement your income, you are effectively cutting a professionals throat or making it harder for them to earn a quid".

How would you recommend I get started as a hobby?

[jacksonm1234]

Sorry, my posts are kind of jumbled, and it doesn't look like you can edit them after the post. I'll have to make more effective use of the 'preview' button.

[globallockytoo]

How would you recommend I get started as a hobby?

Reading through this forum is a good place to start. Asking questions and learning from experiences. Practise, Practise, Practise.

[dougfarre]

Why does everyone just have this idea where they can become a scuba instructor in 24 hours and make a whole bunch of money on the side? Its like at some point in peoples lives they wake up and think "today, Im going to become a scuba instructor. Its going to be easy, I'm just going to start my own company, and have a regular job, and make money on the side just for extra cash... I can handle it."

See? It really doesn't make much sense, does it?

Haha, that was funny. But seriously, the reason why many of us get so perturbed by questions like your's, jacksonm123, is that we get so many of them. Read over the forum a little bit and you will find that your new business idea is by-no-means unique. As it turns out your question has been answered numerous times.

[dougfarre]

Also being a scuba instructor is very different than locksmith work.

[Eyes_Only]

Anytime you turn a hobby into a profession of any kind you will lose a hobby. This was told to me by an instructor few years ago at college and it has come true now that I am working as a locksmith.

I'm lucky if I can have even 1/4 of a day, every other week where I can devote my time and energies to lockpicking because I have to do research on all the different aspects of locksmithing and to be honest, the last thing a locksmith wants to see at the end of the day is another lock. At least thats the way it is for me.

Diffenately you should stick to picking as a hobby for now and see how well you can get at it before making it a business. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches by taking it one step at a time.

Plus you gotta have kind of nerves of steel a lot of times in this industry. This is one of the most stressful jobs in the world.

[jacksonm1234]

Anytime you turn a hobby into a profession of any kind you will lose a hobby. This was told to me by an instructor few years ago at college and it has come true now that I am working as a locksmith.

I'm lucky if I can have even 1/4 of a day, every other week where I can devote my time and energies to lockpicking because I have to do research on all the different aspects of locksmithing and to be honest, the last thing a locksmith wants to see at the end of the day is another lock. At least thats the way it is for me.

Diffenately you should stick to picking as a hobby for now and see how well you can get at it before making it a business. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches by taking it one step at a time.

Plus you gotta have kind of nerves of steel a lot of times in this industry. This is one of the most stressful jobs in the world.

That makes sense. A hobby is probably best. So, do you recommend a specific route to picking it up as a hobby? Should I just buy a set of picks and a lock from somewhere, and then use the various tutorials on the internet to practice? Thanks for the reply.

[dougfarre]

You already know all the answers.

[freakparade3]

So Uhhh. Do you guys believe in angels?

[kodierer]

Buy some picks, and use all the tutorials this forum has to get started. We're here to help you learn this great hobby.


If you wanted to be a locksmith, then know, that no you cannot really do it part time, and you would need a locksmith to work for to show you the ropes, and the foley belsaw certification is basically what you need to get an apprenticeship.
How would you ever expect to get business, and return business if you do not build a good rapport by taking calls, and opening locks. If you don't answer your phone when someone calls, they will remember, and call you last on the list next time they need a locksmith, and if you fail to open their lock, then they will never call you again, and will tell all their friends not to call you. Thus you lose business. Also if you don't make keys, rekey locks, install locks, sell locks, etc... Then people will go to the locksmiths that do for those things, and when they lock themselves out of the house, or car. They will call the locksmith that made their keys, or changed their locks, because they already know them.

[FFVison]

I pick locks as a hobby. Just from reading this forum for almost a year, I can tell that this is what I want to do. You will find out that some locks are going to be out of your abilities to open and you will need to practice like crazy to get better.

Also, lockouts don't seem like the type of thing you can do part time. I don't suppose you could very well add to the end of your advertisements "please don't lock yourself out unless it's the weekend." This just seems kind of silly to me. If you are going to do lockouts, I would think that you need to commit to it and be on call 24/7 if you are doing it by yourself. If you do an apprenticeship, you should, in theory, be able to keep flexible hours and have someone else that you work with to take calls for when people are locked out during the week.