Post: #1

Name some uncool real businesses.

This year I've met a number of blue collar business owners. Not employees trading time for dollars

There us considerable money in the following (high six figures, low sevens per year)

1. Scrap metal
2. Plastic recycling
3. Big truck refurbishing
4. Oil field supply delivery (selling $5 work gloves for 25)

The general gist I get, is that the closer you are to real industry, the bigger the dollars.

Any other examples?

WIA

Post: #2

Acrylic trophies wholesaler.

http://www.aifawards.com/

Unbelievable the amount of money they are bringing down.

They where manufacturing most of the acrylic (table sawing them into shapes) in Mexico and were shipping it to the US for engraving and shipping to trophy retailers.

I think their only advertisement was two trade shows a year. The company really took off and now it looks like they also have expanded to manufacturing in Vietnam.

Post: #3

Lincoln Electric.

Doesn't sound too hot, because it's not. Nonetheless it's the most business-case studied company at Harvard's MBA program due to it's success.

They sell welders and other welding stuff too.

Post: #4

Industrial/commercial cleaning
This actually makes a ridiculous amount of $, I'm talking 1k++ just having a truck on site, this doesn't include margins on labor from crews and extras. This isn't a truck with some mops, we're talking hazmat suits to clean up fuel reactors in refineries and high pressure water machines to clean nuclear power plants. You can start small by cleaning restaurant gutters and sewers with a full ton truck and some high pressure gear and another truck with a clean up tank. I met a owner of one of these small shops, just bought a 1.5mil new building for his business.

This work is unglamorous as it gets.

clean harbors made 3.5B last year doing that shit.

Post: #5

Scrap is awesome. You hold metal until the price goes up then sell.

Bad..

Septic service. Ugh. Drain field repair etc. good cash though.

Would do before office drone.

Post: #6

I have a buddy in the rail industry leases out railcars to comanies to move their products around. He said there's big money in cleaning those things. Some are just grains and stuff like that but others are chemicals that need to be dealt with properly. He said it wasn't worth the companies time and money to have to employ people to do this and pay benefits and everything else so most outsource it to smaller companies. He said it's dirty work but huge money in it. If you really want to be able to work with big companies and get all available jobs you probably would need to get some type of certification for dealing with certain types of chemicals.

Post: #7

Dry cleaner/alterations. Keep a consistent quality service running in moderately priced real estate, and ship everything out and charge a premium.

Trucking is a tough business, low margins, lots of competition. I watched my father toil in it for 40 years. Wouldnt wish it on anyone.

Post: #8

There is a huge niche where I invest in real estate for a solid, smart, general contractor that is RELIABLE, returns phone calls and acts quickly. Myself and other investors in the area are more than willing to pay premiums for this service.

I hear about this nationwide...good help is hard to find. It seems, most people in this industry burn out every year or two and just flake. Great opportunity. Especially being able to communicate on an intelligent level...it's huge.

Post: #9

un-glamorous or just unknown?

1. Rigging...aka installing big equipment in factories
2. Mechanized logging...its not that the margins are huge % wise but the volumes are crazy. I'd say similar to farming in terms of mechanical equipment costs but no need to own land
3. On the same note above, custom harvesters: these guys own and operate farm combines and just follow the harvest season from north to south.
4. Powersports (motorcycles, atvs, jet skis) dealer in a resort town

I've always wondered what some other essential services, like funeral parlors, laundrymats, franchise pharmacies (walgreens) and carwashes pull down.

Post: #10

Snow removal services

Post: #11

(10-20-2014 06:11 PM)Jack Of All Trades Wrote:  Industrial/commercial cleaning
This actually makes a ridiculous amount of $, I'm talking 1k++ just having a truck on site, this doesn't include margins on labor from crews and extras. This isn't a truck with some mops, we're talking hazmat suits to clean up fuel reactors in refineries and high pressure water machines to clean nuclear power plants. You can start small by cleaning restaurant gutters and sewers with a full ton truck and some high pressure gear and another truck with a clean up tank. I met a owner of one of these small shops, just bought a 1.5mil new building for his business.

This work is unglamorous as it gets.

clean harbors made 3.5B last year doing that shit.

I've seen guys cleanup on this hazmat stuff. You would be amazed at what gets labeled hazmat sometimes, and if regular services don't want to touch it, you can charge big cake to handle it.

Post: #12

Here is my rundown of current big money small business.

- Solid surfacing for restaraunts/homes/architects etc. Essentially a solid thermoformable acrylic that can be milled with wood tools. Corian, Krion and Himacs are the three major brands. This company just billed out $17,000 for two days shop labour and one day install for one bar and four small standing bars. Materials were about $3000.

- Painting.

- Scaffolding. Have a line on an infinite supply of scaffolding and just bid jobs and send out some journeyman scaffolders. The hardest part is making sure you can get the scaffold when its needed.

Post: #13

A bit off topic, but the protection of a trade license is almost like the barrier to entry of a physical establishment. I talked to a pharmacy tech who was getting her x-ray technician degree, two years and she said it was like 100k.

Post: #14

(10-20-2014 08:34 PM)DarkTriad Wrote:  I've seen guys cleanup on this hazmat stuff. You would be amazed at what gets labeled hazmat sometimes, and if regular services don't want to touch it, you can charge big cake to handle it.

yup it's the dirtiest work, just make sure your not doing it, but hire people to do it. Turnover is insane in these cleaning services, guys are being picked off the street for 20$+/hr but leave after 3 months, but if you can hack it, it's good $.

I remember working at a plant it cost the plant 50k to clean a boiler, that's 2 trucks and 4 men for 2 days.

and ya regulation is always going up, so learn to make money off it!

Post: #15

(10-20-2014 07:56 PM)Vaun Wrote:  Dry cleaner/alterations. Keep a consistent quality service running in moderately priced real estate, and ship everything out and charge a premium.

Trucking is a tough business, low margins, lots of competition. I watched my father toil in it for 40 years. Wouldnt wish it on anyone.

1) drycleaning is very unglamorous...but not that lucrative

2) Truck driving seems to suck (time for dollars trade or more at the mercy of the market), but refurbing does well, as does truck selling.

WIA

Post: #16

(10-20-2014 07:57 PM)sammybiker Wrote:  There is a huge niche where I invest in real estate for a solid, smart, general contractor that is RELIABLE, returns phone calls and acts quickly. Myself and other investors in the area are more than willing to pay premiums for this service.

I hear about this nationwide...good help is hard to find. It seems, most people in this industry burn out every year or two and just flake. Great opportunity. Especially being able to communicate on an intelligent level...it's huge.

I know Gen Contractors, wouldn't touch that business with a 10 foot pole.

Investors are constantly running out of money, or changing the plans and expecting the GC to eat the cost.

WIA

Post: #17

There was a show on discovery about Harvesting.
Real interesting stuff.

(10-20-2014 08:08 PM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  un-glamorous or just unknown?

1. Rigging...aka installing big equipment in factories
2. Mechanized logging...its not that the margins are huge % wise but the volumes are crazy. I'd say similar to farming in terms of mechanical equipment costs but no need to own land
3. On the same note above, custom harvesters: these guys own and operate farm combines and just follow the harvest season from north to south.
4. Powersports (motorcycles, atvs, jet skis) dealer in a resort town

I've always wondered what some other essential services, like funeral parlors, laundrymats, franchise pharmacies (walgreens) and carwashes pull down.

Post: #18

(10-20-2014 09:04 PM)iknowexactly Wrote:  A bit off topic, but the protection of a trade license is almost like the barrier to entry of a physical establishment. I talked to a pharmacy tech who was getting her x-ray technician degree, two years and she said it was like 100k.

Keep in mind Pharmacists (and Pharma Reps) used to big/easy money. But once word got out, and the fact that it appeals to white collar/academic types - wages have gone done.

When I got out of college, some of those kids were getting signing bonuses and driving 3 series soon after.

Not anymore.

So switching from Pharma to X-Ray Tech is jumping to a more lucrative but soon to be crowded field.

RN's and above make bank too...

But all of these are professions/careers, not ownership opportunities.

WIA

Post: #19

(10-20-2014 08:42 PM)Laner Wrote:  Here is my rundown of current big money small business.

- Solid surfacing for restaraunts/homes/architects etc. Essentially a solid thermoformable acrylic that can be milled with wood tools. Corian, Krion and Himacs are the three major brands. This company just billed out $17,000 for two days shop labour and one day install for one bar and four small standing bars. Materials were about $3000.

- Painting.

- Scaffolding. Have a line on an infinite supply of scaffolding and just bid jobs and send out some journeyman scaffolders. The hardest part is making sure you can get the scaffold when its needed.

Nice.

WIA

Post: #20

(10-20-2014 10:32 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  There was a show on discovery about Harvesting.
Real interesting stuff.

(10-20-2014 08:08 PM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  un-glamorous or just unknown?

1. Rigging...aka installing big equipment in factories
2. Mechanized logging...its not that the margins are huge % wise but the volumes are crazy. I'd say similar to farming in terms of mechanical equipment costs but no need to own land
3. On the same note above, custom harvesters: these guys own and operate farm combines and just follow the harvest season from north to south.
4. Powersports (motorcycles, atvs, jet skis) dealer in a resort town

I've always wondered what some other essential services, like funeral parlors, laundrymats, franchise pharmacies (walgreens) and carwashes pull down.

Harvesting: Good one, though combines are hundreds of thousands of dollars. Along the same lines is water trucks. Industry needs a massive amount of water, all the time. From road building to industrial construction there is always water trucks on site.

Graders: Again a few hundred thousand but during snow storms the day rate is $2000. During busy summer months these guys bill out $30,000. Three graders (one being owner/operator)
$90,000 invoice
-$30,000 payments/maintenence
-$30,000 wages for operators
=$30,000 profit. If paying yourself $10,000 a month.

The hard part is finding good operators, and keeping the machines busy year round.

Also steel drum packers can be had at auction for $30-50,000 and usually bill out less operator for $10-15,000 a month.

Post: #21

(10-21-2014 07:33 PM)Laner Wrote:  

(10-20-2014 10:32 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  There was a show on discovery about Harvesting.
Real interesting stuff.

(10-20-2014 08:08 PM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  un-glamorous or just unknown?

1. Rigging...aka installing big equipment in factories
2. Mechanized logging...its not that the margins are huge % wise but the volumes are crazy. I'd say similar to farming in terms of mechanical equipment costs but no need to own land
3. On the same note above, custom harvesters: these guys own and operate farm combines and just follow the harvest season from north to south.
4. Powersports (motorcycles, atvs, jet skis) dealer in a resort town

I've always wondered what some other essential services, like funeral parlors, laundrymats, franchise pharmacies (walgreens) and carwashes pull down.

Harvesting: Good one, though combines are hundreds of thousands of dollars. Along the same lines is water trucks. Industry needs a massive amount of water, all the time. From road building to industrial construction there is always water trucks on site.

Graders: Again a few hundred thousand but during snow storms the day rate is $2000. During busy summer months these guys bill out $30,000. Three graders (one being owner/operator)
$90,000 invoice
-$30,000 payments/maintenence
-$30,000 wages for operators
=$30,000 profit. If paying yourself $10,000 a month.

The hard part is finding good operators, and keeping the machines busy year round.

Also steel drum packers can be had at auction for $30-50,000 and usually bill out less operator for $10-15,000 a month.

Exactly. Payments are due every 30 days regardless of if the machine is working or not so that equipment (forest harvester, combine or grader) should have lights on it and be running two shifts of operators. Even a slow night shift is better than having the machine parked.

Being down for stupid reasons like engineering delays destroys operations because the equipment is just sitting and you still have to make payments so there always has to be a plan B (the show swamp loggers has great examples of being fucked over by bad planning by foresters/engineers)

Bad operators are almost worse than being down though as when they break machines not only are they down but they also need to be fixed.

Again, the show swamp loggers is a good primer on running a heavy equipment operation and dealing with client delays, good operators and bad operators.

Post: #22

Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

Post: #23

(10-22-2014 01:46 PM)The Great Basilisk Wrote:  Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

I actually heard a lot of success stories of painting. Lots of smallish time ones like that. Kid's starting painting businesses to get some extra cash in college, end up dropping out because they are pulling in some good money.

It's got an upward limit, but its got a low barrier to entry and requires little skill to get started.

Post: #24

(10-22-2014 04:03 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 01:46 PM)The Great Basilisk Wrote:  Painting. Some business student in Finland couldn't get a summer job when he was studying. Started a painting business to employ himself. By the end of the summer he had 12 employees. You only need ladders and paintbrush set to start.

I actually heard a lot of success stories of painting. Lots of smallish time ones like that. Kid's starting painting businesses to get some extra cash in college, end up dropping out because they are pulling in some good money.

It's got an upward limit, but its got a low barrier to entry and requires little skill to get started.

Hustling up the jobs would be an issue I imagine.

WIA

Post: #25

I have harvester myself (mechanized logging) for my own forest and others, but I mostly use it as a toy for fun when I want to fuck around.

I love all those American/Canadian logging series and it always struck me how goddamn lazy those people are in those series. I understand that the reality must be different from what we see on TV, but on the series on TV they are having a break every 5min meanwhile the rest of the team are watching them pausing.
And old equipment.

Anyways, I would love at anyday to try working as a helilogger.

However, Dr.Howard makes logging sound like a piece of cake to make easy money.
Maybe in North America, but in the Nordics it's another story.
More than " just putting lights on the logger and drive in night time"
You can't just get hands whenever you want on such easy contracts that you can have your machine going 24/7.

Unpredictable winters ( not frozen ground) , Russian timber tolls, recession in the paper industry, high fuel costs, mostly private owned forests and if the paper industry are shutting down factory after factory, it's a nasty competion for logging contracts and then we have greenpeace and other green activists who do everything they can to make a problem. And so on.