A Failed Automotive Shop

In 1999, I was working as an entry level software developer while going through college when I first decided it would be a good idea to go into business. My older brother and father were mechanics. At most of our family functions, it was common to hear them complain about their jobs. It wasn't that they didn't like the work they did. They just were fed up with their work environments and having to function under what they portrayed as incompetent management. Each complaint was followed with an insistence that if they had their own shop, things would be much different - much better.

After a few months of hearing their complaints, some of the others in the family (with my voice probably the loudest) suggested that they start their own business to remedy the situation. Although they were great mechanics, their business skills were lacking. My younger brother and I stepped in to provide what they lacked on the business side. We were determined to make it a successful family business, selling automotive repair and tires.

While I was working on our business plan and trying to secure financing for the business, I bought a house so I could put some sweat equity into it. My intent was to pull out the equity to help leverage our startup costs. I finished my basement and installed a sprinkler system in the yard. I pretty well exhaused the $10,000 or so in savings I had accumulated.

During this time, a period of about five months, I spent well over 100 hours doing market research, interviewing potential customers door-to-door, negotiating with the owner of the property we wanted to use, and wearing the numerous hats that come with starting a small business. The culmination of it all was at best disappointing. At worst, it set me back all the time I had put into building a business that never even got to the runway, and thousands of dollars in attorney's fees and other costs. My brother and father decided the business was "too risky" when the bank asked for collateral (i.e. - possibly our homes in the event the business failed) to secure a loan.

The whole experience wasn't a total loss. I had learned some things about business and negotiating. I understood how quickly money could evaporate. I still wanted to build a business, but I also knew that my risk level comfort zone then changed to being willing to put my time and effort on the line, but hopefully not so much my savings.

My younger brother still wanted to work together on a business with me. We thought about a few options. A friend of his had tipped him off about a distributor of outdoor supplies. They weren't interested in having us sell their stuff on eBay, but they would give us an account if we demonstrated that we had an online store. For a small fee ($2.00 per order), they would drop-ship their products to customers. We also found other suppliers whose products we could purchase and have shipped to our customers just in time, as we received orders, without having to stock a bunch of stuff that we weren't sure we could sell.

We set up a website: randomdeals.cc (randomdeals.com was taken). The name was accurate for our business. On the home page of the site there were four pictures in the main section: one for computer components, one for auto accessories, one for outdoor equipment, and one for sporting goods. Indeed, it was random. Here's the header for our RandomDeals.cc website. I found it using archive.org's WayBack tool.







The funny thing about our RandomDeals.cc site is that we actually sold some things on it. Apparently not everyone was turned off by our obvious lack of online sales experience. Although it wasn't much, it led to greater things for us in the eCommerce world.