If You Were Going To Open A Small Business, What Would You Sell?

[THUNDER HANDS]

A few years ago I had what I considered to be a pretty good idea for a small business.

I was going to go around taking photos of small kids playing little league baseball with my 300mm zoom lense. The photos would be up-close action shots, the type found in any major newspaper. I would then blow up the photos and sell them to the parents of the kids.

I actually did this for a while when I was a sports writer/photographer and was shocked at how many parents wanted photos of their kids and how they were willing to pay $25 just for a single photo.

I think if I could do that full-time (and then start in on other sports during the school year) I could make a pretty good living.

So that's my small business - little league photography.

What's your idea to make it rich?

[DarkPhenyx]

1. Booze.

If I ever decide to chuck it and go that route I'm opening a pub. A real pub mind you not this highly marketd sterile RW-family friendly crap.

There will always be money in vice.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Import an Irishman. Have him be your front man.

Might as well sound authentic, too.

[lazarus]

6. didn't they try that on Homicide?

didn't work out too well, IIRC.

[GOPisEvil]

8. Oh yeah.

I just think of my favorite place here. Actually the owners are all Irishmen. The place looks as authentic as any I've seen pictures of in Ireland.

I forgot about Homicide. So, maybe just ANY Irishman won't do. Be picky.

[lazarus]

14. of course, it was Homicide

and on H:LoTS, things tended to go south fairly quickly.

Best damned show on television.

[DarkPhenyx]

11. It's a thought.

Though two Guninness into an evening and half an hour with an Irishman and my brogue gets pretty bad.

[LynzM]

3. we'd open a rock climbing gym

It's something we've seriously talked about doing, depending on the market wherever we wind up next year! :bounce:

[NewHampster]

Great one in Manchester

Vertical Dreams - They took over an abandoned elevator shaft in one of old mills and have since seen the place fill with offices around them. Probably got the space for cheap too.

They have entrances and smaller climbs at both the top and bottom of the 4 stories.


http://www.verticaldreams.com/

[matcom]

4. Prostitution

i'd sell myself to wealthy women

:D

any takers? :spank: Matcom :spank:

[LynneSin]

19. I have about $9.50 in my Piggy Bank....is that enough?

:shrug:

[matcom]

21. PERFECT!

that just happens to be my rate! :D

[LynneSin]

24. DAMN you're expensive

I hope I'm getting several hours worth of 'entertainment'

[TXlib]

26. I hear he's expansive, too.

:evilgrin:

[GOPisEvil]

5. Photography, too! Of a different sort, of course.

I've got a couple of photo essay ideas in mind for black and white photography. I suppose I could take requests, too. :-)

[lazarus]

7. candid photography?

holiday snaps? wink wink nudge nudge?

[GOPisEvil]

12. LOL! Say no more!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. Locking

No sex threads :evilgrin:

[TheMightyFavog]

44. Cigars and Pipe Tobaccos, books and Role Playing Game Supplies

Have a room in the back for playing.

[Cary]

9. Freeper Rehab Clinic

There will be a huge demand after we kick butt in November!}(

[lazarus]

10. That's a great idea, MR

A really great idea. Doing it for all sports, too, is a great idea.

[Malva Zebrina]

13. My husband and I did horse photography like that

at horse shows on the east coast. We did the darkroom work at home. There were some people who had a darkroom set up right at the show grounds and they did well. We also, then got hired to do stud pictures for catalogs by individual horse owners. I used to do a lot of photographing of kids when I did stringer work for the paper-in a small town people knew who I was,-but if you do not have a business card, I found that people began to get very nervous about a photographer photographing children. my two cents. More than once I was approached and questioned by some adult.

A friend of mine tried to sell photo greeting cards--but the cost of the end product caused him to h ave to charge too much per card--and so, the competition knocked him out of business. Another friend just closesd his studio--no work now for photography since the advent of digital cameras and video.

There may be a small market for original black and white art photography--but, would take a while to build a repurtation

I have recently bought a sewing maching and planned to sell my home sewn aprons, place mats,coasters and raggedy ann and other large dolls. I used to do craft shows years ago. First of all I was shocked to find the price of fabric and notions was off the wall, and then I was also shocked to find that the price of a 8x6 space at a craft show, was $75 a day. This is the promoter's fee and NO sharing the space with another crafter, which is what I used to do in the old days. First of all, the price of the fabric and notions is going to drive the price of the items off the wall. and second, I will be better off purchasing or building a small shack on my property and selling items there, by the time I pay 150 dollars for a weekend spot at a show that I do not even know if I could sell the price of the spot!

Good luck to whatever you choose--

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. when I was photographing kids

I always made sure to have my HUGE blue Suffolk County Police Department id press badge around my neck.

Little league parents can be insane enough without them mistaking me for a pedophile.

[shimmergal]

33. Marianne, I used to do craft shows too.

Stopped several years back for the reasons you tell about.

However, think about product diversification and whether you could sell them at other, special-interest shows. For instance, I do hand-crafted stuffed animals and the fantasy animals go great at science fiction conventions. Booth space is usually under $50 for a 3-day weekend. 'Course since I'm into SF it's a "natural" for me anyway.

Maybe some of the items you mention would go along with "home and garden" or patio shows? Not the big commercial ones, but aren't there some specialty get-togethers?

Just an idea. . .

[Malva Zebrina]

37. thanks for the in put--I appreciate it.

I am looking into everything I can. There are a few coops around here-

Part of the problem is I have no idea what people will pay or how much I can sell. Duh

But I keep sewing everyday--and making myself laugh over the fact that I have not a clue as to where I will sell this stuff. I am confident that something will show up . :-)

[bearfan454]

15. Cafe

good home cooked food cheap.

[bearfan454]

16. Mrs bearfan wants to open a daycare for Mom's that work

afternoons or midnights.

[fudge stripe cookays]

18. One of those girlie fu-fu stores

in a gorgeous old building, selling antiques, mosaicked birdbaths, gifties, sachets, scented soaps and lotions, assorted garden and kitchen doo-dads, and a little tea room in the back. I can design my own logos, business cards, and everything.

I've even checked into owning a small business, but since I don't know if we're going to stay where we are, I'm thinking of doing this wherever we end up. Maybe Canada, maybe west coast somewhere. I don't want to stay in Texas much longer.

[pepsi]

23. business

~A fast food chain that only sells meals that are good for you.

~Start an investment fund that holds "green" companies.

Pepsi

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

22. I would sell "clues"

Because it seems like most Americans don't have one at all.

[MissMillie]

25. Soup

homemade soup

[TXlib]

27. Ass-kickings.

[kitkatrose]

38. Isn't that Skittles' department? n/t

[BiggJawn]

28. Bicycles...

Go Figure, huh?

When things hit $3 gallon, I may just be onto something here. utilitarian bikes, not the carbon-fiber skittish thoroughbreds (but if you want one, I'll get you one)

[Cary]

29. BiggJawn, bicycles are great!

But I've hung around enough bike shops to know that you do it for love--not money.

[BiggJawn]

34. True, True....

Very small mark-up on bikes, larger mark-up on parts and accessories, but the Local Bike Shop still loses out to Nashbar, Performance, Harris and other web shops...

But if a guy could make enough to eat and keep himself in tyres...

[Cary]

39. What do you ride, BiggJawn?

I have a semi-custom Columbus frame (Fuso Lux) with all Campy Record parts. It's a bit out of date but I'm a traditionalist. And, unfortunately, I don't ride the road bike much any more.

I am drooling over the Litespeeds in the bike shop window on my walk home from the train!

[BiggJawn]

40. "YOU'RE" a traditionalist?

(snicker) Yeah, me too...
I have 2 road bikes, one is a late 60's-early 70's Fuji that I'm in the process of fitting a Sugino XD triple crank to, but everything else is original. (except tyres)

And a Schwinn Letour (mid-late 70's) with CrMo tubing and a new Shimano "Megarange" freewheel and derailleur, and "333" shifters. (from the mid-60's)

And the "Puffy" or "Stuffy" which is a combination of a Huffy "lightweight" and a Sears Puch or Steyr-made 3-speed.

But that created an indentity crisis, because now I have a bike that says "Made in Austria" except for the Bendix coaster hub, which says "Hecho en Mexico"...(couldn't just throw the carcass away, y'know...)

lotta drool factor in those Lightspeeds...Me, I'm drooling over a new TREK....

[XNASA]

30. Old film, home video, image scanning, slide transfer......

service to Disc.

Editing, of course, is extra.

[JM]

31. The Free Speech Pub

with a VJ updating the most recent news and DU postings on a big screen. Open mike complete with a soapbox. Liberal Left room (non-smoking) and the Rabid Right room (smoking) with a soundproof steel door between them

Later,
JM

[Mr. McD]

32. Maybe a restaurant

I tried to open one about 30 years ago couldn't quite pull it together financially. Now I could probably pull it together but I think I would rather just retire.:)

[Exultant Democracy]

35. A rare books store.

If I owned a book store and a bar and I put them right next to eachother I would be living the dream.

[shimmergal]

36. Books.

Actually I'd rather be a publisher than a bookstore owner. Publish GOOD genre fiction that confounds the formulas and gives the readers something to think about.

Have tried to do this a couple of times in a small way. It's rough if you don't have enough $$$$ to market them well. But if I ever win megabucks and can hire experts to help make a small press visible and viable, that's what I'll do.

[tigereye]

41. small bookstore and/or record/CD store

BTW nice screen name

[Triple H]

42. A bait-and-tackle-type store.

I love fishing. I've always wanted to open a bait and tackle store somewhere in the Minnesota North.

I don't care if I make money off it...all I care about is me being happy. :)

[rucky]

43. Herbal Pet Remedies

www.bowwowbotanicals.com