15 Simple And Wacky Business Ideas

Crazy Ideas That Make Money!

If you’re not doing at least one of these simple and wacky business ideas, you’re leaving money on the table, that no good hustler would do.

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1. Take Blood Pressure On The Street

So many people have high blood pressure today that it’s a national epidemic.

An enterprising person can set up a simple card table with a sign saying “CHECK YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE. $1.00 DONATION”.

The only equipment needed is a professional blood pressure device, which you can buy in any good drug store (and have them train you how to use it).

Since medical professionals are using digital blood pressure monitors, one can be purchased on Amazon.

The digital monitor instructions are pretty straightforward.

It is easy and takes only a few minutes to learn.

Set up your table and two folding chairs for your customers and yourself, in a busy place where there are people walking, such as downtown on busy streets, at fairs, in parking lots to tourist attractions, outside theatres, clubs, big office buildings.

One word of caution: Never claim to be a medical doctor.

You don’t need to.

Anybody can easily learn to take blood pressure readings and it is not illegal in most places.

Some people have taken in $100 to $200 per day.

You might hint the money collected goes to a worthy charity.

If you’re contributing to a family member who has hypertension, then that’s charity, and it begins at home.

2. Detail Cars In The Backyard

If you live near some used car dealers, this might be for you.

When dealers accept a used car in trade it is usually dirty.

They want it bright and shiny so they can resell it.

And, they usually don’t clean it themselves, but contract the work to an auto detailer.

You could start this business in your back yard.

If you have had no experience, it would help to work a while for another auto detailer.

Check the Internet.

Try to get a price list of an established detailer.

Your prices will be lower, but you will be able to get customers if you do good work, and work cheaper than the dealer’s present detailer.

There are a few tricks of the trade such as lacquer thinner for removing chewing gum and road tar from paint.

Armor All will renew the look of interior vinyl.

Gunk engine cleaner is a powerful solvent that will clean grease from a dirty motor.

Chemical Guy’s car wash and shampoo can clean up dirty auto carpets.

You will need an electric buffer to clean up badly faded paint.

Always be sure to know exactly what the dealer wants you to do to each car before you begin.

You might work on his lot if he has the space.

Call each used car dealer in your area every morning to see if he has any cars to detail.

As you expand, you can get plenty of minimum wage help to do the hard work.

3. Drive Drunks Home In Their Car

An experienced bartender can tell if a customer is under the influence of alcohol, and should not drive himself home.

They will appreciate knowing about a service where you come to the bar at any hour and drive the customer home in his own car.

Next morning, instead of wondering where he left the car, the drunk customer can start his day as usual, except perhaps for a hangover.

He will not need to take another taxi back to the bar to pick up his car.

Of course, there are Uber and Lyft drivers that may charge less, but often they do not show up, or only after a long wait.

Many other drivers avoid drunks because they may throw up in the car; and the driver would have to clean it up.

You will not have this problem because you will be driving the drunk’s car.

You will need voicemail on your phone to get new messages.

Get some Avery cards printed with this message: “TOO MUCH TO DRINK? I WILL DRIVE YOU HOME IN YOUR OWN CAR. $20 MINIMUM PLUS MILEAGE.”

Give one to each bartender in your area.

How do you get to the bar?

There a several solutions to that problem.

⦁ Have a friend drive you to the bar and follow you to the drunks home then drive you to the next customer.
⦁ Tow a three-wheeled motorcycle like a Honda ATV.
⦁ Tow a stick shift car behind the drunk’s car with a tow bar hitch.
⦁ Honda also makes a small FOLDING motorcycle you could put in the trunk of the drunk’s car.
⦁ Peugeot makes a folding bicycle that you could use the same way.

Be sure to include on your cards: “ANY HOUR…DAY OR NIGHT” and your phone number.

You will probably work from 8 or 9 at night to 3 or 4 in the A.M., but as your service becomes known, it can be profitable.

4. Mail Drop For Absolute Privacy

In order to restore a measure of lost privacy, many people now have their mail delivered to a mail drop instead of their residence.

Maybe they have a girlfriend on the side or subscribe to publications they don’t want their children or wife to see, or maybe they have an income they don’t want their wife to be aware of.

The reason doesn’t matter.

It is none of your business.

As more people retire to live in a motor home or a boat, they need a permanent mailing address while they travel.

Most post offices have boxes to rent, but often there is a waiting list.

Private mail services charge from $5 to $10 per month for their basic service of receiving mail, often paid one, three or six months in advance.

If you can afford to buy individual boxes like the post office uses, that’s fine, but if you can’t, don’t worry about it.

A simple pigeon hole set-up could be made from scrap lumber for little money.

Many mail services expand to prepare packages for United Parcel pick up and install copy machines.

Some install a switchboard and offer answering services as well.

Start small and add services as the demand is established.

You will have to be on good terms with your local post office and submit the needed forms to go pick up your customer’s mail each morning.

Some post offices object to private firms using the term P.O. Box.

Therefore, many use “PMB # (private mail box), or “Suite Number ???” to designate each customer’s box.

5. Jitney Cab That Goes Anywhere

A jitney is an unregulated taxi.

Even though there is Uber and Lyft available, there are still some jitney cabs around.

Texas probably could have used some jitney cabs.

You can work as a jitney only on cold, rainy or snowy days.

Also, you can make enough money in this casual work to support yourself.

You can be a jitney anywhere there is a need for bus or transportation service.

Customers who have difficulty speaking English are willing to pay more because the driver stops where the customer needs to be.

You can set up longer trips by advertising on Craigslist, etc.

“Going To Florida. Need Riders To Share Expenses!”

After you arrive in Florida, take a couple of days on the beach, and then advertise: “Leaving Soon For Texas. Need Riders To Share Expenses.”

For long trips, it helps to have a van, SUV, or station wagon.

In summer, air conditioning will be a big consideration.

During winter, in cold areas, a good heater is a must-have.

One easy way to get riders in a city is to follow a bus route; after the bus leaves, you might pick up the passenger who just missed the bus.

Some bold operators can even drive a bus route ahead of the bus, hoping to skim off waiting passengers.

6. Fantasy Photo Studio Will Travel

We all have fantasies.

Some women like to think of themselves as Catherine the Great or Cleopatra.

Guys might fantasize that they are Billy the Kid or Casanova.

To help them bring these fantasies to life, you will need a bunch of old costumes.

Try thrift shops and Goodwill stores.

Another source is wholesalers of Halloween costumes after Halloween.

Rather than store them for another year, they might sell them to you cheap.

Community theatres and college drama departments usually have lots of costumes.

Sometimes they get rid of them because they run out of storage space.

Try professional costume rental shops and ask to buy their throwaways.

If all else fails, get to know somebody who sews and have her make up some costumes for you.

Some of the more popular costumes are western gunfighters for guys and harem girls.

You can use instant cameras and keep the price low, or use film that requires development and sell big enlargements.

Advertise on bulletin boards at local colleges, shopping centers, laundromats, etc.

Take your studio to client’s home to shoot individual photographs, masquerade parties, etc.

Some people will bring their own costumes and some want to be photographed without any costume.

Don’t be a prude.

Be willing to photograph the customer anyway he or she wants.

7. Restoring Old Homes For New Money

It requires a bit of capital to purchase an old home, even a fixer upper.

One source for finding such homes is your county recorder’s office.

It will have records of those homes about to be sold for back taxes.

Sometimes, you can buy a sound house for a few thousand dollars.

You may have to do a lot of repairs, and should learn about plumbing, wiring, carpentry, decorating, etc.

There are many good books on all these subjects.

After you fix it up, you can typically realize a very big profit.

Hard work is not for the lazy, but many have made a fortune doing this.

If You Like This Idea Read: How I Turned A Small Real Estate Investment Into Six Figures

8. Auto Doctor On Call

This is a way to earn money without doing the heavy work.

Offer a written diagnosis of someone’s automobile troubles.

You do not do any work yourself, but you can suggest good mechanics.

You can tell potential customers about what it should cost to fix their vehicle.

Too often when taking a car for a minor problem, a mechanic will insist an expensive repair is needed.

Unless a customer is an expert, her or she can spend money on unneeded repairs.

As an Auto Doctor, you should advertise in local papers and on Facebook, in groups, etc., “I won’t fix your car, but I can tell you what’s wrong and what it should cost to fix it. Regular price $59.95. Introductory offer $29.95. Cheap at twice the price.”

9. Chimney Sweep Prevents Fires

The chimney sweep with his high hat and swallow tail coat is a character right out of Charles Dickens, but they still exist today.

As more people burn firewood in their fireplace instead of over-priced gas or oil, carbon soot accumulates in the chimney.

It can block the draft or worse, cause a fire.

Every chimney burning wood should be cleaned every year or two.

The modern sweep uses a powerful vacuum cleaner, ladders, and the old brush with a long handle.

Not a task for you if you are afraid of heights.

You can charge $100-$300 per chimney and have a helper if necessary.

Knock on doors where there are a lot of fireplaces; advertise in local papers and on social media, and groups.

If You Like This Idea Read: Red Hot Rural Business Ideas To Make Money In 2019

10. Fiverr Pro Speed Reader And Report Writer

Have you taken a speed reading course?

Have you noticed that if you don’t keep using your new skill you lose it?

You may be able to earn some money with it if you post your gig on Fiverr.

Believe it or not, there are college students who would rather drink beer, chase girls, attend football games and Spring Break than read textbooks.

You can create Fiverr packages to read certain books and write an outline of the most important information.

Many books are on audible, but it takes time either way.

How much you charge depends on the difficulty of the material and how much writing you will do.

On Fiverr Pro, you can charge a good stiff fee because it is usually the wealthy students that have the money to be playboys and playgirls and still need to stay in school .

Be sure to charge a stiff fee per double-spaced type-written page of outline.

11. Award College Dropout Degrees aka Life Experience Portfolios

There was a time when a man was judged by his character.

Now a college degree is the most important qualification for many jobs.

Some lazy kid who cheated his way through exams is considered for a job or a promotion before a loyal worker with ten years’ experience in the field.

If that seems unfair to you, why don’t you go into the business of awarding mock “college degrees”?

Open your own college!

Many YouTubers are doing it.

Small classified ads in newspapers and social media ads and groups will bring inquiries.

Write an email explaining your Fiverr program gig and your fees.

To stay on the safe side of the law, only award “so-called degrees” after your clients have sent you a Life Experience Portfolio.

This is a letter to your “service college” telling of his or her “Life Experiences” for which you may grant credits.

For example, your “student” (client) had an argument with his boss over a raise–that’s a credit for Practical Economics.

If he fills out a time card–that’s Industrial Accounting.

If he can write you a job description–that is Non-Fiction Writing.

You get the idea.

I, actually learned this in college!

Another approach is to issue Life Experience Portfolios after your student -client tells of his or her “Life Experiences” for which you may grant credits (see above).

To issue good looking diplomas, you need high quality certificates to start with.

Blank diploma forms as well as many other kinds of certificates are available by mail from Goes Lithographing Company, GoesProducts.com.

This a very reliable and reputable firm that supplies high quality blank forms for the printing industry.

Send them a few dollars for handling and postage and ask for their forms catalog and current price list.

When you get your blank forms, you will need a typesetter (cold type is fine) to set the name of your “degree”, “diploma” or “certificate” and the other information.

Be sure to leave the name of the student awarded the degree blank as the name is usually hand lettered on the certificate.

You may have to learn the calligraphy skill or find somebody who does first class hand lettering.

Study some friends’ college diplomas before you design yours.

You can charge from $50 to several hundred dollars on Fiverr Pro.

Advance “degrees” might also be offered.

An online company is actually selling fake college degrees here.

12. Build Your Own COVID Home School

A new home for $10,000, $20,000 or $30,000?

Impossible?

“House prices haven’t been that low since the 1950s”, you say.

But, you can build a house for these low prices if you build it yourself.

You can save at least 10% by being your own general contractor and hiring neighbors and friends to volunteer to help out.

That’s the way houses were built in the old days.

The Amish still turn out for a “barn raising” and can call upon the community when they in turn need a barn or house built.

You say, “I don’t know the first thing about building a house.”

Well, now there are home building schools all over the country.

Fees range from $500 up to teach design, blueprint reading, building codes, building models, selecting the site, digging your well, installing septic systems, landscaping, road grading, and solar heating.

After that, you get hands on experience actually building a house.

They teach you how to lay foundations, frame your house, set rafters, roofing, insulation, heating systems, plumbing, and electrical.

They show you how to save money every step of the way.

Check your local area.

If there isn’t already an owner-builder school, you might start one.

First, you should take the course in an established school.

Another approach is to teach people how to convert an existing or Home Depot shed into a tiny house.

If You Like This Idea Read: Build A Tiny House Homestead Rental For Passive Income

13. Install Diesel Engines

Most everyone knows by now that a diesel motor uses fuel oil and delivers better mileage than a gasoline engine of the same size.

Buying a new Mercedes Benz Diesel is not cost effective because they cost so much it will take 20 years to make up the purchase price with fuel savings.

There is another way to go, namely, used diesels, some can be found in old factories.

Installing rebuilt used diesel engines in pick-up trucks, motor homes, vans, busses, and cars can be very profitable.

Look on the Internet for companies that specialize in diesel conversions.

14. Breed Siamese Cats

If you are a cat lover, why not raise pets you can profit from?

The beautiful, blue-eyed white cats with dark brown fur on the tips of their ears, tail, and paws are in great demand.

Any pet stores would be willing to buy your Siamese kittens, especially if you have the right papers.

Or, you can sell them yourself with small ads in your local paper or Craigslist.

Check Amazon for books on cat breeding and cat care.

Be sure your first pair of breeding stock are registered.

Then, create a website for your furry friends so they can become a tycoon and make you money!

15. Reinvent Yourself By Learning A Craft And Hobby

All market indicators point to a growing need for skilled crafts people on Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, etc.

From leatherworking, macrame braiding, decoupage, candlemaking, papier-mache, basketry, handwoven items, batiks, stained glass, string art, origami, pottery, quilts, sculpture, drawings, paintings, prints, stencils, collages, wood sculpture, metal working, propigating plants, terrariums, bonsai trees, dried flowers, mosaics (pictures from fragments, etc.), lapidary, jewelry, enameling to woodworking smalls, there is a real opportunity to start a small business by developing and mastering a craft and hobby.

All the old crafts and hobbies are new again.

RuralMoney.com

There are many schools that can help you learn a new craft and hobby that will give you the confidence to start a business.

I hope these simple and wacky business ideas have stimulated your thinking.

Maybe none of them is exactly right for you.

However, you can modify or combine ideas to create your own business venture.

Consider this: If you don’t like what you are doing, it is almost as bad as working for somebody else.

But, here’s the best thought of all: If you like what you are doing, it isn’t work!

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