I helped a friend start a business selling high quality screw kits for R/C cars. It has become big enough he quit his day job and employs his wife and three family members.
In the past i've raised bonsi trees. If you have the room to build a nursery, it's not expensive, but it takes a while to get started. I bought potted juniper then placed in a proper pot, shaped and trained them. I advertised locally and did OK but i never would take the next step of opening a walk up location or take my trees to shows as a vendor.
I've also built fishing rods to order. This started as a hobby but morphed into a business when my legs got crushed and i could no longer do the work i'd done all my life. It's a great way to make money, but you are limited by the number of hours involved. The actual hands on amounts to three to five hours on average, but there are two steps which require a 24 hour cure of epoxy before going to the next step in production. This is a thing that is taylor made for batch production. Sell a shop their own house brand of rods then build them ten or twenty at a time. The other alternative is to hire and train help. This is really viable if you are near the coast. That's where you can pick up sets to match a boat, IGFA class sets, long range standup rigs, and other salt water tackle.
I've also designed performance parts for r/c race cars, then farmed out the manufacture to a local machine shop. Find a need in one of your hobbies and design a solution, then farm out production.
I'm currently wholesaling a specialized lubricant i have compounded in bulk to my specifications then i package it for end use and move it through an exclusive distributor.
I've also been bidding on estates, cherry picking the good stuff then dumping the rest to a couple of local flea market regulars. It takes a lot of room and you will need a way to deliver large pieces of furniture, but the money is really good.
I also build odd and one off things for people. Small windmills for power generation, custom fit dash panels, even a tracked PC carrier. I don't ask, i just build to order.
Last, i've flipped quite a few MIM J basses. It was working out real well but i think i've just about dried up the local ready supply of used MIM J basses. I thought about branching out to other types and brands, but like the monkey urinating into a cash register, that soon runs unto money so i've scaled back on that and have become satisfied with the occasional opportunity.
As for ideas, i bid on a franchise rebuilding dental drills. It was a protected territory and the buy in included tools and training. I don't know what it went for but it was over 25K. I kind of wish i'd have been more agressive with it as the retiring owner claimed he did over 120k a year (in 1988) with the business.
In the past i've raised bonsi trees. If you have the room to build a nursery, it's not expensive, but it takes a while to get started. I bought potted juniper then placed in a proper pot, shaped and trained them. I advertised locally and did OK but i never would take the next step of opening a walk up location or take my trees to shows as a vendor.
I've also built fishing rods to order. This started as a hobby but morphed into a business when my legs got crushed and i could no longer do the work i'd done all my life. It's a great way to make money, but you are limited by the number of hours involved. The actual hands on amounts to three to five hours on average, but there are two steps which require a 24 hour cure of epoxy before going to the next step in production. This is a thing that is taylor made for batch production. Sell a shop their own house brand of rods then build them ten or twenty at a time. The other alternative is to hire and train help. This is really viable if you are near the coast. That's where you can pick up sets to match a boat, IGFA class sets, long range standup rigs, and other salt water tackle.
I've also designed performance parts for r/c race cars, then farmed out the manufacture to a local machine shop. Find a need in one of your hobbies and design a solution, then farm out production.
I'm currently wholesaling a specialized lubricant i have compounded in bulk to my specifications then i package it for end use and move it through an exclusive distributor.
I've also been bidding on estates, cherry picking the good stuff then dumping the rest to a couple of local flea market regulars. It takes a lot of room and you will need a way to deliver large pieces of furniture, but the money is really good.
I also build odd and one off things for people. Small windmills for power generation, custom fit dash panels, even a tracked PC carrier. I don't ask, i just build to order.
Last, i've flipped quite a few MIM J basses. It was working out real well but i think i've just about dried up the local ready supply of used MIM J basses. I thought about branching out to other types and brands, but like the monkey urinating into a cash register, that soon runs unto money so i've scaled back on that and have become satisfied with the occasional opportunity.
As for ideas, i bid on a franchise rebuilding dental drills. It was a protected territory and the buy in included tools and training. I don't know what it went for but it was over 25K. I kind of wish i'd have been more agressive with it as the retiring owner claimed he did over 120k a year (in 1988) with the business.
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