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I just borrowed $40,000 and want to start a business. Ideas?

SalvaPot

Member
He said that there's too much competition in Charlotte on that front.

That shouldn't stop him. Competition is a good thing, he has the money to get there and make a splash. If he wants his actual goal to be a success he will need the foundation to make it happen.

There has to be SOMETHING he can provide that no other place has. Maybe it can be just the novelty of a new place. I am speaking out of experience here, people are always willing to try a new place if it provides something a liiiiitle bit better than the others.
 

Lynd7

Member
I have a great app idea, but don't have the know how or money to get it built. It's not even super complex.

Good luck OP.
 
. . .
Be honest OP, do you have criminal contacts lending you money?

In 2005, my dad had a stroke that permanently disabled him, and I offered to buy his house but couldn't come up with a down payment on my own. My grandmother lent me $10k, so I was able to buy it. That $10k loan was my lucky break that got the ball rolling.

This was before the housing crisis of 2008, so mortgages were being given out like candy.

I used the equity in the first house to buy the second for a bargain, and I rented it out. I used the equity in the second house to buy the third house, and I rented that one out too.

Then the real estate crash happened. It became impossible for me to continue any further. Luckily, my houses did not decrease in value, so I've been able to hold onto them ever since. Two of the houses had mortgages with really crappy terms but I was able to refinance one of them to something more palatable. The other one is still pretty crappy but I'm working on it.

I was making payments back to my grandmother, but she passed away so the loan was forgiven.

In 2011 I finally went back to college and became a CPA.

So that's the story of how I got where I am today.
 
That shouldn't stop him. Competition is a good thing, he has the money to get there and make a splash. If he wants his actual goal to be a success he will need the foundation to make it happen.

There has to be SOMETHING he can provide that no other place has. Maybe it can be just the novelty of a new place. I am speaking out of experience here, people are always willing to try a new place if it provides something a liiiiitle bit better than the others.

Competition is a good thing.

Over-saturation is not.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
I had a business idea and borrowed money to get it started, but right now it looks like my idea might not work.

So now I have $40,000 that I borrowed from banks and, assuming that I'm right and my original idea won't work, I am looking for other ideas.

I like to play board games and puzzles. I've been into Magic the Gathering for 23 years. I follow politics very closely and consider myself a left wing social justice warrior. I am a licensed CPA but I don't have enough experience to open my own firm and I'm starting to think that it was the wrong career for me because accounting is boring. I like musical theory but I'm not very talented at performing. I really enjoy ballroom dancing and spent 9 months as an instructor at Arthur Murray. I am not very charismatic in person usually. I am an okay writer, but not good enough to make a career of it. I currently own three houses, two of which I am renting out at a tiny profit, and I am interested in eventually acquiring more real estate but I don't think I have enough capital to actually do that. I think I would make a great director for either movies or theater but I have no idea how to hone that skill.

I am paying interest on this money so I can't just give it away.

I don't want to invest it in some other business because I can't make a living off of that.

I am not a rich man so $40k is just about all I'll be able to spare.

That's all. I'm just looking for ideas here. Thanks folks


r0yAz2.gif



Edit: since many people have asked or have not realized that there was an idea originally, the idea was to start a futures market on Magic the Gathering cards, letting people buy options for them so they can speculate without actually buying the cards.

This may not be viable now, for reasons involving vendors and card pricing APIs.

And the reason I typed that long paragraph talking about myself was to help people come up with ideas related to things I enjoy. It was not intended as a display of relevant skills. But that doesn't seem like it's going to happen, and now it's looking like I will just return the money if my original idea becomes non-viable. So it goes.
y8QLK6.gif
 
In 2005, my dad had a stroke that permanently disabled him, and I offered to buy his house but couldn't come up with a down payment on my own. My grandmother lent me $10k, so I was able to buy it. That $10k loan was my lucky break that got the ball rolling.

This was before the housing crisis of 2008, so mortgages were being given out like candy.

I used the equity in the first house to buy the second for a bargain, and I rented it out. I used the equity in the second house to buy the third house, and I rented that one out too.

Then the real estate crash happened. It became impossible for me to continue any further. Luckily, my houses did not decrease in value, so I've been able to hold onto them ever since. Two of the houses had mortgages with really crappy terms but I was able to refinance one of them to something more palatable. The other one is still pretty crappy but I'm working on it.

I was making payments back to my grandmother, but she passed away so the loan was forgiven.

In 2011 I finally went back to college and became a CPA.

So that's the story of how I got where I am today.

You do seem to have some business savvy, but what made you decide on 3 houses specifically? Or would you have just kept going?
 

SRG01

Member
You do seem to have some business savvy, but what made you decide on 3 houses specifically? Or would you have just kept going?

It's a cash flow thing -- a lot of people own multiple rental properties to gain income and/or accumulate properties.

Like he said, the financial crisis happened, so he stopped.
 

JackDT

Member
It doesn't seem ethical to not return the loan if the initial opportunity it was given is already closed down. However I have no idea what's in those contracts.

Practically speaking, since you already have houses, you could put the money into upgrades on the houses so you could charge more rent or whatever. (Assuming the houses are already bringing in something)
 

Ominym

Banned
How good was your credit score that you could just walk out with $40k and no idea? What did you even tell the lenders you needed it for? Stuff and things?

And that's ignoring the fact you shouldn't have even taken the money till you had an idea, knew what you needed, and budgeted appropriately.
 

Flo_Evans

Member
Eh. If I’m understanding the scope of the site $30k is really cheap. Like I wouldn’t trust a developer that says they can make that for 30k cheap. Also who is designing it? Branding? Marketing? You can’t just “build a site” then expect people to make an account and give you money to gamble on magic cards.

I’m not even sure your idea is legal, you may have all kinds of regulatory bodies up your ass. Did you talk to a lawyer about this?
 

Banzai

Member
Honestly you should give the money back.
But as for ideas, lately I've been playing with the idea of opening a bar that offers board- and videogames for hanging out. We have a club here that has a single console with Mario Kart on it and it's always a blast to play a couple of rounds after being done with drinking and dancing.
Hardly a revolutionary idea, but there's nothing like it around where I live. Also I don't have the funds, I only just got out of college.
 

Shandy

Member
Guys, it's not a business loan. They don't just hand those out to every idiot with an idea. OP took out x number of personal loans totalling 40 thousand dollars and if he ends up in a position where he can't repay them normally, they'll start picking through his assets and he'll be completely fucked and no one will ever lend to him again.

The bank isn't stupid, they knew exactly what they were doing and Mr CPA Threehouses should have, too.
 

sturmdogg

Member
To the OP, whatever business idea you come up with, before you actually implement it do a SWOT analysis first. Might save you a couple of visits from your friendly neighborhood loan sharks.
 

Xtyle

Member
Honestly you should give the money back.
But as for ideas, lately I've been playing with the idea of opening a bar that offers board- and videogames for hanging out. We have a club here that has a single console with Mario Kart on it and it's always a blast to play a couple of rounds after being done with drinking and dancing.
Hardly a revolutionary idea, but there's nothing like it around where I live. Also I don't have the funds, I only just got out of college.

Would it attract more customers just because it has games? Or may be it does...maybe it keeps them there longer too so they spent more money...I generally don't think people who go to bars care about such things though.
 

Wulfric

Member
Yea lol, it's pretty damn obvious how the OP's post goes randomly into MTG and other stuff.

He was being serious. He wrote about it extensively in the MTG GAF thread and on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgfinance/comments/6vjk00/upcoming_tool_to_speculate_on_cards_without/

OP, I don't wanna call you out, but this just raises alarm bells. If the site isn't gonna work out for whatever reason, return the money. I don't want to see someone hampered with 40k in debt and scrambling to come up with a plan B.
 

Banzai

Member
Would it attract more customers just because it has games? Or may be it does...maybe it keeps them there longer too so they spent more money...I generally don't think people who go to bars care about such things though.

I honestly can't say for sure. I've got nothing but the anecdotal data that when I talked about it in a group of around 10 of my friends they were all amazed and figured it'd be great regular hangout spot. Of course we had been drinking and playing video games then, so we might not be reliable lol.

I've been told that for a good business you have to fill some sort of niche. I like to think it's a good niche.
 

thespot84

Member
To the OP, whatever business idea you come up with, before you actually implement it do a SWOT analysis first. Might save you a couple of visits from your friendly neighborhood loan sharks.

AND a lean canvas AND a value chain analysis AND interview your customers until you're sick of them etc.

I'm not just being a pain in the ass. Do all those things.
 
He was being serious. He wrote about it extensively in the MTG GAF thread and on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgfinance/comments/6vjk00/upcoming_tool_to_speculate_on_cards_without/

OP, I don't wanna call you out, but this just raises alarm bells. If the site isn't gonna work out for whatever reason, return the money. I don't want to see someone hampered with 40k in debt and scrambling to come up with a plan B.

Yep, you're right. If this doesn't work out then I'm going to return the money and keep on with the 9-5 grind for a while longer.

You borrowed money without a solid plan? Wtf

I understand not reading an entire thread before posting, but come on man, at least get through the whole OP.
 

Syriel

Member
I had a business idea and borrowed money to get it started, but right now it looks like my idea might not work.

So now I have $40,000 that I borrowed from banks and, assuming that I'm right and my original idea won't work, I am looking for other ideas.

I hear that the market for left-leaning movie theaters is wide open these days.

Or, you could just start up your own low-rent movie blog. I hear there is little competition in that space, due to recent events.

The serious answer is on the first page tho:

Pay off your loans immediately and bail the fuck out Jesus Christ dude.
 
Open a tattoo parlor for dogs. Make a name for yourself by making it a super expensive commodity for filthy rich dog owners.
Bail out before PETA shows up.
 

Fliesen

Member
I'd return the money.
I really don't think "well, now i got the money, might as well come up with another million dollar idea" is a solid idea.

Also, don't banks usually require you to have a proper business plan when you apply for a loan of that size? I'm sure you had one, but i'm not sure it's a good idea to misappropriate the money you were given for one purpose for an entirely different business idea that the bank didn't sign off on.
I don't think you wanna be on bad terms with the bank you're in debt with.

If the money isn't tightly connected to your original business plan ...
I'd still return it.
 

Magni

Member
If you don't have control over your own API this is over before it even begins.

The web developer quoted me at $31k to build the entire site from scratch with all the functionality I'm looking for. When I got that quote, I started looking for funding. I found it partially through a personal loan and partially through an SBA-backed loan. I submitted my detailed business plan and one year of cash flow projections, and I was approved.

I know my OP makes me seem like some kind of irresponsible loon, but I actually do have some idea of what I'm doing.

Did this developer give a time estimate? $31k seems absurdly low unless this was for <12 weeks of work and work only (meaning you'd need to add hosting costs etc to that). And then what about maintenance/ongoing operating costs? How fast were you expecting to get to cashflow positive?
 

Septic360

Banned
Hope there isn't an early repayment charge (or charges if you've taken multiple loans) of you do intend to return the money. &#128584;
 

ty_hot

Member
Your entire plan relies on data mining prices from websites that sell actual cards. They are not giving you an API that will reduce their clients. You need someone to do it for you.

Also, wouldnt your business kind of work as an "investment" firm, thus, needing some form of regulation / license from the government? You will be dealing with people's money in and out.

Third point, at first I thought you would just get comission money, but you also said you need a formula to reduce your risks. What exactly are your risks if you are just offering the platform for people to invest and risk their money? In case you do have a risk, shouldn't you already have your formula ready and also have tested it in many different scenarios

The idea itself os good (and you know it, otherwise you would have written it before the edit in the OP, its good not to share good business ideas), but it needs more work.

I suggest you to, for now, return the money with some loss and work on your plan better. Data mining might not be that difficult, having a script go through a set of webpages and read a determined value on it (card name/number and current price) isnt something difficult.

Having it run on 20 thousand different cards and store that data is something else that you dont need to do at first. Try finding someone that can do it for a few cards, once you see that it works, that your formula works, etc, then you are ready to scale it to 20k cards. I dont know how volatile is the market of cards, but I imagine you dont need more than 1 reading per minute. You will have big infrastructure / server costs in the long term, so keep that in mind.

Btw, I needed an app to gather some data for my phd thesis and I did it myself, with absolute no previous skills. I am sure a computer guy would code much more elegantly and would have a faster code, but for me my way was cheaper (myself doing it) and it was enough for me (Im actually impressed that I made my code run in less than 2 seconds running of a Raspberry Pi in my living room). You said you dont like it, but you might yet again try just to get this done by yourself, there are probably tutorials around on how to do it (gather specific data from webpages). As you said, you dont know much (or anything) about programming, but it is important that you at least understand the logic behind it so you can take the right decisions. Im not saying that you have to do the entire website, just the initial data gathering till you work your plan out.
 

Monocle

Member
I can't believe it even entered your mind to scramble for a new idea once the original one began to look less than viable. $40K is not chump change. What in the world are you doing?
 
I can only imagine how much interest you're paying against that $40k. You're losing a lot of money every day that it's not invested in something that's making more than the interest.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Return the money. Will the bank even allow you to spend it on something completely different from what you originally got the loan for? Even if they would, don't.
 

Ishan

Junior Member
Op just invest it or pay it off . Money will work way better for you if you aren't sure of an business investment opportunity . Additionally I'm assuming asking ideas on a forum is also just asking for a ip law suit eventually .
 
They actually loaned you money based on that plan? Wow...

Anyway, pay it back. You have no idea what to do, so no use in keeping it around and paying interest on it.
 
Presumably your loan got approved because it's secured against one of your properties. Banks see unlikely to approve a business loan for card game futures.
In which case, definitely pay it back ASAP!
 
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