Transistor
Banned
I'm sorry, but taking out a loan to start a business doesn't show motivation. It shows carelessness without a good solid plan.
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I just borrowed $40,000 and want to start a business. Ideas?
- Thread starter ThLunarian
- Start date
Fug Slanderson
Member
You could provide funding for me to quit my stupid job and be a full time artist. I'll give you 10% from all paintings that I sell.
Alter_Fridge
Member
inorite
Who borrows (or gets approved for a loan) without being able to communicate some semblance of a plan of what to do with the money?
He had a plan. He was going to give it to a web developer.
ThLunarian
Member
Now now, at least offer me dinner and a movie first.
Believe it or not, I DID have a solid plan. This thread has shown me that the sensible thing to do, if my original idea doesn't work, is to return the money... but I started with a good foundation
Soapbox Killer
Grand Nagus
I got an idea.
Food Truck Lounge! Turn a used 24'' truck into a lounge and park next to other food trucks
Food Truck Lounge! Turn a used 24'' truck into a lounge and park next to other food trucks
hydragonwarrior
Member
"From GAFFER to PORNSTAR in 5 easy steps!"
Or something along those lines.
Or something along those lines.
Kurt Angle
Member
youre a cpa, your base salary will be 60k+
after a couple of years you will easily break six figures.....why are you borrowing 40k and paying interest?
nothing wrong with having dreams of starting a business, but you can literally save more yourself instead of borrowing. cmon man
after a couple of years you will easily break six figures.....why are you borrowing 40k and paying interest?
nothing wrong with having dreams of starting a business, but you can literally save more yourself instead of borrowing. cmon man
MidgarBlowedUp
Member
Open a robin hood account.
Invest 20k in GSL @ 1.28~1.29
Limit sell @ 1.31~1.32
Profit $400~800 by Friday.
Invest 20k in GSL @ 1.28~1.29
Limit sell @ 1.31~1.32
Profit $400~800 by Friday.
I work in banking, specifically small business lending. One of the most surprisingly profitable, low-capital companies I've worked with is a guy who does screen printed t-shirts and other apparel. The owner makes six figures in a smallish city with one location (and then proceeds to gamble it all away), and he is NOT business savvy at all.
Success can come in many forms, and many of them don't require a ton of cash — just some creativity and a solid network (which you, as a CPA, may already have).
Edit: On the other hand, another common use of ~$40M is to be an investor in commercial real estate. After a few successful investments, you should be good to go out on your own if that's your thing. This also plays well with the residential rentals you already own.
Success can come in many forms, and many of them don't require a ton of cash — just some creativity and a solid network (which you, as a CPA, may already have).
Edit: On the other hand, another common use of ~$40M is to be an investor in commercial real estate. After a few successful investments, you should be good to go out on your own if that's your thing. This also plays well with the residential rentals you already own.
ThLunarian
Member
This is good stuff. Even if I don't end up using it, I sincerely appreciate the thought that you put into your post. Thank you very much.
You should probably follow through with the idea.
But I wouldn't do it for $31k.
Instead, I would really whittle it down to an amount that you're willing to lose completely. Maybe $2-5k? You will just have to take out a lot of features until you get more money to put back into it.
This is stab in the dark, but maybe an overseas developer will help you out. In China, $2-5k is a lot of money. That might even be 3 or 4 months of wages. Secondly you don't have to offer the money completely unfront, you can offer part shares.
But make sure you don't reveal too much information otherwise they'll take the idea and do it on their own.
But I wouldn't do it for $31k.
Instead, I would really whittle it down to an amount that you're willing to lose completely. Maybe $2-5k? You will just have to take out a lot of features until you get more money to put back into it.
This is stab in the dark, but maybe an overseas developer will help you out. In China, $2-5k is a lot of money. That might even be 3 or 4 months of wages. Secondly you don't have to offer the money completely unfront, you can offer part shares.
But make sure you don't reveal too much information otherwise they'll take the idea and do it on their own.
Fixed
Also, OP, you don't need 40k to start a Magic investment portfolio website. Learn to program in your spare time and work while you go.
I'm not going to judge your idea nor if you should use the loan at all, as others have already enlightend you on it.
However - killing the idea because you don't have access to some random API? Seems like you weren't convinced of the idea yourself.
Short term solution: Do the magic sites prohibit you to data mine their listings in their ToS?
If not, time to get a bot to do some work, maybe even crawl through multiple sites to get a good average.
Long term solution: How do the other get their data on prices?
If the other sites don't update their prices or stop working, you're out of business anyway. To avoid that, you'll have to gather that data sooner or later for yourself. Cut out the middleman.
People in here give you shit for speculating on cards, but I actually think that's not even that bad. There are maniacs out there wasting energy in Bitcoin mining and speculating bazillions on it. At least you have some fancy names and pictures.
However - killing the idea because you don't have access to some random API? Seems like you weren't convinced of the idea yourself.
Short term solution: Do the magic sites prohibit you to data mine their listings in their ToS?
If not, time to get a bot to do some work, maybe even crawl through multiple sites to get a good average.
Long term solution: How do the other get their data on prices?
If the other sites don't update their prices or stop working, you're out of business anyway. To avoid that, you'll have to gather that data sooner or later for yourself. Cut out the middleman.
People in here give you shit for speculating on cards, but I actually think that's not even that bad. There are maniacs out there wasting energy in Bitcoin mining and speculating bazillions on it. At least you have some fancy names and pictures.
I mean we can close this thread now, right?
maybe you should invest in my project. And I am serious. I need a damn rich partner to make it happen! I am aiming to make a set of characters like tabletop game characters or make a complete set like a chess set. But first, I need money to hire a good modeler to get my characters 3D sculpted...heck I would even give them Magic the Gathering type character names if you just hand me over the $$$ 
and I think my website art will convience you to give me that sweet 40k that I badly...badly..need (yea I know you won't)
http://www.spoonfeedheroes.com/
Shameless plug...
and I think my website art will convience you to give me that sweet 40k that I badly...badly..need (yea I know you won't)
http://www.spoonfeedheroes.com/
Shameless plug...
God Dayumm
Banned
Your idea sounds profitable to me. I would return the money and cut my losses while I work on the concept some more. I think it can be doable but you need to do more investigation
Great points. Please consider all this OP
Great points. Please consider all this OP
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Ahahahahahahahahahaahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha you borrowed 40 grand before even realizing that your idea might not work?
How did someone give that money to you without checking?
How did someone give that money to you without checking?
ThLunarian
Member
I just don't see how that's feasible. I am not in the least interested in programming. I have tried it and I find it impossibly dull and frequently over my head. I just don't have it in me.
It's not that I'm not convinced of the idea myself - I have a lot of faith in it. I just have not been able to devise an alternative to a card pricing API. If it's possible to data mine then I will bring that up to my developer.
My problem is that I don't have enough programming knowledge and so I don't have the whole picture, so when problems arise I don't have enough insight to figure out alternative paths. Your post has already helped me look into other paths, so I appreciate that.
Mind I ask you how this whole pricing with the Magic the Gathering cards is supposed to work? I don't collect cards or know much about them, other than there are rare cards that come in some decks randomly (not specific to Magic the Gathering, but for other card games I am aware of).
While I know little about card games, I do have a business selling products. For few years now actually so I am curious to know how your original plan is really supposed to work if you don't mind explaining it to someone who knows almost nothing about Magic the Gathering.
While I know little about card games, I do have a business selling products. For few years now actually so I am curious to know how your original plan is really supposed to work if you don't mind explaining it to someone who knows almost nothing about Magic the Gathering.
Eff the haters in this thread. You can probably make payments on the 40k and be fine even if the idea goes to crap because you work as an accountant. My thought, though, is that Magic has been around a long time and its weird to me that this idea already doesn't exist, actually (unlike the people who were like "woah wtf magic card pricing???") It just seems that if the idea were possible, it would've been made already, right? I'm not saying that's guaranteed but it feels like with the audience that magic has, this would've been a thing already.
Aquavelvaman
Banned
Flat Earther dating site
Flat mate dot com
My consulting fee for this idea is $10,000.
Flat mate dot com
My consulting fee for this idea is $10,000.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Same ones that gave sub-prime mortgages away to people who couldn't afford it in '08.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
It's possible it doesn't exist, but the question at hand is "Is there a demand for this? At least large enough that it can support a profitable business?" Did OP do market research that made him believe this was a marketable idea? If so, then there's probably a way to pull it off if enough people are willing to pay for it.
Also, I played Magic the Gathering for the first time last weekend.
What the fuck is this game, I couldn't understand the rules after three hours.
Also as an accountant OP, you know better than to just keep the money while interest is hitting you on that shit. So no, don't make payments on the 40K for no fucking reason. Just cause you work as an accountant doesn't mean you should bleed money, so ignore anyone that says "Keep it, you'll figure it out." That's stupid.
Subpar Spatula
Banned
all on black. yolo.
Glass Shark
Banned
Give it back. Dont take a loan to start a business just because you feel like you have to.
That's all true. It's possible other people have looked into it and decided it wasn't viable and so it doesn't really exist.
Also random, but if you have one of the video games lying around you should try and learn from that, but the game is fairly complicated definitely (especially since they keep adding on random one set abilities, but maybe that's different now?)
Oh, and, to the OP, perhaps also look into how its done with other trading cards, like baseball.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Where did you get the idea from and how much customer segment research did you do beforehand? Are your cash flow projections based on any false premises?
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
I dunno, I feel like the game was especially boring cause I couldn't drink while the other guys were (I drove there). Also, these were some tournament playing mothafuckas, and I'm just confused as to why there's a sexy ice elf on this card.
I mean, with 40k, why not do the best next thing? Open a Magic the Gathering shop. Get friends and acquaintances to get to know your shop, organize tournaments, sell other card games and tabletops on the side, since you are here in on GAF, maybe import and sell a few videogames.
And with that first-hand knowledge you can work on your idea for the future.
And with that first-hand knowledge you can work on your idea for the future.
No-one is giving you 40k to back the production of figurines for a comic series that doesn't exist yet.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
He said that there's too much competition in Charlotte on that front.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Renegade Frost
Banned
But is it a reaaal opportunity/?