Show notes from episode #177 of The Sweaty Startup Podcast.
One of Nick’s favorite things to do is look for simple businesses that you can charge upwards of $100 an hour. This week he discovered another option with hitch installations.
Nick recently bought a truck and realized it didn’t have a trailer hitch receiver on it. Knowing he would be pulling trailers, he contacted the dealership about getting one installed. Their answer shocked him: $553 to attach the receiver. Not liking this answer, he looked up a local auto shop who also would charge him $335 with a wait time of over a week.
Instead, he went to Youtube and did some research on how to install one himself. After a bit of searching, he purchased a $53 receiver, a $29 hitch, and attached the hitch within 15 minutes. FIFTEEN MINUTES for a $553 job.
If you live in a bigger city like Nick used to, trucks are not very common, but in smaller cities like Athens, around 80% of vehicles are trucks. The top 2 most popular vehicles sold in America are the Ford F-150 and the Ram. Pickup trucks make up both of the top 2 spots. And a lot of those trucks sold come without hitches or receivers attached, meaning people pay big money to dealerships and auto shops to have them installed.
To make this business a reality, Nick recommends a few steps:
- Focus on the Ford and Ram trucks, and learn how to install receivers quickly.
- Build an attractive and simple website around the keywords “hitch installation” only.
- Upload photos and videos for people in your city to see.
- Get a Google My Business Location.
To get customers:
- Create flyers and business cards with your business name.
- Go for a walk, and look for trucks without hitches. A downtown area is great for this. Put a flyer on every truck without a hitch or receiver on them.
- Post a craigslist ad with photos advertising your business
- Go to local dealerships and drop off a few cards and see if they will recommend you.
This isn’t a million-dollar business, or a luxurious venture. It is sweaty, and it will take some work. But with those tips and some experience, you could easily do several installs on the weekends and come out with $1000.