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[Zarf]

For one of my modules at Uni this year, i have to start a small business with a few people from my class - we get about £100 start up money plus whatever we put in ourselves, and we get to keep any profit at the end of the year.
Has anyone got any good ideas? Best one I've had so far is reselling on homebrewing kits to the students. I'd have liked to do something more like computer repair, but there's a hell of a lot of competition for that.

Any input greatly appreciated

[Millicent Bystander]

£100 won't buy much of anything businesswise so you are looking at offering some sort of service, PC repairs are good if you can find the customers.  What are you good/trained at? 

Theres money to be made in domestic services (cleaning, ironing, gardening) but with almost anything you do you will need public liability insurance in case you mess up (or mess yourself up) and in many cases it is a legal requirement.  This alone will cost you way more than your £100, perhaps the college cover this, or you can pay monthly.

I take it you're on a business course and I don't need to tell you to factor in all travel costs etc.

Get receipts for everything and make a note of every penny you spend.  Give your customers receipts but make duplicates for yourself.  PC records are not reliable, always make a hard copy and do it at once.

See if the college will stand as guarantors for opening trade accounts, that will give you a months grace on payment.

Trust no-one, if there's more than one of you get everythingdown in writing.  This includes responsibilies, profit split (especially if you put your own money in).  I'm working for a company that has split in half due to the 4 directors (who were all friends) having a major bust up and nothing has been put down in writing.  It will take a loonnng time to sort the mess out.

Edit due to interruptions at work.

[thereason]

Start up some Left4dead servers and charge people to use it at peak times

[mark]

Start up some Left4dead servers and charge people to use it at peak times

That would be predicting the future mate.

I think L4D is going to flop and only a few people will really enjoy it because we aren't individualists.

[Zarf]

Thanks Milli,
I remember being told that the Uni has us covered insurance wise. Getting everything down on paper is a part of the course, as is learning how to deal with taxes etc. We even get free help from some of the students doing accountancy and law, parts of their modules require them to practice this stuff so it all ties in.

I'm actually on a computer networking course, which is where my skills lie - i'm confident with building, maintaining and repairing computers and setting up small networks. Unfortunately there's a much wider spread in general computing skill for the rest of the guys in my group and, as i mentioned, quite a lot of competition in this area already.

[mark]

Well that can make you a lot of money - the money people will pay for tech support...it's amazing.

[claws]

I guess you've already done this, but I'd be figuring out what your assets and skills are first. What is everyone good at? Does anyone in the group already have some decent contacts in one area? Does one guy have a rich parent happy to chuck a few quid as startup capital (don't laugh, you never know!). How will company directors be allocated? What's the profit split, who's making the decisions? Are you all in this for the money, or the experience?

Get everything down in writing. I know Milli has already said most of this, but it probably bears repeating. I remember being told 'oh, we'll worry about all these details later when we're making money' - never a good sign, and looking back I'm glad I was such an awkward bugger when I started

Ideas wise, I'd avoid the computer stuff if only because it sounds like you're far and away the most skilled of the group, which is bound to lead to problems (what will the others do?).

[Terror]

Jiggalo business. Spend the £100 on a pimp outfit.

[Junta]

I was going to suggest a spamming operation - using the uni servers, but you'd just get expelled.

The beer brewing idea is good - but students are lazy and will buy it mostly rather than make it.

You need some market research I think - ask your peers what they'd like to buy. A good idea will be something that you can sell on campus maybe, outside uni you're fighting against established traders. Asside from that - what do your lecturers need (legal I mean - no prostitution or anything like that). Could you sell a service to the uni itself?

[Millicent Bystander]

You need someone who can sell, theres no point in having a brilliant service if you can't sell it.

Going on from Junta's suggestion about selling services or stuff to the uni, the university should have resources you can plunder.  They may have a subsidised (and under utilised) in house printers which they will be more than happy for you to sell their services to local businesses, they may also have a vinyl cutter floating about (probably never set up). 

After working for a College when I was 17/18 I was shocked at the huge amount of expensive stuff purchased and never used or severely under utilised.

[Mosch]

With IT knowledge you should have quite some maths knowledge. What's the subject that makes everybody fails and causes cringing at the mere mention of its name? Bingo.
I don't know if you have potential customers (you would have to do the research yourself), but tutoring people can really get you some dough. I regularly have to send customers away because I just don't the capacity for everyone which means I can choose who I work with which is a really big plus and I make enough money to comfortably pay my bills (granted, I live with my parents and only have to pay my university tuition fee (largest in Germany, by the way) but remember that I only do this on the side). If you have skills with people and can explain things you might be looking at a lot of money. By the way, I also teach English, but I suppose that's more lucrative in Germany
A big plus is that you will probably have very low competition. There's really only one other tutoring company here besides me and they charge for times (!) the money I do. Everybody and his dog does tech support, very few people teach so there's a lot of demand.
But, once again, you will have to do your own research to see if those services are needed where you live.

Of course a mafia style protection business might be both more fun and more rewarding... not to mention that "Don Zarf" is a badass name.

[Gonk]

i just picked up on summat Mili said - sell the uni to local business , why not sell the local business to the students as well? Set up a directory style effort where businesses pay you to advertise their business in a directory you get subsidised printing for, or put it online? if a student needs a late night off license or a pizza number - look one up! I'm sure students do more than drink and eat pizza? but might be worth lookin at? You could even charge the other groups for putting an advert in

[Gonk]

vending machines ? who has the franchise?

[Gasman]

OK. Some of you may know me as something of an entrepreneur. So here's my not very original and not very inspired thoughts (I'm knackered):-

1. You've got no money so either do something that costs nothing or something that people give you money for BEFORE you spend anything
2. You'll fuck up on cash flow forecasting. It's your first business - everyone thinks they can live on fresh air and everyone fucks up on cash flow. See 1 above
3. Business is not about anything other than CASH. Fuck the Profit and Loss, if you run out of cash you are fucked. See 2 above.
4. Find or create a niche. Don't do computer repairs - everyone else will and you'll undercut yourselves out of business.
5. If you can't find a niche, find something that works in the parameters of 1 - 3 above and do it different and BETTER.
6. Don't confuse working like a twat with a good business but do expect to work like a twat.
7. This is the really clever  one but actually the one that potentially works best: persuade someone like me to invest (hint: watch a lot of Dragon's Den).

[Gasman]

But Milli is right: there is no business without a sale and all good ideas flop because it is not supported by access to market. Arguably more important even than cash flow management.