Setting up a business within a day or two...

...is it possible?

If I remember from watching The Apprentice, Sir Alan made the point that anyone could set up in business within a day, and could be earning from that day. I pretty sure I remember him saying this or something like it.

Anyway, assuming you had no money to invest and no website but access to A4 paper, a printer, Internet access, telephone line, a P.O. box number, the ability to work from home or elsewhere, if required, your OWN attributes or what you see as your strengths. What business would you see as viable?

 

[INDIZINE]

Yes it is possible though depends what kind of business of course.

Is this something you are looking to do for yourself? Without knowing the skill set the replies could be vague or generic.

 

Hi INDIZINE,

I am looking to see what ideas people come up with generally, also to see what ideas they can come up with (thinking in terms of their own skill sets) but with limited resources and finally what sort of work can be undertaken from home.

I'm just being nosey more than anything...

 

[kayemdesign]

That's a very good question.

Assuming no website it makes it harder, however its possible if you have an existing network of contacts involved in business to start anything from scratch.

How about supplying promotional gifts (pens, key rings, t-shirts etc). There are plenty of trade only suppliers that its possible to sign up to and blag your way to an account. Then approach your contacts about supplying them with promotional material. All pictures can be downloaded from trade websites and then simply emailed to your prospects. Once you've confirmed an order you'll need to get money up front from your contacts becuase most trade suppliers will put you on pro-forma at first.

Get a couple of deals under you belt and then you have some working capital to set yourself up with a site.

I don't really see that anyone can't afford to set a site up. If you have net access then there are plenty of free options available (might not be the best, but they're free).

Alternatively open an eBay account to sell your junk and raise some working capital so you can buy stock to sell other things.

There's plenty of ways of earning money with no capital investment, you might not make fortunes but you could earn enough to fund other ventures.

Good luck.

Steve

 

[Kathyk]

I'm new to all this but i'd like to know too.
KathyK

 

Well I have two meetings on Monday and I am hoping that at least one will be very productive (think I may have secured the other one because I put them under great pressure and so it will be a meeting for the sake of a meeting). I do think this will be a productive year but it's always good to have other things to fall back on, and I am thinking of ways I can work from home.

 

[RayB]

You could re-sell our print to local businesses (most don't look to shop online for print) with a healthy mark-up on it

 

[INDIZINE]

RayB, I might want some of that!

I just refer people on to companies I dont know personally, and I get nothing out of it. The last customer I referred orderded £2k worth of printing and so im not proactive with referrals because theres nothing in it for me.

 

[lottysloft]

Anyone can set up a business in a day, but making it work it the key! That takes a long time as I am finding out.

Karen

 

[Jowy Atreides]

...is it possible?

If I remember from watching The Apprentice, Sir Alan made the point that anyone could set up in business within a day, and could be earning from that day. I pretty sure I remember him saying this or something like it.

Anyway, assuming you had no money to invest and no website but access to A4 paper, a printer, Internet access, telephone line, a P.O. box number, the ability to work from home or elsewhere, if required, your OWN attributes or what you see as your strengths. What business would you see as viable?

That sounds like a challenge to me!

I shall take up this challenge

to be true to it i won't even think of any ideas untill i wake up tomorrow,
form tomorrow morning i'll give it my all

we'll see if Alan was right (for me anyway)
i'm just gonna play half life 2 deathmatch to relax for a few hours tonight

 

[Cartel]

I know this sounds a bit far fetched....but in 1989 I phoned the then not "Sir" Alan Sugar and ended up having a long chat to his secretary. Alan refused to take my call!

But it was good fun, I was 19 and apparently she was convinced I was Richard Branson (who he had thrashed at tennis the day before) on a wind up call to get revenge...actually I am not! I phoned Alan Sugar to ask why Amstrad was not prepared to offer new start ups the leiniancy that Binatone had offered him when he created Amstrad, it fell on deaf ears and AMS's secretary laughted her butt off at a joke I was not playing!

Is it possible to set up a company in a day? Yes...

Will it be profitable from day one?....No!

Alan sugar has never created a company that has been a success from day one...he is very talented, but not that talented!

 

I think Sir Alan made the comment after one of the tasks (but I could be wrong). It would be interesting to experiment with and if things don't go to plan I may just do it! If anyone cares to try, please feedback here.

Jowy Atreides, if you serious, please let us know how you get on.

 

[Jowy Atreides]

I think Sir Alan made the comment after one of the tasks (but I could be wrong). It would be interesting to experiment with and if things don't go to plan I may just do it! If anyone cares to try, please feedback here.

Jowy Atreides, if you serious, please let us know how you get on.

I am, i'm not confident of the outcome
but it will be fun to try

 

[Baby's Best]

This is the beauty of becoming self-employed! You can do what you want and still earn money Even if you decided to sell all your old household scrap on the street, then your neighbour's, then your family's, etc. Somewhere along the line of what you do there is money to be made. It just takes a lot of tenacity, the willingness to learn and confidence more than anything. So whoever is trying this challenge: Well done for a start and good luck!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I think it come down to either sellin something or offering a service (yes I know that selling yourself)

With little money to sell you are probably looking a something like EBAY and maybe a nich market area, you can buy say old recordes at car boot sales, Car parts from breakers, come to a deal with a secondhand shop to sell their goods at a discounted purchase price to yourself

Make bird table's or something within your manufacturing capabilities on ebay

Offer a service as say a Gardner,Windowcleaner, Handyman etc

Use you previous skills to offer a service,

If you are no good in the real world use your experiences to teach at College etc

 

[Boris]

heres the best idea you will ever get my friend, im not sure that you will make a million but you asked if you could set up a biz in one day and start to earn from day one.

go to gumtree

go to freebies, go and collect the free stuff and then sell it cheap on gumtree

job done

here to help

 

[Jowy Atreides]

heres the best idea you will ever get my friend, im not sure that you will make a million but you asked if you could set up a biz in one day and start to earn from day one.

go to gumtree

go to freebies, go and collect the free stuff and then sell it cheap on gumtree

job done

here to help

my idea is just as good methinks,

here is what I did today

I created some custom html listings for ebay, really good fancy ones

now I am selling Linux distributions, linux is free and i state I charge for the materials, postage and time it takes for me to create the help files and dvds i mail

so no rules broken

I'm selling free software with £2 profit on each one

it's not much, but i did create some diy moneymaking structure in one day
not that bad

 

[Alice3537]

...is it possible?

If I remember from watching The Apprentice, Sir Alan made the point that anyone could set up in business within a day, and could be earning from that day. I pretty sure I remember him saying this or something like it.

Anyway, assuming you had no money to invest and no website but access to A4 paper, a printer, Internet access, telephone line, a P.O. box number, the ability to work from home or elsewhere, if required, your OWN attributes or what you see as your strengths. What business would you see as viable?

I seem to remember SA saying he did it on LIMITED money - and 'anyone' can set up a business and potentially make £1 in the first day - hey presto......a business!! That's earning!

Hit on the right idea, go to market and make money al in a day...easy as long as you don't actually need to make a fortune with the first venture/gain a long term business (that may come as a nice result) or have too much to lose!

I could have a nice little one day business at a car boot sale - which is pretty much what the UK Apprentice is all about!!

 

[Boris]

my idea is just as good methinks,

here is what I did today

I created some custom html listings for ebay, really good fancy ones

now I am selling Linux distributions, linux is free and i state I charge for the materials, postage and time it takes for me to create the help files and dvds i mail

so no rules broken

I'm selling free software with £2 profit on each one

it's not much, but i did create some diy moneymaking structure in one day
not that bad

CHAAA CHINNNGGGGGG

 

[Jowy Atreides]

CHAAA CHINNNGGGGGG

hehe thanks

i only did it for the challenge

but now this ebay venture has a purpose
profits from this will now pay my e-bay fees for my other listings

 

[peter.got]

You have no money to invest, than find some one who can supply you the money, before this you need an idea which will be able to work. So you also need to do some research in your target Market to see if your plan is workable. And also you need to find the supplier of your sales product,choose the best supplier and the Non-so-Smart Investor.

Anyway,,Easy to plan,Not easy to do, and not easy to have your first step..

 

[creospace]

My wife did one of those 'take £10 and see how much money you can make with it' projects and made £70 I think once a few years ago. She bought raw materials and sold artist stuff like cards.

Could be a clever UKBF challenge for 2008 for any budding enterprise people.

 

[maxine]

Going back to Indizine's comment about skill set I think this is the place to start and also what you like doing aswell (although this shouldn't be the main thing over skills and experience). There is no point setting yourself up to create custom html listings if you wouldn't know how to do it in my opinion.

Look at what you have done well in the past either in previous employments or as a hobby. Setting up with your skills is likely to be cheaper than having to buy stock of any sort. Also look at what assets you have already ie; a phone, a car, a computer, etc to see what you could do with them.

When I set up Maxxy I did this with £Zero! Only after I had made my first £50 did I spend it on a domain name + hosting and did the website myself.

I think it is very do-able to set up a business in a day and make it profitable from day one if you plan well

Another example I will give you is my son who is 9 decided he wanted to have a business so he collected all his unwanted football stuff and to sell for nominal amounts. He then started selling his friends unwanted football stuff. He required no investment and made a profit from day one albeit small and is now bumping up his pocket money nicely.

Max