Low Fund Startup Business ideas...

[ChasingPaper]

Young? Just starting out in entrepreneurship, or just don't want to "risk" a lot of money? This post is for you. Iv'e been thinking about this a lot lately and am currently in the process of coming up with my own business plan.

First, a little about the current position I am in. I just turned 20 years old. I have a full time sales job (It's commission only, make around 65k-70k year). I have some passive income from eBooks I have created, a YouTube channel where I have around 3.5 million views, and I have one small affiliate marketing website up.)

My next goal is to launch my first real business. I still plan to earn passive income online as well.

My goal for my business was to have a low cost startup, and of course make as much $'s as possible by
satisfying some sort of need for clients.

What did I come up with? I found the most rewarding jobs with as little startup money as possible was labor intensive jobs. I'll list a few examples here but it's really quite simple.

Mobile car detailing
Maid service
Landscaping
Painting houses
etc.

What do these jobs have in common? Low Startup, Good Profits, and you don't have to do the labor. Your main job would be to establish a company with a logo and a name, get a website up, and then get clients and contractors.

How do I get contractors? Craigslist job ads. You'll get more offers then you want. Be sure to do background checks.

How do I get clients? Well, this is going to be the hardest part in my opinion. But craigslist, facebook groups, local forums, paid per click advertising, and of course social media is going to be the primary way to market.

Some of these businesses have high competition rates as there are so many of them (Especially landscaping). You must do something that sets you apart. Me and my dad did lawn care for a few years, what set us apart was that we did a very professional job. We mowed, weed-eat, edge, and blew. We were in and out of their yard as fast as possible while delivering the best service locally, NOT CHEAPEST.

I'm going to be launching a business, and WILL start a progress thread on it. I'm working out the details now, I don't plan on doing much if any of the actual labor myself besides teaching the people I hire how to get the job done.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions, or if you have any other business ideas. Who knows, maybe this thread can help some people.

 

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[Boo Blizzi]

My landscaper has been dropping the ball lately. He does my house and 5 other neighbors on my street. He does about 20 more house in my development as well. He used to come every 2 weeks to cut the grass, weed wack, edging, and pull up any weeds or get trash out of the mulch. Now he comes like every 3 weeks or so and does a half assed job. I asked him whats going on and he says he has too much work!

I was like OH REALLY??

A Light bulb and dollar signs appeared above my head.

I started thinking about how to provide total exterior home care for say $100/mo. Cut and fertilize the grass in the spring/summer, clean up the yard in spring/fall, do the mulching, power washing the house, gutter cleaning, clearing leaves in the fall and shoveling snow in the winter.

Im a city guy tho... the first year I bought my crib I was gung-ho about cutting the grass like a real suburban dude until I busted my a$$ trying to mow a little hill in my back yard. (the next day I hired the landscaper)

Anyway, since you have experience in this biz, what does my math need to look like to pull this off?

I live in a pretty affluent neighborhood so Im thinking I can get atleast 200 homes x $100 = $20k revenue.

For expenses, Im thinking:
4 guys @ $500/week so that would be $2k x 4wks = $8k/mo
Supplies/Insurance/Gas/Taxes = $5k/mo

So that leaves about $7k/mo profit. I think 4 guys could handle 200-300 house every 2 weeks and If I get it to 300 houses that's another $10k/mo with a slight increase in supplies.

I would market the hell out of it to all these McMansion develpments out here and call the company "Curb Appeal".

But before I invested 1 coin in equipment, I would see if I can get 100 pre-sign ups.

Am I missing something in my math or anticipated expenses?

 

[ChasingPaper]

My landscaper has been dropping the ball lately. He does my house and 5 other neighbors on my street. He does about 20 more house in my development as well. He used to come every 2 weeks to cut the grass, weed wack, edging, and pull up any weeds or get trash out of the mulch. Now he comes like every 3 weeks or so and does a half assed job. I asked him whats going on and he says he has too much work!

I was like OH REALLY??

A Light bulb and dollar signs appeared above my head.

I started thinking about how to provide total exterior home care for say $100/mo. Cut and fertilize the grass in the spring/summer, clean up the yard in spring/fall, do the mulching, power washing the house, gutter cleaning, clearing leaves in the fall and shoveling snow in the winter.

Im a city guy tho... the first year I bought my crib I was gung-ho about cutting the grass like a real suburban dude until I busted my a$$ trying to mow a little hill in my back yard. (the next day I hired the landscaper)

Anyway, since you have experience in this biz, what does my math need to look like to pull this off?

I live in a pretty affluent neighborhood so Im thinking I can get atleast 200 homes x $100 = $20k revenue.

For expenses, Im thinking:
4 guys @ $500/week so that would be $2k x 4wks = $8k/mo
Supplies/Insurance/Gas/Taxes = $5k/mo

So that leaves about $7k/mo profit. I think 4 guys could handle 200-300 house every 2 weeks and If I get it to 300 houses that's another $10k/mo with a slight increase in supplies.

I would market the hell out of it to all these McMansion develpments out here and call the company "Curb Appeal".

But before I invested 1 coin in equipment, I would see if I can get 100 pre-sign ups.

Am I missing something in my math or anticipated expenses?

To be honest, a lot of people skip the insurance part but if you want to make it legit I'd pay the insurance. Gas is going to be the main thing besides equipment. You should have an hourly goal. A person who knows what he's doing will average around $60 an hour. Have 4 people in teams of 2 doing $240 GROSS an hour, your going to be seeing a decent profit. Pay them $10 hour, sounds harsh but people do it.


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[Boo Blizzi]

I figured $500 would be close to 10/hr or maybe even better.
I anticipate 6 days a week at about 10hrs/day.
I don't know how I would calculate the gross hourly earnings because we will be getting paid monthly (automatically via CC)
I just figure 4 guys should be able to do 25 houses/day

 

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[People>Cash]

I would recommend paying better than $10/hr. Quality employees who can provide high quality and quick service wont want to work for $10/hr unless you're targeting students on summer break

 

[Aaronjod]

I don't want to diss your idea, but having real world experience I think it would fail.
A few factors included in TMF that your business idea lacks:

Low entry cost = You've gotta be real good at what you do. Plenty of people do this job full time, and then go out on their own to run their own successful business. They will make better money than they would doing this for someone else, provided they run it properly. If you're paying people $10/hr, whats to stop them from doing exactly what you're doing? Also their quality of work isn't going to be great, what happens when quality drops? Managing people is HARD work, because people have emotions.

I could see this idea working if YOU were going to put in the hard work. Who is going to be motivated working for somebody that just collects the $$ and does no work? I find people respond well to "lead by example".

Also, if a 20 yr old quoted to paint my house i'd honestly question his ability to do so at a standard I would be happy with... Some of the job ideas you listed do take more skill then $10 an hour.

Also, doesn't your name in itself violate one of the rules of chasing money?

Just my 2c, Don't want to be pulling you down but I think there is potentially better ideas out there..

 

[wade1mil]

Who is going to be motivated working for somebody that just collects the $$ and does no work?

Most of the world. Everyone with a job does this to some degree.

I interviewed for a company once. It was a sales job where you made 150 or more cold calls per day. They closed an average of one deal per four days per person, which made the company $15,000. With their base plus salary, the salespeople made $4,200. If I made these calls myself, all else being equal, I'd make $15,000. I thought to myself, "Why do this if I could just make the calls for my own product?" Yet, everyone else wanted the job.

 

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[ChasingPaper]

I don't want to diss your idea, but having real world experience I think it would fail.
A few factors included in TMF that your business idea lacks:

Low entry cost = You've gotta be real good at what you do. Plenty of people do this job full time, and then go out on their own to run their own successful business. They will make better money than they would doing this for someone else, provided they run it properly. If you're paying people $10/hr, whats to stop them from doing exactly what you're doing? Also their quality of work isn't going to be great, what happens when quality drops? Managing people is HARD work, because people have emotions.

I could see this idea working if YOU were going to put in the hard work. Who is going to be motivated working for somebody that just collects the $$ and does no work? I find people respond well to "lead by example".

Also, if a 20 yr old quoted to paint my house i'd honestly question his ability to do so at a standard I would be happy with... Some of the job ideas you listed do take more skill then $10 an hour.

Also, doesn't your name in itself violate one of the rules of chasing money?

Just my 2c, Don't want to be pulling you down but I think there is potentially better ideas out there..

I made my name this way because my first name is Chase. I've done landscaping and made roughly $35 an hour profit taking the smaller cut before. I have connection with someone who is worth 4.5 million that started a painting business.

Car detailing, I know a guy who makes 20k month. He has 3 people working for him at $10 an hour and does luxury vehicles and planes and boats. For luxury vehicles and boats, he only offers a subscription service with a minimum of 6 months.

Bottom line, this stuff works if you want it too. No matter what my age someone is going to throw excuses up somewhere, I'm not one of those guys. I make it happen.

I'm also one of the youngest real estate agents in my state.


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[ChasingPaper]

They will make better money than they would doing this for someone else, provided they run it properly. If you're paying people $10/hr, whats to stop them from doing exactly what you're doing? ..

Lots of things. Establishing a company, getting clients is not an easy take in lots of places, building a brand. Equipment can get extremely expensive. Etc.

I think your overestimating the general population, most people want jobs, not to own a business.


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[Aaronjod]

I made my name this way because my first name is Chase. I've done landscaping and made roughly $35 an hour profit taking the smaller cut before. I have connection with someone who is worth 4.5 million that started a painting business.

Car detailing, I know a guy who makes 20k month. He has 3 people working for him at $10 an hour and does luxury vehicles and planes and boats. For luxury vehicles and boats, he only offers a subscription service with a minimum of 6 months.

Bottom line, this stuff works if you want it too. No matter what my age someone is going to throw excuses up somewhere, I'm not one of those guys. I make it happen.

I'm also one of the youngest real estate agents in my state.


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Some valid points. Let me be clear in that I love your way of thinking and am not trying to pull it down, just curious about the details.

You raise a valid point about over-estimating the gen pop. I suppose if you can get a few years out of each employee, it's not really that bad. But how do you keep someone there to run it?

I should have re-worded, I more-so meant it might fail fast-lane principles. You will have to inject more time into it than you might think to keep it running successfully. To learn how to properly do each of those jobs, would take time and effort. If you don't know how to do them you'll need to hire someone who does, and it might eat into your profit? How do you manage this?

You mentioned your a young real estate agent, isn't there big potential to run a agency? In Australia at the moment RE is booming, agents are making heaps. I realise this will fade away when the boom stops, but the persistent ones will still be around...

 

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[Boo Blizzi]

I know for a fact you can succeed with those ideas you mentioned if you have hustle.
The value of the services are obvious so if you go hard, its just a matter of time before you have a constant flow of business.
My lawn guy started out in a beat up ford ranger, a push lawn mower, and a weed wacker. Now he comes around in a Range Rover at the beginning of the season to let us know he's about to start cutting, has 2 Standers, a Zero turn, mad weed wackers and blowers in a trailer hitched to a new F-150. Says he doesn't do anything all winter but is thinking about putting a plow on the front of the pickup for this season.

 

[ZCP]

Looking forward to the progress thread!

 

[Kevin Peter]

Listing on specific directories.
Getting in touch with admins of the Tech park that you work in.
References works the best

We also run facebook ad campaign to capture individual households for plumbing - electric, pest control and other house related work.
We did a similar model here in India. Not sure if the same tactics works for the US market.

 

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[blackhat]

If you're paying people $10/hr, whats to stop them from doing exactly what you're doing?

That could be said for many industries.

And why would a higher rate stop them? Wouldn't they still make more doing it them self if you paid them $20/hour? There is still nothing stoping them.

I can absolutely see paying higher wages to get more skilled, CS focused employees, but not to stop them from leaving to start their own biz.

 

[StarryEyes]

Young? Just starting out in entrepreneurship, or just don't want to "risk" a lot of money? This post is for you. Iv'e been thinking about this a lot lately and am currently in the process of coming up with my own business plan.

First, a little about the current position I am in. I just turned 20 years old. I have a full time sales job (It's commission only, make around 65k-70k year). I have some passive income from eBooks I have created, a YouTube channel where I have around 3.5 million views, and I have one small affiliate marketing website up.)

My next goal is to launch my first real business. I still plan to earn passive income online as well.

My goal for my business was to have a low cost startup, and of course make as much $'s as possible by
satisfying some sort of need for clients.

So I want to ask you. When you started with your online venture creating ebooks and creating your youtube channel, did you monitor, create/develope these platforms independetly or did you work with other poeple? I.e. hire, collabororate. Also, I have a website that I currenrtly want to bring revenue to, but the website design at times demotivates me as I know very basic HTML and I get discouraged. Can you provide any tips or ideas to overcome this minor bump in progress. The site has been up since 2013. When it is updated regularly it gets a good flow of traffic, but in this stage I'm ready to make it make dollars and sense.

 

[ChasingPaper]

So I want to ask you. When you started with your online venture creating ebooks and creating your youtube channel, did you monitor, create/develope these platforms independetly or did you work with other poeple? I.e. hire, collabororate. Also, I have a website that I currenrtly want to bring revenue to, but the website design at times demotivates me as I know very basic HTML and I get discouraged. Can you provide any tips or ideas to overcome this minor bump in progress. The site has been up since 2013. When it is updated regularly it gets a good flow of traffic, but in this stage I'm ready to make it make dollars and sense.

Independently. Outsource the website.


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[Dwight Schrute]

How do I get clients? Well, this is going to be the hardest part in my opinion. But craigslist, facebook groups, local forums, paid per click advertising, and of course social media is going to be the primary way to market.

Some of these businesses have high competition rates as there are so many of them (Especially landscaping). You must do something that sets you apart. Me and my dad did lawn care for a few years, what set us apart was that we did a very professional job. We mowed, weed-eat, edge, and blew. We were in and out of their yard as fast as possible while delivering the best service locally, NOT CHEAPEST.

When I was working as a landscaper, we had quite a few low-radar celebrity clients and an exclusive contract for lawn care on the small island in the danube river flowing through Vienna.
Yes entry is low in this niche, everybody with the right tools, a little experience and a pickup can do this.
But beating competition is easy: Excellent service and the right location.

Getting clients was really simple, we just spent one afternoon each week throwing flyers in peoples mailboxes.
We also had an online-presence, but we got roughly 80% of our customers because of the flyers, considering they were
60+, not computer saavy, and happy to chat with us while we do the work they couldn't do anymore.

I worked hard about 50-60hrs a week, for minimum wage.
And my boss, in his early 30's, drove a Gallardo.

In for the progress thread

 

[happybhoy]

How are you planning on starting? Starting off the bat with 4 guys would take at least five figures $$$.

 

[Joe Middleton]

So I want to ask you. When you started with your online venture creating ebooks and creating your youtube channel, did you monitor, create/develope these platforms independetly or did you work with other poeple? I.e. hire, collabororate. Also, I have a website that I currenrtly want to bring revenue to, but the website design at times demotivates me as I know very basic HTML and I get discouraged. Can you provide any tips or ideas to overcome this minor bump in progress. The site has been up since 2013. When it is updated regularly it gets a good flow of traffic, but in this stage I'm ready to make it make dollars and sense.

There's absolutely no reason why you can't learn HTML Code yourself. I know enough to get by but if I wanted an entire website redesign, Id go to a professional. You'll probably find someone on here that's willing to help you out for a reasonable price.

How often do you update it? and how much traffic does it get?

Do you mind sharing the link so we can have a little peak?

Joe.

 

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[Kevin90]

@ChasingPaper If you decide to pursue the landscaping/lawn care venture, be sure to check out the following members on YouTube:

- The Landscaping Employee Trap
- Lawn Care Millionaire
- Trimmers Enterprises, LLC

I found these channels while poking around on YouTube. They provide a TON of valuable information regarding the lawn care biz! ALL for free.

I have no affiliation with any of them. Just felt it could be beneficial to you and other members of the forum.

I'd be closely following the progress thread if you choose this route.

Good luck!

 

[BigBrianC]

There's absolutely no reason why you can't learn HTML Code yourself. I know enough to get by but if I wanted an entire website redesign, Id go to a professional. You'll probably find someone on here that's willing to help you out for a reasonable price.

How often do you update it? and how much traffic does it get?

Do you mind sharing the link so we can have a little peak?

Joe.

Just knowing HTML code isn't enough to make a website anymore. You need Javascript, jQuery, CSS and PHP to even make a basic website that doesn't get you laughed at. You can use a template but you still need basic knowledge of the above to make any kind of modifications.

 

[Under-Dog]

In my opinion, I believe you can make it work. A buddy of mine started a landscaping business, although he is not rich off of it he makes a comfortable living. Yet again, we are not here for comfortable living. I myself started a mobile detailing business. I didn't scale it as much as I wanted to but more pressing business came up. The key is to treat your employees the way you'd want to be treated. I would pay them a reasonable amount, treat them as actual human beings, and buy them lunch and dinner from time to time. I felt like they appreciated the gesture and in turn worked harder for me. Hence, giving my company a better name for itself.

 

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[Joe Middleton]

Just knowing HTML code isn't enough to make a website anymore. You need Javascript, jQuery, CSS and PHP to even make a basic website that doesn't get you laughed at. You can use a template but you still need basic knowledge of the above to make any kind of modifications.

I completely agree @BigBrianC. Which is why I said if I needed a redesign (or a new website designed) I would go to a professional Web Designer.

I have some HTLM knowledge and I've been able to help a few of my clients with their websites. Yes, the websites all have a few different templates and I've had to liaise with the developers on occasion to get exactly what the client's asked for but with html knowledge, there's still so much you can do.

 

[Wisith]

My hat goes off to the OP for being a hustler at such an early age.

In regards to getting someone to do the physical job for these fields: Mobile car detailing, Maid service, Landscaping, and Painting houses.

How do you deal with labor laws, and such? At the very least every state has to abide by employee regulations from OSHA at the federal level, some states like California would have CAL OSHA which is even more strict. IE: if they get hurt on the job, you have to care for them. I ask because I currently work in this field including workers comp, which a lot of cases are frudelent because employees see day time ads that state something like "get hurt on the job? call us, we will take care of you and make sure you are compensated well". It is very costly on the employer side.

 

[CMA]

"First, a little about the current position I am in. I just turned 20 years old. I have a full time sales job (It's commission only, make around 65k-70k year)."

I want to commend you for being so young and having such drive and success. (70k a year at 20 is nothing to laugh at)

For the people saying that this might not work, it happens in many industries every day. Do you think the guy that works for Johhny's Car Wash can make more than $10 an hour if he went and washed cars by himself? Of course, but most people don't think that way.

My main concern with these jobs is scale. If you oversee it and can get a good group of employees you can surely do well, but how do you make this a larger scale business? Keep the posts coming.

 

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[Kallin Trotman]

any updates on this?