What would you do?

I have no idea why I've waited this long to join the forum. I've been reading the magazine since the mid-to-late 90's and lurking here obsessively, and by obsessively I of course mean checking the board countless times throughout the day, every day, as if it was the means by which my life would be sustained. Yet I have said nothing all this time. Could it be I just had nothing to say?

Whatever the reason for my lack of input over the years, I actually have something I would like to talk about now to get some input on. No, sorry to disappoint but this isn't a "What Car" thread by another name and this time I really don't think "Miata" is the right answer, though I may be missing something.

I'm in a bit of a unique situation in that after spending the past year of my job (QA Manager) working towards opening a new facility for the company (distribution center for a large food company) to replace the one I had been working in I discovered that not only would I have the option to continue with my current role and assume the responsibilities of another role as well but that I could also opt to simply leave and get a pretty decent severance package. After many years of not enjoying my role there I was very close to quitting and starting over. The option of leaving and actually continuing to get paid for awhile (I had been there 10 years) was simply too much to pass up. So, I quit! My last day aligned with when my two boys finished up school for the summer so the timing was perfect. My wife works part-time so we really just had an amazing summer doing stuff as a family. It was a summer I'll never forget.

Of course time continues to march on and while the severance is still coming in for awhile I need to figure out the next steps in my career. This is where all of you come in. My question is this: If you had access to an investor, what sort of business would you start? I was going to ask what kind of car/motorcycle related business would you start but let's open this up a little wider. As for how much of an investment, I'd be interested in hearing about anything a reasonable business case could be made for but realistically this could be anything from a minimal investment, part-time business up to something requiring a couple hundred thousand dollars I suppose. As I said, I'm open to hearing about anything but if it is car related, my one request is that it not be something that would be a direct competitor to GRM. This forum is awesome as are the GRM and CM mags and the people behind them. I'm sure you appreciate having them around as much as I do and suggesting a business that in any way could have a negative impact on them isn't what I'm looking for.

While I may not have had anything to say here for years it would appear I've made up for it by starting off with a rather long-winded first thread. I hope you're still reading it and I'm looking forward to hearing what suggestions you have.

Mark

As my screen name would suggest, I am quite partial to beer. I would start a brewery, but that is just because that is where my passion lies.

However... that is actually a really good business to be getting into right now. You know QA and you know food distribution, craft beer would actually be a good market to get into. There is not tons of money to be made, but solid money, and the success rate is very high. You do not need as much fancy equipment or scale as other food products because you are not packaging, canning, or bottling. You will start with only kegs, and those are super simple to deal with.

You do not need to know a ton about beer. You need to know business. Find someone to partner with or invest in who does know beer, but understands that it is also a business so they don't get so "creative" that they can't keep regular customers happy. Have them put together a few solid recipes, and you set up the business end. Be sure they don't get too exotic crazy dreams but puts out a couple flagships that you start getting dedicated handles in an emerging local market.

Or don't even mess with any of that. Find someone to put together a couple recipes, start a brand, and have it all brewed for you under contract by a regional brewery but all under your own label.

Not car. Food.

Ingredients are low cost and profit margins are high. I worked for a food factory for some time and they made 400% on most products.

I really want to start a Foundry. No, not making steel ingots or aluminum billet. I want to cast accessories like universal MAF adapters for turbo applications, strut tower bars, intake manifolds, pulleys and cam gears, shift knobs, battery tie downs etc etc etc

Pretend for a moment uncle Sam isn't so far up your keyster with rules and regs in a business like this that he can wave hello to your dentist, and you'll find there's a fair bit of money to be made in the right segment (China has all the Honduh business, but many other enthusiast markets are sorely under supported). This would be part time most likely. Not sure it would really support a family, but perhaps it could with enough market research and some determination. But it could definitely but a great supplement if you had some other means of income already available. Startup capital would be surprisingly minimal, and headcount wise, you could easily make it a one man show.

A family here in my area just opened up a high end dog park, daycare, grooming and boarding. They took 4 acres built a new 2 story building, kind of like one of those indoor storage places, On the top floor is divided into what they call doggy condo's like 4'x6', 3 acres in the back is divided into 2 different areas one for big dogs and one for smaller ones. Both areas have a beach area with a fountain so the dogs can get in the water or play on the beach the rest of the outside is wooded with trails and obstacles. So you can take your dog there for daycare or board him and they take him out in the morning and he plays all day outside, they have people that stay in the areas with the dogs at all times and when your dog is in their condo at night (with thier memory foam mattress) you can view them on thier own webcam you can also see them outside. http://www.cbdogpark.com/ It's pretty cool. Everytime I go there the place is covered up. We just left our dog there for a week $345.00 included full spa treatment and grooming. That's the best I can do. Good luck.

I'd get a dealers license and flip cars. When I was unemployed for two years I flipped cars and did very, very well. That was without a dealer license.

wrote: 3 acres in the back is divided into 2 different areas one for big dogs and one for smaller ones. Both areas have a beach area with a fountain so the dogs can get in the water or play on the beach the rest of the outside is wooded with trails and obstacles.

There's a local veterinarian who has a similar business model....in back of their clinic they have a "bark park" where you can pay to have your dog run and play. Smaller, and not as nice as what you described, but still an open area with multiple types of terrain, hillls, etc. Neat idea.....I didn't like the buy-a-membership-and-still-pay-per-visit pricing, though, so gertrude has never visited the bark park.

I'd start an escort service for all the right reasons and set up shop at the top of Four Seasons.

That's why they call you a cowboy, baby.

I agree with the Doggy Day-Care idea, I pay a fortune to house my dogs in a place that is secure, clean, has webcams, and can handle dogs with an IQ of bacon.

My standard advice however is to sell stuff or fix stuff. Companies are always looking for a good sales organization to represent their products in a geographic area. If you can sell, then pick up few material handling or food and beverage related lines and have at it. Small overhead to start, just a home office and your car.

The other option is servicing. Again, companies are always looking for factory-trained service professionals to install and service their equipment in the field. You can rep a few lines and eventually grow to have a few service guys and a few trucks.

Internet Radio. I'll be right here when you need me.

Right now you can actually invest in such a company for pretty cheap. Have a backup plan for sure because they need a crew behind them that refuses to fail. Its a lot of hard work with not getting much in return for quite some time, but the long term return can be great.

Terrestrial radio will be dying a slow and painful death for the next ten years as cars get G5 cellular connections for cheap, so people can have thousands of internet radio stations to listen to. Starting one of the stations that make it will put you in the money after all the advertisers want to use you.

All hypothetical? Yep. Likely? I think so.

Either that or get a shop in a growing area. As it expands so will your business.

Flip cars for cash. I made great money doing this years ago but I had a hookup at a shop that fed me cars. Usually I'd fix and sell cars that they had a mechanic's lien on. They needed $X to recoup their costs on the car, and I got to keep everything over that amount. So if a customer stiffed them $300 on a fuel pump job but it needed way more work to get back on the road they would put on the lien and call me. I'd fix the car and put it up for sale. If I flipped the car for $3k I got to pocket the extra $2,700. I paid for college that way.

I've thought about flipping appliances and lawn equipment, but since the economy tanked it is harder and harder to find materials to start. A dead lawnmower on the side of the road is WAY more likely to be grabbed up by a scrapper than be found by a mechanic.

I spent a LONG time in the car parts business and have toyed with putting my own stuff on Amazon. The founder of NPD started out putting together hardware kits for Model As using a generic hardware catalog. I spent a lot of time working at one company where I built hardware kits for Mustangs by just packaging other people's hardware kits together in a box. Stupid simple and we sold them by the ton.

Start a "you fix it" type place. I want to do this badly but don't have the money for it.

Bring in your car and you can have access to all the tools and manuals you need. You just pay a rental fee.

Rob R.

Welcome to the forum! Of all these ideas, the 'flip cars' thing is the easiest for a GRM type to do. I used to flip MG's and Triumphs way back when, made real good money on that. It's gotten a bit more difficult from a paperwork standpoint because back then in SCan individual could do as many title transfers as they wanted without a dealer license. Now if an individual transfers more than 5 cars a year they have to have a dealer license. This sounds easy till you price the necessary insurance!

I have heard that some people get the title signed but the 'transfer to' spot is left blank. The buyer gets that filled out when they buy the car, leaving one person out of the paper trail.

Depends on where you're located. I've seen people who had some land just throw up a storage building setup and just roll in the bankroll from land they weren't using for anything. Sure it cost a few hundred grand to build all the bubildings, the climate controlled ones, pave the whole area, and nice fencing, but once all that was done, I haven't seen a vacant space for RV's, boats, etc. parked under their large covered area since a few weeks after they opened. I don't know about the storage units, but if that's any indication, I'm sure they're at decent occupancy. Pretty low maintenance as well.

Thanks for all the feedback already. This has definitely got me thinking. Here are my thoughts on what's been put out there...

Beer - This is interesting. I was surprised to read the part about the success rate being high, not because I know of a number who have failed but rather I just assumed the "big guys" in the industry dominated and likely owned most of the craft beer brands without us knowing. I'm not sure this would be a fit for me but the last comment about having someone else make it and I sell it is interesting...in this context or for some completely different product.

Food - To honest I'm not sure I really want to deal with food, the regulations around it and the potential of recalls anymore. I never intended to be in that industry in the first place, it kind of found me.

Foundry - This is interesting. I like the idea of making/servicing something though my fear would be the ongoing threat of China simply making it cheaper. I wouldn't rule it out though. Any more detailed thoughts on markets?

Dog park - As a dog owner we've definitely seen that people are willing to spend some serious money on their pets. My wife would be up for this but I think I'm more of a one dog and two cats guy.

Flipping Cars - This is always on my mind but I never seem to do anything with it. What do people think about focusing on one make or model of car or bike working towards being the go to person for that make/model?

Escort Service - I'm sure there's money to be made but the resulting divorce would cost more!

Sell/Fix/Service stuff - I like this and I think I would probably really enjoy it. Similar to this a friend has an appliance repair business and is considering retirement. He's mentioned having me take it over but has more recently been quite negative about the future prospect of this kind of business. He may be right or he may just be getting tired of the business and dealing with the changes.

Internet Radio - Interesting but outta my realm I think.

You fix it - My initial thought was high start-up cost that could be difficult to recoup. I'll look around though and see if there's anything like that nearby.

Storage Units - This one has been high on my list for a long time so I'm glad to see someone suggest it. I love this idea. There seems to be a lot of them around here so I may need to look a little further away. Does anyone have any experience with this and can comment?

Other thoughts I'd be interested in your feedback on are jet washes, driving ranges and residential/commercial property rentals.

Thanks everyone! M.

Riley_88 wrote: Beer - This is interesting. I was surprised to read the part about the success rate being high, not because I know of a number who have failed but rather I just assumed the "big guys" in the industry dominated and likely owned most of the craft beer brands without us knowing. I'm not sure this would be a fit for me but the last comment about having someone else make it and I sell it is interesting...in this context or for some completely different product.

Success rates are very high. Craft Breweries fail at something like 1/3 or 1/5 the rate of other businesses. I have a buddy who started a small micro outside of L.A. (Claremont Craft Ales). As I understand, it only took a year for the business to be in the black.

That is one of the good things about beer. A craft beer brand is not actually in direct competition with the "big guys". It is surprising just how few craft beer brands are owned by the big guys. If it is U.S. domestic (and I presume Canadian as well) and does not have a flashy ad campaign, it is probably independent. There are a couple brands that were started by big breweries to compete with craft beer (most notably Blue Moon and Shock Top), but there have been very few craft breweries purchased by the Big Guys.

Heck, even a lot of beers that looks like they are mass produced are actually produced by craft breweries. Kirkland brand beer from Costco is brewed by Gordan Biersch. Trader Joe's beer gets brewed by places like Firestone Walker and Unibrou.

Craft beer is a place where the little guys have handily won the war against the giants. You are not in competition with them. The macros still hold the vast majority of market share, but their sales are decreasing 1.5% every year, while craft beer has been steadily growing 10-15% every year.

combine the dog kennel and the storage idea, the dogs stay in the empty storage units, the whole deal is fenced in and use the big dogs as security, also you could park a couple of cars in front to sell, i have also seen a half junk store half storage, which you could repair stuff at........so the basic set up would be a 3 or 4 acres with a storage building then you could offer storage plus almost anything else.......penske truck rentals, endless, a driving range on the roof or out back............auction house, yeah i have seen car and junk auctions run out of these buildings also, good luck.

Riley_88 wrote: Foundry - This is interesting. I like the idea of making/servicing something though my fear would be the ongoing threat of China simply making it cheaper. I wouldn't rule it out though. Any more detailed thoughts on markets? Thanks everyone! M.

Pet Gravemarkers - seriously. People spend a considerable amount of money on stuff like this. single face patterns like a basic cat/dog silhouette and some text that can be customized is not hard at all.

Repro parts - find a simple part and figure out how to make 10 a day. I know a guy on a metalworking forum who is making cast Iron Ball mufflers for old hit and miss engines. Simple 2 piece items with 3 bolts to hold it together. Anyone with a drill press and a set of decent taps can make em, hes the only one choosing to do so. He cant keep up with demand with him doing it full time and his dad helping part time.

House numbers - yes, like the ones at Home DepLowes. See the description of the Pet Markers bit above. Same thing here - a few basic backgrounds, and some interswappable numbers, and youre in business.

Belt buckles - brass is fairly easy to cast, and a bit of gun blueing is all thats needed to make something cast in brass look old. Vintage stuff is big with the hipsters, even if its not actually vintage.

Decor - Book ends, decorative shelf brackets, Vintage looking corbels, clock faces, picture frames, etc etc etc - all can be cast from pewter quite easily, and made to look like an antique. People spend big bucks on "unique" decor items. Find a niche and exploit it

Etsy/Ebay/Amazon/C-List is your friend in this. Social networking will do well for a small operation as well.

In General, Yes, China can make something cheaper. But they dont usually get interested until the market can support demand where the volume is measured in thousands a year - cast plumbing fittings, cast auto parts, cast tools like hammers and wrenches etc etc . China isnt going to get involved in developing an industrial plan to manufacture 85 brass PBR belt buckles or book ends that look like the Statue of Liberty. The volume cant support their manufacturing model: (throw dispensable human lives at an unsafe work environment so you can produce 11k of a thing annually for pennies on the dollar...

Live near a major highway? Start a business changing flat tires, jumping cars, bringing small amounts of fuel, and towing.

Invest carefully and forget the whole 'work' thing.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I'd start an escort service for all the right reasons and set up shop at the top of Four Seasons.

Sir, my keyboard is covered in Pepsi now, thank you very much.

All I have to say is what a fantastic forum!

I have a few ideas myself but I want to more carefully research them before I let one of you guys beat me to it with my own idea.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wissota-race-track-Ogilvie-Raceway-3-8-high-bank-oval-dirt-race-track-/171135906267?pt=Commercial&hash=item27d87eb1db