From rags to slightly better rags. Starting from the bottom.

Hi everyone.

I am David. I have been thinking a lot lately about starting a business. I mean a REALLY basic business with very little money to begin with. The sad (for me) fact is that I am en ex career criminal and have spent 4 years in jail so finding work is EXTREMELY difficult. Let's just leave that there though. That was just to explain why I have decided to try and so something off my own back with so little knowledge and money.

At the moment I would happy to start with anything. I have been trying to think of things that people always need; toothbrushes, shampoo, pen drives, stationary, to name but a few. And then just buy a couple of hundred of something for 50p each and sell them for £2. Now, I know this is piffle and chum change to you guys. To me 1) it would at least give me a bit of confidence that I can do something, and 2) if I made just £50 profit a week for a few weeks, I thankfully have family who If I went to them with a viable business idea, showed them that I had been making a successful profit (albeit a paltry one), it is very likely that they would help me out £500, £1,000 maybe even more depending on how viable my plan looked.

I have a website on account of having a mushroom growing where the web programming part of my brain is supposed to be, it is to put to frankly an enormous pile of pooh juice. I am probably going to start off with Ebay and Amazon and if I ever make enough money I will pay someone to help with a site (my current one is Mr Site).

So, that is my sordid little story so far. I am just asking the question I am sure you guys get asked 100 times a day, which is, where should I start? I really think the toothbrushes one might be OK just make £50. I see a normal Oral B in the shop now for £3. If I could sell mine for half after buying for 1/10th it would be a confidence boost.

What do you guys suggest. Where you ever at this stage once? I just want to do SOMETHING. I have a degree, I am no fool. But I have squandered many of the best years of my life and now I want to do something to make money that is legal, my own idea and that I can be proud to talk to my family about.

So any, literally any help, advice, tips would all be really welcome. As I have said. My aim for now is to just find my way thins new world. Build a bit of confidence and hopefully make at least £20 profit so I can at least say I have done it, and that gives me a target to aim for next time round.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this insufferably long post!

 

[TotallySport]

most businesses start from things people are involved with in there past, so based on you having first hand experience in crime that gives you an insight into some level of crime.

My thoughts would be to offer security advice, could start fairly inexpensively by printing up some fliers and posting them through doors, if you don't hear anything back do back door knocking asking people for feedback, on the flier, on the price, on the service, at leats you will know if there is a market and how to go after it.

You could also sell the leads to security instalation companies or ask for a commission of any sale, until if you wanted to you expanded into that sector as well.

Everyone starts at the beginning, and makes mistakes along the way. so good luck.

 

That isn't a bad idea. It was never my area of expertise. Ironically selling was! It is just good to have other people on here to learn from. I have asked my little question now though so I reckon until I have progressed a little further with regards to a business plan and stuff I won't have an awful lot to post so I will just be reading. I am sure I will find a few posts I can contribute too as well.

Thanks for your reply.

 

My family are poor but I am sure my grandad would help out.

If I get trolled tomorrow I am sure the moderators will deal with the trolls in a swift and professional manner. If not, then I will request a mod just delete my account now. I thought this seemed like a really sensible website, and from the posts I have seen thus far they don't appear to come from the kind of people who would troll and abuse someone for mistakes they made in their past. If that is this kind of site and it is allowed to be so then I will not bother logging in again.

Haha, yeah, I know. The locksmith thing would be impossible even if WANTED to do it. I was just being polite though. I have never been a burgler though. I sold drugs. That is it. No robbing old ladies and burgling houses.

 

[kalooki]

Hey Dave,

Ive been in ya position mate & unless ya start on ya own you ain't going to help and if you go for a job any decent one wants a criminal record check so pm me ya email and I'll try and help you out.

Tom

 

[herewegoagain.]

Hello David, Good on you for wanting to go out there and work for yourself - I think it is something that should be applauded !

Even without your background it is hard out there - but with determination.....

As mentioned earlier, a market stall would be a good start, - in the summer months how about selling 'consumables' on a car boot/Sunday market? eg toiletries...

A good one to try (on the run up to Chrsitmas) how about getting the family to help you make up 'gift baskets' with 'smellies' in - and do a couple of 'one off' market days?

hope it goes well, send me a message if I can help, regards Dave

 

[superdooper500]

An idea that just popped into my head, because nothing is guaranteed in life, why don't you mitigate your risk a little, perhaps dabble a bit on ebay etc with your toothbrush idea, but also while that takes time to pick up, and ebay does all the hard work selling during the day, why not use some more of your seed capital to set up a window cleaning route or similar, and then pack//post your ebay stuff in the downtime.

Best of luck, hope it works out well for you.

 

[businessfunding]

The problem with selling low value item in e-bay etc is the time an P& P costs become disproportionate

as has been suggested, physical present - car boot sales, markets etc might be better for you.

Alternatively how about something more service based - patio cleaning, gardening etc just to get you going.

what are your age and circumstances? there might be help out there for you.

 

[S-Marketing]

As kickstart says, very basic service based businesses are much more likely to make you money, and be easier to start on a budget.

 

[tony84]

Go to your local wholesalers and auctions.
Find things you can buy and flog cheap on your local markets/carboots.

I used to do the markets and loved them, you get to meet some good people, have a laugh work in the open. We used to sell higher priced items and less of them but with higher profit margin but there were people even on quiet days who would be churning out 50p/£1 items all day long.

I have no idea what their profit margins were but if they were 50% i can imagine they were walking away with maybe £50 profit a day. Busiest days tend to be weekends, or weekdays during school hols.

Im a big believer in getting on your feet. Go and walk round, look at what other people are selling products like yours at. Watch from a distance, see if theyre busy.
Then go to the wholesalers and auctions, can you get the items at a price where you can still earn a profit after paying £15 or so for your stall, petrol money and money for food.

I prefer proper markets over ebay anyday.

 

[Optimus Books]

Good luck to you.

It is hard to start with almost nothing. You have a good brain and the support of your family.

I started some 3 years ago with a box of my own books and began to sell books online. It can be self-financing and the margins can be good.

You have a degree, why not use your knowledge of a subject to find and resell books?

 

[trebor8]

What's your degree in? it maybe obvious to start up in the area you've educated yourself for?

 

[BusinessDeli]

I have little to offer in terms of additional advice but wanted to say best of luck. You've made a pretty big decision that wasn't easy and as said before, you should be applauded.

 

[Philip Hoyle]

Well done so far with your aims. I thought you may be inspired by the story of Duane Jackson, founder of Kashflow accounting software. Just shows that it is possible to turn your life around.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19400039

 

[TTed]

Hello Little Big Dave, thanks for replying on my thread

Ebay is very easy if you get the right product.. the hard work is finding the right product & has been mentioned the postage cost can make things disproportionate in price, if your interested in selling toothbrushes id echo the advice to get out on a sunday market, local market, town market.

If your into selling id say the thing to do is find the right item for the right market.... ie potatoes at the farmers markets isnt going to sell due to competition but they fly out of the sunday car boot in £2 sacks for example

 

[Blondieans]

Hey, I am new to this forum and unlike most people have very little knowledge. However I also want to wish you the best of luck.

 

[lawrence147]

Hi

I am new to the forum but, despite your past, you have achieved a degree and a will to better yourself. You're doing well already.

To get yourself off the ground, try asking your family what bric-a-brac stuff they can let you have and try selling that at the local markets/boot sales.

Then you can look at the other suggestions such as toothbrushes, cleaning products, etc.

On the other days, maybe you can look at knocking on a few doors for odd jobs to do, window cleaning, that sort of thing. Just don't take on jobs beyond your abilities - if you're not sure about a task, decline it as you don't need the aggravation.

Hope some of this helps.

Best of luck to you.

Lawrence

 

[Moneyman]

You could try my "get yourself started idea" Several people have tried it and it works.
get a load of cheap door viewers find a drill that is the right size and go leafletting doors that have no viewer. It is one of those simple 10 minute jobs that nobody ever gets round to but would hapily pay if someone turned up on the doorstep and did it while they watched. you need to be presentable and put out newspaper to catch the bits. i started in 1991 to raise funds for setting up a building firm and made a load of cash in the first month or two.

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Nobody is trolling you! I think we all wish you well.

I agree that a market stall is the way to go, perhaps working your way up from car boot. Research it very carefully before you start. If you find the right product and the right location, you will make money.

Another idea mentioned here is window cleaning. You can make decent money doing that and the start-up costs are low if you are doing it with a ladder and squeegee.

It might be an idea to do a bit of both, as you can't do the windows when the weather is very bad.