I am so tired of my job at the corporate world in California. After 20+ years, I don’t see myself retiring from this company. There is no value for loyalty and probably will be laid off in a year or two so they can turn around and bring in college kids to work for half the cost.
So I am trying to do some research on business ideas. It would be great to hear from my fellow pakistanis and what you have to share. I want to hear from everyone, especially those who have started the business and failed and who have started the business and succeeded. What do you absolutely need to start (besides money)? What are some of things that we see being in demand?
I hope this will start a great conversation and help a lot of us out.
well my husband wanted to start a cell phone text marketing thing a few yrs ago when he was in college. basically they would get users to sign up and pick out the brands/companies they love to shop at like banana republic, victorias secret, bath and body works, etc. basically a lot of the big chains. at the same time they would go to these stores and ask them if they wanna sign up with his company and they would charge them a straight fee plus some percentage of every coupon downloaded or used at the store. him and his friend did a lot of work on it but then they both started their full time jobs and kinda just gave up and a yr later this other company just started and they had a commercial on tv and we were like WOW!
we are always thinking of business ideas. another one was to start an architect/construction/design/finance house in pakistan. basically middle income people in pakistan would sit down with our architects, build a model of the house they want/can afford down to the number of tiles they would need to figure out an estimate of how much it will cost, they would sit down with financiers from a local bank that would give out mortgages, we would build the entire house for them and give them an exact time frame of when the house would be completed. at the time u give them an estimate of how much their house would cost, u also include ur 'management fee' of say 8-10%. if they wanted they could hire interior designers from us but that ofcourse would be extra money. anyway the reason this works is on many levels:
the two most important things to people in pakistan and on which they spend the most money are their own house and weddings of their kids,
middle income people in pakistan basically save money allll their lives to build a house, giving a mortgages would be a great idea for all those people that want a house but dont have th emoney to pay for everything upfront (ofcourse if u have financiers there u must have islamic banking products that deal with mortgages)
many people get into building a house for the first time, they dont know how much money it will take, they dont know exactly who to contact, they get ripped off from everyone they hire, and it turns out that to build a simple house it usually can take upto 2-3 yrs! so in this thing, not only are u telling the person exactly how long it will take to build the house, u are giving them the exact cost and pretty much giving them an end product designed to their specifications.
since u can become a huge architect house with this plan, all the cost estimates u give them will be based on wholesale rates which u will negotiate with dealers in pakistan because u will be buying in bulks. which will definitely be cheaper than anything ur client can possibly find. and ofcourse if u really wanna be smart u will go to china and import everything u need to build the houses and yes raw material for houses in china are less than 50% of the cost of what u will get in pak.
i really wanna do the last one. i have others but must study for exams now. :)
Kakaballi- How does this statement help in this discussion?
Sumorani, you should go ahead with your plans. You never know what may come out of it, a lot of people with their dream homes!
Only that you wanted something in California and she's wasting her study time talking about Pakistan. Only advising her to use her time wisely. I am certainly not saying she's wasting her time planning all those businesses!
^He/she never stated that they wanted to start a business in California, only that they worked there. I wasn't wasting my time because I was taking a study break just as I am now.
I’m not mad and no the person did not state that he/she wants to start a business in California. I’m not arguing with you but if you read their post it only says they worked in California.
I am here! I am doing quiet a bit of research to see what is the best business for me. At the moment, I have my corporate job but have been relocated to a city 2 hours away from home. So I will be commuting. Along with the job, I am doing a side business of video editing. That does not pay much and quiet tough since desi clients can be very demanding.
I would love to hear from successful entrepreneurs who have words of wisdom to share!
