I often think about the place where my ATF worked. It's little 1-story flat-roofed cinderblock building on about a half acre of property on a semi-main road in a typical older commercial-industrial area and has been there for decades. The manager's father used to own it but died and left it to his son. Part of the building is leased out to a take-out Chinese food place. The building sits between a gas station on one side and a fairly run-down Pizza Hut on the other. It's located in a fairly large and growing town/suburban area south of Baltimore, which is rapidly becoming a DC commuter area. And it's the only club within a 30 mile radius so there's no competition.
Inside it's just one room - there's a little stage with small runway extending out into the room, sorrounded by maybe 20 seats at the rail and maybe 15 or so little tables with 4 chairs around each and a long bench along one wall. And in the back corner next to the tiny dressing room is a bar with maybe 12 bar stools, and all they sell is soda and NA beer (there's no BYOB allowed.) So total capacity is probably around 100+ and it fills up on weekends. Girls dance (if you care to call it that) nude on stage, then circulate for moderate-contact LDs done right at your table, there is no separate VIP or LD room. The place is very dark so it all works just fine. And they attract a lot of attractive dancers because (a) it's in a fairly low-income area, (b) it's the only game in town, and (c) the girls can make a lot of money here, they sell a lot of LDs and there's little in the way of house fees.
The place is open from 2 pm to 2 am (2 shifts) and is quite popular especially late at night and on weekends. Probably averages more than 75 customers on a typical week day and more than twice that on weekends. And each customer gives the house maybe $20, $13 to walk in the door and a couple drinks. The place has no employees - the girl siting out front collecting the entrance fee and the older woman behind the bar who runs the place are both paid by dancer tip-outs. Same with the DJ and waitress who are there weekend nights. There is no bouncer or anyone else. If there's trouble they just call the local cops.
Which means the owner is taking in at least $12,000 a week with little or no expenses (the Chinese take-out place probably covers taxes, insurance and utilities.) That's over $600,000 a year. This guy's got a gold mine. How many hole-in-the-wall little businesses other than strip clubs can make that kind of money? How many of us do?
Any service business in the right location that offers good service over a long time and doesn't try to fuck around doing anything unethical will pretty much be a gold mine. Some of the richest people I know are own popular restaurants, for example.
You'd be surprised at some of the little hole-in-the wall businesses that are making their owners a mint - dry cleaners, frame shops, insurance and financial planning offices, you name it.
If you want to see some sick earnings, check out an AMP like Gold Spa in Atlanta - that's pulling in $20k gross a day, easy... even paying half out to the girls, that's a $3.5 million dollar a year business. That's as much as a Borders or B&N near a major mall pulls in annually.
There's a goddamn ton of money moving around out there, just be smart, work hard, and manage risk and it's hard not to make a mint.
O.