Yea, we'd all like to own a killer guitar shop or something along those lines, but seriously, if you were in it to make the second half of your life more financially stable than the first what would you do?

 

Before this gets into a fantasy "what if" kinda thread please know I'm at least half way serious here.  Why ask on a forum like this?  Why not I would say.  You never know where the best ideas come from.  

 

Starting off, I DON'T have all the money to do this, but enough to make a run at it.  Let's say I can get my hands on $100,000 I don't have to pay back to anyone but myself.  Is there a business you would start or would you just invest the money and avoid much of the work/risk?

 

I'd like to have something I can leave to my kids in the form of a successful business, but I also understand that times change and by the time (hopefully) that would happen then the face of the planet will probably change a lot.

 

What's the next big thing?  Anyone got any ideas?

I'd open a chippy next to a university or secondary school, kids these days will buy anything that is convenient. :d

A balalaika shop in Sebastopol.

A pizza place next to one of those new Colorado pot shops.

I'm still kicking myself that I didn't start the business I was thinking of in the early 90s. At the time there were only 2 internet cafes in the whole of London, both in Central London. I wanted to set one up in North London (to begin with) but couldn't get the money together for it. I'm convinced I could have made a small fortune from it, setting them up all over the place once the North London one started making a shitload of money.

 

Things really ballooned a few years later, they were all over the place. I'm pretty sure I could have started franchising it and then sold the business for over a million before the world and his wife started getting broadband.  :mad: 

Truthfully? Trucking Logistics. I have several friends that do that and they make 150k+ a year and that is 35% of their haul. I have gone through the ins and outs with them and have considered my own company several times. The initial build up is not fun as it's going between load boards, trucks, and cold calling finding new customers.

 

The first year is also nail biting because you have insurance but the last thing you want is any type of incident. Once you are past your first year though, the start up companies hit the billion dollar mark generally in their 8 to 10 years.

Truthfully? Trucking Logistics. I have several friends that do that and they make 150k+ a year and that is 35% of their haul. I have gone through the ins and outs with them and have considered my own company several times. The initial build up is not fun as it's going between load boards, trucks, and cold calling finding new customers.

 

The first year is also nail biting because you have insurance but the last thing you want is any type of incident. Once you are past your first year though, the start up companies hit the billion dollar mark generally in their 8 to 10 years.

Very interesting.  Start up costs may be out of my range though.  I would think insurance and DOT compliance would be expensive right from jump street.

You don't have to be DOT compliant. You don't own the trucks, you are a third party go between for trucks and companies. You do however have to ensure that all of the trucks you use are DOT compliant. That is the catch. At 100k you could get your first year going without issue. Just don't have any mistakes. It's a gamble, but the payoff is there as long as you are careful.

 

The true hold up for us has been non-compete agreements they have all signed.

I've always had the idea of starting up a craft shop, i do a lot of arty stuff, and would be cool to make handmade stuff by request and start a business. Also had the idea to start an "internet cafe" type thing, a kinda cupcake shop but also deal in web design and development/computer repairs and stuff

A pizza place next to one of those new Colorado pot shops.

Now thats a GREAT idea. :-P

3D printing.

Men's barber in Pyongyang. Can't take that much training to learn one haircut.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26747649

 

A pizza place next to one of those new Colorado pot shops.

Now thats a GREAT idea. :-P

 

The girl selling the Girl Scout cookies made a killing.  A by the slice pizza place would be crazy.