Your Second Income!

[Sinbad]

And? How is it going? You gna make me drag this out of you!?

So far a lot better than we expected I thought it would be a slow start as we had no reviews or ratings, so basically an unknown quantity. However my wife did a fantastic job of furnishing, decorating, photographing and describing the space.
We've had three guests already, one for 10 days, one for 2 weeks and one for 3 weeks. Got a booking yesterday for a month from next monday... Our average rating is 4.7 stars, so looking good

Bringing in around 7k a month.

 

[playa4life]

So far a lot better than we expected I thought it would be a slow start as we had no reviews or ratings, so basically an unknown quantity. However my wife did a fantastic job of furnishing, decorating, photographing and describing the space.
We've had three guests already, one for 10 days, one for 2 weeks and one for 3 weeks. Got a booking yesterday for a month from next monday... Our average rating is 4.7 stars, so looking good

Bringing in around 7k a month.

That's not too bad for a cottage that was just sitting in the back of your yard!

PS: Would you make more, or less than R7K with a permanent tenant in the cottage?

 

[iFan]

Whats the best way to come up with further ideas guys?

I have been wanting to start my own business...I am thinking of putting the consulting thing on hold as it conflicts with my current work I think...

I keep trying to look at problems to solve, but get more and more "depressed" not finding anything. It's like I have the will but so far no viable ideas.

Feel like I am loosing motivation.. :/

 

[spiderz]

Whats the best way to come up with further ideas guys?

I have been wanting to start my own business...I am thinking of putting the consulting thing on hold as it conflicts with my current work I think...

I keep trying to look at problems to solve, but get more and more "depressed" not finding anything. It's like I have the will but so far no viable ideas.

Feel like I am loosing motivation.. :/

All you need is a red light and a open street corner ...

 

[Sinbad]

That's not too bad for a cottage that was just sitting in the back of your yard!

PS: Would you make more, or less than R7K with a permanent tenant in the cottage?

Less. We were renting it out for under 4k before. Didn't get any tenants at 5k.

 

[iFan]

All you need is a red light and a open street corner ...

Haha now now....

Ach....I even feel like I should pursue the consulting thing a bit further....i have my old portfolio website, so thinking of re-vamping that to be a site about me as a consultant. I am pretty confident that I can add some value to a company, but to hit this full strength I would need to chat to my boss about the conflict, and I am not at that point yet.

Alternatively I feel like there is a problem out there I can solve with a product or something and that will be my first business.

 

[DeathStrike]

also... location; location; location is key!
I hate the idea that I'd probably have to develop the premises myself and then rent it from the landlord. But, as it stands, a car wash in a busy mall means that you'd have clients on tap... all the time. So that's a small sacrifice that I'm willing to offer to the business gods!

#PrayForRain

this guy I was chatting with at his tyre business was telling me about a waterless car wash. apparently they have chemicals that can be used to wash cars without water. he said it costs more per car than a normal car wash, I assume because the chemicals are more expensive than regular car shampoo. if you got into this somehow you could market it as a water saving car wash.

 

[saturnz]

there was a waterless car wash on the M5 road in Cape Town a few years ago, it didn't last long

theres a car wash in my building, prime location too, but it changes owners every year

 

[Gtx Gaming]

AirBNB for a cottage on our property

This works.

People are even renting other people properties and sub letting it on AirBNB, which is not allowed

There was guy in Ireland, he was renting 17 properties from landlords and sub letting it on AirBNB before he was caught. He was making a killing.

 

[Tomtomtom]

This works.

People are even renting other people properties and sub letting it on AirBNB, which is not allowed

Ja I know this irritates locals and Airbnb has to be careful about PR, but it's not illegal here afaik. Economically it's a kind of arbitrage I guess. If you disallow it, you have a deadweight loss in the sector.

You'd definitely be breaking contract to sublet without landlord permission, but as a landlord I'd be interested if a tenant came to me and said they wanted to Airbnb the place and they have a track record. It's win-win if they know what they're doing.

Running 17 Airbnb's would be a full-time business, and unless you can afford 17 bonds, doing it by sub-letting (with agreement from the landlord!) would be the only reasonable way to go. Doubt it's easy money though.

 

[ADRAM3L3CH]

So this thread actually inspired me to start up something! I'm working with an idea for a subscription based service to teach, children mainly but adults also, programming and basic electronics. I don't expect it to be very profitable as I'm trying to keep the costs as low as possible so everyone can gain access to it.

 

[Tomtomtom]

So this thread actually inspired me to start up something! I'm working with an idea for a subscription based service to teach, children mainly but adults also, programming and basic electronics. I don't expect it to be very profitable as I'm trying to keep the costs as low as possible so everyone can gain access to it.

Awesome! Online classroom and/or real-life?

 

[ADRAM3L3CH]

Awesome! Online classroom and/or real-life?

Since I'm trying to expose this to as many people as possible it is available online but I will also post material (code, guides, components) to anyone that subscribes since not everyone in SA has a decent internet connection to stream videos. I am also planning to supply the proposed kits to schools who have access to computer LABS . If things go well and there is a demand for it, I will begin to hold real life classrooms as well.

 

[iFan]

Since I'm trying to expose this to as many people as possible it is available online but I will also post material (code, guides, components) to anyone that subscribes since not everyone in SA has a decent internet connection to stream videos. I am also planning to supply the proposed kits to schools who have access to computer LABS . If things go well and there is a demand for it, I will begin to hold real life classrooms as well.

Nice sounds like a good idea!


So for me, I am still thinking of pursuing more in terms of Project Management. I think having a business/consult idea around business efficiency and project management, this might work.

Some question that might be worth putting into a survey for me: (please feel free to answer too)

1. Do you feel your business is loosing time and money on tasks/employee's not working as efficiently as they could be?
2. Do you spend a lot of time on meetings?
3. Do you spend a lot of time on trying to get work scheduled in and see who's supposed to be doing what?

I am just starting and wrote these in 5min, but I need to refine and add. If people answer yes to these questions, then I have a good gap in coming into a company and either improving efficiency with project management/scrum/agile/my own practices OR just assisting in running/setting up a project as they do not know how to do this OR doing both of these.

I have a feeling there is a big enough gap for this because:

1. Companies work very inefficiently.
2. All companies are starting bigger projects but do not have the people and knowledge on how to start and run a project correctly.

 

[Ramcat]

Awesome thread guys! My wife ended up being a stay at home mom 2 years ago after having our 1st baby. Things were getting a bit expensive and I had a granny flat which my tenant moved out of so i thought i'd take a chance using it as a self catering unit. It did so well that 3 months ago i ended up buying the property next door and we have begun doing the same thing there. We now have a 2 bedroom house, 2 granny flats and 2 bnb type rooms although we don't do breakfasts. We still have permanent tenants in the 1 bnb room and the garden flat while we build up our clients but it does really well. No need for special consent as all our marketing is done online and no food is prepared by us so technically we are a short term boarding house.

We run it through my wife's name as a sol prop and would be surprised how many of your expenses can legitimately be put through as expenses.

 

[iFan]

Awesome thread guys! My wife ended up being a stay at home mom 2 years ago after having our 1st baby. Things were getting a bit expensive and I had a granny flat which my tenant moved out of so i thought i'd take a chance using it as a self catering unit. It did so well that 3 months ago i ended up buying the property next door and we have begun doing the same thing there. We now have a 2 bedroom house, 2 granny flats and 2 bnb type rooms although we don't do breakfasts. We still have permanent tenants in the 1 bnb room and the garden flat while we build up our clients but it does really well. No need for special consent as all our marketing is done online and no food is prepared by us so technically we are a short term boarding house.

We run it through my wife's name as a sol prop and would be surprised how many of your expenses can legitimately be put through as expenses.

Nice! Sounds like a solid idea!

 

[IziWhatNow]

Awesome thread guys! My wife ended up being a stay at home mom 2 years ago after having our 1st baby. Things were getting a bit expensive and I had a granny flat which my tenant moved out of so i thought i'd take a chance using it as a self catering unit. It did so well that 3 months ago i ended up buying the property next door and we have begun doing the same thing there. We now have a 2 bedroom house, 2 granny flats and 2 bnb type rooms although we don't do breakfasts. We still have permanent tenants in the 1 bnb room and the garden flat while we build up our clients but it does really well. No need for special consent as all our marketing is done online and no food is prepared by us so technically we are a short term boarding house.

We run it through my wife's name as a sol prop and would be surprised how many of your expenses can legitimately be put through as expenses.

Sounds awesome! We also have a granny flat (just one for now) but it pays 40% of our monthly bond, which helps a lot!

In which city are you?

And have you tried listing your accommodation on Airbnb.com - you'll get lots of bookings. If you do decide to sign up, let me send you a referral link and we both get a bonus

 

[Ramcat]

Sounds awesome! We also have a granny flat (just one for now) but it pays 40% of our monthly bond, which helps a lot!

In which city are you?

And have you tried listing your accommodation on Airbnb.com - you'll get lots of bookings. If you do decide to sign up, let me send you a referral link and we both get a bonus

We are in PE. Yes we are on Airbnb already as well as all the other booking sites. Travelground, booking.com, safarinow, lekkerslaap, etc..

Gumtree also works really well!

 

[ajv]

Thanks for sharing. Wife and I are in the process of fixing up our granny flat as well and need to decide if we're getting a renter or doing the airBNB thing.
I like the flexibility and lack of (potential) tenant issues of airbnb, but the wife says it will be too much work.
Any pros and cons of each anyone of you experienced that you can share ?

 

[IziWhatNow]

Thanks for sharing. Wife and I are in the process of fixing up our granny flat as well and need to decide if we're getting a renter or doing the airBNB thing.
I like the flexibility and lack of (potential) tenant issues of airbnb, but the wife says it will be too much work.
Any pros and cons of each anyone of you experienced that you can share ?

Well I think your potential income with Airbnb is more than with just a normal tenant, depending on your location.

However, it's much more work. You have to change sheets and clean properly each time a guest checks out. You have to be available at any time of day when guests want to check in. You have to keep a calendar and write reviews of your guests. And you can't go on holiday while you have guests.

If you can find a way to address these things, Airbnb will work for you.

Otherwise, just having a tenant is also great. It's more steady and long term. You can also do credit checks on tenants to weed out potentially bad tenants (use tpn.co.za).