Ideas please

[JIMBOB187]

I am never happy, my wife says, not true I am happy 99% of the time but I am always wanting to do better.

For some reason I can not see the future clearly, normally I have a defined plan and off I go. I would like my business to grow from just me and two guys into something else but more staff definetly egual more headaches.

So ideas please on a minimal overhead way of a tile shop or tile supplies, what about online tile shops do they work, what about the postage!!! is there any money in importing spacers from China? You see what I mean I just don't have the knowledge of this industry to be able to make a strong decision, I would hate to do lots of research or investment only for someone to say Oh no you shouldn't have done that, that's a stupid idea.

I await your experience, by the way Transporter 3 cakka, Appaloossa WOW.

 

[DHTiling]

The way things are in china....spacers will be very very cheapo....:santa_cheesy:......My advice jimbob...think hard and check there is a market for what you want to do...

 

[doug boardley]

whatever you do, someone will always say "oh, you should have done it this way!"

 

[Dan]

Online tile sales don't work unless you sold by the crate (ATHENA STONE TILES - Online Natural Stone Tile And Mosaic Specialists I know of and although he puts on a brave face his online sales of stone are near zero, he has a nice unit though and locals are buying a bit).

I had a friend that setup a tile shop and he's now selling bespoke german kitchens and is doing very well out of it, his tiles also as a result but he said it's not the best single thing to sell if you can't buy in unique stuff or compete with shifting qty therefore getting good rates from suppliers and disti's.

Tools are competitive and Dave (TradeTiler) shifts A LOT and he's still finding the odd sausage-jockey (there's that word again lol) undercutting him for a bit and although he's making some still due to QTY he sells, the competition must be making pence on the gear. I wouldn't recommend going in to tools.

I think if you suss your locals out more so than online you'll get the business you're looking for. If you don't have experience selling online you could find it hard to manage with big stuff, and too little profit with little stuff. Certainly all the online store in the tile industry anyway.

I'd have said Shoes/Trainers/Ladie's Handbags anything like that you can find would be a winner.

I used to go a Trade Exhibition at NEC one weekend, get lots of price lists for all sorts, make sure the supplier can send the gear out for me, then I'd go get a stand in the same hall the next week when retailers are coming in and I'd sell them anything! lol. I'd litterally do that with anything.

That costs near nothing to do, and can make you a lot of cash in a short space of time. But you have to be a good salesman or know your audience well. The exhibitions don't come cheap when they have good traffic, so you need to make sure you have the right stand-style, and the right products.

I'd have said branch out into other trades or something and eventually perhaps sub-contact when the chance comes?

 

[JIMBOB187]

Just another example of why this site is so valuable, thanks for the advice alot to ponder whilst sweating turkey....:santa_cheesy:

 

[Alberta Stone]

Would be nice to have a crystal ball so as to avoid the mistakes, eh?
We are in uncertain times (although its kind of always been that way... the element of uncertainty is always there).
Here in Canada, what those I know are figuring is that with the housing crisis and financial problems in the markets, people will be taking their cash and working on home improvements more so than building new houses.
The ownership of property is changing hands in that banks and investment groups now hold the title rather than individuals in many cases, but the buildings are still there and they need work due to the way they are constructed and people will still live in them, they will just be tenants rather than owners.
So the kind of work will shift in that way, unless we are surfing the rim of a depression, in which case we can continue prognosticating in the soup and bread line about when the next war will surface to make the economy recover.