Welcome to Ghost Business 👻 Your weekly (mostly) Tuesday email, where we turn $1 into thousands building these weird but simple side hustles

Sharp Minds

Norovirus… Ghosties! Long time no read, huh? My apologies on the lack of letters. I recently came down with the norovirus and had a tough time recovering ever since. But hey, “The Ghost Must Go On” 👻 

Today, I want to feature a business that was started out of this newsletter. I receive emails saying people love the idea, but seldom do I get one of these messages:

“Hey Mike, I loved your email about knife sharpening so much that I decided to pull the trigger and start this business.”

Of course I had to dive in and check the numbers. Was my email about the knife sharpening side hustle close? Or is there more money to be made with a sharpening business?

Let’s carve up On-Site Sharpening, started by Jordan!

The MVP (Getting your first customer)

Cutting corners… First off, I had to know the basics about starting this business:

• How much were your startup costs?

• How many hours do you work?

• If you were captain hook and lost your hook, what would you replace it with? (hint: if it’s not a sharp knife, he’s a fraud)

Okay, let’s start with startup costs. Jordan said he put up about $6k to start the business but admittedly could have done it much cheaper. He likes higher end equipment stuff, and it typically lasts longer. Sharp thinking.

Next, monthly expenses are about $115, for Housecall Pro, website and belts/supplies.

Hours worked is probably the most important factor here. As a side hustle, you don’t typically want to work more than your main hustle (plenty of exceptions though). Jordan works about 8-12hrs/week. NICE!

He even breaks it down to where those hours go:

• 4 hours at markets

• 4 hours at pop-ups

• 4 hours sharpening at home/mobile

• Square for accepting my customer payments

• Build all my sites no code on Dorik

• I write this newsletter and earn money on Beehiiv 

Getting Your Next 100 Customers

Just the tip… Our main hero (Jordan) is only in month 3 in this venture! He breaks down his revenue by the below:

• 80% to 85% markets and drop offs

• 15% to 20% mobile

He wants to move away from mobile and triple down on markets and drop offs. B2B (Business to Business) is great for this hustle as businesses tend to have more stuff to sharpen and it’s more likely you’ll get recurring revenue once you establish a great relationship with a solid local business.

Some of the places anyone can get more B2B customers:

• Libraries (paper cutters)

• Lawnmower Repair Shops

• Print Shops

• Canvas Shops

• Sewing Shops

• Wood Shops

• Sheep Shearers

• Farms

• Fishing Boats

• Cheese Shops

• Machine Shops

• Restaurants

• Hair Salons

Big shout out to Jordan for sharing his business and numbers. If you’re ever in Washington State, check him out! Be sure to bring something sharp 😂 (or dull so he can sharpen it)

Viability:

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

Hold the handle… After chatting with Jordan, I think this might be a little harder than anticipated. A few more hours and a lot of love. Luckily he loves the work he’s doing with his business and its obvious his customers do too. (check the reviews!)

(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 👋 

You’re still reading??

These past 2 weeks have been a doozy! Off and on sickness combined with a lot of traveling (horrible combo) 🤢 

We had a 2 employees quit the smoothie shop which kept us in a slight pickle as far as staffing. Luckily, my partner handles all of the hiring and interviews so he had to do most of the heavy lifting for this one. It’s expected though, we’re in a high turnover business but having 2 in one week hit us hard.

Finally, I stopped by my dads house and discovered this gem. Never buying regular firewood again 😂 🔥