Brainstorming...the next step

Now that I'm feeling more financially secure, I want to get back into the investing/finance game and work on getting out of the rat race of the 8-5 job. I don't have a good gameplan yet, but that's my next step. I have some side business ideas, but they require some startup inventory to get going. This is actually a business I've done in the past and did decent, but the profit margins are fairly low and volume is key. I'm more interested in generating some passive income though.

I had a proposition the other day to invest in a business. The business is actually a decent idea and would probably do well. The problem was the guy that would be running the business is a loser and will eventually run it into the ground. Calling him a loser might be a little harsh because he is the nicest guy. The problem is that he's too loose to run a decent business. Also, since I've known him, I've seen him get evicted for not paying rent in 2 places. So that's enough for me to say no. I've been to the man's house and it's a total wreck with dog shit in the floors and just plain fucking nasty. No way I could invest in someone that lives like that.

I know there is one thing that consistently makes a ton of money in my area. It's alcohol. You put up a decent club and you make money. The problem is that the clubs in my area run great for a year or so and then get run into the ground. There are usually different reasons for their demise. The most common is that the owners are usually young and dumb. Then next most common is that the riff raff take over and pretty soon people stop going. We had one club that was becoming the new place to be. However, he made no efforts to make the place secure. A few months ago, someone was shot in the head on the dance floor. Now the club is no more. Probably the most successful club in the area was run down by the investors all getting caught up in a huge drug traffic ring. Most of these guys were docs cranking out pharmies. They had their own chain of distributors. Then one of the distributors got busted and turned undercover narc. When he was found out, he turned into a blood stain on the sidewalk of his own tattoo parlor. Then the whole enterprise crumbled from there. If you can run the place properly like a business though, then you can do well. I will be really checking hard into this option. This would be an investment because there is no way I'd spend every night in a smoke filled bar with a bunch of drunken douchebags.

There's also the real estate/rental property route as well. The Pisgah house really wore me out over the past year and I'm not really enthused about buying a 2nd house. However, if I could find something that requires minimal work and will cash flow, I'm not going to pass it up. I just don't have the energy right now to work on a 2nd house, but that might change by summer's end.

I'm not opposed to hanging out in the "S" quadrant of Kiyosaki's model either. Again, I got the idea of reinstating the business I ran before. But before doing that I will look at seeing if I can find other products to peddle..ones that will bring in a higher profit margin and require less volume sells. I sure as hell ain't no salesman.

On the same corner of the quadrant, I'm really interested in the affiliate/SEO side of the net. The problem is that I am really dumb in that area of things (hell I only have a couple loyal readers on this blog). I know the poker affiliate side is way over-saturated, but there might be other avenues that aren't so crowded.

I'm just going to spend the next week or so trying to brainstorm ideas. I am going to call up some folks and brainstorm ideas. If I keep poking, maybe one day I'll find a winner and can kiss this job goodbye.