What business would you start?

I like this topic - I'm just turned 62 YO (I know, WTF did this happen) and I'm looking for a retirement gig - you know, sell E36 M3 at a flea market or car shows?  Outsource the booth manning for GRM/CM in the Midwest?  Handyman? Courier? Friendship services?  

My daughter played HS badminton and this old dude showed up with a table and sold 100 cool badminton shirts on a Saturday.  Something car related? 

Ever been to the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County, Indiana?  3000 booths of stuff?

Tempted to start a general engineering & build business in the next few years.

In reply to TravisTheHuman :

Interested...

Why?  Do you see a particular advantage in the next few years?

WesHenry said:

With so many industries feeling the pinch, it’s clear there’s a demand for reliable services. I’ve been thinking about starting a small mobile repair service for bikes. There are tons of cyclists in my area, and not everyone has the time to take their bikes to a shop. I could set up appointments at their homes, which would save them time and make it super convenient.

I've seen a van for a business by me that does this, I think it's pretty high-end though...but if you can get into the right circles there are a lot of cyclists who spend more on their bikes than a lot of us do on our cars.

So early this year I started a business with an innovative idea that seemed like it should at least bring in part-time job money, I just jumped on it to try and get the first-mover advantage, startup costs were around $3k. But it fell flat on its face pretty hard, shockingly little interest especially considering how much interest there is in the alternatives (edit: which are inferior in a lot of ways and not allowed to operate in a lot of places my service can), so it's not getting beyond self-funding-hobby level. Only one of the 3 customer groups I tried selling to showed a hint of interest. I think even getting into the part-time-job money range would require building (and retaining) a dream team of regular customers, and the customers that already have an alternative service are committed to their current providers and not interested in switching. So I'm going to wind it down later this year and try to sell it off, maybe to one of those companies that provides an alternative service and already has clients. If I can get most of the startup costs back out I wouldn't complain.

In reply to SV reX :

Next few years is when my retirement accounts should be "good enough" that I'm willing to risk it.  That's the only reason for the timing.

 If I had a business partner I'd consider doing it now and only working there part time.

In reply to TravisTheHuman :

Gotcha. 
 

I think this is a pretty good time for that, especially if you focus on medical construction, infrastructure, or retirement related (vacation homes, care facilities, etc).  Commercial may not do as well. 

Well, I have, in fact, started a business.

Cramer Power Electronics LLC

When I worked at DIYAutoTune, I had people ask if we could make reproductions of various OEM automotive electronics. This never really went anywhere, but I decided to revisit this after leaving. I took apart a parts store replacement for a Mopar voltage regulator, and it was as bad as they said it was. I realized I could make a better voltage regulator on my kitchen table.

Unfortunately, the city of Lawrenceville frowns on actually mass producing car parts on your kitchen table. So I am saving up to have a contract manufacturer do runs of stock replacement voltage regulators and ignition modules. In the meantime, I'm working with a 3D print on demand company to make shift knobs to order and reproduction interior trim parts.

Well, farming isn't doing as well as planned.

In January I finished my shop and opened up a powersports repair shop. We're fully insured and Polaris certified now.

After 6 months we billed out $30k. 

It appears that, even in a recession, people want to spend money on their toys. Even if they don't spend money on the vehicle that gets them to work every day. Either way, I'm happy to put it in my pocket.

SV reX said:

In reply to TravisTheHuman :

Gotcha. 
 

I think this is a pretty good time for that, especially if you focus on medical construction, infrastructure, or retirement related (vacation homes, care facilities, etc).  Commercial may not do as well. 

I should clarify.  Product design/build.

I can do a lot of things with some cad software and a few manufacturing tools.  I'd really only have tools for prototyping though.  Once designs are complete I'd outsource the build.