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I have 30k. I don't want to buy a car or anything like that. What kinds of business come to mind? This 30k will have to cover everything, my current income is only 1k/month, so I won't have any extra income while starting this business apart from my father who could help me here and there. Here are a few details about me,
I'm unemployed with no children so I can dedicate all my time
I have a g/f who could be available full time to help me
Comfortable with computers as well as getting my hands dirty
Comfortable with talking to people but not very out-going
Some of my experience is travel agent, automotive, and developmental disabled
No degree
I want something that can expand in these times with the right managing and isn't very vulnerable to recessions or unpredictable modern changing times. Thanks in advance.
a client told me that private investigation (cheating spouses, for example) makes for a lot of money. He said he used to make over 80k a year following people and watching them, taking pics, etc. Private investigation has a growth projected to be over 22%, much faster than other fields.
They also monitor things like facebook, city data, background checks, addresses..
The guy used to advertise himself with catchy titles like, "Is your spouse cheating on you??" and he'd get tons of replies every night.
All you really need is a no frills car (black or white nissan maxima, for example), be a brilliant actor in case you have to talk to the cheater, some computer skills for monitoring, and sort of a cold heart because you might need to gain people's trust for information.
Also, this isn't limited to domestic matters. depending on what skills you have or can get, u can also work for companies trying to monitor their competition.
here's more important info about non domestic private investigation and it's projected growth: Private Detectives and Investigators
He said he used to make over 80k a year following people and watching them, taking pics, etc. Private investigation has a growth projected to be over 22%, much faster than other fields.
But, owning a business where the owner does all the work is just buying yourself a job.
However, I may have a few ideas of my own I was thinking of looking into. Not sure how it would fly in NJ, but also not something I want to spill out for everyone to read
Buy an old pickup truck with a trailer, a riding lawn mower, some gardening tools, and print up lots of flyers. That way you can start a lawn service.
I'm not kidding you. Mow three yards a day for $100 a pop, with other fees tacked on for ancillary services. Once you have a steady clientele, hire p/t workers while you handle the back-office stuff.
A friend's son does that. Made $20,000 in a summer, and was pretty much done by 2 every afternoon.
Buy an old pickup truck with a trailer, a riding lawn mower, some gardening tools, and print up lots of flyers. That way you can start a lawn service.
I'm not kidding you. Mow three yards a day for $100 a pop, with other fees tacked on for ancillary services. Once you have a steady clientele, hire p/t workers while you handle the back-office stuff.
A friend's son does that. Made $20,000 in a summer, and was pretty much done by 2 every afternoon.
That's a saturated market. Sure, you can get enough clients to make $20-30k per summer.... but you can't live off of that, and you will have difficulty in expanding it. There's no point in starting a business unless it gives you something greater than slaving away working for someone else. I don't think lawn service would qualify.
My problem with landscaping is its more seasonal, but I'm keeping open to ideas in that area, like masonry or patios which I guess can also be seasonal. I'd like to do carpentry but I'm really not sure how long that would be to take off. Customized or exotic style furniture. Haven't done much research on it, my competition would be IKEA and other furniture stores.
The investigative stuff isn't a bad idea. I once looked for an investigator to monitor someone's cheating and the quotes were around 1000 and they all seem to be done by national agencies, I think it can be done for less than that. Poorer people have cheating partners to.
I like the consulting idea, but I don't have a whole lot of experience in anything. I'm only 24. I was a "travel consultant", but I'm not sure why my title wasn't simply "travel agent". And I don't have a degree. I was thinking of starting a "self-help" site with youtube videos and a live chat page, my idea for that was non-profit though.
I'd be looking at putting the money in to something that I knew, rather than a venture into uncharted territory for you.
Take a look at what your experience and expertise can do for others, and consider the value added that your services or products can bring to the table. Your market may be retail, it may be wholesale, it may be a service to other businesses.
The key to your success will be to do what you know, not invest hard cash into stuff you don't.
RE: carpentry. Unless you are a gifted designer who can capture contracts for products, this is a very overloaded field these days. If you can't produce a product line that can compete with the mass marketers or the existing custom furniture makers, you're not going to make it. Look carefully at the closures of the USA furniture manufacturers over the last decade or two. If this still interests you, I'd definitely head to the "market" which goes on every year down in the SE USA to see what is out there now that would be your competition and their price points. I've known several talented people in this business in my area, and they are now all out of business because the sales and margins could not support them ... even after having down some high profile residential interiors (7-figure budgets just for the trim and accessories!) that got published in architectural digest or other trade magazines for interior designers/decorators. One had to resort to supplying speaker cabinets for a local manufacturer just to keep some cash flow, but that ended when the speaker manufacturer could not sell their wares in the high end or mid-fi marketplace.
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