Da Hustler doesn’t like excuses, because it prolongs your profits. In my 7th Hustle, I told you about making money from family reunions before the season really hit high gear. In my 10th Hustle, I showed you how to profit from Christmas months before the season even begins. Now get ready for another hustle that makes sense to start right now.
16 hustles…when are you going to get started?
People have stuff. A LOT of stuff. And when people move, they take their old stuff with them, while adding MORE stuff to what they already have. This creates a houseful of old and new stuff, sometimes so much they need extra storage (but that’s another topic). This is concept #1.
People also are forgetful. Some forget where they parked. Some forget names. Sometimes I forget what I ate two days ago. My mother forgot my sister’s birthday (and my sister was the one to remind her, go figure). The point is, people have a hard enough time keeping up with daily events, so of course, they don’t have time to think about their stuff until they need it. This is concept #2.
I know you remember this, from the 13th Hustle? The owner probably doesn’t want to.
Now take these two concepts, add them together and what do you get? (If you said some dummies, you might be right. But Willis if you talkin’ ‘bout my sister, I’m going to pay you a visit real soon!) What you get are people who forget about their stuff until they really need it. This lack of awareness has created a market where you get paid to go through people’s stuff, better known as snooping, oops, I mean a home inventory specialist. 
The idea behind this hustle is simple: get a log of all the possessions in a home so it can be used for insurance purposes. The reason that it’s a good idea to start now is because it’s before the hurricane season kicks into full gear. So many people move to Florida every year, I often wonder if there is more room left in the state. But in recent years, we’ve seen that Florida is not the only market for hurricane disasters. All of the states that are along the Gulf of Mexico — Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas — have all felt the destructive force of hurricanes. Moreover, states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina are susceptible because hurricanes often spur tornadoes, and those are horrific as well. Da Hustler has never been in a hurricane but is terrified of tornadoes; something about seeing the clouds touch the ground just freaks me out.
Back to the hustle. Getting an accurate inventory of all household items is a tedious task that no one really has time for, so this is where you come in. You can offer your services as part of a ‘welcome package’ to new residents of any one of these states. You can also make more money in the wee hours before any particular storm if a homeowner neglected the task and is busy preparing to get the heck out of dodge, but needs this information for the insurance agents after the storm hits. By being a professional and unbiased business, you earn the authority that the insurance companies are looking for, because we all know how they hate to pay out money to anyone not on their payroll (and sometimes even them too). In light of this, you could act as the representative of the homeowner to facilitate the claims process while they are still away at a safe haven, thus shortening the time of resolution and earning more on top of the original service! By the time they return, all information would have been taken and the homeowner would see you as a godsend, thus spurring more word-of-mouth advertisement. How’s that for a 3-for-1?
If you’re located elsewhere in the world, fear not! This hustle is applicable as preventative maintenance for all types of disasters, such as fires, floods, theft, mudslides, etc. Typically, upper middle-class to wealthy individuals will be able to afford this service, and that’s exactly who you want because you can charge more per hour. To start, rates could range between $20-$30/hour, but based on your performance and availability can quickly shoot up to $50+/hr. Work a 4-5 hour day doing a couple of homes (and businesses too, don’t discriminate), and you’re looking at $5000/month or $60k per year, writing down text on a page and taking some pictures. The more sophisticated your ‘options (pictures, video, computer-generated reports), the more you can charge because it enhances your business and your perception. Learn your craft, teach it to others and have them operate under you, then just check in from a distance.
If I make it sound really simple, that’s because it really is. Get ya hustle on!