Let’s say you have decided that you simply cannot or will not work in Corporate America (or substitute the country of your choice), and you must start your own business. You can make it anything you want, but let’s try and be realistic-- this is not pie in the sky, angel investors knocking at your doorstep time. It’s you and whatever money you have right now that are willing to invest.
For me, I already have my own business, but if I didn’t I would probably set up a tutoring business. I can tutor science and math at the high school or college level. I’d probably start out contacting my friends with children in that age range. Maybe take out an ad on Craig’s list. My preference would be to do this at the customer’s house, but I could be flexible and set up an office in my house if I had to. What to charge? I’d have to do some investigating, but I’m thinking somewhere in the range of $30 - $50/hour to start, maybe a sliding scale depending on how advanced the material was. If you need help in Vector Calculus, you’re going to pay more than if you need help in Algebra 1.
Timely thread. I’m getting to the point where I really don’t know how many more lies I can hear before I just rudely call someone out. I used to pretend to be a cynical, non-smiling curmudgeon to get a rise out of people but now the affect is coming much too easily and I’m losing the ability to shrug it. But the people I work with are great. I made some toffee over the weekend for folks to nibble on (other times it’ll be pies or cookies, maybe chili) and it made people happy. My job is to give people money, and they’re almost never happy.
Downtown there is a street-level shop owned and operated by a woman we know simply as “The cookie lady”. It’s her place, no employees, and she’s only open about 3-4 hours a day right around lunchtime. In her tiny office she bakes cookies. You can go to her, she will give you a bag of 3 cookies for $3. Between 10:00 - 2:00 there is a line out the door. She has got to be raking it in. Or at least she’s making enough to stay open and earn a decent living. I bet I could do that. It would make me happy. I’m really good with a home-sized kitchen.
I have no where near the funds needed but if I did, my wife is an excellent baker and cook in general. She’s always wanted to have a bakery/coffee shop and I’d support that. Cozy couches, fresh baked goods, lots of good coffee, nice music, a good place to hang out. There is not much competition in the area. If I had the money and the space, I can envision it.
Some friends of mine operate a part-time catering business out of their kitchen. They love it. They both are good cooks, and do take-out dinners for folks neatr-by 2 or 3 times a week.
I owned a business for 7 years early in my career and am pleased with myself for getting it out of my system.
Unrelated to the original business, I own 4 residential rentals and I’d like to buy more as I age and eventually manage them part time in retirement. I’m good at it and I enjoy the work. It’s impossible to predict what I’ll want to do with myself in a few decades but I’m quite certain I’d be bored if I ever tried to be completely retired. I’m hoping this will be profitable and interesting but not so demanding I can’t put it aside when I want or as I get older.
Over the years I’ve owned a process service, a security comapany, and a private detective agency. I also own a gun store and am partial owner of 2 childcare centers.
All of these supplemented my income as a law enforcement officer. Now that I’m [semi]retired I’d like to get into being a travel agent. But a friend of mine did that and said thanks to Orbitz and such there isn’t as much business/money in it any more.
Independent consultant focusing on small to medium sized companies. I am already a staff consultant for a mega-corp so it isn’t that big of a stretch and wouldn’t take any real money to start up. I would just have to land my own contracts, do my own billing and pay taxes quarterly. If I had any sense, I would do that anyway because I could make a whole lot more money with only a little more risk.
If I had any sense I would start a consultancy on ADA accessibility, I have complained enough about buildings, businesses and bathrooms all over the place, especially on the road trip we took around the country a couple years back. Unfortunately I think that there would be a fair amount of money involved getting the certifications and licensing done in architecture, structural engineering and the CFRs about the assorted ADA requirements that the business needs to follow.
Although if it was one of those wistful what if you had unlimited funding ones, I am fairly sure that I could come up with vat lobster, shrimp, crab and scallop with the proper staffing, research scientists and a couple good design engineers for the production line stuff, and a food scientist to help out with firming up the proper texture and flavor profiles.
I would like to either be a professional artist, or a professional author. Actually I have been both, but not often enough/profitably enough to make a living at it.
I have had my own business first as a free lance artist just out of college, and also more recently as a lawn care/day laborer sort, neither of which was wildly successful (the first made me just enough that I didn’t qualify for food stamps, the second I continued to qualify for foodstamps) and honestly I’ve had more luck in life working for someone else.
But if I COULD, I would like to make my living either as an artist or author. I keep trying.
If I had to start a business, I think I’d like a yarn and fiber store with a coffee bar and lounge area. People could shop and then sit and knit or spin or whatever and chat, and have a coffee. There is a shop like this across town (about 15 mi away), and it’s lovely and always super busy, but too far for me to go regularly.
If I could partner with a small restauranteur, I would open up a donut shop downtown. Not a frou-frou place, but an old-school donut shop that has the whole block smelling like sugar and grease.
It would also sell beignets. There aren’t no places here that sell them, so it would have a corner on the market.
I could just live off of stale donuts until we started making a profit.
Alternatively, I could hire myself out as a ArcGIS tutor for professionals looking to brush up their technical skills. But I can’t see how this would be sustainable for very long.
A nice store for animal lovers. Pet supplies- maybe even make home made treats to sell. Animal type gift items, books. A dog park out back. Dog training classes offered… not PetSmart type, but actual training classes.
A small diner specializing in simple but savory, spicy and healthy food. Many (if not most) of my menu items would be Peruvian. Ají de Gallina, Arroz Verde, Causa, Ceviche, Lomo Saltado, Antichuchos, Picarones, Flan and more!!
I do realize that the restaurant business is incredibly risky. It’s just a dream. I’m not sure how I could make it a reality. I don’t have the money to begin… and while I still have teens at home, I’m not sure if I could risk giving up my steady paycheck as a government employee - I work for a public library. If I could see into the future, however, and know that my restaurant would be successful, I think that I would absolutely love it.
