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Where are the opportunities?

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Kenny1985

Kenny1985

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Aug 29, 2014
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Seems these days I'm forever searching and wracking my brains for my next business venture to no avail yet I see things that make me think "Seriously? That was your business idea?!". (Example; Just a few days ago an ice cream parlour opened in my local town...Central Scotland, the middle of winter, and someone's opened an ice cream parlour. I'll add that even the location is very questionable.)

Anyway, I'm a young (29), fit, enthusiastic, salesman with entrepreneurial experience. I've sold everything from insurance to cars, from advertising to recruitment services. I've had a premium rate telephone business (nothing seedy & quite original) built and operated 100% by me. I left my advertising job to setup my own ads business (ended up with offers to buy the sites I'd secured so sold up.)

Not expecting anyone to say "Here's a way to make millions" but maybe point me in the direction of where the world might be headed, where some opportunities worth exploring might be, or just chime in with any thoughts/ideas on where I am right now.

Cheers, folks.
 
Well Alaska has the highest per capita consumption of ice cream in the USA. Other cold regions also sell a lot of ice cream compared to hot regions. Alternatively you to to sweltering Turkey and hot tea is the preferred refreshment. Not sure scientifically why this is but I think I read it is related to body temperature or something like that.

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I think opportunities fall into two categories:

1) A hidden opportunity. One that isn't viewable by anyone in passing. IE maybe the guys selling ice cream have some other motive, maybe they don't need to make money at that premises all, just shift surplus product to maintain a volume discount structure they have and need in order for their very profitable operation in Aberdeen to function? That's a very tenuous example but the point is that often individual circumstances or opportunities make a venture right for one person, but pointless for anyone else. alternatively, they could just be stupid :)

2) An obvious opportunity. One that anyone can see. IE, a fish and chip shop has been the only one in a coastal town for 23 years. But in the last 15 years the number of tourists has doubled. The chip shop existed for at least 8 years with no more than half the potential customers it has now - so mathematically, there is an opportunity for a second chippy.

The difference between the two is that the first sort of situation is harder to find, as you have to look very carefully at what you can do better/cheaper than anyone else based on who/what you know, what you already do. In short, what do you have an above average advantage of success at? And then create your own opportunity to take advantage of your own specific position.

The second solution is easier to see and determine, but harder to make work once you have. Because lots of other people will have seen the same opportunity. Really, the opportunity that is almost impossible to uncover is always going to be the safest bet. IE if you can see there is space for a second chippy, you can assume the existing chippy has considered the possibility of competition and had a very long time to figure out how it can out-compete should it need too. Maybe that's why they started a loyalty scheme 6 years ago, just in case... Maybe they have also been lobbying the local supply companies at CoC meets for a very long time too. Maybe, they even also operate invisibly (to the general public) as a wholesaler of fresh fish in the region and have the supply effectively controlled in favour of their own outlet?

I think it takes the right way of looking to spot an opening. And also requires plenty of research and lateral thinking to ensure it really is an opportunity.
 
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You make a good point, movietub. I'm sure, for whatever reason, that ice-cream place believes they're onto something.

Also a good shout to try and change up one's thinking/approach to seeking opportunities. I'm almost hesitant to say I've been doing this due to the fact I'm still hunting for my next venture. Although, I do find myself researching multiple avenues from wanting to innovate right through to thinking "I'm going to buy a van and get a window cleaning route!"

I also explored the idea of "Do something you love" and explored building custom guitars (because I built myself a custom guitar and enjoyed the process of building it and seeing my final creation). It maybe something I pursue again. Think I was put off 'cause it's very niche and a custom guitar would be an expensive thing...guitarists either want a known brand name (like dropping £100k on a car...you're going to want a car company you know), or there's known companies out there that build custom guitars and have that rep for quality one-off pieces.

I'll tie something down. Just a frustrating time right now hunting for "it".
 
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I would add to that...

Rather than rack your brains looking for an opportunity, just open your eyes for a business for sale, but is being run very inefficiently (& has continued to exist through good fortune or a monopoly etc). To give you an example, a couple of years ago I went into a DIY shop (an independent mom & pop type setup)...I queued for about 10 minutes while the folks on the till tried to get to grips serving customers (it was infuriating - I never went back there) ...they had the location (footfall), they had the product (customers waiting at the till), but poor processes meant they weren't maximising what they had.

Another example....a pub nearby, for scores of years it was an average type boozer, it got sold ...new owners, they tweaked it a bit (gastro pub food, menu on a blackboard - you know the drill)...it wasn't successful. It got sold two more times before bingo....this place is now heaving most nights of the week - the only change was the way it was being run (a landlord that knew how to press the right buttons for that particular pub in that particular location)

There must be 1000s of existing business for sale where the owner hasn't been maximising what he has....my point being, while everyone racks their brain trying to predict the next big thing, quite often there's no need...there are opportunities right under your nose.

So, I think if I were faced with 'how to start off' scenario...I'd be looking for an existing business & run it better (but of course, you need cash & you need to find the business that is being run inefficiently/poorly in the first place)
 
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Thanks, Pish_Pash.

I've had a look now & then at Dalton's and other Business For Sale websites. Definitely a shout to keep more of an eye on these kinds of places as my visits to these sites could be more regular. Cheers
 
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Kenny1985 said:
You make a good point, movietub. I'm sure, for whatever reason, that ice-cream place believes they're onto something.

Also a good shout to try and change up one's thinking/approach to seeking opportunities. I'm almost hesitant to say I've been doing this due to the fact I'm still hunting for my next venture. Although, I do find myself researching multiple avenues from wanting to innovate right through to thinking "I'm going to buy a van and get a window cleaning route!"

I also explored the idea of "Do something you love" and explored building custom guitars (because I built myself a custom guitar and enjoyed the process of building it and seeing my final creation). It maybe something I pursue again. Think I was put off 'cause it's very niche and a custom guitar would be an expensive thing...guitarists either want a known brand name (like dropping £100k on a car...you're going to want a car company you know), or there's known companies out there that build custom guitars and have that rep for quality one-off pieces.

I'll tie something down. Just a frustrating time right now hunting for "it".
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I think you're thinking along the right lines - in as much as you're questioning your own ideas and thought processes. I agree that passion = success. A passionate person will always find the extra time and energy over and above the profit and loss driven competition to make an idea work. But as you say, certain things just aren't feasible. Custom guitars? Could work, if your work was so amazing that a hit band approached you for some work, and then one of their rivals approached you and said 'we need something even better..' And people do find niches where they become the go to solution for the most bizarre things. But they also probably started that venture as a side-line and paid the mortgage some other way, at least in the early days.

The window cleaning example, is something I should have included as a third form of opportunity really. It's the sort of opportunity that is always available to any one of us. If you work hard and smart, you can make a lot of money. It is that simple.

If you spend 10 hours a day cleaning windows, 6 days a week, you can make 40k+ a year. So it's fair to say that anyone can earn an above average wage with brute hard work alone.

But I suppose, whilst window cleaning can be a means to an end to get some cash together, as entrepreneurs we're all really looking for something that can scale up in size without us putting ever more hours in (at least physically).

If I revisited window cleaning now, I think I would look to buying a couple of super low running cost green fuelled vans and modifying those vans and the equipment and technology on board to make sure my window cleaning would be slicker and quicker than the competitions and then hire guys to do the work, with me alternating between working with them on rounds and working on logistics back at base. I would also offer each new customer a 1 in 10 chance of having their windows cleaned for free for a whole year if they pay for just the initial clean. It's the equivalent of less than a 10% discount to break into the market initially, and there is a very high chance most of them won't tell me to bugger off after their free year. Not after seeing my cheery face so many times :)

So I guess even window cleaning can be scalable and turned into a business I could be passionate about!!
 
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Kenny I'm from Glasgow, run a cleaning company (including at the moment starting on windows)

We do approximately 500 cleans for house builders every year, we are now in the process of branching out into more regular work.

In my business it's about nailing profits at the right time, for eg: December I turned over £22000 but in January up until now...£4900 it's impossible to keep good staff if the work isn't regular.

Window Cleaning is decent money but you constantly run the risk of poachers, other cleaners thinking its 'their Territory' and as with a lot of cleaning companies - fighting against the cheap £3 brigade

Remember and get insurance for public/employer/ladder at height and also your area licences (legal requirement in Scotland)

Oh and don't scrimp on materials!

Good luck if that's the route you take and maybe see you on the road one day
 
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mckellar said:
Kenny I'm from Glasgow, run a cleaning company (including at the moment starting on windows)

We do approximately 500 cleans for house builders every year, we are now in the process of branching out into more regular work.

In my business it's about nailing profits at the right time, for eg: December I turned over £22000 but in January up until now...£4900 it's impossible to keep good staff if the work isn't regular.
Click to expand...

It's true. To upscale you need a certain security of foundation. This is why it's relatively easy for a one man band to hit 30-40k income but it's a whole new ball game to scale that up with staff.

You would need a hard to copy and genuine USP to take over an area with confidence long enough to establish that sort of security.

As always in business, there is a carrot at the end of the stick. Once you have won and become the established solution, you are yourself extremely hard to compete against.

I guess you have to play the game in full from the first go. Not consider each turn one turn at a time. "A quiet month? My, I hadn't considered that could happen. And I employed people with no plan for such a thing".

I mean no disrespect - but you can see that if your business relies upon good staff, they have to be part of the plan. Most things can be foreseen but you have to really try and see. Hard work and good ethics alone aren't enough.
 
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Pish_Pash said:
There must be 1000s of existing business for sale where the owner hasn't been maximising what he has....my point being, while everyone racks their brain trying to predict the next big thing, quite often there's no need...there are opportunities right under your nose.

So, I think if I were faced with 'how to start off' scenario...I'd be looking for an existing business & run it better (but of course, you need cash & you need to find the business that is being run inefficiently/poorly in the first place)
Click to expand...

I agree 100% with that. It saddens me how many times I see a business that closes down and all it's assets just dumped. Not just equipment, stock and furniture in the skip outside, but all the goodwill, customer lists, know-how, supplier contacts, etc.

Trouble is that the business broker leeches who charge upfront fees on the back of promises of unrealistic selling prices mean the business owner becomes demoralised. They get what they think are derisory offers (which are actually usually more realistic) which they refuse. Once the business has been on the market a year or two, they've had enough, the business has often deteriorated further and then some event happens which forces a closure (i.e. end of lease and they don't want to risk renewal, ill health means they can't carry on, moving outside the area, need to get a proper paying job, or whatever), so they close at short notice and dump everything because there's no time to re-advertise at a fire-sale price. Some just can't take the stress of changing agents, dealing with buyers, dealing with solicitors, etc., for a relatively small sum which the business and assets has fallen to at the end. Not to mention that the big business agents don't want to know you anymore when a business is on it's knees and the asset values are low.

I've had a few clients in that position recently. One had an averagely profitable civil engineering business but the owners were relocating to a different country. I gave them my idea of what the business was worth, which was about £250k in my opinion. They had a couple of the business brokers around promising them at least a million, but with upfront fees of course, so they paid the £10k and sat back waiting for the hordes of buyers to come knocking. None ever did of course, so they took the advice of the business broker and reduced it to £500k, and of course paid another £10k for the next few months of the broker's "advertising". Then the time came to move and they'd still not had a single viewer, let alone an offer, so they had a mad panic selling their plant and machinery on Ebay! All the contacts, contracts, website, etc were just thrown away.

I'm actually a great fan of the new breed of online business sales websites, and even to an extent the businesses being offered for sale on ebay. It can only be a good thing to widen the seller and buyer pool to bring the smaller, low value, running down businesses into an active market. For too long, "distressed" business sales were the preserve of The City with the liquidators, venture capital firms, business recovery firms, etc., only interested in the big firms and the small firms left to end up in the skip.
 
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mckellar said:
Kenny I'm from Glasgow, run a cleaning company (including at the moment starting on windows)
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Cheers, McKellar. Good read. I was thinking the very old school approach of a van, water tank, hire a helping hand and knocking doors to secure some regular runs. Once a fortnight per home (for example).

How many we could batter through per day remains to be seen so it's tough to do projections really but hopefully startup costs wouldn't be astronomical and I couldn't see me having the same issue I've run into before with other ventures where the startup costs just ran away from me and went crazy.

Any hints, tips, or advice would go much appreciated, mate.
 
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movietub said:
Come on now. It's the work of seconds to find out. It's kind of a crucial thing to know too!
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Lol Movietub, averages, yes I had done the same and googled a little as well as employing logic. I just meant exact numbers as it'd change day-in day-out. Big houses, wee houses, middle sized houses :P
 
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Well that's exactly why even someone who has done it for 10 years would still only be able to talk in averages.

But enough to do a projection. I think it's unlikely any residential window cleaner averages less than 4 house an hour. Obviously if you bag a large property, a nursing home for example, you could spend a whole hour there... But then you would charge the same as 4 houses if there were four times the number of windows so the projection still holds as accurate.

4 houses per hour, 7 hours a day = 28 houses.

28 x £8 avg per house = £224 a day.

224 x 240 days a year = £53,760 per year turnover.

Turnover less van + consumables + fuel + insurance.

So for a one man band £40k would be possible without working crazy hours.

Before pushing ahead you would want to do much more involved planning and calculations, but for the sake of considering the idea at this early stage, the above is about as accurate as you can be.
 
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Kenny1985 said:
I've had a premium rate telephone business (nothing seedy & quite original) built and operated 100% by me. I left my advertising job to setup my own ads business (ended up with offers to buy the sites I'd secured so sold up.)
Click to expand...

You've obviously been successful in your ads business for you to have been able to sell it, so why not consider doing the same or similar?
 
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