Sunday, January 11, 2009

Starting a Mobile Locksmith (Mesa) Business - part 3


Locksmith Mesa : Now is the 3rd part and also the last part. This article was written by George Robertson. Lets finished our lessons...

Even before I was making money rekeying locks, I was being called to open cars. If you intend to advertise yourself as an emergency service, you're going to have to take in this kind of lucrative work. Let me tell you now, this will be the easiest money you've ever made. It is well worth learning the skills required to open vehicles even if it means spending a couple of hundred dollars on tools and a good manual. Lockouts, at least in my case, virtually supported me for years. If you live in a medium to large city, count on getting lockout calls day and night even if you have only a tiny ad somewhere (a subject for later). There are many good lockout kits available online, to suit any budget, and the same goes for lockout manuals. Do a Google search for 'car opening tools' or 'lockout tools' and you'll have no trouble finding suppliers. Are they legal where you live? Again . . . this is up to you to determine. The supplier cannot and will not endeavor to police this aspect of marketing, as it is simply not possible. I'm not advocating the purchase of anything that is not legal where you reside!

House and business lockouts are likewise lucrative sources of income for the locksmith, but these require different skills, different tools. Here is where it becomes necessary to learn the skill of lock picking -- probably the most fundamental skill of the trade. It is not as easy to learn as car opening and lock rekeying, but it is by no means difficult, either. It requires practice and patience, and it requires good tools. Do not get stingy here. There are lots of cheap lock picking tools for sale. You'll find them in automotive magazines, even. Stick with tools from the established firms like HPC, SouthOrd, Lockmasters, etc. Purchase a beginner's set with a few picks and one or two tension tools for start, unless you have a big budget, then go for a set that will last you a while. Choice of spring steel or stainless steel is largely a matter of personal choice. Whichever one you start out with will likely be the kind you'll stay with, because you'll form an attachment to that type and you'll train yourself to make the best of it. More important is the concept of practice. Buy Practice Locks. Once you've picked all the locks in your home you're going to need more challenges, and now that Practice Locks are an accepted training aid in this field you'd do well to pick up a few of them. Practice until you can repeatedly pick the most challenging of your Practice Locks and then practice some more.

Did I mention that servicing lockouts will likely be the single most lucrative service you offer your customers? I thought so. Good!

There are other aspects to providing a locksmith service and among these is the ability to install locksets on homes and businesses. Primarily you'll be asked to install deadbolts, but later on, as your business gets bigger, you'll want to offer commercial business and real estate companies the option of replacing all their old lock hardware for newer more secure hardware. Again, practice is called for and you should be prepared to install a few unnecessary deadbolts and knobsets on doors in your own home that don't need them. After doing this a dozen or so times, it will be easy to go to that first installation with confidence. You'll need to add a few essential tools to your toolbox, such as a 1/2 inch drill, a couple of hole saws (2-1/8 inch and 1-inch), a 1/2 inch boring bit, and a good wood chisel. With these tools, you can install deadbolts in metal or wood doors. Complete installation kits are available and are the best choice if you can work them into your budget. Need instruction? Books galore available on Amazon.com or at any large scale bookstore in your city.

Once you've accumulated vehicle and the tools, and some knowledge gleaned from practice and reading, you can start thinking about getting your feet wet. The best way to start is the old fashioned way and that is to appeal to family and friends for work and for referrals. Network. Talk to everyone you know and let them know you're serious about this and that you are available. Step two is to advertise and this is absolutely necessary, even if you start out only as a listing in the Yellow Pages. This is where 99% of the people who need a locksmith will look. Newspaper ads, flyers (Yucchhh!), direct mail and radio ads don't work for locksmiths unless you have one enormous budget. Try to justify a small one-eight or one-quarter page Yellow Page ad if at all possible. Even in the face of huge competition, you will get calls and over time your name will be spread around, if you do a good job. Well, it will get spread around if you don't, as well, but you'd do well to avoid that.

That's how I did it. That's how thousands of others have done it, give or take a detail or two. Be sure to cover the legal bases, because if you jump into it and find later that you're acting outside the law, don't come to me! This is part of your research. It is not that difficult to acquire a certification and satisfy local laws that may pertain to this business. If you keep the business small, and maintain yourself as a sole owner, you're going to be profiting right off the bat because overhead with a mobile service is nil.It's within your reach whether you're 18 or 58.

George Robertson, owner/administrator
http://www.LockPickersMall.com -- specializing in locksmith training aids and locksmith tools.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_Robertson

The end. Hopefully this article may help you. Thanks to you, the Locksmith Mesa’s readers...

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