Business Ideas - where to start?

[digger_R]

I've just returned to the UK after being overseas for quite a few years and am looking to either purchase a business as a going concern or start up something.

I have startup capital and am willing to invest in a business that I can develop- I have the time and the will to make a success of it.
My question for the PH masses is where to start to get an idea of what type of business I should be developing or putting my money into. I've spent the last 14 years working in very high tech software and systems development -as such I'm pretty tech savvy, I have a passion for nutrition/health, travel, other cultures and I speak 5 languages, I'm happy to combine any/all of these where possible/useful.
I'm happy to develop a business on the side of my regular contract work or dedicate myself to it fulltime.

[Ossiantoad]

Why not go and see a few small businesses that are up for sale? They are easy to find on businessesforsale.com, Knightsbridge Business Sales, Daltons Weekly, RTA. Obviously you need to ignore the thousands of Post Offices and convenience stores but don't be too choosy, go and visit some long shots. You may not find something to buy but you might find inspiration.

I've seen a few in my time and mostly you come away thinking 'well that's how not to do it', but that's just as valuable in a way.

[digger_R]

Looking at some of those sites there seems to be an abundance of webshops that dropship, something I've been interested in doing for a long time but never got around to. Any advice on how to handle such a thing? It's looks to good to be true, an established webshop with 30-50k net profit for less than 10k? what am I missing here?

[Simpo Two]

digger_R said:

It's looks to good to be true, an established webshop with 30-50k net profit for less than 10k? what am I missing here?

The fact that Google has just changed its algorithms and orders have dropped by 50%?

[Frimley111R]

Simpo Two said:

digger_R said:

It's looks to good to be true, an established webshop with 30-50k net profit for less than 10k? what am I missing here?

The fact that Google has just changed its algorithms and orders have dropped by 50%?

Well possibly but I suspect they may use PPC more than SEO anyway. As with anything, find out all you can about the business and why they are selling. It could be that they do it part time and want to move onto something else. No need to assume there's anything dodgy.

[rog007]

digger_R said:

I've just returned to the UK after being overseas for quite a few years and am looking to either purchase a business as a going concern or start up something.

I have startup capital and am willing to invest in a business that I can develop- I have the time and the will to make a success of it.
My question for the PH masses is where to start to get an idea of what type of business I should be developing or putting my money into. I've spent the last 14 years working in very high tech software and systems development -as such I'm pretty tech savvy, I have a passion for nutrition/health, travel, other cultures and I speak 5 languages, I'm happy to combine any/all of these where possible/useful.
I'm happy to develop a business on the side of my regular contract work or dedicate myself to it fulltime.

Good luck!

[BGARK]

YHM

[jammy_basturd]

Go looking for problems, not solutions and existing businesses.

Problems are free, people love to tell you their problems. If you can hit upon a problem that many people share, that you can then solve, then you've got a business. So my advice is go and talk to people. Talk to consumers, talk to businesses, talk to as many different people in as many different situations as possible.

Then do what this guy did: http://thinkapps.com/blog/entrepreneurship/pieter-...

[digger_R]

Lots for me to chew on here!