Looking for a niche? try this…

It feels great to do a private post. It’s been a while. Today, I was sorting out my niche profiles one by one. About a year ago (I think I blogged about it), I was really into launching a hobby business separate from my online company. Something fun and cool… Then I was looking into concession business.

I’m not referring to the ones in the mall, but the trailers you find at fair grounds. I was hooked with the cool trailers that I can own. Researching took me more than a month, and I actually visited a couple of custom concession trailer makers in Texas and California.

Fully customized trailer would cost me about $50,000 with full kitchen built in. At that time, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to sell. The sales person showed me stats and which foods have the highest profit margin. Then this guy offered me a free private coaching session which he normally charges $500 per session. He showed me how to cook in a trailer.

Well, everything was fun. They reimbursed my flight and hotel fees up to $400. I was totally hooked. When I came back, I bought a SUV to pull the trailer. I bought Honda Pilot and confirmed that it can pull the trailer I was going to buy. I even registered a domain name for a blog. I was going to blog about everything I went through starting a concession business.

But I ended up not doing it after all.

We kept the car, but didn’t bring the trailer in. Purchasing everything was fun, but I figured we have very strict regulations in Maryland running a concession business if it’s considered as a mobile restaurant. Well, that all turned me off.

Anyway, there’s my little story of how I found this niche. Like I always say, your niche can be found in weird ways. Not every niche is found using the tools.

I haven’t done any keyword researching or detailed market research. That will be your job if you want to explore this niche. Here are the facts that I know for sure.

No, I can’t pull this one with Honda Pilot. :)

Niche Topics : Concession Business, Concession Trailers, or any other concession related topics.

1) From the stats sheet that I got from the sales person, most of his clients bought a new trailer within a year, sometimes just after a few months.

2) Average transaction was $45,000. Some trailers cost more than $200,000. I’m not kidding. I walked into this trailer while I was visiting the factory.

3) Most of concession businesses recover their investments within year or less.

4) Online competition in concession-related topics are moderate.

So what can you do with this niche?

While I was researching for information on running the business and purchasing the trailer, I saw the gap. This market needs a community or a networking site. Also, the business manual is missing. I purchased a couple of crappy DVDs from eBay. Money well wasted. It was back then, I don’t know if something popped up lately.

So there it is. I gave you an idea, and it’s now your job to do the research if you wish to test out this niche. Feel free to share your ideas with us.