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In today's edition of "Ride The Wave," seasoned entrepreneur Kriss Berg demystifies the four crucial attributes your next side hustle needs to possess.

If you're considering starting a new business venture, keep reading to ensure your next business is not a mistake.

Kris has over two decades of entrepreneurial experience owning businesses across diverse sectors.

Kris started with a home service business and has done solar, ecom, real estate, and much more.

He currently manages a portfolio of profitable online businesses, the revenues from which he strategically invests in car washes.

Kris's carwash strategy generates robust cash flow and offers significant tax advantages.

For an in-depth discussion of his entrepreneurial strategies, follow Kriss on Twitter at @krissbergtweets and visit TaxFreeCashCow.com for an exhaustive guide to his methods.

Together, let's "Ride The Wave" toward entrepreneurial success!

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How To Pick a Profitable Business Venture

By: Kriss Berg

Hey, Wave Riders!

I look at a lot of businesses. Both for my portfolio and friends and consulting clients that pay me to help them.

I still get 5 weekly emails from BizBuySell and other brokers with listings.

I love it.

It keeps my business brain sharp.

And having done this for over 20 years, there are some things that I look for in any business or Side Hustle.

You must check these 3 boxes (and one bonus!) to succeed.

Let's dive in:

• Low-Risk.

  • The best side hustles are low-risk, so they should be a manageable investment on your part. A friend sent me a vending route for sale for around $50k. That's an excellent starting point. Only you can decide where you're comfortable, but it should be an amount that won't ruin your life if it all comes crashing down. Keep the kid's college fund on some random website you found on BizBuy.

  • Now, for real estate investments, the numbers change a little. You have a hard asset that backs your investment, so you can afford to go bigger. If people stop washing their cars, we'll mow down these buildings and put up a convenience store or a Chik-Fil-A.

• Low-Effort.

  • Now, we're talking about your most precious asset: time. A side hustle that consumes ALL your weekends and weeknights will probably burn you out and not make you rich. You want a nice side income AND can still go to the lake on Saturday.

  • To do that, you'll need something proven, something a little boring by start-up standards, that makes money from day one without your presence. You don't need another job. You need to be able to hire someone to do the job for you. So, it can be something with something other than super-specialized training. Simple. That's why pressure washing, window cleaning, bounce-house, and trash can cleaning businesses are so popular now.

  • Avoid anything that says it is perfect for an "owner-operator"! You want to be the owner - not the operator.

• Low-Stress.

  • A side hustle is not worth it if it consumes your mind 24 hours a day and keeps you up at night. This generally happens when the stakes are higher. Like when clients pay you thousands of dollars to perform highly specialized services or your employees are in high-risk situations (on top of roofs, at the bottom of ditches, etc.)

  • I like lower ticket businesses, like vending, car washes, laundromats, etc. If someone is pissed off, give them their $2.50 back and get on with your day. There is no 911 scenario in my business, and that is by design.

• Bonus: Tax Efficient. If you can check all three boxes PLUS this one, now you're cookin', baby. This is another reason real estate is so popular. That's why I love my car washes. They check all the above AND nuked my tax bill from my other businesses (I tell the whole story right here)

Now I know what you're thinking: "NEWSFLASH, I know all this stuff; where the hell can I find something that checks all these boxes?"

The fact is that most people who own these businesses would never sell them. Why would you?

But you can find some diamonds in the rough out there. For example, the previous owner needed to be more savvy on hiring and systems, and you can implement those things yourself. You can reduce your time invested and still make a nice side income.

Some ideas:

• car washes (ok I'll stop I promise)

• self-storage

• RV/boat storage

• RV parks

• pressure washing

• window washing

• vending machine routes

• dumpster rental

• bounce house rental

• porta-potty rental (you can tell I like rental businesses)

• poop-scooping

• house cleaning

Now it's your turn. Think of something that checks these boxes, and start looking around.

It could be a franchise. It could be that 'ugly duckling' business you saw on BizBuySell that could be turned into a killer side hustle with some good hiring, automation, and systems in place.

Respond to this email with your ideas. I'll tell you what I think…

Stay Hustlin'

Kriss Berg