Business Ideas....

Pivoting is the in thing when starting a new business. It means you start a project, find it doesn't work so start another one. And on and on.

I heard it on the World Service last night.

pivoting or, suck it and see

Oh do be careful cheelu business is tougher than ever in this current climate. My husband and I have been in business for some 20 years and can honestly say these last 2 years have been the worst ever.

And you could get an "Angel Investor" like this

cheelu I agree with gillybob its not as good as it looks, make sure you have thought everything through before you both give up paid jobs

Do you bake? Tea shops with good homemade cake are popular.

jingle food is good as you get paid when you supply no credit.

You can never have enough teashops in this world.

Oh my word j07 that Angel Investor thing is amazing!! Thank you

Hi gillybob and glassortwo, yes true we do need to be careful--we have been in business before, we used to sell childrens clothes and we have had a Florist too, My husband has an Antique/bric a Brac shop and it is not doing well at all and has not even paid for itself in the last couple of months so looking to turn the shop into a different use....

Its been brilliant reading your ideas and suggestions really brilliant thank you.

Cheelu, you need to do some market research. Visit some local towns (other than yours) see which businesses look the busiest. Walk round your town, are all those types of businesses in your town. If not can you fill the gap?

Take into consideration where your shop is sited;town centre, secondary street, side street. Do some market research; ask people what businesses are missing from the town, what services they would like to see.

What type of antiques/bric-a-brac are you into? There is a growing interest in 'vintiqeing' as it is called, but it is centered on 20th century objects and includes textiles and new handmade products made from vintage materials.

A vintage shop has opened in one of my local towns and seems to be doing very well. Perhaps you could improve your business by refocussing, it is a business you already know. Look in home/lifestyle magazines (Real Homes at one end of the market to Homes & Antiques to Country Living at the other to get the feel for it).

DD has been running a small needlework/vintage business successfully online for over 5 years and because of the growing interest in 1920s - 1980s homeware she has decided to expand into antique fairs and plans to take a stall at several this summer.

A combination of Flickety's and j07's ideas might work well cheelu. I know of a vintage shop that also has a corner functioning as a tea shop selling home made cakes all served on mismatched vintage china. It's almost impossible to go in there without having a browse as well.

I would love to combine DH with tea shop but not the right kind of area, it is quite urban..

Did you know Prince Charles has set up a scheme for the over 50s showing them how to run a business? I know you are aready running one but it might give you some new ideas.

Isn't knitting coming back into fashion?

How about doing folks` ironing?

Yes, mine please!

mmm numberplease good thinking, I do like ironing.. I could put adverts everywere, I will have to find out what people charge--

OK jeni you can have yours done for free x x

But yeah numberplease, I will think about that one--just dont want to work for anyone, want to work for myself, hate being a 9-5 slave, I have always tried to avoid that at all costs...I am a 9-5 person at present and really hate it..

Do you live near me?

Are you at work now?
Most people that start new businesses invest their own savings.
If you want someone to lend you money you have to have a really good, professional, business plan that works out all the finances for the first year or two.
I have found that the downside of running your own business (or being self employed) is that you have to do everything:
Sales
Marketing
Book keeping
Filing
Getting the computer to work
Buying stock
Cleaning the office
Making sure you are staying legal
etc
and if you employ anyone : HR and staff management.

As well as actually doing the work itself!

Jeni I'd do your ironing if you lived by me. It is so easy when listening to something good on the radio.

I used to run my own photography business, but soon found that it was more lucrative and more secure to seek short-term contracts from companies rather than individual consignments. It was more secure and less hassle.

All the tax, marketing etc nearly drove me nuts!

This is a dodgy time to be going into business - hang on to the day job till you see how it goes.

cheelu are you near a big hospital?My DD is always telling me to put an ad in a nurses/ doctors residence as they are always tired or on nights and need washing/ ironing doing...especially the men!

Oh thanks Grannylin thats a good idea..I do have 2 hospitals near me..