Secrets to Operating a Successful Gunsmithing Business was written by Gene Kelly, President of the American Gunsmithing Institute and the Gun Club of America. This is the first of a seven part blog series.
Gunsmithing can be a wonderful hobby. It can also become very profitable if you know the secrets of successfully operating a business.
Secret #1:
The first is “Know What Benefit You Want to Get From the Business.”
The key to success in any business venture is knowing exactly what you really want to get out of it. While that may sound really simple, it isn’t. Most people only have a vague idea of what they want to accomplish when they start a business. Gunsmiths are no different. They don’t want to have a boss, they know that much, and they want to have the fun and thrill of fixing firearms, and they want to make money. But beyond that they probably haven’t written down actual goals in the amount of dollars desired to be generated by the business, both Gross and Net and what that equates to in the number of sales, repairs, services, etc. they need to do each month to cover all the costs and still put a nice profit in their pocket.
This isn’t difficult to do, shouldn’t be scary and I cover it thoroughly in the Complete AGI Business Success Tool Box Course. But I am going to share some of the core information with you now. If you are interested in Gunsmithing as a hobby or just as a way to earn a bit of extra retirement income, this process becomes slightly less necessary. Your goal may be just to enjoy repairing guns and to bask in the admiration of those that are less skilled, nothing wrong with that. However if you want to generate a significant income from your Gunsmithing Business, THIS is where you need to start.
So set some simple basic goals to start. Don’t over complicate it. Just think about how much you would like to put in the bank each month (profit).
Check back for tomorrow’s blog where we’ll discuss knowing your operating costs, deciding on and maintaining adequate profit margins to meet your goals.
