Starter guide

Curbside Bin Helper

Roll bins out and back for neighbors who forget or can't. Tiny job, steady money.

Free to start
Easy

Roll the trash bins out on collection night, roll them back the next day. That's it. It sounds too small to be a business, and that's exactly why it works. It takes you four minutes per house, nobody else is offering it, and the people who need it most, older neighbors and families who travel, need it every single week.

Start for free

Knock on ten doors this week

There is nothing to buy, so there's no reason to wait.

Ask ten neighbors:

"I'm doing a bin service on our street. I roll your bins out on trash night and bring them back in the next day, every week, for [your price] a month. Want me to add your house?"

Say the monthly price, not the per-week price. It sounds smaller and it means you get paid once instead of chasing four small payments.

The plan

Your simple plan

  1. Work one street, then the next one over. Ten houses on one street beats ten houses across town. Walking time is your only real cost.
  2. Charge monthly, collect at the start of the month. Predictable money, one conversation.
  3. Set two alarms. One for out, one for back. Missing the return trip is the only way to lose this job.
  4. Add houses until your route is full, then raise your price for new customers. A full route is proof you're worth more.
The gear

What you need, and what you can skip

Genuinely nothing. If you buy anything at all, buy these two.

Get these
  • Work gloves. Bins are filthy. Shop this
  • A headlamp or clip light, since trash night is often after dark. Shop this
Skip these for now
  • Anything else. This is the closest thing to a zero-cost business in the whole deck. Keep it that way.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We only list gear the guide actually calls for, and the skip list is there because most of it you do not need yet.

The lesson from the book

Sophie's edge was noticing the small thing everybody else walked past. This business is that lesson in its purest form. Nobody thinks bins are worth money, which is precisely why nobody is competing with you for it.

Small and boring and repeating every week is a better business than big and exciting and happening once. Money that shows up on a schedule is worth more than money that shows up when you get lucky.

The full program

Ready to build the whole thing?

The full Young Founder kit walks you through everything Andre and Sophie learned: how to spot the job nobody else wants, price it monthly, and build a route that pays you every month. The book, the workbook, the videos, and more.

See what is inside the kit

Questions about this idea

What should a kid charge to walk a dog?

A kid walking dogs in their own neighborhood usually starts between $10 and $18 for a thirty minute walk. Professional walkers average about $21 for the same walk.

Read the answer

How much money does a kid need to start a business?

Less than almost anyone expects, and for a lot of these ideas the honest answer is nothing until somebody has already said yes to a price.

Read the answer

How does a kid find their first customer?

Ten people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.

Read the answer

What do I do when my kid wants to quit?

Find out whether this is not working or just not fun right now. Those look identical from outside and they need opposite responses.

Read the answer

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Window Washing

Nobody puts it on the list, and everybody notices once it is done. The before and after photo does the selling.

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Driveway Car Wash

Forty minutes, a bucket, and a customer who can see the problem from their front door.

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Young Founder

A program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.

Young Founder, 2026