"For the past few years, I've just been living the dream," says Snell. "I get done with crawfish season and go to the lake and try to improve on a very, very poor golf game." To cover his summer living expenses, Snell started his third business, DFW Custom Wood Floors, which offers hand-scraped wood flooring.
Snell had his own floors done and was impressed with the group of men who performed the work. He noticed, however, that they had no marketing expertise, so struck up a partnership. Snell now helps the floor installers find jobs and collects a fee of $1 to $2 on each square foot. "That's an extra $1,000 or $2,000 [per job], and all I'm doing is referring business because I had the vision of, 'Wow, this stuff will sell itself,'" he says.
Snell's motto is to work smart and lean. He uses voice mail to manage appointments, the web to market his businesses and relationships with friends to help him out in the busy times.
Dealing with Cold Hard Cash
Roger Laney has been an accountant for more than 30 years and owned his own accounting firm for more than 20 years. While investing in some property on the side with two partners, HT Waller and Ruben Laurel, he came across an intriguing and possibly lucrative side business: ice houses.
Yes, ice. When someone asked him to lease property to a 20-foot-by-40-foot self-serve ice kiosk, Laney's initial response was "What? That's crazy." But 14 months later, he and his partners now run Alamo Ice and own five ice houses in San Antonio, Texas--the closest non-saturated area to their home base of Chipley, Florida. They also sell the machines in 12 counties they have bought licensing rights for.
While Laney still works full time at his firm, the ice-house partners take turns traveling to Texas once a month, and Laney has spent many nights and weekends building the business. But he says that once the machines are up and running, it's hands off. "That's the beauty of the ice machine business," says Laney, who adds that two of the biggest headaches small-business owners have are employees and collecting money. The ice machines have neither issue as they're managed and maintained by a contract company in Texas.
The partners plan to invest in 80 machines total in Bear County, Texas, and continue selling machines in their 11 other territories. At $130,000 each for full installation, it's a deep investment, but one that Laney says breaks even in 30 months. "I anticipate keeping both businesses for an extended period of time," he says. "Once we get the machines on the ground and operating, there's not a lot to them."
