Ideas to make money...

[Nimbus]

You can bake the fish and chips, it would be slightly healthier than deep frying them. Personally I prefer the original, the average Indonesian is not gonna worry much about deep frying, and Brits are gonna expect the real deal.

 

[Anglian]

My wife came up with the idea of breeding catfish, we have a friend who has a successful business, selling live Catfish, sadly when we had the our bore water tested it wasn't suitable, there was a chap near us who started breeding the Catfish but had to give up due the poor quality of the bore water

 

[OomBen]

My wife came up with the idea of breeding catfish, we have a friend who has a successful business, selling live Catfish, sadly when we had the our bore water tested it wasn't suitable, there was a chap near us who started breeding the Catfish but had to give up due the poor quality of the bore water

Ah, i didn't think about this. do you recall what was wrong with the water? Why was it not suitable?

 

[Anglian]

Ah, i didn't think about this. do you recall what was wrong with the water? Why was it not suitable?

My wife was into it, it appears there was too much Zat Besi, I have no idea what that is, it's not advisable to drink our water straight from the tap, shame really as our friend makes quite a good leaving selling his fish and was quiet keen for us to join him, the chap who was breeding the fish near us lasted about 3 months and just gave up,

 

[Nimbus]

My wife was into it, it appears there was too much Zat Besi, I have no idea what that is, it's not advisable to drink our water straight from the tap, shame really as our friend makes quite a good leaving selling his fish and was quiet keen for us to join him, the chap who was breeding the fish near us lasted about 3 months and just gave up,

Too much iron?

 

[OomBen]

Too much iron?

Too much iron.

Hmm, well i suppose the water is okay here considering the fish that are here have been raised in well water. What's kind of nice is that when it rains, it replaces the water that leaked/evaporated. I kind of feel bad for the fish though, i cant imagine what's in the bottom of that pond....

 

[golden]

A good idea Golden (welcome to the forum too).
I have a brain full of ideas, some great some not so great- but way back when, my gran's brother used to have a fish & chip shop & their parents had it before him, so I guess it is in the blood
But a healthy version of fish& chips would be what- steamed dory & brown rice?- hmmm that doesn't appeal to my taste buds.

Hi BA,

Sorry, I was a bit unclear. I was referring the 'healthy' stuff to the cooking lessons, and not to the fish and chips. And I'm not saying that F&C is not healthy - it has lots of calories, but it is not unhealthy - depends on how often. I was thinking of sharing with people on how you can cook yummy food using less sugar and not everything has to be deep fried. I love fish and chips, though. But haven't had a good one for a long time. Either the chips are soggy, no taste at all (they mostly use the frozen ones) or the fish is old and fishy

Another idea (maybe someone else has mentioned this) is giving conversation classes. At school they learn grammar, but lacking the daily conversational part. How's this?

 

[Bad_azz]

Hi BA,

Sorry, I was a bit unclear. I was referring the 'healthy' stuff to the cooking lessons, and not to the fish and chips. And I'm not saying that F&C is not healthy - it has lots of calories, but it is not unhealthy - depends on how often. I was thinking of sharing with people on how you can cook yummy food using less sugar and not everything has to be deep fried. I love fish and chips, though. But haven't had a good one for a long time. Either the chips are soggy, no taste at all (they mostly use the frozen ones) or the fish is old and fishy

Another idea (maybe someone else has mentioned this) is giving conversation classes. At school they learn grammar, but lacking the daily conversational part. How's this?

I do lots of bits & pieces of language work, it is something I really enjoy.

The things I cannot find to make the whole fish & chips idea work: dried peas for the mushy peas & malt vinegar.

 

[Anglian]

Mushy peas, I haven had those for years, I mentioned it to an Australian friend and she bought me 6 tins, I will have a grand tin opening on Saturday,

 

[OomBen]

Mushy peas? Is that just peas that you basically mash so they become a mush? lol... Can't you get canned peas for this or do you seriously need dried peas? It's Indonesia, we use what we have available here.

 

[Smallworld]

... dried peas for the mushy peas & malt vinegar.

B_A I am not 100% sure but I think there were in Setiabudi supermarket closed in a soft, transparent plastic bag in the section where you can find walnuts on the most bottom shelf.

 

[Bad_azz]

OomBen- erm, nope

Smallworld - will check it out- they are probably one of those hit and miss items - either they have lots or they have none

 

[Bad_azz]

I keep toying with this idea too...
(the figures are a couple of years out of date tho')
http://inviro.co.id/keuntungan-bisnis-depot-air-minum-isi-ulang/

 

[Smallworld]

OomBen- erm, nope

Smallworld - will check it out- they are probably one of those hit and miss items - either they have lots or they have none

Ok so I checked for dry peas in Setiabudi last Sunday and they have it. You go to the area where dairy and meat counter are connecting. There are two freezers there one with meat then ice cream then frozen french fries. Opposite to French fried freezer on the top shelf there is 3-4 bags of dry peas. Those where in a green kind of package Mc....something was written on it. Price.... I forgot. But it can be high as it is imported. Maybe 70 000- 80 000 rp.

 

[Bad_azz]

Ok so I checked for dry peas in Setiabudi last Sunday and they have it. You go to the area where dairy and meat counter are connecting. There are two freezers there one with meat then ice cream then frozen french fries. Opposite to French fried freezer on the top shelf there is 3-4 bags of dry peas. Those where in a green kind of package Mc....something was written on it. Price.... I forgot. But it can be high as it is imported. Maybe 70 000- 80 000 rp.

Awesome!

 

[jstar]

It almost always comes down to food, doesn't it? But there are so many ibu ibu baking and cooking at home trying to set up a delivery and catering service, it's amazing. Also, the average Indonesian isn't that crazy about foreign food (besides fast food and other Asian food) and/or can't afford it; pricing is a real issue since the local snacks are so cheap. There are probably not enough ex-pats to really make a thriving food business.

Talking about foreigners: We already mentioned the tour guide. Something else that might work but would also require a big investment, are fishing tours. Similar to the ones you see in the Caribbean or California or so. Many guys would like to go on a fishing boat trip, even if it's not really their hobby.

If you talk about the more affluent inhabitants of the DKI, you talk about Chinese. Besides food (obviously) they like cars and pets (esp. dogs) and their children's education. Short term luxury car rental already exists and requires a huge investment and quite some risk. Dog grooming services and pet shops are like mushrooms in the city, and there are also already multiple (also luxureous) pet hotels. Private language tutoring for the kids might be one of the best ideas since there is hardly any real competition (remember the quality of these ads on other forums?).

 

[centurion]

Food is and still would be a good business in such expensive and under-serviced but huge populated market as Indonesia.
Milk&milk products such as cheese were favourite to start a business when I came 5 years ago but now are already spreading as Indonesians are looking for more quality cheese than Kraft`s chemical/rubber cheese..
I recently ordered homemade cheese from Italian guy from Malang and it was dispatched to me to Jakarta. It was quite good.

 

[jstar]

Okay, but then you talk about an Italian in Malang and a Greek in Jakarta who are both doing quite well in making and selling cheese. On a population of 25 million in the DKI you would expect many more to sell quality cheeses and to be successful. Ok, there are the upscale supermarkets which definitely will have their Jakarta Selatan or SCBD customers for the overpriced Parmesan, Brie and Gorgonzola. But with the rest? Not so much demand.

And that's my whole point; I would also pay some money for a good fish&chips if B_a would start a warung or K5. But that would be only twice per month or so. Would she survive? And then I don't really believe in market surveys either, esp. here.

 

[centurion]

First, there are not many good producers of cheese especially real a la European cheese, second Indonesians are trendy people-when they start following a trend a lot of them will buy such a product and third Indonesians use only 6 lt of milk per capita per year, comparing to Malaysia-30l/capita/year, Singapore 100 and Europe around 150.
Once they learn that lot of milk&milk products mean that they will be taller they will drink and eat a lot.
Again, it was good opportunity 5 years ago and is still good, but you will not have a first mover advantage any more.
I.e. Japanese invested 50 million USD in cheese factory in Indonesia.

 

[Bad_azz]

We have lots of little things on the go - quite diverse too: luckily we have a range of skills and are adaptable.
To put money in the pot: I do the Music stuff, English tutoring, dog walking, a bit of writing, hairdressing and am currently experimenting with potions for skin. I have a friend who owns a spa in Bali and will likely use my concoctions if they work as planned. I am looking at doing pamper parties- where I go to someone's home and cut and colour hair and use my secret skin potions for a set fee per person. With 4 or more people the host will get free treatment. Not quite ready to sail with that yet as I want to be certain of all the products first.

I am also a hypnotherapist but haven't banded that about too much in Indonesia as the people here are very wary of such things. If there was a market for it I would be most happy. I love hypnotherapy sessions and ftr I am not a stage hypnotist (& not sure that I would want to be one). I am more interested in helping people- & I have done past life regression therapy too - fascinating.

The hubby works with wood - he made all my kitchen cabinets from recycled wood. He made my huge desk from recycled wood. He makes chicken houses and aviaries.
His "day job" is in the building industry with his family, where he is a painter and finisher, his 2 passions are carving and polishing stones and music, music is his other proper job & he gigs regularly. He is currently making me some window shutters- to keep the sun off me in my office.
I tell him he should commission his stone carving work (mainly local black opal) - I am teaching him how to use the computer so that he can sell online.
He is just starting out on a project with his brother breeding lovebirds. Once that gets up and running the aim is to ring all our birds and have a certificate with them showing all the relevant details etc. (much like a dog's pedigree papers). Personally I love cockatiels, who knows we might add those too.
The one thing that we fully intend to pursue is building / renovating property.
Tour guiding: deffo, if someone wishes to come to Bandung and be driven around some of the off the beaten track places, fine by me, happy to do such things. They have to cover the cost of vehicle hire- or be happy to jump on the back of the bike. & they will be expected to buy lunch/dinner & pay a little something into the pot, i suppose a tip based thing, rather than a priced venture and they must not be a whinger or I might drop em in a volcano .
As a proper business- I doubt I could make it work without a large investment in a vehicle/marketing- I would rather buy land than cars.

Food business- we have a lovely view of the city from our roof terrace but are not on a main road- so I can only assume a very small exclusive dining club would work financially- 4 tables maximum, with high prices- I am not into artsy-fartsy food though- think rustic tasty and filling- leek and potato soup, stew, meat pie, fish pie, beef-burgers, Yorkshire puddings, homemade bread. That kind of stuff.
Desserts - well lemons feature a lot from our tree- so lemon meringue pie, lemon sorbet etc. Treacle sponge and custard always a fave here too.


To be honest, I like all the diversity and I have another plan up my sleeve too- but still not too sure about it- and it would deffo need an investor and a computery person... and it could turn over a small fortune, I have been working on it for over 2 years.
Some have said to me - choose one area and focus on that work- but I don't want to and if I was not kept stimulated with all the ideas I would be bored rigid.
My phone book reads like a who's who- my contacts are extensive and diverse (yesterday I was chatting with an ex governor, a bupati & a chief medical officer).
At some point everything will come together- but just now I guess, I am still laying the foundations.



BUT I repeat again- this thread wasn't really intended to target ideas for me alone.
I hoped it would help all those spouse sponsored WNAs on the ITAS/ITAP.