Articles Ranking
What the owners made in year one, ranked
A bought territory at $900,000, a lawn company near $500,000, a cleaning business built after hours at $170,000, and a vending route at about $5,000. Six first years, largest first, and what came after the smallest.
Most owner stories are told from the finish line. Six owners in this database have a full first-year revenue figure on record, and they range from about $5,000 to more than $900,000. This page ranks them, largest first, and then lists the owners who documented a first month, a second year, or a year-one run rate instead. Every figure comes from the owner's entry.
The column is revenue, not take-home. The margin ledger covers what each trade keeps. "First year" also means slightly different things: a calendar year for Gram, a season for Hunsaker, the first twelve months of ownership for McCoy. The notes say which.
More than 1,100 clients and over $900,000 in revenue within a year of buying the Scoop Soldiers Dallas territory in 2019. He had managed that market as a corporate employee for two years first, so this was a running business, not a cold start.
Augusta Lawn Care ran toward $500,000 in revenue inside its first year in Blaine, Washington, in 2014, and reached a million-dollar annual run within a few years.
$100,000 booked in the first nine months and $170,000 in the first full year, all after hours while the founders kept their day jobs. The first customer was a bar with unhappy management.
$135,000 in 2025, his first full calendar year after buying a $10 locker in early 2024: $97,434 through eBay and $37,500 through an auction house, with roughly $82,000 in operating earnings, per documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
About $35,000 in his first solo season in 2020, from a Ford Fusion with ladder racks. His entry calls it the more honest benchmark for a first year with a ladder and a sedan.
About $5,000 in 2018 from two machines bought with $10,000 of savings. Four years later Joyner Vending reported $500,000 in sales.
Close, but not a full first year
Kyle Landwehr, junk removal. His first month brought in $10,000 against $6,000 of startup costs, and Slam Dunkin' Junk says it passed $1 million in sales across its first two years. No single first-year figure is published.
Anna-Marie Ortiz, residential cleaning. Cool Aunt Cleaners was bringing in about $10,000 a month roughly fifteen months after a $2,000 start in July 2023.
Ian Hecht, dumpster lead generation. $2.1 million in revenue in year two on about $26,000 of advertising, per figures he shared on My First Million. Year one is not on record.
Sam Evans, junk removal. Started in May 2016 with about $1,700 all-in. The first figure on record is about $180,000 in 2019, his fourth calendar year.
What the order shows
The top of the list bought or built a system. McCoy bought customers and routes he already knew. Andes treated a mowing company as a systems problem from the start and began franchising in 2019. Neither number is a typical solo first year, and both entries say so.
Contracts beat jobs in year one. Gallagher's $170,000 came from commercial cleaning contracts, which her entry describes as larger and more predictable than residential work. Ortiz, in residential cleaning from a similar start, reached about $10,000 a month after fifteen months.
Year one predicts little. The two smallest numbers on the list belong to two of the steepest climbs in the database. Gram went from about $5,000 to $500,000 in four years, and Hunsaker from $35,000 a season to more than $800,000. The revenue ranking shows where every owner stands now, and our piece on when the owners quit their day jobs covers how Gram kept going through a $5,000 year.
The startup cost ladder shows what each of these owners put in before the first dollar came back, and the buyers ranking covers the McCoy route in more depth. The Boring Index scores each trade, and every owner above is in the database. This site is one of SideRoad's weekly builds, and first-year figures are added here as owners publish them.
Common questions
How much does a boring business make in its first year?
Among the six owners with a full first-year figure on record, from about $5,000 to more than $900,000. Marcus Gram made about $5,000 from vending in 2018, Steve Hunsaker about $35,000 in his first holiday lighting season, and Haley Gallagher $170,000 in commercial cleaning. The top figure, Ryan McCoy's $900,000-plus, came from buying a territory that was already running.
Which documented owner had the fastest first month?
Kyle Landwehr. His junk removal business brought in $10,000 in its first month against $6,000 of startup costs, and he quit his construction job on the strength of it. His entry calls that pace the exception rather than the pattern.
Does a slow first year mean the business will not work?
Not on the documented figures. Marcus Gram's vending route made about $5,000 in its first year and reported $500,000 in sales four years later. Steve Hunsaker's first holiday lighting season made about $35,000, and the business now books more than $800,000 a season.
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