Starting a business

Jump to Last Post 1-1 of 1 discussions (8 posts)
  1. thirdmillenium profile image60
    thirdmilleniumposted 12 years ago

    A dear friend has plans to invest in a MANUFACTURING  business in which he can keep investing around 36,00 dollars every month for 5 years. So, second month will see 7, 200 and so on. He can start only with 3600, please remember, and can add the same amount every month. He wants to start immediately. big_smile

    The problem is he does not know anything about business, having been in the army all his life. Nor do I. No online, forex etc sad

    Can some good soul suggest something that is less risky but does not necessarily mean less adventurous. And, of course, profitable. roll

    Thank you

    1. LeanMan profile image73
      LeanManposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Profitable generally means that you have to take a risk. No business is free of risk in today's age.
      If you want safe stick it in a bond or something with a low return but high security.. (Is that still safe - not sure anymore..)

      If he wants to take a risk and potentially make some real money go to the local universities and find out if there are any spin out companies that are looking for funding. Students will often come up with some great ideas for products and services; I spent a few years helping companies around cambridge university in the UK source funding through grants and Angels and some of those are now very successful companies - and others have died a death!

      Whatever he does; spend months investigating and learning first...

      1. thirdmillenium profile image60
        thirdmilleniumposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Thanks Lean. Will keep your advice in mind

    2. aguasilver profile image76
      aguasilverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Due Diligence...

      He has to do some serious due diligence, and learn about business.

      Without more info, nobody can decide to invest in anything, and (hopefully) none of us who are in business would advise him to proceed on the limited info you have been able to provide.

      Why does the business NEED investors?
      What do their last five years accounts show?
      What security is offered for the investment?
      Does he get shares in return, and if so, what % for each tranche of investment, and what % of the overall shareholding would that represent.
      What's the ROI (return on investment)?
      What exit strategy exists to recoup his investment?

      Those are just a few starter questions I would want answered before I looked at any proposal.

      After 40 years trading, I can 'smell' if something is worth looking at, but it cost me a whole heap of 'investment' to learn how to do that, and if he is freshly retired from the military, he is unlikely to have that ability, nor the time to acquire it before he gets stung.

      If he wants to ask more info, I will willingly answer his questions, just tell him to contact me via my profile page, or email me at:

      aguasilver at gmail dot com.

      Speaking personally, I would never take an investor that was not 'experienced', and nobody should invest more than 5% of their nett wealth in any 'risk' venture, unless they are controlling the business themselves.

      Edit: Be VERY wary of anyone who offers what you ask for in the question, less risk, adventurous and profitable are strange bedfellows for any investor to find together.

      1. thirdmillenium profile image60
        thirdmilleniumposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Thanks v much Silver
        Will contact you

      2. Robert Erich profile image83
        Robert Erichposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Aguasilver is very right. You will need to take on risk for adventure and profit. However, there are many smart options to dip your toes in the water.

        Remember, only 1 out of 5 business make it past one year. and about 1 in 20 past five years. And of those, how many are actually profitable? That's hard to tell.

        The MOST IMPORTANT thing he can do, and this will help determine how realistic making a profit will be, is to CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN.

        I wrote a hub about that a while back: http://roberterich.hubpages.com/hub/How … iness-Plan

        This is essential. I can speak from experience. And often times, in the process of creating a business plan, someone will discover that the idea was not as good as was first imagined.

        But this is key - develop a plan. Who is the customer? Where is the customer? How will the customer find you? Why will the customer choose you over the competition? Who is the competition? How much will it cost to start? How much do you need to make before you start making money? How long will it take to start making money?

        These questions are all very annoying. But very helpful. Another article I have written is about asking the right questions:

        http://roberterich.hubpages.com/hub/Que … a-Business

        I tell everyone starting a business to ask questions like crazy! If you are too afraid to ask questions, or if you get annoyed by the questions that others ask, that's probably a sign that things will not work out for you. However, if you can deeply think about these questions and give solid answers, than you will be much better prepared for the struggles that lay ahead (and there are many).

        Entrepreneurship is amazing! Being your own boss and setting your own hours can be great. The key is just to make sure that it will actually give you the lifestyle that you want, and not simply become a new master that pays less and works you harder.

        Wish your friend luck for me!

    3. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image74
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your friend apparently doesn't know that just investing a set amount of money every month into a random business will not make it a worthwhile venture.

      He's talking about investing $216,000 over five years into a product he can't even define at this point.

      He might better put the money into some sort of long term, stable investment and get a job...He'd be better off.

      1. thirdmillenium profile image60
        thirdmilleniumposted 12 years agoin reply to this

        Hello TimeTraveler
        Nice of you to have taken the trouble to reply in such details. I had gone thru both your articles. Good ones, thank you

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)