Machine which automatically dispenses products to customers after payment
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In this episode of the IoT For All Podcast, Alex Kotler, SVP of Sales and Partnerships at POND IoT, joins Ryan Chacon to discuss multi-network SIMs and why they're a game-changer for IoT. The conversation covers multi-network SIM use cases in ATMs, vending machines, retail, and EV charging, the challenges companies face when transitioning from single-network to multi-network SIMs, the importance of reliable connectivity in digital transformation, collaborating with hardware manufacturers, advice for businesses exploring IoT solutions, and the future of multi-network SIM.Alex Kotler is the SVP of Sales and Partnerships at POND IoT. Alex has extensive experience in the mobile industry, having worked in various roles across the major mobile network operators - AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Alex has played a pivotal role in increasing net revenue retention and customer satisfaction at POND IoT, while also opening new distribution channels.POND IoT is a dynamic provider of IoT solutions. They offer global multi-IMSI SIM cards with extensive network coverage, internet failover solutions, and IoT & M2M connectivity with flexible data plans. Their major focus is around providing MVNO as a service as well as retail solutions with connectivity-to-POS terminals, vending machines, and ATMs. They also offer custom device manufacturing for all kinds of IoT applications and have added support for Starlink together with Peplink.Discover more about IoT and SIM at https://www.iotforall.comFind IoT solutions: https://marketplace.iotforall.comMore about POND IoT: https://www.pondiot.comConnect with Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkotler/(00:00) Ad(00:29) Intro(00:38) Alex Kotler and POND IoT(01:03) What is multi-network SIM?(04:02) Challenges of multi-network SIM(04:58) Multi-network SIM use cases(06:54) Vending machines(08:47) EV charging stations(14:13) Future of multi-network SIM(16:02) Advice for companies exploring IoT solutions(17:11) The role of partnerships(18:02) Learn more and follow upSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2NlcEwmJoin Our Newsletter: https://newsletter.iotforall.comFollow Us on Social: https://linktr.ee/iot4all
Title: How to Make Millions with Vending Machines with Mike Hoffman Summary: In this conversation, Seth Bradley and Mike Hoffman delve into the world of vending machines as a business opportunity. Mike shares his journey from a Midwest farm boy to a successful entrepreneur in the vending industry, highlighting the evolution of vending technology and the potential for passive income. They discuss the importance of location, understanding demographics, and the scalability of vending routes. Mike emphasizes the need for upfront work and learning before delegating tasks, while also addressing the misconceptions surrounding passive income in the vending business. In this conversation, Seth Bradley and Mike discuss various aspects of entrepreneurship, particularly in the vending machine business. They explore the importance of capital raising, the journey of self-discovery, influences that shape business decisions, and the definition of success. The dialogue emphasizes the significance of flexibility, discipline, and focus in achieving entrepreneurial goals, while also touching on financial milestones and the attributes that distinguish successful entrepreneurs. Links to Watch and Subscribe: Bullet Point Highlights: Mike's journey from a classic Midwest farm boy to a successful entrepreneur. The evolution of vending machines from traditional to smart technology. Understanding the importance of location in the vending business. The analogy of baseball levels to describe starting in vending. Scaling up from single A to big leagues in vending routes. The significance of demographics in product selection for vending machines. The potential for passive income with proper systems in place. The need for upfront work before achieving passivity in business. Vending is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it requires dedication. The future opportunities in the vending industry are expanding rapidly. Raising capital can dilute ownership but may be necessary for rapid growth. Self-discovery often leads to unexpected career paths. Influences in business can come from personal experiences rather than just mentors. Success is often defined by the ability to prioritize family and flexibility. Entrepreneurs work harder than in traditional jobs but gain flexibility. Discipline is crucial for saying no to distractions. Successful entrepreneurs often focus on niche markets. High foot traffic locations are ideal for vending machines. AI is transforming business operations and efficiency. Networking and connections can lead to valuable opportunities. Transcript: Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:04.898) Mike, what's going on buddy? Doing great brother, doing great. How about you? Mike (00:06.748) Don't worry, Mike (00:11.664) Good, I'm a little flustered. I usually have my mic set up over here, but I guess we just moved and it's not here today. I guess, yeah, new office and it's been a whole hot mess. Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:19.822) New office or what? Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:27.862) Nice man, nice. I see you got the whiteboard cranking back there. Love to see that. Mike (00:33.114) Always. I love your background. That's sweet. Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:38.03) Thanks man, yeah, I'm on camera all the time so I like I need to just build this out instead of using like a green screen so Made the investment made it happen Mike (00:44.86) Totally. Yeah, absolutely. Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:49.442) Have we met in person or not? I don't know if we've met at a Wealth Without Wall Street event or I couldn't tell. Okay. No, I did not go to Nashville last year. Mike (00:58.478) I don't think so. don't think you're... Were you in Nashville last year? Mike (01:04.634) No, okay. No, I don't think we've met in person. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:08.256) Okay, all good, man. All good. Well, cool. I'll just go over the format real quick. We'll do kind of a shorter recording. We're do like 30 minutes, something like in that range. And then we'll just kind of like break. And then I'll, want to record a couple of other quick segments where I call it Million Dollar Monday. I'm kind of asking you about how you made your first, last and next million. And then 1 % closer, which would just be kind of what separates you, what makes you the top 1 % in your particular vertical. So we'll just kind of record those separately. Those will be real short, like five minutes or so. Mike (01:44.924) Okay, yeah, I'll follow your lead. All good. Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:47.15) Cool. Cool. Let's see. I think I already have this auto recording. So we're already recording. So I'll just jump right in. Mike (01:55.377) Okay. Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:57.782) Welcome to Raise the Bar Radio, hosted by yours truly Seth Bradley. We today we've got Mr. Passive, Mike Hoffman. Mike, welcome to the show. Mike (02:08.189) Thank you for having me fired up to be here. Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:10.855) Absolutely man, really happy to have you on. I know it's been a little bit of a trek here to get our schedules lined up, but really stoked to have you on today, man. I see you said you moved into a new office. You've got the whiteboard cranking, so love to see it. Mike (02:25.372) yeah, whiteboards are the only place I can get my thoughts down. Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:29.399) Yeah, man, it makes a difference when you actually write something rather than type it or even on a mirror board where you're doing it online. just there's something about physically writing something down. Mike (02:41.328) You know, I'm glad you said that because yesterday I flipped to Seattle for a quick work trip and I didn't have wifi and I literally had three pages of just, I, was so like the clarity of some of these kinds of bigger visions I have now from just being able to write for an hour on a flight was, I was like, man, I gotta do this more often. Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:00.363) Yeah, for sure. The key though is once you write it down, it just doesn't go into the trash or into a black hole somewhere where you never see it again. So that's kind of the disadvantage there. If you have it on your computer and you're taking notes or you have it on a mirror board, at least it's there to reference all the time. If you write it down on paper, sometimes, I've got my Raze Masters book right here for notes, but it's like, it might go into the abyss and I'll never look at it again. So you gotta be careful about that. Mike (03:27.184) Yeah, yeah, I need to check out the Miro boards. I've heard a lot of good things about them. Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:31.467) Yeah, yeah. Awesome, Mike. Well, listen, for our audience who doesn't know anything about you, maybe just tell them, you know, tell them a little bit about your background. Tell them about your your main business and we can take it from there. Mike (03:43.354) Yeah. So I think for those that don't know about me, I'm a classic Midwest farm boy started with a classic, you know, showing cattle at the county fair and all of that and had a lemonade stand growing up. And then my first job was actually at McDonald's, you know, thinking about the whole success of that business model. But when I was coaching and, out of college, I got my first rental and I was like, wow, this is crazy. making money without. really much time involved. and then with my work in Silicon Valley, know, Seth, was classic Silicon Valley, you know, cutthroat job that, startup life and traveling three weeks out of the month. And I was on, I was in airports all the time. And was like, these vending machines I would run into at airports were just so archaic. And so I went down this path of like unattended retail and kind of the future of, of that. And that's really where I just see a huge opportunity right now. And so it's kind of what led me into all these different income streams that I'm passionate about. Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:49.431) That's awesome, man. Well, let's dive into that a little bit deeper. me about these income streams. It centers around vending machines, right? But I'm sure there's a lot more to it. I'm sure there's a lot of different entry points for people. Maybe just kind of give us a general synopsis to start out. Mike (05:06.78) Yeah, so I think the big thing with, you know, if we're talking vending specifically as an income stream, you know, most people think of vending as the traditional machines where you enter in a code, you put your card on the machine and then a motor spirals down a Snickers bar or a soda and you go into the chute and grab it. Nowadays, there's these smart machines that literally you just unlock the door, or even if you go into, land in the Vegas airport right at the bottom of the escalator where it says, welcome to Las Vegas, there's a 7-Eleven with gates and AI cameras, and there's no employees in the 7-Eleven. And it just tracks whatever you grab and to exit the gate, you have to pay for it. So like, there's just this huge market now where we just installed it in urgent care. less than two months ago and we can do over the counter meds in that machine because it doesn't have to fit into a motor. It's just shelf space. You identify with the planogram with the AI cameras like, okay, Dayquil in this slot or Salad in this slot and then whatever they grab, gets charged to the person that pulls it from it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (06:15.469) That's interesting, man. Yeah, I mean, my initial thought too, was just like the traditional old vending machine where you're getting a candy bar or a cola out of there. But yeah, nowadays, now that you mentioned that, you see this more and more every single day where you've got these scanners, you've got kind of self-checkout, that sort of thing. So that's kind of, that expands that world and really opens it up to the future, right? Like it just really, that's what we're trying to get to, or at least we think we wanna get there, where we're kind of removing humans and... kind of working with technologies and things like that. Mike (06:49.488) Yeah, and I think, you know, removing the whole human thing. mean, those machines still got to get stocked and you know, there's not robots running around doing that. But I just come back to, I was a Marriott guy when I was on the road all the time and I'd go to these grab and goes at a Marriott and grab a, the end of the night, I'd grab like a little wine or an ice cream sandwich. And I literally had to go wait in line at the check-in desk behind three people checking in just to tell them, Hey, put these on. room charge and I was like if I had a checkout kiosk in that grab-and-go I could have just removed all the friction for this customer experience. Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:27.772) Right, 100%. Yeah, I mean, there's a place and time for it and there's more and more applications for it that just pop up every single day and you can kind of spot that in your life as you're just kind of moving through, whether you're checking into your hotel or whatever you're doing. Mike (07:41.456) Yeah, yeah. So that's just kind of what excites me today. Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:45.973) Yeah, yeah, so when a stranger asks you what you do just in the street, what do you tell them? Because I have a hard time answering that question sometimes too, but I'd love to hear what your answer is. Mike (07:56.804) Yeah, I would just say it depends on the day. You know, what do you do or what's your, you know, it's like at the golf course when you get paired up with a stranger and they're like, tell me about what you do for your career. And I just say, I'm a classic entrepreneur. And then I'm like, well, what do you do? And it's like, well, tell me about the day. You know, what fire are you putting out? Like today we just got the go ahead for five more urgent cares for our local route. But then, you know, we have a community of operators across the country that we help really build. Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:57.933) haha Ha ha ha. Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:09.879) Yeah. Yeah. Mike (08:25.616) Vending empires and so we had a group call this morning. So literally, there's a lot of just, you know, it's classic entrepreneurial life. You never know what the day's script is gonna be. Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:36.161) Yeah, for sure. And you focus a lot on not only on your own business, but also teaching others, right? Teaching others how to kind of break into this business. Mike (08:45.402) Yeah, that's my passion, Seth. When I got into my first investment out of college was a $70,000 rental, you know, putting 20 % down or 14K and using an emergency fund. like my background in going to college was as a coach. like I knew I wanted to kind of take that mindset of like coaching people, you know, teach them how to fish. I don't want to catch all the fish myself. It's just not fulfilling that way. So that's really where my passion is. Seth Bradley, Esq. (09:15.373) Gotcha, gotcha. tell me about like, tell me about step one. I mean, how does somebody break into this business? Obviously your own personal business is probably very advanced. There's probably a lot more sophisticated investing strategies at this point and you've got different layers to it. But somebody just kind of starting out that said, hey, this sounds pretty interesting. This vending machine business sounds like it can be passive. How do you recommend that they get started? Mike (09:40.57) Yeah, so I'm always, I view like the whole vending scale as similar to Major League Baseball. You got your single A all the way up to the big leagues. And if you're just starting out, I always recommend like find a location where you can put a machine and just learn the process. Like to me, that's single A analogy. you know, that always starts with, people want to jump right to like, well, what type of machines do you recommend? products, how do you price products? And the first question I'll always ask Seth is, well, what location is this machine going in? And they're like, well, I don't know yet. I was just going to buy one and put it in my garage to start. And it's like, no, you need to have the location first. So understanding that, is it a pet hospital? Is it an apartment? Is it a gym? Where is the foot traffic? And then you can cater to what's the best machine for that type of location. Seth Bradley, Esq. (10:36.887) Got it, got it. Now is this a kind of a rent, you rent the space to place the machine with that particular business or wherever you're gonna place it or how does that all come together? Mike (10:47.644) not typically, some people are kind of more advanced, like apartment complexes are used to the revenue share model. So they're going to ask for a piece of the pie for sure, for you to put the machine in their lobby. but like, you know, when we're talking urgent carers or even pet hospitals are viewing it as an amenity. And so we probably have, I don't even know how many machines now 75 now, and we, you know, less than half of those actually, Seth Bradley, Esq. (10:50.423) Okay. Mike (11:15.1) us rent or ask for a revenue share to have them in there. So I never leave lead with that, but we'll do it if we need to get the location. Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:23.989) Interesting gotcha. So it's really a value add for wherever you're gonna place it and that's how most people or I guess most businesses would look at that and then you're able to capture that that space Mike (11:27.366) Mm-hmm. Mike (11:34.236) Yeah, absolutely. So, um, a great case study is we have a 25 employee roughing business here in Oregon. And you might think like, only 25 employees. It's not going to make that much money. Well, we do $1,200 a month. And the cool thing about this, Seth, is the CEO of this roughing company literally did napkin math on how much it costs for his employees to drive to the gas station during their 20 minute break. And then How much they're paying for an energy drink at the gas station and then how much gas they're using with the roofing like the work trucks to get to and from the gas station So he's like I want to bring a smart machine into our warehouse Set the prices as half off so that four dollar monster only costs his rofers two dollars and then we invoice him the the business owner every month for the other 50 % and so he actually Calculated as a cost savings not asking for money to rent the space Seth Bradley, Esq. (12:35.597) Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. That makes sense. That makes sense. I love the baseball analogy with the single A, double A, triple A, even into the big leagues here. know, a lot of the folks that listen to this are already kind of, you know, in the big leagues or maybe think about some capital behind them. Like how would they be able to jump right in, maybe skip single or double A or would they, or do you even suggest that? Do you suggest that they start, you know, small just to learn and then maybe invest some more capital into it to expand or can they jump right to the big leagues? Mike (12:48.891) Yeah. Yeah. Mike (13:03.966) I think they can jump right to the big leagues. this is, I'm glad you brought this up because just listening to some of your episodes from the past, there's no doubt that you have people that could buy a route like a off biz buy sell today. And I think this is a prime opportunity. it's very similar to flipping a house. you, you know, there's a route in Chicago, I think it was for $1.1 million, you know, whatever negotiating terms or seller financing or, or what have you, got a lot of, your, your audience that is experts in that. But the cool thing about these routes is they have the old school machines that have the motors and that are limited to, this type of machine, you can only fit a 12 ounce cannon. Well, guess what? The minute you buy that route, you swap out that machine with one of these micro markets or smart machines. Now you just went from selling a 12 ounce soda for $1.25 to now a 16 ounce monster for $4.50. Well, you just bought that location based on its current revenue numbers and by swapping out that machine, you're going to two or three acts your revenue just at that location. And so it's truly just like a value play, a value upgrade, like flipping the house of, okay, there's a lot of deals right now of these routes being sold by baby boomers where it's like, they got the old school Pepsi machine. Doesn't have a credit card reader on it. They can't track inventory remotely via their cell phones. So They're not keeping it stocked. Like all those types of things can really play in your favor as a buyer that just wants to get to the big leagues right away. Seth Bradley, Esq. (14:37.651) I love that. When you say buy a route, what are you really buying? Tell me about the contractual agreement behind that. What are you really buying there? Mike (14:47.184) You're just buying the locations and the equipment associated with it. So like this Chicago route, it's like, we have machines in 75 properties all across the Chicago suburbs. And they could be medical clinics. could be apartments. could be employee break rooms at businesses, but that's when you start diving into those locations. It's like, I have a snack machine and a soda machine here. Well, you swap that out with a micro market that now instead of. Seth Bradley, Esq. (14:49.279) Okay. Okay. Mike (15:13.626) that machine that'll only hold a small bag of Doritos that you charge two bucks, well now you get the movie size theater bags that you can really put in there in a micro market. Like naturally just that valuation of that route based on those 75 machines current revenue, I mean you're gonna be able to two or three X your revenue right by just swapping out those machines. Seth Bradley, Esq. (15:35.959) Wow, yeah, I love that analogy with real estate, right? It's just like a value add. It's like, how can I bring in more income from what already exists? Well, I need to upgrade or I need to put in some capital improvements, whatever you want to call it. Here's the vending machine upgrades or a different kind of system in there. And you get more income. And obviously that business in itself is going to be worth more in a higher multiple. Mike (15:58.396) Absolutely. mean, a great example of this is we had a machine in an apartment complex and it was your traditional machine with the motors and you have to enter in the code. Well, we could only put in four 12 ounce drinks and then chips. Well, we swapped that out with a micro market. Well, now that micro market, we literally put in bags of Tide Pods for laundry, like these big bags of Tide Pods. We'll sell those like hotcakes for 15 bucks. And our old machine, Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:25.281) Yeah, let's say those aren't cheap. Mike (16:27.246) Yeah, our old machine Seth, it would take us to get to 15 bucks, we'd have to sell eight Snickers. That's one transaction. Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:33.547) Right, right. Yeah, yeah. How do you do an analysis kind of based on like what you think is gonna sell there, right? Like you're replacing, let's say a Dorito machine with Tide Pods, you know? So you have to individually go to each location and figure out what will work, what will sell. Mike (16:47.738) Yeah. Mike (16:51.834) It's all about demographic. Absolutely. So, you know, we have, we have, we have a micro market and a manufacturing plant that's, it's a pumpkin farm and there's a ton of Hispanic workers. So we do a lot of like spicy foods, a lot of spicy chips. do, we do a ton of, mean, the sugar or sorry, the glass bottle cokes. They do, they love their pastries. Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:53.431) Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (17:06.349) Yeah. Mike (17:15.868) So we just doubled down on the demographics. So yesterday I was filming at one of our micro markets that's in a gym and they crushed the Fairlife protein shakes, like the more modern protein shakes, but they won't touch muscle milk. So we're literally taking out one row of muscle milk just to add an extra row of Fairlife shakes. So you're constantly just catering to the demographics and what's selling. Seth Bradley, Esq. (17:40.632) Yeah, yeah, this is awesome. I mean, this is literally just like real estate, right? Like you go and you find a good market. You're talking about demographics, right? Find the market, see what they want, see how much you can upgrade, how you can upgrade. If it's an apartment, it's a unit. If it's here, it's the product that you're selling and the type of machine, or maybe it's a mini market. A lot of things to kind of tie your understanding to here. Mike (17:45.926) Yeah. Mike (18:05.904) Yeah, absolutely. Seth Bradley, Esq. (18:07.615) Yeah, awesome, man. Awesome, Where are you at in your business? Like what, you know, what are the big leagues looking like right now? You know, what are you doing to expand your business, raising the bar in your business? Mike (18:18.692) Yeah, I'm going after that's a really good question. I'm going after kind of these newer markets and we're kind of past that point of like, okay, let's pilot in this location. For example, that urgent care, we didn't know if it was going to be a good location two months ago when we installed. Well now it's already crushing it. Well, there's six other urgent cares in town and we just got to go ahead on five of those six. So like for me, it's doubling down on our current proof points of where. okay, we know that manufacturing plant, the pumpkin farm does really well. So let's start getting intros to all their, manufacturers of the products they need to grow pumpkin. know, like we're just doubling down on scaling because now we have the operational blueprint to really just kind of to go after it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:03.917) Gotcha, gotcha. Tell me about how passive this can really be, right? So I used to have, before we switched over to the new brand, Raise the Bar podcast, it was the Passive Income Attorney podcast, right? I was really focused on passive investments, focused on bringing in passive investors into my real estate deals, things like that. And I think that word passive gets thrown around quite a bit, right? And sometimes it's abused because people get into things that are not truly passive. Mike (19:18.427) Yeah. Mike (19:28.784) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:33.517) What's your take on that as it relates to the vending business? Mike (19:38.49) Yeah, so I think as far as with the vending business, there's clearly upfront leg work that needs to be done, whether that's finding locations or any of those things. So I have a route that is here in Oregon, and then we bought a route last year in Illinois and have scaled that route. I spend 30 minutes a week on each route now. that these urgent cares and stuff, like we have an operator that's running the whole route. Here's the problem, Seth. It's like people are so scared to build systems to ultimately systemize things or they're too cheap to hire help. And I'm the opposite. like, you know, kind of like Dan Martell's buy back your time. Like I have like a leverage calculator and like I constantly think about is this worth my time? Cause as you know, you're busier than me. Like it's so limited. for me, my routes, I would consider them passive, like one hour a week is, is nothing in my mind. But as far as like, you know, I'm, I'm also a passive investor on, we're building a, an oil loop station in Florida and I sent my money a year ago to, to my, active investor and I haven't talked to him since. Like that's actually truly probably passive now, you know, I'm not doing anything, but there's, there's different levels to that. And I'm a huge believer like. don't delegate something until you know what you're delegating. So people that want to start with the vending routes, sure, if you want to buy a route that already has an operator, that's one thing. but these, if you're starting a vending route for your kid or for your stay at home wife or whatever, as a side hustle, like get in the weeds and install that first machine. So when you hire help to take over the route, you know what you're delegating. Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:09.773) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:27.021) Yeah, that's key. That's key. And you you described just like any other business, right? I think that's kind of where people get themselves into trouble. That sometimes they get sold the dream that is truly passive. And eventually it can be. I mean, you're talking about an hour a week. To me, that's pretty damn passive, right? But you know, upfront, you you've got to learn the business. You've got to know what you're getting yourself into. Like you said, you've got to learn before you delegate so that you know what you're delegating. There is going to be some upfront work and then as you're able to kind of delegate and learn Then you can make it more and more passive as you go Mike (22:00.88) Yeah, I mean, it's no different than what's the same when people tell you that they're busy. I mean, you're just not a priority. Like that's a fact. you're not. People say it's the same thing when people come to me and they're like, I'm so busy. It's like, okay, well let me, let me see your schedule. Where are you spending your time? You know, it's like when people are like, I can't lose weight. Okay, well let me see your food log. What did you eat yesterday? Did you have ice cream? Like this is like the same kind of thing. That's where passive I think has been really abused. Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:16.097) Yeah. Yep. Mike (22:29.638) To me, the bigger issue is like, vending is not get rich quick. And so like, if you're expecting to leave your nine to five tomorrow and vending is going to make up for that in one day, like that's not going to Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:41.089) Right, Makes sense. Speaking of passive, do you raise capital or do you have any kind of a fund or have you put together a fund for something like this? Mike (22:51.48) We haven't put together a fun, we're definitely buying routes is definitely becoming more and more intriguing. And I know there's some PE players starting to get into the vending game, but it's something we've been definitely considering and on our radar of do we want to. Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:58.541) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:10.231) Gotcha. Cool. I mean, you brought in money partners for some of those routes yet, or is that still something you're exploring too? Mike (23:18.168) No, I think it's just something we're thinking about. mean, what do you recommend? Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:21.089) Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'd recommend I mean, it depends, right? Like I'm I'm scared to turn you by trade, but I don't like to say you should always raise capital no matter what. Right. Like you've been able to scale your business as you have and grown it to where it is without bringing outside capital. It sounds which is great because you own 100 percent or with whatever business partners you might have. You know, when you start raising capital, you're giving a large chunk of that piece away, not necessarily your whole company. But if you're buying you know, a set of routes or that sort of thing. You you're gonna give a big piece away to those past investors if you're starting a fund or even if it's up. Even a single asset syndication here for one of these, you know, these routes, you could put it together that way. You know, it's just something to consider. But a lot of times when people are looking to scale fast, right, if they wanna grow exponentially, you've gotta use other people's money to get there or hit the lottery. Mike (24:08.294) Mm. Mike (24:15.856) Absolutely, no, agree. That's spot-on and I actually before you know the Silicon Valley company That I was part of we had a we went through probably series a B C D C ground Let's just say we weren't very fiscally responsible. So I come from the, you know, it's like the ex-girlfriend example. I don't want to just start taking everyone's money. Seth Bradley, Esq. (24:42.413) Yeah, yeah, that tends to happen with some startups, right? Like before you get funding, you're super frugal because it's your money and every single dollar counts. And you're like, I don't want to pay, you if it's software, you don't want to pay the software engineers. I'm going to out, you know, put it, you know, hire Indian engineers, that sort of thing. And then once you get a few million bucks that you raised in that seed round, then it just goes and you're like, whoa, wait a minute, let's hire 20 people. You know, it's you got to be careful about that. Mike (25:05.606) Yeah Yeah, yeah, that's a great, great take on it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:11.245) Yeah, it's, yeah. It's a question I love to ask and I think it's about time for that. So, in a parallel universe, tell me about a different version of you. So a different but likely version, right? Like, for example, for me, I went to med school for a year and a half and then I dropped out and I ended up becoming an attorney. So that was like a big turning point, right? So I could have easily at some point just said screw it and became a doctor and that would have been a totally different route than I'm going down right now. What's an example of something like that for you? Mike (25:42.524) Wait, are you being serious about that? I took the MCAT too. I got into med school and then I, yeah, I was pretty mad in school. And then the more I learned about exercise science, I was like, organic chemistry is not fun. Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:44.321) Yeah, totally. yeah? There you go. Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:57.39) It is not fun. I did not love that. I majored in exercise physiology and then I ended up switching to biology because it was just a little bit of an easier route to get my degree and go into med school and I went for a year and a half and then I dropped out because I absolutely hated it. I knew I didn't want to do it. I was just more attracted to business and that sort of thing. Mike (26:16.346) Yeah, that's crazy. That's awesome. parallel universe. I, that's a really good question. I don't know. I, kinda, I have two kids under three and the other side of me wishes I would have traveled more. you know, I mean, we'll get there hopefully when they get out of high school and someday. But right now I just think there's so many different cultural things and ways to skin the cat. And it's just fascinating to learn some of those things. Mike (26:55.352) yourself in those cultures. go to different cultures and really like understand how they did things for a time, a period of time to really just learn their thinking. Seth Bradley, Esq. (27:07.777) Yeah, I love that man. I had a similar experience of what you're describing. I didn't travel abroad really other than like, you know, Canada and Mexico until I studied abroad in Barcelona during law school and I got to stay there for a couple of months. So you actually had some time. It wasn't like you're just visiting for a week or a weekend or anything like that. You got to kind of live there right for a couple of months and it just totally changed my, you know, my outlook on life and just the way that you see things like I feel like we're in the US and we just think Mike (27:19.627) Seth Bradley, Esq. (27:37.76) US is number one and there's only one way to do things the way that we do things that kind of attitude. And then when you go to Western Europe and you see that culture and you drive or get on a train, it's like an hour away and you're in a totally different culture and they're doing it a certain way as well and it's working. You just see that other people are doing things differently and still being successful at it, still having a thriving culture and it's just awesome to see. Mike (28:03.312) Yeah, absolutely. Seth Bradley, Esq. (28:06.251) Yeah. Tell me about some major influences in your life. What turned you or got you into that, the vending business? It's not one of those typical things. mean, I know you're in the education business, so you're kind of really spreading the word about this type of business. But I would say when you started, there might not have been a mastermind or educational courses around this. mean, how did you kind of get drawn into that? Were there any particular people or influences that brought you in? Mike (28:29.308) you Mike (28:36.188) Yeah. So the, biggest influence for me to get into vending, uh, wasn't actually a person. It was actually, was, um, I had landed, I was coming back from the Pentagon from a trip back to the Bay for the startup we were talking about. And I was in the Denver airport and 11 PM, you know, our flight was delayed. And then they're like, Hey, you have to stay in the airport tonight. The pilot went over their hours for the day, blah, blah, blah. So I went to a vending machine and I remember buying a bottle of water. I think it costs like at the time three bucks or something. I knew that bottle of water cost 20 cents at Costco. And I was like, there is someone that's at home with their kids right now making money off me and they're not even at this mission. Like the machine is doing the work. So I had like an aha moment of like, what are my true priorities in life? And like, why am I chasing this cutthroat startup from. Palo Alto and trying to make it when reality was my priorities are freedom to spend more time with my family. So that's really kind of what led me into this path of starting a vending machine side hustle to keep our lifestyle as we had kids. We wanted to have a nanny and we wanted to be able to still go on dates and things like that as a couple with my wife. So that's really kind of my family and just like... having the freedom to do things. Like that's what I'm really passionate about. Seth Bradley, Esq. (29:59.084) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, building on that, and you may have already answered that, but what does success look like for you? Mike (30:01.766) next Mike (30:06.268) an empty calendar. Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:08.621) Good luck with that. Good luck with that. Mike (30:11.516) Oh man, I was gonna say, how do we crack that code? No, yeah. No, but I think success to me is doing things like picking up my daughter at three and even being able to say no to the things that aren't gonna get you to where you need, like the discipline piece of this too. Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:15.708) man. Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:33.995) Yeah, yeah, mean, you know, for me, it's kind of similar, right? It's not going to be able to empty that calendar. Not yet, at least maybe here in the future. But for now, it's pretty filled. But it is it's flexible, right? Like us as entrepreneurs, you know, we probably work more than we ever worked when we were in our W-2s. But at the same time, it's you know, we're working in our own business for ourselves, for our families. And we have the Flexibility, a lot of people will say the freedom, right? But we have the flexibility to move things around. And if you want to pick your kids up at school at three, or you do want to take a weekend off, or something comes up in your schedule, you have the flexibility to do that. Whereas if you're kind of slaving away at the nine to five, you can't really do it. Mike (31:04.486) Yeah. Yeah. Mike (31:20.198) Yeah, that's spot on. mean, I just wrote that down, but flexibility is, cause you're right. When you started becoming an entrepreneur, this is what I tell people all the time when they want to get a venting around is like running your own business. You are going to work harder than you do for your boss currently at your W-2. Like you have to do payroll. You have to do, like you gotta like make sure there's money to actually do pay, you know, like all those things that you just don't even think about when you have a W-2. It's like, today's Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:39.543) Yeah Mike (31:48.89) You know, this Friday I get paid. Well, when you run a business, mean, that money's got to come from somewhere. Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:51.905) Yeah Right, yeah, 100%, man, 100%. All right, Mike, we're gonna wrap it up. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Tell the listeners where they can find out more about you. Mike (32:05.286) Yeah, so thanks for having me. This has been great. I have free content all over the place. can find me on the classic Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, but I also have vendingpreneurs.com is where we help people that are more interested in actually the vending stuff. But I've been really trying to double down on YouTube lately because there's just a lot of content and you can't get it off a one minute reel. Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:32.417) Love it, man. All right, Mike, appreciate it. Thanks for coming on the show. Mike (32:35.91) Thanks for having me. Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:37.227) Hi brother. Alright man, got a couple more questions for you. We do like a quick, kind of do the full podcast episode and then I'll just do kind of a quick episode that'll follow up on a Monday and then another one on a Friday. Cool. Mike (32:55.814) See you. Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:59.693) We out here. Welcome to Million Dollar Mondays, how to make, keep, and scale a million dollars. Mike is a super successful entrepreneur in the vending machine business and beyond. Tell us, how did you make your first million dollars? Mike (33:20.922) Yeah, Seth. It was probably actually through real estate and just getting a little bit kind of lucky with timing with COVID and short-term rentals and some of that. But yeah, that's probably how I got the first million. Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:25.229) Mm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:37.079) Gotcha, cool. Yeah, real estate usually plays a role in the everybody's strategy down the line, whether they're in that primary business or not, whether they start out there or they end up there, real estate usually plays a part. How'd you make your last million? Mike (33:53.956) Yeah, that's a good question because it's completely different than real estate, but it's actually been vending machines. So that's been kind of fun. just, you you talk about product market fit whenever you're an entrepreneur with a business. And that was just kind of the perfect storm right now of traditional vending really kind of being outdated. And we found a product market fit with it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:57.57) Right. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:16.215) Gotcha. Cool. that was from, was this maybe mostly attributed to kind of buying those routes, those larger routes? Mike (34:23.32) Exactly. Yeah. Buying old school routes and really kind of flipping them like a house with modern micro markets charging, with different products and what would fit in a vending machine, like more of the unorthodox, you know, toilet paper and tide pods and things that wouldn't fit in a traditional vending machine. I mean, we'll sell $35 bottles of shampoo in these micro markets. So just kind of, go and add it in a different way. Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:49.857) Yeah, and then with the aging population, there's gotta be more and more of these things popping up. So there should be more opportunity for people to get involved or for people like yourself to just snag everything, right? Mike (35:01.102) Yeah, I think there's no chance I could snag everything, not even just in this town alone that I'm currently in. I mean, machines are getting cheaper, the technology is getting way better with AI. And nowadays, it's not what fits in a vending machine motor. It's okay, what's shelf space? if it's a bottle of shampoo or a glass Coke, it doesn't matter because it's not just getting thrown down the chute of a traditional machine. Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:05.387) Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:27.521) Makes sense, makes sense. Last, how are you planning on making your next million dollars? Mike (35:34.3) I think probably with AI, we're doing a lot of interesting stuff with helping people scale their, their vending routes. that is applicable to any, small business. And so I'm really intrigued. Just every time I go down a rabbit hole with some new AI tool, I feel like there's another better one that just came right behind it. So I just think it's kind of that time where you can really get ahead by just learning. Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:06.209) Yeah, totally makes sense. mean people that are not paying attention to AI whether it's simply using chat GPT instead of Google search are getting left behind quickly because it's just advancing so fast. I can't even imagine what this world's gonna look like five years from now the way that things are moving. Mike (36:23.132) It's crazy. Three years ago when I was working for a tech company selling software into the government, I would have to work with three secretaries to schedule a meeting with the general to sell their software. Now my EA is literally an AI bot and everyone that's scheduling time on my calendar, they don't even know they're talking to a non-human, which is pretty Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:43.479) Yeah, 100%. We're gonna, I predicted within five years, everybody's gonna have a humanoid robot in their home with AI instilled and they're gonna be doing physical things for us at our homes. Yeah. Yep. Yep. 100%. Awesome, All right, moving on to the next one. Mike (36:50.181) Yeah! Mike (36:57.917) I hope so. I hope they can go to Costco get all our groceries do our do our laundry The dishes Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:11.501) You're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do, Mike. What is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field? Mike (37:19.056) Ooh, that's a good question, Seth. I think it's just discipline, know, discipline and focus. One of the hardest things is being able to say no with the things that don't align. And when I was growing up, I had a quote that has really stuck with me. That's like, it's better to be respected than liked. And I think that really resonates. Like naturally as a human, you want to be liked and help people, but the 1 % are really good at saying no. Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:47.649) Yeah, I love that man. That's a great answer. Kind of building on that, what do you think the number one attribute is that makes a successful entrepreneur? Mike (37:57.468) probably focus. Yeah. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:59.212) Yeah, focus. Yep. The one thing, right? The one thing. Mike (38:04.186) Yep. That's why you come back to like the most successful entrepreneurs. They always niche down and they niche down because they just, got hyper-focused. Like this is kind of why for me, you know, I started this passive Mr. Passive on social media before I even got into Vendi. Well, now everyone's like, well, how passive is Vendi? And well, it's like, what's really interesting is I was posting all these different, what I thought passive income streams in the time, but everyone, 95 % of the questions I got about Airbnbs are all my different investments was about bending. So I just niche down on, on bending and I just looked back on that and I was like, it really forced me to focus. Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:43.263) Awesome, awesome. What's one thing someone could do today to get 1 % closer to success in the vending machine business if they are really interested in learning more? Mike (38:53.892) tap into your connections and find a location that has high foot traffic, whether that's a friend that works at an urgent care, a sister that lives at an apartment. You know, you take your kid to that gymnastics studio that has a ton of foot traffic between 4 PM and 8 PM. Like all those locations are prime locations to put one of these modern smart machines in. so, tapping into your connections, well, you know, Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:24.567) Love that man. Awesome. All right, Mike, I appreciate it, brother. We'll to meet in person sometime, Mike (39:30.574) I would love to. Where are you based, Seth? Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:31.789) I'm in San Diego, where you at? Mike (39:34.78) I am in Eugene. Yeah, Oregon. I'll come down your way though. Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:37.39) Cool We're planning on doing yeah, we're planning on doing so me and my wife we have a Sprinter van and Last May we did we did going back to the flexibility piece, right? We did 32 days in the van up through Wyoming Montana and then into like Into Canada and they're like Banff and Jasper and all the way up to Jasper and then we circled back on the west coast Through Vancouver and then down back to San Diego Yeah Mike (40:05.52) What? Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:06.829) Pretty wild, pretty awesome. And the reason I brought that up is this year we're gonna do shorter trip. We're probably gonna do two, maybe three weeks at the most, but we're gonna do kind of the Pacific Northwest. So Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver and all those parks and stuff up there. Mike (40:17.254) Yeah. Mike (40:21.744) Yeah, you definitely have a, have you been to Bend before? Bend is like my, that whole area, Central Oregon is, and even Idaho, like all those kind of, yeah. That's awesome. Please let me know when you're up this way. I mean, I'll come meet you wherever. That'd be amazing. Absolutely. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:24.641) Yeah, yeah I have. Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:38.861) Sure man grab a coffee or beer. I appreciate it. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah all right brother great to meet you and I will send the information on when this is gonna get released and give you you materials and all that stuff so we can collaborate on social media Mike (40:51.964) Okay. Okay. Yeah. Is a lot of your audience, like passive investors? Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:58.593) So most of that, so now I'm rebranding. I rebranded because I'm gonna be speaking more towards like active entrepreneurs, Active entrepreneurs, people raising capital, that sort of thing. Whereas before it was based on passive investors and people really focused on attorneys. So I'm an attorney and I was raising capital from attorneys for my real estate deals. Now I'm really more into selling shovels. I'm scaling my law firm. I'm chief legal officer for Tribest, which is, we've got a fund to fund. Mike (41:20.262) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:28.085) legal product there as well. So we're really trying to bring in active, active entrepreneurs and people raising capital. Mike (41:29.777) Yeah. Mike (41:36.572) Okay, because I got that, I was just thinking through when we talking about that oil development project, that could be a good, the guy that runs that fund could be a good interview for you. Just thinking through your audience, because he's always looking for investors into his fund and like these oil lubs are just crushing it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:49.901) Cool. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:58.464) Yeah, cool. Who is it? Just, I don't know if I know him or not. Mike (42:02.183) Um, Robert Durkey, he's out of Florida. has, his problem is he's sitting on a gold mine that has no, like he's old school, doesn't know social media, any of that. So that's why I think he'd be perfect for you. Cause I think you could help him and he could definitely help you with some kickback. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully we meet soon. Okay. See you Seth. Bye. Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:05.645) I don't think I know. I don't think I know. Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:13.889) Yeah. Gotcha. Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:20.705) Cool, okay, sounds good man. Yeah, I appreciate the introduction. Yeah, all right brother. Talk soon. See ya. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Mike Hoffman's Links: https://www.instagram.com/mikehoffmannofficial/ https://x.com/mrpassive_?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedhoffmann/ https://www.tiktok.com/@mr.passive
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Title: How to Make Millions with Vending Machines with Mike Hoffman Summary: In this conversation, Seth Bradley and Mike Hoffman delve into the world of vending machines as a business opportunity. Mike shares his journey from a Midwest farm boy to a successful entrepreneur in the vending industry, highlighting the evolution of vending technology and the potential for passive income. They discuss the importance of location, understanding demographics, and the scalability of vending routes. Mike emphasizes the need for upfront work and learning before delegating tasks, while also addressing the misconceptions surrounding passive income in the vending business. In this conversation, Seth Bradley and Mike discuss various aspects of entrepreneurship, particularly in the vending machine business. They explore the importance of capital raising, the journey of self-discovery, influences that shape business decisions, and the definition of success. The dialogue emphasizes the significance of flexibility, discipline, and focus in achieving entrepreneurial goals, while also touching on financial milestones and the attributes that distinguish successful entrepreneurs. Links to Watch and Subscribe: Bullet Point Highlights: Mike's journey from a classic Midwest farm boy to a successful entrepreneur. The evolution of vending machines from traditional to smart technology. Understanding the importance of location in the vending business. The analogy of baseball levels to describe starting in vending. Scaling up from single A to big leagues in vending routes. The significance of demographics in product selection for vending machines. The potential for passive income with proper systems in place. The need for upfront work before achieving passivity in business. Vending is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it requires dedication. The future opportunities in the vending industry are expanding rapidly. Raising capital can dilute ownership but may be necessary for rapid growth. Self-discovery often leads to unexpected career paths. Influences in business can come from personal experiences rather than just mentors. Success is often defined by the ability to prioritize family and flexibility. Entrepreneurs work harder than in traditional jobs but gain flexibility. Discipline is crucial for saying no to distractions. Successful entrepreneurs often focus on niche markets. High foot traffic locations are ideal for vending machines. AI is transforming business operations and efficiency. Networking and connections can lead to valuable opportunities. Transcript: Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:04.898) Mike, what's going on buddy? Doing great brother, doing great. How about you? Mike (00:06.748) Don't worry, Mike (00:11.664) Good, I'm a little flustered. I usually have my mic set up over here, but I guess we just moved and it's not here today. I guess, yeah, new office and it's been a whole hot mess. Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:19.822) New office or what? Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:27.862) Nice man, nice. I see you got the whiteboard cranking back there. Love to see that. Mike (00:33.114) Always. I love your background. That's sweet. Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:38.03) Thanks man, yeah, I'm on camera all the time so I like I need to just build this out instead of using like a green screen so Made the investment made it happen Mike (00:44.86) Totally. Yeah, absolutely. Seth Bradley, Esq. (00:49.442) Have we met in person or not? I don't know if we've met at a Wealth Without Wall Street event or I couldn't tell. Okay. No, I did not go to Nashville last year. Mike (00:58.478) I don't think so. don't think you're... Were you in Nashville last year? Mike (01:04.634) No, okay. No, I don't think we've met in person. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:08.256) Okay, all good, man. All good. Well, cool. I'll just go over the format real quick. We'll do kind of a shorter recording. We're do like 30 minutes, something like in that range. And then we'll just kind of like break. And then I'll, want to record a couple of other quick segments where I call it Million Dollar Monday. I'm kind of asking you about how you made your first, last and next million. And then 1 % closer, which would just be kind of what separates you, what makes you the top 1 % in your particular vertical. So we'll just kind of record those separately. Those will be real short, like five minutes or so. Mike (01:44.924) Okay, yeah, I'll follow your lead. All good. Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:47.15) Cool. Cool. Let's see. I think I already have this auto recording. So we're already recording. So I'll just jump right in. Mike (01:55.377) Okay. Seth Bradley, Esq. (01:57.782) Welcome to Raise the Bar Radio, hosted by yours truly Seth Bradley. We today we've got Mr. Passive, Mike Hoffman. Mike, welcome to the show. Mike (02:08.189) Thank you for having me fired up to be here. Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:10.855) Absolutely man, really happy to have you on. I know it's been a little bit of a trek here to get our schedules lined up, but really stoked to have you on today, man. I see you said you moved into a new office. You've got the whiteboard cranking, so love to see it. Mike (02:25.372) yeah, whiteboards are the only place I can get my thoughts down. Seth Bradley, Esq. (02:29.399) Yeah, man, it makes a difference when you actually write something rather than type it or even on a mirror board where you're doing it online. just there's something about physically writing something down. Mike (02:41.328) You know, I'm glad you said that because yesterday I flipped to Seattle for a quick work trip and I didn't have wifi and I literally had three pages of just, I, was so like the clarity of some of these kinds of bigger visions I have now from just being able to write for an hour on a flight was, I was like, man, I gotta do this more often. Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:00.363) Yeah, for sure. The key though is once you write it down, it just doesn't go into the trash or into a black hole somewhere where you never see it again. So that's kind of the disadvantage there. If you have it on your computer and you're taking notes or you have it on a mirror board, at least it's there to reference all the time. If you write it down on paper, sometimes, I've got my Raze Masters book right here for notes, but it's like, it might go into the abyss and I'll never look at it again. So you gotta be careful about that. Mike (03:27.184) Yeah, yeah, I need to check out the Miro boards. I've heard a lot of good things about them. Seth Bradley, Esq. (03:31.467) Yeah, yeah. Awesome, Mike. Well, listen, for our audience who doesn't know anything about you, maybe just tell them, you know, tell them a little bit about your background. Tell them about your your main business and we can take it from there. Mike (03:43.354) Yeah. So I think for those that don't know about me, I'm a classic Midwest farm boy started with a classic, you know, showing cattle at the county fair and all of that and had a lemonade stand growing up. And then my first job was actually at McDonald's, you know, thinking about the whole success of that business model. But when I was coaching and, out of college, I got my first rental and I was like, wow, this is crazy. making money without. really much time involved. and then with my work in Silicon Valley, know, Seth, was classic Silicon Valley, you know, cutthroat job that, startup life and traveling three weeks out of the month. And I was on, I was in airports all the time. And was like, these vending machines I would run into at airports were just so archaic. And so I went down this path of like unattended retail and kind of the future of, of that. And that's really where I just see a huge opportunity right now. And so it's kind of what led me into all these different income streams that I'm passionate about. Seth Bradley, Esq. (04:49.431) That's awesome, man. Well, let's dive into that a little bit deeper. me about these income streams. It centers around vending machines, right? But I'm sure there's a lot more to it. I'm sure there's a lot of different entry points for people. Maybe just kind of give us a general synopsis to start out. Mike (05:06.78) Yeah, so I think the big thing with, you know, if we're talking vending specifically as an income stream, you know, most people think of vending as the traditional machines where you enter in a code, you put your card on the machine and then a motor spirals down a Snickers bar or a soda and you go into the chute and grab it. Nowadays, there's these smart machines that literally you just unlock the door, or even if you go into, land in the Vegas airport right at the bottom of the escalator where it says, welcome to Las Vegas, there's a 7-Eleven with gates and AI cameras, and there's no employees in the 7-Eleven. And it just tracks whatever you grab and to exit the gate, you have to pay for it. So like, there's just this huge market now where we just installed it in urgent care. less than two months ago and we can do over the counter meds in that machine because it doesn't have to fit into a motor. It's just shelf space. You identify with the planogram with the AI cameras like, okay, Dayquil in this slot or Salad in this slot and then whatever they grab, gets charged to the person that pulls it from it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (06:15.469) That's interesting, man. Yeah, I mean, my initial thought too, was just like the traditional old vending machine where you're getting a candy bar or a cola out of there. But yeah, nowadays, now that you mentioned that, you see this more and more every single day where you've got these scanners, you've got kind of self-checkout, that sort of thing. So that's kind of, that expands that world and really opens it up to the future, right? Like it just really, that's what we're trying to get to, or at least we think we wanna get there, where we're kind of removing humans and... kind of working with technologies and things like that. Mike (06:49.488) Yeah, and I think, you know, removing the whole human thing. mean, those machines still got to get stocked and you know, there's not robots running around doing that. But I just come back to, I was a Marriott guy when I was on the road all the time and I'd go to these grab and goes at a Marriott and grab a, the end of the night, I'd grab like a little wine or an ice cream sandwich. And I literally had to go wait in line at the check-in desk behind three people checking in just to tell them, Hey, put these on. room charge and I was like if I had a checkout kiosk in that grab-and-go I could have just removed all the friction for this customer experience. Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:27.772) Right, 100%. Yeah, I mean, there's a place and time for it and there's more and more applications for it that just pop up every single day and you can kind of spot that in your life as you're just kind of moving through, whether you're checking into your hotel or whatever you're doing. Mike (07:41.456) Yeah, yeah. So that's just kind of what excites me today. Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:45.973) Yeah, yeah, so when a stranger asks you what you do just in the street, what do you tell them? Because I have a hard time answering that question sometimes too, but I'd love to hear what your answer is. Mike (07:56.804) Yeah, I would just say it depends on the day. You know, what do you do or what's your, you know, it's like at the golf course when you get paired up with a stranger and they're like, tell me about what you do for your career. And I just say, I'm a classic entrepreneur. And then I'm like, well, what do you do? And it's like, well, tell me about the day. You know, what fire are you putting out? Like today we just got the go ahead for five more urgent cares for our local route. But then, you know, we have a community of operators across the country that we help really build. Seth Bradley, Esq. (07:57.933) haha Ha ha ha. Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:09.879) Yeah. Yeah. Mike (08:25.616) Vending empires and so we had a group call this morning. So literally, there's a lot of just, you know, it's classic entrepreneurial life. You never know what the day's script is gonna be. Seth Bradley, Esq. (08:36.161) Yeah, for sure. And you focus a lot on not only on your own business, but also teaching others, right? Teaching others how to kind of break into this business. Mike (08:45.402) Yeah, that's my passion, Seth. When I got into my first investment out of college was a $70,000 rental, you know, putting 20 % down or 14K and using an emergency fund. like my background in going to college was as a coach. like I knew I wanted to kind of take that mindset of like coaching people, you know, teach them how to fish. I don't want to catch all the fish myself. It's just not fulfilling that way. So that's really where my passion is. Seth Bradley, Esq. (09:15.373) Gotcha, gotcha. tell me about like, tell me about step one. I mean, how does somebody break into this business? Obviously your own personal business is probably very advanced. There's probably a lot more sophisticated investing strategies at this point and you've got different layers to it. But somebody just kind of starting out that said, hey, this sounds pretty interesting. This vending machine business sounds like it can be passive. How do you recommend that they get started? Mike (09:40.57) Yeah, so I'm always, I view like the whole vending scale as similar to Major League Baseball. You got your single A all the way up to the big leagues. And if you're just starting out, I always recommend like find a location where you can put a machine and just learn the process. Like to me, that's single A analogy. you know, that always starts with, people want to jump right to like, well, what type of machines do you recommend? products, how do you price products? And the first question I'll always ask Seth is, well, what location is this machine going in? And they're like, well, I don't know yet. I was just going to buy one and put it in my garage to start. And it's like, no, you need to have the location first. So understanding that, is it a pet hospital? Is it an apartment? Is it a gym? Where is the foot traffic? And then you can cater to what's the best machine for that type of location. Seth Bradley, Esq. (10:36.887) Got it, got it. Now is this a kind of a rent, you rent the space to place the machine with that particular business or wherever you're gonna place it or how does that all come together? Mike (10:47.644) not typically, some people are kind of more advanced, like apartment complexes are used to the revenue share model. So they're going to ask for a piece of the pie for sure, for you to put the machine in their lobby. but like, you know, when we're talking urgent carers or even pet hospitals are viewing it as an amenity. And so we probably have, I don't even know how many machines now 75 now, and we, you know, less than half of those actually, Seth Bradley, Esq. (10:50.423) Okay. Mike (11:15.1) us rent or ask for a revenue share to have them in there. So I never leave lead with that, but we'll do it if we need to get the location. Seth Bradley, Esq. (11:23.989) Interesting gotcha. So it's really a value add for wherever you're gonna place it and that's how most people or I guess most businesses would look at that and then you're able to capture that that space Mike (11:27.366) Mm-hmm. Mike (11:34.236) Yeah, absolutely. So, um, a great case study is we have a 25 employee roughing business here in Oregon. And you might think like, only 25 employees. It's not going to make that much money. Well, we do $1,200 a month. And the cool thing about this, Seth, is the CEO of this roughing company literally did napkin math on how much it costs for his employees to drive to the gas station during their 20 minute break. And then How much they're paying for an energy drink at the gas station and then how much gas they're using with the roofing like the work trucks to get to and from the gas station So he's like I want to bring a smart machine into our warehouse Set the prices as half off so that four dollar monster only costs his rofers two dollars and then we invoice him the the business owner every month for the other 50 % and so he actually Calculated as a cost savings not asking for money to rent the space Seth Bradley, Esq. (12:35.597) Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. That makes sense. That makes sense. I love the baseball analogy with the single A, double A, triple A, even into the big leagues here. know, a lot of the folks that listen to this are already kind of, you know, in the big leagues or maybe think about some capital behind them. Like how would they be able to jump right in, maybe skip single or double A or would they, or do you even suggest that? Do you suggest that they start, you know, small just to learn and then maybe invest some more capital into it to expand or can they jump right to the big leagues? Mike (12:48.891) Yeah. Yeah. Mike (13:03.966) I think they can jump right to the big leagues. this is, I'm glad you brought this up because just listening to some of your episodes from the past, there's no doubt that you have people that could buy a route like a off biz buy sell today. And I think this is a prime opportunity. it's very similar to flipping a house. you, you know, there's a route in Chicago, I think it was for $1.1 million, you know, whatever negotiating terms or seller financing or, or what have you, got a lot of, your, your audience that is experts in that. But the cool thing about these routes is they have the old school machines that have the motors and that are limited to, this type of machine, you can only fit a 12 ounce cannon. Well, guess what? The minute you buy that route, you swap out that machine with one of these micro markets or smart machines. Now you just went from selling a 12 ounce soda for $1.25 to now a 16 ounce monster for $4.50. Well, you just bought that location based on its current revenue numbers and by swapping out that machine, you're going to two or three acts your revenue just at that location. And so it's truly just like a value play, a value upgrade, like flipping the house of, okay, there's a lot of deals right now of these routes being sold by baby boomers where it's like, they got the old school Pepsi machine. Doesn't have a credit card reader on it. They can't track inventory remotely via their cell phones. So They're not keeping it stocked. Like all those types of things can really play in your favor as a buyer that just wants to get to the big leagues right away. Seth Bradley, Esq. (14:37.651) I love that. When you say buy a route, what are you really buying? Tell me about the contractual agreement behind that. What are you really buying there? Mike (14:47.184) You're just buying the locations and the equipment associated with it. So like this Chicago route, it's like, we have machines in 75 properties all across the Chicago suburbs. And they could be medical clinics. could be apartments. could be employee break rooms at businesses, but that's when you start diving into those locations. It's like, I have a snack machine and a soda machine here. Well, you swap that out with a micro market that now instead of. Seth Bradley, Esq. (14:49.279) Okay. Okay. Mike (15:13.626) that machine that'll only hold a small bag of Doritos that you charge two bucks, well now you get the movie size theater bags that you can really put in there in a micro market. Like naturally just that valuation of that route based on those 75 machines current revenue, I mean you're gonna be able to two or three X your revenue right by just swapping out those machines. Seth Bradley, Esq. (15:35.959) Wow, yeah, I love that analogy with real estate, right? It's just like a value add. It's like, how can I bring in more income from what already exists? Well, I need to upgrade or I need to put in some capital improvements, whatever you want to call it. Here's the vending machine upgrades or a different kind of system in there. And you get more income. And obviously that business in itself is going to be worth more in a higher multiple. Mike (15:58.396) Absolutely. mean, a great example of this is we had a machine in an apartment complex and it was your traditional machine with the motors and you have to enter in the code. Well, we could only put in four 12 ounce drinks and then chips. Well, we swapped that out with a micro market. Well, now that micro market, we literally put in bags of Tide Pods for laundry, like these big bags of Tide Pods. We'll sell those like hotcakes for 15 bucks. And our old machine, Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:25.281) Yeah, let's say those aren't cheap. Mike (16:27.246) Yeah, our old machine Seth, it would take us to get to 15 bucks, we'd have to sell eight Snickers. That's one transaction. Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:33.547) Right, right. Yeah, yeah. How do you do an analysis kind of based on like what you think is gonna sell there, right? Like you're replacing, let's say a Dorito machine with Tide Pods, you know? So you have to individually go to each location and figure out what will work, what will sell. Mike (16:47.738) Yeah. Mike (16:51.834) It's all about demographic. Absolutely. So, you know, we have, we have, we have a micro market and a manufacturing plant that's, it's a pumpkin farm and there's a ton of Hispanic workers. So we do a lot of like spicy foods, a lot of spicy chips. do, we do a ton of, mean, the sugar or sorry, the glass bottle cokes. They do, they love their pastries. Seth Bradley, Esq. (16:53.431) Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (17:06.349) Yeah. Mike (17:15.868) So we just doubled down on the demographics. So yesterday I was filming at one of our micro markets that's in a gym and they crushed the Fairlife protein shakes, like the more modern protein shakes, but they won't touch muscle milk. So we're literally taking out one row of muscle milk just to add an extra row of Fairlife shakes. So you're constantly just catering to the demographics and what's selling. Seth Bradley, Esq. (17:40.632) Yeah, yeah, this is awesome. I mean, this is literally just like real estate, right? Like you go and you find a good market. You're talking about demographics, right? Find the market, see what they want, see how much you can upgrade, how you can upgrade. If it's an apartment, it's a unit. If it's here, it's the product that you're selling and the type of machine, or maybe it's a mini market. A lot of things to kind of tie your understanding to here. Mike (17:45.926) Yeah. Mike (18:05.904) Yeah, absolutely. Seth Bradley, Esq. (18:07.615) Yeah, awesome, man. Awesome, Where are you at in your business? Like what, you know, what are the big leagues looking like right now? You know, what are you doing to expand your business, raising the bar in your business? Mike (18:18.692) Yeah, I'm going after that's a really good question. I'm going after kind of these newer markets and we're kind of past that point of like, okay, let's pilot in this location. For example, that urgent care, we didn't know if it was going to be a good location two months ago when we installed. Well now it's already crushing it. Well, there's six other urgent cares in town and we just got to go ahead on five of those six. So like for me, it's doubling down on our current proof points of where. okay, we know that manufacturing plant, the pumpkin farm does really well. So let's start getting intros to all their, manufacturers of the products they need to grow pumpkin. know, like we're just doubling down on scaling because now we have the operational blueprint to really just kind of to go after it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:03.917) Gotcha, gotcha. Tell me about how passive this can really be, right? So I used to have, before we switched over to the new brand, Raise the Bar podcast, it was the Passive Income Attorney podcast, right? I was really focused on passive investments, focused on bringing in passive investors into my real estate deals, things like that. And I think that word passive gets thrown around quite a bit, right? And sometimes it's abused because people get into things that are not truly passive. Mike (19:18.427) Yeah. Mike (19:28.784) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (19:33.517) What's your take on that as it relates to the vending business? Mike (19:38.49) Yeah, so I think as far as with the vending business, there's clearly upfront leg work that needs to be done, whether that's finding locations or any of those things. So I have a route that is here in Oregon, and then we bought a route last year in Illinois and have scaled that route. I spend 30 minutes a week on each route now. that these urgent cares and stuff, like we have an operator that's running the whole route. Here's the problem, Seth. It's like people are so scared to build systems to ultimately systemize things or they're too cheap to hire help. And I'm the opposite. like, you know, kind of like Dan Martell's buy back your time. Like I have like a leverage calculator and like I constantly think about is this worth my time? Cause as you know, you're busier than me. Like it's so limited. for me, my routes, I would consider them passive, like one hour a week is, is nothing in my mind. But as far as like, you know, I'm, I'm also a passive investor on, we're building a, an oil loop station in Florida and I sent my money a year ago to, to my, active investor and I haven't talked to him since. Like that's actually truly probably passive now, you know, I'm not doing anything, but there's, there's different levels to that. And I'm a huge believer like. don't delegate something until you know what you're delegating. So people that want to start with the vending routes, sure, if you want to buy a route that already has an operator, that's one thing. but these, if you're starting a vending route for your kid or for your stay at home wife or whatever, as a side hustle, like get in the weeds and install that first machine. So when you hire help to take over the route, you know what you're delegating. Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:09.773) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (21:27.021) Yeah, that's key. That's key. And you you described just like any other business, right? I think that's kind of where people get themselves into trouble. That sometimes they get sold the dream that is truly passive. And eventually it can be. I mean, you're talking about an hour a week. To me, that's pretty damn passive, right? But you know, upfront, you you've got to learn the business. You've got to know what you're getting yourself into. Like you said, you've got to learn before you delegate so that you know what you're delegating. There is going to be some upfront work and then as you're able to kind of delegate and learn Then you can make it more and more passive as you go Mike (22:00.88) Yeah, I mean, it's no different than what's the same when people tell you that they're busy. I mean, you're just not a priority. Like that's a fact. you're not. People say it's the same thing when people come to me and they're like, I'm so busy. It's like, okay, well let me, let me see your schedule. Where are you spending your time? You know, it's like when people are like, I can't lose weight. Okay, well let me see your food log. What did you eat yesterday? Did you have ice cream? Like this is like the same kind of thing. That's where passive I think has been really abused. Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:16.097) Yeah. Yep. Mike (22:29.638) To me, the bigger issue is like, vending is not get rich quick. And so like, if you're expecting to leave your nine to five tomorrow and vending is going to make up for that in one day, like that's not going to Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:41.089) Right, Makes sense. Speaking of passive, do you raise capital or do you have any kind of a fund or have you put together a fund for something like this? Mike (22:51.48) We haven't put together a fun, we're definitely buying routes is definitely becoming more and more intriguing. And I know there's some PE players starting to get into the vending game, but it's something we've been definitely considering and on our radar of do we want to. Seth Bradley, Esq. (22:58.541) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:10.231) Gotcha. Cool. I mean, you brought in money partners for some of those routes yet, or is that still something you're exploring too? Mike (23:18.168) No, I think it's just something we're thinking about. mean, what do you recommend? Seth Bradley, Esq. (23:21.089) Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'd recommend I mean, it depends, right? Like I'm I'm scared to turn you by trade, but I don't like to say you should always raise capital no matter what. Right. Like you've been able to scale your business as you have and grown it to where it is without bringing outside capital. It sounds which is great because you own 100 percent or with whatever business partners you might have. You know, when you start raising capital, you're giving a large chunk of that piece away, not necessarily your whole company. But if you're buying you know, a set of routes or that sort of thing. You you're gonna give a big piece away to those past investors if you're starting a fund or even if it's up. Even a single asset syndication here for one of these, you know, these routes, you could put it together that way. You know, it's just something to consider. But a lot of times when people are looking to scale fast, right, if they wanna grow exponentially, you've gotta use other people's money to get there or hit the lottery. Mike (24:08.294) Mm. Mike (24:15.856) Absolutely, no, agree. That's spot-on and I actually before you know the Silicon Valley company That I was part of we had a we went through probably series a B C D C ground Let's just say we weren't very fiscally responsible. So I come from the, you know, it's like the ex-girlfriend example. I don't want to just start taking everyone's money. Seth Bradley, Esq. (24:42.413) Yeah, yeah, that tends to happen with some startups, right? Like before you get funding, you're super frugal because it's your money and every single dollar counts. And you're like, I don't want to pay, you if it's software, you don't want to pay the software engineers. I'm going to out, you know, put it, you know, hire Indian engineers, that sort of thing. And then once you get a few million bucks that you raised in that seed round, then it just goes and you're like, whoa, wait a minute, let's hire 20 people. You know, it's you got to be careful about that. Mike (25:05.606) Yeah Yeah, yeah, that's a great, great take on it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:11.245) Yeah, it's, yeah. It's a question I love to ask and I think it's about time for that. So, in a parallel universe, tell me about a different version of you. So a different but likely version, right? Like, for example, for me, I went to med school for a year and a half and then I dropped out and I ended up becoming an attorney. So that was like a big turning point, right? So I could have easily at some point just said screw it and became a doctor and that would have been a totally different route than I'm going down right now. What's an example of something like that for you? Mike (25:42.524) Wait, are you being serious about that? I took the MCAT too. I got into med school and then I, yeah, I was pretty mad in school. And then the more I learned about exercise science, I was like, organic chemistry is not fun. Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:44.321) Yeah, totally. yeah? There you go. Seth Bradley, Esq. (25:57.39) It is not fun. I did not love that. I majored in exercise physiology and then I ended up switching to biology because it was just a little bit of an easier route to get my degree and go into med school and I went for a year and a half and then I dropped out because I absolutely hated it. I knew I didn't want to do it. I was just more attracted to business and that sort of thing. Mike (26:16.346) Yeah, that's crazy. That's awesome. parallel universe. I, that's a really good question. I don't know. I, kinda, I have two kids under three and the other side of me wishes I would have traveled more. you know, I mean, we'll get there hopefully when they get out of high school and someday. But right now I just think there's so many different cultural things and ways to skin the cat. And it's just fascinating to learn some of those things. Mike (26:55.352) yourself in those cultures. go to different cultures and really like understand how they did things for a time, a period of time to really just learn their thinking. Seth Bradley, Esq. (27:07.777) Yeah, I love that man. I had a similar experience of what you're describing. I didn't travel abroad really other than like, you know, Canada and Mexico until I studied abroad in Barcelona during law school and I got to stay there for a couple of months. So you actually had some time. It wasn't like you're just visiting for a week or a weekend or anything like that. You got to kind of live there right for a couple of months and it just totally changed my, you know, my outlook on life and just the way that you see things like I feel like we're in the US and we just think Mike (27:19.627) Seth Bradley, Esq. (27:37.76) US is number one and there's only one way to do things the way that we do things that kind of attitude. And then when you go to Western Europe and you see that culture and you drive or get on a train, it's like an hour away and you're in a totally different culture and they're doing it a certain way as well and it's working. You just see that other people are doing things differently and still being successful at it, still having a thriving culture and it's just awesome to see. Mike (28:03.312) Yeah, absolutely. Seth Bradley, Esq. (28:06.251) Yeah. Tell me about some major influences in your life. What turned you or got you into that, the vending business? It's not one of those typical things. mean, I know you're in the education business, so you're kind of really spreading the word about this type of business. But I would say when you started, there might not have been a mastermind or educational courses around this. mean, how did you kind of get drawn into that? Were there any particular people or influences that brought you in? Mike (28:29.308) you Mike (28:36.188) Yeah. So the, biggest influence for me to get into vending, uh, wasn't actually a person. It was actually, was, um, I had landed, I was coming back from the Pentagon from a trip back to the Bay for the startup we were talking about. And I was in the Denver airport and 11 PM, you know, our flight was delayed. And then they're like, Hey, you have to stay in the airport tonight. The pilot went over their hours for the day, blah, blah, blah. So I went to a vending machine and I remember buying a bottle of water. I think it costs like at the time three bucks or something. I knew that bottle of water cost 20 cents at Costco. And I was like, there is someone that's at home with their kids right now making money off me and they're not even at this mission. Like the machine is doing the work. So I had like an aha moment of like, what are my true priorities in life? And like, why am I chasing this cutthroat startup from. Palo Alto and trying to make it when reality was my priorities are freedom to spend more time with my family. So that's really kind of what led me into this path of starting a vending machine side hustle to keep our lifestyle as we had kids. We wanted to have a nanny and we wanted to be able to still go on dates and things like that as a couple with my wife. So that's really kind of my family and just like... having the freedom to do things. Like that's what I'm really passionate about. Seth Bradley, Esq. (29:59.084) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, building on that, and you may have already answered that, but what does success look like for you? Mike (30:01.766) next Mike (30:06.268) an empty calendar. Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:08.621) Good luck with that. Good luck with that. Mike (30:11.516) Oh man, I was gonna say, how do we crack that code? No, yeah. No, but I think success to me is doing things like picking up my daughter at three and even being able to say no to the things that aren't gonna get you to where you need, like the discipline piece of this too. Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:15.708) man. Seth Bradley, Esq. (30:33.995) Yeah, yeah, mean, you know, for me, it's kind of similar, right? It's not going to be able to empty that calendar. Not yet, at least maybe here in the future. But for now, it's pretty filled. But it is it's flexible, right? Like us as entrepreneurs, you know, we probably work more than we ever worked when we were in our W-2s. But at the same time, it's you know, we're working in our own business for ourselves, for our families. And we have the Flexibility, a lot of people will say the freedom, right? But we have the flexibility to move things around. And if you want to pick your kids up at school at three, or you do want to take a weekend off, or something comes up in your schedule, you have the flexibility to do that. Whereas if you're kind of slaving away at the nine to five, you can't really do it. Mike (31:04.486) Yeah. Yeah. Mike (31:20.198) Yeah, that's spot on. mean, I just wrote that down, but flexibility is, cause you're right. When you started becoming an entrepreneur, this is what I tell people all the time when they want to get a venting around is like running your own business. You are going to work harder than you do for your boss currently at your W-2. Like you have to do payroll. You have to do, like you gotta like make sure there's money to actually do pay, you know, like all those things that you just don't even think about when you have a W-2. It's like, today's Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:39.543) Yeah Mike (31:48.89) You know, this Friday I get paid. Well, when you run a business, mean, that money's got to come from somewhere. Seth Bradley, Esq. (31:51.905) Yeah Right, yeah, 100%, man, 100%. All right, Mike, we're gonna wrap it up. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Tell the listeners where they can find out more about you. Mike (32:05.286) Yeah, so thanks for having me. This has been great. I have free content all over the place. can find me on the classic Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, but I also have vendingpreneurs.com is where we help people that are more interested in actually the vending stuff. But I've been really trying to double down on YouTube lately because there's just a lot of content and you can't get it off a one minute reel. Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:32.417) Love it, man. All right, Mike, appreciate it. Thanks for coming on the show. Mike (32:35.91) Thanks for having me. Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:37.227) Hi brother. Alright man, got a couple more questions for you. We do like a quick, kind of do the full podcast episode and then I'll just do kind of a quick episode that'll follow up on a Monday and then another one on a Friday. Cool. Mike (32:55.814) See you. Seth Bradley, Esq. (32:59.693) We out here. Welcome to Million Dollar Mondays, how to make, keep, and scale a million dollars. Mike is a super successful entrepreneur in the vending machine business and beyond. Tell us, how did you make your first million dollars? Mike (33:20.922) Yeah, Seth. It was probably actually through real estate and just getting a little bit kind of lucky with timing with COVID and short-term rentals and some of that. But yeah, that's probably how I got the first million. Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:25.229) Mm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:37.079) Gotcha, cool. Yeah, real estate usually plays a role in the everybody's strategy down the line, whether they're in that primary business or not, whether they start out there or they end up there, real estate usually plays a part. How'd you make your last million? Mike (33:53.956) Yeah, that's a good question because it's completely different than real estate, but it's actually been vending machines. So that's been kind of fun. just, you you talk about product market fit whenever you're an entrepreneur with a business. And that was just kind of the perfect storm right now of traditional vending really kind of being outdated. And we found a product market fit with it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (33:57.57) Right. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:16.215) Gotcha. Cool. that was from, was this maybe mostly attributed to kind of buying those routes, those larger routes? Mike (34:23.32) Exactly. Yeah. Buying old school routes and really kind of flipping them like a house with modern micro markets charging, with different products and what would fit in a vending machine, like more of the unorthodox, you know, toilet paper and tide pods and things that wouldn't fit in a traditional vending machine. I mean, we'll sell $35 bottles of shampoo in these micro markets. So just kind of, go and add it in a different way. Seth Bradley, Esq. (34:49.857) Yeah, and then with the aging population, there's gotta be more and more of these things popping up. So there should be more opportunity for people to get involved or for people like yourself to just snag everything, right? Mike (35:01.102) Yeah, I think there's no chance I could snag everything, not even just in this town alone that I'm currently in. I mean, machines are getting cheaper, the technology is getting way better with AI. And nowadays, it's not what fits in a vending machine motor. It's okay, what's shelf space? if it's a bottle of shampoo or a glass Coke, it doesn't matter because it's not just getting thrown down the chute of a traditional machine. Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:05.387) Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (35:27.521) Makes sense, makes sense. Last, how are you planning on making your next million dollars? Mike (35:34.3) I think probably with AI, we're doing a lot of interesting stuff with helping people scale their, their vending routes. that is applicable to any, small business. And so I'm really intrigued. Just every time I go down a rabbit hole with some new AI tool, I feel like there's another better one that just came right behind it. So I just think it's kind of that time where you can really get ahead by just learning. Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:06.209) Yeah, totally makes sense. mean people that are not paying attention to AI whether it's simply using chat GPT instead of Google search are getting left behind quickly because it's just advancing so fast. I can't even imagine what this world's gonna look like five years from now the way that things are moving. Mike (36:23.132) It's crazy. Three years ago when I was working for a tech company selling software into the government, I would have to work with three secretaries to schedule a meeting with the general to sell their software. Now my EA is literally an AI bot and everyone that's scheduling time on my calendar, they don't even know they're talking to a non-human, which is pretty Seth Bradley, Esq. (36:43.479) Yeah, 100%. We're gonna, I predicted within five years, everybody's gonna have a humanoid robot in their home with AI instilled and they're gonna be doing physical things for us at our homes. Yeah. Yep. Yep. 100%. Awesome, All right, moving on to the next one. Mike (36:50.181) Yeah! Mike (36:57.917) I hope so. I hope they can go to Costco get all our groceries do our do our laundry The dishes Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:11.501) You're clearly in the top 1 % of what you do, Mike. What is it about you that separates you from the rest of the field? Mike (37:19.056) Ooh, that's a good question, Seth. I think it's just discipline, know, discipline and focus. One of the hardest things is being able to say no with the things that don't align. And when I was growing up, I had a quote that has really stuck with me. That's like, it's better to be respected than liked. And I think that really resonates. Like naturally as a human, you want to be liked and help people, but the 1 % are really good at saying no. Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:47.649) Yeah, I love that man. That's a great answer. Kind of building on that, what do you think the number one attribute is that makes a successful entrepreneur? Mike (37:57.468) probably focus. Yeah. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (37:59.212) Yeah, focus. Yep. The one thing, right? The one thing. Mike (38:04.186) Yep. That's why you come back to like the most successful entrepreneurs. They always niche down and they niche down because they just, got hyper-focused. Like this is kind of why for me, you know, I started this passive Mr. Passive on social media before I even got into Vendi. Well, now everyone's like, well, how passive is Vendi? And well, it's like, what's really interesting is I was posting all these different, what I thought passive income streams in the time, but everyone, 95 % of the questions I got about Airbnbs are all my different investments was about bending. So I just niche down on, on bending and I just looked back on that and I was like, it really forced me to focus. Seth Bradley, Esq. (38:43.263) Awesome, awesome. What's one thing someone could do today to get 1 % closer to success in the vending machine business if they are really interested in learning more? Mike (38:53.892) tap into your connections and find a location that has high foot traffic, whether that's a friend that works at an urgent care, a sister that lives at an apartment. You know, you take your kid to that gymnastics studio that has a ton of foot traffic between 4 PM and 8 PM. Like all those locations are prime locations to put one of these modern smart machines in. so, tapping into your connections, well, you know, Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:24.567) Love that man. Awesome. All right, Mike, I appreciate it, brother. We'll to meet in person sometime, Mike (39:30.574) I would love to. Where are you based, Seth? Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:31.789) I'm in San Diego, where you at? Mike (39:34.78) I am in Eugene. Yeah, Oregon. I'll come down your way though. Seth Bradley, Esq. (39:37.39) Cool We're planning on doing yeah, we're planning on doing so me and my wife we have a Sprinter van and Last May we did we did going back to the flexibility piece, right? We did 32 days in the van up through Wyoming Montana and then into like Into Canada and they're like Banff and Jasper and all the way up to Jasper and then we circled back on the west coast Through Vancouver and then down back to San Diego Yeah Mike (40:05.52) What? Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:06.829) Pretty wild, pretty awesome. And the reason I brought that up is this year we're gonna do shorter trip. We're probably gonna do two, maybe three weeks at the most, but we're gonna do kind of the Pacific Northwest. So Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver and all those parks and stuff up there. Mike (40:17.254) Yeah. Mike (40:21.744) Yeah, you definitely have a, have you been to Bend before? Bend is like my, that whole area, Central Oregon is, and even Idaho, like all those kind of, yeah. That's awesome. Please let me know when you're up this way. I mean, I'll come meet you wherever. That'd be amazing. Absolutely. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:24.641) Yeah, yeah I have. Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:38.861) Sure man grab a coffee or beer. I appreciate it. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah all right brother great to meet you and I will send the information on when this is gonna get released and give you you materials and all that stuff so we can collaborate on social media Mike (40:51.964) Okay. Okay. Yeah. Is a lot of your audience, like passive investors? Seth Bradley, Esq. (40:58.593) So most of that, so now I'm rebranding. I rebranded because I'm gonna be speaking more towards like active entrepreneurs, Active entrepreneurs, people raising capital, that sort of thing. Whereas before it was based on passive investors and people really focused on attorneys. So I'm an attorney and I was raising capital from attorneys for my real estate deals. Now I'm really more into selling shovels. I'm scaling my law firm. I'm chief legal officer for Tribest, which is, we've got a fund to fund. Mike (41:20.262) Mm-hmm. Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:28.085) legal product there as well. So we're really trying to bring in active, active entrepreneurs and people raising capital. Mike (41:29.777) Yeah. Mike (41:36.572) Okay, because I got that, I was just thinking through when we talking about that oil development project, that could be a good, the guy that runs that fund could be a good interview for you. Just thinking through your audience, because he's always looking for investors into his fund and like these oil lubs are just crushing it. Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:49.901) Cool. Yeah. Seth Bradley, Esq. (41:58.464) Yeah, cool. Who is it? Just, I don't know if I know him or not. Mike (42:02.183) Um, Robert Durkey, he's out of Florida. has, his problem is he's sitting on a gold mine that has no, like he's old school, doesn't know social media, any of that. So that's why I think he'd be perfect for you. Cause I think you could help him and he could definitely help you with some kickback. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully we meet soon. Okay. See you Seth. Bye. Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:05.645) I don't think I know. I don't think I know. Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:13.889) Yeah. Gotcha. Seth Bradley, Esq. (42:20.705) Cool, okay, sounds good man. Yeah, I appreciate the introduction. Yeah, all right brother. Talk soon. See ya. Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Mike Hoffman's Links: https://www.instagram.com/mikehoffmannofficial/ https://x.com/mrpassive_?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedhoffmann/ https://www.tiktok.com/@mr.passive
In this episode Mistress Syren and Kelly are speaking with two wonderful guests, Lisa O'Neil and Val Ortega. We are talking about the good and bad side of vending as a magical business owner and throwing markets. This is to let you other witches know you aren't alone. To be able to continue to vend as a spiritual person , it really does need to be your calling. Please go follow our kick ass guests: @LisajoyOneil @llamada.val Don't forget please send us your ideas and stories to whatwitchesdopodcast@gmail.com.
(7.20.2025-7.27.2025) Burger blues. Tune in.#applepodcasts #spotifypodcasts #youtube #amazon #patreonpatreon.com/isaiahnews
Part 8 of a 9 part series with tips for fun treasure hunt sourcing and selling - reflections and ideas for the unsold stuff. SmilingForSuccess22@gmail.com IG DebbieParkerNet
Vending machines, laundromats and parking lots -- they are examples of so-called boring businesses, we hear your stories about running them. Our guest for the hour is the Globe and Mail's retirement reporter Meera Raman and we also hear from search fund founder Fenton Jagdeo who runs the fund Boring Ventures.
Book a call to see if we can help you achieve your goals in less time with less risk: http://bit.ly/iwc15podcast Could a vending machine replace your day job and income? Today's guest discovered how to turn vending machines into a powerful cash flow—no tech expertise, trust funds, or tenants required. In this episode, Cameron Christiansen and Anthony Faso interview Mike Hoffmann, a dedicated family man and health enthusiast. He's the founder of Vendingpreneurs, where he shows everyday people how to build wealth by growing their own vending machine business, one machine at a time. Mike discusses the rise of unattended retail, from smart coolers to cashless transactions, offering a modern-day "lemonade stand" business model. He breaks down how vending has evolved from the old-school snack machines to high-tech, AI-powered systems. He also explains how easy it is to scale, starting small with one machine or buying an existing route and flipping it for higher profits. Even more interesting, he shares how kids as young as 12 are thriving in the vending business, teaching them valuable entrepreneurial skills at a young age. Listen to learn how to get started, the secrets to finding locations, and the potential to build a six-figure income from vending machines, whether you're working part-time or going all in! Interested in building a profitable, semi-passive vending machine business? Apply Now! - https://www.vendingpreneurs.ai/application/ In This Episode: - The moment that sparked Mike's vending journey - Vending 2.0: AI-powered machines, no quarters needed - What makes vending different from other businesses? - How does buying a vending route work? - Finding prime locations for your first machine - Overhead costs and revenue for a vending machine - The benefits of joining Mike's community - Case study: $400K/year vending success story - What hinders people from achieving success? - How to learn more about the vending machine business Resources: Join the Infinite Wealth Study Group - https://www.facebook.com/share/g/qC3sAWg6PhHYpRAs/ Check out our Online Course - https://infinitewealthcourse.com/home Buy Becoming Your Own Banker by R. Nelson Nash - http://bit.ly/BYOBbookIWC Connect with Mike Hoffmann: Website - https://www.mrpassive.com/ Connect with Anthony or Cameron: Website - https://infinitewealthcourse.com/home Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/infinitewealthconsultants/ Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not constitute financial advice. Always consult a licensed professional for financial decisions. This episode is sponsored by a podcast show partner. We may receive compensation if you use links or services mentioned in this episode. The hosts may have a financial interest in the programs or services mentioned in this episode.
Vending is a low-cost, semi-passive business that can provide steady cash flow while requiring minimal time and effort. In this video, we break down how to start, finance, and scale a vending machine business—even if you have no prior experience!
Consumers today want more than just quick snacks—they want smarter, healthier choices that support wellness goals and taste great. In this episode of Retail on the Go, we're joined by the team from Olipop to talk about how better-for-you beverages and snacks are reshaping vending and micro market strategies. Cathy Horgan (VP, Food Service & On Premise) and Cassie Hardick (National Account Manager) share what they're seeing in the field—from generational buying trends and the shift away from sugary sodas to the rising demand for gut-health-friendly, functional products. They also dig into how operators can start small, test smarter, and keep product mixes fresh with seasonal offerings and sleek new formats. Whether you're ready to try healthier SKUs or just starting to explore your options, this episode is packed with insights for modern self-service operators.
The All Local for July 8
The New York City Council has passed a bill eliminating misdemeanor charges and potential jail time for street vendors who violate city laws. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation to expand the state's film tax credit program, reserving $250 million in incentives for productions that choose the Garden State over Hollywood. Meanwhile, the NYPD reports a steep decline in catalytic converter thefts across the city over the past three years.
Today we're sharing another episode from our series of interviews and discussions recorded live at the Amsterdam Coffee Festival earlier this year.In this session, we explore the rise of smart coffee vending and how innovation and technology is shaping coffee solutions for the workplace and beyond.We'll hear from Willem Huisman, Sales Director at BRITA Professional Benelux, Theo Leene, Managing Director of Powder Products Benelux, Tjerry Sanders, Country Leader Netherlands at Evoca Group, and Joost Leopold, Headmaster and Coffee Consultant at De Koffieschool.Credits music: "Do you Know" by Steve Ray Ladson in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB Collective. Tune into the 5THWAVE Playlist on Spotify for more music from the showSign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear
Remembering a very special note... RIP Bill.
Anthropic's Claude stocked a fridge with metal cubes when it was put in charge of a snacks business, Apple may power Siri with Anthropic or OpenAI models amid its AI struggles, and NASA will start livestreaming content on Netflix later this summer. It's Tuesday July 1st and here's a quick look at tech in the news this morning from Engadget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode of "Philosophy from the Front Line," hosts discuss the concept of the "En Route Rally Point" and its relevance to veterans transitioning to civilian life. They explore the impact of leadership decisions on morale and credibility, using examples from military experiences. As we continue with the show, we will tie the lessons learned from the uniforms and inform our listening audience on additional skills that are transferable into the corporate workforce. One story involves a battalion commander removing vending machines, which was met with resistance due to a lack of alternative food sources. Another example highlights the positive impact of a leader who implemented a sterile uniform policy and PT competitions to foster discipline and camaraderie. The discussion emphasizes the importance of leader engagement, delegation, and the transferability of military skills to corporate environments.Disclaimer: The content of the "Philosophy From the Front Line" podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any affiliated organizations or sponsors. This podcast does not offer legal, financial, or professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult appropriate professionals before making decisions based on the content presented. "Philosophy From the Front Line" assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content or for actions taken based on the information provided during the podcast episodes.Fair Use Statement: This podcast may contain copyrighted material not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. "Philosophy From the Front Line" is making such material available to educate, inform, and provide commentary under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. copyright law (Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act). We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as it is:Used for non-commercial, educational, or research purposes.Critically analyzed, reviewed, or discussed.Used in a transformative way that adds new meaning or message to the original work.If you own any content used and believe it infringes on your copyright, please contact us directly, and we will address the matter promptly.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/philosophy-from-the-front-line--4319845/support.
En el Centro de Formación Profesional Carlos Oroza de Pontevedra han creado una máquina de vending en la que puedes comprar alimentos saludables, basados en productos gallegos de calidad, de proximidad y centrados en la cocina tradicional. Todo en envases compostables. Una iniciativa que, creen, tendría cabida en hospitales, hoteles o centros de trabajo. Escuchar audio
In this episode of Retail On The Go, host Russ Russell and producer Anders Peterson talk with Kyle, founder of All Else Fit Club in Methuen, Massachusetts — a high-tech, 24/7 gym redefining member experience. Kyle shares: · Why he chose to launch with a Cantaloupe Smart Store on day one · How self-service technology supports low-staff, round-the-clock operations · The impact of a seamless, grab-and-go retail setup on member satisfaction and revenue · His advice for other fitness operators thinking about automated retail If you're a gym owner, operator, or entrepreneur thinking about bringing smart vending or unattended retail into your space — this episode's for you.
Target Market Insights: Multifamily Real Estate Marketing Tips
Michael Hoffmann, also known as “Mr. Passive,” is a real estate investor, vending entrepreneur, and advocate for time freedom through smart investing. Starting from humble beginnings in rural Iowa and a 60-hour-a-week coaching job, Mike leveraged a $70,000 fixer-upper into a thriving portfolio—including real estate, vending machines, e-commerce, and Bitcoin mining. He now teaches others how to create scalable passive income using creativity, trends, and delegation. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Mike started his investing journey with a $1,200/month salary and turned a small rental into a life of financial flexibility. He follows a 30-60-90 rule to make every investment passive within the first 90 days. Vending routes and unattended retail offer high-margin, scalable passive income opportunities beyond traditional real estate. He uses trends and automation—like AI-based vending—to identify untapped markets. Asset flexibility and time buyback are central to his investment philosophy. Topics From $1,200 a Month to Passive Investor Started in college athletics making just $1,200/month while working 60+ hours per week. Bought a $70K turnkey rental and later scaled through 1031 exchanges. Focused early on delegating property management to stay hands-off. Creative Wealth-Building with Real Estate Leveraged 1% rule and capital gains to buy a condo, then pivoted to short-term rentals in high-growth areas. Built and rented out an ADU in Oregon to double rental income from a single lot. Invested in land outside city limits and is developing duplexes permitted as townhomes for long-term flexibility. Unattended Retail: The 21st Century Lemonade Stand Owns 100+ vending machine locations generating $100K/month. Transitioned from old-school machines to smart, AI-enabled retail kiosks offering allergy meds, protein bars, and over-the-counter products. Hires route operators from the gig economy and uses GMs to stay completely passive in the business. Passive Income Across Asset Classes Invests in Bitcoin mining, e-commerce, and unattended markets. Believes in analyzing trends and entering where customer needs are evolving. Inspired by a vending machine experience at an airport that charged $3 for water—realized someone was profiting while he was grinding.
Today Mike and I are talking about some of the big things we've learned over the last few years of vending at various farmers markets, festivals, craft fairs, and other events. We hope you'll find a lot of useful info here that you can use to level up your own market experience!! Some of the areas we dive into include: -things to think about when choosing markets (and when to leave a market behind) -tips and tricks for making your booth stand out to customers -reducing friction for your customers (aka making it easy for them to buy from you) -improving customer interactions We'd love to do another follow-up episode, so please reach out to us if you have questions you'd like us to answer, or if you have market vending tips that you'd like to share with our audience! ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! Grilling season is upon us and we have TONS of amazing seasonings and smoked salts to upgrade your meals. I'd highly suggest our smoked garlic salt and/or smoked jalapeno salt for your burgers, and our herbs de provence for some amazing grilled veggies. Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Consider leaving us a positive rating and review -- it really helps! And please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!
Dan is back giving the sermons, he talks TNT NBA coming to an end, Wolves future, and his struggles with the vending machines in the office.
Dan is back giving the sermons, he talks TNT NBA coming to an end, Wolves future, and his struggles with the vending machines in the office.
In this episode of Clutch Conversations, we chop it up with Troy from Balls & Strikes Pythons to unpack real-world strategies for vending success. From table layout to customer flow, mindset to merch moves—Troy breaks down the game with tips that go way beyond the basics. Whether you're prepping for your first expo or looking to level up your booth presence, this episode is packed with playbook gems.
In this episode of Retail on the Go, we're diving into the data that's shaping the future of self-service retail. Join host Russ and producer Anders as they unpack the key insights from Cantaloupe's newly released 2025 Micropayment Trends Report with special guests Elyssa Steiner (Chief Marketing Officer) and Sonya Lehner (Director of Marketing, Brand & Communications). Topics we cover: —Why cashless is the new baseline in retail —Surpassing $1B in micro market sales in 2024 —The rise of Smart Stores and $4.25 average ticket sizes —How inflation is shifting consumer habits —Best practices for operators to boost revenue
This is Part 3 of the mini-series that covers the story of Bobby Baker. This mini-series is part of a larger series covering Billy Sol Estes, Mac Wallace, Bobby Baker and other members of Johnson's Texas inner circle. All of these men were quite intertwined around Johnson at the time of the assassination. They were involved in circumstances that were closing in on Johnson too and that provided him great motive in the killing of the President. The story is extraordinary. Today's episode covers the civil lawsuit filed by Capitol Vending against Serv-U corporation. A lawsuit whose allegations revealed a kickback scheme involving Baker, his law partner Ernest Tucker and lobbyist Fred Black. The civil suit touched off a firestorm of press investigation that led to other allegations which surfaced. This led Senator John J. Williams of Delaware to begin his own review, requesting that Baker address the matter with the Senate leadership. From Lyndon Johnson's vantage point, here was Bobby Baker who was known as Little Lyndon and was perhaps the second most powerful man in the senate. He was Bobby Baker the Secretary to the Majority, the right hand man of Lyndon Johnson in the senate....and just months before the assassination, allegations of wrong doing by Baker begin to surface. Baker declined to meet with Senators, and alternatively chose to resign his position as majority secretary of the Senate. The abrupt resignation did not stave off the inevitable,as Williams and other republican senators called for a formal Senate investigation into the affairs of Bobby Baker. They got it. And thus began an eighteen month internal Senate investigation conducted by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee along with investigations by the FBI, the IRS and a grand jury investigation as well. Investigations that eventually became a prelude to Baker's ultimate prosecution by federal authorities and a conviction and jail sentence. Baker's resignation from one of the most powerful positions in the country happened just prior to the President's assassination and created a growing rumor that the scandal would lead back to Johnson and result in his political demise or more... The Republicans smelled blood in the water. Join us in this third episode of what is sure to be a fascinating series on another incredible story that envelopes around Lyndon Johnson at the time of the Kennedy assassination. Rumors of Johnson's involvement began to swirl almost immediately after the President's assassination and there is a defined school of thought within the JFK assassination research community that staunchly believes in Johnson's involvement. His involvement in both the assassination and its cover up. Join us in one of the most fascinating story tells of the Kennedy assassination and stick around as we will be returning to the Mexico City series right after we complete this min-series that was spawned by the recent release of the Billy Sol Estes and Cliff Carter tape that the two recorded in 1971. Folks, you just can't write this stuff. Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.
In this episode of Retail on the GO, we're joined by Shaun Dayton from Canteen of Northern California to explore how his team brought their Smart Stores to life—and what it means for the future of unattended retail. We dig into the why, how, and what's next of the Smart Store model, including: — What made Canteen NorCal take the leap into Smart Stores — The challenges they faced and how they overcame them — The impact on operations, efficiency, and customer experience — Tips for other operators looking to future-proof their business If you're a vending or micro market operator exploring your next move, this episode is packed with insights to help you stay ahead of the curve.
El Mitos 2.0 de hoy parten de una historia de la redacción de la SER y la empresa Vending S.A. Durante los últimos 10 años, la máquina expendedora de café vending tenía un vídeo que se exhibía mientras se suministraba la bebida. Un vídeo en el que terminaban bailando dos personajes. Eran las primeras personas que los redactores de Hoy por Hoy veían cada mañana al sacar su primer café ¿Qué ha pasado? Que la máquina expendedora ha sido sustituida y la nueva ya no tiene vídeo. Se acabó el baile y los redactores están tristes. Los protagonistas de ese corto formaban parte de la familia de todas las empresas y espacios públicos donde Vending tiene máquinas de café. Y a raíz de esta pérdida hemos planteado el mito "personas que no conoces pero que forman parte de nuestra vida" ¿Y quien ha sido nuestra invitada? La chica que baila en la máquina de café que se llama Julia Viejo y es escritora, editora y traductora. Todos tenemos una persona que forma parte de nuestro día a día y desconocemos.
Vending machines consistently appear on "top 10 side hustle" lists for good reason - they can generate passive income while requiring minimal day-to-day involvement. In this exciting episode, we explore the untapped opportunities in this business, from building a profitable enterprise to helping other businesses make more sales and grow faster.Today's guest, Scott Brown, owns Snax Depot, a thriving vending machine business that uses AI to optimize inventory and maximize profits. Scott reveals what it's really like to run a vending machine business and shares insights to help you start and succeed. He breaks down how his game-changing profit-sharing model and hands-off management approach create win-win partnerships with location owners, allowing them to generate more income.Whether considering a side hustle or looking to add passive income to your existing business, this episode delivers practical insights you won't want to miss.In today's episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we cover: The reality of running a vending machine business and why it's simpler than most people think.How advanced analytics and predictive technology eliminate common vending machine frustrations like product hangups and inventory stockouts.How to generate substantial passive income without any additional effort simply by hosting a smart vending machine.And so much more!If you're interested in vending machines for your business location or as a business opportunity, check out Snax Depot. Their AI-powered machines provide a hands-off experience for location owners while maximizing profits. Visit www.snax-depot.com or call 781-269-1169 to learn more.To be a guest on our next podcast, contact us today!Do you have a brand that you'd like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands totaling over $2 billion in revenues? Visit HarvestGrowth.com and set up a free consultation with us today!
From hotel investing to vending machines—this is what real wealth stacking looks like.
Heimsglugginn fjallaði að mestu um skyndilega stefnubreytingu Bandaríkjaforseta þegar hann frestaði um þrjá mánuði flestum tollahækkunum. Hlutabréfamarkaðir réttu strax úr kútnum en margir velta fyrir sér hvað hafi valdið kúvendingunni. Flestir hallast að því að verðlækkun bandarískra ríkisskuldabréfa og hærri ávöxtunarkrafa hafi orðið til þess að forsetinn breytti um stefnu. Þórunn Elísabet Bogadóttir og Björn Þór Sigbjörnsson ræddu einnig við Boga Ágústsson um nýja stjórn í Þýskalandi og kosningar sem fara fram í Kanada og Ástralíu á næstu vikum.
Welcome back to Retail on the GO! In this episode, we sit down with Ethan, the founder of Pod Plug, to explore how his company is transforming the vending industry with innovative technology. Ethan shares his journey of launching Pod Plug, the challenges of bringing a new solution to market, and how automation is shaping the future of vending. Whether you're an operator looking to streamline your business or just fascinated by the evolution of retail tech, this conversation is packed with insights you won't want to miss! In this episode, we cover: -The inspiration behind Pod Plug and how it started -Overcoming challenges in vending technology and operations -How automation and smart solutions are improving efficiency -Advice for vending operators looking to stay ahead of the curve Listen now and subscribe for more insights on the future of vending and retail!
0:00 Intro 0:07 Prosthesis 3:41 Video tapes 8:39 Coffee table 11:28 Vending machine 12:52 Money 14:40 Inheritance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Get ready for the most roundhouse-kick-to-the-face episode yet, where we dive into not one, not two, but THREE Jean-Claude Van Damme cinematic fever dreams and spiral off into pure sweaty chaos.
Vending machines are a classic passive income source that continues to be profitable today. We had Mr. Passive himself, Mike Hoffman, on the show before to talk about how to scale up his vending machine business. And one of his mentees is here today. Anthony Kolodziej from H&H Vending scaled his vending operation from zero to over $50k per month in just 16 months. That's 30+ locations, thousands of transactions, and a strategy that turns vending into something way beyond the old-school snack machine in the corner of a breakroom. Tune in to Episode 662 of the Side Hustle Show to learn: how to land prime locations how to negotiate deals why he never says the word "vending" when pitching a property manager Want to go deeper? Check out Mike Hoffmann's Vendingpreneur training program. (Side Hustle Show listeners get 10% off!) Full Show Notes: From Zero to $50k in Vending Revenue in 16 months New to the Show? Get your personalized money-making playlist here! Sponsors: Airbnb — Discover how much your home could be worth and find a professional co-host today! Mint Mobile — Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month! Indeed – Start hiring NOW with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post! OpenPhone — Get 20% off of your first 6 months! Shopify — Sign up for a $1 per month trial!
Send us a textCorporate executive turned entrepreneur Robert Dean takes us behind the scenes of his journey with Naturals2Go, revealing how he's transforming the outdated vending industry into a tech-forward healthy food revolution. Learn how his frustration with stale chips and broken dollar slots evolved into a multi-unit operation that's changing what consumers expect from unattended retail.WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVERHow Robert identified a massive gap in the vending market by focusing on quality, healthy options when competitors wouldn'tThe unexpected tech revolution happening in vending—from AI-powered inventory management to cashless payment systemsWhy unattended retail is becoming one of the fastest-growing segments in the franchise industryThe specific challenges of scaling from one machine to a multi-unit operationReal numbers on startup costs, time to profitability, and key performance indicators in modern vendingWHY LISTEN NOWThe unattended retail space is experiencing unprecedented growth, with healthier options and advanced technology converging to create opportunity. Robert provides the insider perspective from someone who's already succeeding in this evolving industry."I saw broken machines serving stale junk food everywhere I traveled in my corporate career. The opportunity wasn't just to fix a problem—it was to completely reimagine what vending could be." — Robert E. DeanABOUT OUR GUESTBefore becoming a multi-unit Naturals2Go owner, Robert spent decades in corporate America, experiencing firsthand the limitations of traditional vending. Now he operates a fleet of next-generation machines that serve premium, healthy options through an experience that feels more like a micro-market than old-school vending.Share, subscribe, and leave a review to help others discover opportunities in this emerging industry!Visit www.weboughtafranchise.com to subscribe.Send us your questions for an upcoming episode at 305-710-0050.From your pals in franchise ownership, Jack and Jill Johnson. The Franchise Insiders Podcast Schedule A Call Text: 305-710-0050 Take our FREE Business Builder Assessment
Join this channel to get access to perks - custom emojis, member lives, and access to the auction listings:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJoP2q6P8mWkBUMn45pgyAA/join Jessica Hare - Hare Hollow Farm - Altus, OKHarehollowfarm.comMorph Market - https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/hare_hollow_farm/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Hare-Hollow-Farm-113861266980541Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hare_hollow_farm/Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@unmeinohiShow Sponsors:RAL - Vetdna.comUse code #sh!thappens to get $5 off a crypto panel. Shane Kelley - Small Town Xotics - Knoxville, TNMorph Market - https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/smalltownxotics/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SmallTownXotics/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/smalltownxotics/Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/SmallTownXoticsRumble - https://rumble.com/search/video?q=smalltownxotics Roger and Lori Gray - Gray Family Snakes - Huntsville, AlabamaMorph Market - https://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/all?store=gray_family_snakesFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/GrayFamilySnakesInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/gray_family_snakes/ Andrew Boring - Powerhouse Pythons - Tacoma, WaHusbandry Pro - https://husbandry.pro/stores/powerhouse-pythonsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/powerhouse.pythonsInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/powerhouse.pythons/ Eileen Jarp - Bravo Zulu - Daleville, INMorph Market -https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/bravozulu/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bravozuluBPInstagram -https://www.instagram.com/bravozuluballpythons/Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@bravozuluballpythons Christopher Shelly - B&S Reptilia - Sellersville, PAMorph Market - https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/bandsreptilia/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/B-and-S-Reptilia-1415759941972085Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bandsreptilia/ Justin Brill - Stoneage Ball pythons - Gresham, ORMorph Market -https://www.morphmarket.com/stores/stoneageballpythons/?cat=bpsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/StoneAgeBallsInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/stoneageballpythons/Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/stoneageballpythons
In this episode of Mess Magnets, Sasha and Kirsten break down the controversy of Shakira's World Tour being accused of copying Beyoncé's Renaissance tour. They also explore the TikTok mess of Poppi vending machines because why is everyone fighting over prebiotic soda? Plus more messy moments from the entertainment world. Of course, they end the pod with listener-submitted Anonymess!Join them as they unpack the juiciest celebrity gossip of the week, from shocking breakups to unexpected industry moves. Tune in for all the tea, hot takes, and unfiltered opinions you won't want to miss!
Joshua Tuggle-Miller shares his journey from the entertainment industry to establishing a successful vending machine business. He breaks down the key steps to getting started, scaling operations, and maintaining long-term profitability.Learn about location sourcing, customer acquisition strategies, and the critical financial aspects of the business. This episode offers practical insights for aspiring entrepreneurs interested in the vending machine industry, from initial investments to daily operations and long-term growth strategies.Key Takeaways:Starting Small – Begin with 1-2 machines and reinvest profits for steady growth.Finding the Right Locations – Build relationships with property owners and offer incentives for prime spots.Financial Planning – Understand startup costs, operating expenses, and the importance of an emergency fund.Effective Outreach – Use professional business packets and cold outreach strategies to secure locations.Operational Efficiency – Stay on top of inventory, maintenance, and daily sales tracking.Scaling Strategically – Maintain steady employment while gradually expanding the business.Risk Management – Learn the industry before making significant investments and prepare for challenges.Maximizing Revenue – Optimize product selection and location strategy for higher returns.This episode provides practical insights for anyone interested in the vending machine industry or looking to build a profitable small business.Resources:Join Joshua in the Academy: https://bit.ly/3Q9i6Px Connect with UpFlip: On Facebook On Instagram On Youtube @UpFlipOfficial on Twitter For more insights to start, build, or grow a business, check out the resources on UpFlip.com or head to the UpFlip YouTube channel to see more interviews with business owners and experts. Thanks for listening!
Classic chips. Double dipping. Groundhog Day facts. Vending machine side hustle. Spacewalk. Footlong Oreo cookie. Things named after the people who invented them. These people can vote too. Most common four-digit PINs. Google questions.
Good shape. Classic chips. Double dipping. Groundhog Day facts. Vending machine side hustle. Spacewalk. Wordle. How to Americans spend their money? A lesson on haggis. Pro Bowl Skills Competition. Lost and found masterpiece. Weekend plans.
Greetings Earthlings! Amanda here. Part 1 of the game Dreamshark released recently on the Gameboy Color and ROM so you can play it on an emulator! I sat down with the solo dev Benjamin McCarthy to talk about retro gaming, getting started on Kickstarter, Portland, music, and art as it relates to a world of Astro people and life on the moon in his game DreamShark. Beam me up, let's talk Astro people! TIMESTAMPS Intro - 0:00 Why it gotta' B a GB? - 3:40 Biggest Challenge! - 8:16 Let's talk Portland - 13:33 The chicken and the egg...but music and pixels - 17:32 TAC's teachings - 20:13 This is for you, Earthlings! - 23:33 Kickstarter - 25:32 Shoutout to Chynna! - 29:26 How do you balance like TAC? - 30:32 Vending machines and what's next - 36:20 Staying in orbit and focused - 37:07 Post project projects - 41:32 Favorite character - 44:10 TARDI-G - 45:50 Where to get the game! - 50:03 To buy a physical or digital version of Dreamshark, visit https://www.dream-shark.com/! For more content, visit dlgaming.net! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tom Neenan and Alison Spittle join host Alice Fraser for episode 188 of The Gargle - all of the news, and none of the politics.
In this episode, we sit down with Tim Grenier, a landscaper from Broward County, Florida, who started his own company during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tim shares his journey of transitioning from a struggling vending business to building a successful landscaping operation, highlighting the challenges he faced with staffing, equipment, and growing his client base. Jordan and Jason provide insights and advice based on their own experiences, discussing the importance of working on your business, managing cash flow, and networking with industry peers. They explore Tim's plans for future growth, including his goal of tripling his revenue to reach a seven-figure business. This episode is packed with practical tips and real-world examples that any landscaper or small business owner can learn from. Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your company to the next level, this conversation offers valuable lessons on navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship in the green industry. www.greenierlawncare.com tim@greenierlawncare.com Connect with Jason and Jordan https://greensideuppodcast.com/ greensideuppodcast@gmail.com https://www.instagram.com/greensideuppodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/skyfroglandscape/ www.skyfroglandscape.com www.indepenttreeservice.com Mention Green Side Up or use the link below to get $500 off with your SingleOps subscription! https://referral.singleops.com/l/JORDANUPCA68/ Intrigue Media IG:@imintriguemedia Synkd Live - Atlanta Jan. 14-16, 2025 (Use code: GSU 15 to save 15%) Podcast Produced by Mr. Producer - https://www.instagram.com/mrproducerusa/
Have you ever considered investing in vending machines? Starting a vending business might be simpler than you think, but there's more to it than meets the eye. In this episode, vending expert Michael Hoffmann returns to share his proven, step-by-step process to launch a profitable vending business. From selecting the right machines to finding prime locations and even involving your kids, Michael offers practical advice and tips to help you succeed.Whether you're starting small or dreaming big, this conversation will inspire you to take action. Learn how to turn unattended retail into a smart, scalable passive income stream.Visit wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/vending to access Michael's resources and take the first step today!Top three things you will learn: -Do's and don'ts for choosing vending machines-Securing the best vending locations-Selecting the products to stock in machinesFor more information, listen to How to Start a Vending Machine Business, Cost, Tips, How Much You Make with Michael Hoffmann: https://www.wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/podcast/how-to-start-a-vending-machine-business-cost-tips-how-much-you-make-with-michael-hoffmannAbout Our Guest:Michael Hoffmann, also known as "Mr. Passive," is a seasoned entrepreneur specializing in passive income strategies, particularly through vending machine operations. His journey began while working 60-hour weeks for a modest income, prompting him to explore alternative revenue streams. Michael found his niche in the vending industry, where he now manages a network of over a dozen machines, generating substantial monthly profits. Beyond his ventures, Michael is dedicated to educating others on building passive income, offering courses and resources to guide aspiring entrepreneurs toward financial freedom.Connect with Michael Hoffmann:-Website - https://wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/vendingFree IBCA or Financial Freedom Discovery Calls:-https://wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/freecallTurn Active Income Into Passive Income:-https://wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/piosWealth Without Wall Street New Book:-https://wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/newbookJoin Our Next Inner Circle Live Event:-https://www.wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/live-Promo Code: PODCASTIBC Webinar:-https://wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/ibcApply to Join the Passive Income Mastermind:-https://wealthwithoutwallstreet.com/wwws-passive-income-mastermindJoin the Community:-
Master the Art of Passive Income with Michael Hoffman (Mr. Passive)!Are you tired of trading time for money? Do you yearn for financial freedom with passive income streams? Look no further! In this episode, we're joined by the one and only Michael Hoffman, aka Mr. Passive, a leading expert in building passive income strategies.Michael, the mastermind behind the website www.mrpassive.com, has helped countless individuals achieve financial independence through innovative passive income approaches. Join us as we unlock the secrets to:Identifying the most lucrative passive income opportunities for your goals and risk tolerance.Building a sustainable passive income portfolio that generates wealth over time.Understanding the key strategies and tactics employed by successful passive income earners.Overcoming common challenges and misconceptions surrounding passive income.Whether you're a complete beginner or a seasoned investor looking to diversify, this episode will equip you with actionable insights and practical advice.Ready to unlock the power of passive income? Tune in and learn from the best! . Michael Hoffman is a real estate investor who has a great story to share and words of wisdom to impart for both beginning and veteran investors alike, so grab your pen and paper, buckle up and enjoy the ride. Want to get in contact with Michael Hoffman? Reach out at www.mrpassive.comMike's Vending community where he helps people build Passive Income with Vending www.vendingpreneurs.com.Want to become financially free through commercial real estate? Check out our eBook to learn how to jump start a cash flowing real estate portfolio here https://www.therealestateinvestingclub.com/real-estate-wealth-book Enjoy the show? Subscribe to the channel for all our upcoming real estate investor interviews and episodes. ************************************************************************ GET INVOLVED, CONNECTED & GROW YOUR REAL ESTATE BUSINESS LEARN -- Want to learn the ins and outs of real estate investing? Check out our book at https://www.therealestateinvestingclub.com/real-estate-wealth-book PARTNER -- Want to partner on a deal or connect in person? Email the host Gabe Petersen at gabe@therealestateinvestingclub.com or reach out on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabe-petersen/ WATCH -- Want to watch our YouTube channel? Click here: https://bit.ly/theREIshow ************************************************************************ ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE INVESTING CLUB SHOW Hear from successful real estate investors across every asset class on how they got started investing in real estate and then grew from their first deal to a portfolio of cash-flowing properties. We interview real estate pros from every asset class and learn what strategies they used to create generational wealth for themselves and their families. The REI Club is an interview-based real estate show that will teach you the fastest ways to start and grow your real estate investing career in today's market - from multiSend us a textInterested in becoming a passive investor in one of our projects? Kaizen Properties, is looking for passive investors for our upcoming deals. We invest in what are known as “recession resistant assets”: self storage, MH & RV parks, and industrial properties. If you are interested, go to the website and click on the “Invest with Us” button at the bottom of the page.Support the show
The Entreprenudist Podcast: The Place To Hear Real Entrepreneurs & Business Owners Bare It All
Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/h-Hikaq7-tY SBA Gauranteed Loans and Mr. Cappuccino Vending Franchise at The Liquidity Event For more information, text "FRANCHISE24" to +19048224262 Upcoming Opportunities The Liquidity Event: The next session, scheduled for January 9, 2025, will continue to explore franchising and wealth protection strategies. Don't miss your chance to unlock practical tools for financial freedom. https://entreprenudist.com/liquidity Black Entrepreneurship and Technology Summit (B.E.A.T.S.): From February 27 – March 1, 2025, this summit will bring together forward-thinking entrepreneurs and thought leaders to discuss the future of business and technology. Secure your spot for unparalleled networking and learning opportunities. https://blackentrepreneursummit.org/ Local Business Leaders Gather to Empower Entrepreneurs at "The Liquidity Event" Jacksonville, FL – November 21, 2024 Business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, and community leaders convened at Maggiano's in Jacksonville, Florida, for "The Liquidity Event," an impactful luncheon aimed at fostering business growth and financial literacy. Hosted by wealth strategist Randolph Love III, ChFC®, CPCU, of ShieldWolf Strongholds, [https://shieldwolfstrong.com/]the event featured engaging presentations, networking opportunities, and actionable insights for attendees. Prominent speakers included Jonel Hein, District Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration's North Florida District Office, and Nelson Mendez, Founder of Mr. Cappuccino Franchise. Hein shared invaluable knowledge about the SBA's resources, including mentorship programs, disaster recovery support, and funding options for small business owners. Mendez inspired attendees with his journey of building a successful franchise, emphasizing the importance of determination and community connection. Highlights of the Event Jonel Hein's Expertise: As the District Director covering 43 counties, Hein emphasized the SBA's pivotal role in providing financial and operational guidance to small business owners. Nelson Mendez's Journey: The founder of Mr. Cappuccino detailed his path to entrepreneurial success, offering practical advice on scaling and sustainability. Interactive Networking Opportunities: Attendees were encouraged to connect, exchange ideas, and establish partnerships. Exciting Raffles: The event concluded with engaging giveaways, including MetaQuest 3S Metaverse goggles, symbolizing a push toward innovation in business practices. Save the Date for the Next Liquidity Event! Following the resounding success of this gathering, the next Liquidity Event will take place on January 9, 2025, at 6:30 PM ET, once again at Maggiano's in Jacksonville. Entrepreneurs and business leaders are encouraged to register at https://entreprenudist.com/liquidity to secure their spot. Special Call to Action: The Black Entrepreneurship and Technology Summit Attendees are also invited to join the Black Entrepreneurship and Technology Summit, happening February 27 – March 1, 2025, in Tuskegee, Alabama. This summit will explore innovation and growth opportunities for Black entrepreneurs. Learn more and register at https://blackentrepreneursummit.org/. About The Liquidity Event: "The Liquidity Event" is a platform designed to empower entrepreneurs with education, resources, and networking opportunities. Hosted monthly, the series invites thought leaders and industry experts to share their insights and inspire attendees to elevate their businesses.
Mike Hoffmann is a vending machine entrepreneur generating over $75,000 a month in passive income. Mike breaks down how he transitioned from real estate to vending machines, shares key strategies for finding high-traffic locations, pricing products for profit, and scaling the business. He also covers why new machines are better than used, how to systemize for true passive income, and tips for streamlining operations by hiring staff. If you're interested in turning vending machines into a serious income stream, this episode is for you.Resources:Take our vending course (free for 30 days): https://bit.ly/3Nm6VSgConnect with Michael: https://www.instagram.com/mikedhoffmann_/Connect with UpFlip: On Facebook On Instagram On Youtube @UpFlipOfficial on Twitter For more insights to start, build, or grow a business, check out the resources on UpFlip.com or head to the UpFlip YouTube channel to see more interviews with business owners and experts. Thanks for listening!