Be Your Own Boss

A few months ago I was trying to help a local new father find new ways to bring in a few dollars without requiring a major lifestyle change. He works a typical 9-5 job about 15 miles from his house (down the street from mine), and he makes the drive himself.

Originally I had talked to him about carpooling, which I know helps many people save a significant portion of their gas budget. Because his boss needs him to use his car from time to time, this was unavailable to him.

I was driving the same road he drives, and saw a billboard for a fantastic deal on pizza — carry out only. In my community, a decent large pizza runs about $17 delivered, and this billboard was advertising one for over 60% off. The light bulb went off in my head, and I gave my neighbor a call.

There are many things we do in life that are time-occupiers but don’t allow us to do anything productive. The drive to work and back is one of the worst - some of my friends waste 2+ hours a day in this drive. I personally would rather move closer to work (or work closer to home) than bother, but it seems to be the norm. I’ve always spent my drives to clients thinking of how I can make that time productive. I’ve come up with unique ideas, but the recent one I proposed seems to be the oddest solution to a problem many of us face.

I explained to my neighbor that many families are just as busy as his is — they don’t often have time to cook dinner. While I’m a low-carb kind of guy, I do know how quick and easy a delivered pizza can be. I also know that families tend to spend money to put something hot on the table. Lastly, I knew that families in my area tend to be attracted to anything that saves time versus money.

I told him to consider a weekly pizza delivery service. We’re not talking about working as a pizza delivery guy (which can be very good income but also very bad, based on tips) — we’re talking about working as a secret contractor/reseller. I helped him design some nice flyers (about a nickel a piece printed in full color) and have his teen kid flyer up some doors. I usually hate flyer spam, but I’ve never had a problem with local “spam” from kids who mow lawns, plumbers who fix toilets, or the like. I’m a hire-your-neighbor kind of guy.

The flyer offered families a hot pepperoni pizza, every Friday, for $12 delivered. All the neighbor had to do was jot down their address and drop the flyer off in the mailbox mentioned. The pizza is $7 carry-out, so the $5 isn’t much but it adds up.

The first week my neighbor netted over $75 including tips. Week 2 he is over $150. This guy earns about 3 times that in his 40 hour job. He made $150 in week two in just under 25 minutes. Almost a month later and my own household is taking advantage of the deal, and he’s considering opening the idea up to the larger community. With about 70 homes in our subdivision, he’s already found nearly 30% in the system. I’m shocked, actually, but it seems that people are busier than I thought, and they’re all very interested in saving $5+ PLUS THE TIME to make the call and wonder when things will get delivered. This way, they get it at the same time every week, for the same price. Very simple.

The idea IS crazy — but it shows that a little bit of thinking and a little bit of marketing works. I told my neighbor to start throwing the flyer onto the delivered pizzas, and to also talk to other people in his neighborhood to maybe sell them advertising space for a few bucks a month, just to cover his printing costs.

Do I want to deliver pizzas? Not if it takes 6 hours to make $10 an hour. Yet this neighbor of mine isn’t losing more than a half hour a week and he’s making incredible bank. Is the job for everyone? Not a chance, but if you look at the least productive time you spent consistently every week, you might find ways to turn no income into a good income, or even a little income that is still paying more than the big zilch you were previously getting.

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