If i were looking for a business to start.

[turboguy]

I have seen a number of posts from people who want to start a business but don't have any idea what kind of business to do. It seems to me that the real key to success is to find a niche with demand, high profits and little competition and most of those are things people would never think of. The thing I do is an example of something few do. There are around 7 firms in the USA that do what I do for the main part of my business. Finding those things are the tough part.

Instead people open a coffee shop, a pizza joint or become web designers. I won't knock those fields, if someone has talent and gets established with a great product they can be good businesses.

If I wanted to start a business and didn't mind getting dirty I would get into the business of HydroJetting. I did say that the best businesses were things no one would think of and I will bet most people don't even know what hydro jetting is. Basically it is a premium way of unclogging drain lines and sewers. They use a very powerful high pressure washer coupled to a remote controlled hose that shoots one stream of water forward and several backwards and will break through clogged drains that a snake can't do.

We just had it done to our drains for the second time. There are only two people in our area that do it. One is backed up 3 weeks. The other charges $ 675.00. His cost is going to be about 20 bucks, mostly for gas driving to the job. It takes about 20 minutes. The guy who did ours said he did 65 jobs last week and 24 so far this week. Well for simple math lets say he did 50 jobs at $ 500.00 each, that is $ 25,000.00 and a cost of maybe $ 1,000. I don't think there are too many coffee shops, pizza places or web designers that generate that kind of profit. I know I don't make that.

I just thought I would post this as some kind of business someone could think about that isn't real common or real competitive. Maybe someday it will help someone.

[vangogh]

Thanks Ray. Interesting idea and you're right. I had no idea what HydroJetting is. This thread is the first time I ever heard of it. It's definitely not a business for me, but it sounds like it could be a good one for anyone interested.

In defense of the people who want to open a coffee shop or pizza joint or be a web designer, I think there are lots of reasons why people go into business and not every one is about the money. Naturally when I went into business for myself money was an important consideration, but it wasn't the first thing on my list of important considerations. I wanted to enjoy the work I did and I wanted more freedom over how I spent my day and week. I've often not done certain things even though I thought they would make me more money because I thought they would take away my enjoyment and freedom.

[SteveStrait]

Totally agree with your thoughts here Ray.
There are obscure jobs out there that are considered as "unsexy" in today's markets
but if you are willing to get your hands dirty a little, theres always money to be made.

Just because these jobs arent in the media (and doesnt gather page views),
doesnt mean it doesnt exist.

The hard part is identifying it and getting into the industry.

[Harold Mansfield]

I've always thought that just "looking for something to get into" is destined for failure. Especially for a first time entrepreneur. Common wisdom says to get into something that you know, or are completely dedicated to learning and investing in. A lot of people are timid. They want to see if dipping a toe in makes any money first. All of us who've been around, failed, and got back up know that never works. Learn all you can, keep learning, and give it 110%.

I would never get into something that i know absolutely nothing about. Cause when you know nothing about it, your assumptions that it's a good area to get into are completely wrong. You can't guesstimate on the outside looking in.

I've watched many, MANY people lose their shirts because they assumed hanging out at a bar is the same as running one. Their fantasies of how easy it is almost always includes made up numbers of profits, without considering any of the overhead and other expenses what so ever.

They do ghetto math sitting at the bar stool, "Say they average $5 a drink and they sell 1000 drinks a night (already way off), that's $35,000 a week. And what do you think they pay in rent? $5k a month? (again, guessing) that's $135k a month pure profit".

Or they do the great white hope math, "The food and beverage industry makes $50 Trillion a year. All we have to get is 0.5% of that we'll be filthy rich". (yeah, that's all)

I've listened to people like this who just make up mystery numbers and opened bars, restaurants and nightclubs and failed miserably. Same with websites. They just make up numbers with no understanding or plan of how to get them. As if they will just fall from the sky.

I spent 15+ years in the Hospitality industry in one form or another, so yes, as risky and expensive as it is I'd still do it. But I know how much work it is, how hard and expensive it is.
I've been a web designer/consultant for 8 years. Would I do it again? Not now that I know the pitfalls and issues and understand the changes in the industry. If I were starting now I'd come at it from a different angle.

[nealrm]

I'm going to agree with Harold on this. Your numbers are not realistic. $20 cost, that would only cover driving costs if the job was within 10 miles. It wouldn't even touch costs like equipment and insurance, let alone things like advertising and accounting.

As for the profit numbers, you stated $25,000 per week. That would put his income at over a million per year. If there was truly limited entry barriers, then that market would be flooded with new business within a month and most that started would retire after 2 or 3 years.

While hydro-jetting may be a good business to get into, getting into it using the numbers you provided would doom the venture to failure. If someone is interested, in this (and I think it is worth looking into), they should do a much better job of determining potential costs and profit. But that should be part of the business plan anyway.

[Freelancier]

I did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation and figured that the costs were closer to $100/time, considering amortizing the equipment, maintenance, advertising, etc.

But the big problem is that people call plumbers for that particular service. If you're not a plumber, odds are that you aren't getting the call to make $500. Almost all states require plumbers to be licensed. Which is more effort than just buying a piece of equipment.

[turboguy]

The one I used is tied into a franchise. If it needs to be hydro jetted they call him and if it just needs to be snaked their regular guys handle it for a fraction of the cost. The franchise he is tied into advertises like crazy. I am sure a big portion of what he charges goes to the franchise. The only other one who does it, as I mentioned is backed up 3 weeks on their service. They are not tied into a franchise but do advertise a lot, mostly yellow pages and online.

The equipment involved is a fairly powerful high pressure washer, the hydrojet which is bascially just a hose on a reel with the hydro jet heads. I would guess the equipment cost at about 10 grand or less plus they have a van to haul it which someone could buy used for another 10 grand so it is a business that someone could get into for less than 20 grand. If they could not keep busy with the hydro jet they could also over mobile high pressure washing since the have the pressure washer as part of the hydrojet.

[Freelancier]

They run about $2500-$5000. I looked it up :)

But I still would think they would need to be licensed in most states to do a plumbing operation like that. And if they're not, the state may decide they should.

[Harold Mansfield]

They run about $2500-$5000. I looked it up :)

But I still would think they would need to be licensed in most states to do a plumbing operation like that. And if they're not, the state may decide they should.
Licensed and bonded.

Sounds like a good equipment investment if you're already a plumber or similar business. But I'm always leery of jumping on the "hot new thing" with no experience in the business at all.
As you mentioned, thousands of people do that whenever something gets a buzz. Web Design, Social Media Marketer, Day Trading, Amway, No Money Down Real Estate ( scam), Forex..I could go on.

[nealrm]

Licensed and bonded.
and Insured

But with some research to expose any downside, It looks like you can be up and running for $10,000 to $15,000. Not too bad.

[SumpinSpecial]

I have an idea that I did not do because it's startup-capital intensive. But there's a need for it and existing ones are few and far between: a resort-style dog boarding facility. Affluent people do not like boarding their pups in the old-style cement-and-chainlink dog jails. Those are traumatizing and horrible. Better ones are like Olde Town Pet Resort (I won't post the link because I'm not intending to endorse them, but you can google them). Ideal ones are like Table Rock Dog Resort (new and still being built but she totally stole my concept!).

[Bobjob]

I agree turbo. I got to looking into thermal detectors like from FLIR (I just want one, they're cool). I thought a simple business would be assessing people's houses for bad spots where more insulation should be added.

[Harold Mansfield]

It seems like nobody focuses on their passions any longer...isn't that the best way to start a business?

If you can do that and make a living, go for it. Personally I don't need to be "passionate" about something to like it enough to make money at it. I'm "passionate" about being good at things that make me money.

[ChadR]

The most important criteria for any successful business is offering customers real value with your product or service. Start by doing solid market research. What are people really willing to pay for your service? Go door-to-door if needed asking if they'd be interested. That will give you a much more realistic sense if people also view this service as valuable, they're willing to pay for it and how much.

One of the most common mistakes people make in businesses is trying to dictate what customers want and how much they're going to buy it for, without really knowing their customers. Before you invest anything into equipment, company, infrastructure or ads...be sure you're 100% confident people need it.

Here's a good visual to decide if a new business idea is worth pursuing. It measures what you're good at, what you love doing, what the market needs, and what they're willing to pay for it. Where these 4 areas meet, is where any new business idea should be. If this idea of yours hits the mark, and the market research supports what you think, then you can feel more confident going after it.

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[Fulcrum]

I'm going to add a fifth requirement to your diagram ChadR, and that's a large enough potential customer base to make it worthwhile.