Welcome to Ghost Business 👻 Your Tuesday & Friday email, where we turn $1 into thousands building these weird but simple side hustles

Tis’ the szn

Light er up… If you’re a scrooge like me, holidays don’t bring you much joy. Capitalism has run amuck and now it’s YOUR turn to reap the rewards of holiday revenge spending.

Having your house decked out is the ultimate neighbor-flex to show the peasants who the head hood honcho is.

That’s where we come in. Decoration Station or Light Er Up [name pending]

A holiday lights/decoration service for the wealthy, lazy, handicapped, pregnant or just for the gram.

P.S. This guy shows you exactly how to do it

This is an easy business to get into if you’re already doing stuff like roof repair/cleaning, window washing, or solar panel installs/cleanings.

Or if you just have a sturdy ladder (and no fear of heights)

So how much would it cost to get into this business and how much can we make doing this as a side hustle? Let’s ho ho h… just crunch the numbers 🎄 

The MVP (Getting your first customer)

Friday night lights… For this MVP, we’re gunna switch it up. We’re going to be the “good guy” for once. (I prefer being a villain 😈)

To get things started, you’re going to go to the OLDEST person in your neighborhood. Like they should be dusty old. And we’re going to do them a service. We’re going to hang up their holiday lights (with their permission).

Depending on the individual, you can do this free of charge or just for the cost of materials.

Then you’ll want to go to the bordering 5-10 houses in every direction and ask if they would be interested in the same service. Bonus points if you can do this in a wealthy neighborhood.

After door knocking on 15-25 houses in the area, you’ll 100% be able to land a customer.

How much would this cost to set up:

• Ladder: $100

• Lights/Decor: $200 (customer pays)

• Marketing materials: $50

All in $350

Getting Your Next 100 Customers

Getting lit… When growing this business, referrals are everything. Some people do “neighborhood discounts”. This means if a neighbor can get 2-5 people to also sign up for the service, the price is cheaper for everyone.

Of course you can ALWAYS post on the neighborhood FB groups and NextDoor to promote the biz. But this bores me.

For an alternative idea, I’d do some Gorilla Marketing. 

I’d do some “mini decos” and decorate some of the Free Mini Libraries (like the one below) with a sign that says, “ready to decorate your big library?”

So how much could this even make?

Doing some light research, the average price is about $5.50 per linear square foot. The perimeter of my home in Seattle is about 200 sf, so this would cost me ~$1k 🤯 

If you can land 2 houses a day on the weekends (4 houses in total) per week.

• $1,000 per house

• $4,000 per week

• or $16k per month (during the holidays)

Who knows what you can charge for taking down the stuff 😈 

Viability:

1 [building spaceships] 🚀 to 5 [easy peasy] 😊 

Lights out… This is a very LEGIT sidehustle to grow and nurture. It doesn’t take much to get started in this business and word of mouth is your best friend.

This is very seasonal and very hands on, so this is right down the middle at about a 3.

(As usual each business will have it’s own setbacks, and it’s all about the execution and consistency rather than just having the idea 😉)

It’s a great day to be great!

Love, Mike 👋