10 Businesses to Start for Less Than $25K

In this episode, John shares 10 different businesses that cost less than $25,000 to startup. He also focuses on a bonus business idea that can be started with $100K or less. If you're looking for a reliable business to start up and the keys to get it started, this episode is for you!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome the Money and Wealth with John O'Bryant, a production
of The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey, Hey, Hey,
this is John Hope Bryant Money and Wealth Podcast. This
is my weekly pullpit of finance. For those of you

(00:24):
not familiar. I'm an entrepreneur and I built businesses and
enterprises and nonprofit organizations. And I've been at this my
whole life. I started not in the womb, but I was.
You know, it was role modeled by my mom and

(00:45):
my dad. We model what we see right, right, right.
And I often tell people when people say, why the
kids in the inner city want to be rap stars,
athletes or drug dealers? Right, And there's nothing wrong with
being want to be a rap star, just you can't.
It's hard to scale. My friends Killer Mike and t
I and the jay Z's of the world, and even

(01:07):
you know, the R and B stars that I love
so much, like my brother Howard Hewitt and all these
you know im presarios. You know, there's only one Quincy
Jones in the world. Right, It's hard to scale. You
can't reproduce personality like that. They're unique, right, And athletes
same thing, right. There's something like five hundred thousand young

(01:30):
men trying to go into the believe it's the NBA.
See the NBA, of the NFL, and of that, you know,
like eighteen thousand of them, make them into college, make
it into college sports, and it's like one two percent.
I think it's actually this is the NBA. Make it
actually into the pros. I think it's like sixty and so,

(01:53):
you know, and of course, nobody should want to be
a drug dealer. And you've heard me say this for
you know, drug dealers are unethical and it may be
an im moral business, but they're not dumb. They understand import, export, finance, marketing, hostsale, retail,
customer service, security, territory, logistics. Right, these are not dumb people.

(02:14):
These are really smart guys and unfortunately sometimes ladies with
a really crappy business plan and bad role models and
bad mentors. And one of the reasons that I do
what I do is that you know, it is what
we don't know that we don't know this killing us,
but we think we know, like no one gave us
a shot, no one gave us a plan, no one
gave us training, right, no one gave us a proper

(02:38):
business plan for our lives. It's my I think it's
my fourth book, the memo. The book that's out now
is Financial Literacy for All, which, by the way, thanks
everybody for continuing to make it a number one bestseller.
It's number one in business finance on Amazon nationwide for
the last three months. So if you haven't don't have
your copy, get a copy. If you have your own
copy already, leave a review please online. And it's coming

(03:02):
to black bookstores near you. If it's not there already,
I'll do this American Aspiration Tour. I'll be stopping at
black business bookstores. I'm doing a book a couple of
book events at Walmart. The CEO Walmart did the forward
for the book, Doug Millan, good friend of mine, coach
chair of Financial Lucy for All with me and yeah,
there's some other surprises coming the end of the year

(03:23):
with the book. But you know what was that to
do with this podcast episode? Like my shirt today says,
my hustle looks different, My hustle looks different. But my
mom and dad I understood a had blessings like the
other people didn't have. My mom. Yeah, I grew up
in the hood. I grew up in South central incompetent. Yes,
all that's true. I was homeless, all that's true, But
my mother, I was economical helmless, by the way, which

(03:44):
is different than most people's homelessness. And you know, it
was almost an intentional situation because I could have gone
home and hung out with my mother, but she would
have you know, she was worrying about me. She would
have worried about me, and she would have forced me
to go get a job at mcdonaldella's aircrab and boying
he crample sheet with don Dose Aircraft which is now
Boeling Aircraft where she worked. I didn't want to do that.

(04:05):
That wasn't my calling of my life. So I was
willing to roll the dice on me. I was willing
to bet on me. My hustle looks different. Well, my
mother worked a job. She also had a small business
part time selling making handicrafts and selling that plus food
that she made, she sell it to her coworkers at
Mcdonalduglar's Aircraft. She would then the supervisor got mad at her.

(04:31):
He would threaten there like I'm gonna expose your side hustle.
She's like, well, I'm gonna expose you with being accustomed
my side hustle and let me ride around his bicycle
on the campus at McDonald Douglas Aircraft and sell it
to all my coworkers and your peers. So when I
go down, you going down the zip it. My dad
owned his own business right and my grandfather was a

(04:54):
sharecropper born in eighteen seventy one RB Smith. So I
got it honest, like my mom had a sense of yes,
I am, gave that to me. My dad has a
sense of yes I can and gave that to me.
All right. So my hustle was different, and I want
your hustle to be different. If you I want you
to have a choice, like I want you to have freedom.
I want you to have freedom of self determination and

(05:17):
not just the freedom to go work where you want.
That's cool. Most people are going to work for somebody else.
That's that's perfectly fine, and we need that, we need
to encourage that, we need to build the middle class.
But sometimes you want to You may choose to take
a higher risk and to get more reward if you
succeeded that you go from cashing a check working for

(05:39):
somebody else to writing a check hello, working for yourself.
Can I get an a man. I tell you this
is this is the church. What's happening now? And what
have you done for me lately? This is the pulpit
of finance. This is the weekly ministry that pulpit. No
disrespect the pastors of the cloth. This is my ministry
of finance. Right small and an opportunity again, Money and Wealth,

(06:04):
this is This is my Money and Wealth podcast series
on the Black Effect Network on iHeartRadio, coming to you
every week with something that breaks this down at a
level and in a way that everybody can understand. Again,
you're not dumb and you're not stupid. It's what you
don't know that you don't know that's gilling you. But
you think you know in a blind town or one
eyed man's king. If you don't know better, you can't

(06:26):
do better or keep people like John? Can you get
on with the ten businesses? Right? Let me so in
these in these unique times, right. So, I recognize you
have hustle. I recognize that you're nine to five. Your
job may financi your five to nine your side hustle beautiful.
I know that you want to go from the bottom
to the top. I know that your role models may
be limited because you model what you see. But we

(06:47):
don't see a lot of business people in our neighborhoods.
And when I was coming up, you know, I didn't
know there were businesses in my neighborhood. I knew there
was a nail salon. I knew there was a you know,
a liquor store or whatever, but I didn't equate that
to business. I didn't realize those were capitalists, right. I
didn't realize that was free enterprise. It took a banker
coming into my classroom and breaking that down for me

(07:09):
when I was nine years old. In my financial literacy course,
which I hope to one day get indoctrinated into every
school in America home economic course to financial Literacy for
All legislation, I'll be working on that. You can go
for the Campaign if America. By the way, on our
website at Operation Help, go to the Campaign for America
under the book Financial Literacy for All book page in

(07:30):
sign up for the Campaign for America to ultimately build
a list that will go to legislators that would encourage
them to make financial literacy the legislation of the land.
But that's how I got it right. Banker come in
my classroom giving me tools and then I and then
my eyes lit up. I saw businesses everywhere, So I
wanted to make this easy for you. Here are ten
businesses right that you can start. Now. You know some

(07:54):
of these I could go for one hundred thousand, but
I'm going to do this. I'm going to make this approachable. Right,
ten businesses you can start for twenty five thousand dollars
a year because these are lean times, right. Folks got
too much month at the end of their money. Right now,
these are leaner times. If this was two thousand and one,
right after the pandemic hit and all the stimulus money

(08:14):
are flowing, I might do a podcast that's one hundred
thousand dollars business, but you've got less money day, less resources, right,
So I wanted something that's approachable twenty five thousand dollars
and you can even finance some of that if you
need to. So, if you have a twenty five thousand
dollars budget, and I encourage you to go to Operation Hope,
sign up for our scholarship coaching and counseling, financial literacy

(08:37):
coaching and counseling, and our one million Black Business Initiative,
Our partnership with Shopify. Sign up that's free. Go to
the Hope and Hand app online and get yourself undred
credits work coaching and counseling. Because most of the credit
you're going to access to start with these businesses, it's
going to come off your personal credit score. Because most
black businesses, if you're black watching this and listening to this,
most black businesses ninety six percent of them don't have

(08:59):
an employee. Self employment projects. But most people who start
businesses irrespective of race. By the way, you could be Caucasian,
let they know, Asian, whatever, listening to this, it's all good.
It's the same tools, right and rules. You're going to
be self employed and you're going to be your access
to credit is going to rely a lot on your
personal credit report. Okay. Business number one I want you

(09:21):
to think about is a food truck startup costs well,
the purchase of a lease of a truck right and
it could be new, it could be previously owned kitchen
equipment to go into the food truck, initial inventory licenses

(09:43):
in permits. Don't forget your permits. If you're operating in
a city, even though the truck is moving, you still
need a business permit. You don't want to get caught
slipping and have folks come up and shut you down
from the city or the county because you've not provided
in some cases the state proper licenses. And if you're

(10:03):
gonna deal with food, there's certainly licenses and permits involved.
Licenses and or permits. Now, if you if you come
from my neighborhood, and if you happen to have a
tan meaning you're black, or you're brown black or hispanic,
somebody in your family knows how to cook, right, somebody
knows how to burn as they say, right, it might

(10:24):
be you, right. And if you have a passion for cooking,
I think if you ever want to do that, somebody
was you know, one of my relatives came to visit
recently and I was like, what do you want to do?
She said, I want to be a lawyer. Why do
you want to be a lawyer because they make good money. No,
that's the wrong answer, right. I want you to do
it because you're passionate, because you love it, because you
do it for free, if you could afford to, Because

(10:45):
then you'll get up early, stay up late, work harder.
You'll put in more energy than anybody else and you
be the best at what you do. But if you're
just doing it for the money, it's in late long lunch,
leave early, and you won't put the energy in and
somebody else is going to clock you, meaning somebody else
is going to outwork you, and ultimately that dream will fail. Right,
So if you love food, this is a great option

(11:06):
for you a food truck. And yes, you can start
a food truck. Again, I encourage you to get a
budget and design a balance sheet and an income statement,
an income performer, which means you know what is the
income you're projecting for the business over the course of

(11:27):
the startup year. So you want to start with the
startup budget. Was it cost to start then three months?
I'd say suggest a three month budget, a six month budget,
and a one year budget. And I think you can
do that for twenty five thousand dollars. Okay, So purchase
or release a truck kitchen equipment. Now, if you're going
to alter the truck, leasing might be a little sketchy.

(11:49):
You've got to replace. You got to return that truck
the way you you got it. So you might have
to buy a truck, but you don't have to buy
a new truck. You can buy a previously. I want
a friend of mine named Tim Burt who's in my book.
I sign him into my book. Whatever his quotes is.
You got to decide whether you want to be famous,
you want to be dangerous. I'd rather be dangerous, meaning intelligent.

(12:10):
He would. He drove up one day at the house
and he's a general contractor with half a truck. He
drove up and with the cab of the truck and
the back was missing. We're like, man, what's up with that? Was?
You know, nice looking truck. Where's the rest of it?
He's like, yo, man, I did a job. And the
guy he didn't want to pay me, but he said
he would barter me for this truck. And the truck was.

(12:32):
I could get this truck for a fraction of its
of its value. I checked the I checked the Blue
Book value. By the way, this is another business bartering
and selling and buying or bartering and selling is can
be a former business, but buying and selling and turning
around automobiles. But anyway, he said, I can buy this
you know, this truck is a you know, this guy's
wand sell it to me for a third of what

(12:52):
it's worth. He just needs a little work, So he bought.
He accepted the truck in replaced for the work that
he had done. A bar, a barter and trade, and
he went and found at a junkyard the second part
the bed for a couple of thousand dollars, and he
had a truck that was dang near new for a

(13:13):
fraction of the costs and cost him nothing quite literally,
other than his own time. He could turn on and
sell that truck for property he wanted to. He just
had to paint it the same color. He still has
that truck today. My man is a good capitalist. So
you don't have to go buy a brand new truck,
and you don't have to go get in debt. You
can just find something as reliable. The key on the
food truck is what the food can? You cook right?

(13:36):
And you can move. The great thing about a food
truck is you can move it to your market. Why
it works lower overhead compared to a restaurant and stand
a physical restaurant, and the ability to reach different customer bases,
action steps, research, local regulations, design a menu and market
through social media and local events. Again, my team that

(13:59):
operations can help you get deeper into that situation. Number two,
I love this one e commerce store startup costs, website development.
Your star costs can include website development, initial inventory, marketing,
and shipping and logistics. I love this business because it
involves one of our partners, which is Shopify, and that's

(14:23):
the one million Black business initial shoppa. High Fire is
a great and they put up one hundred and thirty
million dollars to Operation after George Floyd's murder over ten
years to help us create a million new Black businesses
in America. My brother Lance Triggs, who's President of Programs
at Operation, runs that portfolio for me. Runs that and
other things. But working with all the fraternities and sororities

(14:43):
and HBC used like Clarke, Atlanta University, Houston Versity, and others,
five bit of Sigma, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
We have over four hundred thousand black businesses that we've
helped to start create, advance nurture support, amongst other things,

(15:04):
a Shopify license for three to four months complementary, and
if you make your first sale at Shopify, they will
finance the second sale, so you don't need to go
get outside financing. They do it for you. They help
you with your own website, your own payment, your own
domain name, search website, payment systems, delivery systems, lots of

(15:28):
support through our partnership with them, a business plan we
help you with. Again that Shopify license that's actually worth
the Shopify package we have, it's actually worth about twenty
five thousand dollars. So in that particular case, the business
costs you nothing. So if you own an existing business
right now, listen, now, you want to start an e

(15:49):
commerce sister to that business. So if you have a
restaurant right now, physical business, you want an e commerce
side hustle. You have a barbershop at e commerce side hustle,
whatever isn't you have? You want an e commerce system
to that business. And it's working when you sleep. What
if I told you you make money during the day.
Listen now, hello, what are am I about to say?

(16:10):
You build wealth in your sleep compounding and when you're sleeping,
people can be online making orders online on your e
commerce site. So startup costs, website development, initial inventory, marketing,
and shipping logistics. And I just told you if you
partner will go through opera show and shop a fib
We're going to help you offset a lot of that.

(16:32):
Why it works, low overhead and the potential to reach
a global customer base. Hello global. I love that, and
I love it also because it involves technology, which is
I think in the future. Action steps. Choose a niche.
Set up a niche meaning a business that a business section,
a sector that you have a special expertise and its
something that you know better than anybody else, right, and

(16:55):
you're just really passionate about that topic or that area,
and just laser focus on that niche. Set up your
an online store, Shopify, Woo Commerce, others, but I suggest
Shopify and implement digital marketing strategies. Number three, I gotta
go faster to get through the all ten and give

(17:15):
you my bonus track. So bear with me here, and
I'm so passionate about you getting these answers some kind
of really give you some real good detail here. But
I'll get it all in before your run is over,
before your walk is over, before you finish dinner, whatever
you're doing, or you're commute and you're listening to this podcast.
I commit to roll with you and ride with you,

(17:37):
but be done before you are. You never want to
be the old guy in the club, like before you're
ready to kick me out, I'm gonna leave. Number three.
Yes I could have been a comedian. Yes I could
have been, maybe not a good one, maybe not one
being paid. But I could have been a communian. Okay.
Number three Long care and landscaping services startup costs, long

(18:00):
hair equipment. I went and bought a beautiful zero zero
turn long lawn more for the property that we have,
and I remember it was. It was beautiful. You sit
on it, it turns around, gorgeous, it looked it was
commercial grade, and it was about five thousand dollars. Uh.
And you can finance it if you wanted to so
long cair equipment. Vehicle to transport the long longer equipment.

(18:23):
Maybe you can get the truck from Tim Burt that
that I just told you about it to give you
a bargain for it again. But you can buy a
truck you know previously own and and you know, well
you're well within your budget. Uh. Vehicle marketing initial supplies
long equipment. Why it works, Steady demand for residential and
commercial lawn care services grass grows every week. I know

(18:48):
it seems obvious, but you know I need to tell you.
I mean, I need to tell you the obvious. You
got to eat every day. That's why the food truck
works three times a day, two times a day, and
long grows every week. So you know, people want to
always need certain these these businesses in your local community.
And uh uh I want you to advertise action steps,

(19:11):
advertise locally. I want you to offer competitive pricing and
build a customer base through quality service that gives you
repeat customers. The guy who does does my long care
black owned business here in Atlanta, Uh he he comes
in every week. Uh and he gets a check uh

(19:31):
every month. Uh it's now is Jamail uh And uh
he does a great, great job. And and I'm sure
if he would be willing to mentor you if you
want to start this business as m J Lawn and
Maintenance Services, Jamail Thomas here in Atlanta. Look him up,
tell him I sent you fitness studio number four. Startup

(19:53):
costs is rent, fitness equipment, marketing, and initial staff salaries.
And if you you're the staff yourself, well there you go,
zero that cost out. This is a fitness studio. So
you know, maybe you need a part time receptionist in
addition to you because you're going to do this, probably
because you're excited about and you love working out. It's

(20:14):
a growing focus on health and wellness in this country.
The country right now, we have the largest sorry, the
first generation over the age of sixty five. The majority
of people in this country will be over the sixty
five our generation right now, and they're trying to live longer,
they're trying to have wellness, they're trying to eat better
and live a more fulfilling life. And they're a great

(20:36):
And then you have all these executives and people working harder,
but they know they're not taking care of their bodies.
And if you can provide a fitness studio for them
in your community and really target again create that niche,
you can grow a business clientele, action steps, find a
suitable location, offer unique classes or fitness programs, and build
a community through social media. Of a friend here in Atlanta,

(21:00):
Maury Russell of the Russell family, the famous real estate family,
her and Russell. This is his granddaughter and Maury has
a fitness studio UH and it has been very successful
for her as an example, and she started it on
a limited budget, and I think she was even she
even started it through the Wreussell Center for the Wrestle

(21:23):
Center in Atlanta that nurtures entrepreneurs, So she even had
a place to sort of domicile the business before she
got it. Got rolling number five, and I did this
business before, a mobile car detailing business. Right startup costs,
vehicle I even use the car you're driving already, UH
detailing equipment. UH literally go down to go down to

(21:46):
what I used to call it. I used to go
to pet Boys, We go down the auto uh supply store.
In these days, you can go to Walmart and Target
Tar and get supplies. There. Used to be just when
I was coming up, but there was just an literally
an auto dealership, an auto parts supply company where you
would get the supplies. You can get them anywhere now.

(22:07):
The vehicle detail equipment, cleaning supplies and marketing. Why it works, Convenient,
convenience for customers, and relatively low startup costs, action steps,
market to local car owners, go to car shows. That's
what I would do. I'd hang out this sounds a
little sketchy. I'd hang out a car, car washes and

(22:28):
say don't you want to do this from home? I
would hang out of car washes. I know it sounds funny.
I would say, you just wasted an hour, half an hour,
forty five minutes sitting up here. What if I come
to you? I mean, you can pick up all kind
of customers just literally waiting at the mouth or the
entrance of a car dealership. Don't append, don't mess up
the car wash business, don't don't get in the way
of the customer. But if you could just have a

(22:50):
side conversation with somebody entering or exiting fair changes or robbery,
if they if they love they may love coming to
car dealership, in which car dealership a car wash, in
which case they not your target market, but they love
sitting at home and chilling like me. Then they were like, yeah, man,
give me your car, you come to me next. And
so targeting the area, you know within let's say twenty

(23:11):
or thirty minutes from where you live, so you can
you can get customers to them quickly. And that's my
ideal suggestion. This is a great business. I did it before.
I did a mobile car dealer detailing business. I didn't
do it well, but I did it when I was teens,
late teens. Forget how old I was around the time

(23:31):
I was homeless and no, I didn't wash the car
I was sleeping in because I wasn't paying customer. In fact,
the folks were looking for the car I was sleeping in.

(23:54):
Number six Tutorio center startup costs, rent, educational materials, marketing,
and initial staff salaries. Why it works consistent demand for
educational supplies educational support across all age groups. Action steps.
Advertise at local schools, create a strong online presence, and
offer trial sessions to attract students. This is a great again,

(24:17):
a great business, and use AI tools artificial intelligence to
boost your uniqueness in this sector and your target markets.
Hanging around. The easiest way to do this is middle
class school areas where you have a lot of engagement
from parents who are going to pay for the tutorial services.

(24:39):
You literally hang out in schools and see parents come
and go, or build relationships with schools, and in low
income areas build relationships with the school personnel and the
school counselors and all that kind of stuff. But this
is another great, great business. Literally, it doesn't matter the
socioeconomic groups. Everybody wants to come up. Everybody wants to
be successful. In high income areas. You tend to have

(25:01):
more family engagement, there's more income, there's more flexibility, there's
more time to come show, hang out, and hang up
at the school. I know when I was coming up,
my mother's were two jobs. She didn't come to school
as I got in trouble. But again, this works everywhere. Seven.
A photography business startup costs camera equipment, marketing, website development
and studio set up if needed, unless you want to

(25:23):
do a mobile photography business. And by the way, I
would also rent photographic equipment. All these people doing podcasts hello,
like me doing vlogs and all this stuff, they may
they may have a need for different kind of equipment
or upgrading equipment, or may not have the capital of
buy equipment. Some businesses just literally renting equipment. I mean,

(25:44):
what all these folks do in these movies, these movies
and video shoots and all that stuff. Do you think
it's their equipment? No, it's not right. They rented. One
of the huge business in Hollywood and Hollywood South here
in Atlanta and in New York is reading equipment. That's
a whole other business. Bonus stock. Why this business works.

(26:04):
Photography business high demand for professional photography for events, portraits,
commercial use of course, weddings. Action steps, build a portfolio.
Love is a business. Build the biggest business in the world.
It's not the biggest business world, but it is a
self sustainable business. People are always interested in love and
whether it's loving another loving themselves. They like photography and

(26:25):
they want to capture that moment. Build your action step,
build a portfolio, Network and local with local businesses, and
utilized social media for marketing. Number eight coffee shop startup
costs rent. And there's a company called the Black Coffee
Company here in Atlanta that we Operation Shope invested in

(26:46):
our first invent investment from Hope Ventures twenty five thousand dollars.
Oddly enough for some money we put in their business.
They're doing extraordinarily well. They have a physical shop. They
have great products and I mean some of the best
call I've ever seen, and that people come in there
all the time and they just want to chill in there,
they want to work, they want to socialize. It is
all in one and they drink coffee, which has a

(27:09):
great profit margin in it. Startup costs rent for the facility,
coffee equipment, in initial inventory of the coffee itself, licenses
and permits. Why it works study demand for coffee and
a potential for a loyal customer base. You know coffee
came from Ethiopia. You know that. I believe n T

(27:31):
action steps find a high traffic location created a cozy atmosphere.
A place is like a home, but it's in a
business where people just love to chill and it's a
warm environment. And market through local events and hello again
social media. Number nine. Pet grooming services. Startup costs include
grooming equipment rent if the business is not mobile, marketing,

(27:56):
and initial supplies. Why it works a growing industry. People
love their pets are like shooting in Washington. They say,
if you want to you want real relationship, real friend,
get a dog. Dogs will love you no matter what.
Because washingt DC is rather transactional, some folks may believe
their relationships are transactional or or not for them anyway,

(28:18):
Dogs pets always work. They love you no matter what.
I'm kidding, but I'm serious that it's a big business.
It's a growing pet industry with a consistent demand for
grooming services. Somebody comes in grooms Pixie as Jatre's dog.
He gets paid. His dog is gorgeous, too. I guess
dogs in Akita, Akita, beautiful dog. I always want to

(28:41):
snatch the dog. I'm like, no, that's not good, John,
you can't do that's groomer's dog action steps advertising local
pet stores UH and veterinary clinics. Veterinarian clinics offer that's
another solid business. By the way, offer promotions. I've been
I've been veterinary vetting. I've been into emergency veterinary rooms

(29:03):
at midnight and two in the morning. Veterinarians, you know,
I mean, it's unbelievable, but they charge it two in
the morning. And what you willing to pay and offer
promotions and provide excellent customer service. Nobody wants to deal
with a jerk, so make sure you're providing good customer service.
Number ten. Home renovations and repairs, startup costs, tools, vehicles, marketing,

(29:27):
and initial supplies. You don't need a general contractor's license
for this, but it would be nice to have it.
So if you want to just do hand handyman work,
handy woman work, then this and there's always a need
for this, then this is a good business. But you
want to go step it up a level, then you
want to become a contractor general contractor a high demand

(29:47):
for home improvement services. Action stabs market to market to homeowners,
offer competitive rates, and build a reputation for quality work.
I can't tell you how much business you can get
if you just have ethics and integrity in the construction trade,
it is. It is sketchy stuff I've seen in the
construction state trade. So just be better than everybody else, Like,

(30:09):
just be normal. So I want you to research and plan,
conduct thorough market research and create a detailed business plan
for each of these businesses that you want to start.
I want you to leverage technology you can't do. Me
and Sam Autman not good English, Sam Altman and myself
Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI, and I are
co chairing the AI Ethics Council. And the more I think,

(30:32):
the more I learned about this phenomena of AI, the
more I believe it is going to change everything. And
I will be doing a podcast just on AI. But
you've got to involve yourself in technology. There's two things
you've got to have going into the future, whether you're
coming just out of school or you're resetting yourself for
your second stage of your life. And you're doing do over.

(30:53):
You need technology education and a financial literacy education to
compete be competitive in this new world. Leverage technology and
become a technologist. Use online tools and platforms to streamline
operations and marketing. Build a network. Network with other business owners.
Join local business groups and trade groups. Here in Atlanta

(31:16):
there's a Black Chamber Commerce and Black Business Association and
all these different groups. But you know, whatever is in
your area that you think allows you to network with
other business owners. And you guys can trade leads right
and participate in community events. Big a big source of

(31:36):
leads and opportunity. And work with your government that all
the festivals that the government does, they'll give you space
for free. Often it's free marketing. They'll market for you
the local city, county government. Focus on quality and customers service.
Nobody loves rude, be boat. Stop being rude and ask
for my money. Provide excellent customer service and high quality products,

(32:02):
and build and help build loyal customer base and generate
positive word of mouth. Be careful managing that budget. If
you're outflow, he sees your inflow, then you're overhead. It
will be your downfall. Be careful, be careful, be careful. Okay,
I have a bonus business idea for you. I'm going
to do a separate podcast episode on kids' businesses. By

(32:26):
the way, yay, watch out for that one. But here's
the bonus business that I want you to think about.
And I really for some reason, I just I just
think this is so cool box truck. My brother, Keith Williams,
who is a barber a well he's a firefighter for

(32:46):
the City of Atlanta, So thanks for their serius service, brother.
But he also has a mobile barber shop. It's another
business I didn't cover. It's a mobile barbershop, mobile nail salon,
mobile nail tech, mobile manicure, and dedicare Yes, Peedicare ladies.
They love those pedicas. Brothers do too. There's all these
kind of mobile all these mobile you know, mobile services

(33:10):
are well under twenty five thousand dollars for startup costs
and operating for the year. These were not just started cost.
But you can run these business You can start these
businesses and typically run them for a year for twenty
five about twenty five thousand dollars of outflow if you
really manage it very well. You can't take money out
of the business. But you won't be putting more than

(33:30):
twenty five thousand into it if you plan it really well. Now,
this business here is over twenty five thousand dollars to
do what I'm about to tell you, it's going to
be between fifty and ninety thousand dollars. But and you've
been to finance some of that, maybe a lot of that.
But I just I just think this is a cool
little business. Starting a box truck business. That box truck is.

(33:54):
Think about a I have a sprinter van, but it's
all you know, so asked up like a portable office.
Think about a hollowed out sprinter van. Think about a well,
it's a box truck, and so search box truck while
we're doing this, right, it's not an eighteen wheeler, is

(34:16):
not on these huge trucks. But it's also not a vein, right,
So it's a step between. Starting a box truck business
can be a viable and lucrative option for young business
people and young entrepreneurs. Now, an entrepreneur a business person,
they are different. Business person is using a traditional business
model and growing it. Succeeding entrepreneur is taking something, an

(34:40):
existing idea, maybe in turning it into a new idea
or starting a new idea to begin with. But it
can be a very lucrative for a young hustler. Again,
my hustle is different. And who wants to start a business,
who wants to be self employed, who doesn't have a
lot of capital, who wants to be local, who wants

(35:00):
to have a great margin on the business, mean the
profit margin. Who wants to have something that is highly
sought for, sought after. It offers flexibility this business, relatively
low startup costs compared to other business models, and the
opportunity to cater to a wide range of industries such
as moving services, delivery services, logistical support. I'm going to

(35:22):
get into this. I love you. I love businesses where
your clients are huge, you know, and they pay their
bills and there's a constant need. All of my my
joint ventures, all of my partners, my clients are my
partners are bigger than me. I'll get it enjoint ventures
in a separate podcast. Again, to be very focused on
these different podcasts. Uh. And you're almost at your location,

(35:45):
so I have only about ten more minutes with you.
So we're gonna we're gonna end with a bang here
Are you enjoying this? Never mind, you're getting it anyway. No, seriously,
are you enjoying this? Let me know what you Let
me know if you're filling it, and share this with
your partners, your friends, your family members, you know, those
who are reimagining their life. So again, I love this
business for a lot of different reasons. Here's how you

(36:08):
start this box truck business. The first thing is research
and planning. Again, my team at Operation Hope can help
you with all of this, so you're not by yourself.
And it's because of scholarships at Operation Hope that are
one thousand dollars scholarships, five thousand dollars scholarships scholarships, and
ten thousand dollars coaching scholarships. The services initially are all free.

(36:30):
Not initially meaning all the services are no cost to users,
not like a baid and switch situation. But these services
based on these categories are no cost to you. And
then because we raise money from corporations to sponsored services
in scholarships, ship it to you. And then there's the
higher echelons of scholarship. Is this twenty five thousand dollars
in kind scholarship through the one million Black Business program

(36:52):
one MBB, so get it. Why it's there, It's not
gonna be there forever. You know, don't assume that these
services are going to be around forever. Go to the
US Small Business Administration. We can link you into them
if you don't know how to get to them. Market research,
identified demand for services in your area. Check out your
competition and potential client base. Right, you want to write

(37:15):
all this stuff down, Right, you want a written business plan,
and I'd start with a mind map. If you don't
know what that is, search it. I'd start with the
mind map. It gets the idea out of your head,
like just Google, you know, just literally writing down or
the software for this mind mapping software. And then I
would have a project management software. I use Trello, but
you can use what you like. That allows you to

(37:36):
break an idea down into, you know, into smaller parts.
I'd have a note taking app and of course a
financial spreadsheet app and start, you know, creating a budget.
And again you don't can't do it, We'll do it
with you. This creates a business plan, all these different
pieces and marketings that create a detailed business plan outlining

(37:58):
your services, target market, pricing, strategy, and financial projections. Right,
you is a different between business and busyness. Right, You
want to be in a business, not busyness. If your
outflow exceed you inflow, then your overhead or be your downfall.
You don't want to get get in business and start
leasing fancy cars and you know, spending money and having

(38:21):
a business card that says CEO. That's called flossing. You
want to get out there and hustle. Right. When I
was coming up in business, I never paid myself. Right,
I was the last person to get paid. Financing and
financing and budgeting, startup costs, estimate costs for purchasing or
leasing a box truck, insurance, maintenance, fuel, marketing, and other

(38:43):
operational expenses. Okay, secure funding through your own savings. May
not have savings loans in that particular case, poor people.
The version of capital is called a loan, family and
friends or a nice place to start and also do
go fund me strategy or some kind of a crowdsourcing strategy.

(39:05):
Of course, there's also investors. I don't really encourage you
to go with investors for a small business like this,
but you know, if you have to knock yourself out,
sometimes your families are your investors credit cards. I know
this is unorthodox, but you know you got to do
what you gotta do. I would not use a credit
card to go buy something perishable that's going to decrease

(39:25):
in value. But if I thought I was investing in
myself and I had no other former credit, another former capital,
I would. And I have used credit cards to finance
different aspects of my business. And people will tell you
that don't do this. Yeah, well, life is perfect. Don't
do this. But life is seldom perfect. Never let the
perfect become the death of the good. Your number one

(39:46):
asset is your hustle. An entrepreneur works eighteen hours a
day to keep from getting a job right again, my
hustle is different again. My team that Operation Hope can
make sure that you are meeting all your obbligations by
helping you develop that business plan and the funding strategy
for equipment and insurance. Box truck purchase or least a

(40:06):
reliable box truck suitable for your service really important element
when dealing with the fact that your product is the
box truck, so you don't want that to break down.
Preferably get one with a warranty on it so you're
not paying paying a lot of money for maintenance. So
I would get a new box truck, I'd finance it.

(40:26):
They'll finance typically for four or five to seven years.
I would make sure there was a wonderful warranty on it.
I'd get an extended warranty if you could afford it.
I'd make sure you had a relationship with the dealership
that you bought it from and dealerships in the surrounding area.
Get to know the manager, the service manager, all those people.

(40:47):
So if you have a need, this is your source
of income. If you had that truck goes in, you
need it in and out quickly. So you want you
want the folks to be ready to take care of
you when you come in and say yes, mister Jones,
yes missus Jones, yes we got you. Don't worry about it,
so that you get back your back out on the
road right. Insurance obtained comprehensive insurance coverage including liability, cargo,

(41:10):
hello and vehicle insurance. So you need to have insurance
for liability case in case you hit somebody and it's
your fault. That's the law. Comprehensive coverage, which in this
particular case is cargo coverage in case somebody steals your
stuff in the back. Right. You see all the stuff

(41:31):
online people crazy these days, right, so you have to
have cargo coverage. But those two things are really important
for districular business. Marketing and networking. Branding develop a professional brand,

(41:53):
a nice logo, website, and business cards. Marketing strategy. Utilize
online marketing, social media, Google Ads, et cetera, local advertising,
and partnerships to attract clients. Growing the Box Trucks business.
Expand your services. Diversify your offerings. Consider adding services such

(42:13):
as long distance moves, commercial deliveries, or specialized logistical logistics solutions.
I even got to the part that makes me really
excited about this. Yet. Just hold on customer service and
reputation quality service. Focus on providing excellent customer service to
build a strong reputation and encourage repeat business. I remember

(42:34):
all the delivery people show up to my house. I
can remember the ones most all of them. We are
successful that I remember. Are nice because kindness always works
and nobody likes a jerk. So always show with a
smile and are pleasant, and people will want you to
come back, and they will recommend you, and you'll even
build rips. Start building relationship with the folks that you

(42:59):
are that you're delivering to. Seasonal opportunities. Take advantage of
seasonal demand spikes such as holidays like Christmas in moving season, Hello,
so find out what the moving season is in your area.
Customer service and reputation. Again, provide great customer service. Nobody

(43:19):
likes the jarge. I can't say that enough. I can't
guarantee you that being being positive is going to make
you a successful I absolutely guarantee you that being negative
it's going to make you fail. In reviews, encourage satisfy
customers to leave positive reviews and refer your services to others.
Really important these days. When I go to look at
any taking, you know, hiring anything, or any service buying something,

(43:42):
I look at the reviews, don't you. So you want
to make sure that you encourage your people to leave
positive reviews. Don't encourage you had a bad customer experience,
you want that person to go away, right, but you
want positive reviews. Root optimization use root planning software to
optimize delivery roots and reduce fuel costs. And technology technology

(44:05):
technology people come up today, young people come today. You've
got tools that were never available. Do you guys Remember
the map books. Remember those You had them in your
trunk and you had to like go to five different
sections of the book to tell you what page LS three,
section forty nine D. Then turn the page X ninety eight.
Remember all that. Remember the remember the tingtong, the pong

(44:29):
pong whatever, the thing was a dashboard that was like
the mapping thing. You had to go buy it for
ninety nine one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, five hundred dollars.
These these these maps would go would sit on your dashboard,
these digital maps. You had to plug it in your lighter, right,
you know, now that's on your phone. But these things
just to be standalone, you know, between one hundred, five
hundred even one thousand dollars. The stuff you guys have

(44:54):
available now is unbelievable compared to how folks used to
have to roll back in the day. Hey, fleet management,
if you expand to multiple trucks, implement fleet management systems
to track maintenance again, software and technology, fuel usage, and
driver performance. Yes, you want to track all of that,
particularly if you're hire additional drivers. Collaborations, Partner with local

(45:18):
businesses such as furniture stores. Yes, furniture stores, well, guess
what they sell furniture. They need somebody to deliver stuff
for them. Remember you see you see people drive on
the street with the matters on there on top of
them on the mercedes. That person needs a box truck.
They'd be happy to pay for it. By the way,
people buy stuff on a whim and have no idea
how to get it home. Moving companies, you want to

(45:40):
secure regular contracts if you can, so it's not just
transactional one off business. Join industry associations and attend networking
events to build relationships and discovering new business opportunities. Uh,
scaling the business invested in additional trucks as demand grows.
Reinvesting your business. Don't take the money out and go partying,
and sure you have the capacity to handle large contracts

(46:02):
and multiple clients simultaneously. I'm starting to get the part
where I'm excited about this. Higher reliable drivers. Don't hire
pooky in them, a cousin, Jojo, who's a bum who's
gonna embarrass you, and go take your truck on a
weekend surge orn somewhere and sit up at the lake
with their girlfriend when they should be out of delivery. Yes,
I know, I've hit a nerve. You can tell this

(46:23):
is personal to me. You want to hire people who
you know are gonna do you right? Right and take
you want to get some charity, give them some money,
don't but don't make it a job where they're not
doing and you're paying them for it. Even if you
want to distribute money like a socialist. You got a
first collected like a capitalist. Can I get an amen?
All right? So make sure you hire good people, right?
And yeah? That got me all worked up? All right? Uh,

(46:49):
you can do this business. Here's the cash part, right.
The cost to run a box truck business for six
months to a year can vary based on sero factors
such as location, scale of operations, and specific business requirements.
But here's a breakdown of some costs. Initial startup costs
box truck purchase release to purchase twenty five thousand to

(47:10):
fifty thousand dollars Not so bad, huh for a used
box truck. Fifty two one hundred thousand dollars for a
new one. If you're going to buy a used one,
what did I tell you? Make sure it still has
a warranty on it, and if it's got miles on it,
I'd suggest you do diesel because diesel cars, diesel truck
engines go forever. The least payment's going to be eight

(47:34):
hundred to fifteen hundred dollars a month. Number two licenses
and permits. Business license fifty to five hundred bucks is
typically the range, depending on where you are. Commercial Driver's
License CDL, it's going to cost between fifty to two
hundred dollars. Check your local and your state requirements, but
you may need a CDL to do this. You typically
you will commercial driver's license, US DOT number and motor

(47:59):
carrier authority. That's three hundred to five hundred dollars. Insurance.
Commercial vehicle insurance three thousand dollars to six thousand dollars
per year. I was gonna say per month. Did you
about to have a heart attack? You? No? Sixty three,
three thousand and six thousand dollars per year. Cargo insurance.
Remember I told you needed that five hundred to one
thousand dollars per year. General liability insurance five hundred to

(48:21):
fifteen hundred dollars per year. Have you ever written this down?
You haven't. If you're trying to write this down, stop,
don't drive right right don't drive. Don't drive in texts
put off to the side. I want you to get
an accident till amw driving the box truck company and
write this stuff down. You always go back and listen
to it later. Initial equipment and supplies fuel five hundred

(48:44):
to one thousand dollars a month, unless it's an electric truck.
Maintenance and repairs two hundred to five dollars per month.
But if you have a warranty, you know your maintenance
in repairs might be close to zero h depending on
how to warranty you get. Offer supply and material and
marketing materials five hundred to one thousand dollars a month,

(49:04):
and that's money we'll spent branding and marketing. Website development
five hundred to three thousand dollars. But you know, in
some cases you can do a website for basically on
a template that's out there for you know, one hundred
bucks or two. My team can help you with that
at Operation Show. Marketing and advertising five hundred to two
thousand dollars. Now, I would suggest you do social media

(49:26):
ads and target them to your area. Facebook is really
good at that. I don't know if Instagram targets into
areas I think they do, but just do your own
research LinkedIn et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Ongoing operational costs.
So this is six months to a year for this business.
Fuel and maintenance. I've already covered that three thousand and

(49:47):
six thousand dollars, you know, for that six month to
one year period. Maintenance and repairs again, twelve hundred and
three thousand dollars, Insurance three thousand and six thousand dollars,
cord guard, cargo five hundred and one thousand, general liability,
five hundred and fifteen hundred. Driver salaries for full time
driver twenty five hundred to forty five hundred dollars per

(50:09):
month unless you are the driver, in which case it's
hello zero. You can afford to pay yourself at that point.
And so that's totaling about fifteen thousand to twenty seven
thousand dollars for six months. Marketing and customer acquisition. Ongoing
marketing thousands to three thousand dollars for that period, Office supplies,

(50:30):
administrative costs five hundred to one thousand dollars. Total tolls,
parking and other operating costs one thousand, two thousand dollars
unless you get a bunch of tickets, which I encourage
you not to do at that meter. That meter may
that that parking meter is My friend Rob McGrew. Rob
McGrew would say that parking meter is a capitalist, like
you cannot pay it. It's dollars, two dollars, five dollars.

(50:52):
Whatever it is in that tackle that you would get
inside for ten bucks just cost you sixty bucks or
eighty bucks because that is coming up on that meter.
That parking meter is a capitalist, make no mistake about it.
Total estimated costs for this business initial startup costs thirty
thousand to sixty five thousand dollars. You can finance at

(51:15):
least half of that, is my guess, maybe two thirds
of that because most that's going to be tied to
the truck. A lot of it will be ongoing costs
for six months twenty five to forty five thousand dollars,
ongoing costs for one year fifty to ninety thousand dollars.
So so you can start this business and run it
for less than one hundred thousand dollars. And here is

(51:36):
the kicker about this business that I really really love.
You can do business with big ball companies. Contracting with
companies like Amazon. The Amazon Relay Service a program that
connects truck owners with freight loads that need to be transported.

(51:58):
What's the requirements of VALIDOT number? An active MC number
with the FMCSA a box truck that meets Amazon's requirements,
typically twenty four to twenty six feet in length, Commercial
insurance coverage with specific limits. We already covered that. How
to apply well, go to the Amazon Relay website. You

(52:21):
know Amazon Delivery Service Partner. It's as DSP, a program
that allows individuals to run their own delivery businesses delivering
Amazon packages. Now you see what all the folks are doing,
coming to your house and your business. That's what they're doing.
The initial requirement is initial investment to start the business,
usually more than just owning a single box truck, strong

(52:42):
leadership and management skills. How to apply Amazon DSP website.
Contracting with other companies. I love companies like UPS. UPS
is one of my partners. They're they're very good well
run company. UPS Independent contractor program. Box truck owners can
on UPS as an independent contractor to deliver packages, especially

(53:03):
during peak seasons. So you want to make more some
extra money for the holidays. Here you go how to apply.
Contact your local UPS office or visit their website to
learn more about this opportunity and tell them John Brian
and Opertion hope sent you. FedEx same thing. FedEx Ground
Independent Contractor program similar to UPS. FedEx also works with

(53:23):
independent contractors to deliver packages, and you can go to
the operation Opertion go to the FedEx Ground Independent Contractor website. DHL.
This is mostly international, but DHL is also big here.
They have a DHL Independent Contractor Program. DHL contracts with
independent drivers and logistic companies for package delivery. Contact DHL

(53:45):
directly or visit their website to find out more about
their opportunities. Local businesses and retailers. Many local businesses, furniture stores,
retailers use delivery services. They don't want to own that truck,
they don't want to own that cost of labor, whatever
what else. They want to contract it out on a
trend action by transaction basis. So that's going to be
more one off's going to then one at a time.

(54:07):
But the golden goose of this business is you've got
a natural, ongoing, dependable revenue stream with huge companies and
I just mentioned a few of the well known ones,
like think about all the logistical companies, logistics companies and
delivery companies. Think about the industrial parks that are arranging
deliveries and they got long haul drivers, but do they

(54:28):
have any short haul drivers, meaning in and around your city?
That this is a really cool business. And then if
you decide you're tired of the business, as long as
you're not beat up the truck, you can sell the
truck and may get your money back. You know, certainly
if it is a diesel engine, then you can get
your Let me start I owning people just blaming me.

(54:49):
You can't get your money back anyway. If you if
you do a good job of maintaining the product. Go
to my brother Tony Martzoulo a gasmotor cars. He doesn't
deal with box trucks, but he can give you. He
was on the past series. He will certainly him and
his team will give you some direction of where get
how to sell the truck, or go contact Tim Burke
and maybe you will just buy the truck, or he'll
buy half the truck. My man's a hustler. All right.

(55:12):
I hope that you've enjoyed this is John O'Brien, this
is Money and Wealth, and this has been a really
cool session. I think of ten businesses you can start
for twenty five thousand dollars or less with a bonus
track of a business that costs a little bit more,
but you get your money back. If you maintain this
truck and you're tired of the business, you can get

(55:34):
a good more portion of your capital return to you,
or at least get out of the liability by selling it.
And if you want to keep it, you can grow
it with a customer base. It's pretty dang on dependable
in a space that's growing consistently, and still have the
independence of doing what you like, when you like however
you like it. You can drive local, drive regional. I'm out,
John O'Briant, Money and Wealth, the Black Effect Podcast Network.

(55:59):
This is the silver rights movement, from civil rights to
silver rights. This is the third reconstruction. I want you
to look up one MBB, one Me and Black Business Initiative.
I want you to tell your friends to follow this podcast.
I want you to pick up my book Financial Literacy
for All number one on business finance in the country
on Amazon. And I want you to go to Operation

(56:20):
Hope and sign up to one of these coaching services,
get a scholarship to be coached up to get your
credit score up and all that stuff and take your
life back. I'm Out Money and Wealth with John O'Brien

(56:49):
is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For
more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen your favorite shows.