The end of summer is almost here, and for most of us, that means the beginning of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder. Google it if you don’t believe me, it’s real). It’s time to get out our rakes, and start clearing the 300 trash bags full of leaves that falls in our yard, and shortly after that, we have to get out our snow shovels and prepare for a long cold winter. The only good thing about this time of year is the start of football season (In my humble opinion). So for all of you aspiring beach bums out there; here is a few ideas on how to quit being a tourist, and start making a living off of them.
(1) Rent out beach toys: There is always room on just about any beach for rental services. The tourists will come, and they want their toys. Here is a short list of rental ideas.
- Jet Skis: Jet Ski rentals can make serious income, they rent anywhere from $75 to $125 an hour. Renting out ten jet skis’ for 6 hours a day and 7 days a week for all 7 months of tourist season will net you about $220k. That’s not bad considering you still have five months of a mild winter to relax and enjoy yourself.
- Kayaks: Lot’s of people want to kayak on vacation, and most of them flew to your location so chances are they didn’t use a kayak as there checked bag. A kayak rents for about $80 dollars a day. You do the math.
- Boat rental: Similar to jet skis’ but you can rent them out for a week at a time.
- ATV: Some beaches allow ATVs to be driven on the sand, and if the beach you want to live at allows it, why not provide them.
- Bicycles: Bikes rent for about $50 to $95 a week, and tandems go for $125 to $150 a week. Doesn’t sound like much, until you rent out about 30 of them. Then all of the sudden you have a great business with a minimal investment.
- Beach chairs and umbrellas: If you can find the location, your as good as gold. Nobody wants to drag their beach chair and umbrella to the beach along with koolers, rafts and all of the other goodies, but once they get there, they’ll wish they would have. This is where you stop in to save the day. Trust me, at 92 degrees outside, they’ll pay.
(2) Jet Ski Tours: If you know the area you want to do business in well, this can be a great business idea. Nobody offers these services, because they can make just as much money renting the jet skis’ out, but that is what will make you succeed. Just take out a group of riders for about four hours and show them the the stuff they could never see on land. Families looking for adventure will prefer something like this for safety reasons. At $225 per tour, and eight riders a day, you could make around $350k during tourist season. (Imagine the numbers you could do if you opened several locations)
(3)Charter Boat: If you love fishing, and know a thing or two about it, why not move to the beach, and do it all year long. There are different fish in season all year long, meaning you can work twelve months a year, but if you are doing what you love; is it really considered working?
(4) Site seeing boat: Take out the tourists and let them see the dolphins or any other exciting stuff…oh yeah…and charge for it. The bigger the boat; the bigger the profits. 85 people at $20 per sunset cruise = $1700 per night
(5) Ice Cream Shack: Hot weather + lots of tourists on vacation = ice cream sales. The closer you can be to the beach the better. Plan on lines forming out into the streets during busy season. CHA-CHING!!!
(6) Beach Vendor: Get a sales license from the local chamber of commerce and start walking the beach with your goofy little cart. You could sell anything from lemonade to pizza or souvenirs. Make as much money as your willing to work for.
(7) Spring Break Party Planner: Let’s face it, college kids plus spring break equals millions of dollars….CASH IN. All of the kids coming to the beach for a week during Spring Break have one thing on their mind…PARTY. They don’t want to waste time with planning. Hook up with the popular clubs around town, and a few travel agents and make a all inclusive package for them. Charge the Spring Breakers a flat rate for their hotel rooms and rental cars and parties, and set up the party. Not only will you make a killing off of the travelers, but you can make a major commission from the clubs for promoting their parties. Walk the beaches and promote, promote, promote.
(8) Photographer: I’m sure you have seen the pictures of the family in their khaki shorts and white polo shirts sitting on the beach with the sunsetting in the background. For some reason families think they have to get a family photo every time they go to the beach. Be the guy/girl taking the pictures and the money. If you market good enough, your schedule will be backed up for months. Also, you could do those crazy pirate, and old town west photos. They seem very popular in travel locations. You could also open a studio where you could sell your own beach themed prints.
(9) Tour Maps: Map out the local beach town, put it in a pamphlet and give them away for free to all of the out of towners. Go to every business in the area and sell them advertising space on your map. $250 per year per space times 2500 spaces = $625k. Imagine being able to map out all of the beach towns in America, you’ll be sitting on a $200,000,000 company. Sure, there is already companies out there that do this, but do it better!
(10) Wedding Planner: Lots of couples choose to get married on the beach, but they need someone who has connections to make it possible for them. Be that someone!
(11) Open a Dive Shop: I am a scuba diver, and the first thing I do when I go to a new beach is look for the local dive shop to set up a dive. You might not make millions running a dive shop, but the lifestyle is second to none. Get certified as a Scuba Instructor, and start diving every day the weather is good.
(12) Start a shuttle service: Everyone traveling needs a ride somewhere, maybe to the airport, or maybe they just had one to many margaritas and they can’t find their condo. Grab yourself a couple minivans and take them from point a to point b.
(13) Vacation Rentals: If your pockets are deep enough, this is the ultimate beach business. Quit collecting baseball cards, and start collecting vacation rentals. It might take you ten years to build enough equity to make a real living, but the longer you wait, the more profits you will have. Quit putting your money into 401k’s and IRA’s and start building your real estate portfolio. Weekly rentals go anywhere from $800 per week to $20k. Start with a small duplex on the beach somewhere, live in one side and rent the other side out. Then build your empire.
(14) Start a Restaurant: When people travel, they generally don’t look for that big chain restaurant, they want that little hole in the wall that has some Jimmy Buffett impersonator playing local tunes while they down their pina-colodas. This can be very fun and rewarding. Rent out a little space and start small, as the word gets out about the new little beach restaurant around town, people will flock in. Create a good mood to go along with the good food and sooner or later you will have a reservation list the size of the bible.
(15) Open a bait shop: Everyone wants to go fishing, but they need bait. Sell it to them. You can literally run this out of a trailer on the back of your truck. Think about renting out poles and tackle too. Most people don’t bring them with them.
(16) Taxidermy: So a father and his son goes out on a little fishing trip and land a world record Red Grouper, but they live 1000 miles away. Offer to stuff the fish for them and mail it to their house when you get it finished. The last time I checked, Continental Airlines didn’t allow hammerhead sharks in their baggage terminal. Word of mouth will make this business grow on it’s own. Drop some business cards off at all of the fishing charters around. After a little marketing, you’ll be head over fins in customers.
(17) Jewelery Maker: Open a little jewelery shop in a good beach town. When I was at Sanibel Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida, there was a guy who would take the seashells you found and make a mold out of them and make gold pendants and earrings. He must have been fairly successful, because he had a beautiful store. You can also make jewelry from seashells and sand dollars or sharks teeth. I got my wife and daughters one of those necklaces with a little piece of rice with their name written on it. They loved it. There are so many different ways to inspire great jewelery at the beach!
(18) Start a beach and Souvenir Store: When most people go to the beach, they look for those cheap t-shirts and coffee cups. Why not start a souvenir shop of your own. There are several franchises you can buy or you can just start your own.
(19) Tattoo Shop: Probably 50% of the tattoos you see on people come from a drunken night on Spring Break. Pass out some ink to all of those Spring Breakers, and vacationers looking to remember their week of irresponsibility.
(20) Mini Golf: Families looking for fun always seem to end up at the Putt-Putt course. Get some land and put some turf down, and there you go. Make sure you have some cash in the bank, this isn’t a cheap venture.
(21) Be a Singer/Performer: How’s your voice? Can you perform? If so, every dive bar and restaurant will hire you if you can keep people coming in the door. No, this will not make you rich, but you can make a decent living covering Jimmy Buffett songs and the Beach Boys, and be a local celebrity to boot. It also can’t hurt your sex life.
(22) Open a Car Wash: Nothing will rust a metal vehicle out faster than the salt in the air close to the ocean. Car Washes are very profitable in beach towns. Not only are they profitable, but your income is passive. Once you build it, the majority of your work is done. Just sit back and watch the money come in. Add a couple vacuums to help remove the sand from peoples cars, and you are up and running. Enjoy your free time by watching the sunrise and set every day.
(23) Start a Cleaning Company: Thousands upon thousands of condos need cleaned every week after the old tenants leave and the new tenants come. If you start walking the boardwalk and passing out information to the condo owners, you can build a huge business. A quick clean will take you about a hour and you can easily charge $150 per unit. Times that by 5 units a day and five days a week, and you have a $200k a year business. That’s without hiring any employees. Add a staff of about four or five, and watch that number grow quickly. (Check out our article on how to start a Cleaning Service here)
(24) Carnival Games: Last week, my wife and kids and me were at Treasure Island in Florida, and they had a festival set up on the beach. There was a group of guys there with a trampoline, and bungee cords set up. You attach the bungee cord to yourself and jump about 15 to 20 feet in the air. They charged $7 a person, and they had a line waiting of about fifty people. I asked the owner how often he sets up and he said they are on a different beach every weekend of travel season. There are beach festivals going on every day of every week. Get yourself a trailer and a rock climbing wall, and start driving. You will probably have a small vendors fee to pay at each event, which you will recoup in the first ten minutes of being set up. At seven dollars a pop, and 150 kids in line to jump in your big bouncy room of balls, you could clear over $2000 every weekend.
(25) Parasailing: If you have ever been to the beach, then I am sure you have seen the people way above the water flying through the air with a big parachute behind them. Why can’t you drive the boat. All you need is some really good insurance, a little seadoo boat, and a stamp of approval from the coast guard. The Coast Guard will check your insurance and your equipment, give you a short class, and make you take test, and that’s it, your certified to have people’s life in your hands. Offer to video tape the experience, and sell the video tape along with a nice t-shirt saying I para-sailed at XYZ Parasailing. Have fun and don’t wreck into another boat.
Summary: This is just 25 ideas, there are hundreds of more. Quit talking about where you are going to move when you retire. Move now, and you’ll never need to retire because you will love what you do. Turn your passion into profits today. Not tommorow. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right”. – Napoleon Hill
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