Import/Export based from Asia?

[AshanD]

Hi all,

I make my living as a futures trader. It pays quite well but the stress is enormous and i could not see myself doing this for the rest of my life. I have an exit plan into commercial real estate, but with local conditions in California being as they are (and I'm tied here for another 2 years due to school) real estate, especially in the commercial arena, is still off in the horizon.

I could not give up futures trading because nothing else would pay as well, but it is just so volatile that I wish I had another side business to cover the living expenses. Even if my business made 1/4 my trading for comparable effort I would be happy with it.

I am considering a side business. I have $100,000 saved but am not willing/able to use all of this money. I can work $25,000 now, or about $50,000 in 6 months if I need to wait.

The business I have in mind is an import/export business that buys its products cheaply from a country with many manufacturing exports like China. Ideally I would set up a B2B pipeline but I know nothing of what is involved to do this. Other option is selling B2C through a website or ebay.

If anyone has experience in this area, is this a realistic plan, or am I just pipe dreaming up a business that is far more difficult, possibly inaccessible for non importers, than I imagined?

Thanks
Ashan

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[DeletedUser394]

This reminds me of Alibaba.com - The world's largest online B2B marketplace.

You might be able to find some idea's from that B2B site. :banana:

 

[snowbank]

Hi all,

I make my living as a futures trader. It pays quite well but the stress is enormous and i could not see myself doing this for the rest of my life. I have an exit plan into commercial real estate, but with local conditions in California being as they are (and I'm tied here for another 2 years due to school) real estate, especially in the commercial arena, is still off in the horizon.

I could not give up futures trading because nothing else would pay as well, but it is just so volatile that I wish I had another side business to cover the living expenses. Even if my business made 1/4 my trading for comparable effort I would be happy with it.

I am considering a side business. I have $100,000 saved but am not willing/able to use all of this money. I can work $25,000 now, or about $50,000 in 6 months if I need to wait.

The business I have in mind is an import/export business that buys its products cheaply from a country with many manufacturing exports like China. Ideally I would set up a B2B pipeline but I know nothing of what is involved to do this. Other option is selling B2C through a website or ebay.

If anyone has experience in this area, is this a realistic plan, or am I just pipe dreaming up a business that is far more difficult, possibly inaccessible for non importers, than I imagined?

Thanks
Ashan

From the money it sounds like you make, you could probably make similar money(or more) playing poker, which may be less stressful for you. Kind of similar work as far as having to put in the hours to get the money though, so dunno if that'd be an option for you. If you're just looking for a way out from trading though, might be worth exploring. I actually looked into futures trading quite a bit, but it was a crapload of work compared to poker so I decided it wasn't worth it to relearn the same type of grind, since poker is more fun.

 

[TC2]

Hi all,

The business I have in mind is an import/export business that buys its products cheaply from a country with many manufacturing exports like China. Ideally I would set up a B2B pipeline but I know nothing of what is involved to do this. Other option is selling B2C through a website or ebay.

Ashan

To me, finding buyers is tougher than finding products to sell. Of course, you have to first find what products to sell and then find the supplier. In other words, you need to find what people want, where they get it now and how much they pay now.

If you can sell, you can negotiate a better price with your supplier.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[bizboy]

Finding customers is hard, if you take this route, make sure you make small orders (very small), see what sells then start importing large orders.