Help and advice with a simple business idea.

motorguy

spaceboyted wrote: »

@Daredevil78 don't let the whiners on these forums tell you "you can't do it, give up", unless they offer constructive criticism. I've always thought recycling is a good business to go into. Have you considered collecting lots of old PC monitors that people don't want or are broken? They have lots of precious metals in them (not in great quantities I admit) and other electronic equipment use copper wire and gold in their circuit boards... You would need to get good at extracting the metals efficiently as getting them out will take time and effort. I hope I have given you something to run with. Just get yourself out there man!

Ted, its clear you now have a chip on your shoulder after the responses you got to some of your "ideas" on this forum, HOWEVER, that doesnt mean that anyone who comes up with a negative response is a whinger.

At the end of day, if a business idea doesnt hold water its better to find out in the planning stage - via forums etc - when it hasnt yet cost any money than after throwing £10,000 at it.

Your 'just get yourself out there man' statement is exactly the sort of response that makes me cringe on threads like this. Far too often when people have an idea, well meaning family and friends and posters like you say 'go for it', 'get yourself out there' and 'what have you got to lose', only to watch a business crash and burn in its first year (as 90% do) and leaving the business owner to carry the can for possibly tens of thousands of debt they cant afford.

I've so far ran with four business ideas of mine over the last 5 years (and many more ideas that never got off the ground). The first one crashed and burned in 18 months costing me around £25,000 to do so, the subsequent two required a lot of effort for not much return so i dropped them and the final one seems to be going to fly - four months at it full time now (after 10 months part time) and i'm drawing a very decent wage from it.

So, yes, i'd rather be the one coming from the negative angle at times with a business idea on here. Better to find out on here that an idea hasnt been thought through / cant fly than after its cost you a year of your life and £20,000 to find out.

Alternatively i could just naively say 'just get yourself out there man'?

spaceboyted

pgilc1 wrote: »

At the end of day, if a business idea doesnt hold water its better to find out in the planning stage - via forums etc - when it hasnt yet cost any money than after throwing £10,000 at it.

I couldn't disagree with you more and here is why. To make it in business you need to make mistakes. Failure can be good if you learn from your mistakes. You need to take the risks in order to succeed and that will mean you get your fingers burnt once in a while. That is why it is important to start on a small scale and experiment a lot to begin with to test the waters. People have a misconception that you need to be massively experienced to go into that business. While this may be true for certain sectors, sometimes all it requires is just for you to put yourself out there. But in doing so, make sure your capital outlay is as small as possible. He shouldn't buy a van straightaway. He needs to first understand the demand in his local area and the competition he faces. Once he knows the prices of metals and has developed a strategy, then he can start his business. What I mean by the `get yourself out there' comment is that too often people are afraid of failing and then give up on the idea. What I am saying is that he will be in a far better position once he gets a feeling of the market even starting from a small cost base. No book or forum site can tell him whether he will succeed in this business. He will learn far more about his skill set when he has implemented his business model on a micro scale. He needs a clear plan and understanding of the market he is going into first (which is all about networking). But even networking requires putting yourself out there to create a contact list. Of course I don't want the guy to lose thousands of pounds but the word `entrepreneurship' is french for risk taker...and at some point he will need to take the plunge!

spaceboyted

pgilc1 wrote: »

Ted, its clear you now have a chip on your shoulder after the responses you got to some of your "ideas" on this forum, HOWEVER, that doesnt mean that anyone who comes up with a negative response is a whinger. A

not at all...I welcome negative comments as long as they are constructive and give me a reason for why the idea is bad. Equally I have had a lot of positive responses (although the `have someone deliver your parcel on a train journey' idea was terrible - but thats fine, I expect most of them to be. I just like using this forum to get peoples feedback. But I may have misunderstood the intentions of this forum as people don't appreciate me throwing ideas out there with me being in no position to pursue them in my financial position.

But like you said, it is far better to use forums than go head first into the market and blow all your money (on a big scale that is). That is what I have being doing, don't you agree?

seismicryan

Did you think of doing this after watching "The Apprentice"?

That show make extreme light of "starting a business", with Alan Suger making it seem like anyone can just go out and buy something and sell it and make money, which is just not the case.

And I agree with all the other downsides brought up by the previous respondants

Ryan

lincroft1710

spaceboyted wrote: »

I couldn't disagree with you more .......and at some point he will need to take the plunge!

I couldn't disagree with you more on this post. A bad idea is a bad idea, you don't need to waste time and money on something that will clearly not succeed.

There are avenues which if not having a pot of gold at the end may have a few nuggets along the way, so find these and avoid pointless cul-de-sacs.

terryw

Go with your dreams OP. This might not work but it might! You are not going to lose fortunes giving it a go.

FWIIW, some years ago a chum of mine had a very steady little business. He simply bought washing machines and tumble driers from the sort of guy that you intend to be. He then repaired and repainted them and sold them with a guarantee. In fact with most of the machines there was very little wrong - people bought new just for the sake of having new (not like we MSErs!)

Certainly his little business operating from a small lock-up was successful enough to keep him, his wife and children.

Savvy_Sue

spaceboyted wrote: »

Have you considered collecting lots of old PC monitors that people don't want or are broken?

I don't know if the fact that businesses actually have to PAY to dispose of redundant monitors, AND get a certificate to cover pretty much everything they throw away to confirm it's been responsibly dealt with, gives you a clue to how difficult it is to 'do' recycling these days.

spaceboyted wrote: »

You would need to get good at extracting the metals efficiently as getting them out will take time and effort.

and who knows what industrial / chemical processes will be involved in this extraction process, then there's storage while you build up sufficient quantities of each metal, and the small matter of the LARGE PLASTIC BOXES which hold all the precious elements together while the thing is still working ... you can't just take them to the household refuse tip when you're done!

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm not saying there's not money to be made that way. However, when Environmental Health come knocking on the business door demanding to see certificates for waste disposal, the person who's taking the recycling away had better have the right certificates, AND have issued the right documentation to the businesses they are collecting from.

I refer you again to my earlier post where I suggested thinking of what you are PASSIONATE about. It is the most constructive advice I can give.

spaceboyted

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

and who knows what industrial / chemical processes will be involved in this extraction process, then there's storage while you build up sufficient quantities of each metal, and the small matter of the LARGE PLASTIC BOXES which hold all the precious elements together while the thing is still working ... you can't just take them to the household refuse tip when you're done!

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm not saying there's not money to be made that way. However, when Environmental Health come knocking on the business door demanding to see certificates for waste disposal, the person who's taking the recycling away had better have the right certificates, AND have issued the right documentation to the businesses they are collecting from.

thats a fair comment. Like I was saying, only by actually stepping out there and testing the waters will he know what won't and will be viable.

Savvy_Sue

spaceboyted wrote: »

thats a fair comment. Like I was saying, only by actually stepping out there and testing the waters will he know what won't and will be viable.

I think you can do a fair amount of working what's viable without actually stepping out anywhere or testing anything.

pitkin2020

In fairness though this is a very low cost start up business (a van, license and some advertising) so should it not work out you will recoup some capital back on the van alone.

Spaceboyted you need to come down from the clouds, like Sue has rightly pointed out you don't need to dip your toe, you can work out most things with a pad and a pen. Trouble is people only look at the positives when working a plan out and don't take into account the negatives. Yes this business idea has the potential to earn a decent wage, but it also has the potential for the OP to be earning far less than NMW!!

Its ok borrowing £25k to test the water but if you get it wrong, badly wrong that £25k won't last you very long but it still has to be paid back