anyone else a one man shop? and be aware of rip offs

I've always been a one owner one employee one boss show.. I know I'm not the only one.... I can't balance the crank but everything else I do. Takes me forever but I know what I have and don't have in my car... I have a $220 a month over head for my shop. And I am finally getting some work out of the way... I have studied hard on all the upgrades and have enjoyed getting back into it... sometimes it gets to me especially the new $hit parts and their used tire salesman... so I leave it and cool off then get back into it... but I have been around the game enough not to be surprised.... I had to return 8 alternators to get one that lasted a week in the early 90's... 99% of the hobby is people making a living off other people's dreams and profiting from there mistakes... so it only seems fitting the forum would attract that and it would take some time to know who is real and who is soliciting for sales...

Someone recommend to restore a factory 360 2bbl intake... and to shy away from an aluminum 4bbl... and to salvage the lean burn and invest in that than bypassing it for less....

Also it would be better to send out and have you're wiper motor 're done than to buy a remanufactured one for 1/2 the money.... it's the same one I'm guessing...

I don't offer up my used parts as a solution to you're problems... I need it for my problems... people will off load junk once your fast friends and want to get a sale before someone chimed in with another solution to try...

The more you know the more valuable you are.... the more you hired out shows weaknesses.... when someone asks who did the this or that I say it's my work... and no I'm not for hire...

I'm a one man's shop. I've been this ay since 1991.
When I was out of control busy, I tried to hire people but it just wasn't the same.Quality going downhill, employees taking your equipment, abusing it, stealing stuff, I can go on and on. I'm at a point in my life where I'm making a great living by myself. Doing as much as I can and that's it.
There's a old saying that I heard years and years ago. "STAY SMALL AND TAKE IT ALL."

I was a one man shop, but now I've got three employees & that's enough.

I started that way and went up But now I am Me Myself and I !!

What's nice is out of the many ways of doing something I don't waste time and effort over that... I'm in on all of it so a customer doesn't get promises from a sales pitch that can't be realistic... I hated being told I have to rush a job because they over booked the shop... you pull it off then they expect it every time... and if someone needs a little work that's not really worth charging for... they will come in when they do have a job... and not be turned off by a minimum rate and a charge for a 5 minute fix... this is why 99% are rip offs.... the mechanics not happy and the customer isn't..... and the office can never figure out why people don't come back and they can't keep help....

I started working new home construction with my dad when I was 14 (mainly because I got into too much trouble during the summer that I was 13 ). I guess he was satisfied with my work because he kept me on all the way through high school and once out of school, I subcontracted from him. A year later I hired a guy to help me but that only slowed me down. One day he had to take a crap break and I did a bunch of work and then some and when he finally came back he commented on how much I had done and told him he was only slowing me down and I didn't need him and so take a hike. He tried to argue that he had to go to the can. Really...and when you're not in the can, you're still slowing me down. Bye. When we had our furniture store, my wife and I had two employees and both were pretty lame. At that time I was still working at the refinery and building engines and rear ends out of my home shop and making furniture deliveries and pickups but now that store has been sold and I'm retired from the refinery and don't build much of anything for anyone anymore and I like it that way!

I couldn't agree more cranky... I'm able to enjoy my work do it at my pace and live off my retirement.. I do historical preservation work im hard to work with but when im done yhe work I do is impeccable.. cash only my hours if someone is lucky enough to have me ... I would do it for free but $50 an hour is what I charge and I throw in a lot of exras while im their.. and source as much from local businesses.. home auto boat..

I'm a two man shop (not automotive related) and I agree that staying small is a good thing. I own every tool and instrument I use and owe no one anything (except Fiat for the new Dodge truck I drive - lol). And I may even pay that off soon.

I'm a one-man shop too, however I have hired a High School boy to help out here and there, he's eager and wants to learn. I finally got rid of the 'Handyman' who was a self-proclaimed jack of all trades, but, he was a Master of NONE, and he ended up costing me about 800 bucks on his errors of late. For me, this is a burn I can't let heal, I told him he's not going to work for me anymore, and let him go back to his real job -- he was working for me just when he wanted to, and when I had some work for him. Not anymore.

I admire and respect the discussion of tools and no one cares for your stuff as good as you do, and, no one can do it as good as you can yourself, and there's nothing that frosts my *** more than seeing my former 'Handyman' bare down on my DeWalt ChopSaw to the point it almost seizes up, and the same careless I don't give a **** practice on my grinders etc.

One thing I didn't read is how you all do time management? I find that after 8 or so hours at the shop, I'm ready to head home! You?

My work days are rarely shorter than 12 hrs, the longest 21 hrs.