low-budget startup ideas....

low-budget startup ideas....

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Mandarin VX

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
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Afternoon team!

I'm completely sick of my job. I fix computers. I hate computers....

I'm currently IT contracting and am looking at going back to self-employment, but am trying to come up with ideas as to what I can do - I don't really want to try to go "pro" with my hobbies (Cars & Car restoration) as I know many people who say doing that destroys the love of the hobby very quickly.
So that rules out anything along the lines of dealing/flipping, mobile mechanic (I have pretty much all of the gear), paintless dent repair etc etc.

My other interest is photography/videography, and I have in the past attempted to make a go of this as a side-line/job, however its almost impossible to get anyone to pay for photo/video services these days as everyone has a camera - 6 months of advertising yielded 1x one-off job. Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

Money wise... I need to set myself a goal really, I would like to take between £150-£250 a day realistically.

hmm...



Edited by Mandarin VX on Tuesday 10th December 13:46

Simpo Two

85,149 posts

264 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Well you've ruled out (a) what you know most about and (2) what you enjoy doing most (the usual best places to start from). so you're a bit knackered!

Mr Overheads

2,436 posts

175 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
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Photographing cars and you can do a sideline in fixing dents before taking the photos.

BoRED S2upid

19,643 posts

239 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
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There are hundreds of wedding photographers, bloggers, YouTube content makers who would disagree that you can’t make money from photography and videos.

bucksmanuk

2,311 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
No ideas – sorry….
I don’t want any answers to this, its more somewhere to start on the questions one should ask and answer honestly of one’s self.
What can you do/can’t you do, and be honest with yourself, how good at those tasks are you?
Listen to what people decry the lack of around them, consider anything that they talk about.
Find out what time-poor/cash-rich people would be happy to pay someone to sort out for them.
Any good at web sites/mobile apps?
Car restoration, done properly, is extremely expensive, and most people won’t admit to the money they actually spent on the car getting it to that standard.
Do you have any money in the bank to tide you over, how long will it last?
How much are you willing to spend in starting up?
How much can you live on while waiting for the £125-250/day?
How much are you willing to borrow?
Do you have any idea as to where the work will be in the future? Tough one this…
And so it goes on…
Photography isn’t an area I would be looking at in any shape or form. As you say, everyone has a camera these days, all the time. Drones are cheap, but then “everyone else” has one, and licensing is coming.
Ideas will eventually turn up, hopefully these will become an opportunity.
Also be prepared to listen to ideas from the most unlikely source. A mate of mine’s ex went through about 15 ideas for home gadgets that she wanted inventing. All my mate did was sit there and say, “That won’t work, people wouldn’t buy that, what a daft idea”. He came up with none.
Half of them were rubbish, but you never say that, because then you will never hear the one that makes all the difference. 2 of them were really good ideas.
I plan to go live with an ecommerce site shortly, leaving contracting one hopes.
One thing I’ve found almost disturbing has been people’s view of what I plan to do, about a half are positive with “go for it, good luck. Fortune favours the brave etc…” The rest have been amazingly negative.

Mandarin VX

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
BoRED S2upid said:
There are hundreds of wedding photographers, bloggers, YouTube content makers who would disagree that you can’t make money from photography and videos.
"Blogging and Youtubing" is exceptionally hard to get traction, and as it happens I do have a YT channel with a good number of subs, however it costs more to run then channel than it takes in ad payments (by 200x). Very, VERY few manage to make an actual living from it, then before you know it, they stagnate or something changes in the world/market and that's it, end of income. Far too unreliable as a legitimate long-term income.

Wedding photography... I have looked at it in the past, and have done 2, but its not something that interests me really, everyone wants a 2 day shoot for nothing, and of course want to see an amazing portfolio of wedding work, which I don't have.

I held a PFAW for a year (2 years ago) (Thats a commercial drone licence if you arent aware) - At the time Dronetography was the next big thing, but despite spending thousands on kit, certification and advertising, one paid job came in, so after a year of bleeding money I sold off most of the kit, it was worth more as an asset than i was likely to see back after depreciation.





Edited by Mandarin VX on Tuesday 10th December 14:20

jeremyc

23,335 posts

283 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
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Have a read of this thread for inspiration.

It has almost exactly the same title as yours ...

Mandarin VX

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
bucksmanuk said:
No ideas – sorry….
Thank you - Yes a very valid list of things to think about.

Good luck with yours, are you selling a product/service?

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Why not do dent repairs? It's hardly a hobby-turned-business.

If you can do it cheaper than a bodyshop, I'm sure you can make a lot of money.

hotchy

4,454 posts

125 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
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Car wash.

10 cars an hour, sore back in a month, tax man thinks you'll be struggling along badly unable to make enough for tax with all those cash sales. Any problems? Say no speaky english.

Get a site, a Karcher and off you go.


Mandarin VX

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
jeremyc said:
Have a read of this thread for inspiration.

It has almost exactly the same title as yours ...
AH! Yes I do remember seeing this thread in its early days...

Mandarin VX

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Hoofy said:
Why not do dent repairs? It's hardly a hobby-turned-business.

If you can do it cheaper than a bodyshop, I'm sure you can make a lot of money.
True... though it's not something I am skilled at, would need to do some sort of course

bucksmanuk

2,311 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
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I don’t want to say too much just now, as I’m about to press the button on £10K with the website and some initial stock.
It’s definitely a product, car related, and with the addition of a bit of service and I think I’ve found a nice little niche – who knows? I can extrapolate it out to other areas too – one hopes…
The people I’ve talked to, who would be potential customers have said “great idea, why has no-one else thought of that?” but no-one else has, certainly not in the UK and that’s the main thing. 
I’m seeing it as a secondary income, with a real hope that it can become my main income. The reality may prove otherwise of course.

layercake

422 posts

103 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
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I was having a think., reckon car tinting seems a good one, low overheads, apart from a small lockup unit quick turn around, i have seen some places knock out 3 cars every hour around £400 per hour obviously a few employees including yourself and rent / utilities



Edited by layercake on Wednesday 11th December 09:57

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Mandarin VX said:
Hoofy said:
Why not do dent repairs? It's hardly a hobby-turned-business.

If you can do it cheaper than a bodyshop, I'm sure you can make a lot of money.
True... though it's not something I am skilled at, would need to do some sort of course
Certainly, if you're not offering a current skill, then you will probably need training (and the associated insurance).

markcoznottz

7,155 posts

223 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
Mandarin VX said:
Hoofy said:
Why not do dent repairs? It's hardly a hobby-turned-business.

If you can do it cheaper than a bodyshop, I'm sure you can make a lot of money.
True... though it's not something I am skilled at, would need to do some sort of course
It's a black art. You need experience to get good, and getting good takes experience. Have a look at some current you tube vids, some of these guys are seriously impressive. Guy I know does tinting I don't think it's a path to riches, he's branched out into crash cams/alarms. If you do work main dealers be prepared to wait months for payment. If you want to be busy do a job that no one else wants to do. Gardener who does next door can't get on with his jobs for people asking him to do stuff. Aging parents, rented houses with voids, rented property's in general, usually hedges. And mostly cash. Apparently t's almost impossible finding gardeners, presumably because it's fairly hard work and seen as boring/ menial.

DSLiverpool

14,671 posts

201 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
bucksmanuk said:
I don’t want to say too much just now, as I’m about to press the button on £10K with the website and some initial stock.
It’s definitely a product, car related, and with the addition of a bit of service and I think I’ve found a nice little niche – who knows? I can extrapolate it out to other areas too – one hopes…
The people I’ve talked to, who would be potential customers have said “great idea, why has no-one else thought of that?” but no-one else has, certainly not in the UK and that’s the main thing.?
I’m seeing it as a secondary income, with a real hope that it can become my main income. The reality may prove otherwise of course.
I hope you’ve done good research into what you think your going to sell online? How will people find you? Who is the competition, can they crush you? Do you know about online marketing? Etc etc
Happy to play devils advocate on a call if you wish.

akirk

5,376 posts

113 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
BoRED S2upid said:
There are hundreds of wedding photographers, bloggers, YouTube content makers who would disagree that you can’t make money from photography and videos.
There are hundreds of wedding photographers, bloggers, YouTube content makers who don't make a decent living.

I used to shoot weddings professionally - for me & a second shooter, and factoring in engagement shoot / on the day from possibliy 8am -> late evening & time to process and then meet with the couple / overheads of kit / insurance / etc. costing comes in at about £2k. The market was killed by primarily female photographers who bought a camera when having their first child (usually semi-pro at c. £700 v. the £25k - £30k of kit between two pros) - their friends all ooh and aah over their amazing photos, so when their precious darling child goes to school - they set up a business as a 'pro photog.' and charge £500 for a wedding - they don't take into account the costs of the business / taxes / depreciation of kit / hours worked / etc. - it is all about the fluffy bits - logo and how you wrap the photos in a pretty branded box to present them... luckily hubby brings in the cash they need to run the family!

It is very difficult to make a commercial living now in photography - there are a few at the top of the game who do, and then those who have done it for years and photograph primarily for commercial clients - but I spend a lot of time advising people to not go into it as an industry.

Mandarin VX

Original Poster:

2,344 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th December 2019
quotequote all
akirk said:
There are hundreds of wedding photographers, bloggers, YouTube content makers who don't make a decent living....
Well said.

bucksmanuk

2,311 posts

169 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
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DSLiverpool said:
I hope you’ve done good research into what you think your going to sell online? How will people find you? Who is the competition, can they crush you? Do you know about online marketing? Etc etc
Happy to play devils advocate on a call if you wish.
I might just take you up on this - PM to follow...