What Business to start on a low budget?

My Cousin has just graduated from college in Canada with a Business Diploma, he is very keen on starting his own business from his college savings. I would really appreciate if you could suggest some ideas for him to look into. Thanks.

That's not how it works. Takes a lot of years of very little money to start a successful business - you kind have to love what you're doing.

If I had to choose something .. I'd go with a fastfood franchise .. little to know variety in my home town, especially when it comes to ethnic fast food. But those guys live terrible lives, working 80+ hr weeks for peanuts.

Something that does not involve producing a product.

His best bet would be selling some sort of service that others are willing to pay for (and you would be amazed how much people will pay for things that you personally would never dream of giving up a cent for).

Of course since he is like 24 and has a "business diploma" he will probably have to dig deep to figure out what kind of service to sell.

work for a few years, then revisit it

Well, undercapitalized business means you need little to no inventory, high velocity of cash, and no initial investment for start up. If you think of something that meets this criteria let me know!

Originally Posted by otc

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Something that does not involve producing a product.

His best bet would be selling some sort of service that others are willing to pay for (and you would be amazed how much people will pay for things that you personally would never dream of giving up a cent for).

Of course since he is like 24 and has a "business diploma" he will probably have to dig deep to figure out what kind of service to sell.

Thanks for your reply, can you suggest some services?

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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work for a few years, then revisit it

He is quite adamant on starting his business soon and I feel he can do pretty well based on his business and people skills. I just want to suggest him some businesses where the chances of success are somewhat higher than average.

You don't start a business without a lot of fallback money. Lemonade stand?

If he is keen on entrepreneurship, but doesn't have an idea, it would likely be best to go work in a field that he's interested in/utilizes his current skill-set, and search for untapped niches within that industry. Having drive is great (and imperative when starting your own business), but to be frank, executing a successful business plan requires a lot of thinking outside the box. if you need someone to think of step 1 for a business, he's probably going to need someone to think of step 2, 3, and 4 as well. With the aforementioned experience should come wisdom, and in turn hopefully result in self realized answers to steps 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Lawl

Your cousin should ask for a ******* refund.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Well, undercapitalized business means you need little to no inventory, high velocity of cash, and no initial investment for start up. If you think of something that meets this criteria let me know!

Prostitution?

Try commercial cleaning franchise

Minimal capital could be a computer programming service, in his case perhaps business programming. He does not have to be a programmer, just getting to know people who can do the job, and finding the work for them to do. The best bet is for him to get a job in his chosen field to make contacts, and attend computer conferences or geek meetings to find the programmers.

which area does him interested?

I'd say that starting a business just for the sake of it is a pretty bad idea. It's going to be a lot of work, so if he's not doing something because he enjoys it it'll be a lot harder to motivate himself and if he doesn't choose something based on what the market in his area will support then he's really setting himself up to fail.

He should try working for a couple of years maybe, building up experience and contacts and really working on his ideas for what exactly he wants to do.

Originally Posted by hrb

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If he is keen on entrepreneurship, but doesn't have an idea, it would likely be best to go work in a field that he's interested in/utilizes his current skill-set, and search for untapped niches within that industry. Having drive is great (and imperative when starting your own business), but to be frank, executing a successful business plan requires a lot of thinking outside the box. if you need someone to think of step 1 for a business, he's probably going to need someone to think of step 2, 3, and 4 as well. With the aforementioned experience should come wisdom, and in turn hopefully result in self realized answers to steps 1, 2, 3, and 4.

+1