Im comming into a ins. settlement an would like to open a business that i can make a living, any ideals?

Question

probally willing to invest 10 grand or so

Answer 1

There are plenty of businesses that you can open up that would not require a large investment.  Traditional businesses do.  But if you open a home based business then you wouldn't have to invest the 10 grand.  Most home based businesses cost under $500 to start up.  You can use a little more for the advertisements, which isn't a whole lot of money, and use the rest as a cushion while your building your business.  I know a lot of people who have home based businesses in different industry that make the same amount of income as a traditional business, but have more profit and not so much over head expenses.  Business owners in the traditional way have switched over to doing businesses and made it home based.  

Grace

Answer 2

It's going to be very hard to make a living with a $10K (or pounds or Euros) investment in a business.  Most businesses take far more than that to open the doors, and even then you might not make a profit for 1-2 years.  Do you even know what kind of business you want to do?  Do you have any skills, experience, or training that you could use in a business?  

Before you go any further, I STRONGLY recommend you contact the Small Business Development Center (at your local community college) and talk to them; the counseling is free.  The counselors can help you narrow down what you want to do too.  

Then sign up for the NxLevel Entrepreneurial program...  it's a 12 session course that walks you through the ins and outs of starting or growing your business, and as part of that you will write a business plan.  At the end of the class your plan will be reviewed by a lending professional, and will be critiqued, telling you the strong points of your plan AND the weak points.  

Then you can work on the weak points and hopefully get it into shape to actually present to a lender and get the loan you need.  There is a cost for the NxLevel program ($375.00 last year at my SBDC), but it’s a lot cheaper than losing your investment.

Even if you hire a professional to write your plan, you should still take the NxLevel course.  It saved me from going into a business that would have failed within a year or so, taking my investment with it.  I realized by the third week of the class that I could not afford the business I was looking at and changed directions in the middle of the class.

Business plans may be a pain in the butt to prepare, but without one, your business is doomed to failure.  To start with, you won't know what your startup costs are going to be, what kind of income to expect, what your ongoing expenses are, who your competition is, and even whether or not you can make a profit.  Without a GOOD business plan, you will not be able to get a business loan to get your business off the ground.

Answer 3

Don't buy into any website in a can or insta business scam YOU WILL FAIL. Instead plan out a product you can sell in a niche that has not been saturated and you think you can compete in. I think building a site is the best for you since you don't have much money to rent a building and whatnot. Learn how to build a site or pay a person that knows what they are doing. Like I said do not buy into bullcrap insta site scams. A good place to learn about this type of thing is http://www.sitepoint.com (Go to their forums they are a wealth of knowledge).

The hardest part is going to be finding a product to sell that is not already saturated and has weak competition. I have run both successfull businesses and failures. My advice is to take your time deciding what you want to do and don't rush it. Make sure it is 100% something you will injoy and something you think will be successful. Research your competition and get ready for battle :)

Also do not believe anyone who says you cannot make it on the money you have. you do not need to take out loans or take on partners you do not need to succeed. It will only make what SHOULD be the most fun thing you have ever embarked upon a stressfull and horrid experiance. Even if you only have $10 make it work. Never take out a loan unless you already have the business off the ground and working. It will only make something you love into a job and the whole reason you are doing this is to get away from a "JOB" right? I created my first business that I sold for just under half a million dollars while I was working a job that payed $9.50 an hour and I had nothing in the bank.