Quote from drcha:
Interesting point you have made about franchising. I admit this is a tiny sample, but I live near a busy strip mall with about 15 tenants. All of them have turned over at least twice in the 8 years I have lived here, except for the grocery store, Starbucks and the one franchise, a UPS store. The UPS store is under the same management all this time.
But, even if a franchise works, and I get what you are saying about false advertising by the franchisor, it is expensive to start these things.
There was a post a short while ago about trades. In the less skilled occupations, a truck and a few tools get you started. I called 10 painters for an estimate. Four answered the phone, three showed up, and two gave me an estimate. One of them, who was actually not the cheaper one, but the one who communicated better, painted my house. $7K for four days work; he paid one helper. He was from Norway. You can see how hard it is for the homeowner to even find someone to talk to. I would think that if you show up and are honest, you will get business.
The same company of about 10 Brazilians has reroofed most of the houses in my neighborhood. Interestingly, I have seen them a few times, when they are done working, cruising the neighborhood, going down each cul de sac, looking for houses that need a roof, knocking on their doors. Imagine that--they get busy looking for more work at the end of a long day.
There was another thread some time back about the guy making $1000 per day washing windows. Working on the weekends and going to college full time, was how he started doing that. You need a vehicle and a few hundred dollars worth of equipment. If my kid wanted to start a business and needed a grand to buy ladders, squeegees, and some insurance, I would stake him in a New York minute.
Housecleaning: $50-100 per hour in my neighborhood. A trade that is dominated by eastern European women hereabouts. Boring, a bit icky maybe, but not super demanding work. Lots of demand for people who are careful, thorough and honest. Entry requirements? A vehicle, some cleaning supplies, a vacuum cleaner, a little insurance, a smile.
I notice it is people from overseas doing all these things. These are not easy jobs to do, but there is demand for these services, and in my opinion, pretty much all jobs are hard. Is it really so difficult to put food on the table, or are we Americans just too proud or too lazy?
