Side Business

[bigblockz8]

I've been trying to start a college paying business since I only have work as needed. Anybody here run (or have ran) a side business? If so what type and how "efficient" has it been/ was it? I've been trying to repair a vending machine I bought for $20 and I'm thinking of starting either a repair or vending (or both) business. Very crowded and hard to get a spot but still worth a try,

I've failed with other ventures such as building computers. Profits came out to about 1000 bucks over a year, not many people want to pay someone else to have the fun of building it. Also failed with making soaps and candles back in elementary school. Not enough customers. Same with bike repair in 6th grade. I'm finding that I need to find something with a low start up and a decent base. Not looking for 40k a year but maybe just a flight lesson every two or three months to calm my craving for flight. Plus book money would help.

I've checked all the sites and blogs and pretty much my capital and age limits it. I was going to do an ice cream truck this past summer but the permits alone were $580, the equipment, the van, insurance, and then stocking up just blew my budget...Never got off the ground.

Any ideas? eBay and my adsense accounts only bring in $100-150 (if lucky) a month which is college loan repayment fund money. This is purely "joy" flying fund oriented. Tempted to just take an intro flight every other month

On a related note, I have already sold the boring King Schools videos...best exchange ever, King schools, $15 less than paid, for 2hrs of flying time :wink2:

 

[AggieMike88]

Too bad your not local to me. I'd let you go scrounge and remove every brake caliper off of the cars/trucks in the bone yard. Pay me $5 each, then you go sell to the big core buyer for at least double that. Same idea with some other parts.

 

[bigblockz8]

Too bad your not local to me. I'd let you go scrounge and remove every brake caliper off of the cars/trucks in the bone yard. Pay me $5 each, then you go sell to the big core buyer for at least double that. Same idea with some other parts.

I've thought of doing that actually! Problem is that the local yard (30 min drive) won't even let me buy a new grille, nut cover, taillight assembly, or speedometer needle. They somehow want all patrons to be 21. Being escorted by a parent doesn't work. They ID like they are admitting you to meet the president. I can be trusted with a car and plane yet not trusted to unscrew the following items. Go figure...

I can understand liability until 18 but 21, no wonder they have so many complete cars.

 

[jesse]

I operate a side business that provides flight training and software development. Perhaps that shouldn't all be under one LLC but it is.

Between my full time job, that business, and my hobbies my time is completely occupied. The only way to relax is just to ignore something I should be working on. It's a delicate balance.

 

[hnl.flyboy]

I'm an NRA Basic Handgun Certified Instructor. I'm not too sure how much you can make working for a gun shop or if you ran your own business...I don't ask to be reimbursed when I work for a non-profit organization...but I'm have some doubt that it would fund my "getting high" aviation fixes.

 

[kimberlyanne546]

Not steady income, but the "gigs" section of Craigslist has brought me odd jobs in the past. Things like helping setup / tear down large events, going to a house to help serve wine or snacks so the host family can relax and enjoy their own party, or attending focus groups. Each "gig" paid $50 - $100 or more. I don't have time anymore to scour the ads (you have to be one of the first to reply).

 

[Henning]

Too bad your not local to me. I'd let you go scrounge and remove every brake caliper off of the cars/trucks in the bone yard. Pay me $5 each, then you go sell to the big core buyer for at least double that. Same idea with some other parts.

I used to go to junkyards and pull catalytic converters, but other people caught on and now there's too much competition there as well. I used to rake in cash with those.

 

[ChrisK]

I operate a side business that provides flight training and software development. Perhaps that shouldn't all be under one LLC but it is.

How the futz do you insure that? =)

Edit --

Try to put yourself in a situation where the money you make is not by your direct labor. Exploiting a market inefficiency - in a part resale market for example - is one excellent way of doing this. Another way is to put yourself in a market that scales in income without linearly scaling in effort. For example, my wife ran a type of online consignment shop where she managed an eCommerce website and paid folks a commission for their design sales.

 

[X3 Skier]

I once hooked up with a Temp Agency, not Manpower Inc, and did pretty well. Definitely not steady but the simple weak mind, strong back jobs helped put some bucks in my pocket.

I suppose the guys hanging around the local day labor site have taken over that market though.

Cheers

 

[AggieMike88]

I used to go to junkyards and pull catalytic converters, but other people caught on and now there's too much competition there as well. I used to rake in cash with those.

It's a mainline scrap item for us. No "retail" customer is permitted to pull them. I just sold a small shopping cart full of various ones to the local licensed decanner/smelter and netted $1300 for them.

 

[AggieMike88]

@Greg; could you enlist the help of two enthusiastic and fit buddies and start a home grown moving company?

A local crew (http://www.littleguys.com/about-little-guys/our-history.php) did that starting in 1992 and now have become one of the best local home/office movers in the area. I've used them and really liked the positive attitude of the crews that helped me.


How about a mobile wash and detail biz for airplanes?


Oh, and a book that might help you out: 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE by Dan Miller

 

[DaleB]

I have a side business, but I'm not sure my experience would benefit you any.

I bought a piece of equipment and was dismayed at what a POS it was to operate. I said to myself, "I could do better than this". And I did, and have been selling them ever since. Along the way I got a lot of feedback from customers, people asking for new stuff, and now have a modest line of products that I sell. It's almost 100% on line, to a very limited audience (ham radio operators -- think the same size population as pilots).

What I've learned along the way is that you can have a very nice web site with an automated shopping cart for next to nothing if you're willing to do the work yourself. Ditto for a super nice phone setup that will ring ALL your phones, including your cell, and email you voicemails as WAV attachments. The only reason I mention this is, you may want to revisit the soap thing. Hand made soaps and "bath bombs" -- simple and cheap to make -- seem to sell pretty well on line. You probably couldn't get a web site, toll free number, voicemail, be set up to take credit cards and automate your shipping world wide for less than $20 per month total when you were in elementary school. You can now.

 

[kimberlyanne546]

I once hooked up with a Temp Agency, not Manpower Inc, and did pretty well. Definitely not steady but the simple weak mind, strong back jobs helped put some bucks in my pocket.

I suppose the guys hanging around the local day labor site have taken over that market though.

Cheers

We use them because they are insured. We used to use the locals but no more. Good thing too since not Manpower (no really it was their competition) broke one of our lamps. They wrote us a check after we got a bid to repaint the ceiling, rewire the track, and buy a new lamp.

 

[denverpilot]

Ditto for a super nice phone setup that will ring ALL your phones, including your cell, and email you voicemails as WAV attachments.

This is free and easy with Google Voice nowadays.

My GV number is the one I give out for most things unless someone knows me personally and it works great. Rings everything, voice mail, text/e-mail with (bad but free) transcription, etc.

 

[Henning]

It's a mainline scrap item for us. No "retail" customer is permitted to pull them. I just sold a small shopping cart full of various ones to the local licensed decanner/smelter and netted $1300 for them.

Yeah, I'd go in and pull a hundred, best yards were ones with a bunch of beemers, those were high value as well as the Chrysler ones with the hexagonal type cores with the rhodium as well as platinum and palladium. That was before people figured out what they were worth and I'd pay $5-$15 a piece for them. I'd snip them out with a set of hydraulic shears in a few seconds.

 

[silver-eagle]

There was a story on the news about a professional photographer who provided a 3 hour tour of NYC for $175 per person with photos along the way. It is certainly safer for than the tourist handing off their camera to a stranger for those vacation photos.
Digital cameras (and I am not including cellphone cameras) make even the worst amateur into a fairly good photographer. For little extra money, some additional courses could be had in composition. NIKON runs classes locally.
A friend of mine has taken his vacation photos and turned them into a pretty nice powerpoint presentation. It's not a lot of work to come up with a quality product.

 

[Arbiter419]

Greg, there is definitely money to be made in the PC repair and building business...have some business cards made up, and start distributing them. You're more likely to overload yourself if anything. Not a bad gig if you enjoy it!

 

[KRyan]

I've had an idea that I've been kicking around for a while that you might want to try.

Many companys, particularly those involved in aviation, require that certain consumables be used. By consumables, I mean stuff like glue, paint, RTV, Loctite, etc. These items are usually not sold by the company that specified them - in other words, you can't call Boeing, lets say, and have them ship you a bottle of Loctite (maybe you can call Boeing and get Loctite, I don't know - just an example). I know my company does not sell many of the consumables we specify, and when we do, there is a SIGNIFICANT markup.

For most people, this isn't a problem - they can go the the store, or a supply house, or a distributor and get what they need. The problem arises when the customer is outside of the US or Europe. I think about customers in Asia, Africa, etc.

You'd have to advertise yourself, of course, and locate the materials to fill your orders, but it seems to me that once you've established some customers, the job would be relatively easy. All you'd have to do is take the order, call the supplyer, and have them drop ship the consumable to Botswana or where ever. You wouldn't have to carry inventory or anything, and, because many of these people want "one stop" shopping, you can mark up the cost of thse supplies significantly. You pay the supplier and keep the profit.

 

[kimberlyanne546]

I talked on the phone last night to a guy who opened up a charter using a minivan. The rules for charter are sort of odd, you have to negotiate a waybill before the person steps in, and you can't ask people if they need a ride. Other than that, though, he says he hangs out Fri - Sun at the airport and drives people around. This airport is super great except you need a car once you get there. He is providing us with a much needed service. He got his business license, class of dl etc.... doing it above the board. But I'd bet you could find an airport in need of transportation. Start a website, get a van, etc.

 

[John Baker]

I bought a used pinball machine, fixed it up and got it working. Then another, and another, until I had a garage full of pin ball machines. I asked the taco shop in the shopping center my frame shop was in if I could put couple of them in there, fifty fifty split. I put four of them in. I hired a pinball mechanic to do collections and keep them going for half of my cut.

I ended up clearing around four hundred bucks a month. It was great until my mechanic moved out of state. It became too much for me working on the machines and running my own business, so I pulled them out and ended up selling all of them. I had about fifteen machines or so in my garage by that time.

I only had that one location, but it was nice income while it lasted. That was about twenty years ago.

-John

 

[N747JB]

Yeah, I'd go in and pull a hundred, best yards were ones with a bunch of beemers, those were high value as well as the Chrysler ones with the hexagonal type cores with the rhodium as well as platinum and palladium. That was before people figured out what they were worth and I'd pay $5-$15 a piece for them. I'd snip them out with a set of hydraulic shears in a few seconds.

We've got a local group that does the same thing, only they do it late at night or early in the morning and don't ask permission.

 

[Old Geek]

Not steady income, but the "gigs" section of Craigslist has brought me odd jobs in the past. Things like helping setup / tear down large events, going to a house to help serve wine or snacks so the host family can relax and enjoy their own party, or attending focus groups. Each "gig" paid $50 - $100 or more. I don't have time anymore to scour the ads (you have to be one of the first to reply).

This is an excellent idea. My sister runs a wedding venue and needs extra help setting and tearing down after each event. I'm sure there is other event venues that could use help. Look them up and give them a call.

 

[denverpilot]

 

[AggieMike88]

Yeah, I'd go in and pull a hundred, best yards were ones with a bunch of beemers, those were high value as well as the Chrysler ones with the hexagonal type cores with the rhodium as well as platinum and palladium. That was before people figured out what they were worth and I'd pay $5-$15 a piece for them. I'd snip them out with a set of hydraulic shears in a few seconds.

We've got a local group that does the same thing, only they do it late at night or early in the morning and don't ask permission.

Local urban legend of a self-service yard that pulled in 20-30 vehicles per day was storing theirs in a old sea container. But didn't think they needed to wire them up to the security system.

They would wait until they were full before selling the entire thing.

What they discovered was that a "mouse" had used their cutting torch on the end opposite of the doors and left behind just enough to create a false wall about 2-3 feet deep. They thought they had a full container worth many tens of thousands but discovered too late it was mostly just empty space.


@John -- since you own a car dealership, have you heard anything in your area about thieves getting under cars in parking lots and cutting the catalytic converter while the car owner is away from the vehicle? It's happened in this area.

 

[denverpilot]

@John -- since you own a car dealership, have you heard anything in your area about thieves getting under cars in parking lots and cutting the catalytic converter while the car owner is away from the vehicle? It's happened in this area.

We had a small run of that here. Big chop shop bust by the cops on the news one night. They were pulling mostly expensive foreign cars.

 

[Skylane81E]

Happened to Angie on the fourth of July two years ago

 

[LandSickness]

Primerica

 

[AggieMike88]

We had a small run of that here. Big chop shop bust by the cops on the news one night. They were pulling mostly expensive foreign cars.

Something about BMW and MB catalytic converter design means a higher quantity of platinum, paladium, and rhodium when compared to many of the domestics.

A recycler buddy doing mostly Euro's will figure in about $200 a car for the cats, where I do just $75 for my mixed bag of domestic and asian.

www.KitCo.com is a decent metals market website if you guys wish to see what's driving the prices on recycled cats.

 

[bigblockz8]

@Greg; could you enlist the help of two enthusiastic and fit buddies and start a home grown moving company?

A local crew (http://www.littleguys.com/about-little-guys/our-history.php) did that starting in 1992 and now have become one of the best local home/office movers in the area. I've used them and really liked the positive attitude of the crews that helped me.


How about a mobile wash and detail biz for airplanes?


Oh, and a book that might help you out: 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE by Dan Miller

Thanks! I got the book today. Got it on eBay and just saw that it has arrived, it was $4 . Going to start reading it.

I have done the moving thing a few times. We actually found a niche, men that have just been divorced! We made $75 and got taken out to lunch by one gentleman. That was 9am-12am in a small U-HAUL. About an hour's worth of lifting for big bucks. The other 2hrs were a drive. He offered, we took. By targeting divorcees we have smaller jobs, get it done fast for the customer, and move some pretty cool things. A guy isn't going to take the dining room furniture! He's taking his pinball machine and pool table! Did nine jobs in one day, most money I have every made in one month. Probably a year for that matter.

I don't know how to wash or detail planes. Also if I owned one I wouldn't pay some kid to touch my baby. That's a privilege! Plus from experience most owners are particular. One guy with the most ragged 150 I have ever seen will wax it for hours. Faded and dents about but sure does shine! Not a spec of dirt on her.

 

[bigblockz8]

There was a story on the news about a professional photographer who provided a 3 hour tour of NYC for $175 per person with photos along the way. It is certainly safer for than the tourist handing off their camera to a stranger for those vacation photos.
Digital cameras (and I am not including cellphone cameras) make even the worst amateur into a fairly good photographer. For little extra money, some additional courses could be had in composition. NIKON runs classes locally.
A friend of mine has taken his vacation photos and turned them into a pretty nice powerpoint presentation. It's not a lot of work to come up with a quality product.

I'd do this in DC but I have five friends with $3000+ DSLRs and bags of lenses...I think I have a proposition for them now. Thanks for the idea! Never would have thought of it!