Business Idea #7 - Translation Website

This idea is based on an idea from my brother. He has seen a gap in the market for a translation service offering translations from English to Panjabi.

Many people of Indian origin, who are born and bread in the UK and North America, have some kind of connection with the Panjab. This can be with inherited land or property. Many of these people do not have the in depth knowledge of the Panjabi language in order to manage their Indian assets.

We can offer this service because my wife and brother-in-law were born in India and are fluent in Panjabi.

We have setup a website to promote our service (DigitalRecall.co.uk).

We can offer translation of documents like Bank documents, office document, land documents and personal messages.

Business Idea #6 - New Arrivals Website

I got married in October 2004.

My wife came over to England on Christmas Day 2004.

We found that there were very few places where we could go for advice about basic issues for new arrivals. For example we are still waiting to get a National insurance Number because we have got a lot of conflicting advice from various sources. Some places said that my wife needed to start work in order to get a NI number. So we went for some interviews... when we got an interview we were told that we couldn't have the job without a NI number!!

I feel that we have experience that could be useful for other people coming to the U.K

I propose a website where people who arrive in England can find information about living in the U.K The website will have resources like guides on how to obtain a National Insurance Number, information on english courses, opening a bank account etc...

Business Idea #5 - Internet Cafe in Indian Village

This is an idea that I have been musing over the last few months. It involves taking 3 or 4 of my old computers over to my village in India ( Mutada Kalan, VPO Phillaur, Jallandar, Punjab, India ) and opening an Internet Cafe in the village.

My Chacha (Uncle) from the Village came over yesterday and said that it costs Rs.600 (£7.50) / month for Internet in India. I don't know the speed of the connection but it will probably be dial up (56k).

The idea is to get a small shop in the village or ask the STD/ PCO person if they want a computer in their shop so that customers can use it for web browsing and checking email.

I am not sure about pricing but if we are going by the UK pricing structure it would be about Rs.80 (£1) / hour.

Maybe somebody could tell me about average rates for Internet cafes in India??

UPDATE:
After the comments from Bhaji and Bhenji, I looked at phone call rates from India to U.K, U.S.A and Canada. I found Skype on the internet. I have seen Skype before but hadn't really looked into it in great detail. After more research I have found that you can ring any land line in Europe, U.S.A and Canada for 1.2p/ min. You can be anywhere in the world and still get this low rate.

So if I can setup the internet cafe and get a solid internet connection, then we can offer cheap international calls by installing Skype on the computers.

Surely there is a something in this idea...I better call my chacha ;-)))

Business Idea #4 - Convert VHS Tapes to DVD

This is a business idea that I am pursuing at the moment. It involves getting people to send in their old VHS tapes so that I can convert them into DVD format with chapter and background music.

There are other people who are doing this but they are expensive for what they provide. I am trying to provide a service that is good value for money.

This is the website that I have started to promote my service.

Other services that I am offering are Audio Tape to CD and mini-DV to DVD

Business Idea #3

This is a quick idea that I had just before the Bradford Vaisakhi March 2005.

To sell T-Shirts with famous Bollywood quotes imprinted on them.

The website CafePress.com allows users to put custom art work on various clothing. i.e T-Shirts and Jumpers.

I want to add Bollywood quotes or Bollywood related quotes to the T-Shirts and sell them.

Some examples of the quotes that could be used are:

• "Kithne aadhmi the?" - Sholay
• Angry Young Man - Amithabh Bachchan
• Dream Girl - Hema Malini
• Lamboo - Amithabh Bachchan
• Kkkkkiren - Sharukh Khan
  

I think that this will be a good idea because I haven't seen it before and Bollywood is really catching on with people outside India.

This is one idea that I have acted upon at Bura

Business Idea #2

Business Idea #2 - Bradford Bollywood Cinema Times

Idea Date: 2000

This was a straight forward idea. At the time of my idea the Bollwood boom was not in full flow. Bradford, UK was at the forefront of providing bollywood entertainment at it's cinemas. There were also a few independent cinemas that showed bollywood films on an ad hoc basis.

Problem:
It was difficult to find out about the films that were on in a particular week in all the cinemas

My Solution:
I thought that it would be good if people could go to one place, on the web, to find information about all the bollywood films that were being shown in the Bradford area.

What Happened:
As with a lot of my ideas, this idea didn't work. I think the main reason was that I was too late with the idea and the major cinema chains started to promote their bollywood films more so that it was no longer difficult for people to find out about cinema times. There was also other sites that were showing all cinema listings based on city or town

Business Idea #1

Business Idea #1 - PegBags.com

Idea Date: 2001

Hi and welcome.

As my first business idea I have choosen to blog one of my earliest ideas.

This idea involved the help of my mum, Joginder Kaur.

My mum is great at making Punjabi Suits. One day she bought a peg bag ( used to store clothes pegs when they are not being used) she looked at the peg bag and realised that she could make a peg bag for herself. She reverse engineered the peg bag (unstitched the bag and saw how it was made) and then made her own design. The design was of a dress. All of my relatives that saw the peg bag wanted one just like it. So my mum started making peg bags for relatives.

My idea was to sell these peg bags on ebay then eventually on the a website. I got my mum to make a sample that I could try to sell on ebay. The first time on ebay I put the peg bag on an auction with no reserve and a starting price of £1. It didn't sell. I tried it again with no reserve and a starting price of £0. It still didn't sell. I got abit dishearttened and left the idea there

The beginning of a long journey

Hello everyone,

This is a blog to record all the 'Great' business ideas that I have ever had. All these ideas seem to be great at first, however after a while they seem be done before or unfeasable or daft or all these things in one.

Here's hoping that I get that illusive 'Great' idea that stays great even after thinking about it...