Casual business ideas
Discussion
Hey everyone,
I was a member on here for a couple of years until about 2020 when my son was born and then work, life etc got in the way. I tried resetting my password but the reminder is going to an old email I dont have access to now!
I have been going back and forth the last couple of weeks on what to do long term career wise, I own an ecommerce company which has done well, we peaked a couple of years ago and over the last few years I have been fortunate enough to invest in some properties, clear all our debts including cars so our monthly out goings are very little, most of our mortgage is covered by rental income too. One property did particularly well and has just sold for about 20k more than we planned on getting for it.
The original e-com business has gone quiet the last 6-9 months, if we didn't put our self in a good position financially a couple of years ago it could be worrying and to be honest after having it for almost 10 years now I have been thinking of a new business going forward for a while, possibly partially close this down for now but leave it in the background in case we ever want to go back to it but put funds in to something new.
I have always had an interest in property and flipping 2-4 of houses per year would be ideal but finding the right houses at a reasonable price is tricky at the moment so possibly a later down the line plan. I have about 20-30 hours per week free, approx 100k surplus in cash to invest (more for the right idea) and looking for something not massively demanding but I am happy to put the work in, I enjoy the whole start up process and the possibility your on to the next big thing!
My only problem is what to turn to, I have good experience in importing and ecom (not technical but I know good payment providers, developers to turn to etc). I dont really want to keep in B2C retail but wont turn it down in the right field, possibly B2B or some kind of App/Site which will generate an income eventually.
Obviously a big interest for me is cars, I did think about some buying/selling of higher value cars (BMW M cars, 911's, R8 and so on) but then I think unless you have good facilities and top end warranties people want to buy from a fancy show room and make the most of the experience than buy from my home!
Then I looked at the import market, certain models can be picked up cheaper in other countries but the import and shipping eats the profit.
A good friend of mine and long term business contact lives in Easter Europe, his friend has a large manufacturing company over there producing kitchens, completely custom, good quality quartz tops with build in sink (counter sunk if that makes sense), the projects they are doing are incredible, one recent one was a large kitchen, looking at it I would say it was a £10-£12k set up minimum, the whole thing supplied including some custom cupboard for awkward areas came in about £5k incl VAT. From past experience it could be a good middle ground for developers, higher spec and visually much better than Howdens/Wickes/Benchmarx but not top of money BUT I know nothing about this sector and I think it could end up being a bit of a nightmare unless there was a lot of stock held in the UK incase of any errors, damage in transit but possibly worth considering and maybe becoming a UK agent for them using a UK brand name but making it clear its built to order and probably focus on the B2B market.
Sorry for waffling on, my post really is to get some inspiration, has anyone had this bit of a career break before and what did you do?
I think putting my eggs in a few baskets would be good, each one bringing in a revenue stream each month as unless a business is very very special I wont be dumping 100k in to a gamble.
Any help appreciated.
I was a member on here for a couple of years until about 2020 when my son was born and then work, life etc got in the way. I tried resetting my password but the reminder is going to an old email I dont have access to now!
I have been going back and forth the last couple of weeks on what to do long term career wise, I own an ecommerce company which has done well, we peaked a couple of years ago and over the last few years I have been fortunate enough to invest in some properties, clear all our debts including cars so our monthly out goings are very little, most of our mortgage is covered by rental income too. One property did particularly well and has just sold for about 20k more than we planned on getting for it.
The original e-com business has gone quiet the last 6-9 months, if we didn't put our self in a good position financially a couple of years ago it could be worrying and to be honest after having it for almost 10 years now I have been thinking of a new business going forward for a while, possibly partially close this down for now but leave it in the background in case we ever want to go back to it but put funds in to something new.
I have always had an interest in property and flipping 2-4 of houses per year would be ideal but finding the right houses at a reasonable price is tricky at the moment so possibly a later down the line plan. I have about 20-30 hours per week free, approx 100k surplus in cash to invest (more for the right idea) and looking for something not massively demanding but I am happy to put the work in, I enjoy the whole start up process and the possibility your on to the next big thing!
My only problem is what to turn to, I have good experience in importing and ecom (not technical but I know good payment providers, developers to turn to etc). I dont really want to keep in B2C retail but wont turn it down in the right field, possibly B2B or some kind of App/Site which will generate an income eventually.
Obviously a big interest for me is cars, I did think about some buying/selling of higher value cars (BMW M cars, 911's, R8 and so on) but then I think unless you have good facilities and top end warranties people want to buy from a fancy show room and make the most of the experience than buy from my home!
Then I looked at the import market, certain models can be picked up cheaper in other countries but the import and shipping eats the profit.
A good friend of mine and long term business contact lives in Easter Europe, his friend has a large manufacturing company over there producing kitchens, completely custom, good quality quartz tops with build in sink (counter sunk if that makes sense), the projects they are doing are incredible, one recent one was a large kitchen, looking at it I would say it was a £10-£12k set up minimum, the whole thing supplied including some custom cupboard for awkward areas came in about £5k incl VAT. From past experience it could be a good middle ground for developers, higher spec and visually much better than Howdens/Wickes/Benchmarx but not top of money BUT I know nothing about this sector and I think it could end up being a bit of a nightmare unless there was a lot of stock held in the UK incase of any errors, damage in transit but possibly worth considering and maybe becoming a UK agent for them using a UK brand name but making it clear its built to order and probably focus on the B2B market.
Sorry for waffling on, my post really is to get some inspiration, has anyone had this bit of a career break before and what did you do?
I think putting my eggs in a few baskets would be good, each one bringing in a revenue stream each month as unless a business is very very special I wont be dumping 100k in to a gamble.
Any help appreciated.
What ever you do it won't be easy imo. I've flipped houses but it's hard work, I've access to very cheap finance to fund the projects which alleviates some of the pressure as if you were stuck on bridging finance it would eat into the profit very quickly.
One of my neighbours had a high spec kitchen business they could custom make pretty much anything the client required but sadly in the downturn demand dried up and he lost everything.
One of my neighbours had a high spec kitchen business they could custom make pretty much anything the client required but sadly in the downturn demand dried up and he lost everything.
Kitchens tend to be boom and bust depending on demand, area, competition.
The key with these kind of businesses is to keep overheads low but you need to have sufficient market presence and credibility to appear acceptable to your customers.
Is there anything more you could do with the e-commerce business you have?
The key with these kind of businesses is to keep overheads low but you need to have sufficient market presence and credibility to appear acceptable to your customers.
Is there anything more you could do with the e-commerce business you have?
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