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I've reached the point in my life where I'm expected to hold a summer job if I want to have spending money. Partly because I got in a crash and sent my insurance skyrocketing, partly because I'd like to purchase things, and partly because my parents don't want me to spend the entire summer in the basemen, I need a way to make money.
I've basically already got a little job lined up, but I'm not a fan of it because of the hours (about 5-9:30 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and because I think I may be able to get better than minimum wage on my own. All in all the job doesn't pay very much over the course of a week and it prevents me from being able to do nice things with my friends. Vietnamese food isn't my thing anyway 
+ Show Spoiler +This job was hilariously easy to get. I just walked into the store (it was the third store I did this in) and asked if they were hiring, came in later that night and observed/learned and filled out my W9.
However, there is something else that piqued my interest. I thought about it when I was reminded of my cousin's construction business, and how he often subcontracts certain jobs. Why not go door-to-door asking people if they would like their lawns to get cut on a weekly or biweekly basis, and then subcontract the actual mowing? I can give the whole speech about how expensive college is and how I need help paying for it, and that every little bit counts; I'm hoping this allows me to get paid a little generously. Then I take what the residents pay me, shave $5-20 off for myself, and pay another team to mow it. I don't even need equipment if I just hire a bunch of guys that already mow. Boom, relatively passive income limited by the amount of jobs I can kick back to the mowers.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vv9vQHy.jpg)
Ideally, this is someone else
Main problem: mowers may be of dubious nationality, so I think I need to do everything in cash (this is kinda illegal; I'd rather keep it all legal if possible). I also need to find mowers that would readily take up a high volume of recurring mowing jobs. Oh, and I need to diplomatically let clients know that I'm not going to be the one actually cutting their grass. Of course, since I live in a city of almost a million, where it's common to own a big house with a big lawn, the potential rewards are high.
Another idea of mine is starting a tech-writing blog and to use that to try to break into tech-writing for software companies looking to get legitimate pageviews without SEO BS. Apparently software companies that are low-volume but get large amounts of money from individual clients pay very well for these articles, and I've heard that some people can end up with an effective wage greater than $50/hour.
Any other ideas, or criticism of one of mine? Feel free to do these things yourself, I don't care, they aren't truly original anyway
 
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Depending on where you live, the profit margins in lawn mowing are not great enough for you to subcontract. In all likelihood, customers will have a local kid with a mower or an actual company that can provide the service without the bloat that comes with an inefficient, small-time subcontracting scheme. Good luck though.
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Based on your explanation of how you want to subcontract and not really do any work, it seems you're rather inexperienced with working at a job in general. Summer jobs are almost never get-rich-quick success stories for students, and the problem with starting a new job with no network, no skills, and no experience is that you're going to get stuck with flaky customers who can't/ won't create a consistent schedule for you, so you really won't know how much money you'll be making in any given week.
At least with working at a stable job with consistent hours, you'll be able to bring home a consistent paycheck. If you're just working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then you might as well try to network a bit to get some clients who need manual labor done on the side... but I wouldn't put all your eggs into such a naturally volatile and inconsistent set of sidejobs.
Just out of curiosity, how old are you? And have you ever had a (paid) job before?
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Chocolate, this sounds like an awful idea. Not only is it immoral, but it would pretty much not work. The money you would make vs. the time required to start this would be not worth it.
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On May 17 2014 12:34 WarSame wrote:
Chocolate, this sounds like an awful idea. Not only is it immoral, but it would pretty much not work. The money you would make vs. the time required to start this would be not worth it.
I wouldn't call it immoral lol, but it's certainly a lot harder than he thinks.
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Reminds me of the typical "making money fast" mentality 
Chocolate do this instead: Send letters to people asking them to give you 10 dollars by returning sender, and if they do you promise them to reveal how to earn 1000 bucks. Once they mailed you back 10 dollars send them a new letter stating:
"Send a letter to 100 people telling them that they can earn 1000 bucks but they have to first send you 10 dollars back, once they send you the money send them a new mail telling them to repeat this process"
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Such entrepeneur... I couldn't imagine putting work into something where I know I'm doing nothing of value and just skimming money off people who actually do something. Such a shitty attitude. How about you just mow their lawns and take the cash instead of being a parasite?
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On May 17 2014 11:34 farvacola wrote:
Depending on where you live, the profit margins in lawn mowing are not great enough for you to subcontract. In all likelihood, customers will have a local kid with a mower or an actual company that can provide the service without the bloat that comes with an inefficient, small-time subcontracting scheme. Good luck though.
The premise is that I might be able to gain some pity-points and get a bit of a higher rate.
I know plenty of people even within my own family that would pay someone like me quite well to mow their lawns. There isn't a large mowing-industrial complex running the show. As far as I know, they haven't been directly solicited (and my household never has been either), but I would be directly soliciting door to door.
On May 17 2014 12:24 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
Based on your explanation of how you want to subcontract and not really do any work, it seems you're rather inexperienced with working at a job in general. Summer jobs are almost never get-rich-quick success stories for students, and the problem with starting a new job with no network, no skills, and no experience is that you're going to get stuck with flaky customers who can't/ won't create a consistent schedule for you, so you really won't know how much money you'll be making in any given week.
At least with working at a stable job with consistent hours, you'll be able to bring home a consistent paycheck. If you're just working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then you might as well try to network a bit to get some clients who need manual labor done on the side... but I wouldn't put all your eggs into such a naturally volatile and inconsistent set of sidejobs.
Just out of curiosity, how old are you? And have you ever had a (paid) job before?
I don't know if I have many skills, but I do have a network. It's actually pretty substantial. Now, I haven't really created that network consciously, I was just lucky enough to be born into it/happen upon it as the years go by. Actually, right now I'd say my network is as strong as it's going to get over the next four years, because I don't know a ton of people going to the same college as me, and I'll have to build a new network as my old one decays.
Haha I can't really imagine saying "Here's your beef pho... by the way, do you have another job for me?" This restaurant thing is my first job, yes. I'm 17 and honestly couldn't get a job last summer because I was out of town too much, otherwise I definitely would have worked then too.
On May 17 2014 12:34 WarSame wrote:
Chocolate, this sounds like an awful idea. Not only is it immoral, but it would pretty much not work. The money you would make vs. the time required to start this would be not worth it.
Is it really immoral? I don't even think it would take a lot of time once things get started. Sure, I'd have to spend a lot of time going door to door, but once that gets done I'll just have to deal with the people that are mowing and other questions/headsup/complaints from those getting lawns mowed. Making $5/week from each residence could potentially pay quite handsomely.
On May 17 2014 13:28 Integra wrote:Reminds me of the typical "making money fast" mentality Chocolate do this instead: Send letters to people asking them to give you 10 dollars by returning sender, and if they do you promise them to reveal how to earn 1000 bucks. Once they mailed you back 10 dollars send them a new letter stating: "Send a letter to 100 people telling them that they can earn 1000 bucks but they have to first send you 10 dollars back, once they send you the money send them a new mail telling them to repeat this process"
Heh, I don't know if that would go over so well
On May 17 2014 13:58 Scarecrow wrote:
Such entrepeneur... I couldn't imagine putting work into something where I know I'm doing nothing of value and just skimming money off people who actually do something. Such a shitty attitude. How about you just mow their lawns and take the cash instead of being a parasite?
Think of it this way: you are connecting the job and the labor with a story and a recognizable face, and for that you take a small commission. The job gets done, people get work, and I get paid as well. Hell, maybe the customers even feel good about themselves for helping me with college. Everybody wins.
I should add that if I found a real job with normal hours (9-5, M-F would be great) that could potentially help me career-wise, I'd snatch that up and forget about everything else. Unfortunately, the feelers I put out for finance jobs were smacked down other than shadowing. Software jobs are not abundant in my area.
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Personally, I'd say you should just work the job at the Vietnamese place and try doing this lawn mowing thing on the side if you really want to make some more money. Except you should mow the lawn yourself, not get other people to do it. People aren't stupid, if they are doing all of the work and not getting all of the money then eventually they'll just stop giving you the money and do it all themselves. The customers won't care because they probably won't remember some kid that came to their door one time to ask if he could mow their lawn and never came back, but they will remember the guys who come and do it every week.
If you think you can make more money than what you'd be making at the restaurant then keep looking for better jobs while you work. It's great that you don't want to settle for a low paying job that you don't particularly like, but better paying jobs pay better because they require you to work harder or have certain skills, not because you took advantage of some sort of loop hole.
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ahahahahaha, i think your imagination has gone wild. Either just spend the summer having fun or pick up the slack and work like every other people who are willing to work hard for the money. There is no shortcut to this, and that applies to almost every other aspects of inconveniences in life. Also, afaik most asian restaurants pay in cash and hence at lower than minimum wage so maybe try to get a job at a well known place like mcdonalds, kfc etc.
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lol try the lawn mowing thing. That sounds like a lot of fun, even if it doesn't work out in the end. You're seventeen, take some risks and experiment with your ideas. Even if they don't succeed, you'll be learning a lot in the process. There's a lot of coordinating, planning, client control, etc.. involved. Advanced stuff to try out when you're in high school. Most kids your age probably deliver pizzas or do the equivalent of jack shit during the summer.
Don't let the haters get to you. You'll land the 9-5 software/finance internships once you go to college. But for now, live a little and have fun with your ideas. Just be careful not to get mixed up in some shady stuff.
Edit: Just realized you're in college from reading your post. lol. Well this is still fine for your first summer. Most college kids still do the equivalent of jack shit during the first summer. Probably want to land that software/finance internship for the following one though.
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On May 17 2014 13:58 Scarecrow wrote:
Such entrepeneur... I couldn't imagine putting work into something where I know I'm doing nothing of value and just skimming money off people who actually do something. Such a shitty attitude. How about you just mow their lawns and take the cash instead of being a parasite?
Cause that would require work...
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On May 17 2014 16:34 sharky246 wrote:
ahahahahaha, i think your imagination has gone wild. Either just spend the summer having fun or pick up the slack and work like every other people who are willing to work hard for the money. There is no shortcut to this, and that applies to almost every other aspects of inconveniences in life. Also, afaik most asian restaurants pay in cash and hence at lower than minimum wage so maybe try to get a job at a well known place like mcdonalds, kfc etc.
It's minimum wage. If they try to pull a fast one and pay me less, I'll just quit.
On May 17 2014 18:14 PassionFruit wrote:
lol try the lawn mowing thing. That sounds like a lot of fun, even if it doesn't work out in the end. You're seventeen, take some risks and experiment with your ideas. Even if they don't succeed, you'll be learning a lot in the process. There's a lot of coordinating, planning, client control, etc.. involved. Advanced stuff to try out when you're in high school. Most kids your age probably deliver pizzas or do the equivalent of jack shit during the summer.
Don't let the haters get to you. You'll land the 9-5 software/finance internships once you go to college. But for now, live a little and have fun with your ideas. Just be careful not to get mixed up in some shady stuff.
Edit: Just realized you're in college from reading your post. lol. Well this is still fine for your first summer. Most college kids still do the equivalent of jack shit during the first summer. Probably want to land that software/finance internship for the following one though.
Oh no, I'm in the summer between high school and college. And thanks for the encouragement. I think that even if it doesn't work out or end up paying very much, the experience could be good for a story or as a topic in a job interview.
On May 18 2014 03:13 MysteryMeat1 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 17 2014 13:58 Scarecrow wrote:
Such entrepeneur... I couldn't imagine putting work into something where I know I'm doing nothing of value and just skimming money off people who actually do something. Such a shitty attitude. How about you just mow their lawns and take the cash instead of being a parasite? Cause that would require work...
I might actually do that. Right now I'd rather not because I only have a push-mower, but if I somehow make enough money for a nice riding mower, I'd use it. And hey, it would require work to coordinate the scheduling for everything and deal with changes in everything.
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On May 17 2014 14:09 Chocolate wrote:Show nested quote +On May 17 2014 11:34 farvacola wrote:
Depending on where you live, the profit margins in lawn mowing are not great enough for you to subcontract. In all likelihood, customers will have a local kid with a mower or an actual company that can provide the service without the bloat that comes with an inefficient, small-time subcontracting scheme. Good luck though. The premise is that I might be able to gain some pity-points and get a bit of a higher rate. I know plenty of people even within my own family that would pay someone like me quite well to mow their lawns. There isn't a large mowing-industrial complex running the show. As far as I know, they haven't been directly solicited (and my household never has been either), but I would be directly soliciting door to door.
So what happens when they look out the window and it isn't you?
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I dont know what I was expecting here...
but no...this is a horrible idea.
Can you make money cutting peoples' lawns? Yes.
Can you make money, charging people, to have someone else cut their lawn? No.
And will that be legal? No. Not even close.
Basically you want to make money doing nothing in your first example, so I think pretty much everyone acknowledges/agrees that it wont work. Especially once you pitch your college sob story, and then a couple days later Jose shows up to mow their lawn..not the poor college kid who wants to work hard to gain some money...
And the 2nd idea..good luck. Its highly competitive, and in honesty its very unlikely you will make any money doing it, because its one of those everyone wants to make money from home with minimal work sort of ideas that is hugely popular/desired right now.
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You should try politics or crime instead. Way more fun and profitable if you are just interested by money and lying lol.
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It isn't a bad idea.
A lot of business runs by partly telling lies within truth.
But you are not a company and your lies are more immortal since you are asking for profit with your need money for college bs. Those money are generous money.
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This is kind of working to get out of work. I used to cut grass on public property for a local city and the money is comparatively well compared to your average high school job. I spent most days high, outside, and driving around wasting time. Don't knock it till you try it.
In terms of the actual business plan, you'll have to get people to cut lawns for a sub-eighteen year old, which if you are hiring friends sucks and if you want someone who actually needs money will suck for you because you are young and will likely have difficulties establishing a good working relationship with your, "employee."
Barring your hiring homeless people, which would likely shit on your business model because the people who are inclined to pay for law service don't want a guy DT'ing on their lawn, I don't see this working.
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In theory it sounds nice. In the game industry alot of companies do this...
one thing you must be able to do is have consistent work for your employees.
Then the question is....why would clients hire your company? What extra do you have to offer? Why dont they just ask their grandchildren and have them do it for 5 dollar a hour?
Also being an entrepeneur is harder then most normal jobs and you will have to work for free for a long time before you get ROI.
But if you want to do it...just do it...you just need to figure out why people would hire you...if there is enough demand in the market and you can outclass your rivals...sure..start mowing...im just not sure of mowing is the kind market you want...the service market is also very hard...i tried it...without connections you most likely wont make it.
But there are enough alternatives of cheap scale-able businesses....just think really hard and try it out...they wont cost anything but hard work in the beginning.
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I don't even think you could get people to cut lawns for you.
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EPT
