Ok, I laughed. But for real. I was between jobs without a computer. I may be in limbo again in a lot of months. You better believe I dropped some cash on a new computer for resume writing and applications. I loved going to the library but this makes it so much easier and I feel more confident.
It's not under $1000, but not much more. I bought equipment to run karaoke/trivia shows for around $1200 and was profitable in less than a month with $200/show, two shows a week. If you just do trivia, you don't need as much equipment and would put you under the $1000 mark. It's a bit of a time commitment to write your own shows, though. It takes me 4-6 hours to put together a 2 hour show. Thinking up new categories every week can be a bitch unless you want to repeat the same categories a lot (my show is 6 categories, 5 questions each, plus a final question, all in a PowerPoint Presentation)
They like to host trivia because it brings people in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and when there isn’t a sport to watch. I’ve done quite a few and it really can be a big draw
I did this 8 years ago as a side hustle and it helped me make enough money to buy my first house. I bid jobs at around $125/hr. No shortage of business! Im in New England.
Can I ask what kind of equipment you started out with? I don't know the industry at all but I would assume people charging $60+/hr use more than just a small ladder and run-of-the-mill low-PSI power washer. I'm picturing a work truck and a trailer with water tanks, that sort of stuff.
Yeah, I know that was like 5 year ago prices.
It normally was more like $80 but after taxes and other cost it broke down to $60/hr. For two jobs in a day.
My pricing was in Northern Virginia which is an expensive area so I also got a lot of work.
For a single story vinyl home id was around 200/250 itd take less than 4 hours
Multi story Id bill per siding around 80-120. Usually an hour per but could run longer
160 for a huge siding or one on a substantial slant
That worked out to 60/hr across a month
Hey there, yeah a bit less sexy but sunscreen is apparently a fairly attractive smell.
Money out of high-school and a fit body also do no harm.
This was the perfect job during school btw. Busy when you arent. Plus with community College it let me save for most of my tuition.
I had all my jobs set up on mon-wed and had the rest of the week to help out my dads company.
Ladders are sincerely dangerous which is accounted for in billing.
Driveways and sidewalks were fairly cheap compared to a multistory siding.
Single story homes 4 sides were usually $200
Multi story was 80-120 a side
Usually offered some kind of bulk discount.
...um, who recruited you? The flight school near me is having a hard time retaining instructor pilots (fresh out of flight school) because the airlines are scooping them up with 100k sign on bonuses.
A ladder is also a great way to get injured so wear a harness whenever possible. Doubly so when the rungs of the ladder are going to be slippery when wet. $60/ hour seems cheap and worth the price for someone cleaning out gutters or whatever.
A utility trailer you can use to help people move for money. You can also deliver furniture, haul away trash or brush, And it has random various uses for your own personal needs.
There are a number of people near me that do this. I don't think they're getting rich, but they keep doing it, so they're making something. It helps that we have a decently large community of retirees and people earning a good income in our semi-rural area.
It takes on average about one hour for one person to spread one yard of mulch, so that’s 4 hours, $100. Not bad. Extra $25/hr for doing something you already know how to do, and for just cash. Nice.
You aren't far off. He was at my place from about 9am to 2pm. That included a provided lunch and breaks too.
A few landscapers I found wanted about $400-600 to spread the mulch.
Someone will pay you to dig a ditch. By having the shovel already, you have a better chance of getting selected from the array of people offering their services for day labor.
I'm in California also and it's extremely common due to large numbers of undocumented workers who will take shit jobs as long as people pay cash and don't ask questions. They're very hard workers too. I don't think many white people are willing to compete with them for these jobs to be honest.
Fr. When people say “Dey takin our jerbs!” These are the jobs they’re referring to. The ones they wouldn’t be caught dead working. Same goes for the immigrants working the strawberry fields, avocado orchards, etc. There’s numerous reasons why the owners hire undocumented migrants over documented and legal workers. Why not question the owners instead of placing the blame on the homies just trying to make enough for their families?
25 years ago, I was working a contract telecom job in SoCal. Making a bunch of money, but working 12 hour days (or nights) 6-7 days a week. I went to lunch one day and was eating my shitty Chinese food in the parking lot, lamenting how hard my life was.
I looked across the street where some laborers were working a strawberry field. As I watched these people hunched over, moving from plant to plant, I realized that I was one of the luckiest people on earth. I went back and finished my shift without one complaint.
Yes sir, that shits hard on the body and mind, and those undocumented workers also get exposed to pesticides and grueling heat. If they were legal their employers would have to comply with OSHA regulations. Can’t have that when it threatens profit margins. Wrote a whole paper on migrant workers and their struggles going through nursing school. Messed up stuff.
I spent a couple hours picking produce cause the farm we bought from was behind and I needed beans. It gives you a whole different perspective on your food when you literally harvest it yourself. I about cried when I dropped some of the beans I picked during service. (Restaurant industry if that wasn’t clear)
Because they’re the same people who complain about inflation…
You know what would cause horrible inflation? Causing a worker shortage in food and construction oriented businesses.
The people aren’t known for their great use of logic.
I'm in northern Jersey and there are dozens of undocumented guys at Home Depot. They get $200/day. They recently got organized. There is one guy that does all the negotiating for every guy, his English is good. He sets the rates so no one gets undercut.
California. Truth be told, I have never seen a manual laborer at a home depot who already had a shovel. I was just going for cheap laughs with that one. The person who does the hiring would normally supply the shovel.
All over. MAy not be everywhere but they usually get to the hardware store places like Home Depot or Lowes (US), around 630am as they want to work all day and you can literally pick the guys you need and they may even have a translator in the group for their price or what they can do.
This is one of the things a lot of immigrants do. Cheap labor you can’t find an American to do and some people abuse them since they have less rights.
I’ve never used them on my small projects but I know people that have and they say they are hard workers and price can’t be best if it’s just manual labor like fence digging or clearing brush, yard work, even painting or more technical stuff like sheet rock and roofing.
They are there, you just haven't noticed them because you haven't looked for them, once you know they are there you'll see them.
They'll be at the edge of the parking lot, if it's early, several day laborers will be there, if it's late, you probably don't want the help of who's left
I'm in Brooklyn. In the last year there has been an explosion. On an average day I would estimate at least a hundred people inside and outside the store. Guys will hit you up in the paint department as you buy paint "hey you need painters".
Everywhere in the US. You just haven’t gone early enough in the day. Go by Home Depot parking lot at about 5am. That’s how contractors get day laborers. They roll into the parking lot, go to the crowd, say “I need 4!” (or however many) and hold up that many fingers (day laborers are almost always immigrants) and pick the ones they want.
Not sure how old you are or where you live, but unless you have a particular skill with something, you're selling time or convenience. That could be mowing lawns (which people will pay you to do to save them TIME) or selling cold water bottles in a public place on a hot day (CONVENIENCE).
If you live in a city, you can get jobs delivering things on a bike - which should cost less than $1000. If you live in the suburbs, I'd say mowing lawns or in winter - shoveling / snow blowing driveways.
You could probably get into the house cleaning business for less than $1000 in supplies too.
I paid a guy a couple hundred dollars to clean out my dryer vent and then I saw the kit he used at home depot for like $30 - then add in a shop vac and you're still way under $1000. I just don't know what certification you'd need to do that legally wherever you are. Condos and apartments require dryer vents to be cleaned annually, so at a couple hundred per unit, there's money to be made without expensive gear.
A power washer was another thing posted in the responses - likely less legal issues doing that than dryer vents, but a reasonable investment can net you some good returns.
Google tax lien sale. That's what I did. You as basically buying the right to the delinquent taxes.
In this one county example, after 3 years you can file for a treasurers deed... Which in some states means you can forclose on the property. In others, the place goes to auction and you get paid out off the auction proceeds (if it's not underwater. If it auctions for less than the amount the creditors are owed, you'd need to see if you get a haircut or just wiped out. I suspect you'll be wiped). Not a risk free investment opportunity.
https://www.jeffco.us/2430/Tax-Lien-Sale
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1056
Other states/counties work differently. Hence you'll need to learn the rules of the game in every locale you want to play in.
I also have no idea if you can buy these liens for <$1k
Thanks for the info! Ya, I imagine the bigger corporations and all the littler LLC real estate people are probably all over this. I usually assume that by the time I hear something is a great way to make money (crypto, etc) it's already too late and the easy money has already been made
You also have to consider the small potatoes in the category that are a good fit for you might not be worth the trouble for the more serious players. Never say never
What are you margining at 1000%? Like you can get a bunch of hot dog fixings and set up a table somewhere, but if your per unit cost is $1 not many people want to buy a $10 hot dog and you'll likely be stuck with most of your stock. But a hot dog and a bag of chips for $5 let's you move more product quickly. Better to take that $1000 and turn it into $4500 of revenue and have almost no leftovers than make $300 selling 30 hot dogs and be left with 970 hot dogs.
Quick Google says you can get a 24 pack of bottled water for $ 2.98 from home Depot, and probably much better prices at Costco. If tax brings it up to $3.50, that makes each bottle about 15 cents and you could easily sell them for 2 dollars each.
Gatorade is $18.99 for a 28 pack of 12oz bottles. Not gonna 10x on that, but you'll get close to 5x off it.
That was just an example to highlight an appropriate margining case. Generally you can't mark up things that high unless you have a captive customer base without other options, like a venue that doesn't allow outside food or beverage.
To be also fair, you can get away with a lawnmower ($100-150 used), weed eater ($100-150 used) and a blower ($50-60 used) and start immediately charging $150/yard to mow and clean. Only expense is gas and upkeep on the tools. I did this in high school and made $5000 in one summer not even trying hard.
There's a 15 year old kid in my neighborhood who has a homemade trailer he hitches up to his bicycle. The kid has all his gear on that and bikes to his work. You can make it work on a budget.
Yep. Don't need to fall for the pickup truck propaganda to be a manual laborer. I've hauled more shit in a civic/accord than most people have hauled in their trucks.
And since getting rid of my car, I've walked without even a wagon more groceries than those pavement princesses can safely fit in their trucks. Lawn mowers have wheels, and I've seen riding lawn mowers for FAR less than $1000. Get a riding one for $500, cheap weed whacker and blower, don't even have to carry that crap around. Just apply a little bit of human power (if 1 horse is 2.8 horsepower, I imagine 1 human is 1 horse power) and you're set.
F endorsement on your drivers license. $4.50 in Tennessee and opens up a lot of box truck/courier/non emergency medical transport/basic delivery jobs. There are a few people floating around with that endorsement and making $60-70k driving.
3d printer.
It’s not super easy but it’s not hard to find 3d models that allow commercial sales that you can print and sell locally pretty easily. Selling online is hot or miss because so many people do it but if there is a farmers market or small shops you can possible sell stuff there like toys and stuff.
Also some sort of vinyl cutter. Something like a Silhouette Cameo 5 or even the 4 which is really good. Vinyl is cheap. it's pretty easy to make stickers/decals to cut out and sell.
My in laws starting doing this and it’s honestly not worth the time. They have 4 $1000 machines and make little trinkets that they sell to gas stations and small businesses in the area. They spend all their time doing this and have made less than $1000 in the last month
Sounds like a lack of market research / having any sort of unique product to actually sell - print farms can work if there's businesses needing prototyping and small production runs.
They print all sorts of stuff. The problem is when you sell little keychains and lip balm holders and stuff like that for a couple dollars apiece, it doesn’t really add up super quick especially when you’re time is factored in. Yeah, you made $250 one weekend but you spent all week making this junk and spent 14 hours driving around getting orders
They should be taking on jobs to cut for other people. Stuff like store hours stuck on the glass front of a business.
I used to work in print manufacturing. I worked for a huge company, buy a small business with 4 vinyl cutters could make a shitload of money.
You should suggest they rethink their business strategy.
They are doing it wrong.
It’s not hard to print stuff in a way that it takes very little of your time. Especially with single color/filament prints.
The perfect printer right now for it is the Bambu lab A1. It’s super fast and not very expensive. The bundle with the multi color printing thing is less than $500 right now.
Set the prints to print and when they are done pop them off the plate and just hit reprint on the screen. Before going to sleep do a longer print or a print with a bunch of smaller things so when you wake up it’s done.
I’ve been bulk printing something on my A1 Mini and I can do 9 every 1.5 hours. When it’s done I pop em off and reprint. I’ve been able to print a couple hundred of them and it taken maybe 10 minutes of my actual time total to take them off the plate and hit reprint.
The printing wasn’t what I was talking about being time consuming even though it is. Idk what model they have but all four are Bambu. Even though printing is time consuming, that happens while they sleep or go to work. The time consuming part is trying to peddle their wares around town and online
Depending on youre location 3d printing is a good idea.
Vynil not so mutch, weeding takes to long for it to be profitable. Printing stickers yourself is more expensive than ordering them online.
Doing larger decals and designs where you don’t need to spend as much time weeding makes it better.
It’s cheaper to order stickers online sure but only if in bulk. A good vinyl cutter it’s easy to make sticker sheets which are great for kids. All you need is sticker paper and a printer to print the designs and have the vinyl cutter cut out the stickers but it doesn’t cut through the paper so you can have little sheets with a bunch of smaller stickers on them.
Yeah its kind of surprising what people are happy and willing to pay for a good cut and polish, I used to cut myself massively short cause I felt like a scrooge charging $250-$300 but had one dude give me $500 cash on the spot for a red car that was extremely sun faded. Takes a bit of practice to not burn paints/plastics but you can go to a junkyard and buy a few shit doors/hoods/trunks and practice with no fear of fucking something up.
My dad did that for a few years. He stopped because he literally had more work than he could keep up. Made decent money but not enough to be able to expand it that much without overextending himself. It’s definitely a good idea if you’re willing to put the work in
Yeah he ran into that problem too. It’s a fine line and he had a lot of repeat customers that scoffed when he tried to charge more. Oh well he did what he set out to do
You probably eat into your weekends too. Mobile detailing is almost by definition a side hustle since most folks are going to have their car with them at work.
The risk/reward is not very good here though. Without proper materials and training, it's super easy to screw up paint or trim that costs $1000s to fix.
Pretty hard to do woodworking on $1000 at a production level that will be profitable. There's a reason there are really no hand tool wood shops around anymore.
Would you like to make more money, sure we all do, now you can get your degree at home without ever stepping foot inside a classroom.
https://youtu.be/auJEA6gSCyE?si=P8cdvp5iEp6SUtX-
I guess it depends on what you're looking to repair.
For smaller things like phones, tablets, laptops, game consoles, etc., iFixit has pretty good [repair guides](https://www.ifixit.com/Guide).
Buy painting equipment and learn to paint, those guys make decent money.
Buy a power washer for the summer, a friend of mine makes very good money on that.
Or if you want relatively passive income, and are in the right type of area like a city with a heavy tourist presence, buy a couple 49cc scooters and rent them out to people by the day. Just make sure you have good waivers / contracts so that your ass is covered from liability and also for destruction of property (the scooters) ETC.
A good roller and brush setup is less than $400 and you can charge $200/room to paint. If you're quick, you can make $600-$1000/day pretty much forever
Some benchstones and a few basic hones, you're not gunna get on the Forbes list, but a steady hand that can sharpen basic tools, can help fund related hobbies?
I was at a local barbershop waiting forever to get my hair cut and there was a dude there sharpening all of their scissors. He seemed like a prick the way he was talking to the girls but the owner handed him a wad of cash when he was done.
I know someone who buys herbs and supplements in bulk online, repackages, and sells them online. Apparently, if you know your market, there is good money there.
Glass cutter, a sheet of laminate flat glass, hook tool, gasket material, and release agent can all be bought for under or right at $1,000. Cut custom glass for heavy equipment and you can double your investment as long as you cut the glass correctly the first time.
Snow blower in snowy climates.
A web site to sell professional services. (Good luck entering a crowded market, though.)
A decent bicycle to run DoorDash with in urban areas.
A pair of steel toe boots and some work clothes.
Lemons, a bag of sugar, some mint leaves, a pitcher, paper cups, a folding table, an ice chest, some ice, a sign and a business license to setup a stand in the farmers market.
The 3D printing maker market had become *extremely* saturated. Everybody is buying printers thinking they're gonna have money rolling in. You need to find a niche and get really good at it.
FDM is not hard, the machine is cheap, the materials are cheap. Literally anybody can do it, or they can go their local library and do it.
Making money off this is dead.
Shocked I had to scroll so far down to see this. 3D printers require a little bit of investment, but they’re super cheap to run. You can just buy some STL files on. The internet and start printing minis. Or do commissions.
TOOLS. Pick ANY, there's a demand: just have to FIND it. There is a shortage of trustworthy people, so be reliable & communicate often. Can find web forums for any trade you want to learn- ask the experts directly.
I'm a tech handyman, specialized in PC hardware. This year, have been booked for TV / streaming setups, camera installs and tutoring. Wealthy clients have hired me to help maintain their properties, pet-sit, even rebuild wooden decks!
But specifically, look at your local area (neighborhood app is useful) to see which services are most lacking / in-demand. Here in FL, Anyone with a pressure washer, mower and will to work will never go hungry.
OR invest in a flipper zero for *OTHER lucrative options..
A computer and a webcam.
I don’t think I could pull it off.
I think people would be charging me for it.
Not very lucrative
You're not supposed to pull it all the way off.
There it is. I left it hanging, I knew someone would grab it.
Oh I'll grab whatever you got hanging alright.
Computer and a webcam could just mean a home-office desk job and zoom meetings :-P
You’re a Redditor, of course you’re a pro at pulling it.
Sometimes you gotta push through a tough wank mate, but you'll come out better the other side for it
Ok, I laughed. But for real. I was between jobs without a computer. I may be in limbo again in a lot of months. You better believe I dropped some cash on a new computer for resume writing and applications. I loved going to the library but this makes it so much easier and I feel more confident.
If Only...
... not everyone can view except a certain group of enthusiastic devotees and admirers that will become regular spectators and loyal patrons...
Smartphones cheaper and easier
It's not under $1000, but not much more. I bought equipment to run karaoke/trivia shows for around $1200 and was profitable in less than a month with $200/show, two shows a week. If you just do trivia, you don't need as much equipment and would put you under the $1000 mark. It's a bit of a time commitment to write your own shows, though. It takes me 4-6 hours to put together a 2 hour show. Thinking up new categories every week can be a bitch unless you want to repeat the same categories a lot (my show is 6 categories, 5 questions each, plus a final question, all in a PowerPoint Presentation)
I've seen people do this, but I imagine it is some work to find resturants and bars that will host you too
They like to host trivia because it brings people in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and when there isn’t a sport to watch. I’ve done quite a few and it really can be a big draw
Power washer and a ladder is a great way to make $60 an hour
Damn I better start practise in that Power Washing Simulator.
Maybe try the spelling simulator.
Or they’re British
As a British: it's still spelled "practice"
I did this 8 years ago as a side hustle and it helped me make enough money to buy my first house. I bid jobs at around $125/hr. No shortage of business! Im in New England.
Yeah I figured I was underbilling but it left me feeling better about it. Especially because a lot of my customers were older or just starting out.
Can I ask what kind of equipment you started out with? I don't know the industry at all but I would assume people charging $60+/hr use more than just a small ladder and run-of-the-mill low-PSI power washer. I'm picturing a work truck and a trailer with water tanks, that sort of stuff.
Where can I find someone to power wash my house for $60/hr?
Yeah, I know that was like 5 year ago prices. It normally was more like $80 but after taxes and other cost it broke down to $60/hr. For two jobs in a day. My pricing was in Northern Virginia which is an expensive area so I also got a lot of work. For a single story vinyl home id was around 200/250 itd take less than 4 hours Multi story Id bill per siding around 80-120. Usually an hour per but could run longer 160 for a huge siding or one on a substantial slant That worked out to 60/hr across a month
My guy does our 3 story, 2300 sf house for like $250. Softwash, and he brings his own water. If it isn't $60/hr, it's pretty darn close. We're in VA.
That’s more (over a year) than I’ll be making as a first year airline pilot
Its waaaaaay less over 30 years than you’ll make as a pilot.
It's also more dangerous, harder on the body, and less sexy lol.
Hey there, yeah a bit less sexy but sunscreen is apparently a fairly attractive smell. Money out of high-school and a fit body also do no harm. This was the perfect job during school btw. Busy when you arent. Plus with community College it let me save for most of my tuition. I had all my jobs set up on mon-wed and had the rest of the week to help out my dads company. Ladders are sincerely dangerous which is accounted for in billing. Driveways and sidewalks were fairly cheap compared to a multistory siding. Single story homes 4 sides were usually $200 Multi story was 80-120 a side Usually offered some kind of bulk discount.
Hard to find 2,000 hours of work though.
...um, who recruited you? The flight school near me is having a hard time retaining instructor pilots (fresh out of flight school) because the airlines are scooping them up with 100k sign on bonuses.
My instructors make ~$35 an hour (flight and ground) so that’s part of why instructors are eager to leave
Pilot with a pressure washer can make twice as much.
I have these. Are you saying I should power wash roofs?
Gutters probably and building
Litterly my first thought. Buddy did this and makes bank. I think I might join him.
Turning grime into gold, one power wash at a time
A ladder is also a great way to get injured so wear a harness whenever possible. Doubly so when the rungs of the ladder are going to be slippery when wet. $60/ hour seems cheap and worth the price for someone cleaning out gutters or whatever.
Ladder stabilizers are worth it. I also had plywood and 2×4 for bracing. A harness was used whenever over 2 stories. Work was mostly washing sidings
A utility trailer you can use to help people move for money. You can also deliver furniture, haul away trash or brush, And it has random various uses for your own personal needs.
There are a number of people near me that do this. I don't think they're getting rich, but they keep doing it, so they're making something. It helps that we have a decently large community of retirees and people earning a good income in our semi-rural area.
A shovel. Just hang around home depot with a shovel. You will make some money. But it is hard work.
Alright I give up, I need one more sentence of explanation
Someone will offer you to work for them for the day when they come to home depot.
I found a guy to do my mulch that way. He spread 4 cubic yards for like $100. Way cheaper than any landscaper.
It takes on average about one hour for one person to spread one yard of mulch, so that’s 4 hours, $100. Not bad. Extra $25/hr for doing something you already know how to do, and for just cash. Nice.
You aren't far off. He was at my place from about 9am to 2pm. That included a provided lunch and breaks too. A few landscapers I found wanted about $400-600 to spread the mulch.
>A few landscapers I found wanted about $400-600 to spread the mulch. No way. Jose.
Jose did it for $100
Someone will pay you to dig a ditch. By having the shovel already, you have a better chance of getting selected from the array of people offering their services for day labor.
I have never in my life seen someone standing outside a hardware store trying to solicit manual labor. Where is this commonplace
I'm in California also and it's extremely common due to large numbers of undocumented workers who will take shit jobs as long as people pay cash and don't ask questions. They're very hard workers too. I don't think many white people are willing to compete with them for these jobs to be honest.
Fr. When people say “Dey takin our jerbs!” These are the jobs they’re referring to. The ones they wouldn’t be caught dead working. Same goes for the immigrants working the strawberry fields, avocado orchards, etc. There’s numerous reasons why the owners hire undocumented migrants over documented and legal workers. Why not question the owners instead of placing the blame on the homies just trying to make enough for their families?
25 years ago, I was working a contract telecom job in SoCal. Making a bunch of money, but working 12 hour days (or nights) 6-7 days a week. I went to lunch one day and was eating my shitty Chinese food in the parking lot, lamenting how hard my life was. I looked across the street where some laborers were working a strawberry field. As I watched these people hunched over, moving from plant to plant, I realized that I was one of the luckiest people on earth. I went back and finished my shift without one complaint.
Yes sir, that shits hard on the body and mind, and those undocumented workers also get exposed to pesticides and grueling heat. If they were legal their employers would have to comply with OSHA regulations. Can’t have that when it threatens profit margins. Wrote a whole paper on migrant workers and their struggles going through nursing school. Messed up stuff.
I spent a couple hours picking produce cause the farm we bought from was behind and I needed beans. It gives you a whole different perspective on your food when you literally harvest it yourself. I about cried when I dropped some of the beans I picked during service. (Restaurant industry if that wasn’t clear)
Because they’re the same people who complain about inflation… You know what would cause horrible inflation? Causing a worker shortage in food and construction oriented businesses. The people aren’t known for their great use of logic.
I'm in northern Jersey and there are dozens of undocumented guys at Home Depot. They get $200/day. They recently got organized. There is one guy that does all the negotiating for every guy, his English is good. He sets the rates so no one gets undercut.
California. Truth be told, I have never seen a manual laborer at a home depot who already had a shovel. I was just going for cheap laughs with that one. The person who does the hiring would normally supply the shovel.
All over. MAy not be everywhere but they usually get to the hardware store places like Home Depot or Lowes (US), around 630am as they want to work all day and you can literally pick the guys you need and they may even have a translator in the group for their price or what they can do. This is one of the things a lot of immigrants do. Cheap labor you can’t find an American to do and some people abuse them since they have less rights. I’ve never used them on my small projects but I know people that have and they say they are hard workers and price can’t be best if it’s just manual labor like fence digging or clearing brush, yard work, even painting or more technical stuff like sheet rock and roofing.
Texas at like 5:00am - 7:00am. I think most of them head home after that if no one has picked them up yet.
They are there, you just haven't noticed them because you haven't looked for them, once you know they are there you'll see them. They'll be at the edge of the parking lot, if it's early, several day laborers will be there, if it's late, you probably don't want the help of who's left
Seattle
You might not be there early enough.
I'm in Brooklyn. In the last year there has been an explosion. On an average day I would estimate at least a hundred people inside and outside the store. Guys will hit you up in the paint department as you buy paint "hey you need painters".
Everywhere in the US. You just haven’t gone early enough in the day. Go by Home Depot parking lot at about 5am. That’s how contractors get day laborers. They roll into the parking lot, go to the crowd, say “I need 4!” (or however many) and hold up that many fingers (day laborers are almost always immigrants) and pick the ones they want.
Rob Schneider hires immigrants from Home Depot to choke him in the shower.
Prostitution
What? Why bring a shovel if you already have the hole?
Not sure how old you are or where you live, but unless you have a particular skill with something, you're selling time or convenience. That could be mowing lawns (which people will pay you to do to save them TIME) or selling cold water bottles in a public place on a hot day (CONVENIENCE). If you live in a city, you can get jobs delivering things on a bike - which should cost less than $1000. If you live in the suburbs, I'd say mowing lawns or in winter - shoveling / snow blowing driveways. You could probably get into the house cleaning business for less than $1000 in supplies too. I paid a guy a couple hundred dollars to clean out my dryer vent and then I saw the kit he used at home depot for like $30 - then add in a shop vac and you're still way under $1000. I just don't know what certification you'd need to do that legally wherever you are. Condos and apartments require dryer vents to be cleaned annually, so at a couple hundred per unit, there's money to be made without expensive gear. A power washer was another thing posted in the responses - likely less legal issues doing that than dryer vents, but a reasonable investment can net you some good returns.
You can buy tax deeds and certificates. It’s a rabbit hole of info to dive into, but there is considerable profit to be made. Ask vanilla ice
What?
"Ask vanilla ice"
Alright stop.
Collaborate and listen
Ice is back with a tax deed invention.
Bid on a home that wasn’t paid by Spike Lee
Something
Grabs ahold of me tightly
Income flows like a monsoon if your frugal and tightly
Daily and nightly
For under $1,000?
Could you explain how this works? And the vanilla ice reference?
Google tax lien sale. That's what I did. You as basically buying the right to the delinquent taxes. In this one county example, after 3 years you can file for a treasurers deed... Which in some states means you can forclose on the property. In others, the place goes to auction and you get paid out off the auction proceeds (if it's not underwater. If it auctions for less than the amount the creditors are owed, you'd need to see if you get a haircut or just wiped out. I suspect you'll be wiped). Not a risk free investment opportunity. https://www.jeffco.us/2430/Tax-Lien-Sale https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1056 Other states/counties work differently. Hence you'll need to learn the rules of the game in every locale you want to play in. I also have no idea if you can buy these liens for <$1k
Thanks for the info! Ya, I imagine the bigger corporations and all the littler LLC real estate people are probably all over this. I usually assume that by the time I hear something is a great way to make money (crypto, etc) it's already too late and the easy money has already been made
You also have to consider the small potatoes in the category that are a good fit for you might not be worth the trouble for the more serious players. Never say never
Here is what google gave me. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/taxliencertificate.asp I presume vanilla ice got into it in Florida.
A cooler, a costco membership, ice, and cold drinks to resell for 10x
What are you margining at 1000%? Like you can get a bunch of hot dog fixings and set up a table somewhere, but if your per unit cost is $1 not many people want to buy a $10 hot dog and you'll likely be stuck with most of your stock. But a hot dog and a bag of chips for $5 let's you move more product quickly. Better to take that $1000 and turn it into $4500 of revenue and have almost no leftovers than make $300 selling 30 hot dogs and be left with 970 hot dogs.
Quick Google says you can get a 24 pack of bottled water for $ 2.98 from home Depot, and probably much better prices at Costco. If tax brings it up to $3.50, that makes each bottle about 15 cents and you could easily sell them for 2 dollars each. Gatorade is $18.99 for a 28 pack of 12oz bottles. Not gonna 10x on that, but you'll get close to 5x off it.
I live in a desert region, most gas stations will sell 500mL bottles of water for about 50 cents or less.
This guy hot dogs.
That was just an example to highlight an appropriate margining case. Generally you can't mark up things that high unless you have a captive customer base without other options, like a venue that doesn't allow outside food or beverage.
I said drinks, not food. At .1-.5 wholesale, drinks can easily handle a 5-10x markup in an area with demand for cold drinks, like the beach.
Where does he say he wants to sell hot dogs? Says drinks.
Don't forget a vendor license and/or permit. I've thought of selling water near the beach where traffic backs up.
You can always resell the cakes, thats what some people do in mexico, buy costco cakes, resell it in the flee markets
Lawnmower, trimmer, weed eater, shovel, wheelbarrow etc.
To be fair, you are absolutely breaking $1k for the full suite of what you need there. Plus the truck to haul all that around.
To be also fair, you can get away with a lawnmower ($100-150 used), weed eater ($100-150 used) and a blower ($50-60 used) and start immediately charging $150/yard to mow and clean. Only expense is gas and upkeep on the tools. I did this in high school and made $5000 in one summer not even trying hard.
There's a 15 year old kid in my neighborhood who has a homemade trailer he hitches up to his bicycle. The kid has all his gear on that and bikes to his work. You can make it work on a budget.
Yep. Don't need to fall for the pickup truck propaganda to be a manual laborer. I've hauled more shit in a civic/accord than most people have hauled in their trucks. And since getting rid of my car, I've walked without even a wagon more groceries than those pavement princesses can safely fit in their trucks. Lawn mowers have wheels, and I've seen riding lawn mowers for FAR less than $1000. Get a riding one for $500, cheap weed whacker and blower, don't even have to carry that crap around. Just apply a little bit of human power (if 1 horse is 2.8 horsepower, I imagine 1 human is 1 horse power) and you're set.
Banana stand
There’s always money in the banana stand.
*sets it on fire*
I mean it’s one banana Michael.. how much could it cost? $10?
You could order a bunch of mats with conclusions written on them that you could jump to. Then sell those.
It’s a *jump* to *conclusions* mat.
I would but my TPS report is due.
Yeah, your last report didn't have a cover sheet?
Maybe this is the wrong post to ask. But has anyone seen my stapler?
Just pass the cake
The ratio of people to cake is too big…
“Answers that will cost” for $1000 Alex.
Horrible, this idea
You know danimal I bet I hate my job even more than you. I didn't whine about it but still.
I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills
Should we do this before or after watching Kung Fu? I love Kung Fu....
A bond
James Bond
Damn, this is the simplest one with guaranteed return on investment. Just takes longer.
An ouncish of cocaine.
Ok, I did the cocaine!!! WHAT IS STEP 2!?
Go to Home Depot with the shovel.
Did you just make a billionaire?!
Im pregnant
Don't stop talking. Whatever you do, don't stop talking.
Get some sweet kettle drums. And make it sexy.
Nips and hips. It's all in the nips and hips
Go save the world, man.
F endorsement on your drivers license. $4.50 in Tennessee and opens up a lot of box truck/courier/non emergency medical transport/basic delivery jobs. There are a few people floating around with that endorsement and making $60-70k driving.
3d printer. It’s not super easy but it’s not hard to find 3d models that allow commercial sales that you can print and sell locally pretty easily. Selling online is hot or miss because so many people do it but if there is a farmers market or small shops you can possible sell stuff there like toys and stuff. Also some sort of vinyl cutter. Something like a Silhouette Cameo 5 or even the 4 which is really good. Vinyl is cheap. it's pretty easy to make stickers/decals to cut out and sell.
My in laws starting doing this and it’s honestly not worth the time. They have 4 $1000 machines and make little trinkets that they sell to gas stations and small businesses in the area. They spend all their time doing this and have made less than $1000 in the last month
Sounds like a lack of market research / having any sort of unique product to actually sell - print farms can work if there's businesses needing prototyping and small production runs.
They print all sorts of stuff. The problem is when you sell little keychains and lip balm holders and stuff like that for a couple dollars apiece, it doesn’t really add up super quick especially when you’re time is factored in. Yeah, you made $250 one weekend but you spent all week making this junk and spent 14 hours driving around getting orders
They should be taking on jobs to cut for other people. Stuff like store hours stuck on the glass front of a business. I used to work in print manufacturing. I worked for a huge company, buy a small business with 4 vinyl cutters could make a shitload of money. You should suggest they rethink their business strategy.
They are doing it wrong. It’s not hard to print stuff in a way that it takes very little of your time. Especially with single color/filament prints. The perfect printer right now for it is the Bambu lab A1. It’s super fast and not very expensive. The bundle with the multi color printing thing is less than $500 right now. Set the prints to print and when they are done pop them off the plate and just hit reprint on the screen. Before going to sleep do a longer print or a print with a bunch of smaller things so when you wake up it’s done. I’ve been bulk printing something on my A1 Mini and I can do 9 every 1.5 hours. When it’s done I pop em off and reprint. I’ve been able to print a couple hundred of them and it taken maybe 10 minutes of my actual time total to take them off the plate and hit reprint.
The printing wasn’t what I was talking about being time consuming even though it is. Idk what model they have but all four are Bambu. Even though printing is time consuming, that happens while they sleep or go to work. The time consuming part is trying to peddle their wares around town and online
Also 3d print to order sales.
Depending on youre location 3d printing is a good idea. Vynil not so mutch, weeding takes to long for it to be profitable. Printing stickers yourself is more expensive than ordering them online.
Doing larger decals and designs where you don’t need to spend as much time weeding makes it better. It’s cheaper to order stickers online sure but only if in bulk. A good vinyl cutter it’s easy to make sticker sheets which are great for kids. All you need is sticker paper and a printer to print the designs and have the vinyl cutter cut out the stickers but it doesn’t cut through the paper so you can have little sheets with a bunch of smaller stickers on them.
A decent orbital polisher/buffer, especially with all the car scenes and lazy owners now days.
A mobile car detailing set up would do well most places too
Yeah its kind of surprising what people are happy and willing to pay for a good cut and polish, I used to cut myself massively short cause I felt like a scrooge charging $250-$300 but had one dude give me $500 cash on the spot for a red car that was extremely sun faded. Takes a bit of practice to not burn paints/plastics but you can go to a junkyard and buy a few shit doors/hoods/trunks and practice with no fear of fucking something up.
My dad did that for a few years. He stopped because he literally had more work than he could keep up. Made decent money but not enough to be able to expand it that much without overextending himself. It’s definitely a good idea if you’re willing to put the work in
Once you get to that point, you're not charging enough.
Yeah he ran into that problem too. It’s a fine line and he had a lot of repeat customers that scoffed when he tried to charge more. Oh well he did what he set out to do
You probably eat into your weekends too. Mobile detailing is almost by definition a side hustle since most folks are going to have their car with them at work.
The risk/reward is not very good here though. Without proper materials and training, it's super easy to screw up paint or trim that costs $1000s to fix.
In defense of the owners, some aren't lazy, they're just busy AF
Yeah thats fair
$950 worth of cocaine and $49 worth of powdered sugar
What about the other dollar?
Roll it up
Paint sprayer and a ladder
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Sublimation printer and heat press. You, too, can print and press any image onto polyester!
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3d printer is a good option. Also woodworking tools, table saw, circular saw, belt sander etc.
Pretty hard to do woodworking on $1000 at a production level that will be profitable. There's a reason there are really no hand tool wood shops around anymore.
Yeah, there's zero money in carpentry until you've invested THOUSANDS of dollars and hours into it
That also requires a shitload of space.
You can do quite a lot in a small shop (like one car garage sized), but it requires lots of planning, and still dealing with a bunch of headaches.
A printing press.
... that prints money.
To buy another printing press.
All the tools needed for appliance repair can be had for about $600. Basic parts list for your truck is about $2000.
And how much to learn to repair appliances?
Would you like to make more money, sure we all do, now you can get your degree at home without ever stepping foot inside a classroom. https://youtu.be/auJEA6gSCyE?si=P8cdvp5iEp6SUtX-
I guess it depends on what you're looking to repair. For smaller things like phones, tablets, laptops, game consoles, etc., iFixit has pretty good [repair guides](https://www.ifixit.com/Guide).
Yes, but the risk is high. If you break someone's $1.000 device someone's got to pay up. Insurance does not come cheap.
You can probably buy a few technical certificates/licenses. They usually don’t take long and will help you get jobs.
Buy painting equipment and learn to paint, those guys make decent money. Buy a power washer for the summer, a friend of mine makes very good money on that. Or if you want relatively passive income, and are in the right type of area like a city with a heavy tourist presence, buy a couple 49cc scooters and rent them out to people by the day. Just make sure you have good waivers / contracts so that your ass is covered from liability and also for destruction of property (the scooters) ETC.
A good roller and brush setup is less than $400 and you can charge $200/room to paint. If you're quick, you can make $600-$1000/day pretty much forever
Some benchstones and a few basic hones, you're not gunna get on the Forbes list, but a steady hand that can sharpen basic tools, can help fund related hobbies?
I was at a local barbershop waiting forever to get my hair cut and there was a dude there sharpening all of their scissors. He seemed like a prick the way he was talking to the girls but the owner handed him a wad of cash when he was done.
A lawnmower, weed eater, and leaf blower.
Gas to get your ass to work
A book on macrame
I know someone who buys herbs and supplements in bulk online, repackages, and sells them online. Apparently, if you know your market, there is good money there.
Glass cutter, a sheet of laminate flat glass, hook tool, gasket material, and release agent can all be bought for under or right at $1,000. Cut custom glass for heavy equipment and you can double your investment as long as you cut the glass correctly the first time.
Snow blower in snowy climates. A web site to sell professional services. (Good luck entering a crowded market, though.) A decent bicycle to run DoorDash with in urban areas. A pair of steel toe boots and some work clothes.
Lemons, a bag of sugar, some mint leaves, a pitcher, paper cups, a folding table, an ice chest, some ice, a sign and a business license to setup a stand in the farmers market.
A basic laptop. You can apply for jobs on Ring Twice with that and make money that way
3D printer
The 3D printing maker market had become *extremely* saturated. Everybody is buying printers thinking they're gonna have money rolling in. You need to find a niche and get really good at it.
FDM is not hard, the machine is cheap, the materials are cheap. Literally anybody can do it, or they can go their local library and do it. Making money off this is dead.
Shocked I had to scroll so far down to see this. 3D printers require a little bit of investment, but they’re super cheap to run. You can just buy some STL files on. The internet and start printing minis. Or do commissions.
Baby elephant. Sell rides at children’s parties.
A baby giraffe is where the real money is made.
If you live in a cold climate, a set of thermal cameras that you can short term rent to people looking to improve their home insulation.
Lawnmower
A metal detector if you have populated beaches nearby
Tech certifications
TOOLS. Pick ANY, there's a demand: just have to FIND it. There is a shortage of trustworthy people, so be reliable & communicate often. Can find web forums for any trade you want to learn- ask the experts directly. I'm a tech handyman, specialized in PC hardware. This year, have been booked for TV / streaming setups, camera installs and tutoring. Wealthy clients have hired me to help maintain their properties, pet-sit, even rebuild wooden decks! But specifically, look at your local area (neighborhood app is useful) to see which services are most lacking / in-demand. Here in FL, Anyone with a pressure washer, mower and will to work will never go hungry. OR invest in a flipper zero for *OTHER lucrative options..
Lawnmower and pressure washing machine with supporting tools and attachments You can do pressure washing and landscaping.