Opinions needed/wanted please!!

[raisingtwo2006]

I will take anything, Pros, Cons, Equipment needed, license procedures, whatever..


Here's the thing. Hubby has decided he wants to forgo the life of Lowe's and start our own fish business....

Included in his plans are: Moving to Miami- getting a fishing liscense- selling our catch online, incl. ebay and our own website.

He wants me to do the research. He thinks that for 30 bucks for a 1 year license, we can catch and sell enough to make a living. Not corals- we wouldn't even be touching the coral end of the spectrum, just fish, and inverts like snails/crabs.

He thinks we would need about 15 thou in savings to start the business.. for scuba gear, moving expenses, and website costs, plus misc.

What do you all think??

Here's what I think:
We would be going down to a strange place, to catch creatures that I'm not sure I would want to sell to strangers that may or may not know anything about the hobby. I think that we would be eaten up in storage costs for holding/feeding livestock until/if it sold, and that potential profits would be cut short because of the outrageous shipping cost/liability. We would have no definate income- only dependant on if we were able to actually catch stuff, and IF it sold. We would have no insurance anymore. And this is just the start.

His whole thing behind it is that he is tired of working 14-16 hour days, 5 days a week, and not getting to see me or the kids but for a few hours a day, if any. He thinks we can go down there, slide on some scuba gear, wade around for a couple hours and come back to the house with butt loads of booty

Come on, people, let me have it- I know you are all thinking something..

 

[sagent3000]

now that is a HUGE gamble. would you be working during this time or would the income he bring in be what you are living on? going with out insurance is not a good idea if you are doing what he is planning. i think he needs to re think this idea and come up with some concrete numbers so you all will have atleast a years worth of money saved up when you make this move

 

[krb]

That venture would require around $250K to be successful. That would go towards equipment, licensing, education, space, marketing, float, and a bunch of loss over not knowing what the hell your doing and not having a client base to start with. I think it would be a great job and worth pursuing if you are dedicated to working through the initial 3-5 years of STRUGGLING.

 

[jetchris]

your idea reminds me of when i was getting out of the military. While i was in i got pretty good at playing blackjack. I convinced myself I could make a living at it, so i started making plans to move to Vegas and become a professional gambler. After thinking about it and coming to the conclusion that , that was a bad idea and would prob end up broke i changed my mind. As stated above the living expenses alone are insane. Like KRB said you would need some serious liqiud cash to start something like that.

 

[raisingtwo2006]

sagent3000;178615 wrote: now that is a HUGE gamble. would you be working during this time or would the income he bring in be what you are living on? going with out insurance is not a good idea if you are doing what he is planning. i think he needs to re think this idea and come up with some concrete numbers so you all will have atleast a years worth of money saved up when you make this move

He would not be working- only monies coming in would be from our selling livestock.

aceheart1976;178620 wrote: raisingtwo, just to start with, the scubagear if bought new would cost the 2 of you would be over 10grand or better depending on if you wanted real good equipment.

on the up side, there is a market there that you could tap into if you go to the right area.do alot of research take a couple of vacations and go check the areas out. snorkle/dive around the areas you are thinking about and see what you see

Granted, I don't know how to dive, so we'd have to learn, but we were looking at some equiptment setups today and they were about 3 grand for each of us, I don't know what all we would need in that dept. either...

But, taking a vacation down there is a good idea! He's got time off in June, and we may have to do that.

KRB;178627 wrote: That venture would require around $250K to be successful. That would go towards equipment, licensing, education, space, marketing, float, and a bunch of loss over not knowing what the hell your doing and not having a client base to start with. I think it would be a great job and worth pursuing if you are dedicated to working through the initial 3-5 years of STRUGGLING.

You know, that doesn't sound fun at all!! And 250K!! That's more than we make in 4 years!! IF we didn't pay a single cent to anybody!! If our figures come up to that much, he may have to find a new dream.

dawgdude;178629 wrote: Wow thats funny......my scuba gear only cost about a thousand.....for a full set up and a 100 foot hose for leaving the tanks on the boat to free dive with.

Ive been in the industry and let me just tell you, you do NOT want to do start off with this. You will get eaten alive with keeping them alive and have you thought about the cost of living in Miami? Massive chillers and the constant threat of hurricanes. My family has a house in the Keys and the insurance each year is OUTRAGEOUS.

We actually did look at housing down there.. for the cost of our 2000 sqft house here, we would be sharing a studio down there with someone!! CRAZY!!
Can I ask, though, why would we need chillers? His thoughts are to only have a couple tanks set up, and since there will be no coral, the lights would be minimal.

 

[raisingtwo2006]

Lol! Chris, that's funny.. But sounds relatively familiar.. oh, that's right.. cuz he thought of that too!!

He says that all my complaining about him never being home has "Motivated" him to look into self employment.. but I think he just wants me to shut up.

Any other ideas as far as a business we could do?

 

[jefft]

It makes for a nice dream. I've had many when I dream of winning the lottery. I hated working for someone also, but this is a career that you can not do for a few thousand dollars and support a family, for a number of years. When the alarm clock goes off in the morning say "Dennis time to go to work!" Buy a lottery ticket tuesday. Jeff

 

[raisingtwo2006]

Yeah, I have no idea what all I'd need or not need- I'm sure I would need classes though!! And so would Dennis..

 

[budsreef]

My thoughts are if you are young, now is the time to make these kinds of efforts and give it a try so that late in life you won't regret not having tried. However, I'd try to do it in steps. First, I would make the move to south Florida and try to get acclimated to the area. I would probably even still work for Lowe's or anywhere else just to make sure the move goes ok. Once you get settled you could start researching how to get into the business you eventually want to be in and after a while try to get a job working for someone already in the business. Then if you like the work you would be in a better position to make a go at it.

 

[jhutto]

Just a couple thoughts having lived in South Florida for five years. Its not Georgia and not even close. Culture wise its in a different world. To some that is bad to others its great. Much international influence and not very friendly and very expensive. Where I lived, many people lived beyond their means and many kids driving BMWs and lots and lots of drugs. I enjoyed the fishing, diving and the continuous summers. However, my wife did not as she got tired of being run over in the grocery store by very aggressive people from the Northeast (all our neighbors were from Long Island). She could not wait to get out of there. The Keys is a counter culture place even in South Florida. Lots of people drifting in and out. Lots of regulations on fishing and selling fish, coral, and other sea life for protection of the species. Not to kill a dream but go down there numerous times to see that you like that life style before you go. Lots of people move in and move out after a couple years. I have moved numerous times with corporate America but made essentially made no money on my house when I left after 5 years. You need to know what you are getting into before making a big push. Some love it but its not for all.

Joe

 

[linda lee]

Wow. This is a biggie!

Research research research. Might be a good idea to join some local fish clubs like http://www.fmas1955.org/index.php">Florida Marine Aquarium Society</a> (FMAS - Miami/Ft. Lauderdale). Talk to hobbyists and sponsors in the Miami area. See what's what and check out the market from the inside out.

Maybe consider a Lowes part-time job (if you can find one with benefits to keep your insurance). It's possible you might be able to partner with someone already in the industry by putting up some capital investment and reeping a share of the profits.

If you haven't already, check out the United States [IMG]http://www.sba.gov/">Small Business Administration</a> website. There are a lot of good resources here such as the *[IMG]http://www.sba.gov/assessmenttool/index.html">Assessment Tool</a>*.

Put everything down on paper so that it's staring you in the face and becomes more concrete. Pros and Cons. Goals with timelines.

Write down every expense you can think of and then double the amount. Write down your projected profits and then cut that amount in half.

It's a huge gamble, but at the same time, life is so short and doing something you love as your job and means of income cannot command a pricetag. It's pricesless. Yesterday I had the privilege of going on a garden tour led by one of our fellow members (John Manion a/k/a Curator - Atlanta History Museum Native Plant Garden) and his passion for his job and love of his work made me envious. How wonderful to get up every morning and do something fulfilling!

Good luck and please keep us posted.

 

[george]

jhutto;178775 wrote: Just a couple thoughts having lived in South Florida for five years. Its not Georgia and not even close.

+1. This was my thought on the Tampa area. Having grown up in the DC suburbs and gone to school in Virginia, FL was a different crew. I can't even say that they're Yankees, at least not east coast Yankees.

I sorely miss my pool I had in Florida, but living in paradise is not the same as visiting paradise. I think I went to the beach 2 dozen times in 2 1/2 years and most of those were with people in town to visit.