A library of useful things you can start doing today
New things added daily, proudly stolen from the internet
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Pay for local Google search ads and fix people's flat tires
When someone who can't fix their own flat gets a flat tire, they ask someone they know to help. If the person they need is busy or unable to help or just doesn't exist, the next thing that'll happen is that they'll Google "[city] mobile tire repair]. Learn to plug punctures and get a decent portable compressor.
Stick signs on dumpsters that you'll clean/deodorize them
Pressure washer, soap gun. It doesn't matter if they own the dumpster or lease it, if it smells terrible, they'll want it cleaned. Marketing costs $0, print signs with "Call/text me when it's empty" and drive around commercial plazas sticking them.
Buy firewood on facebook, bundle it, and charge for deliveries
This one's a bit tedious but requires literally zero thought. Find margins that make sense, people will pay for you to bring it to them and stack it. It won't make you rich but it will get you just above minimum wage when you need it.
This one is here because your area might be underserved. There's some complexity here with sourcing, learning, and proper liability insurance, but the margins are sky high and the target audience is obvious.
This is a service which seems complicated, but is not. The actual process for epoxy flooring is stupid simple but the grandiose nature of the results makes it a very high ticket item. Did you know I'm a fan of printing papers and just taping them to sh*t? Do that to garages. Bonus points if you know your cars and can identify 'car guys'.
Google maps, find houses with decks, sand them and refinish them
While decks can last a while, their finishes often don't. The sun and rain can strip away stains and paints. Your job is to offer middle-of-the-road services where you can refinish a deck instead of building a new one.
Margins per tree can be anywhere from $60-$150, and some properties will demand up to 100 trees. You will however need to compete by providing a warranty, so learn how to plant so that your cedars don't die.
Find furniture on FB that's intact but needs to be refinished
You really don't need to be a carpenter or woodworker to sand down a cabinet and then stain it. Your entire business ecosystem can be in Facebook marketplace. These people make way more money thank you think, though the bigger your city, the better. You can also often get the furniture for free so long as you pick it up.
Condos can have nice views but no privacy. Townhomes often have backyards where the living rooms directly face eachother. Blinds can be expensive. Go on Google Maps and find neighborhoods with these arrangements or condo buildings that have another one close by and market to the residents.
Owning a dump truck is almost guaranteed to keep you busy with high paying work. The obvious downside is the very large capital investment required to buy a truck, but many people go this route and profit $100,000+ every year.
Solar panels are big business and easy to sell. They save you money on your bills and they increase the value of your home. Find an arrangement with a solar panel installation company and generate leads for them. Whether you're knocking on doors or building sales funnels online, each commission can earn you anywhere from $100 - $500.
Emails are back. Newsletter subscriptions are at an all time high and this trend is still fairly new. Carve out a niche in a topic that interests you, gain subscribers, and use affiliate advertising wisely.
People in Southern states (think Arizona, Florida, Texas, etc.) often have sun-damaged lawns that go yellow. Grass painting is an increasingly popular service. It's easy to sell, has high margins, and is easy to run.
You probably know the basics of SEO, but if you dedicate a good chunk of time actually learning it, you can build dozens of blog sites. If you stay organized and efficient, you can run a ton of blogs that each bring in anywhere from $100 - $500 a month.
Another service that's easy to sell. Commercial landlords and small businesses want their locations to look presentable. Paint parking spots, various iconography, no parking zones, whatever. There are also plenty of options for upselling.
If you can't code, learn Bubble to build and monetize micro-tools
Like many other things, this will require dedication to learning the tool. While Bubble is easier to learn than HTML + CSS + JS, there's still a lot to it. Once you have this skillset, it's really up to you how to monetize it. There are tons of micro-tools online (calculators mostly) that all have ad placements. Once it's built, it can generate solid passive income.
Try this right now: open Facebook marketplace on one tab, and eBay on another. Search for something like Guitar Amps (can be anything, obviously). The money making opportunities become obvious very quickly.
These small businesses make an absolute killing. There's some kind of unspoken price-fixing going on because the margins are ridiculous and the work is fairly straightforward, though you do have to honor a warranty.
People are giving away dishwasher, dryers, whatever all the time because they're difficult to dispose of when they buy a new one. If you have a suitable vehicle, you can pick these up for free and sell them with delivery. This is actually really solid money fi you learn how to fix small problems.
You'll typically be dealing with automotive parts, but there is lots of other metal hardware people are looking to restore as well. Not many people own sandblasters.
Source golf balls locally, clean, sort, and sell on eBay
It's fairly easy to source used golf balls local to you. You'll have to clean them, sort them, and charge according to brand and condition. There is a strong market for discount used golf balls.
Ethernet cables are easy to cut and splice from a bulk length coil if you watch a handful of tutorials and get basic tools. In turn, many people need custom length ethernet cables, so it's easy to sell these locally, on eBay, or even on your own site.
This one is very simple if you live in a college town. Buy used textbooks from students who no longer need them, and sell them online for a margin between new and what you got them for.
The houseplant industry is much larger than you think. It has a very strong following and certain plants dive in and out of popularity. The thing about plants is, if you buy one, you can cut it and create potentially dozens of propagations that you can sell.
Digital creators know the pain of finding icon sets that are suitable. Spending anywhere from 10-100 hours creating iconography can net you passive income from digital marketplaces for a long time.
If there are a lot of tourists in your area, conduct walking tours
Tourism is big business. It may seem too simple to be true but if you charge 10 people $20 for a tour, and complete 2 to 3 tours a day, you can reliably earn $400+ a day.
Google trailer rentals in your city to see how serious of an industry this is. In certain cases, trailers can pay themselves off within just a few months.
It doesn't strictly have to be AirBnB, obviously. The point is, many of these investors own tons of properties and need help managing them all. Not only can you make this lucrative if you're efficient, you'll learn an important industry.