Great small business to make loads of passive income or great way to lose your shirt?

[RazorAzoth]

Like a lot of people here I want to do my own thing and get away from the whole 9-5 hell we go through. Whether than be real estate investing or start your own business or buy a franchise. I was browsing a site with directory of franchises and came across this vending machine franchise. It has the lowest capital required I've come across to buy into a franchise. About $2,000 for your first machine.

http://www.bizbuysell.com/franchise-for-sale/alco-buddy

It's an alcohol breathalyzer vending machine. Someone pays $1 to find out their blood alcohol level. You place your machines basically anywhere where they serve alcohol. Obviously the busier the place the more money you make.

Could this actually make you money? Enough to live off the money and eventually quit your day job?

 

[Warrior74]

I looked into these and other small time franchise opportunities. And I've seen these breathalyzers in a few bars and clubs. I see people using them every now and then but I don't think they get a bunch of use. I'm not sure if they will make you enough money to live off with just a few machines. I see it as a supplementary passive income.

 

[Warrior74]

dbbl post

 

[Dust 2 Dust]

I took a look at the site and noticed that it is up to you to find places for your machines. Most businesses are going to want half your profits if your machine is in their place of business.

 

[RazorAzoth]

I took a look at the site and noticed that it is up to you to find places for your machines. Most businesses are going to want half your profits if your machine is in their place of business.

25% is usually the comission rate for vending machines in places.

 

[backbreaker]

it's my learning that you will usually have to lose your shirt.. and more than once, before you can make "loads of passive income" in any business venture.

 

[Alle_Gory]

There's no such thing as passive income. All sources of income require management of some kind. The closest you can get to "passive income" is dividends or other similar monetary vehicles.

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

This is why I love the insurance business so much. Every policy creates passive income.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

1) find places that already have those exact same machines

2) contact the owners to see how much they make

3) hang out for a few hours on a sat night and see how often people use them

4) calculate how much you'd make per month

5) figure out how much of a headache it would cost, insurance, etc (in case somebody breaks it)

6) figure out how long it would take to make your initial investment back

7) figure out how much you'd make after you made your initial investment back

8) figure out how long it would take to buy another machine using only profit from your first one

9) Figure how many machines it would take, and low long until your "passive" income is enough to retire on.

10) realize that you could buy hand held breathalizer for 200-300 bucks, and bars could start offering the service for free, in which case you'd be FUKKED.

 

[speakeasy]

If you want passive income you can always start a pyramid scheme.