# The most profitable, low maintence business you could open? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 21, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957 "2016-06-21T14:14:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yo\_han\_go](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yo_han_go/32/130_2.png) [@yo\_han\_go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yo_han_go)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/41 "2016-06-23T13:20:59Z")
Here is my someway working recipe. Not long ago I started to use Upwork freelancer portal, because I know how to make e-books and other e-documents. But so can any damn Pakistani. So the prices here are as low as 10$ per project (usually takes me an hour). But then something weird happened. A niche business found me. Obviously I wrote something right in my resume. My mothers tongue is language with about 3M speakers around the world. Some app makers from all around the world tend to pack as many languages in their app as they could. Including mine. There are millions and millions of apps on the market, but only a couple guys on the Upwork, that can do that. Of course in this case demand is still low and sporadic, so I’m not going to be rich any time soon. But here you have classic sample of utilizing your special knowledge, if you have one. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/42 "2016-06-23T13:45:54Z")
You people talk like the government isn’t gong to be aware of your business, and your low level low paid people are going to accept cash payments and give them to you. Ain’t gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/43 "2016-06-23T13:50:19Z")
I remember reading somewhere that the companies that supply and put up/take down the real estate sale yard signs do pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/44 "2016-06-23T14:01:57Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > You people talk like the government isn’t gong to be aware of your business, and your low level low paid people are going to accept cash payments and give them to you. > > Ain’t gonna happen. Where did anyone suggest the goal was to avoid reporting or paying taxes? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/45 "2016-06-23T17:21:13Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > If $35 a month x 75 with zero investment besides taxes and, like, once in a blue moon fixing the thing with the arm x however many lots they have (I think at least 10, probably more) doesn’t sound like a license to print money to you then you need to move to somewhere cheaper, man! They also manage other properties, so the parking lots are essentially free for them. It’s not zero investment. The land costs _something_. Why haven’t you started a parking lot if the business is so sweet? Write up a business plan that shows it’s as good a deal as you think and I’ll invest. Make sure to include a quote from the arm-thing-fixing contractor. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/46 "2016-06-23T17:33:28Z")
What if they inherited the land? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/47 "2016-06-23T17:37:51Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > It’s not zero investment. The land costs _something_. > > Why haven’t you started a parking lot if the business is so sweet? Write up a business plan that shows it’s as good a deal as you think and I’ll invest. Make sure to include a quote from the arm-thing-fixing contractor. I’d have to agree. When I lived in DC I saw those gates broken all the time. People would just drive right through them. [And then there’s the case of parking lot attendants stealing $1 million +](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/08/smithsonian-parking-lot-thefts-in-virginia-exceeded-1million.html) from Smithsonian Air and Space Museum attendees. How did they do it, you ask? There was a machine that counted the vehicles running over sensors in order to count how many cars entered the lot. The attendants unplugged the machine and then pocketed the fees. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/48 "2016-06-23T18:19:06Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > If $35 a month x 75 with zero investment besides taxes and, like, once in a blue moon fixing the thing with the arm x however many lots they have (I think at least 10, probably more) doesn’t sound like a license to print money to you then you need to move to somewhere cheaper, man! They also manage other properties, so the parking lots are essentially free for them. 35 times 75 (100% full) x 12 months = 31,500 a year gross Minus, taxes, electricity for lighting (and believe me, parking lot lights are not cheap to run), light fixtures, maintenance, someone has to collect the money and enforce who can park there. Property taxes, payroll taxes, unless you’re the one doing the collecting, billing and enforcement. If that’s printing money, you need a bigger printing press. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/49 "2016-06-23T19:33:48Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > What if they inherited the land? [Irrelevant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/50 "2016-06-26T00:50:26Z")
> [@justanothermike](#): > > Could you elaborate on this? Are you referencing sites like [liquidation.com](http://liquidation.com) where you’re buying pallets of returned merchandise and sometimes salvage, often by the pallet, or something else entirely? No, in this case I’m talking about Amazon and similar discounting sites like Sierra Trading Post etc. They are always moving prices all over the place with sales and discounting to adjust and move inventory. If you think you can sell something they are discounting and you can make some money flipping it after taxes, shipping and Paypal + Ebay transaction costs go for it. But if you guess wrong you now have slow or non-moving inventory that’s costing you to carry it. You are effectively a minor league retailer and you had better guess right. Also you need to constantly checking these sites for deals as opportunities come and go like the wind. . ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/51 "2016-06-26T04:16:05Z")
Taxi medallions. If you own taxi medallions in Toronto you can make millions and do essentially no work. You rent the medallions to the drivers at exorbitant rates and make all the money while they work for peanuts. If you want easy money at low cost almost all the ideas put forth so far are terrible for the reason Little Nemo explained; if it’s easy too many people do it and profits are driven to zero. Where the easy money is is in a business where you can engage in rent seeking and/or arbitrage. That is, you need a business that 1. Is heavily regulated and restricted by government, in a way that creates an artificial shortage, and 2. Has unusual barriers to entry. Find something the government restricts in number. Get into that and use your profits to protect the restriction. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/52 "2016-06-26T04:31:22Z")
The problem with that idea is that in some cities (New York for one) Uber is cutting into the value of taxi medallions. They’re no longer the safe investment they once seemed to be. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/53 "2016-06-27T19:01:19Z")
Well, it depends on the city. Some have embraced Uber; others have banned it. It’s just an example. I knew a business once that trucked raw milk from the dairy farmers to the factories. The thing was that in Ontario, owning dairy cows is a regulated oligopoly - like taxi medallions - as is trucking the milk. It was a license to print money. Big, risk-free bux are to be found in fleecing the market in a regulated industry. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/54 "2016-06-27T20:24:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The problem with that idea is that in some cities (New York for one) Uber is cutting into the value of taxi medallions. They’re no longer the safe investment they once seemed to be. The other problem with that is, Uber or no, they are valued at millions of dollars and you would need millions to acquire them. If you have a huge amount of investment money for acquisitions, there are any number of already built and operating business you could buy, and if you hire good managers you can certainly live off the income. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/55 "2016-06-28T12:58:33Z")
Start a blog or YouTube video channel. If you can put out material that attracts a big audience, the ad revenue can be Large. Consider for example [The Slo Mo Guys,](https://www.youtube.com/user/theslowmoguys/about) whose videos collectively have nearly 1 billion views. At this point, [they’re pulling in $2K per day,](http://naibuzz.com/2016/05/13/much-money-slow-mo-guys-make-youtube/) not including their T-shirt sales (which reportedly earn more than that). [They Hydraulic Press Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcMDMoNu66_1Hwi5-MeiQgw/about) is much newer, but growing fast. Depending on the nature of the videos you create, you’ll need to invest in some equipment, and you’ll need video editing skills and some measure of creativity/style. The Slo Mo Guys have averaged one video every 17 days. Their revenue isn’t exactly labor-free, but a good portion of the work they do looks like fun. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/56 "2016-06-28T19:05:59Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Start a blog or YouTube video channel. Low capital, but pretty much the opposite of low maintenance. It’s a ton of work to produce content like that. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/57 "2016-06-29T08:16:33Z")
Probably a Riding Academy would be profitable; a.k.a., a whorehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/58 "2016-06-29T11:26:44Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Low capital, but pretty much the opposite of low maintenance. It’s a ton of work to produce content like that. Agree, but there are some notable exceptions - the woman who opens the kinder eggs on you tube seems to have carved out a weirdly successful niche, for example. Get your nails done, buy some kinder eggs, and kick back as millions of kids worldwide are hypnotised as you open them on camera (?!) As a parent of young kids I’m familiar with most of the minecraft youtubers - the best of them are indeed putting a serious shift in to generate that content, and have a lot of talent as entertainers. Like anything, though, there’s a few along for the ride who are average and probably doing alright out of the medium’s current popularity. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/59 "2016-06-29T15:08:44Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > . . . For example all of my bird toys are commodity items and I don’t like them. They don’t sell because you can find them for pennies on Amazon and eBay. I recently polled a very good internet bird forum and they said that stuff they want but can’t find are perches and toys made from specific types of wood, nontoxic plastic, acrylic or stainless steel. Unique and innovative designs would also be wonderful. I have to ask - - what types of wood? ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957/60 "2016-06-29T15:14:55Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I have to ask - - what types of wood? They say things made of palm, natural cork, yucca, mahogany pods, something I’ve never heard of: Cajeput, manzanita I’ve seen most of those in gardens, yards and growing wild all over the place but apparently few crafters make bird perches or toys out of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-profitable-low-maintence-business-you-could-open/757957.md?page=4)