Quote:
Originally Posted by BoredRestless
I appreciate your input High Altitude!
I am not afraid of competition. If i know what i'm doing, I'm confident i can be the best at it. Of course, competition is a variable to consider so definitely not taking on walmart as you say.
I've got about $15,000 to get a business started.
I know it would cost a lot to manufacture, market and service a physical product. With a product, I'm thinking more along the lines of inventing a solution/prototype to license to another company and then i can get a cut. At least until i get enough money to actually do manufacturing in-house, it all depends.
However i also like broker business where you are the middle man between buyers and sellers, however, the only thing i can think of is mortgage/insurance/investing and like i said before, i don't particularly want to get into those fields because i'm involved already and regulations are killer. I've ruled out mortgage broker, insurance broker, car dealership. Is there any other broker/dealer opportunities out there?
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No company will license a product unless the product is already successful with sales to back it up or it is something truly life changing. Companies are so risk averse today.
Besides 15k isn't enough.
When you don't have much money you need to offer a service, use your own labor and sell, sell, sell.....
I am sure there are all kinds of brokers of different products in different industries.
There are brokers who work in the transportation business matching people who want to ship stuff with those who do the actual shipping/moving of product.
For example, a friend of mine does this for shipping cars. She has her own business shipping cars, but in reality she is just a broker. She finds the customers and then finds the shippers. She keeps the difference in fees charged. She specializes in people who are moving,
Lets say you wanted to do this and you decide your niche is going to be high end car transportation since you really love cars. You could start by visiting car clubs or racing clubs and pitching your services. Stress how much you take care of the cars, you only use covered transportation, all tie downs are specialized to meet each vehicle to prevent damage, you carry the correct insurance etc.... and then charge them. Never compete solely on price, that is a good way to go broke. You start to gain the reputation of your customers and you become the go to guy who loves cars, absolutely takes care of them, the go to high end car shipper etc.... and people will start calling and they will pay no questions asked.
With any of these service businesses the key is to hit the pavement and find customers. It is agonizing slow at first, but with persistence, you will prevail. As you slowly gain customers, momentum speeds up as word of mouth starts to work for you.
Almost all these service businesses are like this. The positive is they don't require much capital to get started.
For example, I was reading a blog about a guy who goes door to door selling pest control service contracts. He signs them up and then hires someone in the industry to do the actual service. All he does is sign up clients and takes care of all the billing.
In his first year is signed up $100,000 worth of sales.
My brother did something similar but with replacement windows. Today he has 2-3 crews always working for him and could add a couple more crews if he really wanted to. He is slammed with business. Makes an easy 6 figure profit every year, is totally content with where he is at, likes the work load, i.e. he doesn't want to work any harder, and simply leaves the extra business on the table. Lots of his customers like him so much they just get in line and wait.
You can pick just about anything and run with it.
I know a person who started a pet sitting/dog walking business. Now she has a bunch of employees, website with online reservation system so her returning customers can just book times and is THE service in the area.
The whole key is to get busy. Pick something and run with it.
With anything you need to do a top job, great marketing, be consistent, top customer service etc.... and people absolutely will turn into returning customers and spread the word.
Good luck!
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