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Starting small business in Budapest

Last activity 13 September 2016 by AronFars

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AronFars

Hi everybody,
It would be very appreciated if you give me some information.
Im a 33 year old married guy from Iran and I have a silver jewelry shop here.
We're considering moving to another country and start the same business there. So here are my questions, if you can only answer some of them will be a great help.
1. Do you think generally people are interested in such products or not? Hows the peoples income, do they have extra money to spend on unneccesary things?
2. Is it hard to find a place to rent which is suitable for this job and has similar jobs in neiborhood?
3. How much a 40sqm shop would approximately cost in those areas per month?
4. Is it hard to find reasonable accomodations?
5. Are other competitors nice to a foreigner starting the same job?
6. What areas, streets or shopping malls you recommend for this kind of job?
7. I just know English and a little Russian, can I communicate with people in English and if I have to hire a seller how much approximately would that cost?
8. Do you know any official agency or law firm that could proccess my company registering and visa stuff? Please recommend
Thanks again

Marilyn Tassy

Lots of questions and few real answers for you.
First off I would make sure you could legally move to HU and start a business with the immigration service.
Second, hate to say it, my oldest friends husband is from Iran but they live in the states. In HU at the moment there is a fear of Muslims and anyone who may even look Muslim.
The average worker in HU right now is having a hard time putting fresh food on the table, doubt if many have money to spend on silver jewelry. Not enough holidays in the year for people to find a reason to over spend right now.
Silver will tarnish fast in humid Hungary.
I know, I have a ton of handmade native American silver which we tried to sell in humid Hawaii years ago.
Guess what all my friends get as gifts? Silver because I just don't have enough fingers, wrists and ear lobes to wear them all myself.
Got stuck with a ton of silver, tried selling a few nice pieces at a local boot sale in Budapest a couple years back, lots of lookers and lots of people trying to bargain  down below what we paid for the items, Didn't sell even one piece of silver.
I have my silver stored in special boxes so they don't turn black overnight.
I bought a silver ring many years ago here in Budapest from a multi-generation silver smith in the 5th district.
They have nice handmade one of a kind pieces but there is no line around the block trying to get into buy.
We tried our hand at a import business in HU in 1989, got burnt badly and my husband is Hungarian, speaks the language and knew allot of people.
I hate to say it but most people here from Iran have either a copy/ internet cafe or a gyro shop.
Silver is just too middle of the road price wise here, the rich will be buying gold and the poor with be wearing cigar bands.

Marilyn Tassy

Don't mean to be discouraging but Hungary and doing business here is not like anywhere else.
I have had my own beauty salon and my husband has opened up 3 machine shops and a carpet cleaning business but all in the US.
We had no clue what we were doing but we still were able to do it, in HU if you don't have connections, the language and a ton of luck, it might just be a waste of hard earned money to try a business here without first living here and getting to know the culture and how things are here.

AronFars

Hi
Thanks for your time and detailed answer. You might be right, thats why Im trying to get some infomation before I do anything. By the way its the nature of silver to get black even not in humid weather and there is nothing to be worry about. You can just rob them against a carpet or wash them with soapy water or if the design is in a way that it cant be cleaned so easily, just buy some special solution for silver cleaning and your jewelries will become as new and shiny as they use to be. One more thing, our jewelries are rhodium plated, it means that their surface are covered with a thin layer of something even more expensive and shiny than gold and they dont get black over time. Ill attach some of our goods here for you to see. And we have online store which the name is watermarked on the pics. You can take a look if your interested in these things as I think these kind of designs are new to you.
One more thing, do you have any general information about Poland?
Thanks againhttp://okno.ir/image/cache/catalog/products/31-07-2016/2358-1200x900.jpg

AronFars

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Marilyn Tassy

Nice pieces in the photo.
No real info on Poland even though my family is from there.
I am the "lost" generation, my father was born in Poland but most of his life it was a communist country and he never even considered visiting there let alone his kids going there.
I personally find Polish people to be a bit "nicer" then in Hungary but I could be wrong, might just be the way I chose to see things.
I know many people from Iran in the USA but as far as in Europe, know none at all.
I would say never start anything big in a new country until you know what is going on there.
I know many people dislike the US but honestly overall it is the best place to start a new life, easier then just about anywhere else.
If you are into making money then the US is the best place to do that.
My old friend with the Iranian husband of over 40 some years is very well off now, they have started and stopped many different businesses over the years. They now own a slate mine in N. Calif and have a family farm, my friend has never worked a day in her life because her husband is very good at taking care of everything.
He works and she plays... lucky girl!

AronFars

Thanks again
I wish you a happy life whereever you are

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