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  #1  
Old May 5, 2021, 10:29 AM
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GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default Low cost business opportunities of 2021

First thing: WHAT IS THAT WOMAN DOING???????

https://hiddenbusinessideas.com/page5a/

Dien Rice has been reporting on little known, odd, unusual businesses for over a decade now. He's written two books on the subject. He provides pros and cons and gives realistic information, and his newsletter is a great resource.

I have over half a century in the field of Biz-Op, going back to the 50's with George Haylings and others offering information on Business Opportunities. Wish I had my originals, I'm sure I spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years, but anyhow...And, I've just completed a few months of research into Biz Op today, in 2021, here are my findings:

Bootstrappers of TODAY, are a far cry from the motivated folks of my youth.

To summarize, the less skin in the game a new Entrepreneur has put, the higher the chance of it being a business FLOP.

Low cost, no money, hard labor just doesn't cut it today except for a very small % of those that think they want to own a business.

I've just advised a business owner...who is seeking to expand or scale up her business, and is seeking Entrepreneurial types...to

get away from lookie loos, low investments and charge 10x the price for the opportunity.

I think (and my research might prove it, albeit, unable or rather unwilling to share it) a minimum of 5000 dollars, a MINIMUM of 5k, is the level of commitment needed to insure ACTIVITY.

One way to hedge the investment bet, is via a FRANCHISE, with a track record and a successful MARKETING plan (which is really the important thing in that game).

So, I combed through thousands of franchises (with helpers) looking for the best, the easiest to start, the most guaranteed to work...and included licensing and distributorships, then narrowed it down to those under 10,000 dollars and came up with

ZIP. Nothing. And the reason being, they ALL depend on the motivation and commitment of the Entrepreneur. See, at lower levels, people just want to buy a job, to buy an income.

But I will tell you this: Biz-Op is alive and well and exploding in fact. My Facebook page throws these at me 100 times a day...mostly the latest and greatest DO NOTHING and use this SYSTEM to make tons of moolah, blah, blah, and more blah.

Here is what I do know, after 50+ years doing this...

A business, any AND all, has to have at least one customer, and in 99.999% of them, they need a lot more than one to be successful.

So, if you are looking for a money making, business opportunity, I strongly urge you to start with knowing HOW and WHERE your customers are going to be coming from. Solve that first, and to paraphrase Richard Condon,

Customers are the key to life (business)
Customers are the clue
Customers are the drum and fife
Find them first before you invest, and any Biz Op will do!

Gordon

P.S. I can answer some questions, if you have any.

Last edited by GordonJ : May 5, 2021 at 10:59 AM.
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  #2  
Old May 5, 2021, 11:13 AM
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GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default What about the .001 who only have 1 customer.

Heading this off at the pass, so save your email.

Yes, there are businesses with just ONE customer, I have one right down the street from me. He's been in business a couple of decades, has a couple of dozen employees and only ONE CUSTOMER.

His customer? Uncle Sam (US Gov't) DOD contractor (Department of Defense) and he makes and assembles electronic devices for them.

Another guy in town, who sold his ONE customer business and bought a golf course made window wipers for cars, his customer was GM, so YES they are out there.

Gordon
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  #3  
Old May 5, 2021, 11:27 AM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is online now
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Default My uncle's business had only one customer...

Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post
Heading this off at the pass, so save your email.

Yes, there are businesses with just ONE customer, I have one right down the street from me. He's been in business a couple of decades, has a couple of dozen employees and only ONE CUSTOMER.

His customer? Uncle Sam (US Gov't) DOD contractor (Department of Defense) and he makes and assembles electronic devices for them.

Another guy in town, who sold his ONE customer business and bought a golf course made window wipers for cars, his customer GM, so YES they are out there.

Gordon
Hi Gordon,

I had a late uncle who was also a physicist (who lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan)...

He started a business with a partner, with just one customer too...

They built and were the experts on a very sensitive accelerometer (a device which measures acceleration with extreme accuracy). They only built two of these devices, which were on two of the space shuttles.

I think one of their accelerometers was destroyed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. I think the other one flew on Space Shuttle Columbia...

Their devices were part of the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE)... You can Google it...

Their one customer was NASA...

So - you're right, it does exist! But... I think it's relatively rare, and especially rare outside of government and military contractors...

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. Here's a report which was written by my uncle...

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970009948
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  #4  
Old May 5, 2021, 01:27 PM
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GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default Thanks Dien, very interesting.

Challenger happened on my birthday, etched in my mind.

I actually know a few one customer guys. One makes custom jars, colored brown I think, and sells to only one customer, who orders thousands a year.

A plastics extrusion company only sells to one wholesaler, some sort of a game board, like you see in basketball and football games, dry erase markers used...has 4 employees and a 20 year in business record.

My uncle, the dumb old dirt farmer, wholesaled his plant patents to one guy, for 30k x5 number of licenses and the wholesaler doubled that. This time of the year, millions are spent on hanging plants etc.

My ex girlfriend, only had one customer, ME, but she priced me out of the game...HA! Found much cheaper ******* with a lot less hassle.

Thanks for sharing that story, you come from some smart folks, glad to have hitched my wagon.

Gordon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice View Post
Hi Gordon,

I had a late uncle who was also a physicist (who lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan)...

He started a business with a partner, with just one customer too...

They built and were the experts on a very sensitive accelerometer (a device which measures acceleration with extreme accuracy). They only built two of these devices, which were on two of the space shuttles.

I think one of their accelerometers was destroyed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. I think the other one flew on Space Shuttle Columbia...

Their devices were part of the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE)... You can Google it...

Their one customer was NASA...

So - you're right, it does exist! But... I think it's relatively rare, and especially rare outside of government and military contractors...

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. Here's a report which was written by my uncle...

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970009948
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  #5  
Old June 3, 2021, 06:15 AM
CharlieBronx CharlieBronx is offline
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Default Re: Low cost business opportunities of 2021

Well this seems like an long list but I'll just mention my favorite... Real Estate Agent or Broker
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Old June 3, 2021, 09:55 AM
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GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default Expensive in costs of TIME.

Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlieBronx View Post
Well this seems like an long list but I'll just mention my favorite... Real Estate Agent or Broker

TIME. That is what the high cost of becoming a successful agent and broker is.

Sure, it may have low cost of entry, but very, VERY few agents can make a substantial sum of money quickly, say in their first month. I don't know of any that have earned 10 thousand in their first 30 days (after getting licensed, which is a whole nuther ball of wax time)...

Whereas we have had members here (Bud Riggs for one), who made ten grand the first day he sold his information product, after about 21 days of writing it.

As a former GRI Agent myself, and having spent a couple years of taking every real estate course and working with a successful broker...I came away from the RE game because the costs of TIME just wasn't worth it.

For some, you obviously, have a taste or love of that game but as far as making some fast cash without a license or study, there are just so many better ways out there.

Gordon
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