Stories of boring businesses making a killing!
Who knows someone with a boring business that is killing it?
The Reddit r/entrepreneur community recently posted a question:
Who knows someone with a boring business that is killing it?
I’ll pass along the same question to you (comment button below)…
But, before I do, I’ve taken the time to hand-pick the best entries from this particular Reddit thread.
Enjoy!
(NOTE: These community entries were slightly edited for readability)
💸 $3.5 million a year in net profits doing compliance paperwork for chemical companies.
The richest guy I know, with confirmed assets well over $30 million, (I've seen the statements) owns a small consulting firm which does compliance paperwork for large chemical companies.
I'm not going to get too specific because I don't want to reveal who it is, but all he does is paperwork and inspections to help large chemical companies comply with massive quantities of Federal security rules.
He grosses about $5 million a year and keeps $3.5 million of that right into his pocket. This goes on year after year.
The secret is that he's a very small firm that is billing very giant companies. He can easily send an invoice for $300,000 and that's the smallest invoice that will wind up on the controller’s desk that month. Nobody even bothers to question because it's crumbs for the major corporations that he works for, and ultimately it's just nobody's money.
He could tell you all kinds of reasons, but basically he just got hit by a freakish lightning bolt of entrepreneurial success. The guy looks like one of the main characters from “Revenge of the nerds." I doubt that he ever even got a date until he was well into his twenties.
He demonstrated admirable initiative and some bravery getting it started, but after that it's just been an unbelievable bonanza that goes on year after year. He just makes up whatever price he wants, and it doesn't matter. He has no competition. It's just a weird niche. Nobody thought of it.
This fella's life is like an episode of The Twilight Zone.
💸 $10M/year gross, selling aquariums
My brother sells Aquariums. His sales exceeded $1.5mil last month. This year will be a $10mil gross revenue year for him. I do not know his ebitda, but I know it's been quite healthy since covid.
He does a lot better than me and has no education debt, and he didn't spend 10 years of postgraduate training to get where he is. Don't worry, though. I'm going to kick him in the balls next time I see him.
💸 $10K for 8 hours of work
A friend of mine does hotel and event venue booking for very large companies. She gets commission for every room and event from the different hotels/venues. Sometimes that can mean that 8 hours of work is 10k. Pretty good money for someone without a degree.
💸 A salon which will do $500k next year
My wife is a cosmetologist and she was originally doing lashes.
2 years ago, we decided to open our own salon suite, and now we have 3 rooms with 5 girls that did $35k in November. My wife pays herself as a normal employee (40%) of the commission she brings in, then the biz itself Nets around 15%.
We plan on continuing to expand and impact more women, but I never thought that I (phone salesman) would own a hair salon that will do over $500k next year.
💸 $10 million net worth by installing residential elevators
My ex’s own father grew up picking berries in Oregon during the summer. He eventually went to work for his stepfather doing pest control and minor home renovations. He ended up started his own company doing the same.
He found an opportunity to start installing elevators, and that eventually became the entire business. He is now one of just a handful of companies licensed to install residential elevators in several CA counties.
He still works 50 hours a week and is probably worth $10-20M. Their house is really beautiful and lavish. He’s one of the most down to earth guys I’ve ever met. His affinity for fine wine is one of the few hints of his wealth.
Two of his three children have had success in their own endeavors now. One in journalism and brand storytelling - stumbled along for a while and then got a big Contract with Facebook. The other in event catering, which started in the neighborhood and now counts state departments and big organizations as clients.
💸 $5,000/week renting out land to meat companies
I’ve got a work friend who owns a big chunk of land with good soil and grass. She and her husband have big meat companies store their farm animals (bulls, sheep, goat, cows) at their land, and they charge something like 50 dollars per head per week. Usually they get around 100–200 animals.
She explained to me that, the animals usually stay at their place for 6–12 months before they go to the chopping yard. Some animals don’t get quite fat enough to go, so they extend their stays. Both work full time, good-paying jobs. Apparently, the agreement is that they only provide the land and the up keeping and animals being fed are done by the meat companies.
So essentially they do nothing but stay in their rural lifestyle section while being paid an extra income. It's a boring business and they are killing it.
Follow-up comment: Check out the YouTube channel titled ‘Greg Judy Regenerative Rancher’. It will get you excited!
This one story is from me, the Master Bear
💸 Thousands Per Month, Showing Others How to Buy Numismatics (collectible coins)
This one is very special to me — because, when I’ve bought collectible coins from APMEX over the last 10 years (oh, say, like the 2017 Tuvalu 1 oz Silver $1 Marvel Series SPIDERMAN™ BU, which I bought at $28; now it’s worth $158) I’ve always wondered…
What could it be like if a company could start a membership around collectibles which would pay out handsome commissions.
Well, in a few weeks, I’ll tell you about one such 8-year-old company that is doing just that. People I know of personally are referring their close network to this company, which helps them identify valuable coins with the potential for significant future value. Say, for instance, like the Tiffany coin from 2004, which sold for $90 then and commands over $8,000 today.
Again, more on this opportunity soon. But, feel free to comment below and/or contact me if you’re a business builder and/or want to know about this sooner.
🗨️ Questions / comments / feedback? Lay ‘em on me: