Boring businesses are everywhere. In every town. On every corner. In every city. They’re hubs of activity—a hotbed of transactions happening day in and day out. No, I’m not just talking about restaurants or fast-food joints. Boring businesses aren’t always as exciting as that. By definition they’re boring. Commonplace. You can drive by a boring business and not even think twice about it.
However, the question is this. What is a boring business in the first place? And how can you buy a boring business that generates income on autopilot, day in and day out? A boring business is exactly what it sounds like. It’s boring. Boring doesn’t mean they don’t make money. It’s just the opposite. Some boring businesses can make $1000+ per day and beyond.
Most boring businesses are also recession-proof. They provide services you always need. That’s likely why so many people buy boring businesses for passive income. They provide net positive cash flow with low staffing requirements. Meaning that you don’t need an army of employees to run a boring business. Typically you only need a couple of people there to oversee the operation.
What is a Boring Business?
A boring business is usually a service business. But not just any service. These are often core services. Things like laundry, banking, storage, pest control, and more are considered boring. Although boring businesses might lack the excitement of a tech company, they offer massive upside. You can make a lot of money owning a boring business. How much money? The sky’s the limit.
Boring businesses can often be scaled by simply adding more locations to service more areas. For example, a storage business is typically only good for people living in close vicinity of it. Outside of that vicinity, they’ll usually go to another storage business closer. The same thing applies to a laundromat. Even though everyone needs these businesses, they need to be close enough to them to make sense.
However, you don’t need to go out there are start a boring business from scratch. You can buy a boring business from an existing owner. It happens all the time. And you can even buy a boring business with little to no money down out of your pocket. All you need to do is find the right owner ready to exit that boring business.
Many boring businesses are ripe for the picking when the owner is ready to call it quits. Why do they want out if the business makes them so much money? Because most boring businesses are owner-operators. That means they own the business and operate it. They haven’t implemented systems and processes and hired people to run the business for them.
How Much Money Can Boring Businesses Make?
Boring businesses can make a lot of money. Especially when you scale that boring business. For example, ATMs are boring businesses. But they’re also essential. People always need to get money from the ATM and they don’t always want to go to a bank. it’s the convenience that people pay for with ATMs.
If you can place more ATMs in more locations, that little boring business can make money fast. Why? Because ATMs pay you for every transaction. The more ATMs you place, the more money you can make. Especially when you can place that ATM in a heavily trafficked area. The same thing applies to vending machines. In the right area, a vending machine “boring” business can crush.
Imagine placing vending machines on college campuses where hungry college students are always on the hunt for snacks. Or placing a hot coffee machine near a transit station. You get the point right? These are small transactions but they add up over time. Ask yourself this question – what boring business can I start or buy that can generate passive income so that you can finally quit your day job?
How do You Grow a Boring Business?
Buying a boring business is one thing. But how do you actually grow that boring business and increase its revenue to make more money? First, you must understand that since most boring businesses are run by owner-operators and have been around for a long time, they have legacy systems. They don’t know as much about working on the business as they do about working in the business.
To grow a boring business fast to make more money is to implement sales funnels. Now, this doesn’t apply to every boring business. It’s tough to grow a vending machine business with sales funnels. But 99% of boring businesses can be grown with sales funnels. If you don’t know what a sales funnel is, read this. They’re the ticket to your money-making dreams.
First, you need to buy a boring business. To do that, you have to contact a lot of boring business owners and talk to them. You’ll know instantly the ones that want out. They’re typically the owner-operators who have been running that business for a long time. Once you own the boring business, build a sales funnel to grow it fast.
#1: Laundromats
Laundromats are commercial cleaners with machines that operate day and night. You can run a laundromat with typically just one employee. That’s all it takes. However, these businesses can make a lot of money. And the opportunity to scale a laundromat is huge. Some of the best laundromats even provide additional services such as a pick-up and drop-off service, laundry folding, and more.
#2: Self Storage
Self-storage businesses are great boring businesses. They offer massive upside potential and recurring revenue similar to membership sites. Most self-storage businesses offer the first month free because they know that once you’re a customer, you’ll continue paying month after month to keep your stuff there. That makes sense, right? This increases the lifetime value of the customer and allows you to spend more to acquire them.
#3: Property Management
Property management companies manage long-term rentals for owners and deal with any issues that arise. They’re responsible for listing properties, finding tenants, providing maintenance services, and so on. Property management companies make a percentage of the gross rental rate and this business can easily be scaled using sales funnels.
#4: ATMs
ATMs offer huge upside potential. Typically, this is how it works. A financial company will offer machines to affiliates. Those affiliates will place those machines in local businesses and make a percentage for every transaction. To find the owner of the ATM business you’ll need to inspect the ATM and look for a sticker or speak to the business owners where the ATMs are placed.
#5: Car Washes
Car washes are big businesses. People always need to wash their cars and don’t have the time or the energy to do it at home. Purchasing a car wash is a surefire way you can make money. Some car washes also offer subscription services through an app called EverWash. And if they don’t, this is a great way to upgrade a car wash so that it makes more money.
#6: Tanning Salons
Tanning salons are popular boring businesses that exist in cities around the world. In some places, they are called solariums. Tanning salons offer recurring revenue since most implement subscriptions for their services. It’s an easy business to operate with a razor-thin staff and typically only requires one employee to oversee operations.
#7: Gyms
Gyms can easily make over $1000 per day because they are also recurring revenue businesses. Most gyms require contracts that automatically deduct payments every single month from members. And most members of gyms stick around for a very long time. By building a brand, running ads, and using sales funnels, you can quickly grow a gym in a short period.
#8: Mailbox Shipping Center
Mailbox businesses are great boring businesses. They offer two primary sources of revenue. The first is the daily customers coming into the business to ship out products and do returns. The second revenue stream is the mailbox rentals. People often need a local address and mailbox where they can pick up mail. This provides monthly income on autopilot.
#9: Junk Removal
People always need to remove junk. It’s a recession-proof business. Junk removal businesses charge you by the load to take the junk out of your house. Plus, they make money on the backend by selling that junk to various places. Some of it is dumped as garbage. But other items can be sold off just for the materials inside of the so-called junk.
#10: Dumpster Rentals
Dumpster rentals are integral to the renovation business and the real estate business. When you renovate a house, you need to clear out all that trash. A dumpster rental can drop off dumpsters and pick them back up to help with that situation. These are boring businesses that are needed year-round in every economic climate.
#11: Heavy Equipment Rentals
Heavy equipment rentals are a big business for the construction industry. Not all contractors have the equipment necessary to do all the work required. That’s why they need to rent out heavy equipment. This is capital intensive but the rental fees can quickly pay off the equipment prices. You’ll need to find an owner willing to sell and then increase sales to make the business more valuable.
#12: Power Washing
Most power-washing businesses are owner-operators. They’re usually the ones doing the work who own the business. But this is also a boring business that you can quickly scale. People always need power washing. And you can make a lot of money by offering this service to commercial businesses. You can also create recurring revenue streams by offering businesses monthly or quarterly power washing.
#13: Pool Cleaning
In some areas, pool cleaning is a big business. In warm climates, many homes have pools that need cleaning. And most homeowners don’t care for maintaining or cleaning the pools themselves. So they hire pool cleaners to do it for them. This is a great recurring revenue business. Most of them are owner-operated. But this is a boring business you can quickly scale with ads and sales funnels.
#14: Moving Company
Moving companies are recession-proof boring businesses that exist in every city on the planet. People always need movers because people are always moving. Moving companies are not just used for residential moving. Businesses also need moving companies to sometimes transport goods to other locations.
#15: Mortgage Broker
Mortgage brokers shop mortgages to banks and other financial institutions. They make money by earning a small percentage or fee for the origination of that loan. And some mortgage brokers can make a lot of money. This is a specialty business that often requires a license. But it can be purchased and quickly scaled by implementing ads, sales funnels, systems and processes.
#16: Vending Machines
Vending machines offer a lot of upside potential. They can placed in many businesses and some vending machine routes are massive. Purchasing a vending machine usually means inspecting the stickers on the side of vending machines to discover the owner. You can also ask the business where the vending machine is placed.
#17: Vacation Rental Management
Vacation rental management companies can make a lot of money. Especially when we’re talking about luxury vacation rentals. These companies typically make anywhere from 20% to 40% of gross revenues for vacation rental management. And some luxury vacation rentals can cost $5,000 to $25,000+ per night with a 3-night minimum.
#18: Landscaping
Landscaping services are always needed. This is certainly a recession-proof boring business that you can buy. Plus, landscaping businesses all have recurring revenue streams for maintaining homes, businesses, and entire gated communities for HOAs. They also make money from specialty projects such as landscape installation, sod installation, sprinklers, and so on.
#19: Senior Care
Senior care facilities make a lot of money. Some would say that they print money. The truth is that senior care is needed all the time. That’s because we’re not getting any younger. These are usually care facilities paired with a real estate play. To buy a senior care facility, means you’ll need to usually buy the business with the real estate asset combined.
#20: Tree Trimming
Tree trimming is another recession-proof business needed in every part of the world. That’s because trees don’t trim themselves. This business applies to residential communities and business communities. Commercial businesses such as shopping centers, malls, hospitals and more always need tree trimming. And they may offer recurring revenue.
#21: Franchises
Franchises are clearly boring businesses. But they do require a lot of capital. That’s because franchisees usually cannot sell their businesses through creative financing because of contractual obligations. But you can buy a franchise quickly and easily as long as you qualify. This usually means that you have enough liquid assets to satisfy the franchise.
#22: Rehab Centers
Rehab centers offer massive upside potential. Sadly, people need rehab all the time since alcohol and drugs are big problems people face in all areas of the world. Especially here in the United States, rehab centers are big businesses. Sometimes these include the real-estate asset and sometimes they don’t. However, this is a great boring business to consider purchasing.