7Wannabe5 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:06 amI think there is a tendency to think of starting a business as a committment akin to marriage, with huge pessimistic focus on 50% failure rate and huge amount of money borrowed or saved needed to get started. If you intend to get your overall spending down to 1-eco Jacob/year anyways, starting a business (or 3) to cover that is really not all that difficult or expensive. For example:
1) Dog Walking Business (start-up expense < $1000): Do it 5 hours/week for $400 month income.
2) Green Garden Care Business (start-up expense < $10,000): Do it 5 hours/week. Pay 2 helpers 10 hrs/week for $800 month income
3) Math is Fun! Workbook Publishing Business (start-up expense < $2000): Do it 2 hours/week. Average $200 month income.
Total = $1400 month/working 12 hours week (earning $20/30/hr give or take for leverage and any applicable S-Curve) at interesting mix of stuff you find enjoyable. 1 eco-Jacob = $1200 month PPP, so you have an extra $2400 each year to start another business when 1 of the original 3 fails or becomes less than enjoyable. And, you only need to plug away full-time at some crappy full-time job flipping corporate burgers for $15/hr. for around 1 year to get started. ($30,000 - $12,000 = $18,000 = more than enough to start 3 micro-niche businesses. I started mine with less than $8000.)
Wash/Rinse/Repeat.
theanimal wrote: ↑Wed Dec 13, 2023 10:37 amYes! There are so many micro business options available once you are able to achieve ERE level spending. It is always surprising to me that there are not more examples here. Part of it is that I think there’s the cultural notion of “starting a business” like you say, meaning that it’s something grand and you should have grand ambitions like its some type of tech startup and requires all the hours that go with it. But if you’re the owner you can do whatever you want. Only want to work a few hours a week? Go right ahead! There is a lady who sells tamales near me in an 8x8 hut. She is open for only 4 days a week, four hours each time or until she sells out. She sells out every time. You could do this with any type of food in a stand, a truck, at a farmers market, at parks etc. @mF made the point to me once that you could just take any street business from the third world, spruce it up a bit and likely do very well.
Another thing that I think limits people here is that many possibilities are outside our collective Overton window. The average ERE person is so removed from the mainstream and so unlikely to depend on others that many services and opportunities that exist aren’t known. For example,I discovered a business called"poopie patrol" that goes around and picks up people's dog poop from their yard. They have multiple options but for one dog at 3x a week it's $143 a month! Find 4-5 lawns in your neighborhood and boom. Startup costs? Use a shovel, some rescued plastic bags and your bike.
Prior to hearing about this, the most ridiculous business I’d heard of is one that comes and folds people’s clothes in their house. They do not do their laundry, you still do that yourself. But once it’s done, they come by and fold everything that’s in your dryer. I’m still not sure whether that or poopie patrol is more ridiculous.
Other things I’ve seen:
-Mobile bike repair shop: I’ve seen multiple people operate this business out of a closed trailer. They show up to races, trails, parks and other relevant areas.
-Knife sharpener: In the neighborhood where I grew up, there was a guy that walked through with a cart, ringing a bell to signal his presence. He did this a couple times or so a year. He was known to do a really good job and his service was extremely popular.