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Posted: 8/13/2017 2:04:42 PM EDT
anyone else know people who have some random completely unassuming job and make crazy money doing so?

here's a few i know personally:

-my good friends mom has her own business (shes the one and only employee), she is essentially the middle man between a large national corporation and contractors when their offices need work done. EX.) ARF Corp needs a toilet fixed, they call this lady, she calls a plumber and makes sure the job gets done, then bills ARF Corp for service charge +20%...last year she made over $1 million dollars working from her kitchen table with a computer and phone

-guy i know from high school, stoner burnout just working odd construction jobs, somehow figured out how to get the necessary licenses to legally grow/sell weed, now he makes a comfortable six figures doing jack shit

-local guy who is a friend of the family, he has 2 or 3 super basic baby products (like cribs, bottles) manufactured in China, then sells to target/toys r us/amazon/etc, net worth was $20 mil last i found out
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:10:50 PM EDT
[#1]
I wish I was creative enough to come up with business ideas like that
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:22:22 PM EDT
[#2]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I wish I was creative enough to come up with business ideas like that
View Quote
you and me both man
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:24:03 PM EDT
[#3]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I wish I was creative enough to come up with business ideas like that
View Quote
Tag for ideas. 
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:25:47 PM EDT
[#4]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Tag for ideas. 
View Quote
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:26:12 PM EDT
[#5]
Every real estate agent ever.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:27:29 PM EDT
[#6]
Guy I graduated with makes 200k building and maintaining railroads in India.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:27:52 PM EDT
[#7]
I heard of local college students creating Instagram porn accounts to make extra money.    I met the sleazeball entrepreneur who helps them set this up.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:33:44 PM EDT
[#8]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Every real estate agent ever.
View Quote
i swear to god 90% of the girls i know from highschool are either hair dressers or real estate agents now
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:34:26 PM EDT
[#9]
How much are you talking? Five six hundred a day?

Maybe so if that counts
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:35:21 PM EDT
[#10]
Tree farms that sell pine straw to garden centers on the side.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:35:22 PM EDT
[#11]
I had an idea one time. Never followed through though.

It was a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:37:08 PM EDT
[#12]
Monetizing Financial Instruments and esoteric assets.  Among other things.

Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:39:24 PM EDT
[#13]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
you and me and me too man
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
I wish I was creative enough to come up with business ideas like that
you and me and me too man
A.W.D.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 2:39:46 PM EDT
[#14]
Weed....
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:03:04 PM EDT
[#15]
I would be very skeptical of those numbers you listed in the op.

Typically (not always) if there someone is making a million in something easy like coordinating some service calls, it's usually not true or gets replaced by an in house guy pretty quick.

Just from what I know about business, I believe about 4% of what's in these threads.

I've seen it all my life, guys are "raking in the dough", "makin the big money", or "living the LA lifestyle" and all of the sudden one thing happens and there's a liquidation auction. People typically borrow to the hilt to look like they are wealthy and pay it off as quick as it depreciates so they have nothing in the end.

It's always the big money guys that drive fancy pickups that go under, then the bank is calling, riding my ass wanting to inspect all my stuff because they had some questionable assets listed in the borrowing base.

Just my 2 cents.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:07:58 PM EDT
[#16]
Many people consider my job fairly abstract (making added power and emissions removal engine and transmission calibrations for Ford Powerstrokes) and most people look at me like when I try to explain it to them.

I pretty much take a truck, suck the stock calibrations out, modify them, cram the modifications into a device someone else makes, mark it up 400% and sell them.

It's basically EPA-condemned pseudo-piracy.

But there's only a handful of us who do it, and very many people who want it, so it's lucrative.

If you trace the sources of the actual technology from its roots, there are only 3 or 4 of us in the whole Ford industry who created original work (the rest is re-branded and/or tweaked from those)
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:09:15 PM EDT
[#17]
High end home automation/AV.

What I do for a living.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:12:54 PM EDT
[#18]
I know people doing underwater rescue/recovery who make stupid money - and more if the divers are certified to go into caves.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:13:31 PM EDT
[#19]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I heard of local college students creating Instagram porn accounts to make extra money.    I met the sleazeball entrepreneur who helps them set this up.
View Quote
Did he give you his admin login passwords?
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:14:12 PM EDT
[#20]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


i swear to god 90% of the girls i know from highschool are either hair dressers or real estate agents now
View Quote
Looking through the ol FB it seems that way to me too
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:18:39 PM EDT
[#21]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I would be very skeptical of those numbers you listed in the op.

Typically (not always) if there someone is making a million in something easy like coordinating some service calls, it's usually not true or gets replaced by an in house guy pretty quick.
View Quote
she's best friends and former business associate of the now VP, thats how the contract came to be, the service fees she charges are well within their budget, the work gets done and they dont mind paying the bills

its not like some back room deal, the whole thing was approved by the bean counters, as far as they're concerned, offices running at 100% are more important than a slight markup on service calls
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:20:03 PM EDT
[#22]
Selling internet.

I know a guy with a company that does nothing but sell internet services to businesses.
The half dozen or so service providers pay him 10-20% of the contract.


Now has a staff of sales people, probably works 20 hours a week, makes as much as an orthopedic surgeon with no true skills, services,, or anything they offer.

Has used the money to further invest in foreclosures and section 8 rentals.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:28:28 PM EDT
[#23]
Voice over work as a contract player.
Businesses who need something recorded for presentation
have no idea, so they tend to offer nice money.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:28:44 PM EDT
[#24]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Many people consider my job fairly abstract (making added power and emissions removal engine and transmission calibrations for Ford Powerstrokes) and most people look at me like when I try to explain it to them.

I pretty much take a truck, suck the stock calibrations out, modify them, cram the modifications into a device someone else makes, mark it up 400% and sell them.

It's basically EPA-condemned pseudo-piracy.

But there's only a handful of us who do it, and very many people who want it, so it's lucrative.

If you trace the sources of the actual technology from its roots, there are only 3 or 4 of us in the whole Ford industry who created original work (the rest is re-branded and/or tweaked from those)
View Quote
I wish you could do it for my damned FUSO.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:29:53 PM EDT
[#25]
fluffer? it's not bad
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:30:04 PM EDT
[#26]
Quoted:
anyone else know people who have some random completely unassuming job and make crazy money doing so?

here's a few i know personally:

-my good friends mom has her own business (shes the one and only employee), she is essentially the middle man between a large national corporation and contractors when their offices need work done. EX.) ARF Corp needs a toilet fixed, they call this lady, she calls a plumber and makes sure the job gets done, then bills ARF Corp for service charge +20%...last year she made over $1 million dollars working from her kitchen table with a computer and phone

-guy i know from high school, stoner burnout just working odd construction jobs, somehow figured out how to get the necessary licenses to legally grow/sell weed, now he makes a comfortable six figures doing jack shit

-local guy who is a friend of the family, he has 2 or 3 super basic baby products (like cribs, bottles) manufactured in China, then sells to target/toys r us/amazon/etc, net worth was $20 mil last i found out
View Quote


Why is the stoner a lazy fuck if he grows weed but a farmer growing tomatoes is a fucking hero? Just asking. You can't be too lazy if you grow plants to make money. It's not like raspberries or herbs that just propagate by themselves.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:30:40 PM EDT
[#27]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I wish you could do it for my damned FUSO.
View Quote
Looks like the are all Bosch ECMs. It's definitely doable, there should already be people out there offering to flash modules.

ETA:
http://www.dimsport.it/en/tuning-line/race/truck/mitsubishi-fuso/

https://www.quantumtuning.co.uk/truck-remap-tuning-remapping.aspx?Make=Mitsubishi%20Fuso&Range=Canter
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:32:44 PM EDT
[#28]
Quoted:
anyone else know people who have some random completely unassuming job and make crazy money doing so?

here's a few i know personally:

-my good friends mom has her own business (shes the one and only employee), she is essentially the middle man between a large national corporation and contractors when their offices need work done. EX.) ARF Corp needs a toilet fixed, they call this lady, she calls a plumber and makes sure the job gets done, then bills ARF Corp for service charge +20%...last year she made over $1 million dollars working from her kitchen table with a computer and phone

-guy i know from high school, stoner burnout just working odd construction jobs, somehow figured out how to get the necessary licenses to legally grow/sell weed, now he makes a comfortable six figures doing jack shit

-local guy who is a friend of the family, he has 2 or 3 super basic baby products (like cribs, bottles) manufactured in China, then sells to target/toys r us/amazon/etc, net worth was $20 mil last i found out
View Quote



Those people all have drive, determination, and a will to succeed. They view being a cubicle drone or working for some one else as a nightmare. Which it is.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:33:07 PM EDT
[#29]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I had an idea one time. Never followed through though.

It was a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.
View Quote
Don't forget about that meeting with the Bobs...

I know you got the memo!

Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:34:00 PM EDT
[#30]
The guy I used to work for made 14+million plowing snow and took off fishing all summer.

I started doing snow removal when my personal Landscape business was not working due to winter months a few years back.

We're on the verge of landing some freaking awesome snow contracts (200k +)Last year was a mild as hell winter and we get paid regardless.( we plowed 6 times total last year) I wish I would have bought equipment and got serious sooner. One guy in a truck can make 100k in 5 months moving snow here in the northeast. Half that time is spent sleeping in or tinkering in the shop.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:36:02 PM EDT
[#31]
My son found out last week about a financial services company that's paying a guy just out of college a few years between $500k and $600k to do computer modeling for them.

That's not bad cash.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:36:27 PM EDT
[#32]
friend of ours in the neighborhood works one of those pyramid schemes selling skincare products. Has shown us monthly income checks of 20k+ and the company has given her a Lexis
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:37:06 PM EDT
[#33]
Paint less dent removal guys. Some of these guys chase hail around the country. A good one can make solid six figures and only work 4-5 months a year, granted that's on the road away from home.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:39:36 PM EDT
[#34]
My aunt makes well over 6 figures as a saleswoman for large industrial/commercial generators rentals (the kinds that are the size of semi trailers). She works like 36 hours a week, goes out of the country twice a year on mostly paid vacations, etc
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:40:23 PM EDT
[#35]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


Why is the stoner a lazy fuck if he grows weed but a farmer growing tomatoes is a fucking hero? Just asking. You can't be too lazy if you grow plants to make money. It's not like raspberries or herbs that just propagate by themselves.
View Quote
That's what I was thinking.  Actually growing good plants is really intensive work.   This is why OP is broke.  
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:44:20 PM EDT
[#36]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
she's best friends and former business associate of the now VP, thats how the contract came to be, the service fees she charges are well within their budget, the work gets done and they dont mind paying the bills

its not like some back room deal, the whole thing was approved by the bean counters, as far as they're concerned, offices running at 100% are more important than a slight markup on service calls
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
I would be very skeptical of those numbers you listed in the op.

Typically (not always) if there someone is making a million in something easy like coordinating some service calls, it's usually not true or gets replaced by an in house guy pretty quick.
she's best friends and former business associate of the now VP, thats how the contract came to be, the service fees she charges are well within their budget, the work gets done and they dont mind paying the bills

its not like some back room deal, the whole thing was approved by the bean counters, as far as they're concerned, offices running at 100% are more important than a slight markup on service calls
I'm not saying it was a backroom deal. I'm saying the beancounters or another entrepreneur will usually find a way. Outside of a friendship/charity case like you describe, 20% is far from a slight markup on a service call when typical service call might yield 4% in profit for the company doing it or from another perspective, any service manager that got 20% of the gross would be fired immediately. There isn't margin to support that. 20% is astronomical but good on her if she actually gets that much. Ride that gravy train for all she can, I would.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:48:45 PM EDT
[#37]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


Did he give you his admin login passwords?
View Quote
Sadly, no.  I'm a Certified Public Accountant and he was asking me how to classify his income and how they should classify what they pay him.  In essence, it's commission income to him and commission expense to them.  In other words, he should expect to receive 1099s from them.

The crazy thing is they bring in $2k to $10k per month (depending on how far they are willing to go & how good they look) as college students willing to get naked and he gets 10% for setting this up.    On the bright side, if I decide to continue dealing with him, I'll have some more tax clients for my sideline CPA practice.  
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:52:26 PM EDT
[#38]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
High end home automation/AV.

What I do for a living.
View Quote
Pulling cable and retrofitting gear in old construction is not unassuming. It's shit work. But you probably contract your wiring to a licensed E-1.

I did this for 10 yrs btw. The market collapsed in 2008 when housing crashed and construction waned.

Good for you holding on. It's a got great earning potential.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:53:27 PM EDT
[#39]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Tree farms that sell pine straw to garden centers on the side.
View Quote
Got any more info on this?
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 3:57:45 PM EDT
[#40]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Every real estate agent ever.
View Quote
I wouldn't be so sure about that, even in hot markets.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:00:04 PM EDT
[#41]
PorkChopsForHire just had a thread about dudes making money jerking off on the internet.


That's pretty fucking esoteric.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:06:59 PM EDT
[#42]
East coast and west coast cops. $100K with no overtime. pretty much unlimited overtime if they want it. can easily make $130K working two extra days a month.  $200K is doable if you don't have a social life.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:07:37 PM EDT
[#43]
Worked in a place that made Visqueen sheeting.
A guy would fly in a couple times a year to service the machine that made the stuff.
Said he made mid six figures.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:07:59 PM EDT
[#44]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Voice over work as a contract player.
Businesses who need something recorded for presentation
have no idea, so they tend to offer nice money.
View Quote
Keep talking. I'm interested. 
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:09:02 PM EDT
[#45]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Monetizing Financial Instruments and esoteric assets.  Among other things.

View Quote
I used to just tell people that I dug trenches.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:09:41 PM EDT
[#46]
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:11:57 PM EDT
[#47]
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:12:00 PM EDT
[#48]
The middle man stuff isn't really obscure, i mean thats homeadvisors business model. you want a new roof and every company they "list" has paid to get your info. In fact, they have the sleaziest model of them all as big companies just pay for "blocks" of info and cold call from them even if you didn't chose them from a list. They literally make money by selling your info that you gave them for free lol.
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:13:06 PM EDT
[#49]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
High end home automation/AV.

What I do for a living.
View Quote
So you install the Clapper?
Link Posted: 8/13/2017 4:13:17 PM EDT
[#50]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I would be very skeptical of those numbers you listed in the op.

Typically (not always) if there someone is making a million in something easy like coordinating some service calls, it's usually not true or gets replaced by an in house guy pretty quick.

Just from what I know about business, I believe about 4% of what's in these threads.

I've seen it all my life, guys are "raking in the dough", "makin the big money", or "living the LA lifestyle" and all of the sudden one thing happens and there's a liquidation auction. People typically borrow to the hilt to look like they are wealthy and pay it off as quick as it depreciates so they have nothing in the end.

It's always the big money guys that drive fancy pickups that go under, then the bank is calling, riding my ass wanting to inspect all my stuff because they had some questionable assets listed in the borrowing base.

Just my 2 cents.
View Quote
I would imagine that in the OP's example it is a federal HUB (historically underutilized business) issue. Since she is the contractor of record, government agencies can call her to do work without multiple bids.
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