Everyone is chasing the next big thing.
AI startups. SaaS products. Crypto ventures.
Your LinkedIn feed is full of founders announcing funding rounds. Your Twitter timeline celebrates the latest unicorn valuation. Everyone seems to be building something that will change the world.
And somewhere in the back of your mind, you feel like you are falling behind.
But here is what the data actually shows.
90% of startups fail. Tech startups have a 63% failure rate within five years. AI startups fail at a 90% rate. Crypto ventures fail 95% of the time.
Now here is a number that should make you stop and think.
Laundromats have a 94.8% success rate over five years. With 90% of customers being repeat business.
The business nobody talks about has a 95% chance of working. The business everyone admires has a 10% chance.
Something is very wrong with our definition of smart business.
The Quiet Millionaires
Codie Sanchez worked at Goldman Sachs, Vanguard, and State Street. She built First Trust’s billion-dollar Latin America business. She had the career everyone envies.
In 2015, she bought a laundromat for $25,000.
People thought she was crazy. Why would someone from high finance buy a place where people wash clothes.
Today she owns 26+ boring businesses. Her net worth is estimated at $17.7 million. Her platform Contrarian Thinking has over 2.5 million subscribers. Her book “Main Street Millionaire” became a New York Times bestseller.
She did not build an app. She did not disrupt anything. She bought businesses that solve simple problems people face every single day.
And she is not alone.
In October 2024, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled “America’s New Millionaire Class: Plumbers and HVAC Entrepreneurs.”
Private equity firms have purchased over 800 HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies since 2022. According to data from PitchBook, they are paying 7 to 8 figure buyouts to ordinary business owners.
The US HVAC sector alone has over 100,000 privately owned businesses. Private equity sees gold where most people see grease and sweat.
These are not lottery winners. These are people who built simple service businesses over 10 to 15 years. They showed up. Did the work. Served their customers. Then someone wrote them a check that changed their family’s future forever.
Why Boring Wins
The answer is simpler than you think.
Recurring revenue. A laundromat customer comes back every week. A self-storage renter stays for years. An HVAC maintenance contract renews annually. A commercial cleaning company has monthly contracts. This predictability makes planning easier and reduces the constant pressure to find new customers.
Essential services. People can skip your productivity app. They cannot skip a broken pipe or a dead air conditioner in summer. Demand for essential services remains steady regardless of economic conditions or tech trends.
Low competition. Nobody dreams of owning a septic tank business. That is exactly why the margins are incredible. Most entrepreneurs chase exciting industries. That leaves more opportunity in unglamorous work.
Simple operations. No constant product updates. No pivots based on user feedback. No chasing product-market fit for years. A laundromat needs machines, maintenance, and a clean space. The operations do not change dramatically over time.
The numbers back this up.
A single laundromat can generate $20,000 to $100,000 per month with 20-40% profit margins. Self-storage facilities with 300+ units can bring in over $100,000 monthly with minimal staff. Commercial cleaning services can start with just $2,000 to $50,000 in startup costs. Vending machine operators report making $700,000 per year working two days per week.
The commercial cleaning market alone was valued at $182 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $277 billion by 2032. That is not a niche. That is a massive opportunity hiding in plain sight.
The Real Problem
You have been told success requires disruption.
Build something exciting. Find investors. Scale fast. Get featured in TechCrunch.
But that path has terrible odds.
Only 0.7% of startups receive equity funding from venture capitalists. Of those, only 8% succeed. That brings the combined success rate to roughly 0.05%. About 1 in 2,000.
75% of VC-backed startups never return a single dollar to their investors.
Meanwhile, the plumber down the street is building generational wealth. Nobody writes articles about him. Nobody features him in podcasts. But his business has been profitable for 15 years and private equity just offered him $3 million.
The boring business model offers something different.
Higher success rates. Predictable revenue. No investors needed. No permission required. Freedom to build at your own pace.
It will not get you featured in TechCrunch.
But it might actually work.
How to Start
This is not complicated.
Find a service everyone needs in your area. Car washes. Laundromats. Cleaning companies. Storage facilities. HVAC services. Plumbing. Pest control.
Look for weak competition. Industries where existing players provide poor service. Where customers complain but have no alternatives. Where showing up on time and doing quality work would make you stand out.
Consider buying instead of building. Many boring business owners are approaching retirement age. Their children do not want to take over. They would rather sell to someone who cares than watch their life’s work disappear.
Laundromats typically sell for 4 to 6 times annual net revenue. Many sellers will even finance part of the deal themselves.
Start where you can. Not everyone can buy a $200,000 laundromat. But cleaning services can start with $2,000 to $50,000. Vending machines can start with a few thousand dollars. Pressure washing requires minimal equipment.
The key is entering a market with proven demand and building from there.
Work Smarter Not Harder
Building any business takes time and energy. The smart move is to automate the repetitive stuff so you can focus on what actually matters.
I put together ChatGPT for Busy People: 30 Copy-Paste Workflows that save 10+ hours every week. Whether you are running a boring business or building something else, these workflows handle the tasks that drain your energy. Emails. Research. Content. Planning. All the stuff that eats your day without moving the needle.
Work smarter so you can build faster.
The Bottom Line
The quiet millionaires figured something out.
They chose cash flow over clout. Freedom over status. Boring over brilliant.
They own laundromats, storage facilities, plumbing companies, and cleaning services. They solve unglamorous problems. They collect predictable revenue. They build equity year after year.
They will never trend on social media.
But they sleep well at night.
And they are building real wealth while everyone else chases the next shiny thing that has a 90% chance of failing.
The most profitable path is rarely the most exciting one.
Maybe it is time to reconsider what smart really looks like.
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