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Choosing between 2 business ideas

Idea threads

Vas87

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Would love to hear some feedback on picking between 2 business ideas. They are in an unrelated field.

1 is the safe play: a brick and mortar optometry clinic which would specialise in children's vision (myopia is a huge risk factor for kids these days). I would have to work in the business a lot more as I would be the optometrist (at least for the first 1-2 years), with higher wage and product costs.

2 is a ping pong on demand type of place just like pingpods.com (I am in Australia and we don't have anything like it here yet). I think it's the riskier but potentially more fastlane option as it is more scalable quickly and does not require any staff: so setup and staff costs are quite low.

Both options appear enticing as they help with people's health and also brings a sense of community.
 
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Parks

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My favorite thing from the books is that no person can tell you what business to get into. You can only listen to the demand of the market and what it's needs are.

1. Is limited by location, would need to be franchised/multiple locations likely to get rich fast. Are you already in this industry or just wanting to get in it for certain reasons?
 

Vas87

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My favorite thing from the books is that no person can tell you what business to get into. You can only listen to the demand of the market and what it's needs are.

1. Is limited by location, would need to be franchised/multiple locations likely to get rich fast. Are you already in this industry or just wanting to get in it for certain reasons?
I am an optometrist already. I am not looking to get rich fast, but I do see this as a 5 year "all in" play.
 

Parks

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I am an optometrist already. I am not looking to get rich fast, but I do see this as a 5 year "all in" play.

From my perspective you should go with business #1 then. You already have the experience of the field and the upper hand to others compared to Ping Pong that you haven't done yourself.

Here is a fun reminder;
 
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G

Guest-5ty5s4

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Would love to hear some feedback on picking between 2 business ideas. They are in an unrelated field.

1 is the safe play: a brick and mortar optometry clinic which would specialise in children's vision (myopia is a huge risk factor for kids these days). I would have to work in the business a lot more as I would be the optometrist (at least for the first 1-2 years), with higher wage and product costs.

2 is a ping pong on demand type of place just like pingpods.com (I am in Australia and we don't have anything like it here yet). I think it's the riskier but potentially more fastlane option as it is more scalable quickly and does not require any staff: so setup and staff costs are quite low.

Both options appear enticing as they help with people's health and also brings a sense of community.
I’m with @Johnny boy . Do both.

You have the potential to do optometry in your own practice? That’s a hell of a day job, and a solid business.

Start your ping pong thing on the side. Use cash flow from optometry to grow it.

I know several optometrists and none of them are billionaires but all of them are worth at least $1M by my estimates. One of them is only 28 years old and has already bought and sold 7 different real estate properties while he runs his optometry practice (started as the assistant optometrist with his dad since his dad is one and his a practice too).

I always write too much. Both have potential.
 

MJ DeMarco

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2 is a ping pong on demand type of place just like pingpods.com (I am in Australia and we don't have anything like it here yet). I think it's the riskier but potentially more fastlane option as it is more scalable quickly and does not require any staff: so setup and staff costs are quite low.

Both options appear enticing as they help with people's health and also brings a sense of community.

Does this risk being a fad? I know PingPong has been around for awhile, but is it just something "cool and new" to do?

Since you have a significant sunk cost with optometry, I'd start there -- and you are "niching" down which on the surface sounds like a good idea -- the only problem targeting children is your customers outgrow your service, instead of grabbing a stable book of customers that come every two years.
 
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Vas87

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From my perspective you should go with business #1 then. You already have the experience of the field and the upper hand to others compared to Ping Pong that you haven't done yourself.

Here is a fun reminder;
That's a throwback!
I’m with @Johnny boy . Do both.

You have the potential to do optometry in your own practice? That’s a hell of a day job, and a solid business.

Start your ping pong thing on the side. Use cash flow from optometry to grow it.

I know several optometrists and none of them are billionaires but all of them are worth at least $1M by my estimates. One of them is only 28 years old and has already bought and sold 7 different real estate properties while he runs his optometry practice (started as the assistant optometrist with his dad since his dad is one and his a practice too).

I always write too much. Both have potential.
Starting 2 at once would be a stretch. However, the optometry clinic would be quiet at the beginning due to patient database needing to be build up over 2 or so years, which would allow me to do the Ping Pong thing.
Does this risk being a fad? I know PingPong has been around for awhile, but is it just something "cool and new" to do?

Since you have a significant sunk cost with optometry, I'd start there -- and you are "niching" down which on the surface sounds like a good idea -- the only problem targeting children is your customers outgrow your service, instead of grabbing a stable book of customers that come every two years.
I see ping pong as something similar to 8 ball, it has a great social aspect and can be great for team building. Currently ping pong is played in community halls in the suburbs. There is nothing in the CBD (where a lot of international students live). I am getting a landing page made and going to see what the market response is after putting up Facebook ads.

For the optometry clinic I have a location picked in a wealthy area so it would also sell medium to high end glasses, cycling eyewear (lots of cyclists in that area) on top of the children's vision.
 

Vas87

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Just a quick followup: Did a little market test with putting a Facebook ad up for the pingpong business asking for email leads (on the premise they get notified when the business opens), got a 5.5% conversion rate. Does this seem reasonable? I remember reading 1-2% is a good conversion rate for retail sites.
 

spreng

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Would love to hear some feedback on picking between 2 business ideas. They are in an unrelated field.

1 is the safe play: a brick and mortar optometry clinic which would specialise in children's vision (myopia is a huge risk factor for kids these days). I would have to work in the business a lot more as I would be the optometrist (at least for the first 1-2 years), with higher wage and product costs.

2 is a ping pong on demand type of place just like pingpods.com (I am in Australia and we don't have anything like it here yet). I think it's the riskier but potentially more fastlane option as it is more scalable quickly and does not require any staff: so setup and staff costs are quite low.

Both options appear enticing as they help with people's health and also brings a sense of community.
The ping pong business model will only be good in big cities where space is expensive, so most people obviously will not get to have a ping pong table in their home.
 
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Vas87

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Jul 4, 2012
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The ping pong business model will only be good in big cities where space is expensive, so most people obviously will not get to have a ping pong table in their home.
For sure, high density is where it will thrive.
 

Ronak

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There was an optometrist who contracted with senior aged care facilities for mobile optometry services, was making decent money. Maybe something to look into, as it can scale without a physical location.
 

Vas87

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Jul 4, 2012
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There was an optometrist who contracted with senior aged care facilities for mobile optometry services, was making decent money. Maybe something to look into, as it can scale without a physical location.
Sure I have done something similar, but it's very time consuming.
 
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