Been away for a while

[shh120m]

Originally Posted by Talonmotorsport

Welcome to the joys of being self employed! When things get on top of me with work and the problems that it causes at home with my Bi-polar wife who has mobility problems I find that it's best to share the problems with every body, then pull my finger out and get on with sorting it all out.

You still claiming incapacity phil?

[michael92]

That was low man :/

on a plus that pic kinda looks like my brother in law :P

[Talonmotorsport]

Originally Posted by shh120m

You still claiming incapacity phil?

I've never been on incapacity or claimed any other form of social benefits that I was not entitled to at the time. During my depressive period after having to leave Royal mail due to Arthritis in both arms and legs I did claim job seekers for 3 months. I became self employed trading as Talon Motorsport on 1st March 2010 and have not claimed any form of benefit since.
I have not inherited a pre made business with it's own bunch of back slapping groupies I've had to do things the hard way.
I started a business with a empty cow shed, MIG welder,cold saw and £200 borrowed from the house keeping. I have not borrowed thousands to start a business I have ploughed every penny from sales back in to buying the machines and equipment. There have been periods where I have struggled to make it work between the shop and home but I will be buggered if I'm going to lose it all through not trying hard enough. To hear that you are complaining about being too busy makes me sick, if you can't manage to keep it all running smoothly then your need to employ another pair of hands.

To the people that have brought one of my chassis from David Leek who brought chassis No.1 to Joe Hampstead who brought chassis 58 a few weeks ago I hope you enjoy your builds I enjoyed building them. To the 400 plus people that have brought my wishbones I hope you feel that it was money well spent and that you got good value for your money.
I have been criticised before for having a limited range of parts, I am not trying to be a kit car manufacturer producing complete cars in a box I just want to spend time in the shop doing what I enjoy the most.


vmax1974 Phil you really need some new photos to use in these posts have seen you use that one before not everything should be recycled.

I did not post this picture Nathan did in reply to one of my previous posts which is why I thought I would throw it back at him.

[robo]

This stuff is not really good for the forum i.m.o. Banter yes bitching NO.

Bob

[ayjay]

Sometimes we have to be big and strong enough to ignore it when someone shows a weakness and attacks us.
Remember the THREE fingers that point to us when we point a finger at someone else.

[PorkChop]

First off, this post is not designed to cause offence to, or criticise, anyone.

Originally Posted by Talonmotorsport

I have not inherited a pre made business with it's own bunch of back slapping groupies I've had to do things the hard way.
I started a business with a empty cow shed, MIG welder,cold saw and £200 borrowed from the house keeping. I have not borrowed thousands to start a business I have ploughed every penny from sales back in to buying the machines and equipment. There have been periods where I have struggled to make it work between the shop and home but I will be buggered if I'm going to lose it all through not trying hard enough. To hear that you are complaining about being too busy makes me sick, if you can't manage to keep it all running smoothly then your need to employ another pair of hands.

If I said I was pleased with my dealings with SSC, would that make me one of the 'back slapping groupies'? I hope not. I'm just a happy customer, and happy customers tend to return in the future.

A serious question for you; it sounds like you have your own premises (or at least access) and you already owned the tools to start up, but what if you had to find and rent a unit, buy all the tools you needed to make a start etc, would you have needed extra financial support? Seeking support when required is nothing to be ashamed of, or in my mind, to be criticised (unless the money was wasted, of course).

WRT to the inherited bit. Fair enough, NTS didn't start with an empty order book like you did. But that would bring its own challenges. Whilst you were able to sort out your product catalogue, find out what your comfortable through-put is, get your work/life balance right (and I know how hard this can be), Nathan was thrown into much deeper water and had to learn to swim much more quickly. By the sounds of it, Nathan is still getting that balance right between fulfilling orders, product development and still spend time away from work. That would take time and yes, an extra pair of hands sounds like it would be beneficial. But that also takes time to get the right person/people, as I'm sure everyone can appreciate.

Originally Posted by Talonmotorsport

To the people that have brought one of my chassis from David Leek who brought chassis No.1 to Joe Hampstead who brought chassis 58 a few weeks ago I hope you enjoy your builds I enjoyed building them. To the 400 plus people that have brought my wishbones I hope you feel that it was money well spent and that you got good value for your money.
I have been criticised before for having a limited range of parts, I am not trying to be a kit car manufacturer producing complete cars in a box I just want to spend time in the shop doing what I enjoy the most.

If you can enjoy your job, then that's brilliant. It was the first thing I was told as a kid 'if you can find a job you enjoy, then it doesn't feel like you're going to work'.

Originally Posted by Talonmotorsport

I did not post this picture Nathan did in reply to one of my previous posts which is why I thought I would throw it back at him.

In that thread, you removed your posts because someone criticised (in my mind, constructively) your product. Instead of doing that, it would have been much better if you discussed that criticism. When you do what you did, you do run the risk of turning potential custom away.

Originally Posted by robo

This stuff is not really good for the forum i.m.o. Banter yes bitching NO.

Bob

Too right. No one will benefit from it; the companies involved, this forum and potentially Haynes themselves. This forum and community can make or break the decision whether someone new who has just picked up the book proceeds with a build. Without new blood, things will eventually die away. And I'm sure none of us want that.

Apologies for the essay.

[K4KEV]

Well said PC....now lets all put our dummies back in and SUCK

[vmax1974]

Will you wash mine it fell on the floor

[K4KEV]

weshityersel.....aka wash it youself

[Not Anumber]

There are more similarities than differences between you two. No customer has a bad word for either of you.
You offer similar but not identical services. You live 300 miles apart and aren't robbing business from each other. You also clearly both face very similar pressures in both trade and personal lives.

If i was in either of your shoes I would take the initiative and talk about joining forces, sharing marketing, cross referring customers.

The Haynes is a great car and you are both competant and pleasant guys who deserve to make a fair living from it. It is seriously worth just agreeing to disagree and moving on.

Arrange a meeting, talk. Just do it or you will both lose out.