Post: #1

Hi guys after reading gmanifesto's thread and some older threads on making money, I've been thinking, what are some businesses that bring in cash and aren't cool or sexy that can be farmed out with low overhead.

The first I'm thinking of laundromats, I did some research and it seems the overhead costs are quite cheap and the margins are pretty high if you live in a metro area with a lot of renters. Not only that the labor is pretty cheap as you'd a few people on minimum wage.

I've been thinking you can do a lot of value added services to something like this. add a hypermart? add dry cleaning services? the list goes on.

Here's a cool one I think most people don't know about:
luxury wood broker, open an office buy old farms and take apart wood barns and etc.

the old wood is generally aged and used for luxury products that rich people buy. Considering there's gona be the baby boomers retiring theres going to be a lot of farms up for sale. From what I heard the sale of the wood can't cover all the price of buying a property but u can make a hefty cash return quickly. Maybe 20-30% by taking down the wood buildings. You can then lease,resell, rebuild on the land etc..

just my 2c

Cheers!

Post: #2

I looked into coin laundry, vending machines, and car washes.

They all got trade magazines and associations.

http://www.coinlaundry.org/

WIA

Post: #3

Waste of time these days. Washing machines have become quite cheap and you can hire them. Half the time rentals come with them too, so demand is not there like it used to be and locations hard to find.

Although I have a friend in the UK who had a good idea with them. Laundromat, but with coffee shop (with food) attached to it and pool tables, wifi, etc. Turned the laundromats into cafes really and made it a social thing for people. Got about 6 of them now and is making some real coin with it. People are going in with friends to kill time even when they dont need to do their laundry. Makes nothing on the laundromat side really, the money is on everything around it.

Cash business is in vice and food.

Post: #4

That's a great idea. I used to go to a favorite Laundromat in L.A. JUST because they had a the Arkanoid arcade game. That was seriously my determining factor.

Laundromat+billiards+cafe...genius. I can't think of anywhere in this city of 6 million that has that....hmmmm....

Post: #5

What about those ATM machines they have in liquor stores?

The ones that charge the outrageous fees, but you pay them anyways because you are faded and have zero self control?

(07-08-2012 11:47 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  I looked into coin laundry, vending machines, and car washes.

What verdict did you come up with?

Post: #6

My hipster buddy has this idea for a fully vending machine operated bar pool/game room. You only need to hire doorman or play it yourself when you want.

Post: #7

I've been thinking along these same lines as of late. I've looked into the coin-op laundry business, and I have a couple of acquaintances that do quite well.

One guy owns the real estate and has some self-storage on the property also.

I see some existing laundromats for sale, but they are in strip malls with no real estate and most of them have older equipment that needs to be upgraded. Repair costs could be a killer to keep the old equipment running and new equipment is expensive, along with potential environmental impact fees depending on your local municipality.

Have you thought about the jewelry/gold/loan/pawn business? That's something else I've been looking at.

Post: #8

(07-09-2012 11:19 AM)BoneDaddy Wrote:  Have you thought about the jewelry/gold/loan/pawn business? That's something else I've been looking at.

That requires some serious expertise.

Most people I know in that biz were more or less born into it.

Unless of course you partner with someone that already has it.

Post: #9

(07-09-2012 10:47 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 11:47 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  I looked into coin laundry, vending machines, and car washes.

What verdict did you come up with?

Very tough business unless
- good rental deal for the space and the machines
- not a lot of competition
- you had other ways to squeeze money out of your customers.

In NYC the customers were mixed income monetarily, but even in the rich areas, leasing the space would eat you alive. There's a 10 block stretch in Hell's Kitchen with no public laundry, cause the landlords can get a grip more renting to a bar or restaurant.

Vending Machines - the key was getting the bldg management companies to let you put your machines in. Then stocking and refilling them bad boys added more moving parts to the business. I looked into a gas station that had 3 exterior machines that did real well, but buying a gas station brings a whole lot of environmental issues into play.

Self Car Wash - surprisingly a lot of money goes into the equipment and the real estate.

If you guys are serious, a good way to see how B&M's operate and the money they make (pro-forma at least)

http://www.bizbuysell.com/

Post: #10

(07-09-2012 11:31 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(07-09-2012 11:19 AM)BoneDaddy Wrote:  Have you thought about the jewelry/gold/loan/pawn business? That's something else I've been looking at.

That requires some serious expertise.

Most people I know in that biz were more or less born into it.

Unless of course you partner with someone that already has it.

Definitely agreed on the expertise. Mistakes would be expensive in that biz. Perhaps a more "blue-collar" pawn business that deals in tools, equipment, guns (FFL required, of course).

Or one could go work for Les Gold for a while.

Post: #11

Laundromats can still be ideal in certain spots and situations. The drawback is that its most profitable in spots that have a ton of people and apartments. Unless you can weasel a cheap space your going to pay out the ass to secure a location. Most profitable landromats have been in the same spots for 10,15 years and we're in hype areas when they were run down and dumps.

One of the cheapest things you can get into is Pizza or poutine.

*Poutine is not big in America (yet) but I don't understand how nobody has tried this out down there as Americans love greasy, salty, fattening foods. Poutine is far from sexy but just opening in a City club/bar district and you probably clear your bills in one weekend and the rest of the weekends is profit. Most expensive expense is the cheese curds you import from Quebec. Everything else is dirt cheap.





^ The bald dude is the owner. He's rolling in cash and has franchised his shop from when it started as a humble drunk shack.

*Pizza if you can source solid recipes and make it uber and urban, again supper cheap to make. A whole pizza only costs 3.75-4.85 to make, and most of this is staff and cheese. You sell a big slice for about 3-4 bucks and you make 130% profit on each pie. Again more bar food, not sexy but you will sell quick and laugh when you count your money at the end of the night.


*Another is a smoke/tobacco shop. Another unsexy venture but its dirt cheap to run and you will always have business. It does not matter if its a recession, depression, whatever. People will still buy their smokes.

*Liquor/wine. I prefer win because liquor stores can be sketch and a headache at times. Win stores you have more high-end clientele and its another recession proof venture. Just make sure your local laws are easy to deal with.

*ATMs

You either buy one or do some type of lease/split agreement. Generally I think the cost of entry is only 4-6K. The tough part is finding a good location, since the costs are low to get in most people with dope locations already have the ATMs covered. They key is having a fleet of machines and negotiating deals with locations to have them in multiple spots. 5-6 years ago in Canada this would be ideal, I don't know about the USA as nobody really uses cash but in Canada you could slit weasel some opportunities in small cities.

Post: #12

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Post: #13

Trailers. Cheap, used trailers. Buy them for dirt cheap and rent or lease them out.

Low investment. Great cashflow.

Think about it this way - If you can buy 4 trailers a year and lease them out for $300 per month profit each. In 9 years, you'll have added $10K passive to your income per month! Most leasers will no doubt never end up buying the place.

Look up a guy named Lonnie Scruggs.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #14

(07-09-2012 12:02 PM)kosko Wrote:  Laundromats can still be ideal in certain spots and situations. The drawback is that its most profitable in spots that have a ton of people and apartments. Unless you can weasel a cheap space your going to pay out the ass to secure a location. Most profitable landromats have been in the same spots for 10,15 years and we're in hype areas when they were run down and dumps.

*Another is a smoke/tobacco shop. Another unsexy venture but its dirt cheap to run and you will always have business. It does not matter if its a recession, depression, whatever. People will still buy their smokes.

*Liquor/wine. I prefer win because liquor stores can be sketch and a headache at times. Win stores you have more high-end clientele and its another recession proof venture. Just make sure your local laws are easy to deal with.

*ATMs

You either buy one or do some type of lease/split agreement. Generally I think the cost of entry is only 4-6K. The tough part is finding a good location, since the costs are low to get in most people with dope locations already have the ATMs covered. They key is having a fleet of machines and negotiating deals with locations to have them in multiple spots. 5-6 years ago in Canada this would be ideal, I don't know about the USA as nobody really uses cash but in Canada you could slit weasel some opportunities in small cities.

Laundromats used to be good business (providing you own the underlaying real estate)in NYC until corporate America took over them.I call the effect the Home Depot-ization of laundry. Even in the hood they have these huge commercial laundromats with FREE PARKING that are almost half a block big and they are everywhere. 24 hour full service, uses a token system so no cash is handled and hire the local crack head to baby sit the machines. How the fuck they get pass zoning regulations is beyond me.

I know a sizeable number of peeps who do all kinds of cash business and the ones who do very well have a few thing in common.

1. They own the building the business is located on(regardless of location)

2. live in an apartment above the business.

3. got their building when NYC govt was practically giving those buildings away back in the 90's.

Now the only way I can see you can make decent money is to buy a old truck and convert it into some kind of food truck and park it in some train station in the outer boroughs and just cook your ass off. The fact that you aren't paying any taxes you automatically made 35% more.

Post: #15

(07-10-2012 11:05 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  Trailers. Cheap, used trailers. Buy them for dirt cheap and rent or lease them out.

Low investment. Great cashflow.

Think about it this way - If you can buy 4 trailers a year and lease them out for $300 per month profit each. In 9 years, you'll have added $10K passive to your income per month! Most leasers will no doubt never end up buying the place.

Look up a guy named Lonnie Scruggs.

I've done a few Lonnie deals and can vouch for this. It's not quite as easy as his books make it sound, but it can work.

Some of the cats that are serious about this hang out on the Mobile Home forum on creonline.com