Is it still possible to start a side business?
Discussion
48k said:
DSLiverpool said:
Last year to give my wife £1 / £1.5k a month income we launched another eBay / Amazon business that I haven't put enough effort into but it pays her £200 a week most weeks but that is all it has - were not growing a business it's just paying her. Product is just anything we spot we can bundle, buy or find.
Is that the wedding favours / print anything on anything thing ?Just want to add something to this thread, I do a bit of ebay for my wife (she does the posting etc I am sure I've mentioned it) I wanted to see if I could buy off of ebay and sell on ebay and make a profit - I found an item.
The first few items were hit and miss then I saw a product at £7.49 for 4 and 5 day shipping (I think from a bonded warehouse but a Chinese seller) I can get these from a UK importer for £2.25 plus vat each on next day so I looked at the huge popularity of the item about 500 a month sold across all Chinese sellers crucially no UK sellers so all on extended lead times.
I put two listings up one for 1 item and one for two as the post was the same (£3) for up to 10 (real pity as it weighs nothing)
Now here's the hit and miss, I used the title to target a specific hobby based demographic even down to the make of item (eg cycling light for muddy fox off road mountain bike etc)
If an ebay item gets watches / sales within 24 hours of going live the ebay algorithm favours it (being cynical get 5 mates to watch any item you put up !) well this took off like a rocket at £7.95 for one or £12.90 for two across two different listings but the same cats.
Some of you will laugh at £2 nett (ish) but we did 20 plus on some days and it kept my wife in cat food and litter (costs a fortune).
We took 900 over 3 months from the UK wholesaler who is on 2 months restock so I am now buying from the Chinese exclusively, no safety margin (!).
I have put my own delivery on 7 days service (which kills me as I was always a next day guy) and I am sweating that each order comes in.
Interestingly going from 2/3 days to 7+ had made no difference to orders.
My next experiment will be along the lines of "if they can buy one delivered on ebay for £2.49 from sellers and mine is £7.95 could I charge £9.95" - I`ll try it when I have a stock build up and offer fast first class delivery.
Note I am sitting on 50 orders for 71 items right now with NO STOCK I have calculated the delivery times from the Chinese sellers and "should" be ok but I am feeling the pressure as yet another order kerchings on my phone.
PERFECT WORLD - selling them and ordering directly from China for delivery however I doubt it will ever be that reliable.
DISCLAIMER - this is the rantings of a guy who thinks about stuff too much, either ignore if bored or feel free to ask anything however as with most things I do I make it up as I go along. ie Planning is what you do while your actual work s
t happens around you.
The first few items were hit and miss then I saw a product at £7.49 for 4 and 5 day shipping (I think from a bonded warehouse but a Chinese seller) I can get these from a UK importer for £2.25 plus vat each on next day so I looked at the huge popularity of the item about 500 a month sold across all Chinese sellers crucially no UK sellers so all on extended lead times.
I put two listings up one for 1 item and one for two as the post was the same (£3) for up to 10 (real pity as it weighs nothing)
Now here's the hit and miss, I used the title to target a specific hobby based demographic even down to the make of item (eg cycling light for muddy fox off road mountain bike etc)
If an ebay item gets watches / sales within 24 hours of going live the ebay algorithm favours it (being cynical get 5 mates to watch any item you put up !) well this took off like a rocket at £7.95 for one or £12.90 for two across two different listings but the same cats.
Some of you will laugh at £2 nett (ish) but we did 20 plus on some days and it kept my wife in cat food and litter (costs a fortune).
We took 900 over 3 months from the UK wholesaler who is on 2 months restock so I am now buying from the Chinese exclusively, no safety margin (!).
I have put my own delivery on 7 days service (which kills me as I was always a next day guy) and I am sweating that each order comes in.
Interestingly going from 2/3 days to 7+ had made no difference to orders.
My next experiment will be along the lines of "if they can buy one delivered on ebay for £2.49 from sellers and mine is £7.95 could I charge £9.95" - I`ll try it when I have a stock build up and offer fast first class delivery.
Note I am sitting on 50 orders for 71 items right now with NO STOCK I have calculated the delivery times from the Chinese sellers and "should" be ok but I am feeling the pressure as yet another order kerchings on my phone.
PERFECT WORLD - selling them and ordering directly from China for delivery however I doubt it will ever be that reliable.
DISCLAIMER - this is the rantings of a guy who thinks about stuff too much, either ignore if bored or feel free to ask anything however as with most things I do I make it up as I go along. ie Planning is what you do while your actual work s
t happens around you.Interesting comment about the Chinese sellers.
I have looked for things I need quickly for my work and found only chinese sellers. A UK listing would have me buying, even if more expensive.
On low value products I don't think people will care if its £2 more as long as you get it tomorrow rather than waiting a week
I have looked for things I need quickly for my work and found only chinese sellers. A UK listing would have me buying, even if more expensive.
On low value products I don't think people will care if its £2 more as long as you get it tomorrow rather than waiting a week
I DJ - parties, etc.
Started about 15 years ago, more as a favour to our local parish council at the village fete type thing. But people told me I was quite good...started to buy some kit and started getting a few bookings.
I don't actively promote because I don't want to over commit (day job takes me out of the country a lot, sometimes at short notice). It's more a hobby that people pay me for which covers my annual trip to LeMans and a few other bits and bobs.
I did have an opportunity to set up a DJ agency a few years back. A lot of money to be made but required too much of my time and to be honest, isn't something I wanted to do.
Have just launched a website for some of my photography - pitching to people who want a bit of wall art. Not yet started to promote this but will be interesting to see where it goes.
Started about 15 years ago, more as a favour to our local parish council at the village fete type thing. But people told me I was quite good...started to buy some kit and started getting a few bookings.
I don't actively promote because I don't want to over commit (day job takes me out of the country a lot, sometimes at short notice). It's more a hobby that people pay me for which covers my annual trip to LeMans and a few other bits and bobs.
I did have an opportunity to set up a DJ agency a few years back. A lot of money to be made but required too much of my time and to be honest, isn't something I wanted to do.
Have just launched a website for some of my photography - pitching to people who want a bit of wall art. Not yet started to promote this but will be interesting to see where it goes.
I fix vacuum cleaners as my sideline!
My full time software testing pays the bills.
But I collect vacuum cleaners, and have always repaired and restored those, so started offering the service locally. Over the last few years it's sort of grown a bit, and now I generally have 2 or 3 jobs a week, earning about £150/£200 on average. I collected a blocked up DC50 and a Sebo X4 with a broken cable this lunchtime from a local place to my work, that'll be £40 for about an hours work (already fixed the DC50).
I also run a youtube channel. Mainly as my hobby (showing off old vacuums to the small audience that likes them), but also filming common repairs. The repair videos, if I clickbait the titles enough seem to get recommended off the back of the e-spares type tutorials, and snowball. I have one video where I explain and demonstrate how to change the power switch on a Dyson DC25, which racks up silly views, and earns me about £15 a month on its own. Monthly youtube revenue is about £60/£70, on top of the money paid to do the work in the first place.
It's quite nice, I don't advertise. I've done enough work locally now that on any of the facebook sites, if someone posts up 'Who is the bloke who repairs 'oovers?" I get tagged 3 or 4 times! I've monetised my hobby, and earn nicely enough from it.
I'd love to open a shop and go full time, but I know it won't work or be viable. So I keep it as a hobby, potter away and as a result we always have a fair few quid tucked up behind the picture frame on the top shelf for sundry items, forgotten shopping, school trips or a cheeky kebab. It works well, and because I enjoy it, it doesnt suck! (...)
My full time software testing pays the bills.
But I collect vacuum cleaners, and have always repaired and restored those, so started offering the service locally. Over the last few years it's sort of grown a bit, and now I generally have 2 or 3 jobs a week, earning about £150/£200 on average. I collected a blocked up DC50 and a Sebo X4 with a broken cable this lunchtime from a local place to my work, that'll be £40 for about an hours work (already fixed the DC50).
I also run a youtube channel. Mainly as my hobby (showing off old vacuums to the small audience that likes them), but also filming common repairs. The repair videos, if I clickbait the titles enough seem to get recommended off the back of the e-spares type tutorials, and snowball. I have one video where I explain and demonstrate how to change the power switch on a Dyson DC25, which racks up silly views, and earns me about £15 a month on its own. Monthly youtube revenue is about £60/£70, on top of the money paid to do the work in the first place.
It's quite nice, I don't advertise. I've done enough work locally now that on any of the facebook sites, if someone posts up 'Who is the bloke who repairs 'oovers?" I get tagged 3 or 4 times! I've monetised my hobby, and earn nicely enough from it.
I'd love to open a shop and go full time, but I know it won't work or be viable. So I keep it as a hobby, potter away and as a result we always have a fair few quid tucked up behind the picture frame on the top shelf for sundry items, forgotten shopping, school trips or a cheeky kebab. It works well, and because I enjoy it, it doesnt suck! (...)
Absolutely you can set up a side business. 9 years ago I set up a small company doing quite niche but high end fiberglass products. That developed over the years by working 7 days a week for 4 solid years and I left full time employment 4.5 years ago. It depends what you want from it but a means of earning a bit more cash I would say it's not all that easy as a lot of things are already exploited but finding a niche or monetising a hobby is less hard work and probably will end up making more money in the end. I would do something you enjoy or explore your interests and see if you can find a niche. I had previously run a car club (not really as good these days due to facebook but was very good in the day) and also tried out doing my old main job on the side before hitting on the current business. Still being in employment is a golden opportunity to try things and if they don't work out it really doesn't matter just keep trying.
beko1987 said:
I fix vacuum cleaners as my sideline!
I'd love to open a shop and go full time, but I know it won't work or be viable.
If you're in a city I would vehemently disagree. It's a hugely under-supplied service that's in great demand. It can be started and continued perfectly well on a low overhead. Probably scaleable too.I'd love to open a shop and go full time, but I know it won't work or be viable.
selmahoose said:
If you're in a city I would vehemently disagree. It's a hugely under-supplied service that's in great demand. It can be started and continued perfectly well on a low overhead. Probably scaleable too.
I would love to, I'm not in a big city, but people do come from surprising distances occasionally. But I have 2 kids, and no savings, so the fear of it all going titsup and leaving me stuffed is quite great. Always strikes me as the sort of thing that would start off really well, be really popular then about 6 months later die on me and have to shut down.In my town, the sort of premises I could get are things like this
https://propertylink.estatesgazette.com/property-d...
(there is a cheaper one in an industrial unit, but I would have competition of sorts next door with an existing appliance shop, although they don't repair (I've had people come to me who have been there first and been turned away)
I then have no idea about business rates etc, I know how much trade parts cost as I used to have an account before it got killed due to lack of orders etc, I don't have the capital to give it a go. Plus I would have to put my prices up as all of a sudden I need to make actual money to pay stuff, not potter away in my already paid for house with the already paid for bills.
I know if 2 close friends who have had to close their vacuum shops this year too due to it not being viable, they were always busy, but it wasn't enough (one had the rent doubled by the landlord, the other just got sick of it and again didn't earn enough for it to pay for itself)
It's a firm euromillions win dream to open a shop/museum though, so maybe one day...
DSLiverpool said:
Last year to give my wife £1 / £1.5k a month income we launched another eBay / Amazon business that I haven't put enough effort into but it pays her £200 a week most weeks but that is all it has - were not growing a business it's just paying her. Product is just anything we spot we can bundle, buy or find.
I would like to do this for my wife and daughter, but how do you go about finding the product, do you have a process or is it just browsing eBay looking for opportunities?selmahoose said:
If you're in a city I would vehemently disagree. It's a hugely under-supplied service that's in great demand. It can be started and continued perfectly well on a low overhead. Probably scaleable too.
The problem with running a shop for a business like this is actually getting any work done. Customers wander in and want a chat, work has to stop. The budier the business becomes, the less work gets done during the day. This means working longer hours, or employing someone to deal with customers.I've considered running my business from a shop, rather than working from home. Having spoken to other one-man businesses who sell their time rather than products, I gave up on the idea. I sell my services through a local jeweller, and a couple of other related businesses. I "advertise " on Google Maps. I'll be going full time in the next few months.
fridaypassion said:
Beko get a big shed in the garden screw renting somewhere. Overheads are the killer for any business and you should treat any overhead like it's got bubonic plague go to all lengths to avoid.
But be careful about local council planning rules and the spectre of having to pay business rates.selmahoose said:
beko1987 said:
I fix vacuum cleaners as my sideline!
I'd love to open a shop and go full time, but I know it won't work or be viable.
If you're in a city I would vehemently disagree. It's a hugely under-supplied service that's in great demand. It can be started and continued perfectly well on a low overhead. Probably scaleable too.I'd love to open a shop and go full time, but I know it won't work or be viable.
Whoever buys this :
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...
....will be renting it for £300pcm.max.....£200 if you'd settle for 10% of cost.
Rates? zero. Small business rates relief. 100% rebate.
Theres a map on the sales page. Less than 1.5 miles from George Square (city centre). Over a million people in 25 mile radius. (the important bit for this business)
Immediate parking outside = very easy.
Across the road? Main branch and head office of biggest Asian bank (Habib)
200 metres up the road? Scotland's busiest court. (Glasgow Sheriff). Maybe Britain's busiest.
Another 200 metres away? The massive Glasgow mosque.
Anyway not a passing trade business so could be in a garage/workshop and far further out of the city centre. Want me to find one at £50-a-month?
He'd cover the overhead from the recons displayed in the window.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...
....will be renting it for £300pcm.max.....£200 if you'd settle for 10% of cost.
Rates? zero. Small business rates relief. 100% rebate.
Theres a map on the sales page. Less than 1.5 miles from George Square (city centre). Over a million people in 25 mile radius. (the important bit for this business)
Immediate parking outside = very easy.
Across the road? Main branch and head office of biggest Asian bank (Habib)
200 metres up the road? Scotland's busiest court. (Glasgow Sheriff). Maybe Britain's busiest.
Another 200 metres away? The massive Glasgow mosque.
Anyway not a passing trade business so could be in a garage/workshop and far further out of the city centre. Want me to find one at £50-a-month?
He'd cover the overhead from the recons displayed in the window.
Edited by selmahoose on Wednesday 19th September 19:51
selmahoose said:
Whoever buys this :
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...
....will be renting it for £300pcm.max
Rates? zero. Small business rates relief
Theres a map on the sales page. Less than 2 miles from George Square (city centre). Overt a million people in 25 mile radius.
Note the complete lack of anyone in sight of the 'busy City Centre parade'. High St stuff is dead.https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-fo...
....will be renting it for £300pcm.max
Rates? zero. Small business rates relief
Theres a map on the sales page. Less than 2 miles from George Square (city centre). Overt a million people in 25 mile radius.
Evoluzione said:
Note the complete lack of anyone in sight of the 'busy City Centre parade'. High St stuff is dead.
As sir says....https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C8ADB0/buchanan-street-i...
...dead.
beko1987 said:
I don't have a big enough garden! Our little shed is where I keep parts, machines and the lawnmower!
It's not a business, it's a monetized hobby! (officer)
You ever thought about buying a van and doing call outs. You coud set up a little workstation and fix the vaccumes in the back.....It's not a business, it's a monetized hobby! (officer)
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