The third part is to get ready to start a post collapse consumer products necessities business that outmaneuvers and undercuts the big national brands, as described in this post from 2012. I started working on that last month.
Higgenbotham wrote:These would be my thoughts on starting a business.
First, get ready for a post-collapse world. In the current pre-collapse world, existing businesses are conditioned to operating in the pre-collapse environment. They will be lost post-collapse. This is when the prepared entrepreneur can step in.
To get ready for the post-collapse world, travel to a third world country or to a country that has already collapsed and observe how business is conducted. Talk to the locals to get an idea of what business conditions were like pre-collapse and try to envision how the conditions in the US that are different pre-collapse will change the post-collapse environment vis-a-vis the country you are observing. I chose to travel to one of the poorest areas of the former USSR to make observations. It was formerly pretty well off because it was a manufacturing area and not too far from Moscow.
Begin by pilot testing an idea with a very limited amount of capital at risk. My thought would be less than 10% of capital should be risked on the whole initial operation. Operate on a cash basis and under the radar. Let's say as I mentioned a few pages back that a formula for laundry soap has been obtained and someone wants to make an attempt to manufacture this product. I would not rush headlong into buying equipment, renting space, and other things a conventional business person might do today. Instead, pay a contract manufacturing outfit to mix some up on a small scale, then figure out how to sell it. Observe what equipment the contract manufacturer is using and do some research because that equipment may be picked up for pennies on the dollar at auction when the bankruptcies roll in. If it's thought that the future of America will most resemble Detroit, Michigan or Las Vegas, Nevada, and there are probably better places to consider but people can understand what I am talking about by mentioning those places, take the product there and live there a few months. Figure out what works best to move it in the post-collapse world of strip mall flea markets, craigslist, or whatever is envisioned. See if customers match the envisioned post-collapse profile and find out what else they need to buy where they would seek alternatives to the current distribution channels, in order to save a few bucks or which may be shut down, post-collapse. Probably enough said, but that's my general idea.