Self-employed business ideas for major American metropolitan city
May 31, 2022 6:34 PM Subscribe
If you had $20,000 to invest, what are some self-employment ideas for a major metropolitan city that don't have a particularly high barrier to entry via skill, experience, and training?
I'd like to imagine that 20K is probably enough for a variety of certifications and such for fields that aren't overcrowded, have established channels of gaining customers, and don't have particularly difficult barriers to entry. Assume a generally competent, fully physically abled, computer savvy individual.
i.e. I've helped to start a dog-walking business, that was pretty straightforward. But I'm thinking that maybe there are fields where 20K capital would help, i.e.
- Buying equipment to make ice-cream and a cart for street vending (permit situation is problematic, but not entirely prohibitive)
- Mobile deluxe knife-sharpening (There are already still a few mobile sharpeners, but with 20K you might be able to get a fancier setup, and market with that fact)
- It could be enough to rent a space and try to sublease for a variety of purposes. Acupuncture and massage would be easy to build out. Could double for physical therapy if well planned. You'd be at the mercy of the market to a great degree, but maybe that market has typical existing margins that you'd be able to shave off, maybe it just supplements other income.
- Might be enough to start a tool-rental company. Obviously earth-movers are out, but you might be able to manage moisture cleanup.
This may well be a question in really poor form for MeFi, but maybe it's actually great?
I'd like to imagine that 20K is probably enough for a variety of certifications and such for fields that aren't overcrowded, have established channels of gaining customers, and don't have particularly difficult barriers to entry. Assume a generally competent, fully physically abled, computer savvy individual.
i.e. I've helped to start a dog-walking business, that was pretty straightforward. But I'm thinking that maybe there are fields where 20K capital would help, i.e.
- Buying equipment to make ice-cream and a cart for street vending (permit situation is problematic, but not entirely prohibitive)
- Mobile deluxe knife-sharpening (There are already still a few mobile sharpeners, but with 20K you might be able to get a fancier setup, and market with that fact)
- It could be enough to rent a space and try to sublease for a variety of purposes. Acupuncture and massage would be easy to build out. Could double for physical therapy if well planned. You'd be at the mercy of the market to a great degree, but maybe that market has typical existing margins that you'd be able to shave off, maybe it just supplements other income.
- Might be enough to start a tool-rental company. Obviously earth-movers are out, but you might be able to manage moisture cleanup.
This may well be a question in really poor form for MeFi, but maybe it's actually great?
You can make good money with high-end car detailing for cars (and boats!). There are classes, but I learned enough of the technical aspects as a pandemic hobby in 4-6mos. The experience skills are the characteristics of paint between brands and models and the coatings used to protect them.
A pro-level power washer would only be $1-2K, and you could probably get started with one <$500. Don't use it for car detailing, though.
posted by rhizome at 8:03 PM on May 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
A pro-level power washer would only be $1-2K, and you could probably get started with one <$500. Don't use it for car detailing, though.
posted by rhizome at 8:03 PM on May 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
Was also going to say car detailing or power washing. I just got a quote to wash, sand, and seal my pavers that was $4500 - it’ll be two days work but that’s a lotta cash.
posted by dpx.mfx at 8:25 PM on May 31, 2022
posted by dpx.mfx at 8:25 PM on May 31, 2022
Duct/vent cleaner for central air ducts. A guy came to do ours with a shop vac and a few accessories, tools, and cleaner sprays and made over $300 in about 45 minutes (small 3 bedroom house with easy-to-reach vent covers). Play up the allergies/asthma angle in marketing (it REALLY helped us with that!) But it's not a service one gets done frequently though, so you or your technicians would have to be excellent at the job and with customers to get recommended to others, or have a good website and local SEO, because people will lose your business card by the time it's time to get their ducts clean again.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 8:56 PM on May 31, 2022
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 8:56 PM on May 31, 2022
$20k + computer experience? A lawn mowing business. That's enough to bid on city and commercial projects with year-long contracts (or more). So secret and lucrative that there's now a national company (Brightview) moving in, so independent contractors for big projects is on the way out. But you can still get in on the ground floor for now.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:23 AM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:23 AM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I would do a career with inherently interesting “before and afters” and supplement the income with simple “before and after” social media content.
There are huge accounts with millions of views on this kind of content:
- landscaping messy yards
- cleaning hoarder homes
- detailing filthy car interiors
- detangling matted human hair
- grooming neglected dogs
- professionally washing dirty carpets
The social media videos are so lucrative that the channel owners often do the most extreme gigs for free because the social media revenue is so good. A day’s work cleaning a yucky house can go on to generate $5-10k in passive income from views, plus potential sponsorships.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:39 AM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
There are huge accounts with millions of views on this kind of content:
- landscaping messy yards
- cleaning hoarder homes
- detailing filthy car interiors
- detangling matted human hair
- grooming neglected dogs
- professionally washing dirty carpets
The social media videos are so lucrative that the channel owners often do the most extreme gigs for free because the social media revenue is so good. A day’s work cleaning a yucky house can go on to generate $5-10k in passive income from views, plus potential sponsorships.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:39 AM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Powerwashing combined with gutter cleaning and/or window washing.
posted by hydra77 at 9:46 AM on June 1, 2022
posted by hydra77 at 9:46 AM on June 1, 2022
I wrote my comment this morning while I was getting my kids ready for school, so let me go into a little more depth now that I have some time.
The barriers to entry for selling insurance are trivial. You need a license, which requires passing a test, and registering for the test usually requires having taking a training course. But that's it. The course is only a few weeks, and usually fairly affordable (in my state, Google's first result was $350). Also note that if you work for an existing agency during the licensing process, they'll probably cover your costs. Very little overhead - it's probably good to have a physical office, but not necessary, and you don't need much in the office, just a cell phone and a desk with a computer and a printer. And business cards.
But then the magic happens. Usually in commission-based sales, you find a customer, make the sale, get the commission, and then find another customer. But with insurance, you don't buy new insurance every time your policy expires. Well, technically you do, but your old policy renews, so you're usually buying the same insurance as last time, over and over and over again. And your agent is getting another commission every time that policy renews. From the agent's perspective, the customer acquisition costs of this revenue are zero.
Here's the other thing about insurance: everyone needs it. If you own a car, state law requires it to be insured. If you own a house, your mortgage requires it to be insured. Leasing an apartment usually requires renter's insurance. These are not discretionary products. Meaning, the agent makes money as long as you own your house or your car. And I'm not even talking about business insurance yet, which is a lot more lucrative (but also more work).
Let's say you get 20% commissions on first-time policies, and 10% on renewals (this is probably a little high but not wildly off base). If each policy is $1,000 for a one-year term, and you sell one policy every weekday for a year, you'll make around $50,000 your first year ($260,000 * 0.2). If you sell one policy every weekday your second year, you'll make around $75,000 ($260,000 * 0.2 for the new sales, plus $260,000 * 0.1 for the renewals). And then, even if you don't sell a single policy in your third year, you'll still make around $50,000 ($520,000 * 0.1). And so on for every year after that. You'll lose some customers, of course, so you should probably keep selling. But after a few years, it's pretty common to pull back a little and go into a faux-early retirement.
It's actually pretty mystifying to me why more people don't sell insurance. For me, it's the lack of income before the first sale. I never had enough savings to pay bills until I got my first commission(s). That's what your $20k would do - essentially a rainy day fund, knowing you'll have a few months of rainy days at the beginning.
Being an insurance agent has a reputation for being kind of boring, but there are opportunities for fun. Since letting your potential customers know you exist is the hardest part of the job, you'll do a lot of marketing, which often involves sponsoring local events. So you always see insurance agent ads at high school sports games, for example, or local performing arts productions. Unlike with most self-employed careers, you can earn revenue without working, so you have a lot of time to travel, which is compounded by the fact that a lot of carriers offer vacations as a sales incentive. You have a lot of ability to align your professional life with your personal priorities.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:29 AM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
The barriers to entry for selling insurance are trivial. You need a license, which requires passing a test, and registering for the test usually requires having taking a training course. But that's it. The course is only a few weeks, and usually fairly affordable (in my state, Google's first result was $350). Also note that if you work for an existing agency during the licensing process, they'll probably cover your costs. Very little overhead - it's probably good to have a physical office, but not necessary, and you don't need much in the office, just a cell phone and a desk with a computer and a printer. And business cards.
But then the magic happens. Usually in commission-based sales, you find a customer, make the sale, get the commission, and then find another customer. But with insurance, you don't buy new insurance every time your policy expires. Well, technically you do, but your old policy renews, so you're usually buying the same insurance as last time, over and over and over again. And your agent is getting another commission every time that policy renews. From the agent's perspective, the customer acquisition costs of this revenue are zero.
Here's the other thing about insurance: everyone needs it. If you own a car, state law requires it to be insured. If you own a house, your mortgage requires it to be insured. Leasing an apartment usually requires renter's insurance. These are not discretionary products. Meaning, the agent makes money as long as you own your house or your car. And I'm not even talking about business insurance yet, which is a lot more lucrative (but also more work).
Let's say you get 20% commissions on first-time policies, and 10% on renewals (this is probably a little high but not wildly off base). If each policy is $1,000 for a one-year term, and you sell one policy every weekday for a year, you'll make around $50,000 your first year ($260,000 * 0.2). If you sell one policy every weekday your second year, you'll make around $75,000 ($260,000 * 0.2 for the new sales, plus $260,000 * 0.1 for the renewals). And then, even if you don't sell a single policy in your third year, you'll still make around $50,000 ($520,000 * 0.1). And so on for every year after that. You'll lose some customers, of course, so you should probably keep selling. But after a few years, it's pretty common to pull back a little and go into a faux-early retirement.
It's actually pretty mystifying to me why more people don't sell insurance. For me, it's the lack of income before the first sale. I never had enough savings to pay bills until I got my first commission(s). That's what your $20k would do - essentially a rainy day fund, knowing you'll have a few months of rainy days at the beginning.
Being an insurance agent has a reputation for being kind of boring, but there are opportunities for fun. Since letting your potential customers know you exist is the hardest part of the job, you'll do a lot of marketing, which often involves sponsoring local events. So you always see insurance agent ads at high school sports games, for example, or local performing arts productions. Unlike with most self-employed careers, you can earn revenue without working, so you have a lot of time to travel, which is compounded by the fact that a lot of carriers offer vacations as a sales incentive. You have a lot of ability to align your professional life with your personal priorities.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:29 AM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
More people don't sell insurance because if you are good at sales, you can sell more lucrative products (like pharmaceuticals) for less effort and 3X as much money.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:59 AM on June 2, 2022
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:59 AM on June 2, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
So, $20k would probably be more than enough to get a decent power washer and a used truck of some sort, and do some advertising.
posted by jonathanhughes at 7:08 PM on May 31, 2022 [6 favorites]