[Edmund Dantes]

Hey, you RVF whores! I decided I wanna give back since you little fucks gave me so much for nothing.

This is my first hustling experience/business venture.

INTRO

I just quit my job today. Fucking stingy little fucks didn't wanna give me worker's comp when I ripped the tendon in my wrist and expect me to go to work tomorrow. Even though it happened there. Apparently, me telling the sous chef isn't the same as telling the chef AND my doctor's note said I could return to work (even though my doctor guesstimated that it was a sprain and said if it was serious then the company has to take care of it).

In short, fuck the restaurant industry.

I got my inspiration from The Millionaire Fastlane (MJ Demarco) & The Pimp Game (Mickey Royal). The latter can be found in the Iceberg Slim thread.

My Hustle

In California, most of the trees are STILL shedding their leaves. So I took a drive around the well-off, White neighborhoods (because they can afford it and my restaurant was located near it) and what I saw was GREAT.

Beautiful houses littered with leaves in their front yards. In one neighborhood, only a few houses were raked. I parked my car and walked around to get a feel for the landscape and possible challenges I may face.

DEMAND = Leaves on yard.

SOLUTION = Rake 'em up and bag 'em.

But today is Saturday. FUCK! People usually do yard work on the weekends. I had to act fast and put myself out there but first, I need workers.

I took a drive a couple of miles away to the Home Depot and I saw six illegals chilling outside. I parked my car and spoke to them in Spanish and I asked when they were available (all the time) and for the phone numbers.

Six workers added!

It was around noon so I drove home and made a quick flier. It had the attention grabber, what I did, price, contact info but most importantly, WHY WAS IT BENEFICIAL TO CALL ME TO DO IT RATHER THAN THEM DO IT.

Printed out 300 fliers and drove back. I walked around the neighborhoods I scoped out (I wrote them names down) and left fliers on the target houses, the houses with the most leaves AND NICE CARS IN FRONT. Why nice cars? I saw houses with dirty, beaten up cars and fucked up lawns. They obviously don't give a fuck about appearances so fuck 'em.

I walked around for hours dropping off fliers. I was left with 170ish and went back home.

I got two calls within the hour. I got one appointment for tomorrow and the other call was some cheap bastard, probably Jewish, looking for me to do it for $5.

NEXT!

I'm gonna advertise online and drive to some more neighborhoods tomorrow morning to drop it off before beta husbands/obedient children gotta do it.

How To Make It Fastlane

Remember the illegals? The more clients I can book within a day, I can pick up some illegals and make 'em work on consecutive lawns. I collect the money and I give them a cut.

Money Invested

Fliers (300)- $16.70
Gas- $20
Rakes- I already own.
Bags- I already own.



If you guys got any questions or advice to help a brotha out, I'd very much appreciate it.

[Pyre]

Oh...so YOU were the one I offered $5 to rake my lawn. I was wondering who you were.

[JackDavey]

How much are you paying your workers?

Why is it better for people to call you, than to do it themselves, according to your flyer? I mean, the reason is obvious, I just wonder how you pitch it.

Tip: if you have some property, you can compost those leaves down for a year and sell the resulting mulch when it's planting season.

[Edmund Dantes]

(12-08-2013 08:54 AM)JackDavey Wrote:  

How much are you paying your workers?

It really depends on how much work there is. If there are 10 lawns to be raked, I would toss two guys $25 each. That's like two hours worth of work and they can return to their spot quicker to make more money.

Quote:

Why is it better for people to call you, than to do it themselves, according to your flyer? I mean, the reason is obvious, I just wonder how you pitch it.

"Save time, energy and stress this holiday season."

Then I tell them what I do, price, and contact info.

Quote:

Tip: if you have some property, you can compost those leaves down for a year and sell the resulting mulch when it's planting season.

Interesting. Who'd buy though? Farmers or hustle it?

[JackDavey]

Quote:

Who'd buy though? Farmers or hustle it?

Farmers, nurseries, landscapers. I sell mine back to my landscaping customers, who I take care of year round. I can always convince them that they need compost, as its a natural fertilizer. You could check prices at any nursery or hardware store; they usually sell composted mulch in bags of 1 to 3 cubic feet, and then advertise on Craigslist at a lower price. It's obviously a significant time investment to run that hustle--not something that lends itself to location independence.

Anyway, congrats, man. That's a good hustle and a good example for the guys here.

[Pyre]

You're gonna have to be there when the workers are working you know.

If you leave them unattended shit's gonna get fucked up.

[roberto]

(12-08-2013 09:59 AM)Edmund Dantes Wrote:  

It really depends on how much work there is. If there are 10 lawns to be raked, I would toss two guys $25 each. That's like two hours worth of work and they can return to their spot quicker to make more money.


Interesting. Who'd buy though? Farmers or hustle it?

Piece rate work is good. I have my guys chop wood for me on piece rate. My costs are then fixed, so all I have to do is sell sell sell. If you're paying $5 a lawn, what are you charging? Sounds like a good hustle.

Compost can work good once you've got a garden round together, if that's the way you go. If you're not sure that's the way you're going then I'd not get a yard just for the leaves as mulch is cheap to buy for a specific job anyhow.

Once you've got a yard, a truck and a tractor with a loader bucket you can really start to hustle. Chippings in, mulch out. Rubble in, crushed concrete out. Timber in, logs out. Scrap metal in, scrap metal out sorted and in bulk. Soil in, screened topsoil out. All these hustles pay you to take the rubbish, then pay you to deliver the finished product. Works real good with my gardening round, it's much easier to sell if your already doing the garden. You get much better money that way also as they're just giving you the nod to mulch the beds, they're not sourcing it themselves and comparing market rates which are fairly low.

[roberto]

(12-08-2013 04:40 PM)Pyre Wrote:  

You're gonna have to be there when the workers are working you know.

If you leave them unattended shit's gonna get fucked up.

Not if he pays them a fair piece rate which motivates them.

If he gets his shit together and starts knocking the rest of the street whilst the guys work he can keep an eye on them at the same time.

Saturdays worked well for me in the past. Half the time the man of the house has said 'her indoors has been nagging me to clean those leaves up for weeks!'. He'd sooner pay me and then sit back down to watch the game.

[Pyre]

(12-08-2013 04:53 PM)roberto Wrote:  

Not if he pays them a fair piece rate which motivates them.

Not true. Have you hired low wage employees (or any employee) before?

Gots to keep an eye on them at all times, especially if its a clique of mexicans and you're the boss who has no prior relationship/friendship with them.

Imagine if they broke into one of the homes. Stole shit....Youd have a massive lawsuit on your hands that would bury you. Word travels fast in middle class levitt towns. And with that, reputation.

[Cattle Rustler]

So how much as your making off this?

That's what counts in the end, profit.

[Screwston]

Agree with pyre. Be careful I heard those people like to rape and steal.

[Drazen]

It's not scalable and most wealthy people in LA have Gardners who do the same thing already (outsource to illegals). You have to think bigger, removing bad insulation, cleaning up construction sites, and stuff like that where you can charge thousands per job and not $200.

[Edmund Dantes]

Quote:

Farmers, nurseries, landscapers. I sell mine back to my landscaping customers, who I take care of year round. I can always convince them that they need compost, as its a natural fertilizer. You could check prices at any nursery or hardware store; they usually sell composted mulch in bags of 1 to 3 cubic feet, and then advertise on Craigslist at a lower price. It's obviously a significant time investment to run that hustle--not something that lends itself to location independence.

Anyway, congrats, man. That's a good hustle and a good example for the guys here.

Fucking A! Thanks for explaining it to me!

Quote:

You're gonna have to be there when the workers are working you know.

If you leave them unattended shit's gonna get fucked up.

Illegals get a bad rap. My old job hired illegals and those fuckers were some of the most hard-working and loyal people I EVER KNEW! But I understand what you're saying and yes, I would rather be safe than sorry.

Quote:

Piece rate work is good. I have my guys chop wood for me on piece rate. My costs are then fixed, so all I have to do is sell sell sell. If you're paying $5 a lawn, what are you charging? Sounds like a good hustle.

I charge $20 a lawn. However, I negotiated extra on the fly. I was supposed to make $73 but they tipped and gave me $85. In four hours? Not bad at all.

Quote:

Once you've got a yard, a truck and a tractor with a loader bucket you can really start to hustle. Chippings in, mulch out. Rubble in, crushed concrete out. Timber in, logs out. Scrap metal in, scrap metal out sorted and in bulk. Soil in, screened topsoil out. All these hustles pay you to take the rubbish, then pay you to deliver the finished product. Works real good with my gardening round, it's much easier to sell if your already doing the garden. You get much better money that way also as they're just giving you the nod to mulch the beds, they're not sourcing it themselves and comparing market rates which are fairly low.

That's awesome! You're like an Injun using every part of the buffalo

Quote:

Not true. Have you hired low wage employees (or any employee) before?

I haven't but like I said above, most illegals get a bad rap.

Quote:

Gots to keep an eye on them at all times, especially if its a clique of mexicans and you're the boss who has no prior relationship/friendship with them.

You got a point but...

Quote:

Imagine if they broke into one of the homes. Stole shit....Youd have a massive lawsuit on your hands that would bury you. Word travels fast in middle class levitt towns. And with that, reputation.

(Continuing from above)

They have a need which is work so they can make money. If they rob someone, they're killing the golden goose. Like I said earlier, most illegals just want an honest job. Their first-generation spawn are the ones into that respect, money and power bullshit.

Quote:

So how much as your making off this?

That's what counts in the end, profit.

Of course. I made $85 today for 4 hours of work. Minus expenses, I made $21.23. Had I brought a sandwich and coffee instead of eating out, I would've saved $14.50

That really teaches me to bring my own food. I can't eat away my profits this early, literally.

Quote:

Agree with pyre. Be careful I heard those people like to rape and steal.

Quote:

It's not scalable and most wealthy people in LA have Gardners who do the same thing already (outsource to illegals). You have to think bigger, removing bad insulation, cleaning up construction sites, and stuff like that where you can charge thousands per job and not $200.

I'm aware it's limited in scale. I have no experience in contracting, landscaping or construction so it's ok for a first-time hustle.

[Screwston]

Lmao at pyre liking my comment

[BadWolf]

Quick solution to your illegal problem, hire only illegal women.

[JackDavey]

The only problem I've ever had with illegal labor is that most of the racist old white women I work for don't want them around unsupervised.

[roberto]

(12-08-2013 08:06 PM)Pyre Wrote:  

(12-08-2013 04:53 PM)roberto Wrote:  

Not if he pays them a fair piece rate which motivates them.

Not true. Have you hired low wage employees (or any employee) before?

Gots to keep an eye on them at all times, especially if its a clique of mexicans and you're the boss who has no prior relationship/friendship with them.

Imagine if they broke into one of the homes. Stole shit....Youd have a massive lawsuit on your hands that would bury you. Word travels fast in middle class levitt towns. And with that, reputation.

Our equivalent of the Mexian in the UK is the Pole- however ours are legal immigrants. There's good and bad in all walks of life. I'd trust my Polish guys over quite a few Brit guys I've had working for me. I agree he needs to be careful, but he should be able to find a trustworthy labourer.

The whole idea of piece work is that they can make over and above what their mates in hourly work make if they work hard. If they are motivated by that then they will also tend to have good work ethic generally, in my experience.

[roberto]

(12-08-2013 11:00 PM)BadWolf Wrote:  

Quick solution to your illegal problem, hire only illegal women.

Running a cleaning business alongside the contracting, employing your immigrant labourer's wife, can work well. The same customers want services indoors and out, and the cost of logistics is reduced.

[PompeyChris]

I did this sorta thing a few years back. I was on my own though.

Along with collecting the leaves, I would put them in a metal bin and let them turn in to compost. Then you have some good soil to either grow and sell, or grow and eat vegetables.

[Pyre]

(12-08-2013 10:50 PM)houston Wrote:  

Lmao at pyre liking my comment

yeah i knew you'd have first hand experience with your family

[paninaro]

Where I live, the county waste services will take leaves and pay by the pound. They process it into biomass that they then sell and make millions from it (no kidding). I see landscaper trucks driving in there with a trailer full of leaves all the time.

The nice thing about that option is it's easy and quick - no need to negotiate pricing with farmers, etc. Just dump, take your money, and get back to work.

[JackDavey]

(12-09-2013 11:19 AM)paninaro Wrote:  

Where I live, the county waste services will take leaves and pay by the pound. They process it into biomass that they then sell and make millions from it (no kidding).

Who do they sell it to?

[Screwston]

Haha. You could get a bitch slap to mhaes.

[Edmund Dantes]

I thought this was gonna be profitable but I broke even on just one deal

I handed out the fliers, did some pitches and I only got 1 call. This guy wanted me to pick up dog shit and rake both back and front yards for $20. Dafuq?! I negotiated with him and he turned it down after discussing the matter with his morbidly obese wife.

So it's finished. I did better than most people when starting their first business venture but like I said in the beginning, it was only a way to make fast cash.

If I get some calls, I will do it but for now I'm done trying to advertise. The hours put in did not equal the return.

Next up: Niche website

Gonna do some homework on it then post up a thread on my progress.

[MHaes]

(12-12-2013 01:17 PM)Edmund Dantes Wrote:  

I thought this was gonna be profitable but I broke even on just one deal

I handed out the fliers, did some pitches and I only got 1 call. This guy wanted me to pick up dog shit and rake both back and front yards for $20. Dafuq?! I negotiated with him and he turned it down after discussing the matter with his morbidly obese wife.

So it's finished. I did better than most people when starting their first business venture but like I said in the beginning, it was only a way to make fast cash.

If I get some calls, I will do it but for now I'm done trying to advertise. The hours put in did not equal the return.

Next up: Niche website

Gonna do some homework on it then post up a thread on my progress.