A 28-Year-Old Bought Some Vending Machines And Built A $360K Business. Now He Works Less Than An Hour A Day.

In just a couple of years, one young entrepreneur went from struggling as a sales rep to thriving as a vending machine owner. Now he generates more than $350,000 per year on average, working just six hours a week. 

What To Know: Quinn Miller bought two vending machines in 2020 to start a side hustle. He quit his full-time job later that year to focus on scaling it into a business. Now he has 57 machines that generate $30,000 in revenue each month, according to a CNBC report. 

Miller spent $5,000 on the first two machines and things started slow. His very first machine was placed in a local mechanic shop, and it brought in less than $200 in its first three months, but he started focusing on a couple of key areas that helped fuel the growth of the business. 

First, he started searching for locations with significant foot traffic. His second location was in an apartment building, and it sold over $1,200 in its very first month. 

He would cold-call busy locations and ask to speak to the manager. Many of them would allow him to place machines in their locations without even taking a cut of the profits — they just wanted to be able to offer snacks and drinks to guests.

Related Link: This Entrepreneur Turned A Vending Machine Side Hustle Into A $300K Business — Now He Works Just 4 Hours Per Week

Another thing that helped Miller's business boom was upping the quality of his machines. That first machine cost just $1,000 from Craigslist, but he discovered that it was well worth it to buy new machines from local suppliers even if the cost was much higher.

"They are more reliable and require less maintenance," Miller said. 

He was also able to boost sales by adding credit card readers to his machines and he could cut costs by buying Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) products at places like Walmart Inc's (NYSE: WMT) Sam's Club and Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ: COST).

He even set up a wholesale channel where companies like Pepsi could deliver directly to his warehouse space. 

Each machine costs between $250 and $1,000 to restock, depending on the machine and the product mix. Miller has spent about $160,000 on machines and restocking over the past 2 years, but they generate positive cash flow and he only has to work about six hours per week.

Read Next: Side Hustle Brings In $14,000 Per Month For Millennial Working 8 To 10 Hours A Week

This image was generated using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.

Some elements of this story were previously reported by Benzinga and it has been updated.