Torn between two business paths

[hmkpoker]

Here's my situation: I'm 24 and debt free (except for my car). I have about 35k in assets in various places. I have recently moved to the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina from New Jersey. I am temping at the moment and lining up a lot of potential office jobs; not in any real money trouble, but I don't have a monster income at the moment.

I want to get started in creating a business and I am trying to choose between two possible paths. Here's a brief description of how I see them:

1) Property Management. I have wanted to do this for years and I believe I am in a good location. Having talked things over with a mortgage broker, my job history is going to make it hard to get a loan on a property for the next eight months or so (need to build trade lines), so if I want to do this I have a lot of studying and networking to do in the meantime. On the plus side, it seems like a very tried-and-true method of acquiring assets and wealth, and it sounds like something I would enjoy doing. On the minus, it feels very risky and it seems like I have a long time to wait before I can get it started.

2) Vending Machine Business. This is something I have been musing over of late and it seems like a fairly low-risk form of high ROI passive income. I still know very little about it, however, and need to discuss things with someone already in the business (and perhaps find a mentor). I'm not turned off by cold-calls or hardballing deals and it seems like this could be an excellent way of generating a passive income; I suppose I don't know enough about the catch to really judge whether I want to actually start setting up a business.

Does anyone have experience with either of these two businesses?

[lgas]

I assume you've seen this:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...=2#Post10272465

If you want a mentor for the vending machine business, I would try to get this guy:

http://geniustypes.com/how_to_start_...assive_income/

[hmkpoker]

The second link includes this, which is quite useful.

[Slacker13]

Vending business seems like a grind to me. I do know someone who made millions in vending but that was only because he invented a new vending machine. Kids would sit in the unit at a store and were able to watch mini cartoons. Mc Donalds soon got involved. The rest is history.

Isn't vending still mob controlled in a many areas?

[Phresh]

[ QUOTE ]
Vending business seems like a grind to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems like the initial startup (and by initial I mean seemingly never ending as you'll be repeating the startup process as you expand your operations w/ new machines and locations) is the hard part and then you sit back and collect the quarters. You'll only need to refill the machines once a month or so and that shouldn't be too difficult.

I think I'm going to give it a try with a very small amount of machines to begin with; 2-3 machines. I have tons of free time (I play poker for a living, don't make tons, but play so infrequently that I'm desperate for a new side project) and this might entertain me and keep me busy for a while. I'd love to be able to successfully expand the venture into a 100+ machine enterprise.

My current questions and concerns are when/how I need to make it a legit "business" and how I go about that? I think I'll need an LLC right?