New Business Ideas for £400K Budget

FIREWannaBe_2

Hello MSE friends,

So I find myself in a rather peculiar position where I have the opportunity to start a business with a capital of ~£400K. I am tech-savvy in my early 30s, midlands based, love gaming, good food and have a background in healthcare. I have been trying to explore various business ideas and I would welcome suggestions of either brick and mortar opportunities or virtual business.
Ideally, I would like to employ at least 2 staff and manage the business myself, I would be looking to purchase freehold if I go down the brick and mortar route (potentially with more funds).
Thanks in advance for your suggestions and guidance.

H.

bengalknights

Do you really want to invest it in a business or would you rather get a yearly return through REITs, bonds, shares and gilts?

Mistral001

It is often said that starting a business is a good way of turning a small fortune into a tiny one.

With businesses you have to learn as you go along, so you need, in my view, to always have some spare capital to enable you to make mistakes that you can learn without having to fold up the business completely.

DCFC79

FIREWannaBe wrote: »

Hello MSE friends,

So I find myself in a rather peculiar position where I have the opportunity to start a business with a capital of ~£400K. I am tech-savvy in my early 30s, midlands based, love gaming, good food and have a background in healthcare. I have been trying to explore various business ideas and I would welcome suggestions of either brick and mortar opportunities or virtual business.
Ideally, I would like to employ at least 2 staff and manage the business myself, I would be looking to purchase freehold if I go down the brick and mortar route (potentially with more funds).
Thanks in advance for your suggestions and guidance.

H.

Why a business ?

Pennywise

If it were me, I'd buy a McDonald's franchise.

(Seriously I would!).

Solid name, solid brand, plenty of support/training for yourself and staff.

MEM62

You have no clue as to what type of business you want to go into but have already decided on the number of employees. How does that work?

One of the secrets in making a small business successful is to do something that you love. That should help you find a direction. Start small, maybe even part time so that you can keep your start up costs low and establish that the business model works and it is profitable before committing more time / money to it. Throw £400K at a business on day one and you are taking a huge risk.

spadoosh

Pennywise wrote: »

If it were me, I'd buy a McDonald's franchise.

(Seriously I would!).

Solid name, solid brand, plenty of support/training for yourself and staff.

What kind of returns do they get? Cant imagine as a franchise theyll return more than 5% with stuff like that i cant help but think itd be easier with a savings account.

It does sound like a franchise would be a good shout for the OP, sounds like there will be a good bit of business knowledge missing which franchisors can help with. Franchises are great for getting you started but i think most companies, once theyve used all the benefits of being a franchise get resentful of the continued royalties with what is less support and involvement.

tacpot12

I would not invest £400K in a single business yet, you don't need to take such a large risk, so don't. Invest it in multiple public companies via a range for low cost mutual funds until you need it.

You need to find something your can make a profit doing. What can you do that you can charge money for immediately?

FIREWannaBe_2

Thank you all for the valuable input which I will take on board.

motorguy

FIREWannaBe wrote: »

Thank you all for the valuable input which I will take on board.

I totally agree with all of the above.

You have a great next egg there - put it in a savings account. The chances of starting a business with no experience and it being successful are incredibly low.

Maybe a successful good franchise at a push but i'd tread very carefully.

martindow

If you do decide to start a business the usual advice is to set up in something where you have knowledge or expertise so that you can offer more than your competitors. It is wise to start with as little investment as possible to test out whether it is going to work. Don't dive in with £400k.


I imagine your thinking of having two employees is that they do the work and you collect the profits. I wish it were like that!