The sport compact car market is certainly a good place to be these days. One of the advantages of doing import performance modifications and upgrades is that you don't have to wait for cars to break to get business. The people who drive these cars spend money on performance modifications regardless of the age, mileage or condition of their vehicles.

Another plus is that you don't have as much competition as you do in the regular repair business if you specialize in performance work. It's a specialized niche market, and you can often charge top dollar for your labor and expertise.

Performance work can be a very profitable niche, if you have the customer base to support a full-time business. It can be fun, too, especially if you're into racing yourself, or own a modified sport compact car, truck or SUV.

The reason why more shops are not into this kind of work is that it takes specialized know-how and a completely different mindset than what is usually required to operate a repair shop.

When your focus is on general repair work, you usually don't see customers until something goes wrong with their vehicle or if it needs maintenance. You make your money by turning as many repair jobs as you can, trying to maximize your labor hours and keep your technicians productive.

With performance work, it's a different scenario. First of all, your customers may come to you and ask for your opinion about a particular upgrade...