Originally posted by MPwannadecentincome
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Reply to: Plan B
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Previously on "Plan B"
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Try asking more directly - "What does it take to be brave enough to go ahead with Plan B"?Originally posted by Tarquin Farquhar View PostYou got it. I was hoping that people might discuss what it takes, psychologically, to implement a Plan B, or what prevents one from doing so. I don't mind if it hangs off the theme of my own stupidity and character defects.
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Originally posted by meridian View PostI had the same idea as Tarquin about 7 or 8 years ago.
I had a number of 35mm negs I wanted digitised so I could work on them in photoshop. Sent them off to an online scanner to get them done at 4000dpi. After I got them back I thought, hang on a minute, I can do this as a sideline...
Spent 400 quid on a decent scanner, and spent a few days learning how to get the best results in the quickest time from it. It still took far too long to get good results than I was prepared to spend, especially compared to the price others were offering for the same service.
I figured it was cheaper to find another Plan B that paid enough so that I could send my negatives off to get them done elsewhere!
Just looking at a slide scanning website now to check out prices - 1 pound per slide for 4000dpi including ICE, cropping, rotation, colour correction. Cheap as chips.
well we do all that and charge 30p per slides! even cheaper chips!
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I had the same idea as Tarquin about 7 or 8 years ago.
I had a number of 35mm negs I wanted digitised so I could work on them in photoshop. Sent them off to an online scanner to get them done at 4000dpi. After I got them back I thought, hang on a minute, I can do this as a sideline...
Spent 400 quid on a decent scanner, and spent a few days learning how to get the best results in the quickest time from it. It still took far too long to get good results than I was prepared to spend, especially compared to the price others were offering for the same service.
I figured it was cheaper to find another Plan B that paid enough so that I could send my negatives off to get them done elsewhere!
Just looking at a slide scanning website now to check out prices - 1 pound per slide for 4000dpi including ICE, cropping, rotation, colour correction. Cheap as chips.
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The Plan A of IT contracting has provided a good cushy living for the past 20 years so there wasn't much motivation to implement a Plan B. Infact it was probably the right decision to not do it. If Plan A is currently stuffed and possibly stuffed moving forward then you've now got what it takes to implement Plan B.Originally posted by Tarquin Farquhar View PostYou got it. I was hoping that people might discuss what it takes, psychologically, to implement a Plan B, or what prevents one from doing so. I don't mind if it hangs off the theme of my own stupidity and character defects.
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I washed cars between ages of 12-16 for a garage. Me and a friend wanted to print some leaflets for car washing. My Mother said "no-one will ever pay to have their cars washed". Nor car washes are so ubiqutous that when I went to one at Llandudno recently I had to queue. I intend to make sure my kids get all the encouragement to try things out.Originally posted by Olly View Postah........well if we're talking about "lamenting ideas"
when I was 17ish my dad got Beebug (BBC B) magazine and in the back were a few wanted adverts for those machines, mostly schools and labs needing spares. There were a few for sale too around the 100 - 150 mark. That afternoon I saw one advertised on the noticeboard at Gateway, 50 quid.
Bought, washed, stripped of games and accessories, packaged and sent, 125% profit!
They wanted more, so I bought more. £400 profit in about 2 weeks until I tried to sell my family's one that my dad spent a good few months salary on 10 years earlier. He kicked up a fuss, told me what I was doing was stupid and I should get a REAL job. So I stopped, disheartened and with my main customer pissed because I promised something I couldn't deliver, I even had his cash.
If I'd stuck to it lordy knows where I'd be now but def the sort of thing that could have spiralled nicely with a bit of adult encouragement.
Not had any good ideas on the 13 years since then.
The friend now runs one of the South-East's biggest courier companies. Whilst I am still stick in an IB surrounded by kn0bs.
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I bought 25 SGI Granite UK keybs from America hoping to make a huge killing with the SGI-nuts I used to hang out with.
That was eight years ago, they're still in the shed....
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You got it. I was hoping that people might discuss what it takes, psychologically, to implement a Plan B, or what prevents one from doing so. I don't mind if it hangs off the theme of my own stupidity and character defects.Originally posted by EternalOptimist View PostI think the OP was lamenting the fact that the one idea he had, he rejected as a non-starter, only for someone more enterprising to make a big go of it

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ah........well if we're talking about "lamenting ideas"
when I was 17ish my dad got Beebug (BBC B) magazine and in the back were a few wanted adverts for those machines, mostly schools and labs needing spares. There were a few for sale too around the 100 - 150 mark. That afternoon I saw one advertised on the noticeboard at Gateway, 50 quid.
Bought, washed, stripped of games and accessories, packaged and sent, 125% profit!
They wanted more, so I bought more. £400 profit in about 2 weeks until I tried to sell my family's one that my dad spent a good few months salary on 10 years earlier. He kicked up a fuss, told me what I was doing was stupid and I should get a REAL job. So I stopped, disheartened and with my main customer pissed because I promised something I couldn't deliver, I even had his cash.
If I'd stuck to it lordy knows where I'd be now but def the sort of thing that could have spiralled nicely with a bit of adult encouragement.
Not had any good ideas on the 13 years since then.
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I think the OP was lamenting the fact that the one idea he had, he rejected as a non-starter, only for someone more enterprising to make a big go of it
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