If you had to use $10,000 to start a small business, what would you do?

[Southpaw]

Open up an escort/taxi service.

 

[breakingcontact]

Open up an escort/taxi service.

Uber Lyft supposedly pays well but no scaling up there unless you could provide some benefit to subcontractors somehow.

 

[Coop45]

Professional chicken poop taster?

 

[breakingcontact]

Professional chicken poop taster?

You are 0/2. Maybe next time?

 

[A.Texas.Yankee]

Subway?

 

[Southpaw]

Uber Lyft supposedly pays well but no scaling up there unless you could provide some benefit to subcontractors somehow.

I think you misunderstood what kind of "escort" I was talking about.



Uber aint gotz no hoes my brother!!!!

 

[Dredens]

Uber aint gotz no hoes my brother!!!!

Lol that's what they want you to think

 

[TreyG-20]

Yep, or skip the freezer and get a van for stereo equipment. "We did an install and have some speakers left over."

These guys really do get around don't they?

 

[benenglish]

... he basically said "lawn care" and just keep adding trucks and crews. ...

I bought my house about 25 years ago. The 12-year-old kid next door offered to mow my lawn weekly for $20. OK, I know his parents and I know that he'll do a good job or he'll catch heck from them.

By the next year, he's using his bike to pull a trailer with two mowers on it plus other tools. He's subcontracting out, providing the tools to 11-12 year old kids in the neighborhood while he keeps half the money.

At 16, he buys an old truck and more equipment. He has basically two whole neighborhoods locked up and is running at least three crews. No longer doing any sweating himself.

The family moved out but his crews continued to work in the area. They increased prices by $5, lost some business, and started concentrating on neighborhoods closer to his new home.

He didn't go to college. Nowadays, I see trucks with his logo, filled with workers and towing trailers full of equipment, pretty much every time I spend a day running errands.

Your "start a lawn business" friend might be on to something.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

Exclusive Hi Point store and custom shop.

Put it in the ghetto. Sign to read "Glock Fotays Here"

 

[Dawico]

Start a church.

 

[Davetex]

Exclusive Hi Point store and custom shop.

Put it in the ghetto. Sign to read "Glock Fotays Here"

Perfect. My only suggestion would be to have the "store" in a box truck or van.

 

[breakingcontact]

Start a church.

Church plants fail more than small businesses it seems.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

Depends on what you want to get out of it.
With just $10k Id rather invest it.

$10k isn't much to start a business with. There are hidden costs in every industry. Business fail due to cash flow shortages not necessarily long term viability - something to keep in mind. You need a lot more cash on hand than you estimate for.

 

[mitchntx]

The wife used to make pretty good money decorating cakes.

The problem is dealing with bride-zillas.

 

[breakingcontact]

Depends on what you want to get out of it.
With just $10k Id rather invest it.

$10k isn't much to start a business with. There are hidden costs in every industry. Business fail due to cash flow shortages not necessarily long term viability - something to keep in mind. You need a lot more cash on hand than you estimate for.

You are looking at the scenaruo incorrectly. I understand it takes a lot of $ to start a traditional business and you have to have cash on hand until you can turn a profit.

Way too many people sit on the sidelines working hourly wage jobs they hate because they think only the rich man can start a business.

How about selling those little yard barn sheds? Flatbed trailers?

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

You are looking at the scenaruo incorrectly. I understand it takes a lot of $ to start a traditional business and you have to have cash on hand until you can turn a profit.

Way too many people sit on the sidelines working hourly wage jobs they hate because they think only the rich man can start a business.

How about selling those little yard barn sheds? Flatbed trailers?

If the premise is a $10k small business loan for someone currently working for lower wages that may work and be a good transition.

I was definitely not looking at it from that perspective. I'd have to ponder that.

 

[subseashooter]

My brother is always talking about buying a semi load of "store returns".

Apparently there are some folks out there doing this, some have store fronts, but most sell online. To me the issue with it seems to be your distribution and the opportunity cost of spending time listing/haggling/meeting.

I did a bit of this....

Found out about liquidation.com a few years ago....apparently I missed the trend on that site by a couple of years.....when I got into it the bidding was tough. My angle was that I worked in Africa and had a BUNCH of coworkers that wanted iPads. So I started buying store return iPads 8-10 at a time and carrying them to Nigeria. Marked them up 20% and flipped them there. I think that in a different country where I wasn't locked in a compound, say Ghana, Namibia, Congo, or S. Africa, I might have done better, but in Nigeria I had to rely on my drivers to be my salesmen, and that just didn't work well 60% of the time.

 

[breakingcontact]

If the premise is a $10k small business loan for someone currently working for lower wages that may work and be a good transition.

I was definitely not looking at it from that perspective. I'd have to ponder that.

Not a $10,000 loan. $10,000 cash money. No lines of credit. No debt.

The lower class in this country really believes they cannot get ahead. Also many folks believe they are "middle class" but when you look at the actual definitions most are not or just barely considered middle class.

I see so many people trying pyramid schemes (multi level marketing) in desperate but lazy attempts to get rich and "own" their own business. It is really sad to me especially when people go into debt for a racket or to start a non-viable poorly thought out business.

It is easy to scoff at the rich and people who have inherited wealth in particular but what impresses me is how those folks originally got that wealth.

My friend who owns the hydro electric utility started with one small plant. You could wrap your arms around the 150 Kw turbine. He slept in the power house. Then grew the company over 30 years to around 40 plants, most in the 2-4 Mw range.

My point is, to the poor man, lower class, lower middle class...becoming truly wealthy seems a daunting task. I've known farmers who just had generational wealth going back 150 years. Of course those families have had to make good choices and change with the economy but my point is they started off ahead. Ive also known entrepreneurs who have started with nothing and made something impressive, employing 100 people and making an impact on their communities and changing their families status in the next generation.

It can be done.

Im trying to figure this out for myself as well. I do OK. About maxed out for my industry, might be able to squeeze out 20% more next contract. But there are only so many hours in the week. I look at my contract agency and think how much they skim off the top on these contracts...they aren't working hourly but getting paid many times over while others work. They just have to keep contracts coming in and people working for them. I understand that is a type of work but it is work with passive income once the initial work is done.

In order to really do something, you need to build something and not just work check to check or towards the golden ring of "retirement".

 

[breakingcontact]

How much is a small bobcat or tractor? Money in doing dirt work? Fencing for these big ranches? I know these ideas im throwing out won't build a mansion but big companies do start off small.