business with good cashflow

Hi can anyone advise what is a good business to purchase for cashflow.

I was thinking of newsagency or post office or something which has a demand and good profit potential.

any ideas?

 

Not sure about post office, but with newsagencies you're looking at 30% of revenue being profit. So say you turn over 500k a year, that's 150k in your pocket. One thing to note about this business is that every dollar counts and adds up - it's a cash business and many operators don't report their true profits (I don't endorse this behaviour, of course).

HTH

DG

 

What about a coin laundry.. About 60K to set up and good in areas with large population in units near by.

 

That is interesting- I notice News agencies often seem to be purchased by middle aged people- probably early retirees or summit. The other thing I notice is that they always seem to be such a sour bunch of old curmudgeons who run these newsagencies. Dunno why this should be if the profits are so good [yes I know they have to rise early etc-- most people who want to make a bob or too have to work long hours]-- I have noticed this peculiarity of news agent proprietors over many years. I am always sympathetic to shop assistants as standing for long hours must be trying not to mention difficult customers( I am not one of those!) Maybe they bought in view of an easier life syle and find even though profits are good work still needed- Ah another of Lif'e' conundrums.

 

Interesting you mention laundry islandgirl, I'd thought of same thing, but haven't researched it yet. I didn't reaslise 60k was enough to set up, cheaper than I was thinking (some had told me the industrial machines are very expensive but I have no idea).

What do you think about the downside, such as vandals, people washing dirty nappies/soiled things etc.?

Any idea of the profit making potential?

Thanks

 

Hi Tiiu & others,

I've been trying to find a business idea as well. Seems to me that a lot of good ideas on this site about building wealth with combination of real estate + shares but ultimately cashflow will become the limiting factor in how far can build this up? Hence a cashflow business a useful thing

I've started to look at internet based businesses, some I think that have merit are information delivery businesses and ebay. I don't know much about them, but the theory is worth thinking about... if they are time efficient you could try to run several of them at once. Could have multiple streams of income and still not have to work full time to achieve it. That's what they say at seminars anyway

I don't know if these really work, seems to me there is massive competition, but then again there are an awful lot of potential customers.

Of course can hear the amazing success stories where someone is making an absolute fortune out of these things, but not sure if they are able to be proved, or if they have other related businesses they don't mention (maybe have cross-selling between their businesses, or have retail shops, or do speaking seminars etc.)

Anyway, another avenue to explore if it appeals.

PS - if anyone has any experience of internet bases business I'd love to know how you got on, if made some useful money.

Thanks

 

Triu, apologies, I mistyped your name in earlier post... sorry...

 

Ilori you can do an internet search for coin laundry's in Australia and there are a couple of good ones that sell the laundry equipment, some even have lease options and rent options to defray your cost. I guess it all depends on location mainly and researching your market.

As for the internet business, I have tried one and marketing and getting your name out there is difficult. Its not as simple as just building a site and waiting for customers. Ebay fees are ridiculously high and getting higher daily. It is a low cost alternative to start off a good business idea and test the market however your profits are quickly eroded by Ebay fees, seller fees, paypal fees, listing fees... the list is endless.

 

Don't know how you come up with 30%. I believe the industry average is about 9.5%, however it would be a fairly sad newsagency to only be turning over 500K.

So if you bring the turnover up to around 1.5MIL the end result would be about the same.

By the way I happen to know where there is a good one for sale if anyone is interested

 

With Newsagencies I think these days it is the lotto agency that is the huge money spinner - like pokies in pubs.

Cheers

 

Thanks for the info re. laundries Islandgirl, will look into it, an issue for me is that I live amongst small towns and most of them have a laundry, so would have to compete for business with existing ones (with limited population), but still, worth checking into more.

Also interesting what you say about Ebay fees, good advice.

I'm only at the start re. online business and have attended a seminar to get general overview... certainly they didn't mention the fees that erode profit. They did mention things though... such as trying to market topics that people are searching for, there are tools that record search criteria and you can get access to that, then try to target what people are searching for. Also, they talked about paying for Google Adwords (I think that's the term) so get picked up in searches. Even structure of the site and order of product offers... offer something free to begin (to show good faith), then offer something costing a little, then something costing a little more, then a little more, then at end, if they are declining and leaving site, offer something very cheap as parting opportunity... so get several goes to sell to them. There is a logic to the pricing and the order of the offers to maximise chances of getting the sales.

Certainly though, I'm sure it's not as easy as they make it sound, but they are some of the things they talk about

===

Another totally different idea that has crossed my mind... is something that targets people experiencing financial stress due to loans, credit cards, rising interest etc. Seems more and more I hear of people under great stress... needing to get food from shelters; selling their homes in distress etc. Wonder if some of these people could be helped by reviewing/managing/budgeting finances. I don't have statistics, but seems to me there are huge numbers of people doing it really hard and they are all possible clients in a win/win business.

 

You mean a financial planner?

Legally to give "financial advice" you need a financial planning licence ("AFSL"). Whether setting budgets etc constitutes advice, I dunno.

 

setting household budgets would not be giving financial advice. Your not recommending a financial product.

However, recommending a particular deposit account, share, real estate or managed fund to put surplus money from the budget into would be considered financial advice as they are financial products.