Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
(OP)
I was recently "permanatly layed off" from my job working as a custom machine designer and builder. I was working on average 50 hours a week and still attending college full time. not to mention that i just bought fix er up house and only 21. the work load became to much and i was late a few times because of studying late at night. Instead of collecting unemployment, i got the idea i should start my own drafting buisness. Just something from home and nothing to complicated. Basically my services would be dimensioning parts, creating drawing packages of assembly's, and creating 2d drawings into 3d.
I did this when i first started out and am very proficient in solidworks. the way i see it, a company could outsource this job(india, ect) or have the designer finish the drawings after the designing process and pay them full wage or they could pay me to do it. this would keep buisness in the states, and also reduce cost for the company because i would be doing the job an engineer would be doing just as good for a fraction of their wage. they would also help out a college student further his education.
The only problem i'm worried about is the demand for a buisness like this. I am from the West Michigan area and my intent would be local buisness around here. Possibly elsewhere but i feel communication would be difficult and being able to have face to face interviews would produce less misunderstanding.
I understand that a buisness takes money and i have $2000 in savings that i'm willing to use. Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I did this when i first started out and am very proficient in solidworks. the way i see it, a company could outsource this job(india, ect) or have the designer finish the drawings after the designing process and pay them full wage or they could pay me to do it. this would keep buisness in the states, and also reduce cost for the company because i would be doing the job an engineer would be doing just as good for a fraction of their wage. they would also help out a college student further his education.
The only problem i'm worried about is the demand for a buisness like this. I am from the West Michigan area and my intent would be local buisness around here. Possibly elsewhere but i feel communication would be difficult and being able to have face to face interviews would produce less misunderstanding.
I understand that a buisness takes money and i have $2000 in savings that i'm willing to use. Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.





RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
I don't quite know exactly how unemployment works or even if you can collect if you are a full time student. I should learn this because I may be in a similar situation soon. Taking the student approach out of the equation, couldn't you collect unemployment and continue with the consulting work? As you sell work and collect the money, you just report it to UE and they make the necessary adjustments (like taking you off for a while).
Again, I have never been on UE so I do not know how it exactly works. I'm sure others will be here soon to smack me around.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
Not saying you can't do it but make sure you don't get yourself into trouble.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
Is doing CAD work considered engineering? In my side of the engineering field it isn't, but I am not sure about you mech guys.
Also about my previous post. It may tack some tact, but you might want to discuss what I said above with the UE office.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
As to the implied issue of engineers not doing their own drafting, at least in the exempt/machine design part of mechanical engineering a lot of engineers need to do their own drafting/CAD work.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
http://www.nceng.com.au/
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
You can collect your full unemployment benefits as long as you do not have to report any income you might receive, such as income that may be reported on a 1099 or CASH income that you self-report. Let me emphasize that last point, CASH income that you SELF-REPORT.
Unemployment benefits for me barely cover my rent. It does not cover food, gas, utilities, cell phone, and medical insurance. The IRS wiped out my savings in November (long story. I expect to eventually get most of it back, but it will take about 6 months and a lot of fighting. And I might not win). So I do what I have to do, like sell my furniture for half of what I paid for it just to pay for my cell phone, gas, and food.
Starting a business takes capital, and lots of it. $2,000 is nothing, $20,000 is more like it. No one is out there just dying to help a poor college student. You will get the work if you are good, fast and cheap. Start by putting a business plan together, and filing for your benefits.
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
The only thing im after is just the "documenting" portion of engineering. I'm not sure if other companies are like this but when i first started working at my previous job, once the machine was designed and built, i would take the assembly file, make sure all the dimensions on the drawings were up to date and correct, create views of the assembly and then balloon every part out and include a BOM. this also included creating all the custom properties and when done, i would print every drawing on a tablet sized page and put it all into a binder for the customer.
I plan on using the educational version of solidworks since i get it free being a student at my school. Or if that edition didn't have the things i needed in it, i might be able to purchase the software myself.
thanks for all the feedback and i hope i receive more. i'm going to research everything more in depth this weekend and next week and hopefully i will be able to decide if this is a route i should go. Thanks again!
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
You seem to be willing to sail dangerously close to the wind on a number of issues, several being legal issues. For instance, I would expect a software educational license excludes commercial use.
Regards
Pat
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RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
B.E.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
I encounter quite a few people like yourself trying to break into my line of work... they want to use educational software for commercial enterprises, thinking they can slide under the wire. It rarely works out in the long run.
Not to poo-poo on your idea, but it sounds like you need to re-evaluate what you want from life and set a more reasonable timeline. Owning a home at 21, particularly one that needs repairs, is a major issue unto itself. Add in a full college schedule and trying to make enough money at a job to pay for it all is pure folly, IMHO. It may make sense to sell the house (even if at a loss), move into an apartment, take a part-time job, take out student loans, and concentrate on the schooling for the next two years.
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
So i have decided this is something i would enjoy. i have taken serious time to think over if i would be getting my self into trouble with balancing school and being a homeowner as well as a small business owner all at once and i feel i can do it comfortable. The house repairs are easy weekend projects and studying for school i can do anytime. i am very quick at learning and don't need to re-read things. The only thing preventing me from starting up is the price of the Solidworks Software. My parents are willing to cosign on a small business loan but i'm not sure if i actually want to sink $4000 into possibly a 2 year company. does anyone know of any alternatives(legal!) that would work in creating drawing packages or grants, ect?
thanks again guys. You have no idea how much you are helping me out!
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
about the taxes, my buddy started his own photography business and he writes such expenses off come tax time. He also said business licences was like $50 total. Again, i would be working at home and i would be the only employee. Not going and renting office space, ect.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
1) If you are going to take on that much stuff, do it while you're young and have the energy:)
2) At $10/hr, I think you would be way underpricing your time.
Regards,
Mike
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
I think a 4-year projected profit statement is typical. It's about where most start-ups begin to break even.
"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
welcome to the club. I switched to Alibre from SWX because I did not have enough work to justify SWX and you are right , it is different.
B.E.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
It does have issues with layered drawings and drawings that have a high amount of faces.
But most of my work is structural, not sure how it operates when you get to the smaller scale details.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
Also on wages, what would one expect to pay a college student with years of cad classes in high school and college and also with almost a year of experience? i was paid $7.40 for everything i did(machine building, running erands, designing small assemblies, creating drawing packages, ect) so i was basically used. would i be better to say around the $15/hr mark? or is that still cheap? i can do my job efficiently and quick with hardly any errors.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
You have to cover paid time off, insurance and overheads like software, computers, office space, facilities and consumables, non productive or non billable but necessary time, costs of aquiring work etc etc etc.
Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &
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RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
You should bill about 1.5-2x what the hourly wage would be in your area for comparable position.
You did get used, I worked as an intern at Motorola for $390 wk in 1996.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
""Alibre-using client base is how big?""
These are companies that use Alibre
B.E.
Featured Customers
Abbott Laboratories
Alcoa
Allied Power Products Inc
American Airlines
ARC Technologies
ArvinMeritor
Avistar, Inc.
Battelle
Bechtel
Bombardier
Boyd Lighting Co
BWXT-Y12 Technical Services
Technical Services
Calsonic-Kansei
Carrier Corporation
Caterpillar
EG&G Defense Materials, Inc. - URS Corporation
ExxonMobile
Fabrico
Huyett
General Dynamics
General Electric Corporate Research
General Mills
Honeywell
IBM
JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Kelowna Flightcraft
Kennametal
Keystone Applied Technology
Laird Technologies
Lytron
Methode Electronics
MSI
NASA
Naval Air Warfare Center ( NAWCWD ) and Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC)
Northrop Grumman
Pfizer
Pratt & Whitney
Praxair
SAIC
Sandia National Laboratories
ShopBot Tools Inc.
Siemens
SouthWest Research Institute
Tamko
Tripar, Inc.
Whirlpool
Wyle Laboratories Inc.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
I just tried to send you a message, it bounced as an "invalid recipiant"
Did you get it?
B.E.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
While your basic idea isn't ridiculous, you've got to consider what you really have to offer.
It doesn't sound like you're really expert level in drafting and design from what you say - so they aren't really buying that expertize.
You may or may not be a relatively expert SW user, which you might be able to leverage.
With your level of experience I'm not clear that your an expert in a particular field of engineering design etc., and you'd have to be careful about offering engineering services without PE anyway.
There are already companies that offer drafting/engineering services that you're competing with. They'll often be degreed engineers and/or experienced drafters.
So, what is your selling point? At $10 or even $15 an hour it might be price, I don't know what's typical for your area. However, can you really operate on that price scale by the time you need a decent PC, software...?
If you have some kind of personal relationship with a potential client you might be able to leverage it, otherwise in an open market it may be challenging.
I'd think carefully about the business plan aspects.
Oh, and your experience of how your previous employer documented things is not typical of all industry segments/companies. It may be standard in custom machinery design, I don't know.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
And once you have more years of real experience see if going off on your own makes more sense. I know the exact type of people who would hire you right now, and I see what the finished product ends up looking like, and it's not good. I don't know why you were in such a rush to do all of these things at once, instead of concentrating on just finishing with your degree.
B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil and Structural Engineering
http://bwengr.com
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
But you spend the money now, and it's an investment, against you learning and earning money.
I'd finish school first. You can be a jack of all trades, and a master of none. But they way you sound right now, you're not even going to be a face card.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
It does not make sense to me to start a business that you are planning to do only for 2 years. You're talking about having your parents co-sign a loan for business expenses; why not have them co-sign a loan to tide you over for 2 years while you pursue your degree? The sums don't make sense; you're anticipating that you will be able to pay your bills if you make $10/hr, and even $7.40/hr was working for you before. That is not a ridiculous amount of money to take out a loan for.
I think the biggest strike against the idea is the risk. There are plenty of businesses started that fail. More fail than are successful. Even successful businesses don't make money for the first few years. At 21 with home ownership expenses I believe it would be ill-advised to make moves that have a distinct (if not good) possibility of leaving you worse off than before.
Could your plan work? I think so. But it is important to consider what will happen if it doesn't, and also important to consider that if you're only looking at making $10/hr you could make that much doing something else with no overhead (i.e. getting a regular labor job or better yet an internship) or take out a loan to help get you through school.
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
If you are a college student, then finish being a college student.
You are only 21, and right now, it seems you are running around a bit like a chicken on acid.
Do one thing, do it well, finish it, and then move on. Get your education first, and make that your priority. Then, when you are done with that, look at your options; come back then and ask for advice.
Right now, you are just wasting valuable time and energy when you could be studying.
Charlie
www.facsco.com
RE: Should i start my own business? College student seeking advice.
At that point if you start your business you will know you paid your dues and are ready. I am doing this right now, and it's been tough going through the depression, but we are still chugging along. Can't say that about a lot of my competition. But you really do not want to start a an engineering business being happy starting out at $11/hr. Go work at McDonalds and have no stress.
B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer
http://bwengr.com