How to make money in the spring: the best seasonal startups. Spring earnings Houses for our little brothers

Seasonal earnings usually have one important distinctive feature- during the season, for 3-5 months, it allows you to earn quite a lot of money, but then until next year the business is idle. On the one hand, what you earn at peak times can be enough for the whole year, so you can go on a well-deserved vacation until the next season. If this option does not suit you, you can try to make a seasonal business year-round or, after one seasonal idea, implement another, starting a continuous cycle - business ideas for spring will be replaced by summer business ideas. This approach has one undeniable advantage - you can receive a good income all year round with minimal investments.

Let's look at seasonal business ideas that do not require large financial investments, but bring sufficient returns.

1. The simplest thing that comes to mind is growing seedlings.

This business idea is suitable not only for those who have a personal plot. After all, you can grow cucumbers, tomatoes, bell and hot peppers on windowsills. Costs are minimal - a packet of seeds costs an average of 10 rubles, which is enough to sow an entire tray. For example, there can be 15-30 tomato seeds in one pack. A month and a half after germination (and some varieties even earlier), your seedlings can be sold at a price of 50 rubles. for a dozen roots. If we are talking about cucumbers, then this is even more profitable - one cucumber seedling with 5-7 real leaves costs up to 40 rubles on the market at the height of the summer season.

Of course, you can’t earn much by growing it on a windowsill, a couple of thousand rubles at most. Therefore, it is better to start a business related to seedlings, early greens, radishes under film for those who have a plot of land. There we can already talk about income in the amount of up to 50,000 rubles per month.

1. Spring cleaning

Spring is for walks; adults and children spend a lot of time outside the home. Occupying their leisure time is not such a difficult task, but it is also profitable. Here are the spring business ideas our authors and readers offer.

• Sale of balloons. The positive demographic situation in the country contributes to making money from the sale of balloons. Points of sale can be installed in many places: shopping centers, central streets and squares or using bulletin boards.
• Growing seasonal vegetables in greenhouses. The first vegetables and salad greens quickly find their buyers; entrepreneurs can only count their profits.
• Children attractions. With the arrival of warmer weather, parents try to spend time with their children outside as often as possible, so in the spring, children's attractions bring excellent income to businessmen.
• Shooting gallery A popular entertainment that requires minimal costs for existing and aspiring entrepreneurs.
• Soda/coffee/tea vending machines. The machines do not take up much space, so the rental cost will be insignificant.
• Selling cotton candy. Your favorite childhood delicacy can bring you decent income.
• Selling popcorn. Simple spices: salt and sugar will help increase sales.

Oleg, Moscow region: Every spring, near crowded intersections with pedestrian traffic lights, we set up small 2x2 meter booths with kvass and lemonade. We employ 1 person, we sell in glasses (small and large) and liters.

The kvass is the same as it used to be in barrels, so not only those who are waiting for their traffic lights linger here, but also lovers of tasty kvass come with 3-5 liter bottles. Lots of regular customers. The hotter the day, the more sales. The biggest sales are at the point near the city park.

Spring is a time of inspiration and good mood. many want to remember these moments for a long time - business in photography is very positive and can be started with a small investment.

• Body art. Not everyone will decide to decorate their body with a tattoo, but there are plenty of people who want to try body art. However, a tattoo parlor is also a good business.
• Growing and selling flowers. An interesting business idea for flora lovers.
• One-time cleaning at home. In spring, people especially want to get rid of excess garbage, junk and dust, so busy people are increasingly turning to outside help. Become a professional in this matter or hire staff for this and you will have a business without costs, but with a guaranteed profit. A popular service in spring is window cleaning.

It's getting worse on the streets more people, seasonal street businesses are emerging, which I have seen lately:

The significant increase in business activity of the small and medium-sized segment of entrepreneurs in the spring season is explained, in particular, by the “reanimation” after the winter of such economic sectors as Agriculture, construction, resort and recreational activities (including fishing) and street cold food, as well as other “outdoor” services.

Growing fresh herbs in open ground: basic nuances

Previously, we have already described the possibilities of creating your own farm, as well as other promising business startups in the field. We propose to plan the following important aspects of a monoline business plan for growing greens on an industrial scale:

• purchase/rent of land - at the initial stage, 10-15 acres is enough - and the simplest devices for loosening and plowing;
• availability of water for irrigation, preferably a full-fledged well;
• planting material; fertilizers; fungicides and insecticides - for an initial amount of up to $1000

The approximate duration of plant growth from planting to presentation is 35 - 45 days, depending on the variety. During the business planning process, you should also establish sales channels. The most in a simple way is to sell independently in the markets, but this way you won’t be able to sell a lot at once, and it will take a lot of time. The best option would be to sell grown greens in bulk by the kilogram, for which you need to cooperate with sellers of the greens themselves, the vast majority of whom are resellers. The second stage will be the conclusion of contracts with stores, but for this it is necessary to have a more or less stable amount of products, regardless of the time of year, which requires the construction, purchase or rental of greenhouses.

You should also be prepared for the fact that the supermarket will reject somewhere between 10% and 15% of the harvest. The latter put forward high requirements to product quality: greens must be one-dimensional, clean, and appropriately colored.

Let us note that, according to the observations of farmers, growing lettuce, onions, parsley, dill, and arugula is four times more profitable than growing vegetables. With proper and competent business management and having your own land plot of 10 acres, the net profit can be 10 - 15 thousand hryvnia per month.

Growing vegetable seedlings on an industrial scale

For a business startup, you will need a small plot of land, but for growing seedlings starting from the end of February, a small one is quite suitable film greenhouse. The advantage of the latter is that it warms up quickly and does not require a foundation, as it has a lightweight structure. The price of the frame, depending on the size and material, ranges from 500 to 2000 hryvnia, the price of the film is within the same range.

The most widely used greenhouse films are made of polyethylene, which attracts with its comparative cheapness (15 - 40 hryvnia per kilogram, about 40-45 kg per roll, and 1 kg of film is approximately 9 meters). It is easily cut and fixed to greenhouses, transmits ultraviolet rays vital for plant development and provides frost protection down to -2°C. But polyethylene has limited resistance to ultraviolet rays, so films made from it usually last up to six months.

If the greenhouse on your site is small, the windows in it can be opened manually, fixing them in the open position using a metal strip with slots and a cotter pin. Another point - plants, for the most part, require a large number of Sveta. If there is not enough sunlight, then there is a reason to think about artificial lighting.

At subsequent stages of business development, you should think about a more reliable design of greenhouses, the cost of 1 hectare ranges from 200 thousand hryvnia (they provide snow and wind resistance, are equipped with a heating and irrigation system).

Once the issue with the mini-greenhouse is resolved, you can move on to the next step - purchasing seeds, which can be done in several ways:

• buy small seedlings, grow them a little and sell them at a higher price;
• The most profitable option is to purchase plant seeds and peat cups and grow seedlings from them.

If the profitability of growing vegetables is determined primarily by yield, then the profitability of seedling production is determined by the percentage of plants obtained from the number of seeds sown. Competitive production brings this figure to 90%.

Concerning business profitability, then, according to experts, from an ordinary film greenhouse of 25x20 square meters you can get up to 45 thousand seedlings. The cost of seedlings ranges from 50 kopecks to 1 hryvnia per piece; Petunias with a mini-pot can be sold for 5-8 hryvnia/piece. Thus, by selling seedlings, you can earn 30-60 thousand hryvnia.

Considering the fact that seedlings are grown only two months a year, it is unprofitable to build a greenhouse exclusively for them. It is more expedient to grow heat-loving fruits in this greenhouse after seedling production. On 500 square meters you can grow 1.5 thousand plants. Thus, the greenhouse will be profitable until September-October.

Vermiculture: growing worms for sale

In big cities, fishermen buy worms in stores. According to market experts, it is most effective for a startup to breed red Californian worms.

The process of vermicultivation itself goes like this: the worms are placed in buckets filled half with soil and a quarter with leaves or humus. It is optimal to use tea leaves from your own kitchen as a top dressing.

For commercial production, the acidity level should be maintained between 6.8 and 7.2. There are many ways to check the acidity level, from litmus paper to a special device. It is advisable to measure the acidity level once a week at a depth of 10 to 20 centimeters and once a month throughout the entire substrate layer.

If you find increased acidity, this can be corrected using lime (calcium carbonate) by mixing it with the substrate. If the acidity is low, moss is needed, preferably from peat bogs, but forest moss is also possible. It must be added until the pH value rises to 6.8 - 7.2. The main thing is that the soil in the bucket does not freeze.

You can start a business for growing worms with a quantity of 30 - 50 pieces, in a couple of years their population will already be 5 - 6 million individuals.

The cost of 1 worm grown to a marketable state is about 12-14 kopecks. The final buyer receives 3 sizes of worm (small, medium and large), the transition from one size to another entails an increase in price by an average of 10-15%.

Comparative characteristics of the most common worms for breeding.

There are several options for selling worms. Other vermicultivation operators, gardeners to improve soil quality, and people involved in industrial composting are also interested in purchasing worms. Of course, fish farms, zoos, pet stores, etc. are interested in worms as food for their pets. Private laboratories, universities and schools can use worms for zoology teaching.

Organizing picnics for corporations: basic nuances of a startup

The first thing you need to decide on when planning a business startup is the picnic venues that the entrepreneur will have to register as such. In most cases, in order to obtain permission to use the territory, you must first clean it up and remove debris. Experience shows that in the first year of a business’s existence, just one or two assistants are enough; in subsequent years, the number of full-time employees can exceed 15 people.

The standard list of services of an event company includes venue design, arrangement of huts, if necessary - a boardwalk, barbecue menu, music, as well as food, dishes, tables, chairs and transport.

Necessary accessories include all kinds of sports and entertainment equipment: badminton, balls, volleyball nets, bicycles.

For clients who want to order a memorable picnic, you can expand the range of services by inviting animators, artists or fencers from historical reconstruction clubs. Are in great demand mobile baths.

As evidenced by the practice of event agencies, the average cost of an order per person for a corporate picnic was 200 hryvnia. However, we should not forget about the economy package, which only includes transport, barbecue and meat with a minimum snack and drink.

Tents for lovers: sale and rental

In the spring - the time of love - tents for lovers can be in particular demand; they can be easily assembled in twenty minutes, fit in a small backpack and provide privacy somewhere on the river bank. You can make them in your apartment or garage. All you need is a sewing machine, threading equipment, and a little imagination.

Delivery of flowers in flat boxes

London-based startup Bloom&Wild (which can be translated as “flowers from flower beds and wildflowers”) entered the very competitive flower delivery market - but managed to excel in it. The company sends bouquets in flat boxes, which have become so familiar to residents of megacities thanks to pizza delivery - perhaps not square, but more elongated. There is both technological convenience when moving couriers (for example, on a scooter, bicycle), and some metropolitan irony of life.

And most importantly, this idea solves an important psychological problem - the courier ceases to play the forced role of a gift giver of flowers, “receiving” surprise, smiles, delights from the recipient of the bouquet instead of the customer - or, conversely, irritation and dissatisfaction (anything can happen).

So simple design trade products, applied “in a foreign sphere”, boldly and with the destruction of stereotypes, can become a promising profitable endeavor.

Online store of goods without extra charge

There are pioneers and inventors of ideas - and there are those who “fine-tune” the idea to the form in which it can conquer the masses. Thus, back in the 1970s, so-called Warehouse Clubs began to appear, and in the 1980s they conquered the United States - networks of club-type warehouses that collect subscription fees from “club members” (for example, the largest such network in terms of turnover, Costco Wholesale, has a membership fee of amounting to $55 per year - and over 50 million people use it), thereby minimizing the markup on goods, making them cheaper than similar goods from competitors.

True, the goods themselves in these club stores are mainly supplied by the partners of the “club” - manufacturers of the third or fourth row of well-known brands. Otherwise, all other competing retail chains would daily turn to the state antimonopoly services, and they, according to American laws, would fine club retail chains for violating competition rules.

But the new project Jet.com, launched by the famous web entrepreneur Marc Lore, will not find fault with antimonopoly officers - since it is an Internet platform for various existing or about to launch retail chains selling world-class FMCG brands. For an annual subscription fee of $50, members of this new club will be able to purchase all products without any extra charge.

Physical delivery of goods to customers will be carried out by existing retail chains - and the markup margin between manufacturer prices (or the cost of import at customs) and the retail price accepted in a particular retail chain will be paid in favor of the latter by Jet.com. Thus, the startup promises its subscribers at least $200 in winnings per year.

This dropshipping company will not have any warehouses. And the project is going to earn money exclusively from the same membership fees from tens of millions (as the business founder hopes) of subscribers.

The only warning to domestic followers of this idea: if in US retail chains the markup on FMCG goods priced up to $50 per kilogram/piece is almost always a few cents, up to 0.5% of the price of the product - then in retail chains of Eastern Europe very often we are talking about two or three times the margin. For us, the option “plus ten hryvnia for a cost of ten hryvnia” is quite likely. Therefore, launching subscription projects of goods without any markup at all is profitable only for strictly defined product lines and manufacturers.

Nomadic women's goods store

There is such a format of pop-up retail trade - a store that moves like an exhibition-fair, from city to city, renting various small areas and certainly serving one or another social or cultural-aesthetic initiative, which is a kind of action.

In this case, the initiative of the American founders was gender specific - the store is called LessThan100 (“less than 100%”), but is already better known as “76<100» (дело в том, что в большинстве штатов зарплаты женщин на высоких должностях меньше выплат мужчинам на точно тех же позициях - в среднем, составляя 76% от таковых). Продаются в этом магазине только товары сделанные женщинами - преимущественно хендмейд, но также и одежда, и иные вещи, созданные на крупных мануфактурах с чисто женскими коллективами. А попутно вся кочующая торговая точка является средством борьбы за трудовое равноправие женщин.

It remains to be noted that the demand for the store, its products and the media popularity of the project turned out to be unexpectedly high - the founders of the startup quickly lost their feet in search of works by women's hands, rapidly flying off the shelves in every new city and state where the store is located.

Cardboard cup, box, book with impregnated seeds

We take a biodegradable cardboard cup for coffee and insert into it from the outside the seeds of herbs that can withstand heating up to 50-60 degrees (the usual temperature of the outside of a cardboard glass with liquid at a temperature of 80-90 degrees inside). We get seed that can be safely buried in a metropolis under a lawn - or, for example, under a flowerbed located next to a cafe or kiosk selling coffee in these cups.

Note that earlier than this Californian idea, in the 2010s, an initiative started from the opposite coast of the United States - the Washington-based company Life Box launched cardboard packaging boxes also with impregnated seeds on the market.

Finally, Argentina has launched the production of cardboard books for children - again with herb seeds embedded in the pages and covers. If the children have grown up, there are no more plans, you don’t want to keep tattered books for your grandchildren, there is no one to give them to and it is inconvenient to sell them - then it is suggested to bury such books in the country house or under the lawn. And they will sprout!

Delivery to and from any laundries

And again, an American startup that started making good money from a simple idea. We are talking about a website (getwashio.com) and a mobile application, which list all small companies that provide laundry services in several cities at once (in the future this will be implemented in dozens of US cities) - but do not have their own or partner courier service, as well as characterized by disproportionate fees for courier services due to the rarity of demand for delivery and the lack of continuous flow logistics of “laundry couriers”.

In this application or website, customers choose the cheapest or the fastest, or the closest, or the highest quality laundry service - and a courier from the startup company comes to them, and the courier from the startup company delivers the completed order the next day. The client pays only to this courier company, which itself pays the laundries.

And with a constant flow of orders from every district of the city, the share of the cost of the courier’s work in each delivery is much less than in the case of a single departure.

It is not difficult to guess that having accumulated enough profit, the most appropriate thing for such a company is to purchase its own washing equipment in each of the cities it serves - and provide not only courier, but also “laundry” services themselves.

Smart frame for uploading pictures from your smartphone

The Dutch invention Wundershine is one of the simplest electronic gadgets - a wall-mounted frame surrounding a simple LCD screen; and behind it is a processor that receives a signal from a smartphone and loads a framed photo onto the screen. So you can change the wall painting-decoration at least daily.

3D versions of famous paintings - for the blind

And finally, a Spanish idea: to hang convex textured copies of the most famous paintings of a given collection in special halls of museums - in order to attract blind visitors to visit art museums.

However, in the West, benefits are monetized - that is, the recipient pays the same as everyone else, but receives special preferential money from the state, employer or other organizations - and in this case, the museum will really start making money from blind visitors, especially foreigners. And in our country, benefits are often formalized in the form of free use of many objects - and if a blind citizen is given benefits in relation to museums, most likely it will be the right to free admission.

However, producers of convex, tangible copies of great paintings will be able to make money from us. It is necessary to present this as a social humanitarian project for the blind - and find a philanthropist (possibly in the person of some government agency) who would pay for the production of many such copies at once for a particular museum.

Toilet stickers

A few years ago, the site reported on entrepreneurs making good money by producing full-color stickers on the external panels of laptop cases. But they never dreamed of the idea on which the startup gentlemen, American designer Celeste Massulo, has already earned a million - a million dollars (however, let’s admit, she invested many tens of thousands of the same currency units in massive advertising). And she produces “toilet tattoos” - stickers on the toilet lid and its tank.

Let us immediately note that such stickers can be either simple, quick-change (“oracal”) or vinyl, which can be washed for many years without erasing the design. Also, no one bothers you to put stickers on the rim of the toilet seat. Note that well-decorated toilet seats cost twice as much as regular one-color ones and therefore are in low demand here - and even if in America such a product went with a bang (where it’s not a problem for anyone to immediately buy a seat with an excellent design), then here The demand must be absolutely deafening. And the opportunity to change the design of the key object of the reflection room at least monthly is a good advertising moment for our very “restless” and ironic people.

Developing a piquant theme, we will propose another idea unknown to the American designer-woman - to make stickers for the toilet using LED elements or light-emitting diodes. Such an “on” sticker will allow you not to turn on the bright light that hits your eyes in a given room late at night.

Sets of chocolates from each country or region

Another American super-idea - the Sugarfina company has released a set that includes mini-boxes of traditional sweets from different European countries (sets from eight countries and more). All this is presented as a “chocolate virtual tour of Europe” - which found a very lively response among those Americans for whom it is too expensive to fly on a live tour of Europe and try the same sweets at the place of production. The sets are quite expensive - but the demand for them turned out to be huge.

It's time to make similar sets - both elite and affordable - with us. Let us emphasize that we are talking specifically about the import and packaging of sweets from countries considered the birthplace of a particular dish, and not about the production of similar products in Ukraine, Russia or anywhere else: the demand is associated precisely with the exclusivity of the original “regional” taste, with the lack imitation.

The same idea should be implemented in relation to the regions of Ukraine or Russia. Twenty-seven mini-boxes of sweets from each region of Ukraine and the slogan “Try all of Ukraine” - isn’t this a marketing bomb? Wouldn’t millions of citizens - from poor students in love to ministers - buy such a set at a price of 100-150 hryvnia (at half the cost): in order to compare, so to speak, the sweetness of Crimea and Kyiv, Lviv region and Donbass? They will definitely buy it, maybe more than once. After all, each of us at least once has to give “local” souvenirs to visitors from another country. So here it is: the most utilitarian and comprehensive souvenir.

In addition, you can try similar regional sets, for example, beer. However, here you will have to especially strictly ensure that the Prague variety was brewed in Prague, and that “Chernigovskoye” turned out to be from Chernigov, and not from Kharkov, Nikolaev or Kyiv bottling.

Swimming trunks (swimsuit) with a waterproof pocket for mobile phones, keys and money

Another American (Stash Incorporated) idea, the essence of which is obviously clear from the previous title line. Technologically, the main thing here is to ensure the absolute absence of water penetration in the area where such a pocket is fastened. The developer proposed this option: he pulled a thick polyethylene “sock” onto a circle consisting of hinged elements one-sixth the size of a circle; these segments of the circle fold in a special way and snap inward, creating a solid multi-layer fastener. But, of course, any other options for a completely waterproof fastener are also possible.

Tables for visiting cafes without getting off your bike

The whole marketing idea for cafeterias is clear from the picture. It belongs to the Zurich (Switzerland) Rathaus Café.

Arm trainer - imitation rowing

A home exercise machine, developed by a German institute specializing in such products, could be a good competitor to traditional and dull dumbbells, kettlebells, and barbells. And with such rowing skill (after a couple of months of using the simulator), how nice it must be to come with a girl to a rowing boat rental point - and for a couple of hours, without getting tired, steer the boat under her increasingly admiring glances.

Hairdresser at a gas station or car wash station

German entrepreneur Ralf Mehlmann began developing a network of hairdressing salons (one room with two work stations) at gas stations and car wash stations. A high-speed mini-haircut or shaving when a motorist is forced to stop driving turned out to be so in demand that the startuper planned to increase the number of such points to a hundred.

Tea with fanfic images and texts

The Western trend of recent years is to apply fan fiction (that is, images and texts brought to life by fans of a particular work of literature, cinema, gaming industry or type of pastime) on every imaginable product. It was time for tea.

In fact, why not decorate the labels and packaging of tea bags with jokes on the theme of “The Hobbit”, “Harry Potter”, some TV series or “Shrek”. There are a lot of types of fan fiction on the Internet, and the fan communities themselves will generate a good surge in sales of appropriately designed inexpensive goods.

In addition, firstly, cooperation with massive advertising campaigns - say, with marketers of the animated series “Masha and the Bear”, who completely flooded many product segments with their brand - will be very useful for a startup: as an excellent “running pad” for business. And secondly, fan fiction is still not just copying other people’s images - it is folk, “network” creativity on the theme of cult works and activities, which will bring an element of freshness and novelty to your business.

Tie with a metro map on the wrong side

The Japanese invention was created for clerks who have come to Tokyo in large numbers and (especially) for couriers who are still confused in the intricacies of the Tokyo subway map - a subway map is printed on the wrong side of a tie in its lower “bifurcated” part.

In domestic conditions, in addition to metro maps, outside of Kyiv, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk, you can also print a map of urban transport or simply a map of the city center.

T-shirt for taking selfies in the mirror - with “reflected” inscriptions

The whole essence of the invention is obvious from the photo:

Suitcase on wheels with folding scooter board

And here the photograph conveys all the charm of an ingenious invention for young people moving with suitcases through multi-hundred-meter airports and train stations:

Alarm clock in the form of a pair of socks with vibration elements

How to set an alarm so that only one family member gets up without waking up those lying next to them? Option: set an alarm clock on your mobile phone in vibration mode and put the mobile phone in your sock. Why not immediately make original socks with a zippered pocket and the thinnest electronic vibration alarm clock included (there is no need to sew on an alarm clock - the socks need to be washed). By the way, lovers of slow awakening will be able to set an alarm in both the right and left sock with a difference of five minutes.

Smartphone mount for guitar neck for audio recording

All mini-gadgets are gradually being combined into smartphones, including voice recorders. And therefore, all guitarists who want to record their performance wirelessly, without adapters and without asking listeners to hold their smartphone closer to the guitar would find a demand for a clamp that tenaciously and safely holds the smartphone along the back of the guitar neck (after all, guitar necks have more or less the same width) .

The best option is a smartphone case, to which two tensile thin strips are added to the right and left, connected by fasteners in the area of ​​the case. The ribbons are threaded under the strings, tensioned and secured, and the smartphone with its build-in microphone ends up hanging motionless on the fretboard.

Children's furniture with multiple identical holes every few centimeters - like in a children's construction set

The invention of eight-year-old Ole and five-year-old Ella Otterstedt from Denmark, who played with a construction set and suggested that their dad make the same adult-sized construction set for the production of real furniture, was understood by their dad. The idea has already been launched for sale under a trademark that unites the names of little inventors: Olla. Simple, but brilliant!

Party bus

There is a tram-café, there are boats for rent for corporate events and graduations, there are regular cafe-buses in some places (in Barcelona, ​​say) - there are also. But in Kazan, a bus appeared not only with tables, but also with various disco “bells and whistles” inside, allowing tenants to hold a party anywhere in the city or even on the way anywhere.

Park bench that collects water and then waters the lawn

The bench has slots between the seat slats. Rainwater spills into them. If the entire space under the bench is occupied by a vessel collecting water, and an irrigation pump-sprinkler is attached to it, which turns on when a special battery is attached to a special connector of the vessel, which will be stored (and charged) by a utility worker or by the owner of a mansion for private use, then you can Water the area around the bench with rainwater. The idea, as you might guess, was born in extremely hot, but also very rainy places - in India.

Choosing a direction for developing your own business is a purely individual matter; some people want to create something big and stable, some are interested in being mobile and unloaded, while others simply want to receive additional income.

From the standpoint of additional income, seasonal business ideas are the most interesting; on the one hand, they provide high profitability due to their specific features. On the other hand, the owner is not loaded throughout the year. Examples have already been given on the pages of the resource, although we were talking about summer ideas. You can read more about such directions for making money in the summer, here and here, let me remind you that not only examples were given, but even full-fledged business plans for the directions.

Today we’ll talk about another direction of seasonal business for spring. When wondering what to do in spring? Then only ideas related to agriculture come to mind, for example, growing flowers or just... But there is an alternative in the form of dehumidification.

Russia is a huge country and every spring the news chronicles are full of reports about the overflow of rivers and the flooding of populated areas. But the news avalanche is just the tip of the iceberg; in practice, you can find flooded basements and even houses in almost every town and village located near rivers. After the water goes away, the owners of flooded houses and basements are faced with the question of draining their basements. For anyone who hasn’t encountered the problem, I can say that drying out a basement is a very troublesome task, the fact is that if the drying is not fast and effective enough, mold and mildew start to grow, and consider it a “pipe”. The most effective way to quickly solve the problem is to use industrial dryers, plus treating the walls with special chemical compounds (to eliminate the possibility of mold and mildew growth).

It is worth noting that the business is largely seasonal with a peak of activity in the spring, after the water subsides.

Why should you start draining basements to make money?

• - relatively low cost of starting a business. By and large, 2-3 industrial dehumidifiers (equipment cost about 50-60 thousand rubles), a pair of fan heaters (heat guns) (cost approximately 15 thousand rubles per pair) and, of course, professional chemicals for protection against fungus will be enough to carry out the work.

Regarding chemistry, I can say from personal experience that professional products are many times more effective than conventional ones, and purchases are made only in large volumes from specialized suppliers. You can’t just buy it on the market, but when you translate its cost per square meter, it is an order of magnitude cheaper.

• - simplicity of organizing the business itself. Actually placing the equipment and cleaning the walls with subsequent treatment is not a difficult task.

Disadvantages of the seasonal business of draining basements and premises.

• - the business is largely temporary, which requires an active advertising campaign before flooding occurs. Roughly speaking, advertising should begin in early spring.
• - 90% of earnings are generated in one to two months. As a result, if the season does not go well, the equipment will remain a dead weight until next year; in any case, we are not talking about its 100% payback.
• - the need to attract a vehicle. In fact, one of the main expense items in such a temporary business will be transport.

Although such an idea can bring in a small income throughout the year if you provide services for removing mold and fungi, especially if you add another type of activity - sealing basements.

It's heading towards spring. This can be judged not only by the lengthening daylight hours and the ladies rushing to urgently lose weight and shine, but also by the noticeable revival of business. Now is the most fertile time to start, as well as to organize the groundwork for those types of businesses whose “sleighs” are prepared in the winter and set off in the summer.

The simplest way to “fit the season” is to sell goods that are in high demand during this period: soft drinks and ice cream, summer clothes and air conditioners, sunglasses, seeds and seedlings for summer cottages. Meanwhile, there are over 1,000 types of activities in the world that correspond to the concept of “summer business” and bring their owners a total income amounting to millions of dollars. Large companies have been operating for a long time and are engaged only in seasonal business. Depending on the time of year, they change the structure of production, distribution methods and, naturally, the range of goods. There are more than 50 thousand registered “seasonal” companies in Europe alone, and more than 60 thousand in the USA. So the turnover of funds in this area of ​​activity is comparable to any other line of business.

You should not think that entrepreneurs who have found their niches in the summer business work three months a year. Summer is just one of four types of seasonal business. Among them, perhaps the most pronounced is winter business. However, if you are not afraid to switch from one type of activity to another, very tangible benefits can be obtained in this field all year round.

The most profitable seasonal business is not trade in the usual sense. The future, and, perhaps, the present, lies in the production of seasonal goods, and the main thing here is not to make a mistake in the choice. The main thing is that the product must be at the intersection of industries or market niches. As a rule, each niche already has a leader, but at the “junctions” there is no one, and identifying empty ones is a priority task. By the way, one of the most successful products for seasonal business from Russian practice, which fills just one of these “joints”, is the Raptor electrofumigator with a liquid filler, which repels mosquitoes and flies.

The profitability of this business of creating and promoting a new product should be at least 60 percent. In addition to high profits, seasonal business also comes with high risks. Therefore, a profitability of one hundred percent or higher is what is considered a professionally completed project. What could be the most promising this coming summer? We have selected ten businesses that, in our opinion, have good prospects in the coming season.

"Diligent" worm

The leader here is a strange, at first glance, activity called “vermicultivation”. This “pasta” term refers to the cultivation of purebred Californian worms. As it turns out, worms are the most profitable pet. For example, the overall profitability for cattle is now no more than 18%, but a worm easily brings 300%, and this is not the limit. When multiplying, it produces three main products. The most important reason why worms are bred is the vermicompost they produce, as well as the extract from it, which is a valuable concentrated fertilizer.

In addition, another source of income is their offspring, which are sold to fishing stores as bait and food for fish, for flour in compound feed, which improves the quality of livestock products; it is also sold as breeding stock to other farms.

Calculations show: if a farm of 400 heads annually sells milk worth 6-9 million rubles, then during the same period the cows produce so much manure that, if processed, you can get 15-18 million rubles. Now is the time to get involved in this business - as you know, there is enough manure in Russia, but there are only about a hundred farms involved in processing it into valuable fertilizer. According to experts, at least 1.5 million tons of vermicompost are required per year for Russian farms and household plots, while total production today is only a hundredth of the requirement. So you won’t have to push elbows to win a place in the sun.

By the way, recently you can take out a franchise for worms. Domestic craftsmen adapted the “Californian” to local conditions, crossed it with the aborigines and gave rise to a new promising breed, which received the symbolic name “Prospector”. In order to ensure the first “harvest” of worms and vermicompost for the summer season, it’s time to purchase producers and prepare a field of activity for them. In a heated barn, a housewarming party can be held as early as March. There may be no start-up capital at all - if you can negotiate with the nearest farm to clear out its “Augean stables”. Buying the first batch of worms will cost 3-5 thousand rubles. With good care, you will be able to provide yourself with breeding stock in the future.

Cold to go

The combination of the words “summer” and “product” rightly evokes a strong association with ice cream for many. There is nothing new in the idea of ​​selling cold in the summer. However, despite the lack of innovation, this business consistently brings its seasonal fruits. The price of entering it is low, the path has been worked out by hundreds of predecessors, so if you want to supplement your budget with a good extra income without much headache, it’s yours!

At first, you will need nothing at all: a chest freezer (a new one costs 400 dollars, a used one - 150), a trading place with electricity and a “bedroom” for the chest, a seller and an ice cream supplier. Depending on the location and degree of heat, daily revenue will range from 500 to 4,000 rubles. With a sales return of 35%, net profit is from 175 to 1,400 rubles, taking into account the costs of the seller - minus 5% of the profitability. Total: on average 300 rubles from every thousand of revenue with a time investment of up to 1 hour per day. If the number of retail outlets is N, then the profit increases N times, however, the time spent on monitoring the business increases.

Under the umbrella

One of the most traditional summer businesses is organizing cafes in open areas. The rules of the game in this field are constantly changing, but the relevance of street catering is still high. The first applications for the opening of summer playgrounds begin to be received by district administrations in February-March. The sooner the application gets into the paperwork flow, the greater the chance of getting the go-ahead and making it in time for the start of the season.

There are three main types of seasonal street food. The platforms are familiar “umbrellas” under which you can drink water, beer, or snack on chips or nuts. Cafe-verandas are covered areas where you can order tea and coffee, and sometimes even something stronger. The requirements for them are stricter, which means the investments are more significant. The “Olympus” of seasonal business is cafe-pavilions, or simply “kebab shops.” Here, for a business to meet all the requirements, you need not only a lot of money, but also a desire to do it for at least the next few years. The fact is that the design of a pavilion or veranda needs to be sorted out with the district's utility workers, with city architects and sanitary and epidemiological supervision, but they will not give permission if there is no water supply and there is no toilet.

Costs for minimal site development start at 30 thousand rubles. The standard set of equipment for a summer cafe is a tent, plastic furniture, a primitive bar counter (sometimes just a counter), a refrigerator and a bottling unit (if we are talking about a beer outlet). On average, a tent (an ordinary roof measuring 5 by 5 meters, without side walls) costs 24 thousand rubles, a set of furniture made of high-quality plastic (1 table and 4 chairs) costs about two thousand. Taking into account refrigeration equipment and other installations, the total costs will be several thousand dollars. A good way to save on equipment costs is to partner with one of the major soft drink or beer suppliers.

Water fun

At fairly reasonable costs, you can build a profitable seasonal business in water skiing, slides and jet ski rentals. Jet ski rental has long been known as a highly profitable business in the coastal cities of Russia and abroad. Sports equipment worth 10 thousand dollars at a price of 10 dollars for five minutes of riding pays for itself in a matter of weeks, or even days. However, it is almost impossible to rent jet skis on an absolutely legal basis due to the extremely complex procedure for obtaining a license to operate a watercraft. In addition, our laws simply do not provide for renting it out. Of course, it is possible to “agree” with the supervising organizations, but you will have to act on semi-legal grounds, all the time fearing that the “shop” will be covered up. It is much easier to work with water skis. The average price for a half-hour ride on them is about 400 rubles, and the demand for this entertainment is only growing every year. The cheapest option is to drag water skiers behind a car that drives along the shore. 20 thousand dollars is enough for complete arrangement, but there is a problem - we don’t have many bodies of water with a shore along which not only a tank can move at a decent speed. But if you find a suitable place, the very first season can triple or quadruple your costs, especially if you offer at least a minimum of additional beach services in addition to skiing.

Much more expensive, approximately 70 thousand, will cost the purchase or rental of a boat with a crew, which will also have to be provided with a coastal base. However, the amount is not finite; unforeseen expenses may arise in order to negotiate, say, with the administration of a holiday home or tourist center whose pier you will use. However, this is a more respectable business, you can invite rich clients here, and in any case, the expenses will pay off in the first season.

The most advanced and expensive method began to be developed relatively recently, when German manufacturers of equipment for water skiing without a tow boat entered the market. The essence of the innovation is that a cable is stretched along the perimeter of the reservoir, forming a closed circle; standard halyards are attached to it, to which all interested water skiers cling. The undeniable advantage of the system is that it can be used not only in summer, but also in winter, for example, for regular skiing or sledding. However, the price of the equipment - about 300 thousand euros per set - is prohibitive for small businesses. The purchase of stationary towing equipment will take a year, at best.

Sell ​​the bullet!

For lovers of land-based entertainment with an “element of masculinity,” you can open a pneumatic shooting range. It does not require any special permits or licenses, it can be not only stationary, but also mobile, consumables - bullets - are inexpensive, and visitors pay for them 10 times more than they cost the owner of the establishment. All you need to do is register as an entrepreneur. We recommend that you indicate “providing sports training services to the population” as a type of activity, arrange a lease of premises (for a hospital) or lease of land (for a mobile home), purchase the appropriate equipment, and you can begin to bring joy to people while making a profit. It is estimated that one client fires on average 10-25 shots, the recommended cost of a shot is 2-4 rubles (depending on the location of the shooting range and the income of the population), that is, even with two rubles, one shooter ends up with 20-50 rubles in the cash register. Daily traffic is individual and directly depends on the quality of the service you offer and the “breadiness” of the location. As a rule, at least 100 people visit the shooting range per day. The most profitable option is a mobile shooting range. A set based on a passenger car trailer (target setting, shooting range, fencing system, awning, lighting, etc., according to your wishes) made in Russia costs an average of 75 thousand rubles.

Luxury for Sharik

So that citizens can go on cruises with peace of mind, there are hotels for their pets. This service is becoming more and more relevant every year, since with increasing prosperity the number of people wishing to relax outside is growing. You can start this business in a city apartment, but it’s still better to have a small house with equipped enclosures and a walk in a suburban area. The costs are low, especially if you already have suitable property. Equipment for ten enclosures and a walking area will cost 2.5-3 thousand dollars. The costs of food are paid by the owners themselves, but you only sell “dog nanny” services. Cats don't require much attention at all. The main thing is to accept only healthy and vaccinated animals into the hotel. Still, having a good veterinarian on hand will also be useful. On average, a dog owner is charged from 300 to 500 rubles per day of keeping; for a cat, as a rule, it is two to three times less. The only difficulty is that in order to engage in this business, you need to have good experience in handling animals. The client will not bring his pet to you again if, instead of a cheerful, sociable creature, he receives a frightened and hunted creature with sunken sides and a dull look.

Well forgotten old

For lovers of nature and outdoor activities, we can offer another type of “summer” business - collecting birch sap, as well as berries, mushrooms, herbs and other wild plants. Actually, you don’t have to go into the forest to pick berries yourself. It is only necessary to organize a small network of procurement offices in the nearest villages. It is no coincidence that the berry business in the northwestern part of Russia is recognized as one of the most profitable among seasonal types of work. This is evidenced by the fact that the export of lingonberries, blueberries and cloudberries from Karelia, Leningrad and Murmansk regions is constantly growing. It should be noted that this is an export-oriented business. All companies involved in collecting berries send them abroad: firstly, they pay more there, and secondly, the domestic industry is not yet ready for its high-quality processing. Scandinavian countries readily buy our berries. There, Murmansk blueberries, lingonberries and cloudberries are sold frozen. Jams, concentrates and juices, and yoghurts are produced from them. Other markets: perfumery, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. In the east there is another suitable product - birch sap, which the Japanese are very interested in. The only condition is that they require juice to be supplied without sugar or preservatives. But they agree to create a joint venture, in which they will take care of all organizational and supply issues regarding equipment and packaging.

If you love nature in a “cultivated” form, you can start landscaping your garden plots and areas around offices and houses. Firstly, the state, even though it is poor, spends a lot of money on maintaining cities in decent condition. And secondly, ordinary citizens also really need improvement and landscaping of their properties. A team of four professionals is able to carry out all the work on planting an English lawn in just a week, while the client shells out $800-1000 per hundred square meters, although the cost of the work is an order of magnitude less, so the net profit is simply huge. First, you need knowledge and a team of students from the nearest agricultural academy who want to earn extra money. Tools - shovels, wheelbarrows, hoes, hoes - are inexpensive and can be purchased as needed. The planting material is paid for by the client himself. It is important to have your own car - and the desire to tinker with the land. However, you can earn something without getting your hands dirty: a one-time consultation with a specialist visiting the site costs from $20 and more.

Moidodyr

For very “home-based” entrepreneurs who are not eager to communicate with nature, we can offer a completely sterile type of business - cleaning. You can also make good money from the desire of citizens to shift their home cleaning worries to someone else (and the new financial opportunity to do this). A lot has already been written about this (see BZ No. 23, 2003). The cost of entering the market during the season is low; sometimes all you need is a set of brushes, a mop, detergents and two pairs of gloves. But if the client appreciates your diligence, this small business may well grow into a medium-sized business.

Horrible power

And finally, returning to where we started - to polishing up the ladies. It is in the spring that all kinds of beauty salons, solariums and sports clubs multiply at the speed of rabbits. Oddly enough, despite the fact that the sun is increasing every day, solariums become more and more relevant as the weather warms up - after all, in the summer you need to be tanned. Before going out into the open sun, it is advisable to already have a tan - so, on the one hand, not to burn and so that it is pleasing to the eyes of the beach public. Considering the increased requirements for the quality of services, it is most convenient to enter here with a franchise or having another business as your main income. In any case, when deciding to open your own beauty salon, get ready to shell out at least 120 thousand dollars.

However, with the right approach, you have a chance to seriously advance your competitors in this rather saturated market. Dumping policies can play an important role here: it is common knowledge that the cost of services in this market is at least three times higher. In addition, in order to attract clients, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of new trends and quickly offer ladies yearning for beauty something new, as always, “revolutionary” and “cardinal”, like the “Titanic” product, which the unforgettable Kisa Vorobyaninov used. !