If you had some capital?

[OnlyWantsOne]

I've been offered (nearly uncapped) capital to set up a business. I feel torn. It's not my money and I haven't earn it.

I don't have a business plan...

Aibu to ask, if you were going to set up a business, what would you do?

A nursery?
A retail shop?
An estate agents?

This sounds like a recipe for disaster disappointment. You're combining two goals, making money and giving yourselves something to do. If you separated the goals and approached each rationally, the answer would probably be some combination of (a) getting jobs working for someone else, (b) investing capital passively (say stock market) and (c) hobbies.

By trying to find one solution that serves both goals you impose an artificial constraint that may be excluding the best options.

I would guess it's very (very very) hard to dream up a proper business from scratch. To be a bit defeatist about it, if there were anything people wanted, someone would already be supplying it. Obviously this can't be completely true, or there'd never be new businesses, but I think the odds are against you.

I know you don't do death but I second funeral director. Especially a great funeral director, word of mouth goes very far.

A provision for a crèche would boom around here

Supervised play cafe with a buzzer for the parents. Kids parties. One play and a coffee for £xx

A nursery for shift workers

I'm guessing that a sensible hands-off investment will give you a better prospective return than any start-up business, in risk-adjusted terms anyway. (The risk of start-up failure is high, and it's easy to be over-optimistic about it.)

The number of additional occupations available if you don't impose the constraint of working for yourself is so vast that it must improve the odds of finding something enjoyable.

Having "your" money and your employment in different places also reduces your financial risk.

Retail shops around here are dying a slow death, definitely not that one.
If you go for a nursery you'll have to do lots and lots of customer service; I'd be angling for something unique about your nursery. Like make it Montessori or special food or some kind of affordable theme.

Around here, charity shops, beauty salons & estate agents are the only types of business that seem to last.

I'd open a big soft play that caters to older children as well as little ones. We found an amazing place on holiday that was perfect for dsd and our little ones. It was huge, at least four times the size of any where we live and was suitable for adults to go round so perfect for very tall dsd who was 8 and our 2 and 3 year olds. Ime there's a lack of decent sized soft play places that don't end up overcrowded when there's a birthday party. In our area there's one that's new, clean and nice to visit but is very small and cramped, and one that is fairly big but is not the cleanest especially by the afternoon as it only has two staff working at any one time.

The other option I'd go for is a nursery that offers affordable and flexible childcare with the option to book one off sessions during school holidays. I'm a student at the moment, dh works crazy hours and the school holidays are a nightmare for me getting any uni work done. There's very little childcare during the holidays that wouldn't cost us a weeks rent for one day for our dcs and none are available for ad hoc days.

Another idea I'd love to look into.is having a crèche / small soft play type of set up at our local hospital. When my mam was in hospital I found it very hard to visit due to having no childcare. She was on the oncology ward which isn't a great place to bring a 3 and 4 year old. It would have been brilliant to be able to leave them in a crèche for an hour to be able to see my mam. Likewise when I had consultant appointments and had to drag my toddler along, there's only so long crayons and snacks will stop them wanting to run round. I'd have gladly paid for them to be in a crèche at the hospital as would friends when they've had appointments/scans/loved ones in hospital.

Have you thought about a franchise? Loads of support for startup. If you google franchise options you can see what is on offer. There is also a franchise show where you can meet people and discuss the options. Good luck - very exciting!