Business idea for my friend?

grey_lady

I was wondering if anyone could help me come up with an idea for a business for a friend of mine who's throughly fed up with his day job. Hes an engineer in a niche area so it's not like he could get a new job easily without relocating and he wants to start his own business.

Previously he has done the odd bit of piece work on environmental control systems for a friend but I'm sure he could turn his hands to lots of things, just not sure what would be a good area to go into, or even if it's worth him looking into buying an existing business.

So suggestions welcome

easyhost

grey_lady wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone could help me come up with an idea for a business for a friend of mine who's throughly fed up with his day job. Hes an engineer in a niche area so it's not like he could get a new job easily without relocating and he wants to start his own business.

Previously he has done the odd bit of piece work on environmental control systems for a friend but I'm sure he could turn his hands to lots of things, just not sure what would be a good area to go into, or even if it's worth him looking into buying an existing business.

So suggestions welcome

why so many people on here "a friend of mine" "can you help a friend of mine" why do their friends not come on here to ask.

but back to your question how can we help YOUR FRIEND with an idea for a business when we dont know what YOUR FRIEND can do.

i could suggest he start a business training animals for TV and films, but bet hes not qualified to do this.

or maybe a freelance stuntman, but again he most likely not qualified.

chalkie99

My suggestion, with the best of intentions (because I think it may not sound very helpful!) would be to let him come up with his own ideas as I reckon that if he does something suggested by you, and it backfires, then you will be in the firing line for the blame and it's goodbye to the friendship.

Other than that, it would ideally be something that he is both interested in and knows something about. After that it is down to economics - is there something he could start part-time to safeguard his income? Does he have savings to cover start up costs and living expenses for a few months whilst getting established?

grey_lady

Hhmm I thought the hint about being an engineer would have given you a clue, that freelance stuntman wouldn't be applicable. I guess I'm wondering what's a growth area and what isn't, for instance there are a few CCTV / alarm businesses for sale but the net profits mentioned don't seem that good, there are also quite a few electronic repair businesses for sale but surely with ever cheaper imports that's probably not a growth area. Green technologies constantly get mentioned as being a growth area but seem a bit faddy, I think the gov are already cutting back or planning to cut back on the subsidy that people who sell back to the grid.

liam8282

He should watch the apprentice on BBC1 and whatever idea Lord Sugar (daddy), comes up with, copy that.

I mean he started his business at 17, look at him now, or at least that is what you hear at least 20 times per show.

Also, his brilliant business ideas, such as last nights episode, where 6 people can make a £700 net profit for 2 days manual work, obviously not including all costs such as say £20k for a flatbed tipper van for starters. (Then theres tax to pay, fuel costs, clothing costs, phone costs.........)

I suggest your friend comes up with their own idea of what they want to do and then research it properly before giving up the day job.

mizzbiz

As an enginner, why not just go freelance/consultant? Is he chartered in any discipline? What are his engineering qualifications?

At the very least he should be able to offer freelance AutoCAD/ProEngineer services to companies that are running backlogs/short staffed.

grey_lady

Liam, I read recently that lord sugar made his money in property, rather than from Amstrads :-)
Thanks for the suggestion missbiz.

liam8282

grey_lady wrote: »

Liam, I read recently that lord sugar made his money in property, rather than from Amstrads :-)
Thanks for the suggestion missbiz.

Yes, I heard that too, there was another thread on here somewhere that I was reading the other day come to think of it.

I like the apprentice, it just winds me up watching it (not enough to stop watching though).

Its just funny hearing some people saying "Oh, that's a good idea, I might start selling fruit if I can make £500 a day...." but, forget to add in all the other costs that are quietly forgotten about.

Same applies to this thread, if the OPs friend is in a steady job, even if it is boring and they are fed up, they should be 100% sure of what they are actually doing, before leaving this secure job to head of into the unknown.

Pennywise

grey_lady wrote: »

So suggestions welcome

To be really successful, he has to come up with his own ideas. At best, by using other peoples' ideas or buying an existing business, he's only going to make a livable wage, maybe not even that.

As an engineer, he should be looking at the work he does, the firm he works for, the customers he deals with and the suppliers he deals with. He needs to find some "new idea" or a niche that hasn't yet been exploited. That kind of thing doesn't come along randomly - he has to find it himself. He really needs to seriously evaluate his skills, his experience, his contacts, etc., and make something out of them.

Virtually all of the successful clients I work with have been borne out of their personal experiences. Usually, it's the same kind of work they did working for someone else, but doing it differently, i.e. seeing the mistakes made by their employers and doing it themselves without those mistakes. Or it's realising a gap in the market when they were wanting something themselves (and couldn't find it), and filling that gap themselves.

By contrast, those that buy a business, or buy a franchise, or join some kind of scheme, or copy what others do, etc., just struggle on, making little more than a living wage, but suffering stress and long hours!

I really don't mean to be harsh, but if your friend is relying on other people to give him ideas, then I don't really think he has what it takes to make a success of it.

paddyrg

'Engineer' is such a vague term - it covers people with lathes through to people modelling abstract data systems. If they can post here themselves it may give more clues. You suggest CCTV, is he an electronic engineer? Is he a member of any of the bodies like IEE?

If they're at the architectural/design side, why not contract/freelance/consult? If they're technicians, how about satellite installation subcontracting?

Savvy_Sue

Pennywise wrote: »

I really don't mean to be harsh, but if your friend is relying on other people to give him ideas, then I don't really think he has what it takes to make a success of it.

I think that's key, isn't it? Because working for yourself involves doing a whole lot of 'stuff' which you don't have to do when you work for an employer, and that 'stuff' is generally neither fun nor interesting, and generally it doesn't play to the person's strengths either!

DS1 tried a stint of self employment when he left Uni. He wanted to see if he could be 'self-motivated without external pressure'. :rotfl: I could have answered that question for him, but refrained.

What he thought it would mean was that he could do the kind of work he enjoyed doing, rather than boring / routine work. And if the kind of work he enjoyed doing had fallen into his lap - as one or two projects had when he was still a student - then he probably could have made a decent living.

However, as anyone with any experience of self-employment or running their own business knows, doing the work is only half the story (or even less!) You have to FIND the work. You have to send out bills. You have to draw up quotations. You have to chase late payments. You have to draw up accounts (or pay someone else to do them). You have to fill in your tax return. You may have to find premises, buy equipment and materials, sort insurance cover, arrange supply of utilities and waste disposal. And all these things take time, which means you can't do what you love doing, and you won't be able to charge anyone directly for doing them either.

greylady, ask your friend what they've always dreamed of doing, or what they thought they'd be doing. Or ask what they want to be doing in 5 years time. Then see if they can see steps from here to there.

Or maybe it's his life outside work which could do with a change?