How He Makes $1,500/Month From ATMs (Working Just 1 Hour a Week)

[00:02] the side from his day job that bring in about 1,500 bucks a month in processing fees, all in exchange for about an hour a week worth of work. >> I was like, "Man, I think I think that's something I could do." Didn't seem like

[00:14] >> In this video, Will shares the things you need to have in place before you order your first machine, and then how to actually find a winning location once >> You got a promise, but then you also have to

[00:26] deliver. Like, you have to not only say that you're going to be better, you do >> We'll chat on startup costs, pricing and logistics, and some risks to [music] be aware of as well. >> By far the hardest part of the

[00:38] >> By far the hardest part of the ATM landscape is my buddy who was living next door to me at the time also wanted to start something, and we decided to pony up some cash and buy our first two machines out the gate, so

[00:52] >> So, you're going machines first, and then we'll figure out where to put them next versus going you secure a spot first, and then you're like, "Okay, >> By far the hardest part of the ATM landscape is finding your business

[01:08] bank account. Generally, that's local bank or credit union that will offer you the bank account that will actually allow ATM transactions to be >> So, if you go to a national bank and say, "I want to open a business

[01:22] business?" and you say, "I'm starting an ATM business," and they're like, full stop, we don't want to touch this? >> Yes, your large chain banks in the early 2010s, there was a big um federal

[01:35] investigation that involved money laundering and gang activity in the mob and ATMs and uh basically, the what was discovered is that these criminal entities were using ATMs to launder money or part of their

[01:49] um you know, their criminal enterprise, if >> Okay. >> uh all of the the large banks after this was found out basically put a hard stop to it which,

[02:01] you know, it was an easy solution for that then it became a massive pain in the butt for legitimate ATM operators like myself and other tons of other ATM operators that have been doing this for an extremely long time. So, that is

[02:16] your hardest task while starting this business is securing that bank account. before buying any machines, before looking for a location is like try and set up that account. >> Mhm. And in order to set up that that

[02:29] account, you're going to need your EIN, your your federal tax number. So, uh, really before we pulled the trigger there was an LLC that I created. Once you're through that, securing your business bank account for this specific

[02:42] business, ATMs, um, would be the the first thing I try and do cuz I had to call six or seven local banks and by the end, you know, you're going to be pulling cash out. You want a decent amount of branches, you

[02:56] want branches close to you. Um, so I was at the bottom of that list. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm going to be driving like 45 minutes to pick up cash driving like 45 minutes to pick up cash and luckily we did find one that is, um,

[03:10] Washington that has plenty of branch access. >> Got it. Okay, so with that in hand, what happens next? >> So, now the time ATMs were about 2,500 with

[03:23] they've increased. So, for around 3,000 you can probably get a nice new ATM. So, 3,000 for the ATM. If it's going in a a decently, um, high traffic location, uh, you're going to want at least $1,000

[03:39] to start with. I Me personally, I stick with the Genmegas. So, Genmega 2,500 is what we use. >> There it is. Okay. >> Yep. And then the Hyosungs are good. We buy all of our ATMs through the company

[03:51] the transactions, which I'll get to. And then, you know, maybe 500 extra if receipt paper, parts, supplies, or whatever. >> So, uh a good $4,500

[04:06] >> Yeah, I didn't really think about that. It's like you need to just like a a fill it with product. Only the product in this case is cash. And so, I got to >> Yeah. >> I I All right. So, we have the money set

[04:21] aside. We're going to buy the machines. Finding an ATM processor, another very important step. So, there's a ton, and they all offer similar things, but really what you want to find, and it doesn't matter who you

[04:35] doesn't take any percent of your surcharge fee. the entire uh profit margin, all your profit for an ATM business is the surcharge fee.

[04:48] taking money out and I get to the screen that says, "Are Do you agree to pay so process this transaction, or go through with it?" >> That $3, that's really all the money that there is to be made um right there.

[05:04] So, some processors will take 10% of that. Okay, well, you know, that's only 30 cents on a $3, but that adds up over time. You want that 30 cents. >> That 30 cents could be the 30 cents that you share with the

[05:17] um the person that owns the business that you're putting the ATM at, you >> Yeah. So, how are the processors making money if they're not taking a cut of that fee? >> So, the processors make the money by the

[05:30] agreements that they have with the banks and the the card companies. So, say like if you go to an ATM, and it it takes MasterCard, Visa, blah blah blah, like sticker that shows all the cards that they take.

[05:44] they make money on the back end, and it's pennies per transaction, but um, the banks have to pay money to to basically be hosted on these universal ATMs if you will. Um, so the the companies that processes

[05:59] take money in the back-end of the transactions. So, we use Purnata and again, I'm not they don't give me any kickbacks or discounts. That's just great companies. Uh, I

[06:13] liked Purnata and what they had to offer. They didn't take any percentage of your surcharge fee. They had they really good customer service. Like I can text them. They're a customer service agents and they'll reply back to me and

[06:27] a good company. Uh, they take 0% and and so like if I charge $3 for a transaction, I get all $3 back in my bank account. >> pricing-wise? We kind of base our pricing on a couple different factors.

[06:43] Um, >> If we're doing price sharing, so like I'll I'll give some of my pitch if you will, but if if it's a cash-only business where the convenience to them is like and their customer is having a

[06:57] place they can get cash on site if you're only accepting cash at that business. So, what I would pitch to someone like that is I can make the surcharge fee lower so your customers don't feel like

[07:09] being drug over the coals with a four or five dollar surcharge fee, but I'm not going to split profit with you. We're not going to do profit sharing because basically our number's $3. Anything over $3, we'll share profit. Anything under

[07:25] we won't. And so we can set the lower price as a convenience to your customer in a cash-only business, but if the the business owner wants to do profit then we'll have to raise the surcharge fee

[07:38] in order to combat some of the profit loss that we're paying back to the >> Got it. And so that was kind of one of the questions was are they going to charge you rent, you know, for taking up some of their floor

[07:51] space with this ATM machine even though it's a it's a service to their And this that was one question and then part of it was like, well, why don't why 2,000 bucks or 3,000 bucks, like why wouldn't they just put it in themselves?

[08:05] this red tape hurdle of finding a processor like doing all of this stuff. >> I will use Parneta as an example. So Parneta, the company that I that processes our transactions, started out

[08:20] as someone like a Viking Vendors myself. They started out as ATM placers. >> And they had kind of grew their fleet and you know, there's a point where a passive income no longer becomes passive

[08:34] or a job like ATMs. It might take an hour a week, but if you ask one of there's a guy around here, the ATM guy who he has over 400. I mean, like that guy outside of being an ATM millionaire,

[08:48] he's also that's not passive income. Like I mean, he I got told a really good thing or a good quote and I can't really quote verbatim, but basically it was, you know, if you grow too big in this space, you can kiss

[09:03] your vacations goodbye because you can't let your ATMs run dry. If you you are your brand or you you're your business in this case, like the amount empty, the you know, how good you are at keeping

[09:17] the machines full and keeping your customers happy, that really um translates over to the business. And so when it grows to a point where it's uh yeah, it no longer becomes passive. And

[09:29] these people are like, don't like past a certain point, don't do it because you it really it takes it starts taking away from family time and vacations and all >> of I'm thinking of a you know, hiring

[09:43] the machines. It's a little bit different than having somebody pick up some cans of Coke and some bags of chips. It's like you're picking up stacks of thousands of dollars and under your name and going to refill these.

[09:57] >> You have to really be able to trust the folks that you're working with in >> Yeah. >> Um or I guess the point I was making with Purnata is they they started, expanded, expanded, got to the point

[10:11] where in order for them to level up, um they became processors and then started taking people like me on that buy ATMs So, they actually still own some of their ATMs and they have

[10:27] cash fillers and everything. But, um you know, a lot of their clients are So, then it kind of trickles down. They make money off of every transaction that I do. If I was a business and went through a company like that, I could buy

[10:42] like rent an ATM from ATM processor. So, they would ship it, get it set up, But, all that business would have to do would be like to fill it with cash essentially. But, um in terms of

[10:55] surcharge, we don't we haven't had to split um any surcharge for any of the locations we've placed so far. >> Uh so, so keeping it kind of at that $3 >> Uh so, so keeping it kind of at that $3 sweet spot and saying no no no rev share

[11:07] basically with the location. >> Yeah, and I do think that that is a >> Yeah, and I do think that that is a little bit rare in this space. Um uh that's something you need to be prepared to do is the revenue sharing. Cuz that's

[11:19] how you're going to land some of those bigger locations. location for these cuz you kind of alluded to this. I want to find a and one that doesn't already have an ATM machine in

[11:33] overlapping circles on the Venn diagram have got to be pretty small these days. >> It's hard. It I mean, it's a business that's been around a really long time. The approach that I've always taken is like the small, family-owned. Me and my

[11:47] buddy, childhood buddy. The flyers that we hand out or give to a business normally when we do our first interaction with them. Um we try and be as personable and as we possibly can in a in a world or this

[12:00] business space like that doesn't really exist. I started like going around to these locations first. My first foot in the door, I'll go see if they have an ATM. If they do, I'll go, you know, put my card up to it.

[12:13] I'll see what the surcharge is. I'll see who owns it. Uh I'll get the information on the like who's processing and I'll ask them if they have any issues with their current processor um or their current um ATM loader,

[12:26] filler, whatever you operator. Um most of the the number one complaint I get is that the machine breaks and that the people people take too long to fix it. It's a multiple day thing that ATM will be down. And so I started

[12:40] equating that with the distance that these these operators are are placing locations from. So I try and stay really close or close enough that if something goes down, um I can be there same day. I give them my

[12:54] cell phone number, you know, the direct contact to me, email, everything. So I I come in there with business cards, flyers, more information, like ways to contact me, website, than any other of the the ATM processors, even the big

[13:09] ones have. Like you you don't see full complete websites and um that level of commitment from those guys. And they might not need it because what's word of mouth at this point for them. But for me, in order to

[13:23] s- selling somebody going into a store and telling them that uh whatever they have currently working hey, let me kind of mess with what you have going and I will on my word provide

[13:38] Like >> Okay, so it's it's not not likely to find that they don't have a an ATM machine and need one. It's more likely and we've heard this from our um you know, snack and

[13:52] drink vending uh entrepreneurs as well. It's like No, we we have one. It's just They you know, they don't respond to our calls. They don't come out and restock and they don't fix it. And so it's okay, I can come in and this was their pitch

[14:06] I'm going to be local. I'm going to be responsive. You can Here's my cell phone number. You can call me directly and that level of personable customer service, you know, ends ends up winning some people over.

[14:18] promise, but then you also have to deliver. Like you have to not only say do have to be better. There's a lot of people in the space that are rude or don't show up on time, you know, it they just don't have any any business

[14:34] I've done plenty of Facebook Marketplace interaction with other ATM companies and it's not it's not like it's a the bar isn't set super high, at least

[14:47] >> So I'm picturing you and your partner going, you know, through strip malls, you know, door-to-door and first doing the awkward look around like oh, is >> And we're And we're dressed up, too. That's the other thing is like we're not

[15:02] Like I go in there uh with button-up shirt with our logo on >> Like a uniform, sure. >> We look the part. We You know, as my dad, he was boomer generation. He was in the Navy for 30

[15:18] years. A lot of these business owners, majority of small businesses owned right now are owned by that generation as well. But like looking the part, it all location. Um

[15:31] Where do you Where do you put the first machine? >> Like it was a um indoor soccer center in um Bremerton, the Pendergast Park.

[15:44] It's an indoor turf soccer center and I was currently playing cornhole there on Tuesday nights. It's like a beer league cornhole thing. And so there were those the time. It's like a lot of cash in cornhole. Um so

[15:59] that's really interesting. It's not a cash-only business, but the people who come there need cash. Okay. >> Yeah, so so I ended up uh I talked to the owner. We sat down. He was like, "Yeah, man, like

[16:12] I'll we'll let you try it." But I went into that meeting like uh the full like we had done it before type of thing. I wasn't thing. I wasn't I did not divulge that we our first ATMs

[16:25] were being ordered, you know, and he didn't really ask. I had my website set up everything and first sale I was nervous, like petrified trying to I'm I'm an engineer and not a salesman and the machine got

[16:39] delivered a week later and we I was watching YouTube videos trying to figure out how to set this thing up and then um Pura Netta offers they have technicians that will set it up with you over the

[16:51] And uh you can do it on site or there, but I'm like, "I don't want to do that on site cuz I want to I don't want them to think that like It's like, 'Yeah, hit you know, that I'm inexperienced." So we set it up in my garage. It It really is

[17:05] just power and a ethernet cable. So plugged it into my router, got it all set up, and so now it's ready to drop and we dropped it in, plugged it in, wired a 100-ft ethernet through the ceiling into his router.

[17:18] >> 4 center says, yes, um, and still knocking under Well, now machine. >> In sports, there's this saying that speed is a weapon, and the same is true in business. If you're missing calls or

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[19:30] Go to shopify.com/sidehustle. One more time, it's One more time, it's shopify.com/sidehustle. Yeah, so uh second machine, um we actually

[19:43] um there was a barber shop and I I didn't know um outside of my buddy went in there uh to man, there's a barber shop I just went into and I don't know if they take card,

[19:58] >> Nice. >> they didn't have an ATM, they actually made him go to the Rite Aid next door and it was 5 minutes from my house. I hadn't didn't even know about it. And so we um yep, I I went in there

[20:12] pitched them the same thing that I did the the first people um the indoor soccer place and yeah, they they let us place it there and uh that's another thing like try your hardest to make friends with

[20:27] these people. I know them all like first name Nikki, you know, I got all my my folks uh sometimes we'll bring them little like a little goody basket just cheap cheap little things that I guarantee you no other ATM operator or

[20:44] anything while you're going and filling cuz like when you're small, you want your cash, you're going to be filling it yourself. in terms of your your fees? >> Um so our surcharge there is $3 and

[21:01] it'll do like in a good month like 200 transactions. Like I I the best month transactions. Like I I the best month ever on many ATMs do way crazier? True. They pull like $600 coming from a single machine. And if you are from a small

[21:13] town barber shop? Yeah, and so the the real like the the golden goose if you will or egg or what whatever [laughter] the where you want to be in Washington or

[21:28] any uh space that allows it is dispensary. Like Washington state that is your ATM dream. Washington state that is your ATM dream. If you can get into a dispensary, you

[21:40] that would be the difference from some people like quitting this business and job type of thing. >> Yeah, here's a high volume cash only operation. Um but again, they they've got to be disgruntled with their current

[21:56] provider cuz you have to imagine that they all already have uh one or more ATM >> Yeah, exactly. So this is the different levels of ATMs. So there's big enough levels of ATMs. So there's big enough companies that have people on payroll to

[22:09] sit basically sit on the um the LLC database. data. >> business registration database and they pay people to sit there and anything that sounds remotely like something that

[22:22] they'd be interested in even a brick and mortar before the location's even built. Like it's just an LLC. They have people reaching out, "Hey, when you get this >> going to want one of these. Yeah. >> we're your guys." And so

[22:34] if I don't have the time to do that, you have to come from a different approach. If you are a one or two-man team, you got to do what you can to try and give have large uh teams of people doing this. And

[22:48] that's going to reach out first, but you can surely be the person that provides the most personable uh you know, a friendly, warm experience with them. Uh you can do that with just one or two people.

[23:02] far? >> [laughter] >> No. No. And it's tricky. Also, if you go in there, um be prepared that the the people

[23:15] the people um that work there are probably not going to pass your manager. I've been in there a lot of times where, you're like, "Hey, you know, if you could pass this along."

[23:28] Either an owner or manager. Like, people that just work there that are don't care. I've gone in and seen my card sitting in the same little pile over there after. So, I go in and I'll try and get numbers or

[23:41] like look up online, find people who owns it, call them. You know, you There's ways to try and figure out who you need to talk to. But, yeah, we still haven't landed it. Um I did hear a really encouraging

[23:55] story though from uh Cuz I know a guy the guy who owns Cash Money ATMs, he's out of Tacoma, but like full-time gig, Um he he had like nine to 10 ATMs at the

[24:10] time and he's like at the time when he was just getting going, his wife was And that's why I said it can really change your business. And he was like, "I was honestly like about to quit." And just so happened that a location that I

[24:23] was already in, the own the guy who owned that bar owned know, never let him run dry and he and I built it a shot over there. And he's like, "I'll tell you what,

[24:36] the the transactions I got from that crushed all nine, 10 other machines I had. And he's like, "It that location alone that made my wife and I completely full-time." And I was like, "I never looked back after that." He was like,

[24:52] "It It that one location." Cuz you You to think um an ATM at a dispensary, uh, at least from the metrics or the information I've gathered from the employees that will do over 5,000

[25:06] dispense today, 5,000 cash. >> For a day? Wow. >> So, even if everyone takes out the maximum limit at um, so if 5,000 dispense today, and divide that by the max, 200, so

[25:21] >> A lot of ATMs set like a max limit at 200. dollars, and then you have to pay again. That kind of conserves your cash that you have in there. If I let someone take out 2,000 and I only load it with 2,000,

[25:34] >> that could be a one transaction before I fill. So, anyways, uh, 25 transactions a day over 30 days, you know, that's 750 transactions, and those are normally like $3, so, you know, that's 22 or $2,250

[25:52] in profit from a single location in the one month. can imagine, you start to do, "Oh, what if I had four or five of these?" And >> That would one location would double what I pull in from our seven.

[26:06] >> Do you get a kind of remote dashboard, so you know how much shoot, I'm down to my last $100. I better go refill it." >> So, it's a both a phone app and a um,

[26:19] and a website. I don't even use the phone app. I just log in on my phone to the website. I can see transactions real time. So, if a power power outage, any error, uh, once I have it set up, so anytime my

[26:32] machines go below 400, it texts us. >> Location machine. So, that all that part's automated, and that's not even >> The bulk of your time, now that you're

[26:44] kind of up and running and and several years deep into this, is is going to the bank, taking out large sums of cash, and then going along the route to fill the >> Yeah, my buddy does the cash and I do the vending machines. So, he basically

[26:58] about once a week he'll go take all of our cash out of our bank account. And also, just a quick touch, three bank accounts, one for your all the your vault cash, the cash that you load into the machine, one

[27:12] for all of the transactions that are coming in, and then one as a savings just when times get tough. That's how we set it up at least. So, yes, he'll go in So, say there's 5,000, he'll take that 5,000, go put 5,000 in our machines,

[27:28] 5,000, go put 5,000 in our machines, and then when that cash is taken out, um the surcharge, the $3 surcharge fee, gets put in our income. So, every transaction you'll see $3 drop in there, and then the amount that they take out,

[27:42] 40 they just pulled out goes back into the vault cash. yours. It's it's >> Theoretically, Yeah, yeah, they take 200 and it their card will plop 200 back in the vault cash and $3 surcharge fee into

[27:57] our income. Cash. And so, that part is all pretty smooth. So, it's just loading. That is that is your your time commitment is loading, and then really if you want to grow your make it a growing business, if you want a

[28:13] like you're comfortable now, you don't have to go pound pavement and look for new locations, still not a bad idea cuz businesses go out of business, stuff happens. So, I still stay vigilant. I have a couple spots that I want to go

[28:26] check out and I'll go talk to them and um but yeah, the that would be a larger commitment if you're trying to grow to a certain spot. And um we have like a number in our head that you know, the amount of ATM balance

[28:41] okay, we could each add another hour a week, you know, how many more ATMs could we get? Like we're trying to keep the commitment low to where we can still provide the good

[28:53] where it doesn't for us it doesn't need to be a full salary just, you know, a little extra coming in. And you know, who who doesn't want a little extra coming in that's as you want that extra to be as passive as possible. Unless

[29:07] passionate about and I'm not personally like crazy about ATMs. I like you know, hanging out with my daughters and my new son. Like you want your free >> Totally. Yeah, keep keep the commitment low and

[29:22] sounds like once it's up and running it can be it can be really strong in that Can you put on a or you know, bring out your crystal ball cuz like my question around this business is like is cash slowly dying? Like it's not going

[29:37] anywhere tomorrow, but like over the long arc I certainly use less cash than I did 20 30 years ago. And so it's like does that factor in here? yes, and I have thought about that a lot too. But the

[29:52] card processing companies that the racket that they have on processing fees. So like you know, three up to 5% of every transaction um is taken from the business owner to go to the credit card

[30:07] processing company. So we just placed an ATM a couple weeks ago of a business that's switching to all cash because he's like I'm >> sick of this. >> processing companies and they feel like

[30:19] they're being short shorted and um I mean really they I know that the processing companies are providing a service, but again it ends that's a big thing like a selling point when I go in there is like

[30:33] hey, you know, if if you want to start incentivizing cash um and like doing less card purchases and it's all on our flyer, but anyway, so long story short, I really hope not because I'm involved in it, but

[30:46] also in that the guy from like cash cash he's like, "Are you hey, are you ready to sell yet?" cuz when you have like whales like that that are still buying up people's

[31:00] >> you know, and casinos and in Washington I'm not super worried and in Washington I'm not super worried about it in Washington. interesting take. Maybe it does come we we kind of dial back the you know,

[31:14] able to spend privately. I want to be able to you know, keep 100% of this purchase in the local economy. Like I Okay. Yeah, I can I can see some where I was like, "No, I got to put everything on the credit card to get my

[31:29] points." And now it's almost like, "Well, I kind of like spending the cash show up on the statement at the end of the month." I don't know. It feels >> I don't really know. Uh but I've seen some strong trends that

[31:43] from small business owners and other people in this space that they cash is at least a long or should be here to stay for the near future. Um I don't know. I don't see it If I did, I hopefully would be able to

[31:59] sell this before anyone else also come on, but point. What's the what's the route worth in terms of multiple of the fees you're bringing in or how are they valued?

[32:16] thought that crossed your mind like, "Well, at what point do I would I give um so you we have looked into like what something that you would maybe look into before starting it. So,

[32:32] the closeness of your route. Okay, how how mean or how serviceable is it really? Okay. Is it all in Kitsap County? This is why like Yep, how how tight-knit your route is. The other thing they're going to check

[32:47] is do you have contracts in place with these locations? That's super important. Um I have we didn't really mention that process. I um But yes, contracts in place. So I I have

[33:00] customers sign 2-year agreements, location agreements. >> And I switched them down to five cuz most I'm going to see if they're okay doing that because 5-year that if we did end

[33:14] up selling, you know, then that actually adds on to your company's value. So yeah, these contracts because then like so we have one that was reviewed by a lawyer and stuff and it's nothing

[33:28] crazy. It's just hey guys, give us 30 days heads-up if you are booting the ATM out so we have time to replace, you know, um just common courtesies and I'll if

[33:40] our ATM gets stolen like we'll cover all the damages to the ATM, the cash, everything. You're responsible for the window, whatever, like, you know, legally's type stuff. Anyways, uh super super important to have your

[33:55] locations on a contract. Um and generally speaking, I think it's 2.5. Like 2.5. >> Gross revenue 2.5x. >> Yeah.

[34:08] >> I believe for ATMs. So at our route right now, uh let's see with the five locations bringing in what it does, we could probably get like 45, 50.

[34:20] the reason I bring it up is like yes, um I'm here for the monthly cash flow. Like that was the initial goal. But also, there's some think is really cool. >> For sure.

[34:34] stuff. So, for me and my children and my family now, I'm like, I don't I've paid myself back. I can give them an hour to maintain. It's paying like a car payment a month at this point. I

[34:48] don't see myself selling it because I want to pass this off. I want my children to go fill some vending machines. Or go talk to a business owner entrepreneurship in a way that while their brains are

[35:02] fumble around with it as much like I did as a grown-up, right? Um and to kind of get that spark going at an earlier age. And like my parents are awesome. They've supported me every

[35:16] uh you know, a little more traditional in that sense like navy 30 years, boom, great retirement. Mom, teacher 30 years. At the end, you know, great retirements, but you know, um

[35:30] you know, I'm working for the government. I like it. I I have no complaints. But me being comfortable was also, you know, I felt like kind of stopping me from trying to chase

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[38:05] >> I wanted to ask you brought up theft. I wanted to ask if there were >> Oh, yeah. >> risks, um insurance requirements. Like what do you mean? I guess here you got this box sitting there, relatively

[38:17] portable. It came in here on wheels. Uh that's probably filled with cash. So for thieves. >> Here is my advice on the insurance when you're getting started here. Take it with a grain of salt, but I called

[38:31] around a lot. I've talked to a ton of different companies trying to find insurance. We had two ATMs. The one that everyone recommends on the Facebook pages and everything, it's like an insurance company specifically for ATMs.

[38:44] It was 2250 for the whole year to insure my two machines. And at that that point and that was more than we'd even profit that year. So I'm like at the time, I just saw in value in terms of ATMs, like we're paying this

[38:59] year um um to protect our ATMs or we could risk it and hope our ATM doesn't get get stolen and then we have basically we

[39:12] could lose an ATM every single year >> You're going to self-insure. >> So I took the bet that I wasn't going to year. I didn't have enough machines. I took

[39:25] the bet. Second year I also took the gamble, but uh so at this point I'm like gamble, but uh so at this point I'm like accruing ATMs. This company, it's 2250 whether you have one or 10. Like >> Oh, okay.

[39:38] >> rewards scale. It's great if you have a fleet of ATMs. It's garbage if you only have one. So eventually I found a I got a location things, like my Pokémon vending machine. I It was in our local mall and like that

[39:53] I needed it there. And they they needed me to have insurance. So then I pounded pavement again. I've done the work for any of you listeners that are typing this, Coterie, c o t e r i e. Coterie Insurance will do

[40:06] c o t e r i e. Coterie Insurance will do ATMs and I I had a harder time finding insurance than I did the business bank. And so it was significantly less money

[40:18] at the time. And so, anyways, we're Got it. We are insured now. I think insurance. >> Yeah, that sure beats the 2,200 bucks a >> Yes. Um

[40:32] uh in theft is a real thing. There's a couple different or anti-theft deterrents. You could use the concrete studs. Like I have a whole

[40:46] that I use for ATM installs. It's like drill, wrenches, drill, wrenches, um extra Cat 6 ethernet cable, and ground. You'll bolt the ATM on top of those. They come through the bottom. But

[41:00] then when the thief wraps his uh They basically they'll belt up the ATM machine, attach it to the truck, and pull it out the front door. Like that is very standard ATM theft. It's attached

[41:13] to a vehicle in some form or fashion, and they rip it straight off the bottom. So, in in Washington specifically, there was in in Washington specifically, there was a a huge ATM crime ring going around.

[41:25] They just caught those people. I had an ATM stolen by them, and they were responsible for some like I don't know. It's like over 30 ATMs.

[41:37] But they they got I got my ATM back, but they knew exactly >> Yeah, it's not the machine. Well, it's the machine, too, but it's like it's the cash the inventory that's inside it. >> But um generally speaking, like weights,

[41:51] of your ATM. You can bolt it to the floor. Either way, they're going to rip it out going to get it. >> Yeah, yeah.

[42:03] >> Yes, it So, whatever causes the least amount of damages to the surrounding store when they steal it, when they inevitably do, cuz um that would be my recommendation. Uh or the wall mount. Those are

[42:19] theft proof. But uh I made three years before I got my first ATM stolen in 2020. No, two years before I got my first ATM stolen. And then um I have insurance now.

[42:34] >> You know, if it doesn't happen the first couple years, then that insurance money could have bought another ATM. >> Well, you got the vending machines, both

[42:46] the ATMs and um the traditional vending machines. What's the story with the green screen? Like are you a streamer? What's what's going on there? uh uh my buddy and I doing a lot of sports

[42:58] card stuff, you know, the uh football cards, baseball. We were participating in breaks. And a break is where, you know, somebody has a box of really expensive cards and you pay for a fraction of it. Like you get assigned a

[43:11] random team. So, anyone from whatever this team is Anyway, he was like, "Dude, uh we should try to sell some of these cards that try to sell some of these cards that we're spending money on." And um

[43:23] some sports cards from my parents' house they still had when I was a kid. And uh I heard about Whatnot. And really just by Googling. I was trying to find a place that allowed us to sell

[43:35] without, you know, the high percentage um fees and heard about like TikTok Shop and stuff. So, >> Anyways, we made a Whatnot account to sell the sports cards that we already

[43:49] detached garage. And so, basically I took my box of sports cards and we started the account. Like at first we were using our phone >> Okay. >> we just started streaming. And uh our

[44:03] first stream I lost a decent amount of money. I I'd been on there a couple days like doing market research and looking around and that everyone's doing. They start their cards for a dollar, so I started a

[44:19] couple cards for a dollar that were, you know, like $40 cards. There was like two know, I'm just figuring out I'm like dollar start sold for like $2. I'm like, dollar start sold for like $2. I'm like, "Okay, well, there's -38. Eric, we're

[44:32] um we just didn't give up. So, we we started there and we made it a like a deal every weekend after we put our kids down to bed, we're going to stream. So, he would come over on Saturdays at like

[44:47] and we'd stream till 2:00 in the morning and we did that for about 7 months and then we moved it to 2 days a weekend. We do Friday nights and >> Okay. >> Just

[45:01] stayed consistent. Like we saw our followers start to grow a little bit and kept with them kept with it and we ended up moving from sports cards into like 90s nostalgia, like doing like MTV packs and Marvel

[45:17] Universe, like 90s stuff and Star Trek, you know. >> Just uh some nostalgic items that we were selling and those did way better than sports cards for us.

[45:29] there. Like this is a pretty serious operation, too. Like probably bigger than the ATM business. This may be the subject of our next >> If you're if you're willing to have me back, I'll happily come chit chat your

[45:44] yeah, we in 2020 25, all said and done, I think in total sales we sold over um I think Whatnot was 92,000 and then

[45:56] in private deals we had another $20,000 in sales. So, about 110,000 in total sales for 2025. Now, like instead of buying 2025. Now, like instead of buying products and trying to flip stuff or

[46:09] wait sit on it and wait for it to go up, we just like we'll buy people out of >> Oh, okay. >> somebody has a $3,000 collection, we try and offer them normally in the range of 70 to 80%

[46:24] for their collection. And that will include sealed and slabs and singles and you know, the more I can get it 70% >> auction them off one at a one at a time. >> Yeah, and we'll we go So, I'll, you know, on Facebook Marketplace, I'm

[46:39] camping on around Facebook Marketplace and if someone pops up and it's never anything crazy cuz I also have three kids and so start started mingled in my personal finances

[46:53] and then, you know, as each one I slowly push it into its own, push it into its own, you know, self-sustaining thing. Um send me a a note and we'll link up the live

[47:06] channel or show, um in addition to You can check them out over there. Let's wrap this thing up with your number one tip for Side Hustle Nation. >> If you are looking to start a side

[47:20] hustle or a business, be the person selling the shovel during for gold. >> Well, awesome. But, thanks for joining me. Couple um takeaways or notes for me. Number one, location really is

[47:34] everything in this. It can be the difference between, you know, making 50 bucks a month to making $2,000 a month. So, it all depends on where people are transacting with these machines. I liked how you framed it at the beginning of It

[47:47] my worst case scenario? I got this machine and I can't put it anywhere, I'll sell it to somebody else, you know. And then kind of keeping your your goals and your vision in mind, like in kind of intentionally keeping it low-key, and

[48:00] look, I got an hour a week to do to do to do this, maybe a couple hours a week. And so, trying to build a side hustle that kind of fits within those hits home. Big thanks to Will for sharing his

[48:14] helping make this content free for everyone. sidehustlenation.com/deals is where to go to find all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place. That is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time, and let's go

[48:29] out there and make something happen, and I'll catch you in the next edition of I'll catch you in the next edition of The Side Hustle Show. Hustle on.