Got Money, Got Skills, Got NOOOO business idea!

[CMG987]

Hi everybody,

I think I don’t have to explain why I am here. I read the book and now I need to find a way out of 9 to 5 rat living

I want to be my own boss and enjoy things in life such as having time for family, travelling around the world etc.

As I mentioned in the headline I have the basic requirements for a startup. But unfortunately one of the most important factors (the idea) is still missing.
But to get a better impression of my problem you should know following:

I am working for a big IT company (as Manager, no coding skills)
I live in Germany, 26 years old
Got university degree
I have substantial income (+ savings = $70K)

In my experience Germany is the most adverse country for startups or fastlaners.
Everything is over-regulated and you need permissions for any sh**.
Income tax is between 38-48%, corporate tax 25-35%!
The startup scene is very small. No governmental support, no big incubators etc.

Due to the fact that I work a lot and have less time for checking out other peoples’ problems, I never could find a niche/problem or an interesting/growing industry (in Germany) which would be worth it to enter. But people in Germany (generally Europe) always adapt and copy trends from the US!

So here is the question: Can you give me some ideas, which trends are right now ongoing in the US? Especially in the luxury segment. Has anybody already experienced to run a business, which is located in Europe and selling to US via drop shipping?

My idea so far is either cosmetics, supplements or apparel. Does anybody know some high quality manufacturer in those sgements already?

What would you do in my position?

Best regards

C.

 

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[codo3500]

Unfortunately nobody is going to hand it to you. You need to find a genuine need to solve, not jump on the "Me too" bandwagon of entrepreneurship. I'm in a similar spot to you right now, and finding the right idea is all a part of the process.

Whenever you hear someone complaining, start thinking with a 'solution' mindset. The guys on here with that mindset do a lot better than the ones that just go "Hey supplements make money, I'll do that".

 

[RogueInnovation]

Tbh screw the trends. There is a lot of competition and its hit or miss.

If I was to choose an industry now - do as some of the bigger name guys on here have suggested - I'd find an older industry, with good track records where you don't have to reinvent the wheel and then I'd use my enthusiasm and knowledge to bring it up to date and make it efficient.

Right away you are fulfilling a need, by making a neglected business become up to date.

 

[BlokeInProgress]

I'd start with the lessons in the book itself on how to sniff a good opportunity, create and implement an idea. The book itself has the steps, re-read it again and maybe an idea will pop-out.

Read more posts, that's where your mind will be trained to spot an opportunity. Well, that worked for me and so far, its been a great help in sparking my idea. Hope it helps you too. Good luck!

 

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[mimedia]

Be careful here, if you've never started a business before, you'll soon find that very few of the skills needed to be a manager in an established company apply to actually starting a business from scratch. Having money to spend and over-confidence is a formula for losing a lot of money quickly. At least if you don't know what you're doing, but you don't have money, you naturally gravitate towards paths that lead directly to cash flow.

Hi everybody,
Due to the fact that I work a lot and have less time for checking out other peoples’ problems, I never could find a niche/problem or an interesting/growing industry (in Germany) which would be worth it to enter. But people in Germany (generally Europe) always adapt and copy trends from the US!

This is like saying "I want to get in shape, but I don't have time to buy and prepare good food, so I'm going to eat junk food instead". If you're going to start a business but you're not going to take the time to understand the needs of the marketplace, you're going to fail.

So here is the question: Can you give me some ideas, which trends are right now ongoing in the US? Especially in the luxury segment. Has anybody already experienced to run a business, which is located in Europe and selling to US via drop shipping?

My idea so far is either cosmetics, supplements or apparel. Does anybody know some high quality manufacturer in those sgements already?

What would you do in my position?

Best regards

C.

Start listening to interviews and podcasts by successful entrepreneurs (Mixergy, TropicalMBA, lots of others if you just do a search). Find great business blogs and add them to an RSS feed. Read books suggested on this forum.

Reach out to successful entrepreneurs and figure out how you can add value to their business. Figure out a way to intern/work for a successful entrepreneur. In the process, you'll likely acquire a basic skill set that's one piece of the puzzle needed to starting up a business, and you'll also put yourself in a position to start spotting real opportunities.

Also keep in mind its not going to be easy, even if you offer your time up for free. Most successful entrepreneurs (especially the ones who put themselves out there via blogs/podcasts) get offers to do work in exchange for knowledge and mentoring all the time. Think of it as your first entrepreneurial test, if you can't get an entrepreneur to take you up on your offer of free work - how will you be able to sell product to customers? At the end of the day you have to actually figure out how you can add value, not having time isn't an excuse. And having cash to spend can't help you circumvent this.

That's what I would do in your position. I definitely wouldn't put hard earned savings into competitive industries I don't understand, when I have no idea how to acquire a customer and no business experience, just because its a "XX Billion dollar market" or whatever.

 

[RogueInnovation]

WARNING: Business is not spending money (take a look at jack edwards gold thread where he turns 15k into 10 million dollars into a years net profit) every CENT counts
- It will not make you a more credible biz man to spend money on a startup (you think it will, but you will only hear back crickets and you will realise that you lost that money, making you a far LESS credible business man)
- It is common enough that guys fresh out of college spend around 100k on a wasted venture only to get so badly burnt that they wanna never do that again (spaxton has a thread on "how I lost 70k on advertising" or something, you should go read that)
- Wasting money on useless stuff is a garuntee; code, graphic design, guess marketting, offices, wrong people's wages. When what you really need is cheaper than all that and can be squeezed to support cashflow for itself (and even should be). Most guys starting spend on this BS stuff, but it does not help the fundamentals of the business.


I second mimedias reservations and cautions regarding spending the 70K
It is part of the sidewalker in you that you will lose that money in the blink of an eye and be broke really quickly.
Guys lose MILLIONS from that stuff, and you are NOT EXEMPT.

You need to beat off the compulsion to frivolously spend it, because if you have the right mindsets that can be used to launch quite a few startups as a buy in and get you ahead much quicker.
You will not HAVE that advantage if you are going into a biz trying to fake it, you will only lose that money.
If I were you, I'd lock most of that money away for a few years so I could not even TOUCH IT, and then I'd learn what real business is like.

Work for free for a mentor for a few years, that is my advice, only use that money for bare minimums and food. Then two or three years later, once you actually have the HUMILITY and mindset to start your "fastlane", then you can do it.

Spend it before then imo and its already as good as gone.

 

[DeletedUser2]

move.

 

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[Enki]

So here is the question: Can you give me some ideas, which trends are right now ongoing in the US?

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In my experience Germany is the most adverse country for startups or fastlaners.
Everything is over-regulated and you need permissions for any sh**.
Income tax is between 38-48%, corporate tax 25-35%!
The startup scene is very small. No governmental support, no big incubators etc.

move.