The £100 challenge – start a business

The £100 challenge – start a business

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New POD

3,851 posts

149 months

Monday 10th September 2012
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We need leverage. How much of a business loan can you get with £100? £12.50 ?

mondeoman

11,430 posts

265 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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Could be fun - I'll keep you posted. Depends on how you want to take account of initial material costs for mine, but hey ho, away we go.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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OlberJ said:
Fantastic idea. I just need to corner £100 of wages at the end of the month.

Wonder if i can buy a car for less than £100 and break it for profit?
I'd say yes! It's the hassle of dealing with aholes wasting your time that might not make it worth your while.

OlberJ

14,101 posts

232 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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At £100 though, anything you make would be a bonus i reckon.

Off to look and see what i can find.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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OlberJ said:
At £100 though, anything you make would be a bonus i reckon.

Off to look and see what i can find.
I can't imagine that you wouldn't easily double your investment doing it. You sell stuff like a bumper, radiator or a steering wheel for £50, indicators for £5, bulbs for £1... it'll soon add up.

You could even just sell the whole thing for £300 to someone looking to make a little profit.

FactoryBacked

245 posts

231 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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I've started the ball rolling with my idea now. I registered some domain names a couple of weeks ago based on half an idea but this thread has given me some enthusiasm to develop it further.

I've included the domain names in my start-up costs. I now need to find some suitable software and either design a couple of logos myself or pay someone else to do it. I could be pushing the upper limits of the budget quite quickly with very little left in the pot for marketing.

I also don't know a great deal about websites or code so I predict a lot of Googling about how to do stuff seen as paying someone else to design / build the websites is out of the question.

I've not included things like the cost of my time or my laptop, hosting and broadband; all of which I already owned.

OlberJ

14,101 posts

232 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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Crikey, if we count our time we'll be scunnered.

£100 materials or services only i would have thought?

therealpigdog

2,592 posts

196 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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OK, I’ve already started my £100 ‘business’, albeit that it wasn’t intended to be a business at the time.

I’m going to try to make some pocket money out of my hobby - keeping tropical fish. I’ve organised with my local pet shop that they will take some of my ‘stock’ off me and give me money off dog food - so I’m hoping I can treat that as earnings for the purposes of the challenge. In reality I didn’t have any start up costs, as I’m using stuff that I already had, but if I were to start from scratch, then it would be roughly as follows:

Small aquarium £20
Sponge filter £4
Heater £12
DIY hood and lighting (x2) £20
Plastic Tub £3
Marbles £10
Wool £2
Riccia (plant) £5
Java Moss (plant) £5
Netting £2
3x Rosy Barbs £10
3 x Shrimp £5
Total £98

I’ve actually already started the process as I spawned the rosy barbs last weekend, and about 30-50 fry have hatched. I reckon they should be worth between 50p-£1 each to the pet shop as they retail for about £3 each. The second part will be to ‘sell’ red cherry shrimp to the pet shop, so I will add three shrimp to the fry tank tonight (clearly I will cheat a little and pick two berried females). This will be my stock for the purpose of the challenge, and I won’t dip into my other tanks (I promise). Shrimp tend to sell on ebay for about £1.50, and in shops for £3 (yet I’ve always just given mine away or fed them to my fish).

I’ve also agreed that I’ll supply the pet shop with some plants - and so will transfer a small portion of riccia and java moss into a plastic tub in the garage and cultivate that, with the intention of planting it on netting mounted on bits of wood/cane/rocks. I’m always amazed that these sell for about a tenner or more in fish shops, and yet literally costs pence to make. The only downside being that they take time to grow.

I'll also look into selling on e-bay - new territory for me.

So my business is not very profitable (and then only just after considering that I’m not going to account for electricity costs of running the tank, my time, or the back-up of having some spare tanks in case anything goes hideously wrong). It’s not really an up-scalable business, but if I can cover the theoretical start-up costs then man-maths means that I have a suitable business plan to present to Mrs Therealpigdog when she questions why I am getting more tanks.

Frimley111R

Original Poster:

15,531 posts

233 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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therealpigdog said:
So my business is not very profitable (and then only just after considering that I’m not going to account for electricity costs of running the tank, my time, or the back-up of having some spare tanks in case anything goes hideously wrong). It’s not really an up-scalable business...
I'd disagree, its not THAT profitable YET but it is very scaleable.

therealpigdog

2,592 posts

196 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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Frimley111R said:
I'd disagree, its not THAT profitable YET but it is very scaleable.
I am conveniently discounting the electricity consumption, my time, food, medical treatments and any cost for the space needed. To scale it up in the UK becomes uneconomical compared to warmer climates where they don't need to pay for heating and lighting, and labour/premises are cheaper.

It can also be quite difficult to get rid of fish - hence why I usually just give mine away or feed them to bigger fish.

But I'm doing it for the man-maths!

OlberJ

14,101 posts

232 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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I hope you'll all be declaring this on your tax returns!

therealpigdog

2,592 posts

196 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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OlberJ said:
I hope you'll all be declaring this on your tax returns!
Only if I can claim back my expenses. I've always wondered whether I should declare the £20 petrol money we get when we work the dogs on our shoot. Quite happy to give the tax man a share if it means that I can treat vets bills, dog food etc as expenses.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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FactoryBacked said:
I've started the ball rolling with my idea now. I registered some domain names a couple of weeks ago based on half an idea but this thread has given me some enthusiasm to develop it further.

I've included the domain names in my start-up costs. I now need to find some suitable software and either design a couple of logos myself or pay someone else to do it. I could be pushing the upper limits of the budget quite quickly with very little left in the pot for marketing.

I also don't know a great deal about websites or code so I predict a lot of Googling about how to do stuff seen as paying someone else to design / build the websites is out of the question.

I've not included things like the cost of my time or my laptop, hosting and broadband; all of which I already owned.
Try Wix.com or Wordpress.com. Not really tested either in much detail. Or google "free websites".

Frimley111R

Original Poster:

15,531 posts

233 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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FactoryBacked said:
... and either design a couple of logos myself or pay someone else to do it..
fivesquids.com or fiverr.com are your friends.

elster

17,517 posts

209 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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Shall we set a date to start this then?

As I am up for this if we can start at the end of the month.


320touring

1,428 posts

198 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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Hmm, I best get thinking on this, could be fun!

BoRED S2upid

19,641 posts

239 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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OlberJ said:
Crikey, if we count our time we'll be scunnered.

£100 materials or services only i would have thought?
Don't forget selling costs.

I will join in the fun but not for a couple of months. I was going to go in the £20 challenge but my idea can easily fit into a £100 challenge.

Distant

2,338 posts

192 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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Sounds like an interesting idea, if I can think of something to do I'll give it a go. If I can't I'll nick someone elses idea.

muppetdave

2,118 posts

224 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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I have an idea, but annoyingly my workshop is at my parents' house an hour and a half away, so it'll not be as successful as it could be, but I reckon it could be a little winner...

jammy_basturd

29,775 posts

211 months

Tuesday 11th September 2012
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muppetdave said:
I have an idea, but annoyingly my workshop is at my parents' house an hour and a half away, so it'll not be as successful as it could be, but I reckon it could be a little winner...
I have access to a workshop, need a contractor? wink