If you had 100k to start a business, what would you do?

[tooshiny]

I've recently come into some money and for health reasons I need to give up my current job.

Musing with friends what I could do to become self sufficient by using my 100k wisely so I don't have to rush out and find another job.

So, if you had the time, money and the skills, what business would you start that you reckon has a fair chance of success in the next few years?

What skills do you have that you could use as a freelancer / WFH? I wouldn't invest that much money unless it was something I was already really good at and had considerable experience in - and knew there was a profitable gap in the market I could exploit.

How much do you know about business accounts?

I don't know but I would like to!

I’d open a cattery. I dream about this daily. Have to book my local one months in advance and it’s always fully booked. People are still going on holiday so I think could build up and maintain a steady client base.

@ThreePears I do have skills to freelance but I don't want to, totally disillusioned by my industry. I'm looking for a real change and don't need to make a huge amount of money.

I am very comfortable with the financial and business model side so don't need help with that, just more ideas I can work with to come up with something with potential.

@Katieweasel love this! I keep coming back to pets and holiday homing/house sitting/dog walking etc but i am extremely allergic to many common pets including most cats and dogs..which might not encourage customers!

Buy a boring business and bring it up to modern standards with good marketing, and tech (such as easy online bookings). Things like:

a car valet - aim it at parents who feel ashamed of their crumb ridden cars!

cleaning company

window cleaning

diy/handyman

If a recession hits any home improvement does well because if people move house they want to improve it, if people stay in their house they want to improve it.

If I didn’t know AI/tech, I’d definitely pick a boring business!

I'd stay away from cafes and clothes shops. Retail is very difficult.
People are buying secondhand clothes and the cost of heating any shop /cafe is prohibitive.

You have to love what you do if you work for yourself.
I've spent 40 years in beauty and next year I have my own line at last. Do I expect big bucks? No. I have stockists waiting but I know that can change so I'll have more than one route to market. Just be careful and get every deal in writing.
Even the big companies try to wiggle out of contracts.

@labamba18 I like the idea of buying a little business and upgrading it. Without going into detail, I'm well placed to assess its current success and to upgrade it. Hmmm, food for thought.

@Lastgig thanks, definitely aiming to love either the work or the outcome of the work!

I think @labamba18has it right. I saw a kitchen fitting business for sale recently. What I dream of is a garden centre but I don't have the funds for that as it involves buying land, which is always expensive.

A woodland? Glamping/forest school type thing?

I’d open a wool shop!

And unfortunately loose all your money. Which makes me very sad indeed. Every town should have a wool shop, but they never succeed ours has had at least 3 failed ones in the last 5 years.

Our sewing and wool shop works because they own the building. No rent which would be at least £500 a week.
Our Rick Stein has just closed and many shops don't work. I owned two and one got burgled. People actually told me they liked buying their cosmetics in London although they sampled with us.
It's really sad because I hate chains and always buy from independents but not many people do. Three shops closed in the last month.

Having listened to my boiler service guy tell me about his multiple long holidays in lovely places this year, and paid him £100+ for 30 mins I would probably re-train as a gas boiler specialist.

I'd use it as a deposit towards a "proper" franchise, such as a McDonalds. Or if you want something cheaper, then something like an "OvenU" or "Green Thumb" franchise - something that is genuine and genuinely well established as a reputable brand.

Buying someone else's private business is a recipe for throwing money away. Most have unrealistic expectations as to how much it's worth, and they're notoriously difficult to turn around, and usually have a lot of "baggage" of the previous owners who probably had most of it in their heads, very little down in systems, and far too many "personal" relationships with customers who won't move over to new owners.

I've been an accountant for 40 years and seen literally no more than a handful of genuinely successful purchases of privately owned small businesses previously run/managed by the owner.

Far better to get something with a "hands off" owner that has established staff, etc., where the transition will be smoother, but they'll cost you more than £100k as they'll be a lot more profitable if they're funding a manager and staff.

My two most successful current clients are "One Stop" convenience store franchises (Tesco). Yes, it costs a lot to set up and stock, but because they're an established brand with good support/marketing, when you open one, you can hit the ground running and be profitable virtually within a few months. I don't have any McDonalds franchise clients but know of one locally (a neighbour) who have a handful of outlets in our area and they're doing remarkably well and regularly praise the support they get to run the existing ones and open new ones.

If I were just pleasing myself and having fun, no expectation to riches, to too worried about possible losses, just a bit of pocket money and and interest.......I'd do some kind of street food van. Take it on the road and travel a bit, pitching up and selling yummy food at festivals along the way.

I once saw a mobile kitchen advertised on a driveway. Like a trailer that has a fully working kitchen inside, you hire it when having a new kitchen fitted. It hooks up to your electric and water.
Always thought it was a great business idea. £100k could get a few to rent out

Lots of people have niche plant shops on ebay, don't know if you would make much, I guess the idea would be to grow more difficult expensive plants from seed or cuttings and sell under the big garden centre prices. Need a bit of space and probably a greenhouse to start with.

Being completely straight with you, that £100k is unlikely to go very far in terms of business and is very unlikely in the near future to give you the kind of income which would mean you could quit your job.

Unless you have a real dream and a proper, fully costed, fully researched business plan, you are likely to go the way of many startups and fail. I don't say this to shit on your ideas, but it's the brutal reality. Even if you do the best prep possible, the odds are stacked against startups.

I would honestly say you're better off doing buy to let and building a portfolio of small properties. If it all goes wrong, you can sell the assets easily and you'll have invested minimum startup costs.

£100k is a very decent deposit for two houses in the north. Even then, you're unlikely to be self-sufficient from this for several years until you've got 4-5 properties.

Ideas like having a little wool shop or a cafe are lovely - I dream about it myself except for me it's a sewing and haberdashery store! - but supremely risky and likely to lose you money.

Approach local pharmacists/GPs about partnering to set up a weight loss clinic.

We have just bought our first buy to let house, so I would extend our portfolio :)

Do you have any interests or hobbies?

My dream would be to open a cafe for crafters, hold regular crafting sessions, have a space people can hire out to run workshops, rent shelf space for people to sell their crafts. The effort needed to set this up is probably enormous and no guarantees it would work. But I still dream about it! I even have a name but I’m keeping that to myself just in case….

I recently visited Scotland and there were loads like that. Several friends getting together and talking turns to staff it.

Not sure about the costs but things like hairdressers/beauty salons seem to be very busy and doing well in mu area despite the rising COL. It amazes me how people still spend on beauty but would cut down on massages which I see as more necessary.

I wouldn't do something that depends on the big tech platforms, they cream off all the profits.

I spent 150k opening an art gallery. We do own the building, but we aren't making minimum wage yet for one person.