How To Start an Equipment Leasing Business in NY

SCORE – New York Metro Area Successful Client Panel Video 4 of 4

If you’ve been downsized or have lost your job and are thinking about starting your own company, watch this. SCORE helps people start businesses. You can use the skills you learned during your career to build your own successful business. Paul Vaughn did exactly that when he started Copier Gallery, and he shared his story with during a SCORE New York Metro panel discussion.

I’d been working for over 20 years as a field service engineer with a company. My boss called me into his office and said, “Paul. The company’s downsizing, and we’ve got to get rid of a couple of guys, and your name was on the list.” So I say “OK.” He also said, “Paul, in two weeks, you will receive your final paycheck.” So I said, “Ok.” So I went home, and I waited. At that time, I was wondering, what am I going to do next?

Being Downsized isn’t the End of the Road: You Can Start Your Own Business

So I went down to the unemployment office and the assistant said, “Mr. Vaughn, you have two choices. You can either attend SCORE or you can seek unemployment and receive a percentage of your salary. I said since I always wanted to start my own business, I’m going to stick with SCORE.”

So I went and met with my mentor, Glenn, a wonderful person. He said, “Paul you have to attend some classes at SCORE.” So I went and my first class was how to register and start your own business. So I went and got my business registered.
Then I went back to Glenn and I said, “Now what do I do,” and he said, “Paul, since you’ve been servicing and repairing copiers for so many years, so I think you should continue with that. And I said, OK, no problem.”

How Do You Find Customers?

So ladies and gentlemen, what I did is I went out and hit the pavement. I went door to door, looking for customers. Remember now, I knew nothing about sales. The only thing I knew to do was to repair copy machines. So I went out there and I went door to door, mortgage company, real estate office, wherever might take a copy machine from me.

So I met someone at a real estate company, and I said, “Look, in order for you to get a machine, it’s going to be a five year lease; you need to give me a month’s rent and a month’s security.” The guy signs the contract for five years, and I went out and purchased a copy machine – a refurbished machine. I paid $240 for the machine, and I lease it for $250 a month – right up front, he has to give me a month’s rent and a month’s security plus a delivery fee.
OK and I continue the same process. Somewhere I read if you keep doing the same thing, you will end up with the same result, right? So that’s what I kept doing. I went back to my mentor Glenn, and I said, “Glenn, I finally find a customer,” and he said, “Keep doing what you’re doing.”

He also said, “Paul, I want you to make $3,000 per month,” and I said, “Ok, I’ll try. So I went out there. It was hard work. You know what I mean? But if you focus, you can do it also. If that’s what you decide to do. So anyway I went out there and I keep doing the same thing. I keep going through the same cycle: go out, buy machine, refurbish it, find people who want to lease it. So I went back to Glenn and I said, “Glenn, I’m making $3,000 per month now.”

SCORE Mentors Help You Set & Meet Business Goals

Glenn said to me, “Paul, I want you to make $5,000 per month.” So I said “Glenn, I’ve never seen $5,000 in my life. How am I going to do this?” So anyway, I went out, door to door, mortgage company, real estate company, medical offices, and I finally went back to Glenn and said, “I’m making $5,000 per month.”

And he said, “Paul, I want you to make $7,000 per month.” And I said, “Glenn, are you serious?” So anyway, I keep repeating the same cycle. And I make $7,000 per month. I went back to Glenn, and he said, “Paul, your goal is $10,000 per month.”

And ladies and gentlemen, I get to the point where I was making $10,000 per month with it. It was a great feeling, seriously.

What Made You Decide To Start Your Own Business?

So anyway, ladies and gentlemen, what really drove me to go out there and really hit the pavement was when I opened that envelope – and remember now I was working a decent salary – and when I opened that envelope, my final paycheck at that time was $75. So that’s what drove me to get out there and hit that pavement, because I decided I wasn’t going to work for anyone. I wanted to be my own boss.

If I can do it, ladies and gentlemen, I know you can do it too. It’s a great feeling at the top and I want to see a couple of you up here at the top too. I know you can do it!

To learn more about how SCORE could help you grow your business, visit www.scorewestchester.com