***What business should I open. Very open minded Question.***?

Question

Hi there! I am going to open up a business. I was thing starting a nice restaurant, but that is a little edgy in my mind. I want to know what the best way to make money starting a business, with a natural guarantee to make at least 2 million per year.

Maybe it's a certain type of restaurant.

Maybe it's something typical or not so typical.

It's up to you, but please do not respond with random answers. Please have experiences or heavenly knowledge.

I would like an answer more than... Chinese restaurant. I would appreciate answers behind it and references if possible.

Even a position with 5 yrs. of college that makes at least 1 million a year.

Also I would appreciate contact information, email, so I can chat with you if I like your answer and want to pursue it more in depth.

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate it!

Derek Logan

Answer 1

Hi Derek

I think you know you're dreaming to be expecting a guarantee of making a couple million a year from a business, unless you buy an already-existing business with a strong track record of making that much or more, and keep the same people on staff who are currently running it so that the change in ownership is transparent to the customers.

Do some math. To make $2 million a year from a restaurant, you'd have to serve over 1000 customers each and every day AND make an average of $5 profit from each of them - not a real easy goal to meet!

And just out of college, making a million a year salary is dreaming also. There are some jobs where you might be able to get a six-figure income to start, but most college grads would start well below six figures, let alone $1 million.

Answer 2

As an accountant who has worked his way through school doing bookkeeping for small businesses:

Restaurants suck, unless you really love the place you open and work A LOT.

In general restaurants have poor profit margins, as most small businesses with low barriers to entry do.

In marketing/business terms a "barrier to entry" is used to describe how hard it is for someone to enter a certain type of business.

Examples of high barriers to entry:
accountants, one has a high barrier to entry because it requires 5+ years of school, 150 credit hours, and passing the CPA exam.
computer chip manufacturing: takes a billion dollars to build a factory. There is no such thing as a ma and pa chip manufacturing plant.

Examples of low barriers to entry:
Massage therapy. You can take some classes and get a certification if you want, but don't really need that to start calling yourself a "message therapist".
Restaurants, you need some capital in terms of buying tables, kitchen equipment, and getting permits, but anybody with a menu idea or two can do it.

Things that are easy to get into have a LOT of competition. Things that are hard to get into don't.

I am NOT knocking restaurants. I am simply offering a realistic view of the business. If you are good at it, you CAN be sucessful.

If you want a "natural guarantee" to make $2M+ per year, you will not find one. If there were such a thing, everybody would do so. Best bet to actually get that is to get a CEO job for a mid- to large sized company, possibly a CFO slot as well. Such things generally require some education and certainly experience in the business.

Small business opportunities abound though, all it takes is seeing an opportunity that others are missing, or offering a high demand skill or service.

It has been said, in humor, that the best way to make money in small business is to write a book about how to make money as a small business.

Personally:
Accounting is a good way to go. You will NEVER be unemployed, and you can work anywhere, for any size company that does anything. Even if you don't want to work for a company or large CPA firm, you can always do bookkeeping and set up your own firm.

But accounting is not for everybody, and takes some college to get to.

Answer 3

Are you set on a restaurant? Very few restaurants make much of a profit, and many go out of business within the first year. My cousin owns a smoke shop/bar in California and he does ok, but I'm not sure he does well enough to really make it worth it. Night clubs are the same way, it really is a roll of the dice. If you really are interested in money, go into real estate. That's unless you're a famous athlete or musician. Alice Cooper has a popular restaurant in Phoenix and he's only there occasionally.

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Answer 4

do it yourself businesses take off really well. Something like a business where people are able to make their own thing to take home (like paint your own pottery)... i would stay away from restaurants becuase they can go down really fast and there's no way you're going to make millions unless you're in new york city or something