There have been many times in my professional life when I feel I’ve made the right decision. For instance, the time I moved to Edinburgh to spray shoes in a bowling alley instead of working for BP Petroleum in Milton Keynes. It worked out perfectly. And the time I left my old secure job to start my own training business. That’s also been a great decision.
HOWEVER, I once bought a Candyfloss machine.
Candyfloss machines are a brilliant means of making money. They cost about £7,500 Sterling and look a bit like something you would see in a bowling alley or amusement arcade I guess. Basically, you put sugar in the top, (which is a natural disinfectant by the way), and then let the machine do the hard work! Happy Days!
You can charge up to €2 per vend and the cost of each ‘floss’ is only about 20 Cent, leaving a very healthy Gross Profit of €1.80. It sounds brilliant doesn’t it? I am already sure in fact that many of you are already ‘googling’ them to see how you get one with one hand whilst robbing your granny with the other!
Well, let me give you something to think about…
Unless you are mechanically minded then this business opportunity is a disaster! I’m not you see, and so when it came to the inevitable maintenance and servicing that goes with having a machine like this, I came unstuck pretty quickly. There was a lot of downtime when the damn thing wasn’t working. I also don’t need to tell you that when it’s off, my 90% gross profit that was getting me all cross-eyed was irrelevant.
It ruined the relationship between the two most important people in the equation; the customer and the person that was ‘hosting’ the machine. The ‘hosts’ were annoyed because the machine was off and causing complaints, and the customer was annoyed because they couldn’t get their candyfloss! It took me a while before I could show my face in Clogherhead again I can tell you!
The moral of the story is this: don’t start a business because you think it’s going to make you lots of money. Start it because
- You love it
- There is a genuine need for it
Opportunities can seem attractive from a profit point of view, but only go after them if you think you can really commit to them. You wouldn’t commit yourself to a partner that you didn’t like. Why would you do it with a business?