What New Business With Up To €10k

2qk4u

With the recession in full swing im struggling to make ends meet. I can raise about €10k in a couple of months and would like to start a new business.
Iv been mainly doing driving related jobs for the last ten years but have also inported cars from the UK and Japan and have sold cars on an off over the last 15 years. There is no money in anything that ive done allready so need something new. My main interest is cars.
Im thinking along the lines of - car wash / valeting, possibly a garage for service and repairs.
Im open to something completly new, Im allready self employed, have an accountant and not afraid to try something new.
I know its not a great time to start up but if I dont have a go the local social welfare office might be my next stop...
Any ideas welcome.

Zascar

www.ecocarwash.ie is doing very well I know someone involved in it

2qk4u

Zascar wrote: »

www.ecocarwash.ie is doing very well I know someone involved in it

Thanks, I was looking at that earlier. Might have a chat with them..

enviro

I started a business just before christmas for only 100 euro. Actually its only 75 euro now. Its very similar to a franchise without the start up costs and that suited me perfectly. Its in the organic and enviromental product field. If you want pm me for details. Im not going to give any more details in this post incase its seen as advertising and i get told off by the powers that be.

Lplated

2qk4u wrote: »

Iv been mainly doing driving related jobs for the last ten years but have also inported cars from the UK and Japan and have sold cars on an off over the last 15 years. There is no money in anything that ive done allready so need something new.

I'm surprised you think there isn't money to be made in importing cars, considering domestic sales dropped by 66% in January but sales of imported cars rose considerably.

People going to north or uk to buy cars will not all be mechanics, many will be nervous about the quality of the car they are buying - there may be a market in sourcing and testing cars abroad as well as assisting in bringing them home for someone with experience in that field (ie with mechanical skills).

Lplated

2qk4u wrote: »

Im allready self employed, have an accountant and not afraid to try something new.

I know its not a great time to start up but if I dont have a go the local social welfare office might be my next stop...
Any ideas welcome.

Not sure what you're self employed as? There maybe ways of growing your current business rather than starting a new one from stratch?

I think its a great time to start up, once you can compete on price, or offer people something that would appeal in recessionary times, i think its excellent. If you can succeed in business in a recession you'll have no problem when things get good again.

2qk4u

Lplated wrote: »

I'm surprised you think there isn't money to be made in importing cars, considering domestic sales dropped by 66% in January but sales of imported cars rose considerably.

People going to north or uk to buy cars will not all be mechanics, many will be nervous about the quality of the car they are buying - there may be a market in sourcing and testing cars abroad as well as assisting in bringing them home for someone with experience in that field (ie with mechanical skills).

I know there is money in imports, I just dont have any money to buy them with... I need something that pays a weekly income unlike cars which take time to sell..

2qk4u

Lplated wrote: »

Not sure what you're self employed as? There maybe ways of growing your current business rather than starting a new one from stratch?

I think its a great time to start up, once you can compete on price, or offer people something that would appeal in recessionary times, i think its excellent. If you can succeed in business in a recession you'll have no problem when things get good again.

I understand what you are saying but its time to change, I dont want to say here what im involved in at the moment but im not making ends meet.Everyone in the same business is the same as me so I recon theres not much that can be done..

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I didn't read all the posts, but valeting in a carpark? What about portable valeting? You call out to people, or to a specific area and do what you have to do? Just two off the top of my head. I don't think you would need a lot of equipment for this. A good hoover, some polish/upholstery cleaner, some cleaning stuff for seat covers, glass cleaner, an air freshner of their choice with your company name and logo on it? What else... tyre cleaner, that back to black stuff. You might need a hose and something to keep water in like this maybe? You would then need a self pumping power washer too.

Hope this helps. Do shop around and get the best prices, haggle and try buy in bulk. Don't go to the likes of woodies for these materials, they are over priced and not great for industrial tasks. Give me a little idea and I will try expand on it. Some things might be a bit over the top, but you can decide that

shoutman

I'm not sure how good car washing would be at this time, there seems to be so many new car valet places opening up, every car park in town, many tesco car parks and every petrol station offers some form of car washing/valeting and with people tightening the purse strings you can bet they will decide to drive a dirty car rather then spend the few euro.

2qk4u

Im not sure about the whole valeting thing at the moment.... Anyone got any other ideas ?

Merrion

Any other things like - Do you have a PSV license, or can you work a torque wrench?

One thing that might work is an AA like service for cyclists - a smallish toolkit a moped and a mobile phone should all easily fit in your budget.

lanod2407

I'd be careful about the car importing business - my take is that many of the garages who are struggling right now may focus on that market in the near future. And it's likely that people will hang on to their cars longer rather than changing them - indicating that the overall car sales market will contract, new and used.

Given this, there is a strong prediction that the maintenance market for second-hand cars will see an increase in activity - i.e. servicing, parts, etc. This may be an opportunity --- but again the larger operators may seek to expand their operations in this area to make up for drops in sales of cars. If you were to get into this market, make sure you provide a really great service for a realistic price - people will come back for the service and will pay a good rate for it. You need to charge a reasonable rate to make a living.

Car-valeting - to be honest the first things I drop when money-problems arise are: newspapers and magazines, take-aways, coffee and sandwiches, getting your car washed at a garage or valet. And I'd guess that I'm not alone - they are the easy areas to cut - wash your own car, make coffee at work, make your own lunch/sandwiches, make do with a weekend newspaper and read the BBC/RTE news pages during the week ......

..... you need to think outside the box - look at the items that are being cut and products / services that people are not buying or are cutting back. Then look to see if those cut-backs are creating another need. As I said above, dropping car sales are resulting in an older car population - and these will need more maintenance - its just an example.

Best of luck - be slow to part with your 10k - and make sure you have a really good business plan that you can stand over - otherwise you may end up taking a flyer on something without thinking it through properly.

eeloe

I'v recently started a job managing a valeting centre, and i have to say, the place is booming!

if your willing to do most of the work yourself...you can make a packet out of it. But you have to remember people are very fussy, and want their car's 100%, have you done any valeting before?

businesses

Hello!

First and foremost I would look at recession proof businesses that does not depend on discretionary income. Alternatively, look for businesses where it may be beneficial to work from home (even delivering can be done using home as main base) - keeping initial start up costs low.

There are both Irish websites and brokers that could provide you with lists of these current opportunities.

If interested PM me and I will forward you a list.

2qk4u

lanod2407 wrote: »

I'd be careful about the car importing business - my take is that many of the garages who are struggling right now may focus on that market in the near future. And it's likely that people will hang on to their cars longer rather than changing them - indicating that the overall car sales market will contract, new and used.

Given this, there is a strong prediction that the maintenance market for second-hand cars will see an increase in activity - i.e. servicing, parts, etc. This may be an opportunity --- but again the larger operators may seek to expand their operations in this area to make up for drops in sales of cars. If you were to get into this market, make sure you provide a really great service for a realistic price - people will come back for the service and will pay a good rate for it. You need to charge a reasonable rate to make a living.

Car-valeting - to be honest the first things I drop when money-problems arise are: newspapers and magazines, take-aways, coffee and sandwiches, getting your car washed at a garage or valet. And I'd guess that I'm not alone - they are the easy areas to cut - wash your own car, make coffee at work, make your own lunch/sandwiches, make do with a weekend newspaper and read the BBC/RTE news pages during the week ......

..... you need to think outside the box - look at the items that are being cut and products / services that people are not buying or are cutting back. Then look to see if those cut-backs are creating another need. As I said above, dropping car sales are resulting in an older car population - and these will need more maintenance - its just an example.

Best of luck - be slow to part with your 10k - and make sure you have a really good business plan that you can stand over - otherwise you may end up taking a flyer on something without thinking it through properly.

A freind own a garage and car sales more or less stopped, he hired a mechanic got new signs and new equipment and he is flat out now.He said that its because so many people have giving up on new cars abd went back to cheaper one needing servicing and repaire more often...

2qk4u

eeloe wrote: »

I'v recently started a job managing a valeting centre, and i have to say, the place is booming!

if your willing to do most of the work yourself...you can make a packet out of it. But you have to remember people are very fussy, and want their car's 100%, have you done any valeting before?

Was it an established centre ? I have only valet my own cars and friends and family cars.

PmcG01

I would have thought discretionary spending like valeting would be one of the first things to go in a recession?