Episode-1490- 22 Low Capital Businesses You Could Start in 2015 — 19 Comments

  1. Dog poop scooping is a great business. I did it for awhile and was making 400+ extra month for really an hour a week. I would plan out my routes based on daily/weekly trips to places so it wasn’t extrea gas and just stop by, pick up, throw in the back of my truck and go home. I researched the localpooper scoopers and undercut their price by 15%. Which was around 12 bucks a week for 1 dog. I would add 3 for each dog (depending on size and regularity of visits, etc). After a year I had enough business and word of mouth to replace anyone I lossed and raised my price for new customers by 10% so I was still cheaper than competition but got a little more out of it. If you invest in a trowel, cheap latex gloves and reuse grocery bags the overhead is extremely low. Other than gas (which if you plan routes right shouldn’t even be “extra”) it was around 15 bucks a year for gloves and other things. Plus I would get lawn care and other sidejobs such as cleaning out sheds, etc since I already built the trust and was there. I would also shovel decks and driveways for an extra 20+ since I was already there in the winter. Also a good way to find trees that people have and ask for cuttings, etc. If you have any questions just email

  2. Also always have kitty litter and smash it up finer and keep that with you. If there is gravely areas where the dog had diarrhea its a pain to get it out witho digging a hole out of the area. Sprinkle that on and it will make it easier to pick up. Dirt works in a pinch. Also always insist on a specific time so dogs can be put inside. Everyone always insists that their dog “wouldn’t hurt a fly” but the first time a pair of german shepherds snarl and herd you out of the gate to the backyard where you left your keys and phone in your jacket so you can’t call or get a ride home is the last time you want that. (I had beef jerky in the truck so I was able to distract them enough to get my stuff)

  3. How about setting up raised bed gardens for folks? Charge a setup fee and an annual fee and you set up people’s raised bed gardens with timers for water and stuff. I saw someone doing that here in the phoenix area and it looks like a nice business idea. Maybe go in and plant their spring/fall gardens and then leave them to their own devices?

    • Jake this is how I got my first paying job. Although not a permaculture design job it gets cash in the pocket to pay bills and go to PV2! I was refered to a property manager via someone I met while trying to work out a community garden. I came in to fix a garden problem the landscaper installed and just over delivered. The guy is getting ready to pull me in on some bigger garden projects from the start. This winter I grew out a bunch of starts for his garden. Cost me literally less than .25-.50 cents per plant and I’m turning around and selling them for $3.50.

    • I have considered this idea too. Probably a lot of people would like to garden but don’t know how to proceed. They maybe be Home Depot customers, try it, fail, and lose interest. I’d be interested to know what materials to make to beds would be good, tough, and sustainable. What would an appropriate $ amount be for say 2 5×10 foot beds filled with quality compost.

      • Depending on your location and climate, I’ve found logs (or half-logs depending on the girth) make great raised bed walls. They don’t require any nailing/screwing to stay in place either, if using half-logs you simply lay them flat-side down, if using full logs you dig a trench a single shovel in width and about 3 inches down for the log to rest in.

        Bonus points if said log is already beginning to decay, plants will be able to tap them for nutrients/moisture.

        Disclaimer: I live in semi-rural Western Washington with 41 inches of rain per year. Lots of logs to be had here without negatively impacting anything.

  4. I love the idea of double or triple stacking your income. One of the suggestions was a childcare business. You could stack other services for the parents. What if they brought bags of their laundry a couple of days a week? You could charge by the pound or by the load to do it for them. You could offer a menu of dinners that could be ordered in advance and they could be cooked and ready when a parent comes to pick up their children. Making and cooking 4 lasagnas wouldn’t take that much more time than one. Learn to cut hair and offer to cut their children’s hair once a month for an extra fee. The list could go on.

  5. As a nurse at a rehab/nursing facility Ive seen the number of elderly that end up in the nursing homes because they need a little help and have no family near.Not skilled nursing or home health aids but light house keeping and help with changing the bed linens,laying their clothes out for the week,taking care of house plants and even just a quick brush of their dogs and esp cats. Some one to drive them to Dr appts or take them shopping Or even just spending time each day with them.Families will often pay just for a daily check.Cooked meals are another thing that help these people stay at home.

  6. That poster is me 🙁 that’s why I’m looking for a business to start. I definitely have the passion. Thanks Jack!

  7. The Millennial Wisdom ™ Patented Ultra-Secret Ultimate Good Business Idea Test:
    1. Do you like to do it?
    2. Will people pay you to do it enough for you to keep doing it?
    If you answer yes to both questions, it’s a good idea for a business!

  8. On site IT work, software development and Web Development are all almost zero startup cost businesses as well, I used to do it for a living and am actually just getting back into doing it on the side.

  9. Social media consulting: Example of it done wrong. How many times have you approached a person’s social media page that purports to be them, and it instantly becomes apparent that it is someone else- or a group of someone elses- who spell words differently, use different grammar(I’m talking blatant, obvious stuff that anyone can see- not being a grammar nazi, lol) That irritates me. Someone like George Takei who openly admits to having a team, I don’t mind. Someone like a politician etc who says it is just them, but obviously isn’t, lol- doesn’t inspire trust.

  10. On the topic where Jack recommended doing a prepared meal service… If you’re in the Chicago area and are looking for gigs like that:

    Looking at the site, average price looks to be about $50/person. Additionally, they had a tie up with Uber where the person wanting the dinner prepared foots the bill for the person cooking to be dropped off / picked up (Not sure if that’s still there).

  11. Good show. My neighbors refurbish furniture in there spare time, 2 ladies in there 60’s or so, this month they made about 500 bucks. Started on craiglist now it’s all referral. And my brothers hobby is fixing cars so he flips those from time to time.

    Refurbish./fix free craigslist stuff. Also, power washing parking lots, paint parking lot lines. I think building indoor grow rooms for ppl could work. Also, table high garden beds for elderly could work too, a garden you can walk to without bending. Also, I met a guy, grows specialty peppers in his basement and sells them online, like ghost peppers. Also, I think maybe a preventative maintenance gig could work, the stuff ppl never do. Maybe a rain garden specialist. Also, apartment hallway cleaning is simple/steady. Also, I heard there is decent money in robbing drug dealers. Have a great new year.

  12. There was brief mention in this episode about a realestate buyers handbook that provided a massive amount of details about a home listed for sale. I know I heard an episode in the later half of 2014, around August-October I think, that had more details on this. Can anybody help me find the episode number?

  13. Just thought of another one (I’ve heard inklings of it before so its not necessarily original) after seeing somebody post something somewhere about how they hate doing laundry: home laundry pickup service! Low overhead (until you expand enough to need several laundry machines I guess), easily scalable, and it’s perfect for the membership recurring income model.

  14. Transferring videotape to digital/DVD. This is great for ex-video store geeks that became experts in VHS cassette repair or people that used to repair VCRs.
    Good quality VCR to DVD decks are no longer made, nor are VCRs. You do need to have a decent S-VHS VCR, know how to clean the heads and know at least the basics of video editing and file types, but you could totally get started with free software like AVS Video Recorder and Windows Movie Maker. The capture is a real-time process from the source, so you would be limited in how many you could do per day, so you aren’t going to be getting rich from this.

    Walgreens, Costco, Walmart and CVS all use the same place, YesVideo, to do their transfers with the same results and service and the prices range from $17.99-$34.95 per tape. Then there are the local Craigslist guys that will throw tapes on a VCR/DVD unit for $5/per tape. You would probably want to be somewhere in between.

    There are a lot of people that still have not saved their home movies. Of course, start by doing your own and then family/friends and you may get quite a bit to do without any advertising at all.