If you’ve ever wondered how much money the vending machine guy at your office makes, here’s an excellent post by GeniusTypes on how he got into the vending machine business.

It all started with having an open mind and buying a route from someone who had lost interest for well below what it was worth.

You’ll see this theme repeated in many successful investment stories.

Every so often you’ll see ads in the local paper about the company that sells large office-type vending machines holding a presentation. Apparently, the charge $1000 each and it takes a long time to recoup your investment. Most of the buyers give up and sell them for $100-$200 each and the second owner usually has better luck.

GeniusTypes kept his initial investment low by understanding how to value the business to begin with. He thus guaranteed his success by keeping a large margin of safety. He was constantly following sales of vending machines and vending routes on ebay and when he saw a good deal, he pounced on it.

He immediately saw where he could cut costs to increase his net income. He also followed up on some leads and expanded his route and thus the value of his business.

Also note how he takes the positive aspects from Robert Kiyosaki’s books and doesn’t dwell on whether the book is based on fact or fiction. That’s an important virtue in successful people – they don’t spend too much time maligning others, they just focus on getting their own work done.

Click on this link if you’d like to see what vending machines and coin-operated business are selling for.