There is a myth going around that you can make lots of money in the billboard business without any work. Insider gets calls from investors who “want to make lots of money buying billboards.” They are almost always from outside the business. They don’t expect to work full-time. They say they want “passive income.” Here’s what Insider tells them.
If you want passive out of home advertising income, buy Lamar Advertising stock. Insider can’t think of a successful investor who got into the business for “passive income.”
There’s nothing passive about owning billboards. Billboards do not run themselves. They don’t sell themselves. They don’t maintain themselves. Permits and leases don’t renew automatically. Good sites don’t appear out of nowhere. If you’re not prepared to the hard work don’t enter the business. If you don’t have an experienced management team to run the billboards don’t enter the business.
If you’re going to enter the business try to buy or build within a couple hours drive of your house. One of John Arnold’s four rules for outdoor operators is “Never build a board more than 100 miles from your house because it will always be the farthest board away which needs the most maintenance.”
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That’s a great point. Someone said to me the other day “ that must be nice passive income for you once you get a bunch of them”. I said once you get a bunch of them it’s a lot more to keep up with and work on constantly. Some locations sell themselves but not all of them.
Agreed 100%
Good article and so very true!!
#truth
I get the same question all the time. Well put.