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Coming to America w. $40,000 in my pocket

D-Man

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A little bit about myself.
I recently (4 months ago) moved from Germany to Orange County, CA and I'm currently still pending my work permit so I I've been recently having plenty of time to think about what to do with my life and what not do but still haven't come up with anything... in Germany I was working in Federal Human resource for the U.S. Army (as a local national) for the past 10 years so my logic told me that I should just pick up another HR job over here but the more i thought about it the more I realized that I never really wanted to work in that field and I'd rather work from home, perhaps being self employed. The only other option I looked into was becoming a truck driver since I was reading about salaries up to 90,000 per year only having to drive around in a truck. I really don't want to have to deal with people (HR) and their problems any longer being stuck in an office everyday for $50,000 per year so at this point I'm scoping out some business ideas. My wife is friends with this philippino family that's in the Assisted Living/Senior citizen home business plus my mother in law was a caregiver so that was one of my ideas. Another one was exporting cars to Germany (stangs, vettes, challengers ect.) Since I live 30 minutes away from the port of Long Beach).
My brother in law is a house appraiser so I thought about flipping houses here in orange county with his help but I was reading that the only way to really make it work is if you have the cash to buy a house and then renovate it which for me would mean to have around $500,000 cash in the OC which i don't. I only have those $40,000 in cash and am really close to spend it all on a lowrider...any better ideas?
 
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AgainstAllOdds

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Orange County is really expensive if you're trying to get an income stream going. $40,000 is enough to start most businesses, however, in Orange County you'll be running through that amount fairly quickly and stressing yourself out.

Trucking is an option. There's high demand. However, you won't be home most of the time - and because of that you'll also be wondering why you're paying high living costs when you could've been a truck driver somewhere else.

In your place I'd start by getting a job. Have enough income to pay all your expenses and not touch the $40,000. Then in your spare time start working on projects. When you finally find one that's promising, then quit and go full-time since you have a $40,000 runway.
 

D-Man

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Almost anything is better than spending it on a low rider, lol. Not sure if you were serious.

Why did you pick Orange County? It’s a very expensive area to live in?

The lowrider was serious but not the budget ;) I'm willing to spend $5000 for a lowrider at the moment.
My wife was born and raised here. We live with her parents so right now living costs are close to nothing except food at Costco and Aldi :)
 
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D-Man

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Orange County is really expensive if you're trying to get an income stream going. $40,000 is enough to start most businesses, however, in Orange County you'll be running through that amount fairly quickly and stressing yourself out.

Trucking is an option. There's high demand. However, you won't be home most of the time - and because of that you'll also be wondering why you're paying high living costs when you could've been a truck driver somewhere else.

In your place I'd start by getting a job. Have enough income to pay all your expenses and not touch the $40,000. Then in your spare time start working on projects. When you finally find one that's promising, then quit and go full-time since you have a $40,000 runway.
I appreciate your suggestions. Currently we live with my wife's parents and I have no expenses on housing etc. We could technically continue to live like that because we all get along really well. I'm confused whether I should buy my own property or use the money to start a business. I feel like there are more opportunities in this area but maybe I'm wrong. One thing is for sure. There are a lot of rich people and tourists in this city (huntington beach).
 
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AgainstAllOdds

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I appreciate your suggestions. Currently we live with my wife's parents and I have no expenses on housing etc. We could technically continue to live like that because we all get along really well. I'm confused whether I should buy my own property or use the money to start a business. I feel like there are more opportunities in this area but maybe I'm wrong. One thing is for sure. There are a lot of rich people and tourists in this city (huntington beach).

If you're not paying housing then stay there. There's more opportunities there if your basic living expenses are covered.

Just make sure your parents in law and wife are on board with the entrepreneurial journey. For a lot of entrepreneurs it takes years before you start making money. If they don't see results, it's only a matter of time before they turn on you and start asking you what you're doing all day.
 

AFMKelvin

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Lol please don't buy a low rider. If you really like them go to car meet ups and pay or ask someone to let you borrow one. You'll blow through those 40k in no time by owning one.

You just joined this forum. Get a job somewhere and in the mean time spend a year and all your free time reading through all the posts in this forum.

This forum is a gold mine of ideas, executions, failures, dreams coming true etc. You won't find this information all in one place anywhere on the internet. There's a lot of entrepreneurs that I have read about on other websites and I'm always surprise to see them introduce themselves on this forum.

Buy MJ's books and just take your time digesting everything. You'll have a better idea on what to focus on and where to invest your money. No one here can tell you what business to start or what to work on. There's so many fields and there's people making money in all of them.
 
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D-Man

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If you're not paying housing then stay there. There's more opportunities there if your basic living expenses are covered.

Just make sure your parents in law and wife are on board with the entrepreneurial journey. For a lot of entrepreneurs it takes years before you start making money. If they don't see results, it's only a matter of time before they turn on you and start asking you what you're doing all day.
My mother in law is all for it. Today we talked again about the assisted living home business and she said she can introduce me to people who are currently working in this field.
My wife is a social worker for the county and was trying the entrepreneur life herself in her early twenties so she is familiar with it as well. But as you said, I think I should get a regular job initially, hopefully remote or part time and then see what else is out there as far as self employment. I definitely don't have to worry about bills at the moment besides phone and food/gas so that helps alot!
 

D-Man

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Hi, may i ask you guys another question? I am looking into buying an already established small business in my area. I saw business for $150000, some for much more, some for less. The owners state their so called "Sales Revenue" and their "Cashflows" and speak of that being their "Net Income".
If I speak of Net Income, I mean my personal income after ALL deductions.
Does that apply to those businesses as well or do I have to deduct employee salaries and their retirement as well as taxes and other expenses from the "Cashflow" Amount?
 

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