Vote on my business venture!

saschaduran

Sometime this year I want to explore some options for starting a small side business.  Does anyone know any people in these fields, how well they do...

First, a professional organizer.  I would love to go through and clean and reorganize a person's home, although I may have a problem if they insist on hoarding items that I deem invaluable.

Second, have you heard of the gourmet food trucks?  LA has a few.  Conde Nast even did an article highlighting them.   Many have chefs with extensive gourmet cooking experience.  They gather fans that follow them through twitter and move to new locations every day.  So it is like an underground restaurant.  My daughter can cook and I can do customer service/PR/marketing.

EDIT:  Forgot to put in other if you have other ideas!

AmoroAgain

I vote- whichever you have the most passion for.  It would be annoying to be in a business that you decide later is not "you" or is boring.

saschaduran

If I did the gourmet food truck it would be a joint venture with my daughter.  I love working with people and networking and work well with the public.  And I would love to hang out with her all day, every day.

I am fasciantied by organizing and can spend hours getting lost in the fun of it, yet I lack patience for people wanting to keep things that I feel are trash, so that sort of confrontation could be a problem.  But I would love the part of helping someone and teching them skills to keep their lives in order.  It just may be hard for me not to judge.

AmoroAgain

Well, on a long term financial note, I'd say that you have a better possibility of staying in business, even through difficult times, in the food business. 

SwedishChick2011

I voted for professional organizer because that would be more up my alley.  However, isn't your husband a well-known chef or something?  Maybe he'd be able to help get you started with the gourmet food truck, and he probably has connections.  But I'm sure you already knew that. 

barbara1312

I voted for the gourmet food truck.  It sounds like you are close to your daughter would probably work well with her.  I really like the organizing idea also, but some hoarders can have some real emotional or psychological problems, and it might be very difficult to work with them without professional help.  (My mom was a hoarder - I can't even begin to explain how difficult it was.)

I, however, am not a hoarder, and if you choose that, I would love you to come here and organize my house if you are ever back to the midwest.

ac_in_dc

I don't know...I need more information. Why don't you pull together a business plan for each and see which one looks more feasible/sustainable/enjoyable?

A gourmet food truck sounds like fun, though. But that's just because I eschew organization in any form.

bbyckes

For professional organizer, specializing in hoarding, I think you need certification, don't you?  Whenever I watch Hoarders, when the organizer introduces himself/herself, they always say they are "certified."  I agree that more research would be needed for this venture.

It is my understanding that gourmet food trucks are gaining popularity in cities like LA and NY.  It would seem that concept could work well in Vegas also, since there is a lot of foot traffic.  The only draw back is the relative availabity of food at all hours and clubs and shopping being inside casinos.  In LA, for example, you could set up during the lunch rush or outside of a club near closing.  I can't quite imagine how it'd be set up for Vegas traffic though.

mocha beans

I vote for organizer.

1)  It's a job that you could conceivably do into older age.  If it got to be too physical you can just go to people's houses and lay out a plan for them to do the physical labor on.

2)  I would hate dealing with the health dept.  I just get so worked up and anxious at the prospect of having random surveys and such.

I could definately see a gourmet food truck having some serious draw in Vegas though with all the people walking around.  Would you be able to just pull up wherever?  That would be an interesting concept to research.

ScarletGem

I voted for gourmet food.  YUM.  And the idea of rummaging through other peoples' crap just doesn't appeal to me; I think once you get the "underground restaurant" up and going, it would be overall a more pleasant work experience (for me, at least!)

But I agree that it would be smart to draw up business plans for both ideas and see which seems more feasible, if both are equally appealing to you. 

missy68

Are you meaning true hoarders, or someone who has trouble organizing files, receipts, and day-to-day things, and maybe is simply messy? Maybe someone who attaches sentimental value to items and has difficulty getting rid of cards, gifts, etc., rather than someone who has a mental and physical compulsion to keep every single can and every single issue of the newspaper; etc....

A regular organizer might be a really good thing (you and julezee could do east coast-west coast ventures!) but if you're talking about true hoarding, theres a psychological component you have to deal with, too beyond the cleaning that may require something else. Dunno.

Both sound intriguing to me.

nda_roxybabe

Both! But if you do the organizing I want in on it. I love to organize

Night_Sprite

I would explore professional organization some more.  I think sometimes they have counseling degrees to deal with people with hoarding issues.  I don't know what kind of educational  background you have.  

SwedishChick2011

After seeing people's responses, I still think professional organizing would be a cool idea, but I'd probably stay away from working with hoarders until you know more about that.  Of course, hoarders probably wouldn't normally be asking a professional organizer to come help them, so it might not be much of an issue.  I also still think the gourmet food truck is an awesome idea.  Good luck with whatever you decide!

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I voted for food truck because I live in LA and I LOVE some of our food trucks. Vegas is just begging for some!

But I think the start-up costs related to an organizing business would be way, way less. I know a few people involved in food trucks in LA and they work a LOT.

saschaduran

Thanks for the input!

As much as I love organizing, I do worry about the psychological part of it.  I do have a bachelor's in psych from U of Michigan, but no further education.  It is also a business I could do with my daughter since she is even more organized and more hard core about it than I am as far as being very firm with people.

I am really intrigued by the gourmet food truck though.  If it is such a tend on the coasts it will spread for years inland (think cupcake bakeries and frozen yogurt).  And Vegas does not have any.  I read once about a local woman who made over 100K a year for a basic taco truck.

Coco...my H works for a chef, he is a server.  But he does know a ton about food, and his parents own a casual dining Mexican restaurant.  I'm not even sure where to start!  I need to do some research.

SwedishChick2011

Sascha - Was it the chef your H works for that was on Top Chef?  Or am I thinking of someone else?  Just curious. 

saschaduran

Yes!  He works for Alex Stratta.  He is awesome...Mobil 5 star and Michelin 2 star.  They filmed at Alex for the episode where there were 5 contestants left.  H was one of the servers in that episode:)
H has worked for him for about 8 years at Alex at Wynn and his former restarant, Renior, at Mirage.  So he has a ton of food knowledge from both high end, and casual from his family's place.