Fishing for ideas.

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Seems like you could do a lot on a 100 acre wood lot.

You can have half of it logged or more, they'll pay to take all the prime trees and leave you the rest. You can process that into fire wood for sale and use the money loggers pay for investment capital.

You can lease it for hunting/fishing season. Set up food plots and start a deer farm.

You can tap your maples and get into the sugaring business. The work is very hard, but the pace is slow.

You can start a bee farm.

You can open a camp ground.

You can start an offroad park.

There's a lot you can do.
 
Thats a good one GadDummit!.. I often struggle with adverts and that one is PERFECT!... I lean towards atvs because my father was a 30yr honda tech. Had to go to maryland every couple years for training in new and upcoming technology. I even worked with him as a teenager in the shop, but all they would let me do is mop and clean up, but I got to learn a load about atv repair. He worked on the side and made loads of cash until he passed in '04. I can recall once, (he had a drinking problem which led him to be fired from the honda shop, couldn't blame them), but he totally rebuilt a honda 300 engine dog drunk. He removed it, rebuilt it, and reinstalled it all in about 6 hours. He eventually passed out. Next day he couldn't remember what he had done. He walked out, fired it up, put it through its paces, and said "well, looks like I rebuilt it alright"... I know it ran fine for 4-5 years after that as it was my uncles bike. To me that was crazy. I guess he did it enough at the shop, he could do in blindfolded.

I thought about the furniture route also. I thought about being a mobile mechanic as well, but I can't stand someone looking over my shoulder, which I know they would, and I can't stand people talking to me while I'm elbow deep in an engine compartment.

Short haul here is a crazy idea. There are such a huge line waiting from all the unemployed coal truck drivers, plus everyone wants 2yr experience minimum. Too many drivers here waiting for jobs. A newbie don't have a chance, unless you family owns a trucking company.

Very nice ideas! I can't believe this post has garnered this many opportunities. Asking here was the best first idea I have had yet. :)

I have a feeling I'm gonna be quite busy this summer hahahahhah....keep em coming tho.. more the merrier.
 
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Campground? no thanks. Business licence? Having people here camping leaving trash? nah.. that not going to happen.

Offroad park? shoot its already that. Can't keep all the local riders off the property. They cut the locks, cut the cables, pull down the gates, dump their trash and appliances, etc.

Loads of poachers as well. Can't lease it for hunting when everyone trespasses and hunts anyway. Why buy the cow when the milk is free ya know?... lol
 
I had a down year with my regular gig after the Great Recession had bottomed out. I made what felt like a killing buying/selling industrial tooling at auction. (Two lots in particular, bought for $75 and $400 earned me $3500 and $32,000 respectively. The first was a gamble on something that seemed worth the chance, the other required about a full week of labor and the purchase of a cargo trailer. Those were the wins. I only had a few losses, and those weren’t too bad. I think the worst was buying for $800 and selling for $500. Of course, a lot of auctions paid for my gas, if I was lucky. Accepting I was only going to pay for gas likely prevented a lot of losses! I probably averaged $40-50/hour, net.) Sites like Hilco industrial and auctionzip are good for finding auctions. Get a lot catalog and go to inspect. Make notes on what is selling on fleabay, what it’s selling for, and most importantly, what isn’t selling. I used to shoot for quadrupling my money before shipping/fleabay fees, at least.

The $400 —> $32,000 story ended when someone contacted me to buy out what remained of the lot. The guy couldn’t figure out why I had what I was selling from my garage. He asked, and I told him where I got the tooling. He paused for a few seconds and said “So, you’re the guy.” Apparently he had sent workers there to buy things. By the time this lot came up at 8:00 in the evening, his guys had run out of cash. I’m guessing the only reason I won the lot was that his guys weren’t the only ones who had blown their budget... it was a HUGE facility. Anyway, a year after the auction, his company paid me $7,500 for one-fourth of what I got for $400 and some sweat equity. ...As for the $75–>$3500 item, I was stunned when it sold in a day. I got a message asking to talk to another person the next day. The guy needed what I had for a job and I suspect would have gone much higher than $3500. The interesting thing to me was he was able to guess who the actual buyer was. My lesson that day was that there may only be a very small market for specialized tools, but the market will pay! I modified my selling strategy for unique things after that.

The auction scene has dried up considerably with the improved economy, but there is still money to be made out there! As for me, the regular gig has been doing well since, so I’ve backed out. It was fun while it lasted, but began to feel like work and I really didn’t have my heart in it. If you like fixing atv’s, do it! The ATV-Shack or even mobile ATV repair above seem like pretty good ideas for you to think about. Whatever you do, best of luck to you!
 
You'll still have people looking over your shoulder. Some folks like to watch you change the oil, weld a muffler, etc just because they can't (or won't) do it and to them it's really cool to see a real man doing real man's work. You just answer their questions as best you can and think of them as a fan-boy.

And you'll need insurance for any ATVs you have on the property. With the rampant trespassing you say is going on you're a prime target for someone to make off with crack-money ATVs to sell. Other than that, go get 'em buddy!

I'll help out if I can.
 
When I work I like to be fast and efficient. I don't want any distractions. I would rather do 10 oil changes a day, than to only do a couple because somebody wanted me to teach them every step of the process. I'm not a customer relations person whatsoever lol.

I hope whatever I decide to do, it don't get to big of a thing. I would hate to have something where I would have to sideline my only true love of cutting wood. It helps with my anxiety. I'm alone with nature. The excitement of a 32inch dia oak tree smacking the ground with enough force to flatten an suv is nothing compared to the way I feel when I go to grocery shopping or take my son to the Dr. Felling timber is actually relaxing for me. I'm getting older. I feel strenuous work helps keep my "pipes" clean, along with a jug of fresh spring water to help keep the heat cramps away.

I love the idea of auctions. I know some of the prices for certain tooling can be insane. I worked 10 years in a high volume machine shop. As a trainee I had an issue with my machine that it kept breaking out the tooling. Most tooling inside the machine was standard high speed steel. Twist-drills and cutoffs tools and saws. One bit in particular shaped the material to form the product. Long story short my manager gave me a talking to after I broke the tooling the third time. "Boy, do you know that tools costs us $1500 every time you break one?" . I'm like what?.. I wanted to buy a lathe once and started looking at tooling. Very expensive...anybody know what an "ACME screw machine is?" I can rebuild those as well as run the crap out of them. I would like to buy one of those and make stuff lol.

I love to buy low sell high.. think ill look at some auctions nearby......
 
Have you considered milling lumber? Along the lines of making live edge furniture you could get a decent Alaskan mill setup and some ripping chain under $1,000
 
Sewage is where it's at. Take some Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operators courses and get certified as a wastewater treatment plant operator. There are various classifications of operators. You don't need a college degree just a desire to learn. Most small towns even in your area have small WWTP's that need that kind of person to operated legally. These are usually operated by the municipalities/counties so you would be working for them at the plant. This is usually a respectable paying job and you would have the benefits as a town/county employee. These WWTP's are not rocket science to run. They are biological systems (bugs eating poop). Just something to look in to. Good luck!
 
just read this thread- Sewage- first thing that popped to mind was the guy from the Red Green show. Municipal employment great gig if you can put up with it. Back in the day - kids were little worked 2 jobs plus side lines to make ends meet. Outboard and small engine repair- roofing- gun smithing. couple other things all legit. 26 years ago I went out on my own full time - little machine shop- been making ends meet .
 
Become a chimney sweep, judging by most of the comments on here and my own experience, most of them are sloppy/dishonest.

I will say you may need to save your money for a bit longer, a grand isn’t going to get you much as far as starting a new venture, unless You already have the tools and equipment for something.

More details would be handy, what is something you somewhat enjoy? What is your schedule like at present?
 
Become a chimney sweep, judging by most of the comments on here and my own experience, most of them are sloppy/dishonest.

I will say you may need to save your money for a bit longer, a grand isn’t going to get you much as far as starting a new venture, unless You already have the tools and equipment for something.

More details would be handy, what is something you somewhat enjoy? What is your schedule like at present?
And short haul trucking ain’t a bad gig.
 
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Too many truckers waiting in line. And no chimneys here everyone uses stovepipes....my schedule is wide open......been looking at live edge furniture....prices look good for the artisan plus I can get a joiner, planer. Clamps etc for under 1k.
 
Too many truckers waiting in line. And no chimneys here everyone uses stovepipes....my schedule is wide open......been looking at live edge furniture....prices look good for the artisan plus I can get a joiner, planer. Clamps etc for under 1k.
Stove pipes still need to be swept. You could also get certified for installation of liners and chimney systems. I had considered this route, but my health won't let me work full time, and I doubt it would be worth it for me to carry the insurance for a few jobs a week.