Codie Sanchez explains why ATM routes, Amazon FBA, and independent consulting are bad business bets. ATM machines make only 1-3% profit margins with $1,500-$5,000 annual revenue per unit. Amazon sellers face account suspensions, product copying, and a market flooded with cheap knockoffs.
Chapters
What are 3 businesses everyone online tells you to start or buy, but I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole? I'll tell you. First, ATM routes. People love to say that ATMs are like vending machines. I think they're completely different. And one, tiny margins. We're talking 1 to 3%. So even if you keep most of the surcharge, not much. Long payback period. So the average ATM makes $1,500 to $5K a year in revenue, not profit. What's the business that's worse? Probably Amazon FBA. I think it sounds great. There's lots of people online, but then Amazon owns you. They can suspend your account overnight, copy your product. Plus there's a bunch of Chinese me too products everywhere. The platform is flooded with copycats. And the last one is like consulting firms. And in an age of AI where AI can do just about everything, I don't love that every Tom, Dick, and Larry thinks they're smarter than you with SOPs done on AI. No thanks. I also don't like that it's a transactional almost job, not business, not a lot of recurring revenue. And they're like trusting you, the consultant, not the business overall, unless you're Deloitte or something. So if it's up to me, no ATMs, no Amazon, no consulting. Don't build your business on a house of sand.
