19) Business Search
Jonny and I started to look for a business that we could start with very little money, which we were capable of running ourselves and that would give us a reasonable income. We scoured the newspapers, talked to estate agents and racked our brains. We investigated many ideas but most of them proved to be impracticable, unaffordable or just plain impossible.
One thing Jonny joined up for was an agency that promised to find work for workers who were not so young any more, to do odd jobs for clients who were also passed the first flush of youth. The idea was good, elderly people often find it hard to get someone to come and do small repair jobs for them and they are rather reluctant to let people that they don’t know into their homes. There were many men who had been carpenters, electricians and plumber who were looking for casual work. Jonny registered saying he would do any welding repairs but there was so little demand for his skill he had to keep on looking.
We would study the local paper for “Business Opportunities” and would find all sorts of things listed, from adverts that offered to make us millionaires within a month or two, with no effort and not having to leave the comfort of our home, to genuine well run companies that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The trouble with the latter was that the sellers wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars for them. Vending machines were often advertised but we were warned that the affordable ones were small machines in rough parts of town and they were very often stolen or vandalised by the local thugs. We could have easily got into selling health products but as both of us have always been rather negative about that sort of thing we did not think we would be able to sell them. We felt that for that kind of product one has to have a wide circle of friends, which we did not. We investigated a Laundromat but the problem with that was that the owner needed the service of a full time ironer to make the business pay and as I was not really a very skilled ironer, we thought we had better give that one a miss. I would have been a nervous wreck worrying about burning some customer’s favourite blouse.
We spoke to a man who wanted to sell his delivery run. He was selling bottled cool drinks from his van into the surrounding suburbs. There was another business selling cakes, the owner would leave the Central Coast very early in the morning go to Sydney and buy cakes from a bakery there. He would then return and sell the cakes to various cafes and restaurants around here. Neither of them seemed to be making a living.
When we saw an advert for couriers we thought that maybe this was what we were looking for. We made an appointment to see the advertiser in Sydney and armed with our street map we left home very early. With not too many wrong turns we arrived for our interview in plenty of time and felt pleased with ourselves. There were a few other people who were thinking of going into the courier business and the gentleman explained the procedure to us. His company would not employ us but it would be our own business, contracting to his company. It was pretty obvious that to make money in that business one would have to know ones way around Sydney pretty well. We were quite taken with the idea though and for a while thought that if we gave it a go we would learn our way around. Fortunately good sense prevailed even before we were back home again and we saw the many disadvantages of that one.
Another business we saw advertised was a sweets and chips business. This one involved setting up stands of sweets and chips in factories, workshops or offices all over the place. The idea being that the staff would buy your products rather than go out of their premises for their snacks. And all we would have to do was return the following week and collect the money and re-stock the stand. That one really seemed a bit dodgy. It was presented as a company that helped the unemployed and hinted it was a charitable organisation. As far as we could see the only unemployed people we might be helping would be ourselves. That charity was certainly beginning at home. (And ending there too by the look of it)
While we were doing this research we were learning more about our area and how things were done here. All of which was very useful.
One thing Jonny joined up for was an agency that promised to find work for workers who were not so young any more, to do odd jobs for clients who were also passed the first flush of youth. The idea was good, elderly people often find it hard to get someone to come and do small repair jobs for them and they are rather reluctant to let people that they don’t know into their homes. There were many men who had been carpenters, electricians and plumber who were looking for casual work. Jonny registered saying he would do any welding repairs but there was so little demand for his skill he had to keep on looking.
We would study the local paper for “Business Opportunities” and would find all sorts of things listed, from adverts that offered to make us millionaires within a month or two, with no effort and not having to leave the comfort of our home, to genuine well run companies that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The trouble with the latter was that the sellers wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars for them. Vending machines were often advertised but we were warned that the affordable ones were small machines in rough parts of town and they were very often stolen or vandalised by the local thugs. We could have easily got into selling health products but as both of us have always been rather negative about that sort of thing we did not think we would be able to sell them. We felt that for that kind of product one has to have a wide circle of friends, which we did not. We investigated a Laundromat but the problem with that was that the owner needed the service of a full time ironer to make the business pay and as I was not really a very skilled ironer, we thought we had better give that one a miss. I would have been a nervous wreck worrying about burning some customer’s favourite blouse.
We spoke to a man who wanted to sell his delivery run. He was selling bottled cool drinks from his van into the surrounding suburbs. There was another business selling cakes, the owner would leave the Central Coast very early in the morning go to Sydney and buy cakes from a bakery there. He would then return and sell the cakes to various cafes and restaurants around here. Neither of them seemed to be making a living.
When we saw an advert for couriers we thought that maybe this was what we were looking for. We made an appointment to see the advertiser in Sydney and armed with our street map we left home very early. With not too many wrong turns we arrived for our interview in plenty of time and felt pleased with ourselves. There were a few other people who were thinking of going into the courier business and the gentleman explained the procedure to us. His company would not employ us but it would be our own business, contracting to his company. It was pretty obvious that to make money in that business one would have to know ones way around Sydney pretty well. We were quite taken with the idea though and for a while thought that if we gave it a go we would learn our way around. Fortunately good sense prevailed even before we were back home again and we saw the many disadvantages of that one.
Another business we saw advertised was a sweets and chips business. This one involved setting up stands of sweets and chips in factories, workshops or offices all over the place. The idea being that the staff would buy your products rather than go out of their premises for their snacks. And all we would have to do was return the following week and collect the money and re-stock the stand. That one really seemed a bit dodgy. It was presented as a company that helped the unemployed and hinted it was a charitable organisation. As far as we could see the only unemployed people we might be helping would be ourselves. That charity was certainly beginning at home. (And ending there too by the look of it)
While we were doing this research we were learning more about our area and how things were done here. All of which was very useful.
posted by MC @ 2:08 PM
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