5 Killer Businesses On Easy Mode In 2026

This episode focuses on entrepreneurial ideas, particularly simple, low-cost businesses that can generate quick cash and scale. Chris, described as a "side hustle king," shares five business concepts. **1. Reselling Liquidation Items:** Chris suggests reselling items from sources like Costco or government liquidations (e.g., GovDeals, B-Stock). To start, one needs a resale certificate (costing $100-200) to avoid sales tax. Chris himself bought $7,000 worth of washers and dryers for an average of $250 each and resold them on Facebook Marketplace for $750-900 each. This business requires minimal space (a garage suffices) and leverages Facebook Marketplace for customer acquisition. He favors large appliances and outdoor furniture over electronics (due to high breakage risk) and clothing. The strategy involves checking market demand and pricing on Facebook Marketplace *before* purchasing, even by creating "fake" listings to gauge interest. The tedious listing process can now be automated using AI tools like Claude Co-Work, which can research costs, create listings, and manage communication and scheduling for pickups. This approach offers low risk because the demand is pre-validated. **2. AI Implementation for Small Businesses:** This is presented as a significant opportunity, akin to the early internet's need for websites. Many businesses are "AI curious, AI hungry, and AI clueless." A focused approach involves offering free AI tutorials at a Chamber of Commerce, teaching basic tools and prompting skills. This leads to free AI audits, establishing the consultant as an "AI genius" to the business owner. A key repeatable solution is implementing AI voice agents for phone answering and chatbots. These agents, trained on specific business data, can answer common questions instantly, improving efficiency and customer experience. For instance, a med spa could use an AI tool that allows customers to upload photos and see potential results, building confidence in services. Examples include: * **Medium-sized businesses:** One entrepreneur, John Cheney, built custom Replit apps for medium-sized businesses (e.g., HVAC companies needing custom CRMs) for $15,000 upfront and $1,500/month, achieving $2.5 million in his first year with 60% net margins. * **Small businesses (barbershops):** Another individual charges $2,500 upfront and $250/month to implement AI voice agents that book appointments, syncing with calendars. The pitch is "make more money, never talk on the phone again," addressing customer needs while overcoming business owners' reservations about robots. The same voice agent can be replicated across many barbershops with minor customizations. **3. Snail Mail Subscription Clubs:** This emerging trend involves sending physical letters, photography, poetry, or recipes. Chris's wife runs a recipe club, sending themed recipes monthly. Hannah, another example, makes $1,000 a day (or $60,000 MRR) by sending heartfelt letters about her life, along with stickers and handmade artwork, to 6,000-7,000 women for $10/month. Her churn rate is low (2%), and she achieved this growth organically through TikTok videos, with one viral video garnering 2 million views and 1,500 customers. This taps into a desire for tangible, personal mail amidst digital overload. Even children are starting similar businesses, selling their artwork through snail mail subscriptions. **4. Food Service for Amazon Warehouse Workers (Large-Scale Opportunity):** Inspired by an undercover job at an Amazon warehouse, Chris identified a massive unmet need for quality food options for the 3-4 million Amazon (and other warehouse) workers. These facilities are often in remote locations with limited, unhealthy food choices. The idea is to partner with a catering business to deliver pre-ordered, ten-dollar meals to workers during their synchronized lunch breaks. This would require significant logistics and funding but offers a huge market opportunity. Robotic food production, particularly for large-batch, standardized meals (like those for schools or corporate cafes), could be leveraged to automate the cooking process, making it a highly scalable ghost kitchen model. A low-cost experiment involves printing flyers with QR codes to a Stripe link to gauge initial demand. **5. Tote Rentals:** This business involves renting out durable, stackable plastic moving boxes. The Google search trend for "tote rental" is spiking. One tote can replace 400 cardboard boxes over its lifetime, offering an eco-friendly angle. The startup cost can be as low as $1,000. A successful strategy involves partnering with real estate agents, who can offer tote rental gift cards as moving-in/out gifts to clients. Totes pay for themselves after 3-4 rentals, becoming pure profit thereafter. This business is low-labor (drop-off and pick-up) and can be operated as a side hustle, requiring only a few hours a week. The appeal lies in convenience for movers who dislike sourcing, assembling, and disposing of cardboard boxes. Marketing can be done through organic social media (visual appeal of the service) or direct outreach to businesses. **Binary Outcome Businesses & Customer Acquisition:** Chris emphasizes "binary outcome businesses"—simple models where a clear input (X) leads to a defined output (Y) and a positive review. Examples include tree trimming (removing or trimming a tree) which he owned and found highly successful due to its simplicity, leading to consistent five-star reviews. In contrast, a house cleaning business he owned was a "nightmare" due to unreliable staff, varying quality expectations, and low margins. The key bottleneck for aspiring entrepreneurs is customer acquisition. Chris advises focusing on finding customers *before* investing heavily in equipment or fulfillment. For his tree trimming business, initial customers came from organic Facebook Marketplace posts. This scaled using Facebook ads with short videos, and ultimately, referrals from real estate agents, landlords, and property managers became the primary growth engine. This strategy of testing various acquisition methods until one scales is crucial. **RV Rentals as a Service:** Another business Chris has run, RV rentals, is a good summer business. Platforms like RVShare and Outdoorsy facilitate peer-to-peer rentals. Class C motorhomes are often ideal. RVs can be financed over 20-30 years like a home, costing $500-1,000/month, and rent for $150-400/night. Many owners are fully booked (40-80% occupancy), with RVs paying for themselves in 1-2 years. The average RV owner uses their vehicle only 5-15 nights/year, making it financially sensible to rent it out. To assess market demand, Chris recommends a clever trick: search for RV availability on rental platforms for the current weekend versus one year in the future. This reveals the total supply versus current occupancy, helping identify high-demand unit types and markets. While a good side hustle (potentially providing a "free RV"), managing 2-4 RVs can be cumbersome; either own one or scale to 10+ and outsource management. **Businesses to Avoid:** Chris warns against businesses that are often promoted with high-ticket courses but are not genuinely passive or profitable for the average person. Vending machines, for example, are perceived as passive but require maintenance, refilling, and dealing with broken components. Other examples include turnkey Amazon FBA businesses, YouTube faceless channels, most drop shipping, and any trading strategies/courses, some of which have even led to legal trouble for those promoting them with guaranteed returns. The overall message is to start with "white belt" businesses—simple, low-capital ventures that allow entrepreneurs to learn about demand generation, operations, hiring, and finance in a safe sandbox, rather than aiming for a perfect, complex business from the outset.