What to do?

[domainguy]

Hi All,
My wife is currently a housewife and not able to work due to school commitments, i.e. can't find a job with suitable hours. So she has time on her hands, we have plenty of funds available to use, we have my skills to create a website and promote etc...She is very good at administration having been a office manager in charge of logistics among other things, good at excel, word, good on the phone, very well organised and efficient. BUT we have no idea what to do. She has no interests/hobbies apart from clothes and shopping.
I work in IT but quite creative and can turn my hand to most things. I can create a website, good at graphics, photoshop etc... savvy with marketing, pr....I work full time but can work on business after work and weekends.
Money is no issue but even so we don't know what to start.
Selling something? How do we find products to sell and source them cheap enough to make money?
Even if we find a niche market, previous attempts at sourcing haven't led to anything.

Have thought about purchasing equipment to produce items but again what?

Providing a service - what?

You would think with skills and money it shouldn't be a problem but believe me it is. You would also think there are others out there with ideas but no money or website or business skills but how do you team up?I'm not expecting miracles but if anyone has any good suggestions please do tell or pm.

Thanks in advance.

 

[japancool]

Outsourced PA working from home?

 

[NickGrogan]

"She has no interests/hobbies apart from clothes and shopping."

So there is your sector, countless opportunities for example as a sales agent. Happy to share links or PM

 

[domainguy]

Thanks Japan but I don't think that would work as there will be some commitment to specific hours.
She needs flexi.

Not sure what you mean Nick? is that Telephone sales or Avon type thing?

Ideally we would like to start a business that we own and could grow with a view to me eventually jumping ship and doing it full time. Would rather investigate that rather than her working for someone or being on commission. I don't think we'd have the enthusiasm if it isn't our business.

Am happy to gamble a few quid trying products etc.

 

[NickGrogan]

Neither, I mean acting as agents for fashion brands looking to enter the UK market, something like this.

www.mad-fashion.com

or this

http://www.barberinifashion.co.uk/

Discover the next Replay Jeans and bring them to the UK. Your own business, representing and promoting brands.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Domainguy

I have just the job for you and your wife to start a business together in - and enjoy a somewhat better lifestyle (especially where food is concerned!)...

You can create the eye catching website - she can provide the invoicing excel spreadsheets for the job in mind...

Start a mystery shopper company.

I've actually got some details I could email over to you - a friend of mine was looking to starting up doing it, just never got around to it - bought the details from a franchise company just never started it up.

She gets to do what she likes - and makes money from it.

Hey!! You could call the Company ... Mister E services!

If you want the details - just send me your email via PM

Expect an email via a haunted worlds email address.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Is she is into fashion/shopping how about starting a blog and becoming a personal shopper ? It seems to be a growing industry with more and more people with less time on their hands needing advice and assistance on purchases.

 

[ethical PR]

Nowadays with pre and after school and holiday clubs, it's much easier for parents with main care responsibilities to work outside of the home, so it could be worth her investigating options. And companies like Marks and Spencer offer flex-working to fit around school hours and holidays.

With home-working there is flexibility around hours for example working with local authorities providing customer services.

She could also look at setting up as a childminder or working for school care clubs where your children could also receive care.

If you want to sell online, it will be a matter of doing some market research to understand which products you can develop a niche in and how you can source them at a price that enables you to be competitive.

As others of mentioned being an outsourced PA is an option she can look at.

I'm sure your wife has more interests than shopping and clothes

 

[domainguy]

She actually singed up to a mystery shopper site and did 1 job but it was a joke. She earned about £10 to goto a shop about 6 miles away and then had to fill out a load of pages when she got home. Total waste of time.

Have thought about a blog but it takes a long long time to establish and difficult to monetise without traffic. I've previously created websites then added adsense/affiliate but very hard to rank to get traffic.

Re school friendly hours jobs these are rare as hens teeth. We know people who work at M&S, Tesco etc and everyone wants those shifts and most of the time it's the older staff who have the 40yr old kids that are doing them as they have been there years and unwilling to give them up to those who need them.
Added to that it's not straightforward as my child has ADHD and Autism so comes home for lunch some days and we often have to pick up early or at short notice due to lack of 1 to1 support.hence why WFH and flexi is required.

She genuinely has no interests beyond shopping and she'll admit it. But this is mainly due to years of lack of sleep. I do hate it when peoples response to these type posts (i know they are vague) is do something you enjoy. Please tell me what will pay 6 figures for me to sit on a sofa watching telly eating.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Please tell me what will pay 6 figures for me to sit on a sofa watching telly eating.

Ha!

 

[boring-friday]

Can she write well? Content writing on freelancer sites for someone from the UK anywhere from £1/100 words+ depending on how good she is.

Start a blog and learn seo

Start blog and learn social media, instagram on bots with followerliker (fashion niche is popular)

Find product to sell on ebay

Dropship amazon-ebay

Be a cam girl

 

[domainguy]

What do you blog about? the same stuff already out there?
Find products to sell on ebay? What? that's what my post says. Lots of people say to do that but not what to sell or list places where you can buy products at a cheap enough price for a decent mark up.
Dropship - Same as above what? where do I find products?
Be a cam girl. - We'd starve

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

What do you blog about?

How about 'ethical' fashion? With all the bad press for major stores using 'sweat shops' for manufacturing their items she could research ethical fashion houses and blog about what they are doing in order to give consumers peace of mind when purchasing. As said, she could develop this on to offering services off the back of it if it takes off.

 

[japancool]

What do you blog about? the same stuff already out there?
Find products to sell on ebay? What? that's what my post says. Lots of people say to do that but not what to sell or list places where you can buy products at a cheap enough price for a decent mark up.
Dropship - Same as above what? where do I find products?
Be a cam girl. - We'd starve

Have you tried:
https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=where to find products to dropship

 

[domainguy]

IS ethical fashion that big? I would think most shoppers are more concerned with how it looks and how much it costs?

I've googled dropshipping but there's lots of rubbish out there. Sites saying find a product that sells really well. Again stating obvious but what products and where?

TBH would prefer stocking a product than dropshipping.

 

[boring-friday]

What do you blog about? the same stuff already out there?
Find products to sell on ebay? What? that's what my post says. Lots of people say to do that but not what to sell or list places where you can buy products at a cheap enough price for a decent mark up.
Dropship - Same as above what? where do I find products?
Be a cam girl. - We'd starve

Whatever, you need to learn SEO if you want to do that partciluarly keyword research so you can estimate how hard keywords will be to rank and how much they'll be worth, on site seo theres a million articles on and particularly link building because no website wants to link to affiliate sites.
I personally normally buy keywords from this guy for amazon:
http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...nsense-keywords-service-5-elite-keywords.html

I buy a few sets of 3-4 keywords with long tail variations, have a virtual assistant throw up a website with crap content, build a few simple links and wait and see where it comes up, if its not in the top 300 then I don't bother with it, depending on where it is I decide if its worthwhile ranking or not. If it is I get some good content and start building links.
If you want to learn affiliate marketing you'll find its hard to make the first 1-200£ a month but once you do it gets easy because you can outsource/teach everything to virtual assistants in 3rd world countries very cheaply and scale it all up. Similar to how people say 'the first million is the hardest'.

Dropshipping I wrote a thread on:
http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/amazon-ebay-dropshipping-guide.353217/

Really doesn't get much easier, heres a guy dropshipping that took me 30 seconds to find:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/englishrose_20?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Not checked what his profit margin is but I personally find 20-30 dropshippers and only take their best selling items, rewrite the titles much better and set a much higher profit margin than most would use as they all (nearly all) dodge vat so are happy to sell at 5% net

 

[ethical PR]

No-one is going to be able to tell you which products to sell online or where best to source them.There are hundreds of thousands out there and lots of variables that will affect how successful you might be at developing an online business.

You need to do your own research.

Perhaps she could look at products connected to the learning disability market for children where she will have some knowledge and access to parents who could help with market research.

People suggest doing something you have an interest in, because you are more likely to know about your potential marketplace, or have skills you can use to develop your business. For example if your wife can make cakes, she could look at starting a business selling cakes through market stalls and niche shops, when you are available to look after the children.

 

[ethical PR]

IS ethical fashion that big? I would think most shoppers are more concerned with how it looks and how much it costs?

I've googled dropshipping but there's lots of rubbish out there. Sites saying find a product that sells really well. Again stating obvious but what products and where?

TBH would prefer stocking a product than dropshipping.

It's not 'big' as in mainstream but there is definitely a market and people are happy to pay a premium. Have a look at the online retailers already operating in this market place.

 

[BigTree]

I know a couple of mums in my daughters school who do blogging and although they don't get a full wage from it they are building it into quite profitable business due to product reviews and the like.

I'd suggest blogging and vlogging specifically in bring up a child with ADHD and Autism. While progressing the blog and writing articles on this subject you'll inevitably find an opportunity for a niche product, whether it be a physical item, service or possible ebook. It'll eventually expand into a business.

My wife started a blog, and then forum to do with her 'interest' and now we manufacturer our product (after discovering a need), sell online, have paid subscriptions on the forum, advertising and sponsored reviews, ebooks and physical books. Altogether it's turned into a very good business and we would never have created it from day one. The ideas just grow from one another.

 

[japancool]

TBH would prefer stocking a product than dropshipping.

Perhaps again, stating the bleeding obvious, but if I knew a product that would guarantee to sell well, as well as where I could get it from at a price that's going to make me a good profit margin, why would I tell you rather than do it myself?

As ethicalPR said, no one is going to tell you this. Finding the right product is a major part of the challenge.

 

[domainguy]

Yes agree but I've tried and nothing jumps out at us.

 

[domainguy]

Thanks all, you have given me the inspiration I need and I have an idea for a blog/site. Just need to work on how to monetise it,

 

[BustersDogs]

I feel your pain, as I couldn't work for two years due to my son being autistic. We eventually found a school that was able to cope without having to make a big drama out of things. That's when I started up pet sitting, so I was able to work around him. He was older by then though, 14, (and high functioning) so as I got busier he was able to manage without me until I got home, or when I had to go out early/late to feed cats. Not suggesting your wife does pet sitting as you have to really love pets to do it. But just saying it can be done, and 7 years later he's working for me.

 

[domainguy]

our school has 1 to 1 for 20 hours pw but still not enough. We worry everyday expecting a call so she cant commit to a job. Our child is high functioning but has adhd too.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Buy secondhand clothing from charity shops and resell at a profit on the web either your own site or eBay, you can expand to handbags glitz etc and see what makes the most profit area to be in

Just buy quality items clean and sell in a professional way with good packaging etc

 

[BustersDogs]

My son lived with an ADHD diagnoses until he was nearly 13 and finally got the HFA. I chose to take him out of mainstream school as he didn't need 121 he needed teachers who were trained in teaching autistic children.

 

[Charlibombarli]

My 2 year old also has autism so I feel the need to be at home with him also. I'm creating a children's clothing brand but it is very slow due to scrimping and saving the funds together.

How about developing a blog/network/forum for parents working from outside or inside the home with SEN children? A place for people to make contacts, support each other, etc.

 

[Ra5ax]

were looking for someone exacltly as you describe your wife, Were looking for general Admin inputting of invoices onto the accounting system and in a few months taking a few customer calls etc from home ,Im pretty sure there are a lot of small businesses that require help in this way but cant or dont need a part time or full time employee. Might be an idea i know it is something that would help us.

 

[Pish_Pash]

I'm was in a similar situation to you...I'm quite savvy/technical, my wife - whilst intelligent - has no marketable skills that can bring dosh into the household (if I had my time again, I'd make a mental note "Hmm, best to fall in love/lust with someone skilled in something"). We had a lot of money sitting in the bank.....earning bo-diddly squat.

I had my hand forced (redundancy from a nice paying job in IT)...it took me 2 years to build an online business to the point where I could bring my wife on board....so in essence, it took me losing my job for my wife to become productive! (& even now, she doesn't add that much value - I think she's been out of the workplace too long & isn't disciplined to have a 'good attitude' towards grafting). I've a theory...if your other half is the type with no zing to sort her own career out on her own, she's probably not the type that's going to add a lot of value to whatever you create for her! Expect a lot of 'robust' discussions & frankly some strain on your relationship if this is the case.

Truth be told it's not that hard to get a decent income from the internet (especially if you're tech savvy)......what is hard is doing something (or selling something) that nobody else is!

 

[Mr A P Davies]

Something that someone told me they used to do, was buying furniture cheap at auction, painting it up, and flogging it on Ebay.
What they would do is look through the latest home and interior design magazines and websites, and then buy pieces that could be made to look similar to the latest trends. Just small bits like bedside tables.
Having said that, the were the type who could make money just by staring into space, and didn't need to make any, anyway.

Look at the most popular searches in your area on Gumtree. At least for me, bits of furniture is always up there.

 

[domainguy]

Rasax Where I live there are an abundance of mums in similar situation. Not with autistic children but wanting work that fits around school runs. It's not just the hours but it needs to take account of the school holidays too which means flexi hours at the least. School jobs are the most popular for these reasons but you can imagine the amount of competition. That's why being your own boss is preferable to working from home for someone else.

Pish, I'm in a similar situation where in reality I only have a couple of years left in my job as it's destined for offshoring. That's why i'm racking my brains now more than ever to start something up. I am well paid and not likely to find an equivalent paying job when this one comes to an end.

Selling on ebay a lot of the suggestions don't seem scalable to me or offering the potential of matching my salary. They all seen like pocket money projects like etsy.

It's frustrating having my skillset and money and being extremely driven to succeed yet falling at the first! once I have the idea I can get my teeth stuck in and I'm quite motivated by money Would be nice to do something I enjoy to make money but I haven't so far so can live with anything.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Something that someone told me they used to do, was buying furniture cheap at auction, painting it up, and flogging it on Ebay.
What they would do is look through the latest home and interior design magazines and websites, and then buy pieces that could be made to look similar to the latest trends. Just small bits like bedside tables..

I'm sure that's a valid business model....but it's surely high maintenance (i.e. all that work finding the 'right piece' then altering it blah blah).

If you are selling online, ideally you want something that is repeatable (you don't want to be having to create 'one off' adverts for everything you sell). A case of "rinse, repeat"

Selling on ebay a lot of the suggestions don't seem scalable to me or offering the potential of matching my salary. They all seen like pocket money projects like etsy.

I can understand why you might think that....but you can earn reasonable money on ebay ....that said, it's Amazon where the real money is at.

I've certainly passed what I was earning in my previous (well paying) IT job (with sky high potential ahead) .....the cool thing is that now I'm on top of it (It has taken me a while to automate wherever possible - I don't mean machines, but eliminating 'repetitive time consuming' activities via software), I could likely just spend 90 minutes per day on everything.I call that a good outcome, i.e.....

old job = 10hrs per day including commute, six days a week.

new online job = 90 minutes (optional), no commute (it's sleeting outside as I type!!), 5 days a week .....oh yeah - and more income!

The secret is not to do what everyone else is doing & go niche. I'm happy with my lot at the moment but if I was wanting to grow even more, I'd be hopping on a plane to a trade fair in some remote & distant land & trying to sniff out any suppliers that aren't well represented on Ebay/Amazon here in the UK. The problem with deciding 'which way to go' is everyone thinks they can 'find' an opportunity by just googling....nope, unlikely ....cos everyone else is googling for opportunities too!

 

[domainguy]

How did you find your area of business? do you sell a product and is it something you produce or resell?

 

[NickGrogan]

@domainguy There are plenty of opportunities in many arenas. Rather that just asking for random ideas, surely it would be better to narrow it down first. What skills do you have? What are you interested in? B2B or B2C, online or offline, etc.

Otherwise, you're just going to get random ideas.

 

[Pish_Pash]

How did you find your area of business? do you sell a product and is it something you produce or resell?

As is often the case, a degree of luck/fortune played its part....I fell into what I'm doing now (I can't reveal too much as I'm very keen to protect my identity & also what I do!)... but I sell stuff.

I was restless in my IT job of 18yrs ...& was looking for an 'avenue' to be able to get out of what felt like a prison sentence. Every night, rather than watch reality TV & soaps (like the rest of the land appeared to be doing!), I came home from the day job, had my dinner & then started beavering away on Plan A to the early hours .....as is often the case when you set out on a journey, it's the little detours that are the most rewarding. And so it came to pass....Plan A got binned in favour of one of the detours!

 

[domainguy]

I mentioned what skill I have and my wifes. I'm in a job I don't enjoy and my wife isn't working so I'm not too geverned about what I do. Making money is the key. Yes ideally I don't want to be doing 20hr days and affecting ym homelife but I am willing to put those shifts in if I see potential.

My enjoyments are in Art and design. I do like photoshop, designing, screenprinting, buying selling art etc... but I don't see the money doing photoshop. It can takes hours/days to design something but you won't earn a lot for it.
Have thought about screenprinting art but doubt I could produce that many suitable prints each year to match my salary, and my wife couldn't have a massive amount of involvement. Printing something other than art or tshirts, but what? Have thought about setting up a screenprinting area but the cost of a premises is a lot especially when I will only get to use it at evenings and weekends. Not enough room at home to do it. Ideally need to find a artist or 2 to share property costs with. I have money for second hand equipment and could fit out my self but the monthly property fee is too much. I would need to find local people to share with too.

Wife is very organised and good at dealing with people and logistics/office. We also have an autistic child but that area does seem well covered by charities etc. There are some related products but having looked at these it seems it;'s well covered already and I don't see what we can add or improve on.
Selling something does seem best suited as I can setup, wife can run during day and pack/post and it has scalability but that's where I am stuck.

I do agree though i'm expecting it to fall in my lap and have someone hand it on a plate what we should do :-(

 

[Charlibombarli]

Go to a few trade shows, get involved and make contacts. You can't just build a business having spare money and spare time. You need the acumen to get yourself out there, research, predict what upcoming trends are etc.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

She actually singed up to a mystery shopper site and did 1 job but it was a joke. She earned about £10 to goto a shop about 6 miles away and then had to fill out a load of pages when she got home. Total waste of time.

Sorry, I didn't say join a mystery shopper site - I said start up your own company, the company makes a packet while those that you hire (the mystery shopper) get's the peanuts...

Put it this way - I've read the documentation and it's dated 2006 back then the normal fees were set at (for this particular franchised company) £175 per visit... plus the cost of the materials purchased were always invoiced back unless kept by the mystery shopper... so yes the shopper receives £10 - £30 pending on their report (which is a questionaire pre-supplied) but you get at least £145 and you've done nowt... unless of course your wife completes the shopping task.

One of the larger companies that I've seen out there doing the same as above charges stupid amounts of money for basically the same thing - so there's definitely something there surely?

In fact, you know what... I think I'm going to get my missus to start one up... hmm watch this space!

Please tell me what will pay 6 figures for me to sit on a sofa watching telly eating.

Get on to gogglebox.

 

[J Arnold]

Sorry, I didn't say join a mystery shopper site - I said start up your own company, the company makes a packet while those that you hire (the mystery shopper) get's the peanuts...

Put it this way - I've read the documentation and it's dated 2006 back then the normal fees were set at (for this particular franchised company) £175 per visit... plus the cost of the materials purchased were always invoiced back unless kept by the mystery shopper... so yes the shopper receives £10 - £30 pending on their report (which is a questionaire pre-supplied) but you get at least £145 and you've done nowt... unless of course your wife completes the shopping task.

One of the larger companies that I've seen out there doing the same as above charges stupid amounts of money for basically the same thing - so there's definitely something there surely?

In fact, you know what... I think I'm going to get my missus to start one up... hmm watch this space!



Get on to gogglebox.

I'm intrigued to how this works now?!

 

[ethical PR]

Haunted

I don't think it's quite fair to say The Mystery Shopper companies do nothing. They handle the recruitment, do the analysis of the reports and set up the mystery shopping activities.

If it was as easy as you making out - lots of people would be trying to do it.