What is your business idea?

[somecyguy]

Whenever Mrs. Gaggi sends me down to Kum and Go for a replacement propane tank for the grill, I think of how great it would be if there was a truck to pull up and swap out the tank for me. Same with the two-gallon gas can. It's dangerous to tote one of those around in the trunk of the Jag. Wouldn't it be nice to have a guy drop off a full can and take the old one back?

Obviously there would be some safety and liability issues to contend with, but I think it is a solution to a common problem for most homeowners like myself.

I'm not sure there would be enough turnover in order to make it profitable without charging like $50+ a tank. I grill fairly often and I still only go through 2 maybe 3 propane tanks during a year.

Maybe if you combined it with other consumer "utility" items. I know Culligan will deliver salt bags for water softeners, you could tap into that, plus other routine items like that.

 

[cyclone4L]

Whenever Mrs. Gaggi sends me down to Kum and Go for a replacement propane tank for the grill, I think of how great it would be if there was a truck to pull up and swap out the tank for me. Same with the two-gallon gas can. It's dangerous to tote one of those around in the trunk of the Jag. Wouldn't it be nice to have a guy drop off a full can and take the old one back?

Obviously there would be some safety and liability issues to contend with, but I think it is a solution to a common problem for most homeowners like myself.

Interesting idea. It solves a problem that people have. It definitely is an inconvenience to do when someone could easily drop it off.

If you want to pursue this, I would start off like DoorDash started. Doordash was started by a group of friends at Stanford who found out from a local restaurant owner that she wished she could have delivery, but it was too expensive to run. So the friends put together a webpage in 30 mins and within hours, they were filling orders. They, not a team of hired drivers.

Start Local and do the deliveries yourself until you NEED to hire other drivers. Build a website (I can help with that) to direct traffic to. Go on the next door app and a few other places (cyclonefanatic) and let people know you are starting this as well as where you are servicing and to visit your site. Tell people to leave their gas cans on the front porch, that way you don't need to knock on doors and what not (heck, maybe you can charge an additional $2 setup fee for you to screw it on). Then you just text them when they have their gas.

You don't need to get a bunch of inventory and drivers to make this work. You do the delivery at the beginning and have a few tanks ready to have some sort of quick delivery. You can buy tanks or refills, I ASSUME (I don't like assumptions) that most people will buy one tank.

Let me know what your thoughts are. This is something super simple to test and has the potential to be something pretty scalable.

 

[cyclone4L]

[QUOTE="cytech, post: 7172898, member: 506"]I imagine you would be looking at a $50 or more delivery fee. I doubt many people would pay that. There are special requirements for the commercial transport of combustible materials.[/QUOTE]

@Remo Gaggi
At this stage of the process, we are looking for validation of the idea, not profitability.
Even if you have to LOSE money on every order at the beginning, it's worth it (if you are serious about this business).

Once you get some traction and servicing a ton of orders, you can talk to investors. Raise capital to buy a fill station. You'll save A TON buy doing that.

Investors don't necessarily care about profitability in the present, they care about AU's (Active Users) and eyeballs.

Figure out if people want it, then figure out how to make money from it.

(You may also want to look into that license for commercial transport. I'm an outlaw and would skip that at the beginning, but you could get in legal trouble if you don't have it)

 

[cytech]

Interesting idea. It solves a problem that people have. It definitely is an inconvenience to do when someone could easily drop it off.

If you want to pursue this, I would start off like DoorDash started. Doordash was started by a group of friends at Stanford who found out from a local restaurant owner that she wished she could have delivery, but it was too expensive to run. So the friends put together a webpage in 30 mins and within hours, they were filling orders. They, not a team of hired drivers.

Start Local and do the deliveries yourself until you NEED to hire other drivers. Build a website (I can help with that) to direct traffic to. Go on the next door app and a few other places (cyclonefanatic) and let people know you are starting this as well as where you are servicing and to visit your site. Tell people to leave their gas cans on the front porch, that way you don't need to knock on doors and what not (heck, maybe you can charge an additional $2 setup fee for you to screw it on). Then you just text them when they have their gas.

You don't need to get a bunch of inventory and drivers to make this work. You do the delivery at the beginning and have a few tanks ready to have some sort of quick delivery. You can buy tanks or refills, I ASSUME (I don't like assumptions) that most people will buy one tank.

Let me know what your thoughts are. This is something super simple to test and has the potential to be something pretty scalable.

He will be required to get a cdl with Haz mat addition to commercially transport hazardous materials.

There are likely additional auto insurance requirements as well, I have not found if it requires a special license from the state.

While setting up the structure may be as easy as the other poster mentioned. It is important that you protect your liability as well and make sure you follow applicable regulations for the handling and transport of hazardous materials.

 

[cytech]

(You may also want to look into that license for commercial transport. I'm an outlaw and would skip that at the beginning, but you could get in legal trouble if you don't have it)

Not to mention nullify his auto insurance. Part of getting the licensing is learning how to safely transport hazardous materials.

 

[SpokaneCY]

Last great idea has trademark issues potentially. Dogiva - a canine life style brand of food, products and information for the pampered pooch in in your lock down fold.

 

[throwittoblythe]

He will be required to get a cdl with Haz mat addition to commercially transport hazardous materials.

There are likely additional auto insurance requirements as well, I have not found if it requires a special license from the state.

While setting up the structure may be as easy as the other poster mentioned. It is important that you protect your liability as well and make sure you follow applicable regulations for the handling and transport of hazardous materials.

This is part of starting a business that I could never figure out how people do it. I guess you just have to build those costs into starting your business and plan on them from the start? Or just ignore them and take the risk?

I tried to start a business making lamps and other home decor items. I quickly realized I should carry insurance on those lamps to make sure I was protected in the event there was a fire and someone tried to pin it on my product. So, I went to my insurance guy and I learned that "product liability insurance" is over $1000/yr. I would probably profit $50-100 per lamp. So you can quickly see how just carrying the insurance to be covered would wipe out the profits of the business.

This is a long way of saying I'm guessing people just assume these risks to get their business off the ground? There's no way I could have made that business profitable and being fully protected (I did form an LLC, as well). I wasn't willing to take on that risk because it was a small side-business/hobby. So I stopped.

 

[cyclone4L]

Not to mention nullify his auto insurance. Part of getting the licensing is learning how to safely transport hazardous materials.

I guess I'm just an outlaw and would wait until I was getting a few orders until I went to go get that certification. I wouldn't want to spend hundreds or thousands and something nobody wants.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE understand this is just what I would do to save money while validating the idea. It's my opinion. I do not recommend breaking the law and I quickly get certified and form my business whenever I have validated the idea. You could get a major fine by violating these regs.

 

[cytech]

I guess I'm just an outlaw and would wait until I was getting a few orders until I went to go get that certification. I wouldn't want to spend hundreds or thousands and something nobody wants.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE understand this is just what I would do to save money while validating the idea. It's my opinion. I do not recommend breaking the law and I quickly get certified and form my business whenever I have validated the idea. You could get a major fine by violating these regs.

It costs very little to take the cdl and haz mat tests at the Iowa DOT. The study materials are available for free on the internet. The main hassle would be the driving test and vehicle inspection as he likely wouldn't have a commercial vehicle at his disposal.

Now I do understand that not all people are good at independent study, but if you want to go into business for yourself you better get good at it very fast, because a startup can't afford to hire out tons of experts at the start. You need to become an expert in that field.

 

[throwittoblythe]

I guess I'm just an outlaw and would wait until I was getting a few orders until I went to go get that certification. I wouldn't want to spend hundreds or thousands and something nobody wants.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE understand this is just what I would do to save money while validating the idea. It's my opinion. I do not recommend breaking the law and I quickly get certified and form my business whenever I have validated the idea. You could get a major fine by violating these regs.

I'd like to get your thoughts on this, in general. I'll start by saying maybe I'm just a person who is risk averse and so I'm not cut out to be an entreprenuer. Do people just take these big risks to start their business? I'm somoene who would want to get all the licenses/regs and insurance in place before really getting going. As in the experience in my previous post, I didn't want to put my personal assets at risk to start a business.

So, how does one start a business without taking these enormous risks? I get that any business requires you to take risks, but it seems like there are a lot of them that could sink you financially, if they went bad.

 

[cytech]

This is part of starting a business that I could never figure out how people do it. I guess you just have to build those costs into starting your business and plan on them from the start? Or just ignore them and take the risk?

I tried to start a business making lamps and other home decor items. I quickly realized I should carry insurance on those lamps to make sure I was protected in the event there was a fire and someone tried to pin it on my product. So, I went to my insurance guy and I learned that "product liability insurance" is over $1000/yr. I would probably profit $50-100 per lamp. So you can quickly see how just carrying the insurance to be covered would wipe out the profits of the business.

This is a long way of saying I'm guessing people just assume these risks to get their business off the ground? There's no way I could have made that business profitable and being fully protected (I did form an LLC, as well). I wasn't willing to take on that risk because it was a small side-business/hobby. So I stopped.

Insurance is very expensive there are no doubts about that. A lot of small business people go into business for themselves not knowing everything they need to know.

Insurance will not always protect you too. I had a person drive a car through a fence last year without auto insurance, and my insurance only provided coverage from storms. I had a cleaning company before, and my insurance company told me that my policy didn't cover me for using detergents to clean with because they were made of chemicals, and chemicals weren't covered under the pollutant exclusion.

I didn't know these things when I got started, and they ended up costing me money. No one can know everything needed on the onset, but it is important to keep learning and improving. I have been in business for over 25 years now, and I never stop learning new things that can help my business.

In regards to your product liability issues, did you ever look into buying the lamp guts complete from another company, which carries product liability insurance? If you are not doing the wiring yourself this may be a way to get around that issue until you can become big enough to afford the proper insurance.

 

[CapnCy]

This is where I now do my business in self storage, we started flipping houses (still have 2 rentals). The idea you have there has been tried a couple different times. In a couple different manners. There are several businesses now that will allow you to ship your storage items to the warehouse for storage. Then they will send them back when you need them. There is also the Air BnB storage type businesses where people use unused garages or rooms etc. The biggest complaint I have seen is letting unknown people into your home for storage and how do you trust those people.

Perhaps the college market may be a little better for this, but remember the college market is usually just May to August. How will you make money during the other part of the year? There is also a second part of the college market in the people who vacate for a week at the end of July before their next place is ready, but those are even shorter term rentals.


We got tired of being landlords a while ago and switched to self storage which has made things a lot easier in dealing with tenants. You followed the same model we did rent it for a few years then sell the home on contract or outright sell it. I used to enjoy all the different jobs I got to do when I was redoing a house. It is one of the things I like most about what I do now. I do a different job almost everyday. Not saying I like all the jobs but it keeps it interesting.

Yeah, I'd done some research into it and found the similar things.

For clarification, this would be a side business for me (gravy money, if you will) vs full time...thinking a website (no storefront, etc) would make it something that would just need maintenance and not full in time...and also knowing it is a targeted market that may have limited use, but important use for the college market.

I often hear folks that have ONE item or two that is big and needs somewhere to store......i think you'd have to have the terms pretty clear and communication (like folks wouldn't just get to walk into another's home/garage, etc). But I'm picturing an out of state student going on internship that has three big rubbermaids and a dorm fridge.....match them up with someone with a big closet, basement, etc. for a defined time....WAY cheaper than getting a normal storage unit, etc.

Obviously the market would be geared toward college, but others may wish to use for short term storage (or long term).

I had this idea once as I have a coworker with an two stall garage that sits empty. They don't want to rent it for the "hassle" but I told them they could EASILY do winter "toy" storage for someone or more long term for for others.

 

[throwittoblythe]

In regards to your product liability issues, did you ever look into buying the lamp guts complete from another company, which carries product liability insurance? If you are not doing the wiring yourself this may be a way to get around that issue until you can become big enough to afford the proper insurance.

That thought crossed my mind, but it seemed like this was a grey area. Plus, it was hard to find kits that did everything I needed.

My insurance guy came up with the idea to pay a small business lawyer to draft a waiver of liability. It would state something along the lines of "I'm a crafter/hobbyist so you're accepting that liability." However, I felt like that would be tough on sales if you're asking someone to buy a product and then immediately asking them to waive liability.

In the end, it was just too much effort/liability and I didn't love the business enough to push through it.

 

[cyclone4L]

I'd like to get your thoughts on this, in general. I'll start by saying maybe I'm just a person who is risk averse and so I'm not cut out to be an entreprenuer. Do people just take these big risks to start their business? I'm somoene who would want to get all the licenses/regs and insurance in place before really getting going. As in the experience in my previous post, I didn't want to put my personal assets at risk to start a business.

So, how does one start a business without taking these enormous risks? I get that any business requires you to take risks, but it seems like there are a lot of them that could sink you financially, if they went bad.

Oh boy, this is a tough one to answer because everyone is different. Most take the big risks at the beginning and then take little risks every day, though those little risks are usually legal and won't kill the company.

You should be a little uncomfortable starting a business, because yea... it could fail. However, you don't want your fear to cripple you. If you need the legal info to feel comfortable, by all means do it before.

The highlighted is VERY complicated and usually depends on a case by case basis. Use Lean Startup tactics. Also, find a specific markets pain points and then find a solution for it. Then find a cheap and effective way to solve the problem in a way that they feel like you SOLVED their problem.

I may revisit this. I have a meeting now.

 

[cytech]

Yeah, I'd done some research into it and found the similar things.

For clarification, this would be a side business for me (gravy money, if you will) vs full time...thinking a website (no storefront, etc) would make it something that would just need maintenance and not full in time...and also knowing it is a targeted market that may have limited use, but important use for the college market.

I often hear folks that have ONE item or two that is big and needs somewhere to store......i think you'd have to have the terms pretty clear and communication (like folks wouldn't just get to walk into another's home/garage, etc). But I'm picturing an out of state student going on internship that has three big rubbermaids and a dorm fridge.....match them up with someone with a big closet, basement, etc. for a defined time....WAY cheaper than getting a normal storage unit, etc.

Obviously the market would be geared toward college, but others may wish to use for short term storage (or long term).

I had this idea once as I have a coworker with an two stall garage that sits empty. They don't want to rent it for the "hassle" but I told them they could EASILY do winter "toy" storage for someone or more long term for for others.

www.selfstoragetalk.com is an industry specific web site for storage. There are several people with your idea that have come in there and talked about it. It would be a great place for you to go and ask questions and get free information.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

I'd like to get your thoughts on this, in general. I'll start by saying maybe I'm just a person who is risk averse and so I'm not cut out to be an entreprenuer. Do people just take these big risks to start their business? I'm somoene who would want to get all the licenses/regs and insurance in place before really getting going. As in the experience in my previous post, I didn't want to put my personal assets at risk to start a business.

So, how does one start a business without taking these enormous risks? I get that any business requires you to take risks, but it seems like there are a lot of them that could sink you financially, if they went bad.

Maybe don't take advice from a guy on the internet that's basically telling you to break the law, lose money, and just go for it to see what happens.

His advice has been all over the place and he worries about so many of the wrong things. Plus can't even walk through a simple LLC setup, which if someone had helped start "hundreds to thousands" of businesses, they would know how to do.

Just my two cents.

 

[cytech]

That thought crossed my mind, but it seemed like this was a grey area. Plus, it was hard to find kits that did everything I needed.

My insurance guy came up with the idea to pay a small business lawyer to draft a waiver of liability. It would state something along the lines of "I'm a crafter/hobbyist so you're accepting that liability." However, I felt like that would be tough on sales if you're asking someone to buy a product and then immediately asking them to waive liability.

In the end, it was just too much effort/liability and I didn't love the business enough to push through it.

You are right that it is a grey area. If there ever was an issue and a lawsuit happened you would likely be a named party in that suit. You would get around this by being listed as an additional insured on the company you buy parts from insurance policy. That way their insurance policy would cover you in this event.

Every single person that starts a business is assuming risk, but if you are good at what you do the benefits can definitely be worth the risk.

 

[throwittoblythe]

You are right that it is a grey area. If there ever was an issue and a lawsuit happened you would likely be a named party in that suit. You would get around this by being listed as an additional insured on the company you buy parts from insurance policy. That way their insurance policy would cover you in this event.

Every single person that starts a business is assuming risk, but if you are good at what you do the benefits can definitely be worth the risk.

Good points. It also may have just been my case. In my case, this was something that might make $5-$10k a year, tops. It wasn't going to be a full-time gig unless it blew up. But it was hard to imagine it outpacing my engineer's salary/benefits. So, the calculation I was using was something like "I don't want this very small side hustle to open me up to liability that puts my main way of making money at risk." It just didn't seem prudent, for me, specifically, to do this particular business as it could cost me thousands (or hundreds of thousands) if something went bad.

Again, that's also me saying I didn't love the business enough to accept those risks. I suppose if I felt like I had found something that was going to blow up and allow me to work for myself, my decision may have been different.

 

[cyclone4L]

Maybe don't take advice from a guy on the internet that's basically telling you to break the law, lose money, and just go for it to see what happens.

His advice has been all over the place and he worries about so many of the wrong things. Plus can't even walk through a simple LLC setup, which if someone had helped start "hundreds to thousands" of businesses, they would know how to do.

Just my two cents.

@throwittoblythe

I recently had an exit with a $50 Million dollar company I was a part of building. Do you want me to tell you how to do paperwork or the steps I go through to build a company?

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

@throwittoblythe

I recently had an exit with a $50 Million dollar company I was a part of building. Do you want me to tell you how to do paperwork or the steps I go through to build a company?

That could be anything. Valuation, Revenue, Market cap, Assets, Profit etc. Were you a Co-Founder? Owner? C-Suite? It means nothing. What percentage did you leave with? Was it a buyback? Why did you leave if it was so successful? There's so many questions that raise flags. Especially in the startup culture environment, I always assume the least impressive. It's like me measuring myself in centimeters vs inches and hoping you're more impressed by the bigger number. I can say something like "I had an exit with a $82 Billion Dollar company" and it's because I quit my job.

Your advice flips back and forth from starting a start up to starting a business which have distinct differences. In my opinion, it's dangerous to not set the right tone to budding entrepreneurs like @throwittoblythe and it would set them up for failure long term. Then the advice you give is very basic like "do your research", "ask friends", "call people to get pricing".

You set yourself up as an expert in creating businesses and then when a specific question gets asked, you tell them to go somewhere else. In fact you tell them not to even do it legally.