Business ideas?

Melrose

Melrose

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Jan 23, 2012
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Has anyone left their job and gone to try and start their own business? I've got a friend who did, but it hasn't gone very well... though at the mo I don't think her business is a very 'hot' and 'sought after' thing - but there must be things out there that people need/want.

As much as I enjoy looking after children, it was never a job I wanted/imagined myself doing and with it's lack of respect for staff at my work place and POOREST pay EVER - I REALLY want to think of some AMAZING business idea (don't we all! :giggle:) but are there anyway's to go about doing things like this? Where to start? Could OH and I live off just his wage? Probably not.......

Desperate!!
 
I have but it grew from a puny little $300 a month income to a real business over the course of 4 to 5 years so it wasn't anything worth quitting my day job over.
I quit my day job to stay home with the kids and then to stay sane I started my little business.
I now have 3 other women working for me and it's a nice little income especially considering how much time I still get to spend playing with the horses here at home and taking the kids places.
We knew it would be tight but we figured we could make it work on OH's salary alone.
If that's not the case for you then just start slow and do it beside your regular job.
 
KarinUS said:
I have but it grew from a puny little $300 a month income to a real business over the course of 4 to 5 years so it wasn't anything worth quitting my day job over.
I quit my day job to stay home with the kids and then to stay sane I started my little business.
I now have 3 other women working for me and it's a nice little income especially considering how much time I still get to spend playing with the horses here at home and taking the kids places.
We knew it would be tight but we figured we could make it work on OH's salary alone.
If that's not the case for you then just start slow and do it beside your regular job.
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I've been paid £400 a month for the passed year anyway so tbh, it would only be equivalent to that! What is your business? :smile:
 
It's super secret. lol
I am catering to a niche market (green eco friendly living)
I started on Etsy which used to be a fantastic spring board for new businesses. It's been getting more crowded so it's probably tougher now than before.
I no longer do Etsy because customers go to our website directly (no Etsy fees and why bother). I have retailers all over the world -I even have a retailer in the UK!

Just start small. I didn't need a business loan or anything. Get the stuff you need from spare money and then reinvest and get a little more each month.
What are you good at? What are you interested in?
Do you know of any product that you like to use but it could use some improvement?
 
Yes, I have done it twice, first time was when I was 19! I had to sell the business after a couple of years because my health took a drastic down-turn and I didn't have the time/energy for it. As far as I know, the lady who bought it is still going strong. :)

I couldn't work for anyone else anymore. Even my teaching job when I am in Hungary is solely on MY terms and I dictate my hours. :) The rest of my time I seem to be spending making browbands, for some odd reason!

Agree with Karin, start small, be above board (tax, etc) and re-invest. As long as you enjoy what you do, and are good at marketing and budgeting, then it's worth a shot. :)

And Facebook is your friend. Really. 96% of my business is directly from FB! Have a Busines Page (not a 'human profile') for your business and take advantage of all the free marketing/advertising they offer. :)
 
hm, i think business works best if you do something you are passionate about and that is 'yours'. not having any idea what one could do, but wanting to start a business for the sake of starting a business ... hmmm. is there nothing you enjoy doing/making/are good at?
 
When Steve and I set up the cafe, the idea was that we would have a little lifestyle business which would allow us time to walk the dogs.

We now have a business with a turnover of £6,000+ per week which takes all our time and hasn't made any money yet. I think starting small is a fantastic idea!!!
 
Yes, OH left his full time job to set up alone when he was 24 and we had just bought our first house together - so not an ideal time but then again there never is! He's still running it now but over the years things have changed and when his health deteriorated a couple of years ago we had to decide what we wanted from life and have had to cut our cloth accordingly. We couldn't work for anybody now - nobody woul have us! lol I have been part of the business (after my own failed!!!) for 10 years plus.
I would say have a few savings put by if you can - as it makes things less scary in the short term. I have had to wing-it on more than one occasion and it is quite stressy worrying about paying bills etc but if you have a small emergency fund it helps.
 
Kis Vihar said:
And Facebook is your friend. Really. 96% of my business is directly from FB! Have a Busines Page (not a 'human profile') for your business and take advantage of all the free marketing/advertising they offer. :)
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YES! I hate it when businesses want to 'friend' me. I don't mind liking somebody's business page. Make a business page...
 
I would love to go SE. My problem is it would be in the business that I currently work in, so no running it alongside!

Bit scarey, but got to be so much better?
 
My dad did it when we were younger :D it’s gone fantastically well for him.

I plan to do it in a few years, quit work and do what I do freelance part time and spend the rest of the time doing an Equine Science degree, OH wanted me to study full time but to be honest I didn’t think it fair he be the sole earner so I came up with the above idea. He finishes Uni in June so I think by June 2014 I’ll be in a position to set up my own company.
 
I quit my job 8 years ago to set up a small magazine publishing company. I had been working in magazines for 10 already so I knew something of what was what! But I had never run a business before so it was a steep learning curve. We were a Ltd company and VAT registered from the start, so lots of nitty gritty law/accounting things to pick up. I had a friend who was a book keeper so he helped enormously, and we eventually found a good accountant (after using 2 rubbish ones.)

Our timing was good in that we hit a perfect gap in the market, combined with the only other competitor magazine falling out of favour with a huge proportion of its readership. So our mag took off almost straight away.

We were lucky in that we could live on OH's income alone (just) for a while. I began taking a small wage after a year, and it grew from there. Now I earn an OK living by my modest standards but it hasn't made me rich!

I also have a small sideline business, making dog biscuits which I sell at farmers markets etc, which has grown over the last year or so. I guess I just wanted to develop a new idea again. Maybe I am a serial entrepreneur! :wink:

I honestly don't think I could work for anyone else! I love working for myself but I do have the self discipline to organise my day/week etc and get everything done. I am also passionate about what I do, which helps as any business involves long hours and lots of hard work, whether doing the actual job you do, or the supplementary stuff like books/accounts or marketing/promotional ideas etc.
 
Yes, you have to be passionate about it.

Our lives have both been completely eaten by the cafe. But when I got home yesterday after an utterly exhausting weekend, what did I do but cook a lovely meal, because once a foodie, always a foodie.
 
Well, i'd LOVE to develop property. I know a lot of you will be thinking "that's ridiculous, of course most people would love to do that, but it's not easy" I know it wouldn't be easy - but then, is anything?

OH and I currently own a small property in a town, easily rentable, has previously been rented. At some point in the near future, we will be getting a chunk of money, roughly around 20-30k lent to us to buy another property, and rent our current place out. SO.. our plan was, buy a 2nd place with the deposit we will be given, and that will be our 'family home' where we can do up a bit, and live in, and eventually have a family in - so basically our long term home.

However, OH and I were talking about, buying a 2nd place BUT stay living in our current property - and buying somewhere that's a bit run down, doing it up for around 5k-10k depending whether it was just re decorating that needed doing or a bit of structural work and after sorting it out, selling it, and *hopefully* with the bit of equity it would have gained, save a bit of the money made and then get the deposit again and buy somewhere else, and generally keep doing that to a few houses. It means stay living in our current little property but we are happy with that, if it means i'd get to do what I want to do career wise, then brilliant.

We have seen so many houses going locally for dirt cheap (three bedroom end terraces, garage, garden for 90k - just needs re decorating! we know this because we viewed it on the weekend!) the estate agents estimate would gain about 20-30k in value.

I know you'll all probably say but the market is down and blah blah blah. I know that :smile: but there are also people out there, who still want to/can buy. Infact I know someone developing property now which is going well.
 
Well, I would say it depends on 2 things:

where you live and the property market there: and

how good you are at estimating costs and keeping to budget.

I could never do it, I always overspend!
 
Yes I went from being Financial Director of a big quoted company on generous salary and perks to a start up business with my then new husband in 1982. When that suffered in the recession in the 1990s I set up the RS at home and we also built houses on spare land.

Much as I remember how nice it is to have a regular guaranteed income I do like being self employed. I am now gradually downsizing my business to taper into retirement.

However to be self employed I would say you do need to be committed 24/7 and a bit more...I last had a 'holiday' in 1992!!

Having built property I would say never take anything at face value...a superficially undecorated house could give you a large underpinning bill. Its a bit like buying ahorse...have it 'vetted' by a surveyor. However my 'retirement' plan involves buying properties to rent...just not going to do the work myself for a change!!
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
Well, I would say it depends on 2 things:

where you live and the property market there: and

how good you are at estimating costs and keeping to budget.

I could never do it, I always overspend!
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Property where I am is fairly easy to sell, as we are by the sea "holiday" type destination. It's not easy easy, as no where is, but it's not too bad.

I personally think we do really well with budgeting, OH is very handy, can fit and do most things on his own. Here is a photo of the kitchen in my current property (we are in a nice little flat) this cost OH and I £380 to re-do completely.. (also had completely new stone look lino on the floor but can't see in pic)

Here it is before..
flatoldpic.jpg


Here it is after..
flatnewpic.jpg
 
eml said:
However to be self employed I would say you do need to be committed 24/7 and a bit more...I last had a 'holiday' in 1992!!
Click to expand...

Not strictly true, to a degree my dad tailored one of his businesses around holidays! He has been to the Le Mans 24 hour race every year since 1980, therefore he doesn't publish the magazine in June so his work load is quiet enough for him to go without worrying.

I saw a lot more of my dad when he went self employed, instead of two-three hours each way commuting, it now takes him minutes to walk to his office :D (it's at the bottom of the garden!), he's also got a lot more flexibility as to when he can work, he works hard but this means they can also now play hard (well, as hard as two parents approaching their 60's can!)
 
My business is a bit stressful right now. Luckily so far I've always been able to come up with a way to increase production to keep up with demand be it with new machinery/technology or just today I added a 4th employee.
Luckily my business is the sort of thing that allows me to organize my time so I can do all the fun things with the kids and horses I want to do.
We started the day with yoga at the San Antonio Zoo (kids and I love that!) and this afternoon Minnie's first ground driving in a bit session.
Then meet with the new assistant and now work on 5 or 6 orders tonight.
I am just barely meeting my deadlines right now but I am hoping things will ease up by the beginning of the year when the new workers have created a large inventory to pull from rather than the current 'made to order' system.
I do answer emails at 3 am on the way to let the dog out to pee and stuff like that. But I also take a day off if I want to. :)

You better love what you do. It's easier to be successful that way and not get burned out.
 
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