Filth and dirt can make you rich!

 Not everybody who is in business would deal in attractive occupations. Not all successful entrepreneurs will sit in air conditioned offices crunch figures and issue instructions.  Some occupations this century, appear quite murky and dirty to deal with. But  an old dictum says "shit money does not stink!" Or does it? There are groups of entrepreneurs that deal in dirt. What's upper most in their minds is: "what waste can I turn to cash?" There is a billion dollar recycling industry right under our noses for people who want to take to plastic, metal, iron and other metallic alloys as well as scrap paper and card board. You would be shocked at the amount of money that can be found in the storage and reprocessing of these items. 

The first job I sought in life was in office cleaning. I had finished my school certificate and was willing to earn money by carry vacuum cleaners and brooms around corporate offices and large homes of the rich and famous. Although I did not get the job, since I was assessed as being feeble and not sturdy enough to carry the equipment around. I  studied some aspects of the business and the benefits that could come out of it much later. There is a big demand for corporate cleaners all around the business  world today. Not every company is willing to spend money on hiring a cleaner. Most of such services are outsourced and the central elements that are needed are trust and diligence. Who can come into your office or home. Mind his own business and clean it out, leaving it neat and tidy?

Waste disposal is another area of business that requires very little expertise. Every community especially commercial areas are willing to pay people to carry their waste away on time. Commercial environments are known to generate tons of waste on a regular basis and they need disposal companies that can cart this waste away and keep the environment spick and span. Some people have gone to the extent of buying the modern trucks that mix waste up and carry it to the incinerators, while others are simply made do with carts that are hand pushed.

At the institute where I consulted in Accra, Ghana the other day I had the rather distasteful opportunity of watching a sewage tank being cleaned out by a man who was educated in the  United States. He stood at the edge of a sewage tank while his tanker sucked out tons of human waste that had been deposited in the tank over time without showing any form of irritation at all! He was in fact cracking jokes in his accented English. Everyone who was around was covering their noses because of the stink! But the man in charge could not smell anything. He even made fun of me asking: "does it smell? Well, I don't smell anything!" I guess he had the smell of the money he was making on his mind. 

I remember as a child in the UK, taking clothes to the launderette. At that time, you could slot money into the machines and they would wash and dry your clothes over a few hours. I used to see it as fun then. Taking all the dirty clothes was a thrill for me. Not many people can take time out to wash clothes manually in this century, so the launderette is another attractive dirt business option for those who are willing to take on such a responsibility. It would require installing machines for washing and drying and constant electricity is required.

House cleaning and Party Cleaning are also considered to be occupations that can be transformed into cash. The busier we get in modern society the less we have time clean out our houses. And when there is a party, cleaning up the mess could be such a pain. There are people who offer help at this. Depending on the size and dimension of the venue and the party they could opt to clean it up at a tangible fee. The house option is to be done by an agency rather than just anyone since many of our homes have valuables that we do not want anyone fooling around with.  

To cap all of this comes the inspiring story of a young man who created a consultancy from being a chambermaid. Having a masters degree in the UK and stooping to be a cleaner and chamber maid in an hotel could be quite demeaning for a person who is educated. But there was a young man who in spite of his education was able turn that job into a business that made him comfortable and eventually rich. He started by deciding to be diligent at making beds, cleaning toilets and sweeping rooms in a five star hotel. Soon the management noticed his diligence and made him a supervisor. Much later he begun recruiting and selecting people to fill in the positions for the hotel and eventually ended up building a business around that concept and serving hotels across a certain area. There definitely is money in dirt.
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