business ideas - gauging interest

[TwistedRainbow]

my hubby and i are tired of living paycheck to paycheck and working for other people. we are both creative and independent and we both know we were just meant to start our own business and work on our own terms. so we have been brainstorming a bit and came up with a couple things. let me know what you think.


IDEA 1
personal organizing
i love to organize i dont know why but its so much fun for me.
the problem is i cant find any info online about price and services. i search organizer and get storage containers lol.
also i have no professional experience.


is this something you would be interested in?
how much would you pay for something like this?
what do you think?


IDEA 2
car consultant
hate car shopping? me too
my hubby loves it. what would you think about filling out a credit form and giving someone else your info to go car shopping for you?
he would go from dealership to dealership looking for the car you want and find the lowest price and interest.
i know it sounds weird but then you would never have to buy a car yourself again. just show up when everything is done to collect your new car.


what do you think?


IDEA 3
diaper cakes
my mom makes diaper cakes and they look awesome and i would like to give it a go.
if you dont know what a diaper cake is here is an example.
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they are great for babyshowers and new mommys. the cake is made from diapers and decorated with things for baby like socks, animals, bibs, etc.


what do you think?
the one in the pic was made by my mom, if you search diaper cakes online they dont even come close to as nice as this one.


IDEA 4
games on wheels
this one we couldnt just do, it would take a while because of money BUT i think its a good idea.
so there are game places you can go to game with friends, walls lined with tvs and game systems. well what if we put it on wheels?
get a box truck, line it with tvs and game systems, get some nice chairs. it would be a birthday party thing. need some entertainment for your party call us. rent us out for a few hours, game and have fun!
we could also add in a kind of cafe, hot dog, snack cart thing that comes with rental.


what do you think?
is this something you would use for your child or yourself?
what would you pay for something like this?


IDEA 5
ok this one is my fave, i love it and i feel like this could be a very valuable thing to the world.
the school of common sense.
schools today are not what they should be. you learn math science and history but you DONT LEARN how to write a check or the difference in credit vs debit, or how to change the oil in your car, or change a tire etc.
this would be a after school/summer program where you send your kids to learn stuff about the real world to prepare them for what comes after graduation. this could be for adults as well, no age limit.
learning the specs of loans, best places to look for homes and cars, insurance, basic home and car repairs, anything that you have ever had a question about that school didnt teach you.
i know alot of people will say "well i learned that stuff from my parents" but not everyone does. i didnt. when i left home i didnt even know how to fill out a check myself. thank god for my husband, if it werent for him i'd still be clueless.
in todays day and age its normal for both parents to work full time jobs while kids are being raised by school and babysitters or themselves. the only time kids learn this stuff in school is if they take a class that is specific like automotive or something.
not only would this teach your kids life skills but would also give them a safe and fun environment to learn. if you are a parent who works a full time job and isn't there when your kid gets home from school this would be a great place to send them. you wouldn't have to worry about what they are doing and what they are getting into. you could have peace of mind knowing they are safe and learning to better themselves. we would also love to teach the dave ramsey financial coarse.
over all i think this would be amazing! it would be great for the economy and life in general for people to actually learn the best way to spend, save, and use money.
the only problem i see is people not wanting there kids in some random peoples house.

what do you think?
what would you pay for this?
what other curriculum what you like to see?

IDEA 6
inventions
my hubby and i come up with new inventions AT LEAST every few months. i would tell you what they are but we don't want to take any risks.
we just dont have money to come out with prototypes and we just dont know how to go about it.
any help would be great.



so thats what i have so far. trust me i WILL add more lol. i know im forgetting something and its driving me nuts.
just let me know what you think, whats the best idea? what do you suggest? thanks so much for reading!

[Eviecorn]

Hmm.  I'm going to preface this by saying I'm not meaning to be a downer, just giving you some thinking to do from different angles.  I think it's wonderful that you're thinking of ideas to better use your creativity.  So here's my two cents:

Idea 1:  it's a viable service, but then again you have to know your market.  Is it an area where people can pay for this service as a help to their daily lives?  Something to consider.

Idea 2:  same thing with #1.  You also are accepting a huge liability with handling people's personal information.  I personally wouldn't be so trusting of people with my social security and personal info.

Idea 3:  I know a few people who do this, and they make a little bit of side money doing this.  If you were going to do this, you should think about other crafts in this area to add as an additional service.

Idea 4:  Hmm.  Sounds interesting.  It'd take a huge start-up, as you acknowledged.

Idea 5:  There is a LOT involved in starting any kind of organized educational program.  Licensing, insurance, making sure that your information is correct and viable, etc.  I wouldn't feel comfortable about sending my kid to learn things from someone whose values or responsibility level I have no idea about.  I also wouldn't feel comfortable teaching something that I'm not personally an expert in (I majored in English, I teach English.  I don't teach health or home economics because I am not a consummate expert or trained in teaching those areas.)  I would highly suggest some teaching training if you plan on doing this, if it's not already a state requirement.

With all that said, good luck.  I'm still trying to figure out my own stuff here myself, business-wise.

[TwistedRainbow]

thanks for the input. your not a downer just a push. thats what this thread is for. i appreciated your comments. any other ideas would be great thanks for reading.

[HavACrumpet452]

I'd go with the diaper cakes. Anything where you have to go into somebody's house and touch their stuff, you're looking at needing insurance if you break something or possibly being accused of theft and all sorts of crap like that. Same with having kids at your house to learn, insurance needed. Inventions if they are good you'd need to go through legal processes to patent them and you also have to do a great deal of research to make sure nothing exists like it already. I watched one of those shows where people try to get investors to help them and this one chick thought she had a one-of-a-kind item and it turns out the investors found 2-3 other products just like it on the market already.

[Kiwi]

Neat ideas Here are my quick thoughts

#1 - I know my mom hired someone to help clean and organize - not just a cleaning service, but she did help with organizing and better storage ideas

#2 - personally no, I need to see and feel the car. I'm one of those people that gets "that feeling" when buying something, so for me it needs to be personal

#3 - neat idea, especially if you can expand on the gift ideas, but I can't see this bringing in enough to live on (is there enough interest, can people find how to do their own online, even if it's not as fancy) - my MOH made me a towel cake for my shower, which is a similar idea

#4 - not sure, maybe for some people?

#5 - definitely a neat idea, maybe call it something like "school of life skills"? maybe break it into individual workshops (each one 1 or 2 times per month, depending on popularity) so people can sign up for just what they are interested in

#6 - check with your city hall, they may be able to put you in contact with whoever you need (sponsors?) to fund the prototypes and help promote the new products

[mlpfan]

Idea 1 - I dont think it would fly, now house cleaning, that is where the money is.

idea 2  I don't know anyone who would pay a person to car shop for them, not to mention handling other people credit info.

idea 3  might work, but i don't see you selling many of them,

idea 4 would cost thousands and thousands to set up, I don't see it working
.
idea 5, this might work, you will need insurance in case a kid gets hurt and the parents sue and take everything you own.

idea 6  inventions, you will need to research the u.s patent office records and make sure it has not already been done, you can do it yourself or pay $$$ for them to do it for you, there are companys that will make a prototype but to go from idea, to prototype, to product you are looking at 5000-10000 dollars. inventing and patenting is VERY expensive. make sure it has not been done, if it has and you make and sell them the owner of the patent can sue you and make you pay royalties for every one that is sold

I am very good at predicting the outcome of business ideas, my parents last 3 business's they tried i predicted they would fail and they did. I was accurate to with a few  months  of how long they would last.

my longest post ever!!

[stopxmotion]

Idea 1 - Not sure about
Idea 2 - Nice, but I wouldn't trust someone with my info. Wouldn't be an option for me.
Idea 3 - Diaper cakes are neat, but at this point they are overdone. If your mom is making good money from it then thumbs up to her, but I wouldn't hope to make a living from something that is not "unique" anymore. Personal opinion.
Idea 4 - Love the idea, and I think people would hire you. It would take A LOT of money to set up though. You'd have to have tons of start up money and be prepared to take a loss for a while while you get yourself known. I can see it being a side project for a few years. The food part I'm not so sure about.. you may need a special permit plus an inspection. ( I know you do if you want to use your kitchen, for instance, to make edible things for sale.)
Idea 5 - I don't know where to start with this since I know squat about teaching and insurance and liability stuff. Personally though, I was taught how to write a check and change a tire/oil, etc in school. Granted, they were just "This is how you do it, ok moving on!" but.. I learned enough to get by in life I think. Also, I today's world we have the internet to refer to when you don't know how to do something.
Idea 6 - Don't know, since you don't want to be specific.

[kaoskat]

I'm not any good at this at all but it sounds like you've gotten a bit of good suggestions. Good luck!

[nhal039]

personally I think you have a lot of ideas... to many ideas to be honest. I say keep it simple and follow your  heart. If there is passion behind you you can move heaven and earth and for sure you will make your business work!

Obviously I vote number 5!