Advise needed..Which is best idea?

[Herbie]

I am thinking of starting a work from home business and wondered which of these ideas would be appealing, have longevity and success.

1.Scrapbooking. running a weekly event organising peoples photobooks, children mothers attend and have a fun couple of hours creating photo scrapbooks.

2. Door to door Shoe polishing & repair service. This could be a weekend service.

3. Renting and hiring chocolate & champagne fountains for weedings, prties, birthdays etc.

4. Cleaning & maintaning graves withing a local area. a Litle morbid this one.

 

[creative-keyrings]

The 3rd idea seems to be the most professional and interesting idea. I would go with this because you could rent them out to people online and it would be a lot more easier and more convinient.

 

[Top Hat]

My choice would be
No 3.

I think it has the most potential, and can be scalled up.

Plus I keep hearing about chocolate fountains at the moment, so I think they are a hot product

 

[RSL]

They all seem like quite viable ideas.

Number 1 would work well with marketing - check out this site of another company that does a similar sort of thing http://www.forget-me-nots.co.uk/

Number 2 would probably take a lot of work with low returns unless of course you live near a community of very well off and lazy people. Though I must admit the repair service would be great...

Number 3 I like this idea though you have to be sure you get good quality equipment and chocolate. Check out these sites http://www.chocolatefountain.com/ http://www.fountainofchocolate.com/

Number 4 would need a lot of tasteful marketing but it could work, maybe join forces with a local funeral director.

Good luck with whatever you choose. Whatever it is make sure its something you'll love doing again and again and again.

Kind regards,

RSL

 

the 2nd and 3d are the best ones
Forget about the 4th idea!

 

[PeteH]

Why have you short-listed those 4 ideas? Are they something you are interested in, or just a way of making an extra income?

You should do something that interests you, because if you don't enjoy it, you will get fed up rather quickly.

I run a home based business showing people how to make money and save money. I am always on the lookout for others who would be keen to do the same thing. You can check out the details at www.youtheboss.co.uk. If you are interested, let me know and I will tell you a bit more about it. Otherwise, good luck with whatever venture you choose, and I look forward to reading about its success on here.

Pete

 

[Anonymous]

Petes right seriously do what you love/interests you.. I set up a refurb IT business a while back (sole trader) and computers arent what i love i just lost interest and it flopped BIG style..

gettign a shortlist is good because it shows your prepared to think thinks through.. but let me tell you a story (you'll get used to me doing this)

Okay there was a man he had an idea...it was INSANE it had never been done before..it was so crazy that over 50 banks turned down his request for finance because "it just wouldnt catch on"..
The man carried on..he REALLY loved his idea..
the 96th bank "NO"
the 97th bank "errr no"
the 98th bank "yeah what the hell"
he got his loan..and he started to build his dream..his dream was a "themepark"

The mans name was walt disney

someone made millions from twisting a piece of metal wire so it would hold his paperwork together

The creator of ebay made the site to sell his wifes sweet dispensers (ebay has 117million customers )

"if... if you can dream but not make dreams your master" (ruyard kipling's "IF"..print it off and put it up in your office space )

Dream.. and lets us see them

 

[Deleted member 2816]

I don't think No 4 is such a bad idea! I've had a lot of contact with elderly people whose wives or husbands have passed away, and you can't imagine how much they worry about the upkeep of the grave site! Especially as they often are not fit enough to do it themselves.

If it was done delicately & marketed in the right areas, I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

I personally have never even been to my parents graves, and know that no-one else has, and that makes me very sad as I can imagine what a mess they are in :cry:

 

[acf]

No. 4 seems to be a great idea. I have not heard of this concept earlier on. Good luck.

 

[Abdul]

Herbie,
Renting and hiring chocolate & champagne fountains for weddings, parties, birthdays etc. This looks like a very good idea. Any idea if there are other people doing something similar?
You might be interested in the following FRRE report " How to start a successful Home-Bases business in 30 days"
If you would like a copy please send me a PM
Good Luck
Abdul[/code]

 

[Cornish Steve]

let me tell you a story (you'll get used to me doing this)

Okay there was a man he had an idea...it was INSANE it had never been done before..it was so crazy that over 50 banks turned down his request for finance because "it just wouldnt catch on"..
The man carried on..he REALLY loved his idea..
the 96th bank "NO"
the 97th bank "errr no"
the 98th bank "yeah what the hell"
he got his loan..and he started to build his dream..his dream was a "themepark"

The mans name was walt disney

someone made millions from twisting a piece of metal wire so it would hold his paperwork together

The creator of ebay made the site to sell his wifes sweet dispensers (ebay has 117million customers )

The founder of FedEx came up with his idea as part of an MBA project. His professor gave him a poor grade.

 

[Cornish Steve]

Herbie,

Is there a need? Can you provide a satisfying solution at a profit? To be specific:

- Are mothers willing to pay you on a regular basis to attend scrapbooking events? Will they pay enough to pay your bills? Where will you make your profit?

- What will be the business model for door-to-door shoe polishing and repair? Why not set up shop in the lobby of a hotel that caters to business executives or at the entrance to a conference centre?

- I can imagine that the capital outlay for chocolate fountains is high, so you'd better check out the cash flow implications.

- How will you find your customers? It wouldn't exactly be prudent to leave brochures on site.

While I have no experience with any business of this type (so you could rightly criticize me for talking through my hat - or worse), the fourth option sounds best to me. There is a need (and guilt plays a part in that); there is little capital expense; it's a job that few others are willing to do; and the work environment is quiet!

Just be careful not to follow Del Boy's example when it comes to painting a gravestone (I love that episode).

 

[Tiggy]

Hi

I do think that the cemetary idea is a good one.

Going off on a slight slant to your ideas for it, I don't know if it would be possible or how you would work it but this is my situation:


My mother is buried in a cemetary 200 miles from me. I would like to leave flowers on her grave a lot more often than i do, especially for the very special occassions. But usually its just not possible for me to do this. I have a large family but don't have any contact with them (long story) so I cannot ask one of them to do it for me.

I know I would pay for someone to deliver flowers to my mother's grave. I can only assume that, for all sorts of reasons, there are people out there who must be in a similar position to mine and would feel glad to be able to use such a unique service.

I must say I like the idea of this business as a whole - but then again I have always loved cemetaries for some odd reason!!!

In fact I already beat you to it beause when my best mate and I were 13 we decided we were going to do a makeover on a whole, very large, cemetary to make it look pretty again. As you can see we were very ambitious!! We decided to sort out the gardening part and then spruce up the very old grimey looking gravestones by throwing a bucket of whitewash over each one! Mmmm.....

We even got exicited thinking about the possibility of appearing on TV for our noble efforts!!

We spent one whole day working our little hearts out, beating down bushes and pulling out weeds. Luckily that was enough for us to gain some perspective on our idea and bring us down to earth somewhat.

What fun!
Tiggy