30. Your Own Business

Is it possible to start a business with no money? Online business opportunities are endless. The tools that did not exist or were affordable only by large corporations are available now for nominal costs. AI is leveling the playing field. It is forecast that a Billion Dollar one-person business will soon show what is possible.

Traditional local business like medical care, home services and more require money and years to establish. Here’s a shortcut. Like mentioned earlier 70 Million Boomers want to retire but most can’t.

A dentist can set up shop in a small town for cheap. He could make a deal with the local dentist who wants an exit to retire. He would have waiting room full of patients instantly on day one with no advertising expense. This can work for most any business. Lawyers, auto repair, landscaping and so on. No loans means no being slaves to those loans.

These types of businesses are not salable. The goodwill and customer base usually exits with the owner. I know a lawyer that did basic family law. A really smart guy and ambitious. His plan was to do thousands of cheap wills for local suburban families. By the time he wanted to exit he could make a fortune probating the wills or hand it off to a young lawyer. A sure thing, right?

So he turns 60 and wants out. He lists the practice for sale. Years roll by without any interest. The new lawyers don’t want a small town practice or the headaches of running one. They want big salaries. out of the box at prestigious law forms downtown where the action is. Our lawyer quietly closes his practice. The supposed gold mine of wills ready to probate go to the shredder. 40 years hard work delivering legal services plus the burden of owning and managing a small practice resulted in no equity. The money earned was spent to support a middle-class lifestyle. Retirement was taken care of by an early death.

Now with AI looming on the horizon this idea may work. Big firms are automating entry-level jobs into oblivion. The new JD’s have huge student loan debt. They thought they could parlay a useless BA and 3 years or memorization and test-taking into a sure-fire easy life. They were wrong.

Most new lawyers with combined undergrad + law school debt owe between $150k – $250k. That translates to payment of $1,700 – $2,800/month for 10 years, or $1,100 – $1,900/month for 20 years. Our young go-getters earned themselves wage and debt slavery.

Consider a mechanic who sees the boss charging $150 an hour for his labor while paying him $40. He wants a piece of the action. He wants to be an owner but lacks the savings or credit to buy or lease a building, install heavy equipment like lifts and compressors and so on. The expenses are endless… signage, tools and supplies. the baysTo scale up to make enough to get out of the bays and into the office to run the business with clean hands he needs to spend a lot on advertising. The competition in the city is fierce. It’s a zero-sum game. There are only so many customers each month with cars needing repairs that can afford to pay. He also needs to hire mechanics. They in turn will feel underpaid and exploited and daydream about being the owner while goofing off doing the bare minimum to keep getting a check.

If he manages to get financed the debt burden combined with supporting a family with ever-escalating inflation will crush him. It will keep him under the hood turning wrenches until he falls down dead. His kids seeing what hard work gets you and want to be influencers and online scammers.

Here’s a better plan. Our mechanic hero moves the family to small town that is affordable and peaceful. He made a deal with a local shop owner to take over his business. He offers a buyout with no money down paying 10% of the gross revenue for 10 years. The sho owner likes our mechanic and makes a one year probation period to hedge his bet.

The mechanic agrees and the shop owner grabs the deal. He promises to introduce him t every customer working side-by-side for the year. Then he is out. The customers are happy and grateful that they will still have a trusted local shop to take their cars. They soon grow to like the mechanic and welcome his family to their town. His wife has new friends and support. So do the kids.

Our mechanic specializes in what the customers drive, moistly pickups and SUVs. He can’t and won’t try to work on just anything that rolls in. He is discriminating and smart. He is recognized as an expert. He requires minimum tools and diagnostic equipment. He is Mr. GoTo. Like our Dentist our mechanic has no loans, no risk and a better future. His kids decide against college instead going to trade school for automotive and electronics technology, They apprentice with their Dad and are eager to take it over so they can stay in their little paradise. They do so and the grandkids are next in line.