The 23 year old window washer … making $165k a year

Today I want to talk to you about what I genuinely believe is the opportunity of a lifetime.
 
No, it’s not becoming an AI expert.
 
The cyborgs are getting exponentially smarter and will soon view us as golden retrievers (and leave us to sniff each other’s butts while they do the heavy analytical and computational work. Good boy!).
 
Nor is it earning your living as a YouTuber, or, god forbid, as an influencer. No matter how much you hustle, for most people being an influencer is a low-paid sales grind flogging teeth-whitening paste and vibrators.
 
Instead, the opportunity of a lifetime that I’m talking about is a lot more practical … and profitable.
 
Like what?
 
Like window washing.
 
Seriously, here’s a question I got this week:
 
Mr Pape,
 
I am 23 years old. Three years ago I started a very unsexy business: cleaning windows. Last year I netted $160k working, on average, 35–40 hours a week. I went into business as I didn’t want to be a slave, and I like the freedom that comes with money. I currently have $300k invested in the stock market and $90k in cash. My question is, what else should I do with it?
 
Sam
 
Sam is my new hero.
 
He’s not repaying HECS. He’s earning great coin. And he’s not only working far less than most of us, you can bet when he knocks off he might stare out a window, but he certainly ain’t thinking about them. That’s because Sam has what he calls an ‘unsexy business’.
 
Speaking of unsexy stuff, let’s talk about Baby Boomers – and the opportunity of a lifetime:
 
There are 2.6 million small businesses in Australia.
 
And almost half of the owners of these businesses are run by people over the age of 50. (In contrast, only 8% of small business owners are aged under 30 …   down more than 50% since the 1970s).
 
In other words, they’re all getting older, and they’ll increasingly be looking to retire.
 
Who is going to buy them?
 
Young(er) people of course.

And here’s the kicker: many of these businesses are being sold for a song, or even closed when the owner retires. And these are the types of businesses that you want to buy. After all, they’re established, having made it through the ‘kill zone’ of the first five years. They have regular clients, reliable streams of revenue, and trained staff and systems in place.
 
So what’s not to like?
 
Well, how about not having enough money to take advantage of this ‘opportunity of a lifetime’?
 
Fair point.
 
Which brings me to my first question …
 
Tread Your Own Path!