Business Ideas

Squilly · Nov 30, 2012

From yesterday and today, I thought of two potential business ideas and would like some opinions. Didn't know where else to put it so looks like it's going in this section. One directly involves Apple, one has nothing to do with Apple. Here it goes.
#1: A delivery service. This is similar to the delivery service of most pizza places, like Dominos, Pizza Hut, etc. It's for the places that don't have a delivery service. I, or an employee under me, would pick up the food, deliver it to the customer, and there would be a surcharge, like a convenience fee. Haven't figured out pricing yet.
#2: A CD player. Ever want to listen to music that wasn't on your iDevice and didn't want to purchase it on iTunes but you had a CD in the car with you or where-ever? I thought of this 10 minutes ago - it would be a CD player, connected to a Lightning cable or 30 pin standard cable. Once plugged in, you could listen to the music, or even download it directly, onto the iDevice.
So, what do you guys think? Any opinions are appreciated.

leenak · Nov 30, 2012

For #1, that exists in many areas. I know my area has one that works with something like 50 restaurants in your area, provides you the menus and you order from them. They pick up the food and deliver it to you. So you aren't working with the restaurant but rather working with the delivery service.

Squilly · Nov 30, 2012

leenak said:
For #1, that exists in many areas. I know my area has one that works with something like 50 restaurants in your area, provides you the menus and you order from them. They pick up the food and deliver it to you. So you aren't working with the restaurant but rather working with the delivery service.

Right. Do you know if it [seems] successful in your area?

leenak · Nov 30, 2012

Squilly said:
Right. Do you know if it [seems] successful in your area?

My company uses them extensively and they have been in business for quite a few years. I don't know how specifically on how profitable they are.

Mousse · Nov 30, 2012

How would #2 differ from using a computer to download a song onto your iDevice? Last I checked, iTunes was required to sync stuff onto an iToy; no side loading allowed.

eric/ · Nov 30, 2012

#1 is over saturated with razor thin margins

#2 won't sell or work well

sorry bud

snberk103 · Nov 30, 2012

Squilly said:
...
#1: A delivery service. This is similar to the delivery service of most pizza places, like Dominos, Pizza Hut, etc. It's for the places that don't have a delivery service. I, or an employee under me, would pick up the food, deliver it to the customer, and there would be a surcharge, like a convenience fee. Haven't figured out pricing yet....

Any opinions are appreciated.

eric/ said:
#1 is over saturated with razor thin margins
...

sorry bud

For #1 - Look around in your area to make sure the service doesn't already exist. This is an established idea, which means you may have some interesting option.

1) Buy a franchise. It is very likely that someone is selling franchises for this kind of delivery service. The profits are not as high, perhaps, because you are sharing them with head office - but they have also done all the work figuring out how to make it work. The pricing, the advertising, etc. So... much easier to set up.

2) Set up your own service. Because it's already been done (else where) you can get information on how the successful ones have done it. You will probably find that if you approached a number of the independent companies, in areas where you are not competing with them, at least one or two will be happy to share some tips. Once they are comfortable that you are actually where you say you are.

If you are lucky, you will be in an area that can support only 1 or 2 services. One service gives you a monopoly, but you get lazy without competition. Two services keeps you sharp. Three services makes it too tempting for 2 services to combine and put you out of business.

Good Luck.

Squilly · Nov 30, 2012

snberk103 said:
For #1 - Look around in your area to make sure the service doesn't already exist. This is an established idea, which means you may have some interesting option.

1) Buy a franchise. It is very likely that someone is selling franchises for this kind of delivery service. The profits are not as high, perhaps, because you are sharing them with head office - but they have also done all the work figuring out how to make it work. The pricing, the advertising, etc. So... much easier to set up.

2) Set up your own service. Because it's already been done (else where) you can get information on how the successful ones have done it. You will probably find that if you approached a number of the independent companies, in areas where you are not competing with them, at least one or two will be happy to share some tips. Once they are comfortable that you are actually where you say you are.

If you are lucky, you will be in an area that can support only 1 or 2 services. One service gives you a monopoly, but you get lazy without competition. Two services keeps you sharp. Three services makes it too tempting for 2 services to combine and put you out of business.

Good Luck.

Thanks! Although I'm not a fan of franchises. If I owned a company, I'd like to be the head of it (no one above me).

snberk103 · Dec 1, 2012

Squilly said:
Thanks! Although I'm not a fan of franchises. If I owned a company, I'd like to be the head of it (no one above me).

Fair enough. Just keep in mind that unless you already have business experience, a franchise may be a good way to get started. It is a good way to learn about the back-end stuff of running a business like costs control, hiring of staff, etc. Just a thought.

fSHAD · Dec 1, 2012

Mousse said:
How would #2 differ from using a computer to download a song onto your iDevice? Last I checked, iTunes was required to sync stuff onto an iToy; no side loading allowed.

Theres an APP for that

Free Direct Download Manager (FDDM)
Free Direct Download Manager (FDDM) is a web browser with built-in download management and media player capabilities.
Surf the web and download the multimedia content to your
i-device. You can preview and organize the content in file browser section.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-direct-download-manager/id572869514?mt=8

Squilly · Dec 1, 2012

Well there goes that idea, I see what you're saying though.

calderone · Dec 1, 2012

Squilly said:
Well there goes that idea, I see what you're saying though.

Ideas don't have to be novel and existing competitors are not a reason to not do something.

The big question is "How can you do it better?" If you can answer that question and determine that potential customers want it, then you have something.

Squilly · Dec 1, 2012

calderone said:
Ideas don't have to be novel and existing competitors are not a reason to not do something.

The big question is "How can you do it better?" If you can answer that question and determine that potential customers want it, then you have something.

Existing competitors making the product also have a much larger capital margin, which I don't have. That being said - venture capital.

calderone · Dec 1, 2012

Squilly said:
Existing competitors making the product also have a much larger capital margin, which I don't have. That being said - venture capital.

Who cares? I bet when they entered they had about as much capital as you would have on entry.

If your aim is simply to own a business to make money, you are in for a pretty poor time.

snberk103 · Dec 1, 2012

Squilly said:
Existing competitors making the product also have a much larger capital margin, which I don't have. That being said - venture capital.

No. Hard work, take a risk, work hard, hope for good luck. If you think venture capital is what you need at this point... well, I won't be investing.

Squilly · Dec 2, 2012

calderone said:
Who cares? I bet when they entered they had about as much capital as you would have on entry.

If your aim is simply to own a business to make money, you are in for a pretty poor time.

No, definitely not the only reason.

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