Start your own business / side income for less than $5k

[DeesKo]

http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/fina...waad=ad0035&nc


The vending machine deal mentioned in this article can actually be a decent hustle for a side gig, as a way to make some extra cash in your free time. I've been considering this for a while actually, just haven't moved on it yet.

The machines are not that expensive, the inventory to stock the machine is very inexpensive, sometimes you can arrange leasing based off your sales (not a flat rate, which is HUGE) & depending on where the machine is, you can maintain the machine whenever you feel like it, in your spare time.

Set up your S-corp business (www.bizfilings.com)
Set up your busines bank account
Set up your accounting software (could create one in Excel for something like this)
Get your business license from your local government
Find a spot (or 3, depending on how much cash you have to invest)
Purchase the machines & arrange delivery to the locations
Find local grocery wholesale distributors in your area (some will be full service distributors that deliver, others will be local brick & mortar spots like Jetro or Restaurant Depot & Costco. *I would suggest setting up accounts with both, will explain later)
Stock the machine(s)
Schedule time to go pick up inventory & check the machines to keep them stocked


The great part about this is that the margins are pretty solid.

32 pack Coke cans = buy for $9, sell for $32
24 Snickers = Buy for $11, sell for $24 to $30
32 pack 16oz Water = Buy for $5, sell for $32
Small Bag of Utz chips = Buy for 19 cents each, sell for 75 cents each


*Always have backup options for your products. Full service distributors will deliver, but sometimes charge a "gas fee" so it's not worth ordering from them unless you are ordering enough products that it makes sense to pay for the delivery. Most of the time, things will be cheaper from your local brick & mortar wholesaler anyway.

For someone with free time, it's really not a bad hustle & would probably only require a few hours a week of your time.

Just putting some ideas out there.

Peace

[DeesKo]

Oh yeah, almost forgot... exit strategy:

With these kinds of margins, you could really hustle and reinvest quickly to expand the number of machines you have strictly based on how creative/successful you are at negotating spaces.

You build up to 8 or 10 machines (or more) in 2 years time & then sell the entire business/route to someone else for a lump sum payout.

Assuming:

8 machines turning over 60% every week
Inventory costs = 30% of gross sales
Rent costs = 10% of gross sales (renting space for things like this aren't all that expensive, we make far less than that on our ATM machine in the store)


$50,000 a year in sales
$20,000 a year in expenses
$30,000 a year net profit

Sell the route for $100k and you've turned a $20k investment into $100k in 2 yrs, not including the $60k in profits you've turned.

Don't get me wrong, it's not as easy as it sounds and you're going to be investing a LOT of time into scoping out spots & trying to negotiate leases etc but nothing worth having in life comes easy.

Peace

[Pang]

Good info d, except for the part " you can maintain the machine whenever you feel like it"....you have to stay on top of it, check it out 2-3 (maybe 4 if a high traffic area) times a week to make sure your stuff is stocked. We had a family frind that owned 3 machines and had that mentality, he no longer has them.

Its a decent hustle, putting the numbers together like you did this shit looks even more attractive. Will def look more into it.

[DeesKo]

Good info d, except for the part " you can maintain the machine whenever you feel like it"....you have to stay on top of it, check it out 2-3 (maybe 4 if a high traffic area) times a week to make sure your stuff is stocked. We had a family frind that owned 3 machines and had that mentality, he no longer has them.

Its a decent hustle, putting the numbers together like you did this shit looks even more attractive. Will def look more into it.

Yeah, when I said "whenever you want" I was thinking in terms of on any given day you could go by in the early morning, daytime, early evening or late night depending on one's individual daily schedule... not in terms of three weeks from Tuesday.

I probably should have made that clearer.

Was looking around yesterday and found brand new dual zone machines (cold drinks on one side, cookies etc on the other) for under $8k and they do financing.

http://www.vending.com/catalog/viewc...qx/wfview.html

Peace

[bkny11203]

This is something me and some buddies talked about over 10 years ago and never followed up on.

[Mr.I]

I knew a cat who had several snack machines.. chips, candy. Made a cool profit. He definitely had to stay on top of them tho, problems mainly were peeps tampering with them causing mechanical issues also stuff getting stale sometimes cause nobody was buying it. LOTS of change , could get tedious if you don't have patience. Said location was the key.

[djmarbll]

Its crazy you brought this up Deesko! My brother and a partner just got two machines at just $1200 for both last month. Both machines are in office buildings, where the highest traffic is. The machines do need servicing every once in a while, but we found a guy that can do that cheap. The machines bring in between $250-500 a week with only about $50 a week in expenses to refill the machines. Its definitely a good side hustle and you make money without having to do much work at all, as you said. I'm actually considering investing in some more machines myself.

[DeesKo]

Its crazy you brought this up Deesko! My brother and a partner just got two machines at just $1200 for both last month. Both machines are in office buildings, where the highest traffic is. The machines do need servicing every once in a while, but we found a guy that can do that cheap. The machines bring in between $250-500 a week with only about $50 a week in expenses to refill the machines. Its definitely a good side hustle and you make money without having to do much work at all, as you said. I'm actually considering investing in some more machines myself.

That's what's up !

[BrazenMuse]

So talk to me about placement. Is it a pain to find somewhere lucrative to put the things? I could use a side hustle that doesn't require me to be up all frickin' night. I know that certain companies hv contracts w buildings...any thoughts on this? Hmmmm...

[DeesKo]

So talk to me about placement. Is it a pain to find somewhere lucrative to put the things? I could use a side hustle that doesn't require me to be up all frickin' night. I know that certain companies hv contracts w buildings...any thoughts on this? Hmmmm...

Good question.

I haven't done any yet so I can't speak to personal experience, but below are my thoughts. Perhaps others could speak to it as well.

Business offices - Probably least likely to incur physical damage and should be a steady stream of customers. Many buildings have the leasing company listed somewhere (plaque on the wall, in the elevator, sign out front etc)

Another option, and probably a quicker one to deal with would be finding individual property owners. For instance, our building is owned and managed by a guy. You get in touch with him, pitch him the deal and there's only one person to get an answer from.

Upside to property management companies is that could be your "in" to multiple buildings/locations.

You could probably just do an online search in your area for property management companies, develop a quick sales pitch and start calling just to test the waters.

Schools - I would think the school system contracts out to one supplier who manages all of the machines. Maybe they own their own, I'm not sure but a quick phone call to your local office could probably find out.

The City - If you live somewhere densely populated, or somewhere that has a lot of foot traffic (I'm thinking about the neighborhood where our store is in Alexandria, Fordham Road, Fulton Street Mall and 181st & St. Nicholas in NYC, 18th Street area, Adams Morgan or U Street in DC could be an option but probably the most difficult.

There's no control over people who interact with the machine so you're liable to incur damage consistently, it's far less safe & secure when emptying out the money, you'd have to deal with inclement weather etc.

I would probably consider a machine out in the general public the least desirable. Might make more money but almost guaranteed to cost far more too for maintenance, repairs, replacement, stolen goods etc.

Shopping Malls - Have no idea whether any malls would be open to the idea, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Positives would be high traffic and higher sales while still being inside out of the weather and more secure than something out on the sidewalk. Downside would be there there's still not good control over who has access to the machine to damage it.

I dunno, those are just some things that pop up off the top of my head. Ideas anyone?

Maybe we could fine tune some ideas and help someone on the board get a jump start. Would be cool as shit too see.

Peace