Best Small Business startup

[brushtrooper]

I am interested in ideas others have. It seems we as individuals get locked into a bubble in life and really get locked into that environment. What do you think is a good small business start up?

[Beargrasstx]

Depends on your interest. It takes a lot of time and dedication to run your own business. Is this a side gig or primary income? I would suggest pick a business that you are passionate about or something you are very good at. Usually they go hand in hand, but not always.

Are you good at customer service? Advertising? Managing people? Hiring people? Good with computers? Construction? Some of those answers can guide you to maybe the right small business for you.

[glen]

Not sure how close the coast you are. Two things come to mind. Detail clean up and ready boats- may start slow but if you are good will grow by word of mouth. Get boats cleaned, iced down, opened up before and meet one return trip.

Doing clean up for rentals - Clean up, do yard work- do general repairs and get it ready for next rental.

Both of these options I feel you could grow business if you are better than anyone else doing this service. If you aint the top dog you will struggle

[Radar]

What ever you decide to do, be a one man show for as long as you can. Once you start hiring employees, you get a whole new meaning of drama

The fella down the road here, got into a franchise called Budget Blinds. I think it is just him and his son that runs it and they stay right busy in this housing craze.

[KNEE DEEP]

Taking care of vacation homes and rental property down here on the coast. It’s a side gig cause I work full time but it keeps us busy.

[HOOKNBULLET2]

Any type of service business on the coast will be successful if you just do what you say you are going to do.

A very popular TBHer has a father that lives on the coast installing boat lifts and docks. We paid him thousands more for the same service as his competitors because he actually shows up when he is scheduled to, does quality work on time, and provides service after the sale.

It sounds fairly simple, but after owning a house in Rockport for the last 10 years, I can tell you that it is really difficult to find a contractor that is worth a darn.

[rut-ro]

Originally Posted by HOOKNBULLET2

Any type of service business on the coast will be successful if you just do what you say you are going to do.

A very popular TBHer has a father that lives on the coast installing boat lifts and docks. We paid him thousands more for the same service as his competitors because he actually shows up when he is scheduled to, does quality work on time, and provides service after the sale.

It sounds fairly simple, but after owning a house in Rockport for the last 10 years, I can tell you that it is really difficult to find a contractor that is worth a darn.

This right here. Any type of work where people have vacation homes. As long as you show up, do what you say and provide a good service you will be successful

[MagicBlade]

Check out wooddefender.com for great business opportunity.

[MAP]

It sounds fairly simple, but after owning a house in Rockport for the last 10 years, I can tell you that it is really difficult to find a contractor that is worth a darn

I'm glad its not just us...there are alot of bad "contractors" in that area

[friscopaint]

Originally Posted by MAP

I'm glad its not just us...there are alot of bad "contractors" in that area

Seems like anytime you're around water its like that, lakes and coastal

[RMW]

Boat storages and Rvs

[friscopaint]

Originally Posted by RMW

Boat storages and Rvs

Large investment in land shelters there. Heck even rock is expensive not to mention concrete

[brokeno]

Pick something you love

[Copanocruisin]

Yes, Radar is spot on about the headaches when you grow and have to hire employees. It is just not the drama. Back when I had 2 kids in college I started a millwright business with just my tool buddy and worked one of my sons part time when he could come home and all
Sumer. We set many new industrial pumps, motors, compressors, and fans. Just worked weekends if I was was not working in town working my regular job in the local refineries. All was fun when I was subcontracting, invoices paid regular and pretty much for the most part on time. Well, this was on a large expansion up the coast and the more we did the more the client pushed me to work direct for them with the promise of work growing exponentially, for which it did. Then I had to start hiring employees and had to start paying unemployment taxes, social security, insurance and so on. Well the client paid their invoices regular, albeit instead of 30 days they were happy to run it out to 115 days or so. There response to the contract of 30 day invoices with a late fee, the just said they did not plan on paying it that way and I had my options of handling anyway I wanted. Well a little contractor up against the large corporation I ended up going back to work as a sub contractor which was much less, but steady pay roll for myself and crews although I still had to pay all the extra expenses of having employees. NOW I WANT TO STATE, I was able to put two kids through A&M without having to get any loans! Life would have been so much less stressful if I would have kept it without employees and with just the original three of us being corporate officers. I know this was a long read, and honestly there is nothing like working for your self. Also keep in mind that there were never any days off during that tenure. Just saying.... cC

[RMW]

Originally Posted by friscopaint

Large investment in land shelters there. Heck even rock is expensive not to mention concrete

Got a good friend who use to drive a truck for a living hauling cars for himself for 15 years and he just said he had enough.

Now he owns 8 storage centers and is living the good life at 45 years old. Even bought a 1500 acre ranch in South Texas. It can be done he is a go getter though.

[friscopaint]

Originally Posted by RMW

Got a good friend who use to drive a truck for a living hauling cars for himself for 15 years and he just said he had enough.

Now he owns 8 storage centers and is living the good life at 45 years old. Even bought a 1500 acre ranch in South Texas. It can be done he is a go getter though.

Agree, just depends on pocket depth

[joantucker]

I started by selling rifles of the mid-20th century.

[BuckyBevo]

Originally Posted by RMW

Got a good friend who use to drive a truck for a living hauling cars for himself for 15 years and he just said he had enough.

Now he owns 8 storage centers and is living the good life at 45 years old. Even bought a 1500 acre ranch in South Texas. It can be done he is a go getter though.

Do you mean 8 self storage properties?

[Muddy Bud]

I was thinking about starting up an RV resort. You don’t see to many down here on the coast that are not slammed full.

[Man]

Redbox

[axisbuck]

Clean and fix up rentals or homes - paint, fence, sheetrock, yard work, plumbing. Have seen a big demand w prices of homes rocketing.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by axisbuck

Clean and fix up rentals or homes - paint, fence, sheetrock, yard work, plumbing. Have seen a big demand w prices of homes rocketing.

Rentals scare me with the current administration not allowing landlords to evict renters when they decide to stop paying rent.

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[RiverRat1]

Stain privacy fences.

Heck right now if you just do what you say and are just decent at what you do you'll be as busy as you want. So do anything.

[TheHammer]

Have you ever seen breaking bad?

I kid, I kid

[Brute Killer]

We started a liquor store in Llano in February. Very good to great location and limited competition, though.
We've been busy.

[dhall1414]

I've seen some interesting stuff with self serve car washes, self storage, and those Ice/water machines.

[Mtltx]

Originally Posted by Brute Killer

We started a liquor store in Llano in February. Very good to great location and limited competition, though.
We've been busy.

What’s it called? I might have just been in there the other day.

[Brute Killer]

Originally Posted by Mtltx

What’s it called? I might have just been in there the other day.

Cactus Liquor

[ByronB]

Originally Posted by Brute Killer

Cactus Liquor

Is it on 29, not far from Hills of Texas Taxidermy? If so, I think I have passed it a few times. Will stop by sometime.

[Travisj1987]

Agreed, it's hard to find reliable help in the Hill Country too.

[Brute Killer]

Originally Posted by ByronB

Is it on 29, not far from Hills of Texas Taxidermy? If so, I think I have passed it a few times. Will stop by sometime.

Yes.
Going west; us, food trailer (our lot) house, Granite O Bar, some kind of thing, and Hills of Texas Taxidermist.
Left-hand side of the road.

[Mtltx]

Originally Posted by Brute Killer

Cactus Liquor

Yep. That’s it. Cool little spot and I like the set up inside

[friscopaint]

Originally Posted by Brute Killer

We started a liquor store in Llano in February. Very good to great location and limited competition, though.
We've been busy.

We were in one few yrs ago in Enid Oklahoma. Owner said he had owned 3 cicis pizzas and with Obama care he sold 2 and closed one in Enid and opened a liquor store. Real nice guy and said with just he, his wife and son he was pocketing just as much with none of the headaches and a much happier life.

[Bruiser]

mud minnows

[Brute Killer]

Originally Posted by Mtltx

Yep. That’s it. Cool little spot and I like the set up inside

Thanks

[kparker158]

Listen to the book The Pumpkin Plan if you’re planning on a service based business. It helps a lot.

[The4Cs]

Originally Posted by HOOKNBULLET2

Any type of service business on the coast will be successful if you just do what you say you are going to do.

A very popular TBHer has a father that lives on the coast installing boat lifts and docks. We paid him thousands more for the same service as his competitors because he actually shows up when he is scheduled to, does quality work on time, and provides service after the sale.

It sounds fairly simple, but after owning a house in Rockport for the last 10 years, I can tell you that it is really difficult to find a contractor that is worth a darn.

It’s getting dang near impossible to do things the “right way” and be successful. So many businesses cut corners and don’t pay what they are supposed to… Makes it impossible to compete unless you have a few BIG customers who are willing to pay extra like you are talking about.


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[The4Cs]

From what I’ve seen/experienced in business is it’s almost impossible to “claw your way up”. You almost have to start with someone bank rolling you or have a good source to get cheap financing. Since Covid we’ve experienced slower pay from ALL of our customers. Some, who were 60 day terms, are now paying 70-80…. When you have bills to pay and you can’t collect it gets really hard to keep vendors happy. Thankfully we’ve been in business for almost 30yrs so we have the relationships established/built. But if I were a startup it would be ROUGH!


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[270Sendero]

12 years ago I started a pool cleaning and repair service. I clean 60 pools a week. During hunting season I can do them in 4 days and have 3 or 4 day weekends to go hunting. I’ve never been happier.
And like others have said, be a one man show if you can

[ORD '23]

Trailer rentals do pretty well from what I've seen. You could do flatbed or maybe dump trailers and make pretty decent money with very little time. Just meeting the customer for pick up and drop off and cleaning the trailers. If you do the dump trailers, you could also charge an extra fee to take it to the dump for them. With a lot of people flipping houses in my area, roll off dumpster trailers also seem like a good option. Just drop it off and then pick it up a few days later.

Not the cheapest business to start but if you live in / near a big city, it should grow pretty quick.

[hooligan]

I’m looking to get into self storage and portapotty business. Nobody wants to clean crappers but the money is good

[AtTheWall]

Originally Posted by MAP

I'm glad its not just us...there are alot of bad "contractors" in that area

Fish are biting and or the Surf is up.

Many coastal contractors work independently along the coast, to bust out when it's Prime. I know a dozen of them, most surf but fishing is just as addictive.

[boy wonder]

My buddy was a contractor for Lowes installing blinds. He mostly worked alone and just about all he wanted to.

[KC Huntin]

Originally Posted by Brute Killer

We started a liquor store in Llano in February. Very good to great location and limited competition, though.
We've been busy.

Where? Would like to give you some business. Drive through there once a month or more.

[W E H]

Cleaning, yard work, handyman with painting and carpentry skills with your own tools and you can find all the work you want in POC and Rockport.
Show up, finish the job, don’t over promise and under deliver and you can probably make $75k plus a year

[redfishted]

If I have told y’all once I’ve told you a thousand times y’all never listen
self storage

[bowhuntvideo]

Originally Posted by redfishted

If I have told y’all once I’ve told you a thousand times y’all never listen
self storage

Self storage vs RV spots? RV spots seem the better deal to me. $700 plus per month vs a couple hundred or less for storage. Lower capital investment. Convince me I’m wrong..


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[Stetsonoverton]

I’d do self storage if have the bank roll to start, I’m year 3 into my painting business and we been super blessed no doubt def is hard work no matter what you go into there’s money it everything honestly

[Holmes Cycles]

In my opinion, start ups should be something you love and.not what you think would be good money. Do something you love and you'll work 2x as hard to accomplish it. If you fail at least you were doing something that you had passion for. The invest businesses just for money should come later when you have a successful business already under your belt and looking to expand the income

[TN_boy]

My 0.02
You need a passion and some knowledge. Put those 2 together and chase your idea.




I do custom cnc router work as a side hobby. Just the cigar tray in my Etsy store generates roughly $1800/month. My dream is scale up and full-time.