If you had $40,000 to start/buy your own business...

PHeller wrote:

ProDarwin wrote: Serious answer though: Vending Machine business. I've seen some for sale from time to time. $20k will get something on the order of 15+ machines/locations or business service contracts. Hire some trustworthy college student or high schooler to service the route. The profit margin for this type of investment can easily be in the 15% range if run well.

I remember seeing a vending machine that sold microwave meals, cup ramen, burritos. It was always almost empty.

Is that good or bad?

In reply to ProDarwin:

Depends on whether they ever filled it.

If I had $40,000 to start a business... is selling drugs from an ice cream truck an option?

No?

Oh. The 3D printer rapid prototyping business idea sounded pretty cool though! Buy a big enough printer and print modular homes.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to captdownshift: I would do a car wash as well. However, I would eventually open a second location that would have a bay that caters to Semi trucks. My buddies dad built one where they live in Iowa and it is rather popular. That would work out well here in the country.

Would you be able to accomodate cabovers? I hear they're popular.

confuZion3 wrote: If I had $40,000 to start a business... is selling drugs from an ice cream truck an option? No? Oh. The 3D printer rapid prototyping business idea sounded pretty cool though! Buy a big enough printer and print modular homes.

$40k will barely get you a 10" x 12" 3D printer.

SVreX wrote: In reply to Teh E36 M3: I know a powder coating shop for sale if you want it. But you won't buy it for $40K.

The local mechanic's shop is for sale, all the tools, lifts, building, lot, inventory are for the princely sum of $60k. Located right in the center of a peaceful little town of 700 or so.

ProDarwin wrote:

confuZion3 wrote: If I had $40,000 to start a business... is selling drugs from an ice cream truck an option? No? Oh. The 3D printer rapid prototyping business idea sounded pretty cool though! Buy a big enough printer and print modular homes.

$40k will barely get you a 10" x 12" 3D printer.

So what you're saying is... definitely drugs from an ice cream truck.

What do you do now?

Do you want to quit?

What are your passions?

What are your talents

Are you married?

Do you have kids?

What kind of debt load do you carry?

Send it to me and I can save you the misery of agonizing over these kind of decisions!

Seriously, if you have a mortgage, pay it down, it will provide the greatest return on investment and peace of mind.

To answer those questions in order:

1. I'm an Active Duty Army Captain, but I'm getting out in 1 year.
2. Yes, it's time to move on to other things.
3. Cars (obviously), outdoors (basically all types of outdoor activities), history (my bachelor's is in history -- basically a useless degree), my family, sports, fitness
4. I'm great at working with my hands, I've got loads of leadership and management experience (which I do enjoy given the right atmosphere), I'm a good writer and public speaker, very physically fit/active
5. Yes -- Eight years in May
6. Two boys (5 & 2), with plans for the third and final to arrive next spring
7. Debt free aside from mortgage
8. What kind of ROI can you give?
9. Here's the thing, it is a gift from a relative for the sole purpose of assisting to start my own business when I leave the military next year. So, I posed the question in here to see if there's something that maybe I haven't thought of that could generate some decent income for the investment. It doesn't necessarily have to replace my current salary, but at least supplement it enough that I could do something else I really enjoyed for my main career when I get out of the service(teach High School History, for example, or go back and get a more useful degree). Nothing that I really think I could enjoy doing (like teaching, or mountain guiding) will come close to matching my current income, so I'm looking for a business I could run mostly on the side and generate a relatively steady stream of income in order to at least get us in the ballpark of our current income when paired up with another career.

In reply to DustoffDave:

Perhaps we need some clarification...

Half of the responses in this thread are answering the question you asked, "If you had $40K to buy your own business, what would you do?".

The other half are giving you advice on what YOU should do.

Perhaps we need to be enlightened a bit, or work on our reading comprehension.

Which question are you asking, Dave?

What I would do with $40K is different than I would advise you to do.

Looks like you answered my question while I was typing it!

OK, now I have different questions.

I'll start with one- Ever owned a business before?

There will be more later...

In reply to DustoffDave:

So this is a novel way of brainstorming for ideas. nicely done.

I'd be in carbon fiber but nothing super industrial or structural. Easily should have 20k in the bank after initial startup to advertise.

In reply to Zomby Woof:

Aruba is awesome!!

This wont answer your question, but it is a very good way to re-think about what you are trying to do. It is a presentation by Simon Sinek and one of the better I have seen on the genre of why enterprises work or do not work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I will add from personal experience of multiple start-ups that business ownership can really suck. You want to be pretty sure you can come home and tell the wife that you need to pack and move "because the bank now owns the house" and not have her get too bent out of shape.

In your shoes, looking for a low risk path, I would go get a professional project management piece of paper from somewhere along with the ability to read financial statements, and either get a job or consult.

NOHOME wrote: Seriously, if you have a mortgage, pay it down, it will provide the greatest return on investment and peace of mind.

You are kidding, right?

SVreX wrote: OK, now I have different questions. I'll start with one- Ever owned a business before? There will be more later...

My best friend and I had a very successful foreclosure cleaning/demolition businees in High School. We were hired by real estate companies to clean up foreclosed homes. But, it was just the two of us and our overhead was extremely low.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to DustoffDave: So this is a novel way of brainstorming for ideas. nicely done.

Thanks, I didn't want to taint the answers -- I wanted to see if there was something off my radar that sounded interesting.

How about you combine the two? Get a job teaching (see about federal employment through usjobs.gov) to keep a comfortable cushion and benefits. Use the money to start a seasonal business as teachers get a very comfortable amount of time off (summers).

My uncles started tree trimming businesses for a lot less than $40K but if that isn't for you look around at the area of the country where you live and see what options interest you.

Dividing between a teaching gig and a small start up should prevent burn out with one and give you more security than going into the deep end of a start-up business.

Just out of curiosity, have you done your 20? If not I'd look real hard at making it to that milestone. I wish I had.

Would you? Well, I have.

I've founded a technology startup. I put a link for reference, but won't use this to shameless plug.

Starting a company from nothing is exceptionally hard. $40k probably won't cover your expenses if you want to do things like... eat. I've maintained a full time position while working on the startup at night and on weekends.

I'll share some lessons that I've learned along the way:

1. Funding. Getting money to move the business just one more step is hard. Angels, Investors, VCs are all moving their investments up market and typically want to see $1M in revenue before getting involved. VCs typically want to see $3-5M. So if you think you'll need more money, your options are: Friends, Family and Fools; your savings, second mortgage, credit cards; or earn the ol' fashion way. There are a number of "startup competitions" which are growing in popularity but they are draining and discouraging if you don't win.

2. Structure. How you start a business, depending on your end goals, could actually be the death of your business. Spend a LOT of time getting this right. Partnership? S-Corp? LLC? Where are you incorporated? Who are your co-founders? Are they the right people long term, or just the people who are there now? Then you have taxes, business licenses, and who knows what else (trademarks, patents, etc.)

3. Sales. Do you want to be successful? Get your sales right. I don't care how good your product is, if no one buys it, it might as well be the worst product on earth. Know who you think you want to sell to, and then LITERALLY pick up the phone and call them. Ask all kinds of questions, VALIDATE your product or service, VALIDATE that someone will give you money for it. Then research how many of those people are out in the world, and figure out how you are going to get to them... and how much that will cost you.

I'll call that a Top 3. There are a billion other things that I'm still trying to learn after 2 years in operation and a launched product.

I'll leave it on this... launching, building, running your own company is a painful, slow and a lonely process. People get enticed to it because they want to be the next Zuck or Jobs... problem is that only 0.0005% of all companies ever get to $100M in revenue. Well over 90% of all startups fail before getting to $1M. And it is damned hard to be your own boss.

I haven't done 20. I've been in for 7 years. We're at the decision point. If I took another assignment I'd be at 10 before I could really look at getting out again. At that point, I might as well stay.

We like where we are and we want to raise our family here. Also, there are things going on in the Officer Corps that I don't think are good, so it's time move on.

In reply to BradLTL: That is good stuff, thank you. I'm always interested in learning from those with real experience.

DustoffDave wrote: 3. Cars (obviously), outdoors (basically all types of outdoor activities), history (my bachelor's is in history -- basically a useless degree), my family, sports, fitness

This might be an opportunity for you...

http://www.irontribefitness.com/franchising/

I know the Founder, and they do good business. In fact, I became a customer 3 weeks ago.

DustoffDave wrote: We like where we are and we want to raise our family here.

Where do you live? That might spark some additional thoughts.

BradLTL mentioned Iron Tribe, which is new to me, but similar to a thought I had. How about a CrossFit box? HIIT as an approach to fitness is booming along. Another route, or potentially in combination, would be a local version of a tough mudder/spartan race. Adventure racing is crazy popular and the revenues for the 2 I mentioned are at or approaching $100m/year. You mentioned a love of fitness and the outdoors, plus leadership. You'd be great at it!