Design Firms 1

[iumcad]

I will be starting my own design firm soon (within two months) I have Solidworks 2007 and a screaming Dell workstation on the way. I will be marketing 2/D 3/D drafting & design with a focus on Mechanical Design for the tool, jig, fixture, specialty machine & automation segment. With ten years in a manufacturing engineers position I have gained alot of knowledge and have re-engineered & designed alot of tooling. I have a primary customer who will help me get kicked off & going. I am of course worried about future customers and wondered If anyone would have any input, success stories or advice to a venture such as this. Of all tooling that comes into our door where I work there always seems to be a design source labeled in the title block and then an integrator/builder. There has got to be work out there! I am in the south central Indiana/Michigan area and am trying to think of the best way to market my services. I will be full time (not going to try this out of my home.) Hope Im making a good choice! Also, I am making the switch from Inventor to Solidworks; its going o.k. so far except that my primary customer has solidworks 2006 and I have 2007 so we have to work thru this. I think solidworks owes me 2006 as well.

 

[ctopher]

I don't have my own business. Maybe this will help?
thread559-150008
Why does SolidWorks owe you 2006?

Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 02-10-07)

 

[Theophilus]

Why not work from home? Rent will likely kill you immediately if you get commercial space. Plus, there's not much point to the "bling" of office space these days--particularly when/if clients understand that they are ultimately paying for such space.

You may need to come across more as an expert in your field, doing what you do more efficiently than anyone can offer the equivalent work for.

Just my thought, since I'm working from home (in a nice dedicated office), saving my clients money for excellent work. I really have no need for "space", per se, since I do my work on my desk with a computer. Your industry might be different, but I don't think it is (since I know folks who do what you endeavor to do).

Check out the Starting & Running An Engineering Business forum as an additional place to post--more to-the-point on the general business side of things.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Arrange with your primary customer for you to have a valid SW2006 license. This can be done via network or standalone.

You say you will not be working from home. Will you be working on-site at various customers premises? Could you use one of their computers?

If you are paying for only one license from SW, then SW owes you only one license. However, having said that, I know many people have multiple SW versions installed but are paying for only the current version license. Maybe talk to your VAR to see what can be arranged.

 

[rockguy]

Here's some interesting info right from the horse's mouth

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/mattlombard/

Rob Rodriguez CSWP

http://www.axiscadsolutions.com

http://www.robrodriguez.com

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/rob_rodriguez/

President:

http://www.nvtswug.com

SW 2007 SP 2.0

 

[iumcad]

Thanks for that post rockguy! That is a great article, and helps me think a little more positive. Its scary going out on your own; especially when you already have a good paying job. To answer a few questions: I'm not working at home because I have free room & board at my fathers shop and thats where the business will be based. The solid works 2006 dilemma may be resolved. My vendor was able to give me a reg code for 2006 that works with my serial #. But he cannot find any 2006 solid works media? Hmmmmm I find this hard to believe. If I cannot run 2006 then I wont be able to service my primary customer until they update their server to win xp so that they can install 2007 (don't ask why they haven't done this yet!.) I just think Solidworks or the vendor owes me some kind of resolution to this issue being that I just dropped over $7,000 for their software & subscription.

 

[GBor]

Rob,

Not that I ever think you are that helpful , but a star for you since you seem to have helped iumcad

Garland

 

[Theophilus]

They haven't UPGRADED to Windows XP? Yikes! Sounds like you'd better get used to being behind a version or two or three. (XP came out in 2001!)

(OK, OK, I understand an attachment to Win 2000. ..)



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[rockguy]

Thanks GBor.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP

http://www.axiscadsolutions.com

http://www.robrodriguez.com

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/rob_rodriguez/

President:

http://www.nvtswug.com

SW 2007 SP 2.0

 

[Standing]

iumcad,
Congratulations on getting out on your own.

Even though your message did not mention this issue, I would suggest installing and using PDM. You may already plan on this anyway. PDM keeps good records of customer’s revisions. I really like the as built feature.


Bradley
SolidWorks Professional x64 2007 SP2.2
Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU
3.00 GHz, 3.93 GB of RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400

 

[iumcad]

PDM sounds like a good feature but I am unfamiliar with it. Acutally I am just getting on my feet with solidworks (being a veteran Inventor user.) PDM sounds like something I should investigate soon; looks like I will be helping a client set-up all of his perishable CNC bender tooling set-ups in solidworks. I will be converting old paper prints to live 3D models that will have future revisions.

 

[JMirisola]

Your client shouldn't need XP on their server to run '07, we don't have it and I manage my installs via an admin image. Remember, SolidWorks shouldn't be installed on the server, but on the local machine. If their pc's aren't running XP, that's a different story...

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP2.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2GB RAM, nVidia 2500M

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

 

[G1DESIGN]

i read Matts article with a wry grin on my face

I jumped ship 4 years ago and split my time now between contracting and working for myself would i do it again?
yes and no the learning curve is severe

1. in the beginning you tend to take any job pretty much negating the reasons that you wanted to work for yourself

2. your relationship if you have a partner will suffer far more than in that office job you had

3. it takes a good year before you become comfortable with what you have done

4. even if you dont succeed and you need to get a real job again employers tend to view the fact that you had a go with a lot of respect several senior management guys have told me they wouldnt do it in todays climate

5 try and get up do your days work and finish as you would if you were employed by someone else its way too easy to spend two hours just browsing the web watching tv staring aimlessly out the window

 

[toycept]

Running your own biz takes a particular kind of "personality" which includes an agressive work ethic and entreprenaurial drive which will determine at what level of success is realized. You'll know soon enough whether you pocess these traits. There will be up times and down times but it can be extremely rewarding (both on a financial level and a quality of life perspective). Aside from honing your technical skills and discovering ways to offer the values and benefits to your clients that will keep them coming back, line yourself up with a good accountant and utilize a good financial software package, such as quickbooks, to track your business.

Good luck!

John

 

[iumcad]

Im kind of fortunate in the fact that my wife is a para-accountant, sister is a CPA, brother-in-law is a vice president in a local bank and my father has been a successful entreprenuer for 16 years now. To compliment my technical degrees I also obtained a Bachelors in Business management which was worth the time. I learned most about the cost accounting side of businesses; if you dont know where your money is or how to manage it you can go down quick! I feel that I would be foolish not to try it on my own. I just look at the time spent in my current position knowing that I could be making almost twice the amount in billable hours for the same work. I know I will have a learning curve; like mentioned earlier I think the key ingredient is having the aggressive personal drive and work ethic along with good PR and accounting skills. And I am taking in all of this advice gained from these forums.

 

[Rocko]

Also make sure you have liability insurance, if you are providing engineering prints ect...