Any Ideas For A Semi Experienced Business Person With £10k to Spend/Invest

[Alfulsyorks]

Hey Guys,

I currently run my own sales and marketing business and have done for just over 3 years after a career in Finance. It's always done pretty well for me but due to Covid things have really slowed down and to be honest, it's left me thinking about doing something else in the meantime.

I'm currently sat in the office I spend quite a lot renting out every month with tonnes of free time and a bit of cash to fund doing something new. The only problem is, I just can't think what.

Everything I look into online seems to be full of fake gurus all trying to rip people off or push unrealistic get rich quick schemes.

I'd be really interested to hear a few ideas form people in here as to what is currently working well for them. I'm not looking to get rich quick or make £100k this week... I just want some honest advice from people doing well at something as opposed to all of the biased fake advice people hand out trying to sell programmes and schemes. As I mentioned, I have around £10k spare I'd be happy to put into the right thing (not pay to somebody to find out lol), a nice city centre office, and pretty much all my time to get things going.

Please don't suggest drop shipping, affiliate marketing or trading forex because my patience is wearing thin!

 

[Mr D]

Ok you have an office. Do not be in a hurry to invest until you know plenty about any opportunities.
Presumably you want something quite different than sales and marketing.

Virtual assistant?
How about your technical skills - any use for income?

How about a facilitator? Arranging goods or services for a business.

Hmmm... Half the stuff I am thinking of are sales related directly.

 

[Forgot password]

Menu food delivery service.

10 ingredients.
10 different dishes you can make from them on nicely presented cards.

Use your marketing skills to market it and your sales skills to sell it.

Do it locally.

Aim for healthy shizzle.

Buy ingredients in bulk.

 

[Clinton]

It's a shame you don't have another £1 because £10,001 is what you need to make it really big.

There are several courses around on how you can make millions from buying other businesses even if you have no big capital! Yes, there are lots of courses on how you can buy a successful, profitable business for £1.

We discuss one of those courses here, but there are several others.

However, you've got to have £10,001. £10,000 is to pay the course organiser to teach you his secrets, and then £1 to go and buy your first business.

Start saving.

 

[Aniela]

I buy businesses on the cheap or with virtually no funds upfront, even no money upfront sometimes, and have made a lot of money doing it.

It involves work, though.

 

[MOIC]

I just want some honest advice from people

Don't do anything during the current situation.

Have a break from your business (if feasible) and travel (when allowed) to clear your mind , so you can think clearly. You need this to have 'new ideas'.

See what ideas/products/services people are offering in different countries and see if that sparks any ideas. You will see plenty if you travel East. Technology is far ahead of anything in the West.

10k will restrict what you can get involved with.

Follow your gut, research, more research and plenty of due diligence.

 

[MOIC]

Menu food delivery service.

10 ingredients.
10 different dishes you can make from them on nicely presented cards.

Use your marketing skills to market it and your sales skills to sell it.

Do it locally.

Aim for healthy shizzle.

Buy ingredients in bulk.

What experience do you need to operate the above?

Done correctly and thinking 'outside the box' needs to be done, as there are currently many similar ideas/businesses to compete with.

Sometimes in life, it's best not to publicise too much.

 

[Mr D]

What experience do you need to operate the above?

Done correctly and thinking 'outside the box' needs to be done, as there are currently many similar ideas/businesses to compete with.

Sometimes in life, it's best not to publicise too much.

Or see there is no box.

The world has changed. Some are rushing to supply what people demand without looking - and will be stuck with a glut of supply.
Others are taking their time, working out what will be needed, what opportunities will pass nearby that can be utilised.

Some of which may turn out to be viable business opportunities or cause growth.

 

[Murray Dare]

Hey Guys,

I currently run my own sales and marketing business and have done for just over 3 years after a career in Finance. It's always done pretty well for me but due to Covid things have really slowed down and to be honest, it's left me thinking about doing something else in the meantime.

I'm currently sat in the office I spend quite a lot renting out every month with tonnes of free time and a bit of cash to fund doing something new. The only problem is, I just can't think what.

Everything I look into online seems to be full of fake gurus all trying to rip people off or push unrealistic get rich quick schemes.

I'd be really interested to hear a few ideas form people in here as to what is currently working well for them. I'm not looking to get rich quick or make £100k this week... I just want some honest advice from people doing well at something as opposed to all of the biased fake advice people hand out trying to sell programmes and schemes. As I mentioned, I have around £10k spare I'd be happy to put into the right thing (not pay to somebody to find out lol), a nice city centre office, and pretty much all my time to get things going.

Please don't suggest drop shipping, affiliate marketing or trading forex because my patience is wearing thin!

I guess the question really is 'what do you want to focus on' and how much time do you really have to spend on it.

For example, it doesn't cost that much to set up a site focused on any subject. As long as your product/ service is either localised e.g. based in Northamptonshire or a niche area 'custom garden gnomes' which people are actually looking for, then you can succeed.

But, considering you have said you work in marketing and sales, it might be best to start from there to work out what you can provide which is different or localised. Create a website centred around that subject and create some content which establishes you as the expert in that field. This assumes that you still want to focus your time in your current chosen field. This approach doesn't cost a huge amount, does take a lot of effort and time, but also doesn't have the risk of a lot of other areas (e.g. buying stock etc).

I would suggest you spend some time working out where you want to be and what you want to do and then work back from there.

You need to decide whether you really care about something enough to keep working at it until the end. After that, everything else will start to fall into place.

That being said, there's always drop shipping, affiliate marketing or trading forex....

 

[The Byre]

Possibly most successful businesses (not all by any means though!) start with someone doing something they love to do just for fun.

 

[billybob99]

Possibly most successful businesses (not all by any means though!) start with someone doing something they love to do just for fun.

Thread closed.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

There are several courses around on how you can make millions from buying other businesses even if you have no big capital!

Like that guy who bought Harrods, Mohammad al Fayed.

 

[Clinton]

Like that guy who bought Harrods, Mohammad al Fayed.

There are plenty of such examples - Rover was sold for £10. And the con artists selling these courses use these examples extensively in their pitches

You need to understand that there are two types of business disposal scenarios - distressed businesses and successful businesses.

To buy a distressed business from the administrator you need to prove some serious muscle - put up hard assets as security for the banking convenants, sign PGs, whatever.

When Ken Bates bought Chelsea Football Club for £1 he personally took on £1.5m in debt. The guy who bought Rangers football club for £1 took on £2.8m in tax liabilities. When Renault bought the Lotus F1 team for £1 there was a whole reorganisation / restructuring and a complicated behind the scenes deal involving millions of shares. When Greybull bought Tata Steel for £1, they put up over £100m in securities.

Don't get fooled by the headlines in the news that scream about the £1 deal!

The average punter attending these courses can't put up £100m in security. Or even £500K (if it happens to be a small deal).

But the sellers of these courses are talking about successful businesses, not distressed businesses. To get the owner of a mature, successful, profitable business to give it to you for £1 ...generally involves a con of one type or the other.

These course sellers would like you to believe it's about clever stuff like deal structures, and raising finance against the assets of the business, and seller financing, and all kinds of other BS. They'll use impressive sounding jargon like leveraged buyouts and debentures and convertible bonds. But in the end it's usually about deception. One day I'll put together a detailed article on this explaining the so called "tactics" they use and teach.

See also survivorship bias. The seller of the course may offer examples of deals he's done himself. But he will fail to disclose critical information because he wants to make it look easier than it was. I know numerous people who've attended these courses, come out all excited, but even several years later have not managed to seal a single deal.

I get so many of these £1 Charlies approaching me to ask if I have any businesses to sell them. I'm sick to the back teeth of these people. I created a special page on my site just for them. When they write me I send them a boilerplate reply pointing them to that page (effectively telling them to go away and never contact me again).

For anybody reading this, if you're thinking of signing up for one of these courses, and need a good reason to NOT do it, read my last paragraph again. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there looking for £1 deals and getting nowhere. Do you really want to join that club?

 

[Aniela]

There are plenty of such examples - Rover was sold for £10. And the con artists selling these courses use these examples extensively in their pitches

You need to understand that there are two types of business disposal scenarios - distressed businesses and successful businesses.

To buy a distressed business from the administrator you need to prove some serious muscle - put up hard assets as security for the banking convenants, sign PGs, whatever.

When Ken Bates bought Chelsea Football Club for £1 he personally took on £1.5m in debt. The guy who bought Rangers football club for £1 took on £2.8m in tax liabilities. When Renault bought the Lotus F1 team for £1 there was a whole reorganisation / restructuring and a complicated behind the scenes deal involving millions of shares. When Greybull bought Tata Steel for £1, they put up over £100m in securities.

Don't get fooled by the headlines in the news that scream about the £1 deal!

The average punter attending these courses can't put up £100m in security. Or even £500K (if it happens to be a small deal).

But the sellers of these courses are talking about successful businesses, not distressed businesses. To get the owner of a mature, successful, profitable business to give it to you for £1 ...generally involves a con of one type or the other.

These course sellers would like you to believe it's about clever stuff like deal structures, and raising finance against the assets of the business, and seller financing, and all kinds of other BS. They'll use impressive sounding jargon like leveraged buyouts and debentures and convertible bonds. But in the end it's usually about deception. One day I'll put together a detailed article on this explaining the so called "tactics" they use and teach.

See also survivorship bias. The seller of the course may offer examples of deals he's done himself. But he will fail to disclose critical information because he wants to make it look easier than it was. I know numerous people who've attended these courses, come out all excited, but even several years later have not managed to seal a single deal.

I get so many of these £1 Charlies approaching me to ask if I have any businesses to sell them. I'm sick to the back teeth of these people. I created a special page on my site just for them. When they write me I send them a boilerplate reply pointing them to that page (effectively telling them to go away and never contact me again).

For anybody reading this, if you're thinking of signing up for one of these courses, and need a good reason to NOT do it, read my last paragraph again. There are literally tens of thousands of people out there looking for £1 deals and getting nowhere. Do you really want to join that club?

I actively do what you say is not possible and made millions doing it. (And no, I don't sell a course teaching people how to do it.)

You can buy successful businesses for no money down directly, little money upfront and like he refers to businesses for £1 but then take on the debt.

The debt thing is if you're into doing that; sometimes it makes sense, other times not so much. If it's not, you can look into buying the assets of a business and use them in a different business, rather than taking on debt.

These courses aren't generally talking about buying businesses turning over £50 million, but smaller to medium business.

I bought a business 2 months ago that was making 90k profit a year, with no money upfront. Seller financed. I didn't put any money in upfront and there was no "con". Purely because that was his best option and got the business out of his hands the quickest way, like he wanted.

Did it take just over 2 months of negotiations, yes. Was there work involved, yes.

 

[Clinton]

I bought a business 2 months ago that was making 90k profit a year, with no money upfront.

You demand proof from everybody else. How about providing it yourself to back up your claims?

When I make a claim on these boards, several people tend to believe me because of my history of posts. But you're new here, and anonymous. So add some credibility and give us some proof. Without proof ...it simply did not happen.

 

[Alison Moore]

I personally wouldn't rush into anything with a large investment at the moment as there's so much uncertainty. By the end of June, the country should have a better idea as to how certain industries are faring, which in turn will help you ascertain how those sectors are likely to need your skillsets. You could find that businesses want to launch a large scale marketing campaign as soon as they re-open to recoup some of what they've lost, and hence will need your expertise again soon, or you might find that businesses are extra cautious and not budgeting much for marketing. Alternatively, think about what your passions are - and think along these lines for a change in direction. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

They'll use impressive sounding jargon like leveraged buyouts and debentures and convertible bonds. But in the end it's usually about deception.

Just like Tiny Rowland said about Al Fayed.

 

[Aniela]

Just like Tiny Rowland said about Al Fayed.

There doesn't have to be a con to it. There are plenty of reasons why someone would sell a business for no money upfront etc.

Albeit rather rare there are actually situations where a business will pay YOU to take the business of their hands. Those are unprofitable businesses and obviously higher risk if you don't honestly think you can turn the business around.

 

[getitstraight]

Clinton, those courses are for sure shady, but have not you experienced deals when for example they put 10-20% own funds and rest combination of seller financing and levering assets for a loan etc ?

 

[ExoPaul]

Subscription service.
Can be anything provided you can provide something unique every month.

Look for example at the makeup industry. A lot of people have set up makeup boxes on subscription. The customer pays £30/month and they get a minimum of £50+ of makeup sent to them to try each month.

All you need is a good idea, get the price of stock down low so that you can offer a bundle worth more than the subscription price, and then send it once a month.

Technically the hard part is about 3 days worth of work (depending on how many subscribers there are) as you box up each order, print off labels, send off via delivery. The rest of your month can be spent doing what you do best, which is marketing the service, and sourcing new products for the next month's box.

It is also pretty cheap as you kind of know what orders you have taken to know how much stock you require, so a small investment should easily be enough.
And there are virtually no limits on what you can offer each month. You could offer a candy service offering different sweets every month, or you could offer office ties and cufflinks, weekly fruit boxes, a selection of monthly mens/womens magazines (for less than RRP), there is even a few people offering a different sex toy every month. Only your imagination and ability to source low-cost stock that can be changed every month is your limit.

And there are platforms out there that you can pay about £30/month and they handle everything from payments to subscribing/unsubscribing customers, updating your address lists, having a website for you and so on. So the tools required to get off the ground and let it handle most of the work are relatively cheap.

How much money you get from it depends on how good you are at marketing it, but I believe that an average cosmetics box is making around £8 profit and there are teenage girls buying them up left.right and centre, and some of the people offering these boxes are selling about 200-300 boxes a month.

 

[The Byre]

Clinton, those courses are for sure shady, but have not you experienced deals when for example they put 10-20% own funds and rest combination of seller financing and levering assets for a loan etc ?

That's pretty much most of them!

A few years back, I experienced a local business that was 900k assets and 100k profit share. It was sold to a member of staff who raised 300k against his house, borrowed 600k against the assets and borrowed 100k from the old owner. The old owner got 10% of profits over 10 years, so instead of 80k post-tax, he got 160k as a consultancy fee over 10 years - double the amount.

I actively do what you say is not possible and made millions doing it.

Good solid business advice from Walter Mitty! If Thurber were alive, he would write a whole series of stories about your adventures in high finance!

 

[DPC]

Hey Guys,

I currently run my own sales and marketing business and have done for just over 3 years after a career in Finance. It's always done pretty well for me but due to Covid things have really slowed down and to be honest, it's left me thinking about doing something else in the meantime.

I'm currently sat in the office I spend quite a lot renting out every month with tonnes of free time and a bit of cash to fund doing something new. The only problem is, I just can't think what.

Everything I look into online seems to be full of fake gurus all trying to rip people off or push unrealistic get rich quick schemes.

I'd be really interested to hear a few ideas form people in here as to what is currently working well for them. I'm not looking to get rich quick or make £100k this week... I just want some honest advice from people doing well at something as opposed to all of the biased fake advice people hand out trying to sell programmes and schemes. As I mentioned, I have around £10k spare I'd be happy to put into the right thing (not pay to somebody to find out lol), a nice city centre office, and pretty much all my time to get things going.

Please don't suggest drop shipping, affiliate marketing or trading forex because my patience is wearing thin!

Hey Guys,

I currently run my own sales and marketing business and have done for just over 3 years after a career in Finance. It's always done pretty well for me but due to Covid things have really slowed down and to be honest, it's left me thinking about doing something else in the meantime.

I'm currently sat in the office I spend quite a lot renting out every month with tonnes of free time and a bit of cash to fund doing something new. The only problem is, I just can't think what.

Everything I look into online seems to be full of fake gurus all trying to rip people off or push unrealistic get rich quick schemes.

I'd be really interested to hear a few ideas form people in here as to what is currently working well for them. I'm not looking to get rich quick or make £100k this week... I just want some honest advice from people doing well at something as opposed to all of the biased fake advice people hand out trying to sell programmes and schemes. As I mentioned, I have around £10k spare I'd be happy to put into the right thing (not pay to somebody to find out lol), a nice city centre office, and pretty much all my time to get things going.

Please don't suggest drop shipping, affiliate marketing or trading forex because my patience is wearing thin!

Be careful about jumping into something just for the sake of it, you could waste a lot of time.

I did a similar thing, and ended up setting up a supply line for fabric facemasks (I bought some disposables too but mainly to help my customers out as sourcing is more my thing), I found a great supply line but now set up my business is starting to crank up again so I will not have the time to deal with the facemask business.
I like a project and spent much of lockdown on this but really I probably need to wind it down, or find someone to push on with it now it is all set up.