Small home or cottage business ideas - what have you got? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2018, 06:46:31 am
content: What ideas do we all have for a small cottage or home based electronics related business?Perhaps something that would generate a few hundred dollars per week for a day or two's work.A few ideas:Design a widget, build it and sell it - depends on if you can come up with an in-demand saleable product.Consumer electronics repair - unless it's a niche product that you have experience with eg hi end audio amplifiers or musicians effects pedals I wonder about the viability of this.Find a local small business and repair failed gear specific to their business that are very expensive - air conditioner controllers or PLC I/O units or PSUs perhaps?Prototype hardware construction - limited demand.Purchase or build a value adding machine & offer a service - small CNC router or LASER engraver?I'm interested in what others do or have ideas about doing.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2018, 09:06:35 am
content: Test gear repair and refurb. This covers my other interests in cash at least.

author: mrpackethead
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2018, 09:13:15 am
content: 3d chocolate printer.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2018, 09:38:02 am
content: 10 step process.1. Go on specialized forums2. Ask people what electronics they need but which doesn't exist or is way to expensive.3. Filter out all the ideas that are too complex.4. Gauge what they would pay for it.5. Filter out all the ideas that are not cost effective. (You need to sell for at least 2.5x what it cost to make)6. Prototype/design with lots of checking to ensure it meets the users needs7. Pre-production build8. Send out free units to people who will do reviews on YouTube or forums.9. Production.10. Support/returns

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2018, 09:42:39 am
content: This plan usually runs out of steam at point 4.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2018, 09:47:58 am
content: Very true.The whole "build a product for a niche" thing is filled with failed products and wasted time.The best thing to do is:1. Perform a service. This requires nothing tangible and no stock.2. Make sure it's one someone will want to come back and do again.3. Make sure you're good at it.4. Premium price yourself right up front.5. Maintain the appearance of total professionalism, even if it's carnage behind the scenes.If someone wants you to build a product, make sure the 50% up front at least allows you to break even.

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 04:52:43 am
content: Quote from: Psi on October 29, 2018, 09:38:02 amI like your thinking. I've followed that process with only a small degree of success. I guess I needs couple of more iterations to hit on the right product and really make it worthwhile.

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 04:57:10 am
content: Quote from: bd139 on October 29, 2018, 09:06:35 amThat sounds good, I imagine in the UK (and the US) there's a lot more used TEQ available. I Australia it's not all that common.

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 04:58:08 am
content: Quote from: mrpackethead on October 29, 2018, 09:13:15 amI somehow thing I'd end up consuming all the product.

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 05:01:59 am
content: 1. Buy cool electronic stuff.2.3. Profit!!

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 05:04:17 am
content: Find a brand of TE that's not represented in your country then build a relationship with the manufacturer with the end goal of becoming their authorized distributor.Rinse and repeat if you're keen enough.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 08:39:45 am
content: Flat screen repairs...From what I’ve seen and read, it is very often capacitors on the primary being insufficiently rated...Nothing for a solder wrangler, dead TV for the rest of them.In any case, try to specialise, you will get lost if you try being too many things.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 09:33:42 am
content: That's not a bad idea. My current television, a 32" Samsung 1080p smart TV cost me £0.99 thanks to one dried up capacitor and someone not wanting to post it

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 09:52:43 am
content: Quote from: gildasd on October 30, 2018, 08:39:45 amOur council area has yearly hard rubbish collections. The verges have heaps of flat screen TVs dumped on them and I suspect lots have the exact problem you mention. Seems such a waste.

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 10:38:08 am
content: A friend of mine - an old age pensioner - started up repairing/refurbishing commercial coffee machines in his garage. From then on this thing grew and grew. Now he has rented a hall in an industrial area to stock the spare parts he needs.He cheaply buys defective coffee machines which dealers have replaced. He then either repairs and thoroughly cleans them, and flogs them via ebay. Or, if unrepairable disassembles them for parts which he either retains for other repairs or flogs these too after cleaning and checking. He only does the mechanical side. PCB are replaced, if defectve. He does not do component level repairs. On occasion I help him out doing component level pcb repairs. By nature, he has always been precise and meticulous in his work.

author: kosine
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 10:50:14 am
content: In the UK there's a company that sells a cheap beginners electronics kit on ebay. They've sold thousands of them, and the components are nothing special.What sells it is the documentation.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 10:54:29 am
content: Quote from: DTJ on October 30, 2018, 09:52:43 amI suspect it's a defect combined with people looking for a reason to upgrade their television.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 10:55:15 am
content: The failure rate of a startup is 99% in the first few years.If in need to ask the question of this thread, better get a job.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 12:14:36 pm
content: I used to replace capacitors in ECU's, mainly from Toyotas (late 80's to late 90's, the capacitor plague years) when I was back in Australia.I'd charge about $80 including return express post and name brand high quality caps and made a good $60 or more profit per ECU. Used to take me half hour tops per ECU from the moment I sat down to the point it was packaged ready to send out.Also did LCD TV's and monitors too. Get them free, a few bucks worth of capacitors and sell for insane profit margin.

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 01:07:45 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on October 30, 2018, 10:55:15 amFor many perhaps that is true, a job is much easier than generating your own income.However there's lots of us through circumstance, planning or retirement for whom a small side business can be a source of fulfillment as well as generating some income.

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 01:10:40 pm
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on October 30, 2018, 12:14:36 pmI wondered if anyone did automotive electronics work. I imagine there might be a good side business in repairing some dash board instrument clusters.Did you have to rig up a full test system for the ECUs?

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 01:21:40 pm
content: Search "orgone" on ebay. Add some blinking LED, or better, a proximity sensor so it glows when you put your hand near it.plenty of morons willing to pay for this sort of nonsense.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 01:41:22 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on October 30, 2018, 01:21:40 pmHahaha. Peep Show covered orgones...

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 01:43:44 pm
content: Quote from: bd139 on October 29, 2018, 09:47:58 amThis is exactly what I've been doing for a living for the last few years.#5 is more important than you'd think. Posters sold as 'motivational' make me sick, but I do have this on the wall of my office:https://shop.theoatmeal.com/collections/prints/products/bob-mirror-signed-print?variant=28626724355

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 02:17:43 pm
content: If you are looking for a cottage industry in electronics, how about fire detectors for thatched roofs.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 02:20:18 pm
content: Quote from: bd139 on October 29, 2018, 09:47:58 amBut it does require that you be there most/all of the time, and can cause significant scheduling issues once you get multiple customers.A nice thing about a successful product is it earns money when you're not doing anything.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 02:22:42 pm
content: You need multiple customers here at least. IR35

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 02:27:43 pm
content: Oftentimes some industry has evolved in a high margin environment and pricing is totally disproportionate to costs but all the major manufacturers have simply found there is so little competition that somebody can come in and even if they make the product by hand, undercut the commercial products by some huge margin, and offer equivalent or better quality, they can succeed and even thrive, but their volume will likely be low because they just dont have the capital.The drawback is, once you go into business, eventually the big players may just lower their prices (or buy you out, or just ignore you and count on your lack of advertising resources to limit your sales.) Or somebody with even lower costs, may copy your product and sell it for even less.Except in the last case (which is probably the most likely, unfortunately) there may still be the space in the market for you to operate and make a profit as long as you want.Maybe you will be able to expand it too.The key is finding a niche market.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 02:36:17 pm
content: A huge problem for many people starting up on their own is they start because they have hadagood idea for a product or service - just one good idea. That idea may fail from day one. If it succeeds it won't remain successful forever. Once you have gone your own way, it can be hard to get back into well paid employment. So, keep focussed on what you are doing, or its doomed to failure, but always make some time to consider what you do next.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 02:48:10 pm
content: I wouldn't be too concerned about that; after all, every company has a first product.If it's a success, then that's great.If not, then:- *accept* that it wasn't a success. Don't go throwing good money after bad.- try to figure out why it wasn't a success. (Hint: it probably wasn't the technical details of the product)- make a new product which is more commercially viable than the first one.The new product doesn't have to be objectively "better"; it needs to be a closer fit for the needs of a particular group of customers. That could mean simpler, cheaper, easier to use and understand, and NOT having more features, better accuracy, or whatever.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 03:30:59 pm
content: Quote from: bd139 on October 30, 2018, 02:22:42 pmNot necessarily - AIUI if you have your own equipment etc. and can in principle take work from anyone you don't come under IR35.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 03:32:53 pm
content: Depends if it’s a good or bad day at HMRC. Had the latter before.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 04:27:52 pm
content: Quote from: DTJ on October 30, 2018, 01:10:40 pmNah, nothing so fancy. The problems with these ECU's were 99.9% leaky capacitors. I never had one not work after a cap replacement, and sometimes a PCB trace repair.Gauge clusters would be easier to make a jig for I reckon, just feed in a signal from a sig gen for speed and tacho, and variable voltages for other gauges, assuming it's not all canbus...

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 04:36:35 pm
content: This is something I've briefly pondered. With costs of living (hydro, gas, city taxes etc) constantly going up, I'd like to eventually buy cheap land in an unorganized townshp (less/no bylaws = more freedom) and live mostly off grid so I'm not so much at the mercy of those costs. From there I could find a hobby that could generate income. Since cost of living would be cheap it would not need to be that much income, but enough to pay for the few things I may want like internet, and rest would just go to savings to pay for one time purchases like house upgrades etc.I'm thinking an easy route might be wood working, if you get decent at it you can build some commodity items that people will buy at a decent price. Things like crates maybe even skids. Furniture if you get really good. Not exactly electronics but could do that too. With a decent size off grid property and nice shop the possibilities are greater.

author: tpowell1830
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 05:11:39 pm
content: Seems like a number of us are looking for a semi-retirement small business. I wonder what a consortium of service type businesses would look like, something like an exchange, where we had a website and private forum that we could all use to share small jobs. For example, if I had a small TV repair service and ran into a customer who needed a small microcontroller done for a project, I could pass it on the the exchange for someone else. Or, a project for the European area, for example, that couldn't practically be done in the US, I could post the link in exchange for a European member to consider.My thoughts are not real clear on how this exchange could work, but we could call for help with projects that are stumping us as well and get free help on the exchange.Help me out here to define this exchange idea, how else could it work to help a small business? Small businesses are the least to get help from any source, maybe even some kind of financial help for small capital expenses, say for a specific piece of equipment? Any thoughts?It is very difficult to scratch start a small business and there aren't many resources where you can easily get help. How can a consortium/exchange be modeled so that the small business person at least has other small businesses as resources? Knowledge base, source base, there a number of ways it would be beneficial.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 05:20:12 pm
content: If you look at the original requirements the goals are pretty tough. Any small business is tough, and one that requires only a few hours a week is even tougher.What some have morphed this to is something that generates a small supplemental income, perhaps for retirement. Much easier. Failure isn't life changing and dry periods can be waited out. Everything I have seen says that automotive electronics might be a sweet spot for this. It is black magic to most of those in the car business, but is more and more of the content and function of cars. I have a few friends who have dabbled in this, forming relationships with local service shops and consulting on the tough problems. The hardest part of this is reconciling your desire for an on demand/few hours a week occupation with the service industries need to get it done NOW.For those so inclined at home IT type work is always there. At least for the next few decades there will be tons of folks who are clueless.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 05:30:03 pm
content: I'm not sure how practical it ever is to try and only work a couple of days a week. Anyone who wants a job done typically wants it done to a reasonable time scale; you'll find it much easier to work (say) a couple of weeks a month, on average, rather than a couple of days a week.I do know people who work part time as consultants, though, but they have very specific skills and experience which are called for sporadically. It's nice work if you can get it, but in order to end up in that position, you really need to be able to do something special.

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 05:38:50 pm
content: Quote from: DTJ on October 29, 2018, 06:46:31 amDone the second one, got given a ton of equipment fixed most of it, kept what I wanted, sold the rest on ebay.Downside it was specialized, you couldn't rely on something selling in a certain timeframe to be income, it was worth the trouble when it did.Currently doing the third for someone I consider a friend, one off product. I help them anyway, they are providing parts/support.Was going to make something like it anyway, so it's all good Still no money out of it directly.The first one, working on that also. Despite what many believe, there are still people out there for who made in China is too questionable in quality/design to be useful.At the end of the day, you really need only to:A) pick something you understand, not just technically but how and whyB) if there is no competition, find out if it's because others are fools, or simply as there isn't enough money in it.C) if no one else understands how something works, or how to build/repair it, that's probably a good thing. Downside is you have no one to ask advice from.D) reverse engineering other people's stuff to figure out how it works, should be an electronics 101 subject.

author: xaxaxa
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2018, 06:22:39 pm
content: First make sure you have enough cash in the bank to last you at least 2 years. More is better. Then quit your job (a normal job does not leave you enough time and energy to do any meaningful R&D). Then just do whatever you like for at least a few months; do as many projects as you can handle, and do projects that are fun whether or not they have business potential. Do make sure you employ modern techniques in electronics prototyping; that means proper PCBs and attention to mechanical construction.When you have a few projects that make commercial sense, investigate the market, estimate your costs, and think about these things:(1) Is there a need for this product? And why would people buy yours over the existing alternatives?(2) Can I provide good value for the money? You need to account for at least a 2.5x profit multiplier over your costs. If your product has about the same price/performance as existing ones, you need to rethink your strategy.Once you have evaluated your market, much of the art is in designing a product that is efficient and low cost to manufacture while providing high value. Unless you are targeting the ultra-high-end market you will need to put quite some effort into cost reduction. That can include looking into alternative architectures of your circuit, avoiding expensive parts when an alternate discrete solution will do, designing your board to fit into an off-the-shelf enclosure, integrating everything on a single PCB to avoid connectors and manual assembly, etc. Get into the habit of being constantly cost-conscious when designing a circuit. Component sourcing is important too; the higher priced parts (>=$2) will have huge margins from distributors and you can usually find far cheaper sources.

author: trophosphere
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 03:36:00 am
content: One thing that is often overlooked is how much time will you be spending on making your widget especially if there is some amount of mechanical assembly required and you are at the point where you are getting plenty of orders in but not enough to justify (money-wise) hiring someone else to help. You could wind up stuck just making the same set of widgets while having little time to do anything else.

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 03:48:41 am
content: Quote from: station240 on October 30, 2018, 05:38:50 pmAll very interesting points Station240.Reverse engineering is also a lot of fun.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 04:09:07 pm
content: The thing to watch out too is patents. If you decide to make something that is not the first of it's kind, it might infringe on a patent then you get sued for millions and end up losing everything you have. My fear would be losing my house/property. They'll probably garnish your wages too if you have a job. Basically you'd be paying for life.I kinda want to design my own home automation system (I hate the fact that existing stuff is cloud based and proprietary) that is super modular with plug in cards etc and I was thinking I could release it to public, but there's probably too many patents related to that so not worth the risk.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 04:34:14 pm
content: This is a good reason to work through a Ltd company, but not a reason to run screaming from any possible business opportunity.There are some well established business practices that you'd do well to consider. For example, you might set up two companies:- one is a holding company, which owns your intellectual property, and licences it out for a fee- the other is a trading company, which makes and sells products. The designs for the products are licensed from the holding company.Get it right, and the trading company's profits from selling widgets are balanced by its expenditure on license fees paid back to the holding company. Crucially, it has no assets of its own, so if it's sued for patent infringement, it can be wound up without incurring massive losses.The holding company isn't making or selling any product, so it can't be guilty of patent infringement. Its assets are relatively safe in that respect. You own the shares in the holding company, and can take dividends from it.The paperwork is a pain, and does have a cost associated with it, but it's a lot safer than being a sole trader.

author: xaxaxa
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 05:48:51 pm
content: That's why when you are small it might make sense to do the whole thing from china

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 31, 2018, 06:51:13 pm
content: Guess what renting a good IP lawyer's time will set you back here in the US, around $1200/hour.Quote from: Red Squirrel on October 31, 2018, 04:09:07 pmOften they don't even know answers to questions (Although sometimes there is no answer to a question, yet, this applies to almost everything out of the ordinary, not just that.) and they want you to pay them for research time.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 01, 2018, 06:57:16 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on October 30, 2018, 01:21:40 pmYou made me look.Don't look for forgiveness any time soon.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2018, 09:42:21 am
content: Couple more things i forgot to put in my list- Pick an industry where people have more money than sense. Or at least an industry where it's normal for items to be a bit expensive. Even better if a % of your customers buy your product and never really use it.Sometimes, if your product is known to be very good at what it does, people will buy it just to be part of the culture.Happens a bit in automotive industry, if item X can be used to make a car go round the track faster then some people will buy it just to say that their car has it. And they wont even bother to fully install or actually use it.- Don't try to compete with china on small cheap electronics.if it's a low volume niche product you'll probably never need to worry about china clones

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2018, 09:46:17 am
content: I don’t think more money than sense is required, just an abject lack of sense. They have credit cards, also due to lack of sense, to bridge the financial gap

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2018, 11:20:54 am
content: Quote from: Psi on November 03, 2018, 09:42:21 amSectors where participants have more money than sense, what have we got......Cars - young guys love to spend $$ on accessories. Especially rice burner guys.Boats & boating.Fishing accessories.Maybe RV / camper-van accessories.Security / surveillance systems maybe.RC hobbiesCheap electronics lab TEQ........

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2018, 01:47:45 pm
content: Quote from: DTJ on November 03, 2018, 11:20:54 amAudiophoolsWoo-WooGuns/hunting ( in certain countries)

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2018, 01:49:33 pm
content: Quote from: Psi on November 03, 2018, 09:42:21 amOr an industry.i.e. a professional market where the return on investment of a new gaddet can be clearly quantified, and you are not dealing with idiot general-public consumers.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2018, 08:57:27 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on November 03, 2018, 01:49:33 pmAgreed!!Yeah, that someone else i didn't mention.- You will need to do some email sales/returns support. This is soooo much easier if your client base is somewhat skilled. The volume of stupidity can take a real toll on your sanity if you're dealing with the general public.If you've never done sales/return support before you will be horrified just how many people do stupid things with your product and expect a replacement. Or just complain that the product didn't arrive the day after they ordered it.You can take a hard-line on people who do stupid things but often you will not know if the product actually failed or they blew it up out of stupidity.So design your product to be bulletproof!eg, If you need a power mosfet for something the user will connect externally, use an intelligent high power driver chip with current limit/auto shutdown/reverse polarity protection etc it's totally worth the extra money (Often they come with current monitoring output, which is a plus for diagnostics)

author: Messtechniker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2021, 09:22:29 pm
content: Buy cheaply defective commercial coffee machines from dealers who must replace defective ones with new ones, repair em, flog em on ebay. This is what an old age pensioner friend of mine is doing so successfully that he had to move his operation from his garage to a larger place. And hire a second old age pensioner to help with the repairs. Maybe you can pull something similar off with other items.

author: buterin
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 19, 2023, 12:13:02 pm
content: I've been running a home-based business for a while now, and I have to say, it's been a great experience. I have a friend who started a sea moss business, and she's been doing really well with it. If you're interested inHow to start a sea moss business, I'd recommend checking out some resources on this - it's a great option for a small cottage or home-based business.Another idea that you might consider is starting an online store. With platforms like Shopify and Amazon, it's easy to set up an online store and start selling products.But the the best thing you can do is to start by identifying your interests and skills.