[pramodkumar]

Guys,

This discussion reminds me of my old days, All have this problem when you want to aim you want to aim really high, while there are so many small markets which can catapult you really high. Let me give you a small busniss plan i had. During my college days in kerala i used to spend most of my after college time in a sharjah juice stall. This stall as the name suggests makes some great low cost juices and was a perfect spot for bird watching(if you know what i mean). The sharjah Shake (for non mallus and those who dont know) is a milk shake made up of frozen milk and fresh fruits and other ingradiants, tastes superb good for health cools you very well, price 15-20 Rs per glass(which is as big as a beer mug). Then college was finally over and i went back to Delhi, i used to miss my sharjah stall and the sharjah shake. Finally i decided to try making one at home. i took half a liter milk pack and froze it, and finally ended up making 2 mugs full of sharjah total cost back then was 10 RS, and if you add other stuff like shop rent electricity etc, the cost would go upto 12 Rs the minimum price for which it was sold was at 15 per mug (x 2 mugs)in kerala, Lassi was the biggest competetion in Delhi, Sold at 25 Rs a glass and most of the people dont prefer it because of throat irretation. so i had a big market infront of me, i could easily sell it at an introductry price of 20 rs and still make a lot of profit, the Delhi heat would have been a perfect combination to boost bussiness. Soon the urge to do bussiness died as i got serious towards a stable and secured life. The only major issue with the food bussiness is, you are dealing with perishable items and can cause a lot of loss if somthing bad happens interms of the stock or custromer health.

BTW is strongly belive in what cannonball said, a lot of people can get the same idea, it surly depends on the style of execution to certify it successful.

@Sudipto, its true passion can change a lot of things.

Pramod

[creative420]

Hello fellow BHPians.

A friend of mine, in Bhopal, recently suffered a huge loss in his transport business. It was so huge that he had to sell his house, cars and almost all the jewelry that his family possessed. He never studied beyond 10th standard. Well, he thought he needn't as he was pretty sure that he had to carry forward his flourishing family business.

Back in 1998, we (a bunch of friends) decided that if a day were to come where someone goes into dumps, we'll all pool in money and help each other out. Now we friends have decided that we all will lend him some money, to start his business. So after parting with a lakh each from our savings, we've got about 7 lakhs to help him out.

Now, I've lived in Bhopal for about 12 years. But that was only till 1994. So I don't really know what kind of business can you get into, in a town like Bhopal. In fact, none of us do as we've all come from families that have been drawing salaries from government.

If there's anyone here who can suggest a modest business idea, something that'll return a decent profit of about 15-20K a month will be great. His kid will start school next year. So we're all hoping that he'll at least settle down before that.

We've suggested him to open up a heavy-vehicle garage somewhere in the outskirts of Bhopal, as he knows the inside out of all these heavy-vehicles. And his other interest lies in food. So we've suggested him to lookout for a quick-food franchise as they'll be hitting Bhopal soon after getting their foothold in a bigger town like Indore. His uncle has suggested him to go for Chinese toy business. But he doesn't like the sound of it.

Kindly help

PS: He has no other business experience than that of transport.

[Blow Horn Ok]

Bhopal is an upcoming city and i believe most of the people have ample money at disposal. If he rents out a shop in a busy market place, which is also close to some residential areas, and open a small hotel/cafe or an eatery would be great. People like to have something when they are out specially with family and friends. He will have to give that place a different touch which would attract the customers and spread word of mouth publicity.

For example, Specializing in South Indian Foods/ Bengali Foods/ Punjabi Foods or Non-veg (seeling only chicken, fish & mutton delicacies). The format may also be of a Pack & Carry type where people would just come, get the food packed, pay & go. Later Home deliveries could also be added.

The type of the food outlet to be opened would require some amount of research and brain storming regarding what people of Bhopal want, spending power, likes & dislikes etc.

A good food outlet with a good ambiance (AC & Lights) and tasty hygienic foods would be a hit.

[brraj]

Arranging 7lakhs for your friend who's in need? Great. Time to search who are my best friends.

If he has sold his house,car... where is he living now?

Options

- As he is in transport business let him become a driver in some transport agency for few month later you guys can get him a used car worth 3lakhs and let him use it as taxi, Keep the rest for family security purpose. As they say "Earn where you have lost it", by this time he should have learnt from his mistakes.

- Keep a Pan beeda shop in main areas and a boy to look after, have seen some fellows earning 1000+rs per day. Need very less investment.

- Rent a shop to sell Movie CD you can make 2-3 times profit.

- I know it hurts but When he is living on the edge he should not forget to do parttime jobs like putting papers, milk to houses.

- Females can also prepare food inside their house and he can send it to people for surrounding areas who are in need.

- House females can also take tutions if educated else do baby sittings, ironing in their own house.

I could only suggest these as the budget is 7lkhs and they should have atleast around 2lakhs as safety deposit in bank.

Dont know much about bhopal but if he has ideas of shifting to bangalore he will have lots of opportunity. Many have come made good money and are making...
Last time when my friend was searching for a personal driver was quoted 10k.

[mayankjha1806]

Pardon me for saying this, but starting a venture is not based on someone else's ideas. Its got to be something that the promoter is passionate about and would love doing it, or alternatively sees a potential in terms of head start as there is lack of competition.

Folks will have ideas, i might suggest one, but the point is what does he loves doing and what would he like to do. It could be as simple as opening a eat out, but the trigger has got to be from within oneself and not external.

I guess my suggestion is Its time for you and/or him to introspect and not ask suggestions to everyone.

Hopefully you will take this in right spirit,

[SRK]

First of all hats off to your friendship!

Secondly, I do not have much experience but still would like to suggest a few things.

Don't ask him to go into the Chinese toy business. Its risky, unless you have the right contacts to work with.

I don't think 7 lakhs are enough to start a heavy vehicle maintenance business. May be what he can do if possible is search for some technical certificate course, and complete it and join in as a technician with some Service center.

Other than that, starting a fast food business or a snack shop is a nice idea.
Maintaining competitive pricing and high quality can take the business further.
Have seen such business start making quite a good customer base within no time using just mouth publicity.

Select an are frequented by college kids, somewhere near a railway station, college or coaching classes. Start a fast food shop that makes, sandwiches, chat, Vada,Samosas,dosa, idlis, etc. If there is space, starting a Fizzy drink counter would also work well.


Start Small Make it Big.

Best of Luck to your friend. And hope everybody gets a group of friends like you guys.

[creative420]

The type of the food outlet to be opened would require some amount of research and brain storming regarding what people of Bhopal want, spending power, likes & dislikes etc.

We bunch are hardcore foodies. And his wife and mom makes awesome awesome food. We're looking for some franchise food business, but not really keen on it. The problem with this business is finding the right locality and right people. Well. We're thinking about it.

- As he is in transport business let him become a driver in some transport agency for few month later you guys can get him a used car worth 3lakhs and let him use it as taxi, Keep the rest for family security purpose. As they say "Earn where you have lost it", by this time he should have learnt from his mistakes.

- Keep a Pan beeda shop in main areas and a boy to look after, have seen some fellows earning 1000+rs per day. Need very less investment.

- Rent a shop to sell Movie CD you can make 2-3 times profit.

- I know it hurts but When he is living on the edge he should not forget to do parttime jobs like putting papers, milk to houses.

- Females can also prepare food inside their house and he can send it to people for surrounding areas who are in need.

- House females can also take tutions if educated else do baby sittings, ironing in their own house.

I could only suggest these as the budget is 7lkhs and they should have atleast around 2lakhs as safety deposit in bank.

Dont know much about bhopal but if he has ideas of shifting to bangalore he will have lots of opportunity. Many have come made good money and are making...
Last time when my friend was searching for a personal driver was quoted 10k.

We've rented out a flat for him. So staying is not a problem. The rent in Bhopal hardly pinches. 3BHK for 4K!

Amongst the list of ideas you've suggested, the best I like is taxi service. He can easily buy one indica and lease it out to a company and drive for someone else. That'll be good money. But the thing is, he won't do it in Bhopal. Not that he doesn't want to, but it's a thing in small cities. Everyone knows him. No one will want to hire someone they served. Sounds filmy, but it's very complicated in his position.

Mom and wifey won't work as there's a kid in the house plus no one can give tutions as no one has studied beyond 12th standard. And pan-shop, ironing etc, won't happen as it was discussed and closed a while back.

CD shops also doesn't work there as most of the local cable players show all the movies (telescreen divx format) after 2-3 days of release.

But yeah. The taxi fleet service sounds interesting. I know of drivers who make 600-800 rs profit everyday running their taxis from Bhopal-Indore-Bhopal.

Thanks a lot man!

[Rehaan]

Alternate viewpoint :

Rather than taking another financial risk to start a new business, why doesn't he try and seek some sort of employment? (ie drive a taxi rather than start a taxi service)

I understand that he has only done schooling till the 10th, but given his experience, it might be possible for him to find something - perhaps with contacts he made through his family business? (Ideally he should work in the field he knows - it will give him an advantage to offset the the lack of a degree).

Doing this would also mean that he could use the 7-lakhs to supplement his income at the start - but he should be strict about this to make sure he's self sufficient when it runs out.

I'm not sure if this is the best long-term solution, but it might be one of the safest.

cya
R

[creative420]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Pardon me for saying this, but starting a venture is not based on someone else's ideas. Its got to be something that the promoter is passionate about and would love doing it, or alternatively sees a potential in terms of head start as there is lack of competition.

Folks will have ideas, i might suggest one, but the point is what does he loves doing and what would he like to do. It could be as simple as opening a eat out, but the trigger has got to be from within oneself and not external.

I guess my suggestion is Its time for you and/or him to introspect and not ask suggestions to everyone.

Hopefully you will take this in right spirit,

You're absolutely right. But as I said, we've come from a sarkari naukri background and we all serve the multinationals and all. Don't really have that entrepreneurship thinking. He does. But whatever he does, requires more investment.

His passion has died out. Imagine owning a fleet of 7 tippers and being passionate about this business and then not having even a bolt of a tipper.

And the reason why I am asking people in this forum is because I believe there's someone who has gone through the same thing and may have better things to suggest as we're not really familiar about it.

Select an are frequented by college kids, somewhere near a railway station, college or coaching classes. Start a fast food shop that makes, sandwiches, chat, Vada,Samosas,dosa, idlis, etc. If there is space, starting a Fizzy drink counter would also work well.


Start Small Make it Big.

Yeah. In fact, Bhopal has a lot of colleges coming up. Might not be a bad idea. Thanks.

I understand that he has only done schooling till the 10th, but given his experience, it might be possible for him to find something - perhaps with contacts he made through his family business? (Ideally he should work in the field he knows - it will give him an advantage to offset the the lack of a degree).

Doing this would also mean that he could use the 7-lakhs to supplement his income at the start.

I'm not sure if this is the best long-term solution, but it might be one of the safest.

I know Rehaan. It's a safe solution. But the thing is, we can always take care of his family. His passion for business has died out. He's hurt. He's rather scared to get into it again. He hasn't told us, but we just know. We want him to challenge himself. So this 7L is just like fuel to him to make that one last run before we all settle for a safe option.

[deky]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Pardon me for saying this, but starting a venture is not based on someone else's ideas. Its got to be something that the promoter is passionate about and would love doing it, or alternatively sees a potential in terms of head start as there is lack of competition.

Folks will have ideas, i might suggest one, but the point is what does he loves doing and what would he like to do. It could be as simple as opening a eat out, but the trigger has got to be from within oneself and not external.

I guess my suggestion is Its time for you and/or him to introspect and not ask suggestions to everyone.

Hopefully you will take this in right spirit,

I totally agree with the above!! The ideas should come from him with regards to what he likes doing the most and then you guys should have a discussion as to how to make it a success.

We already have a similar story here on Tbhp where a member lost everything in his business. But he did not give up, searched for ideas and implemented them to the best of his ability and today he is doing more than well in whatever he is doing!! And he did it all alone!!

So yes, its not impossible and he has you guys for support anyways!!

All the best to him!!

[creative420]

Originally Posted by deky

I totally agree with the above!! The ideas should come from him with regards to what he likes doing the most and then you guys should have a discussion as to how to make it a success.

We already have a similar story here on Tbhp where a member lost everything in his business. But he did not give up, searched for ideas and implemented them to the best of his ability and today he is doing more than well in whatever he is doing!! And he did it all alone!!

So yes, its not impossible and he has you guys for support anyways!!

All the best to him!!

deky. Thanks for stopping by. You're one of the most inspirational members on TBHP. In fact, I've compiled your posts from your trip to Mansarovar Thread and have sent'em to my friends. We all want to do it soon too.

I just mentioned in my previous post. Why I'm asking for help here is because, he has no zest. Nothing. Whatever happened to him in his business is something really shocking. And we're afraid maybe he'll take a long time to do anything about it. So at least something from here can be a PlanB.

We have limited ideas to inspire him. And we've helped all we could. Just want to know what business is the most feasible option.

Thanks for stopping by anyway.

[Altocumulus]

Originally Posted by creative420

I know Rehaan. It's a safe solution. But the thing is, we can always take care of his family. His passion for business has died out. He's hurt. He's rather scared to get into it again. He hasn't told us, but we just know. We want him to challenge himself. So this 7L is just like fuel to him to make that one last run before we all settle for a safe option.

Food is the safest option as long as it is good and appeals to the taste buds of the people having it. Investment also depends on how big you want it to be.

Second option is production of shirts or bags. It has more 100% profit because u just need a small place and the right people to make them. A little running around requires to be done initially but later you can hire people to do that for you. Cost of production is very low. I have seen my friend buying a NHC in just one year and he started with just 2 L investment.

Third option is like you mentioned buy a Indica and give it on hire. He can buy a second hand one initially to keep the investment low. Also if you guys are willing to take the risk, from the rest he can take a lakh or two and invest with sharekhan or religare, etc. Get hold of a good resource, preferably one you know and can trust and let him invest the funds based on the market. Promise him that any income over 10-12k will be his, be it an excess of 2k or 20k minus the tax. That guy will work on it like his own money. I had done it before and it worked very well for the both us.

[brraj]

Originally Posted by creative420

Amongst the list of ideas you've suggested, the best I like is taxi service. He can easily buy one indica and lease it out to a company and drive for someone else. That'll be good money. But the thing is, he won't do it in Bhopal. Not that he doesn't want to, but it's a thing in small cities. Everyone knows him. No one will want to hire someone they served. Sounds filmy, but it's very complicated in his position.

I can understand his situation.

Let him shift to another place(bangalore, bombay or any other place) so that he can do a taxi service. If he does not want to leave bhopal then he has to change his attitude. Friends cant keep helping him till his death right?

[creative420]

Originally Posted by brraj

I can understand his situation.

Let him shift to another place(bangalore, bombay or any other place) so that he can do a taxi service. If he does not want to leave bhopal then he has to change his attitude. Friends cant keep helping him till his death right?

Yeah. I've asked him to shift to Bangalore. So many companies here. Let's see. And we aren't really friends. We're a band of 8 brothers

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Alternate viewpoint :

Rather than taking another financial risk to start a new business, why doesn't he try and seek some sort of employment? (ie drive a taxi rather than start a taxi service)

I understand that he has only done schooling till the 10th, but given his experience, it might be possible for him to find something - perhaps with contacts he made through his family business? (Ideally he should work in the field he knows - it will give him an advantage to offset the the lack of a degree).

IMO this is the best advice so far. I am sure education will not be a constraint in getting some job in the transportation business.
Apart from this he can buy a car or a couple of auto rikshaws with the 7lakh and rent them out.

Originally Posted by creative420

I know Rehaan. It's a safe solution. But the thing is, we can always take care of his family. His passion for business has died out. He's hurt. He's rather scared to get into it again. He hasn't told us, but we just know. We want him to challenge himself. So this 7L is just like fuel to him to make that one last run before we all settle for a safe option.

But for how long? His own guaranteed monthly income will do more to boost his confidence than any help he is getting from you people.

Starting something like a food joint is no easy task, especially for someone without any experience. And 7 lakhs is way too less for a food franchise. My room mate wanted to take up a franchise of a popular coffee shop and just the license cost was upwards of 50 lakhs.