What kind of business would you start tomorrow?

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

Wiring garages and installing chargers for electric cars. I hear a lot of people looking for this as very few homes have 220 volt service in the garage. 

So... you want to be an electrician?  Because that's what electricians do. 

My dream/retirement job is to do custom auto interiors. But I have a feeling after I finish (ha!) my own projects, that idea will probably seem less inviting... 

Curtis' travel vlog idea is a popular one.  I think he could probably pull it off, but I'm not sure I could. The trick is it's a ton of work. A number of YouTubers I know who basically do that spend around 40 hrs per week behind a keyboard editing footage for a ~20 min video.

A realistic business I've considered- rv repair. It's definitely demographic driven, but those of you that know where I live know that I'm dead center in the middle of rv hell. And they all need fixing, constantly. And there is ONE RV place within a 29mike radius, and it's camping world. 

I'm not talking about mechanical either. I don't care if that thing runs or drives. But stuff like plumbing, electrical, waste, that's stuff I was constantly in the middle of at my old job, and we didn't have E36 M3. These poor people use them as their homes and it's only growing. It's like a trailer park, but you can up and leave if the apocalypse is coming. There's also propane fills and rigging.....so many things. A full service rv repair with onsite would make a mint. 

John Welsh said:

Another idea that I'll admit, I'm not good for but someone else could.  

We've all heard of Two Men and a Truck, moving company.  In a similar vein, Two Men and a Bobcat.  

You can get a lot of work done quickly with a Bobcat (skid steer) if you're skilled with the machine.  Aside from consumer jobs, your core customer could be small contractors who then have you sub-work for them for the day or two.  Sure, they can rent the machine the day by themselves but if they then are not good at running the machine, they can do a lot of damage too.  

The equipment rental place could too help you with work.  Potential rental customer is a complete novice and could hurt the equipment.  The rental counter might be happy to recommend you as the operator, if you're a skilled operator.  

Keep overhead low and rent equipment as needed passing that cost to the customer.   Expand to more of what the place rents out like mini excavator.  Grow business with more than one crew working per day.  Eventually manage crews not drive the bobcat yourself.   

Someone local took this idea and made it much better. 

Local rental prices are $500/day for a small bobcat or 25ish hp tractor with buckets. Plus delivery and pickup, and a hard 8 hour a day limit.

There's a guy locally advertising for $500 a day to come do whatever you need with his equipment and his 20+ years of operating experience. 

He even says in his ad "you can pay $500+ a day to do the work yourself or pay me $500 a day to have an experienced operator do the work. Yes, it's more fun doing it yourself, but think of how much more it will cost you when you make a mistake"

At $500/day, you could easily work 10-15 days a month and payoff new equipment well inside of a year. Yes, leaves you on the hook for maintenance/tow vehicle/trailer/registration, but you're not stuck with the availability of the rental place or their work limits. 

I have put serious thought into it, but can't come up with the seed money to get a machine. 

Mndsm said:

A realistic business I've considered- rv repair. It's definitely demographic driven, but those of you that know where I live know that I'm dead center in the middle of rv hell. And they all need fixing, constantly. And there is ONE RV place within a 29mike radius, and it's camping world. 

 

 

I'm not talking about mechanical either. I don't care if that thing runs or drives. But stuff like plumbing, electrical, waste, that's stuff I was constantly in the middle of at my old job, and we didn't have E36 M3. These poor people use them as their homes and it's only growing. It's like a trailer park, but you can up and leave if the apocalypse is coming. There's also propane fills and rigging.....so many things. A full service rv repair with onsite would make a mint. 

My buddy drunk Mike thinks he's going to move to Tampa area and make a fortune fixing the RV crowds golf carts. 

In reply to RevRico :

I built a garage at my first house.   I was wise enough to hire out the Bobcat work.  

It was probably $50/hour back in 1987 and well worth the work he did.  Somewhere I have a picture of his truck cause it was a sweet Dually single cab 4x4 that I thought was cool.  

In reply to Mndsm :

I have a friend that did that. He started with RV's but ended up going to commercial trucks. We are in upstate NY and I think there was just a lot more commercial truck work in a 50 mile radius than RV work. I agree though, if you are in an area with RV's you won't run out of things to fix on them.

Serious money?  Septic pumping and repair. I had issues last week and the guy that fixed it spent a total of about 5 hours with 2 guys and a shovel. They didn't even own the pump truck- they subcontracted that. 
 

The job involved crawling inside the septic tank. I was more than happy to write him a check for $3600 for a few hours labor. If I had needed new field lines it would have taken him 2 days and cost me $22,000. 

He told me he only works 2-3 days per week, and lives well.

Some things are worth paying someone else to do. 

Pressure washing has been mentioned. But I'd focus that on Commercial jobs. 
 

Show up at night and clean parking lots when there are no customers there. Establish monthly contract, steady income, good pay. 
 

Other commercial services include glass cleaning, maintenance, janitorial, etc. 
 

Commercial customers are good customers. They pay well because their income is tied to your work. They are hiring you so THEY can make money, not just because they want something they saw on HGTV. 

The business I'm actually starting?

Short term rentals (like AirBnB) of small motel directly on a vacation lake. 
 

The property has been abandoned for 39 years, and had lots of interested parties who couldn't solve some of the property's problems (septic, foundation, zoning, etc). I solved those problems, and am beginning renovations. It will have a vintage vibe with modern technology and design, each room will walk out onto the dock, and they all have beautiful sunset views. 
 

But I am not kidding myself. I've been self employed for most of my career. I KNOW  how hard it will be to make a living at this, and I'm not gonna try. This will be a retirement business, mostly for fun. 
 

I'll make money when I sell it, but I won't make a living while I own it. 

In reply to RevRico :

It has potential. There are a lot more golf cart stores than there are RV stores, but a lot of them cater to the sales and less to the repair. As an example I was somehow the only game in town with keys. If he had golf cart keys, ignitions, and did basic repair...

Come to think of it, a competent small engine repair guy would do well. We always had a stack of machines out back and our guy was a moron. We got a new guy and before he was fired for sexually harassing the cashier's, he had a whole clientele that followed him from his old shop (where he got fired for sexually harassing the cashiers). A decent lawn machine guy is a rare bird. If drunk Mike became sober Mike, he'd do well. 

Helper/ handyman services in a retirement community. 
 

Elderly customers with money, but ever decreasing ability to "do the stuff I used to do". 
 

They move in at 70. Still mostly able-bodied.  Offer unpacking service, basic move-in handyman stuff like hanging pictures, installing blinds, assembling furniture, and installing grab bars. 
 

Come Spring, they don't want to climb a ladder any more. You are changing lightbulbs, cleaning cobwebs, cleaning gutters, light painting. Perhaps lawn care, trim shrubs, snow shoveling, and pressure wash driveways. 
 

After 3 years, they realize they are not as stable as they were. Add dog walking service, light errands, iPod lessons, and setting up Christmas decorations. 
 

A couple more years and the carpet is worn, and they can't negotiate it well with a walker. Add flooring installation. 
 

Then they stop driving. Add grocery shopping, and driving them to church and their doctor's appointments. 
 

My cousin did this, for the entire neighborhood.  Now, they are beginning to pass away. Guess who they are leaving their possessions and houses to in their will?  My cousin. 
 

He inherited 3 houses in the last 2 years on the same block. Each of them is worth more than $500K. 

SV reX said:

Pressure washing has been mentioned. But I'd focus that on Commercial jobs. 
 

Show up at night and clean parking lots when there are no customers there. Establish monthly contract, steady income, good pay. 
 

Other commercial services include glass cleaning, maintenance, janitorial, etc. 
 

Commercial customers are good customers. They pay well because their income is tied to your work. They are hiring you so THEY can make money, not just because they want something they saw on HGTV. 

To add on to this line of pressure washing, cleaning vents, hoods, and heavy duty filters.

It's generally underserved in most areas though, meaning little competition. If you can be more dependable or affordable, your reputation would build itself. 

You go in to the restaurants at night after they close, clean the kitchen vent hoods, fryer filters, etc and leave. You setup monthly cleaning contracts with the restaurants, your buy in is a gas or diesel powered hot water pressure washer and something to tow it around with, maybe some ladders for the roof vents and larger kitchens. Two or three guys working a building and you can knock out multiple places in a night. 

If you want to be fancy or double dip, have a second crew that does cleaning. An ex girlfriend parents worked nights cleaning restaurants in the area. Vacuum, windows, equipment, that sort of thing. They'd do two or three a night, three or four nights a week, mostly at big chains, like Old Country Buffet, pizza hut, olive garden. One or two hard working adults could do it a lot better and cheaper than a group of minimum wage bus boys. 

For those interested in food - ask around a bit, do some research. 

I spent a few years selling food to restaurants. Yes, many are staples of their community, we all have those, but too often they go belly up with LOTS of debt. 

If youre considering it - specialize. Get a thing or two youre REALLY good at and go with it. You'd be shocked how many gas stations raked in the money from selling fried chicken and tater wedges... Im talking hundreds of pounds of potatoes every couple of days. Not in a great area, but they moved product. 

Dont try to have a million options, you'll drive up your food costs (what you have to have on hand) and worry about the new kid back there messing up one of the 50 different burgers you sell because he couldnt remember the combination

Riley_88 said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Your bio says you're a technical writer; is that what you still do?  I'd be interested in knowing more about what's involved in that if you don't mind sharing. Thanks

Yup, still doing it just with a fancier title now (Senior Technical Writer). I've been in various industries over the years. Writing User and Maintenance manuals (boats, and winches/RCI systems), updating AutoCAD drawings, wrote backup procedures for huge autoclaves used to build some carbon fiber parts for different planes, wrote maintenance and repair manuals for huge power distribution systems on naval ships/submarines. 

I currently work for a large, cloud-based eCommerce company. I write the online help docs that explain to users how to use our software to build their stores. Add items, images, translations, etc. This fall will I'll have 15 years of experience doing it. 

I do a bit of freelance writing as it is. But if I had to start a new business tomorrow? I don't have much funds that I'd care to risk on startup costs, so I'm going to go with buying some Mason jars, kettles, and berries, and selling various offbeat home-made jellies and jams.

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

Thank you for saying that. I am so tired of a menu 19 miles long with a million things and you couldn't pay me to eat there twice. I couldn't tell you the last time I had a good cheeseburger (ok, that's sort of a lie, I can- but that was several years ago) from a restaurant. Too much E36 M3, not enough awesome. 

That being said, find a cheap point of entry is a thing too. I watch a lot of really weird sales groups because you never know when you might need bumper cars. One of those sells old food trailers and stuff commonly seen at fairs. Seems a used small trailer is in at about 15k. My (sometimes) plan is one of those, and cheap ass grill cheeses. Like wonderbread and gubmint cheese level. Charge maybe 2 bucks for one. No toppings, no substitution, no change. You gimme a 20$, you're getting 10 cheeses. 

I'd have people looking for cheap food (have you seen how much food truck food is? It's insane) people with picky kids (I don't trust any kid won't eat a grill cheese) drunks, people looking to eat a stupid amount of stuff (eating 10 cheeses would cost you a 20 and be funny as E36 M3 to watch). 

Overhead is minimal. Bread would be under 2 bucks a loaf. Cheap cheese is cheap and most suppliers will slice free, or even sell presliced. Butter flavor grill oil is cheap. I figured out I'd be in at something like 30 cents a cheese. 

The tough part is volume. You gotta sell a berkeleyton of cheeses to make good coin. Like you're MOVIN. but if you can do it....you'll make bank. 

We just got a puppy and had some painting done so we had to put our dog in doggy day care for a day.  
 

Anything dog or cat related is making money.  The weather tech rubber mat guy has doggy mats and bowls.   That guy's a genius.  

In reply to Mndsm :

IMHO, all the best restaurants have the smallest menus. The only exceptions to this are diners where everything is a variation of pancakes/waffles, sandwiches, and eggs that can make up 300 items with only 10 total ingredients. 

mtn said:

In reply to Mndsm :

IMHO, all the best restaurants have the smallest menus. The only exceptions to this are diners where everything is a variation of pancakes/waffles, sandwiches, and eggs that can make up 300 items with only 10 total ingredients. 

Taco bell. They have 4 ingredients, and the menu is 14 miles long. 

mtn said:

In reply to Mndsm :

IMHO, all the best restaurants have the smallest menus. The only exceptions to this are diners where everything is a variation of pancakes/waffles, sandwiches, and eggs that can make up 300 items with only 10 total ingredients. 

In and Out burger has  burgers , fries , cola and shakes.....

always a line.....

Mndsm said:

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

 

 

That being said, find a cheap point of entry is a thing too. I watch a lot of really weird sales groups because you never know when you might need bumper cars. One of those sells old food trailers and stuff commonly seen at fairs. Seems a used small trailer is in at about 15k. ......

Might look at Baked potatoes....

All the UK shows have them , Potatoes are cheap , just figure out the toppings you area would like , 

I am sure there is a Website with food stalls in other countries , I know when I went to car shows in Britain they had lots of food stands , and the Beer tent with bratwurst and fries was always full in Germany :)

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Cook time on potatoes is a huge limiting factor. I figure cooking one cheese takes about 4min with a screamer of a grill man. With a 60 inch cooktop at 24" deep, 4" square of bread, that extrapolates to 1350 cheeses in one hour. Now under no circumstances do I think anyone would buy that many cheeses, but I'd be hard pressed to find another food that would do that volume at that value. 

In reply to Mndsm :

Somebody beat you to it!

In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :

Fricking hilarious.  

In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :

I think he's in new york though.