To ask what business you would start if you had up to £10k to invest?

[gigi556]

Looking at going self-employed following my mat leave. I have some ideas but interested in others!

A packed lunch service. Order online for the week and it gets delivered fresh to your door every morning before you leave for work / school.

I'd pay for a General Assembly course in UX or Data Science - the market for user researchers, UX designers and data analysts is through the roof.

Personal shopping business

A gardener ? bit like Rosemary and Thyme! You’d obviously need a partner.
Seriously though If I were you I’d qualify as a surveyor . I wouldn’t want to rely on money from self employment.

I think I'd get one of those photo booths you get at weddings/parties etc

Mobile chippy.

Dog walking and daycare is big business where I stay. Also ironing.

That’s dog daycare!

Gluten free bakery. I think the market is huge.

@bananafish81 I don't even know that that is!

I think you need to take into account how much time you’ll have available. If you’re coming back from maternity leave then you must have young children. Do you have the childcare and support that you’d need to start up a new business which requires full attention and really full on hours? Many business start ups do. If not then I’d look at either training or a part time small scale type of work.
If you have property industry experience then I reckon a professional qualification would be a good use of your time, if you can make that work in terms of your access to childcare.

Zero waste shop. The plastic free movement is going to be big soon

@gigi556 General Assembly courses

Baby will be in nursery part-time.

All interesting comments. I've thought a lot about the practical stuff already. I was more curious about what others "dream" business might be.

I've been a self-employed as an independent contractor before and also had a small part in the family retail business so do have some experience of self employment. I get that it's not for everyone. I have considered that it may be easier to just clock in and clock out with a job, but I was much happier working for myself than I ever was in a job. It may be that I've just not found the right job. There are most definitely pros and cons to self-employed vs employed.

Please be careful if you consider a franchise. Do your homework, reach out to those who run a franchise like the one you are considering for a frank opinion and don’t believe anything you are told by the company pushing it.

We lost thousands and thousands of pounds a few years ago buying a franchise which was useless and we were promised the world. No legal recourse as they had it all sewn up so please just be careful.

I second a zero waste shop. Depends on the area though. Where people take their own containers and stock up on flour rice etc. Could also have a small cafe in there. All eco friendly.

Sorry to hear that @Mablethorpe