With unemployment at its highest level in decades, many people are worried about their jobs and tired of living with that uncertainty. But how can they replace their earnings of $40,000 to $100,000 per year? One option may be the billboard business.
What is the billboard business?
A billboard owner effectively rents land, builds a billboard structure, and then rents the advertising space. The difference between advertising revenue and operating costs, which are essentially the rent for the land and the cost of installing and lighting the sign, represents the profit. The industry is very old, having its origins with the Egyptians and, in the US, it has been in continuous operation since around the 1850s.
Who else is doing it?
The billboard business is very lucrative. Ted Turner built his empire from an early stake in a billboard company in Atlanta. John Kluge is a veteran billboard billionaire, and there are several others on the Forbes 400, including Artie Moreno.
There are many people in the US who own billboards, ranging from one unit to thousands of units.
How does it work?
The billboard industry is effectively regulated by the government, which designates where billboards can be built along the country’s highways. City streets are governed by a different set of local ordinances. Once you’ve learned the rules, your job is to find legal locations to build billboards. The other part of your job is to negotiate an acceptable land lease with the landlord in these legal locations.
It then determines the size and height to build the sign and, after construction, rents the advertising space on the sign, typically on a one-year lease.
So how can you make $100,000 a year doing that?
The billboard business has various niches. One of the best right now is focusing on wood signs in emerging markets. These wooden telephone pole-like structures cost about $6,000 to build, but generate about $3,000 or more per year in net income. To make $100,000 per year, you’d need to build 30 of these in your spare time. How difficult is that to do? It is not so difficult. There are people who have accumulated a hundred or more of these in their spare time. All it takes is the effort to learn how to do it and then find the sites.
Of course, you control how much effort you put in. If you’re not trying to replace your day job income, you could build just a few to put your kids through college or leave them a nice legacy.
How fast can I start doing this?
As fast as you can learn to do it. The first step is to learn the ordinances in your state. You may also need to obtain a state license, which is not as difficult as it sounds. There is usually no exam or school required, just the payment of a small fee.
You can also see a list of already built structures for sale on sites like http://www.outdoorbillboard.com.
conclusion
If you want to replace an income of up to $100,000, or simply build the most profitable hobby business in the world, you need to look into the billboard business. It has been a hit with thousands of Americans for over a century.