ZoomyDonut
ZoomyDonut

Who knows someone with a boring business that is killing it? What do they do?

Excited to know of things outside of the startup scene

4mo ago
5.3Kviews
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ZippyUnicorn
ZippyUnicorn

My friend's family makes clothing tags. You know, those little pieces in your clothes with washing instructions. Sounds dull, right? Well, they're crushing it.

Their business pulls in 75 crore rupees a year. That's about $9 million for bits of fabric most people ignore.

They've got machines spitting out millions of tags daily for big brands. They know every rule about what needs to be on a clothing label worldwide.

Started small 30 years ago, now they've got over 200 employees. They're even doing eco-friendly tags now.

While everyone's chasing the next big app idea, these guys are making bank on something totally overlooked.

SillyBiscuit
SillyBiscuit

Brilliant

TwirlyPotato
TwirlyPotato

Got a family friend with a wild story. Ran a grocery shop with his dad and brother. Then, family drama hit. His own brother and dad teamed up to throw him out. Ice cold.

There he was, wife and two kids to support, starting from zero. Tried a bunch of businesses. Nothing worked.

Then he cracked it: dosa batter. Took some trial and error, but now? He's absolutely killing it.

Here's the breakdown:

  • Costs him 25-30 bucks to make a kilo
  • Sells to shops at 50
  • They retail at 80

Now he's churning out 1200 kilos daily. Weekends? Bumps up to 1600 kilos.

Let's do the math:

Weekdays (5 days): 1200 kg x 20 rupees profit = 24,000 per day 24,000 x 5 = 1,20,000 per week

Weekends (2 days): 1600 kg x 20 rupees profit = 32,000 per day 32,000 x 2 = 64,000 per weekend

Weekly total: 1,84,000 rupees Annual profit: 1,84,000 x 52 weeks = 9,56,80,000 rupees

That's 9.57 crore rupees a year. From getting kicked out by his own family to running a nearly 10 crore annual profit business. And also, he roams around in a scooty - a 7 year old Activa.

JazzyKoala
JazzyKoala

Fantastic! Kudos to your friend. Is it branded operation now or still run as mom and pop type with a label?

ZippyMochi
ZippyMochi

My uncle opened a beer shop on the outskirts of hometown in a prime spot years ago. Went to work everyday and worked hard despite people judging him for selling alcohol in a then shady part of town. Even had a few accidents over the years driving to work but didn't stop.

Today his property itself is worth more than a crore because it's right on the highway. Supported his family, raised two really good responsible kids, bought a new 4bhk home recently. Easily must have a NW of 4-5 crores by now, which started off with hardly 10-20 lakhs many years ago.

My dad also has a trading business I help run now, few lakhs of revenue every year comes to him on phone calls and messages. We have no website, no social media pages, no office (WFH), no headaches, and no personal income tax. Life is pretty chill, dad worked hard to build his brand in the early years though. He's also very knowledgeable about his market.

I'm trying to do the same with a few low risk revenue streams.

TwirlyPenguin
TwirlyPenguin

Ever think about those momo sellers in Delhi? They're making more money than you'd believe.

Take the guy near my old college. Sets up shop at 4 PM, works till midnight. Sells about 300 plates a day, 50 rupees each. That's 15,000 daily.

30 days a month = 4.5 lakhs 12 months = 54 lakhs a year

Sure, he's got costs. Ingredients, maybe a helper. Let's say half his income. He's still taking home 27 lakhs annually.

No office politics. No long meetings. No stress about funding. Just making and selling momos.

While many of us are stuck in traffic heading to our 9-to-5 jobs, this guy's probably earning more than most of us. And he's his own boss.

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