What is a simple but profitable small business to run? (sales, free market)

[High Altitude]

If you want to sell on Ebay, the best thing you can do for yourself is study up on how to protect yourself and not get ripped off by your buyers. It is rampant and those that don't know what they are doing will pay the price.

[CGab]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

This type of business doesn't exist, otherwise everyone would be doing it.

If you are new to business I would suggest ebay since you can work 1 hour a month or a 100 hours a month.
Ebay has everything set up already all you have to do is find the stuff to sell, list, photograph, and ship items.

If you are also new to ebay I would suggest starting with an area you have knowledge in and sell those items. For example, you wrote something about fishing supplies. If you know that space find the supplies, lures, etc at low cost then resell on ebay. You will find out that finding the stuff (at a low price) is the hard part though.

Once you learn how ebay works you can branch off into other areas, like clothes, electronics, video games, musical instruments, books, etc.

I make a few hundred every month on Ebay for a few hours of work. I highly doubt though anyone is making $20k a month on EBAY!

[sunsprit]

I think you have a profound mis-perception of what and how small businesses work or the hours/commitment that are needed to make them succeed.

There are virtually no "easy money" businesses to be found in any sector that will be cash cows from a modest investment.
Typically, few small businesses return much more than 10% on their gross sales. In the restaurant business, you'd be a superstar to do so. In the automotive business, same. You can do your research on the guidelines for many businesses on-line to see what the typical returns are for them.

But you've specified wanting to "make $20,000" per month. Work the numbers back and see what your gross sales need to be to yield that.

As others have observed on this thread, many small businesses are merely an opportunity to buy yourself a job. And for many of them, far more than a 40 hr week to keep them running and the doors open.

PS: typical franchise businesses that could yield the numbers that you want to see ... even "$6,000/month" ... require substantial up-front cash in many multiples of that projected income level AND a NET WORTH in many 7-figures multiples before you can qualify financially to be considered for the franchise. IOW, you need to demonstrate independent financial ability far in excess of what you are required to put up to get into the business. The franchisor doesn't want to see you face financial ruin if the biz isn't successful or needs more cash input than initially required to keep running for any reason.

For all the money you'd put into a typical Subway franchise, all you do is buy yourself a job paying somewhere around $mid 30,000/year. The way you really can see some numbers with this type of biz is to own multiple locations near one another, but then you're gonna' be working a lot more than 40 hrs/week, too.

PS: I've got numerous friends that have gone the "hunting/fishing' guide route, which typically supplements their "ski instructor or patrol" job in the winter months. None of them have ever made the type of money that you are seeking. At that, one that I know of in Hawaii with a $350,000 38' fishing boat and an active business for many months of the year, just makes a survival income in that high-priced tourist economy area. He typically does two trips per day/7 days per week in season ... starts at 5AM and rarely gets the boat cleaned up and put away before 8PM. Another has a seasonal fishing lodge with cabins and rental boats in Alaska ... his season is only several months each year and he works 100+ hour weeks (along with his wife and daughter) to make his income for the year. Keeping the cabins clean, maintained, and the boats/facilities maintained is hard work and then there's the catering to all the whims/needs of the "guests". He paid for his "dream" fishing lodge biz with a medical insurance settlement after an accident at a box store building supplies display fell on him. I wouldn't call any of these businesses "easy" or without significant financial risk ... nor do they come close to returning the kind of money you appear to want.

[KaraG]

OP, how much money do you have to invest and how many hours a week do you have available to work?

How many years will your wife wait before she needs to get that $6,000 a month?

My husband had a bakery for a few years, he said never ever again. Hours are brutal. If you want to eat lots of donuts, just buy them.

[turf3]

Of the cities and suburbs I'm familiar with, laundromats are rapidly disappearing except in the nastiest parts of town, as almost every rental property in nicer parts of town now comes with a washer and dryer (even if a stacked unit) or at least hook-ups for them.

So it doesn't look to me like the laundromat business is in an expansion mode, rather the opposite. Since laundromats have been around for more than 50 years, it's not likely that new markets or areas of the country will be discovered, either.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

......I hope the business can earn at least 20K a month........

How much do you have to invest? I know several people who bring in more than $20,000 a month with real estate, but they have millions of dollars invested. It is not low input and it is not low risk, and it certainly isn't simple or stress-free.

[Countess Capital]

Microbreweries are on fire right now and will be for quite some time by most economists' and business experts' observations. As the political and economic landscape of America continues to change in a particular direction "bread and circuses" are becoming more and more profitable or in other words, "give them beer..." You can actually start a microbrewery with little overhead, relatively speaking, and be profitable within several years if you do your research, and learn to brew a good beer, and don't have unreasonable expectations; that is, try go global overnight, become an instant monolithic brewery, or aspire to have your brand in every liquor store in the nation, within the first week of operation. I've known several local successful breweries that started with peanuts; $10,000, $20,000 and $30,000 and are now turning out stable revenues in the 6 figures. The city, county, state and federal laws and regulations are the big potential headaches; depending upon your state permits and licenses may cost you a dime or two. Our state only requires a $200 to $300 fee to obtain a brewer's permit but as we expand into on site "by the drink" service and distribution channels the expenses add up. You'll have to comply with a bunch of USDA and FDA regulations on sanitation and HACCP compliance and if your brewery eventually achieves a certain status you'll have to hire either an on-site microbiologist, biochemist or organic chemist or regular consultant in those fields to help you with your more complex brewing reactions(they can get expensive). A bunch of those microbreweries also expanded into restaurants and Barbecue pits instead of branding for market entry and sales expansion and they turn an excellent revenue stream. It is worth your while to research microbrewing.

[Fedupwiththis]

What you're looking for requires some major outside of the box thinking.. Buy a street sweeper and go to every strip mall in the area offering to clean their parking lots. Find apartment complexes that have 3rd and 4th floor walk up apartments, offer garbage removal from the door to the dumpster, get the management company in the loop to add it as part of the lease agreement. Get a big truck and trailer and go to farm auctions to pickup large farm equipment and sell it online, offer delivery of the item.

Having a standard retail brick and mortar type business is going to take a TON of time, and chances are you aren't going to make real money from it unless you have employees managing a few locations. My accountant told me the people she works with who make the most money the easiest in "small business" are the people who came up with weird ideas, ran with them and maybe only have 1 or 2 employees.

[calnbs]

If making money and running a business was simple,easy, and piece of cake....we all be running businesses. You are completely delusional if you think running any kind of business is simple.

[Big-Bucks]

The dry cleaning biz maybe? I know of a guy who got out of the liquor store business to open 2 cleaners. He must know something. In upscale neighborhoods the market seems to support multiple cleaners.