@Sam Jumper posted:There’s lots of great advice from others above. I think a big problem is that everyone and anyone can claim what you wrote above. I don’t mean to offend at all, but these are rather simple tasks. How much is your time worth? How much time are you going to spend with these repairs, and then how much do you charge? Add in round trip shipping? As you noted in your first post, this part of the hobby is contracting, not expanding. As prices fall for this stuff, who is going to pay $100 to repair an item you can buy for $50? As others have suggested, repairing modern electronics might be your best bet.
Everyone has made legitimate points and good input. Sam Jumper's point of repairing modern electronics is key. If you want to stay gainfully self employed you'll need to be able to do the trouble shooting and cross into other gauges as well. Would you feel comfortable working on N scale for instance? If you want to focus solely on O gauge is fine but better find another job/source of income while building your reputation. Selling what you've serviced would be a good start and indicator of feedback from customers. Be prepared to 'eat' a repair as well even if you feel it wasn't your fault. Best wishes on making a go of it!
