I currently live in the great state of Michigan, and we recently got dumped on with snow! It started to drizzle Thursday afternoon, and as the temperature decreased, that drizzle slowly morphed into snowflakes. Once that snow started coming down though, it seemed like it never stopped! It continued through the night on Thursday, all day Friday, and the entire Saturday as well! Once it finally stopped, we were left with about 14 inches of snow!
Bring Out the Plow Trucks
While snow is just a given in Michigan, so are the plow trucks. It seems like everyone that owns a truck has a plow handy, just so they can make a few bucks by plowing out some driveways. So, as the snow was coming down on Friday and Saturday, the trucks were out in full force.
I expected to see the trucks, but what I didn’t expect to see on that Saturday afternoon was a man carrying a snow-shovel…
The Man With a Shovel
As I was sitting in my living room, working on my computer, I saw a man pass by my front window. He was wearing snow pants, a red and black winter coat, some good boots, a charcoal grey winter hat, and some dark black gloves. And, of course, he was carrying his snow shovel.
My initial reaction was to get up and check out what he was doing! As I peered out the window, I noticed that as he walked by each house, he was checking the driveways to see if they were cleared. If they were not, he would walk up to the front door and knock, no doubt asking to shovel the driveway for a few extra bucks.
What a great idea! For each driveway, I bet he could earn $15-$20. Sure it would take some time and effort, but his initial cost to make this profit was that $5 shovel! That is one heck of a low start-up cost for a potentially large payout! I bet that he could have made $200 that day – all cash. Good for him.
How Do You Make Shoveling into a Passive Income?
Since I have begun this site, I am constantly thinking about how passive income can be earned. It really is a great challenge, and it allows me to expand my thought process in regards to wealth accumulation. A few months ago, I would have watched that man and I probably would have decided to shovel some driveways myself! But, this income is definitely not passive, and it is severely time-intensive.
As I watched that man walk up to each house, I wondered if he liked to give his sales-pitch. My guess was that he hated it. All he wanted to do was shovel the driveway and collect his $20. And that gave me my passive income idea.
What if I could guarantee this man $225 every time it snowed? He wouldn’t have to walk up to any houses. All he would have to do is step into the driveway and start shoveling. And, all I would have to do is make the appointments once for the entire year!
Here’s how it would work. In the fall, I would begin making my rounds to all of the houses in the area, asking if they would like their driveways shoveled out for a low rate of $20 per snow of 2 inches or more. It would be done well, and it wouldn’t ruin their cemented driveway like the plow would.
Let’s say that I contract 15 houses for the winter. I’d pay the shoveler $225 per outing (the 15 driveways for $15 a piece), and I’d keep the remaining $75. If it snowed 20 times that winter, I just made a cool $1,500 by making a few phone calls in the fall! And, the shoveler is happy because he didn’t have to talk with anyone. All he had to do was shovel for a quick $15 a pop!
Do You Want to Earn More?
Obviously, one shoveler can’t cover 20+ driveways per day, so how do you begin to earn more than $1,500 through the winter? It’s really simple actually, ask the shoveler if he has a buddy that would like to earn some quick money every time it snows! Keep doing this, and all of a sudden you could have 100 contracts and earning $15,000 on the side! Now that’s what I call creating a passive income.