Hi again all;
Another midterm has passed, but you have an opportunity like no other right now. It’s the holidays and more private businesses crop up during this time of year than any other.
I have an experiment for you to TRY. I say try because it is not as easy as it seems.
For the net 30 days, no matter what takes place, find the silver, gold, or platinum lining in the situation. We as humans tend to gravitate towards the negative but what if you changed that and only looked for the good in the situation. I know what you may be thinking. Oh yeah that’s easy for you to say, you don’t know my situation.
You are entirely correct, I don’t know your situation, but I do know there is a silver lining in it somewhere, you just gotta dig it out. You could be down and flat out broke right now, the silver lining is, you could find something to do that will enable you to make some immediate cash, even if it’s only washing windows. There is great money in that by the way.
For those of you who can still climb a ladder, how about hanging holidays lights on houses, it is after all that season, not only is it that time of season, it is also a great income generator. The comedy is this, I know this man who started hanging lights about 20 years ago. Back then he was only getting around $100. to $150 per house. He started by going up to an elderly man who he saw hanging his lights.
He asked the man if he would like some help, the man said yes because he couldn’t really climb ladders any more and his grandson didn’t show up to help him. One thing lead to another and when he finished, the man gave him $50 for his time. Not only that he asked him to come back and help him again after the holidays and he earned $100 then. So all told he made $150 for about 3 hours work.
The light bulb went off in the guys brain and he started asking everyone if they would like to have their lights hung for the holidays. He listed all the benefits of him hanging the lights for them like TIME SAVED by having a professional do the work at a viable price. he was driving a Toyota corolla when he started. Bill made enough during the holidays to put a sizable down payment on a pickup truck, buy a ladder, and he went to ever after Xmas sale he could and bought up their remaining stock of lights for the next season. So he had a jump on the game.
There was no real competition back then. Even now, the competition for hanging Xmas lights is still virtually non-existent, and no matter how big the competition is, there is no way possible for them to have every house as a client. So you have a pretty good chance at making some good money. If you did one house per day using their lights and charging them $150 you could make around $3000 between now and Xmas pretty easy.
He now has 20 trucks with trailers full of Xmas lights, where he and his crew hang lights for not just homeowners but also businesses and store fronts. He has parlayed a simple little idea into a multi million dollar lighting business. And guess what, he only works 7 months a year. During Holiday season, each truck completes two houses and one store front (or vice versa) daily for about 6 weeks with a two man crew. 20 trucks, 40 men x 3 units at guess what price. Residential he gets $250 to $1000 depending upon how elaborate the make up of lights is. Commercial he gets a minimum of $1000 just to show up. Each job is scaled to be completed within 2.5 hours. And they are working 7 days a week.
If you have ever been to a mall in Southern California, and you were in the mall just before halloween, and then a week later you went back and all the xmas lights were up. It was probably his company that did the mall. One mall paid him $25000 to come in after hours and get it done. He brought his entire crew over to do the job using the malls lights and cherry pickers. They were in and out of the mall is less than six hours. Each man in his crew made $250 for that. The owner netted $15000 fro six hours of work and never lifted a finger other than to notify the workers and sign the contract. Not bad for a nights work.
He did one house in a highly affluent neighborhood and the owner gave him $5000 for the job and a $5000 xmas bonus for the promptness of the work. Not only that but the owner decided to replace the lighting in his entire house over to L.E.D. and gave the job to my friend, who subsequently sub- contracted it out to a local contractor under a white label agreement. The house owner only dealt with one individual … my friend. He netted another $10,000 for that.
Basically he filled a need. Now during the holidays he is so busy he had had to turn people away because all of his resources were being used. To me that a good type of business to have. though each year he grows it by one more truck and two more light hangers. and Now he buys his lighting direct from the manufacturer at greatly reduced prices.
Could this happen to you, who knows? If you want to grow that big, then by all means take on the challenge. Just remember, there is always a silver, gold, or platinum lining somewhere in what is happening in your life.
Until next time, have a wonderful day.
R