A machine that sells while you sleep. The spot is the business.
A machine that sells things while you sleep. It's the most hands-off idea in the deck and the most misunderstood one, because the machine is the easy part. The business is the location. A great machine in a bad spot loses money every month. A cheap machine in a great spot pays for itself and then keeps paying. You are not buying a machine, you are buying a spot.
This is the whole idea, and it's backwards from what most people do.
Talk to five local business owners. A gym, a barbershop, a laundromat, a car repair waiting room, an apartment building office. Ask:
"I'm putting in a snack machine. I handle everything, stocking and repairs, and I'd give you [percentage or flat monthly] for the space. Could I put one in your waiting area?"
Get a written yes before you buy anything. If nobody says yes, you have saved yourself hundreds of dollars and a machine in your garage.
This is the most parent-involved idea in the deck, and not because of safety. There's a contract with a business owner, a few hundred dollars up front, sales tax to think about, and a machine to physically move. Some of that legally requires an adult. Sit down together, look at the numbers before you spend, and agree on who does what. A parent as your partner here makes it work. A parent as your bank does not.
Most of your money goes into the machine itself.
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Andre's dad prized the steady paycheck, and he wasn't wrong about why: predictable money lets you sleep. What a machine can do, when it's in the right place, is give you a little bit of that. Money that keeps coming in whether or not you showed up today. But it only works if you do the unglamorous part first, which is checking the numbers before you spend and being honest about whether the spot is really any good. Excitement is not a business plan.
The full Young Founder kit walks you through everything Andre and Sophie learned: how to check the numbers before you invest, negotiate with a business owner, and build income that doesn't need you standing there. The book, the workbook, the videos, and more.
See what is inside the kitA 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 answerLess 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 answerTen people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.
Read the answerFind out whether this is not working or just not fun right now. Those look identical from outside and they need opposite responses.
Read the answerThey are not buying feeding. They are buying a holiday where nobody is quietly worried about the cat.
See the ideaSmall money that arrives every single week without anyone having to be asked again. The cleanest lesson in recurring revenue there is.
See the ideaNobody puts it on the list, and everybody notices once it is done. The before and after photo does the selling.
See the ideaForty minutes, a bucket, and a customer who can see the problem from their front door.
See the ideaA program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.