Diversification

It’s obvious Tonic is going to take a while to generate a profit so I need to find other sources of income. Due to all the time that Tonic is taking up right now, this new income has to be fairly passive. So I’ve started looking for ideas such as in property, and attended entrepreneurial conferences to continue getting ideas and inspiration. Then it recently hit me. I started getting some good leads, with involvement in property, bridging finance, even providing letters of credit for oil trading. I was going to invest my own money. However this could also be an opportunity to build the other business I wanted to build – a private investment company. I know so many people who have cash sitting in their accounts earning very little interest when it could be doing so much more. On the other side there are people with business ideas that need cash to make it happen, either for short or long term. This way, we could also all diversify our investments by putting small amounts into a range of investment opportunities. So I have started actively looking into some of these. Clearly they can be high-risk so I need to find those with good returns but where the downside is limited. Everyone will be relying on me having done my research and due diligence. Plus I really enjoy this – I really enjoy meeting people, discussing ideas, learning about new things going on in the markets, then doing my own research. Some ideas are starting to come together and I am going to to some small test investments to make sure that they are sound.

In the meantime sales at Tonic are increasing but still way short of what we need. We’re now working on new ways to market the hot drinks, maybe create more hot drinks for the menu using the natural ingredients, like hot spiced apple. We are also looking into the coffee idea and I’m having loads of fun looking into espresso machines. I do love my coffee...maybe I should have opened a coffee bar. I really want to get a small Baby Gaggia for the home but think the wife will leave me. Our kitchen is so small that we bump into each other if we’re both in it at the same time. Will save that one till we have a bigger place!