Have you ever wondered what would be the most simple business to start and operate? What type of business could be started inexpensively without the need for special skills and equipment? Even better to operate based from home part-time as a side hustle with the potential to scale to a full-time business?
You should start by asking yourself a few questions. What skills have I developed or hobby that I enjoy doing could I monetize? Do I want to market a service or products? Do I have enough money to start a business? Do I want to be the sole operator or scale my business by hiring employees?
There has never been a better time in history to start and operate a business. The internet has made it simple to obtain information to not only start and operate a business but to also market one. Don’t know the first steps in setting up a business? Search how online. Don’t have a product to sell? Search affiliate marketing. All the information you need to start and operate a business can be found at your fingertips.
Brian Winch was asking himself many of these same questions in 1981. He didn’t have much of an education. He barely graduated high school, didn’t go to college. He certainly didn’t have much money in the bank being 21 years old.
He grew up in a blue collar home where neither of his parents had good paying jobs. His mom babysat, his dad supplemented his income as a janitor by “moonlighting”. That was the term back in the day for the part-time work people took to make money on the side. Brian recalls his dad cutting grass, shoveling snow and cleaning up litter material outside a shopping plaza. His parents may have lacked in formal educations but they certainly provided great examples of work ethic and ingenuity.
Brian’s dad asked him along a couple times to assist him with cleaning up outside the shopping plaza. They walked the exterior property cleaning up litter as moved about the property. Brian remembers thinking that this work was almost as easy to do as going for a walk. He enjoyed working outdoors and feeling good about the service he and his dad were providing.
With this memory Brian decided to test the market to see if he could turn this idea into a business. It ticked off all of Brian’s boxes. He didn’t have much money, education and skills. But he enjoyed working outdoors in the early morning hours. He felt good about the service he provided in his community.
He began cold-calling property management companies. Rather than trying to sell his service in his initial call, he simply and briefly offered to share the benefits of his service with his prospects. It didn’t take very long for him to land his first client. Soon he was making more money on the side than from his full-time job so he quit working for someone else for his living. He continued to grow his business to the point where he recruited an army of people to help him keep his city clean.
He decided to share his experience with others in his book, Cleanlots – America’s Simplest Business. What other business could be started so quickly and inexpensively without many skills he thought. What Brian lacked in resources he made up with passion, patience and persistence. In Brian’s eye’s it really is his idea of America’s simplest business.
He dedicated his book to his late parents and his dad for providing him the inspiration to start a parking lot litter cleanup business. His dad passed away unexpectedly just before Brian started his business. He believes both his parents would be proud of what he has accomplished in his life starting from humble beginnings.
