I am quite interested in "diversifying" out of paper. Specifically, owning some kind of cash cow.
This thread discusses laundromats and pizza parlors.
The laundromat sounds brilliant, but pizza making seems like work (to me).
I have also considered owning woodland.
[I'm not entirely too sold on blogging, but some people have certainly made it work for them. OTOH there are very many people who don't make a lot from blogging.]
Any other ideas?
Small business ownership
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Night Runner
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A barbershop (or hair salon) located near a medium/large-sized college. If you advertise and offer some perks for students (10% off with a student ID or get 9 cuts, get 10th free), you'll be set for life. 
Think about it: people's hair never stops growing, it needs to be cut ~once a month (at least with guys). Let's say you have a college with 10,000 students. About 5,000 will be male, and barring the bald/long-haired ones, you'd still have around 4,500 potential monthly customers. :^D
Think about it: people's hair never stops growing, it needs to be cut ~once a month (at least with guys). Let's say you have a college with 10,000 students. About 5,000 will be male, and barring the bald/long-haired ones, you'd still have around 4,500 potential monthly customers. :^D
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jacob
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On a similar note: dry cleaning and ironing (This also sounds like work though), vending machines (I believe Warren Buffett started this way).
I prefer not having to deal with customers
... presumable people who go to a hairdresser don't cut their own hair.
I saw a list once about the typical costs of starting and stocking a business.
My ideal business is something which is capital heavy rather than work heavy.
I prefer not having to deal with customers
... presumable people who go to a hairdresser don't cut their own hair. I saw a list once about the typical costs of starting and stocking a business.
My ideal business is something which is capital heavy rather than work heavy.
How about a reception hall? Seems like one might be able to purchase a building and stock it with basics like:
plenty of chairs and tables
a few fridges and stoves.
This may work better in larger cities where the continuous turnover of weddings, birthdays, and office parties seems never ending.
I envision a small amount of work, such as collecting deposits and payments and cleaning up the reception hall afterwords (or penalize the tenant and pay others to clean it up.
plenty of chairs and tables
a few fridges and stoves.
This may work better in larger cities where the continuous turnover of weddings, birthdays, and office parties seems never ending.
I envision a small amount of work, such as collecting deposits and payments and cleaning up the reception hall afterwords (or penalize the tenant and pay others to clean it up.
Jacob, if you are serious about laundromats, maybe we should talk more.
Laundromats require a single capital outlay. My co-worker/buddy is sort of flaky of pulling the trigger, but I've done a lot of research (and still probably need to do more).
Mainly, the utility costs will tell you what the costs are - electricity and water.
Laundromats require a single capital outlay. My co-worker/buddy is sort of flaky of pulling the trigger, but I've done a lot of research (and still probably need to do more).
Mainly, the utility costs will tell you what the costs are - electricity and water.
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Steve Austin
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Night Runner
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@Jacob: "I prefer not having to deal with customers ... presumable people who go to a hairdresser don't cut their own hair."
Sorry, I thought that was implied in my post: you start the place up and hire some barbers, then advertise, have students come in - and voila! - your job is done. :^D Really, it's that easy. Maybe install a pinball machine while you're at it. (One of Buffett's earliest ventures. Setting up a video game arcade next to campus would also work (in this case, you can replace college with a school of any level) but more things can go wrong with an arcade machine than with a washer/dryer. If you know how to fix them up (or have a friend who can), go for it.
... presumable people who go to a hairdresser don't cut their own hair."Sorry, I thought that was implied in my post: you start the place up and hire some barbers, then advertise, have students come in - and voila! - your job is done. :^D Really, it's that easy. Maybe install a pinball machine while you're at it. (One of Buffett's earliest ventures. Setting up a video game arcade next to campus would also work (in this case, you can replace college with a school of any level) but more things can go wrong with an arcade machine than with a washer/dryer. If you know how to fix them up (or have a friend who can), go for it.
I think laudromats are intriguing also. But wouldn't you need to know something about fixing the machines? And how does one guard against other people's stupidity? You know, adding six times as much soap as necessary, drying things that don't belong in dryers? Wouldn't upkeep and maintenance be high? Paula
Fixing a washing machine is like fixing anything else. Read the manual. For the amount of passive money that can be earned, learning to fix the machines is a low cost to me.
I think, thankfully, self-embarrassment in public is something that lowers stupidity in public, especially when using machinery.
Not sure what can't be dried in a dryer...
I think, thankfully, self-embarrassment in public is something that lowers stupidity in public, especially when using machinery.
Not sure what can't be dried in a dryer...
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jacob
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I'm also not worried about the mechanical side of things (I can relate to that).
I guess dealing with permits and zoning is doable too, eventually.
I'm more worried about the legal side of it. People who shrink their woolen designer sweater because somehow the temperature setting was too high. When I lived in a dorm, some genius resident decided to use the common washer to dye color something result. Consequently, the subsequent users ended up with a bunch of pinkish clothes from residual dye traces.
Maybe this is solved by a simple insurance mechanism.
Things that can't be dried in a dryer included small children and animals (-:
I guess dealing with permits and zoning is doable too, eventually.
I'm more worried about the legal side of it. People who shrink their woolen designer sweater because somehow the temperature setting was too high. When I lived in a dorm, some genius resident decided to use the common washer to dye color something result. Consequently, the subsequent users ended up with a bunch of pinkish clothes from residual dye traces.
Maybe this is solved by a simple insurance mechanism.
Things that can't be dried in a dryer included small children and animals (-:
I used to operate an arcade machine and a candy vending machine at our pizza restaurant. Very good return on investment, and minimal work, but one restaurant is pretty small scale. I was maybe bringing in $50 a month. It would take a quite bit more initial work to find locations to operate additional machines.
Capital outlay for a laundromat would be significant, no? Also, there seems to be considerable competition.
Same with storage units, my area is totally saturated with them. How would either do in a serious economic downturn?
I've been buying milk and eggs from a local in my strong agriculture community. Basically, their only costs are land, and the purchase of the animals.... In large suburban areas I bet raw milk would sell well at $8-10 a gallon. Pastured eggs, maybe $5.
But then you got the potential FDA harassment.
Same with storage units, my area is totally saturated with them. How would either do in a serious economic downturn?
I've been buying milk and eggs from a local in my strong agriculture community. Basically, their only costs are land, and the purchase of the animals.... In large suburban areas I bet raw milk would sell well at $8-10 a gallon. Pastured eggs, maybe $5.
But then you got the potential FDA harassment.
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jacob
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It seems that a laundromat business costs about half of what a house costs.
Seems to me that storing junk and washing people's clothes is pretty recession resistant. The latter probably more than the former. Junk storage has a lot of personal inertia. People keep their unused stuff for years. You could also argue that people would try to move into something smaller and consequently need a place to store their junk.
For storage, you can buy convertibles in Public Storage at a rather good yield though.
Seems to me that storing junk and washing people's clothes is pretty recession resistant. The latter probably more than the former. Junk storage has a lot of personal inertia. People keep their unused stuff for years. You could also argue that people would try to move into something smaller and consequently need a place to store their junk.
For storage, you can buy convertibles in Public Storage at a rather good yield though.
Right now in my area there are several mat's available. Close close to me is about 400k, about 30 minutes from me in a not so great town is another mat for 250k roughly. With a 30% outlay, that's 75k cash, the rest financed.
Most LM's turn about 3k-5k monthly, and costs can be brought down with solar installs I bet...
Most LM's turn about 3k-5k monthly, and costs can be brought down with solar installs I bet...