Start a small business

The only way to be successfull in business is to be better than the competition.
Thus you need to choose a business sector in which you have enough knowledge and experience to offer higher quality, lower prices and/or products/services that others don't provide.
Nobody other than yourself can decide which sector that might be.

If you start a business, you should be able to finance initial investment, survive the first months or years without profit and, if all fails, still have enough reserves for a new start elsewhere. Just €10k seems too little for all that.

Thank you for your replay! I have a company in the field of IT - developing of mobile apps for Android. I also have education and experience in the field of geology, mining and minerals.
In my opinion the Internet-based business does not require a big investment, but I do not know what the legal regulations are related to this kind of entrepreneurship in Germany? Is it easy to start and run a business in Germany?

You should get some qualified investment advice. As far as starting a business then like Beppi mentioned, only you know what sectors you have the expertice in to have a potential for success. For most business start-ups one usually needs hundreds of thousands of Euros. Not much one can do in Germany with just 10,000 Euros.

TominStuttgart, thank you for your replay and advices!
Can you give me an example of what I will need hundreds of thousands of euro to start a small business?
How much do you think will be needed to start an online business or a physical small tourist office/agency for example?

You probably ned a startup consultant to advice you on this better than we can.
But just as an example, let's use your tourist office idea:
- You need an office (shop) in a good location with lots of (tourist) foot traffic. These are not cheap, but let's assume it costs only €3000/month rent. You need a minimum of 3 months deposit and the first month rent upfront, thus €12000.
- You need to renovate the place, add signs and furniture, which can easily cost €10000.
- Then you need computer systems for another few thousand Euros.
- A web page set up, advertisements in tourist magazines and brochures can cost as much as you are willing to spend (but might be essential for success).
- Getting the business registered, obtaining a tax number and required permits, engaging an accountant and tax adviser (which you will need as non-native speaker) will add to the initial expense.
- Well, and then you need to survive (and pay rent and expenses) until the business is established enough to generate profits. Generally, planning for a minimum of 6 months is recommended here, although a year is better.

Sorry but your questions are too broad to give good answers to. It like asking how much does a car cost? Well, are we talking about a 15 year old VW Golf or a new Rolls Royce? Makes a huge difference. Beppi mentioned a scenario for a travel agency – but what about an online shop? For what? You need to find something you know something about! Then you need suppliers, a place to store merchandise, people to package things up and a strategy for shipping and someone to do the bookkeeping and taxes. And you need a professional website with good design and SEO that will standout against the competition. And the website needs to be maintained.

I know a good web-designer who does such things and again there are a lot of variables but an investment of 10,000 or more Euros to start and then 1000/month to maintain even a fairly basic website shop is not unusual. A large website with a lot of merchandise can cost many times this! And the capital for the mechandise and storage place? If it were easy and cheap to start-up a successful business like this then everyone would do it. I don't want to sound rude but your line of questioning is almost like someone saying; “ I want to win millions in the lottery, what will the next winning numbers be please?”

Thank you for your answers! They are really useful to me.
I have more than 10 years of running successful business in Bulgaria. Of course there are lot of factors but if someone asks me how much does it cost (the minimum investment capital) to start and run business here I could answer with exact numbers. I could give an advice which the best business sectors are and what is needed to be successful in Bulgaria. Here is very easy and cheap to start-up successful business. For example with 500 euro (total price for registering a company, 1 computer and 1 phone) you can start a business in real estate sector and make 10 000 – 15000 euro/month as early as the first month.

Dr. Petrov wrote:

Thank you for your answers! They are really useful to me.
I have more than 10 years of running successful business in Bulgaria. Of course there are lot of factors but if someone asks me how much does it cost (the minimum investment capital) to start and run business here I could answer with exact numbers. I could give an advice which the best business sectors are and what is needed to be successful in Bulgaria. Here is very easy and cheap to start-up successful business. For example with 500 euro (total price for registering a company, 1 computer and 1 phone) you can start a business in real estate sector and make 10 000 – 15000 euro/month as early as the first month.

Then it sounds like you have much better opportunities in Bulgaria. No reason to risk it in Germany.

I can afford to risk and I love the challenges. Honestly, I wanted to see the consultancy competition on this website, but so far there is no one.
I wish you a pleasant day! 

This forum is not for business consultancy, but for discussions of expat life in Germany.