Mike Hoffmann

I've been on X since 2022.

I've never properly introduced myself.

I'm Mike, 36, from Eugene, Oregon.

Here's the short version of how I got here.

2012: Strength coach for a college football program back in the Midwest.

60 hours a week, $1,200 a month.

Bought my first rental anyway with my Emergency Fund: a $70K Midwest house, $14K down, $280/month in cash flow.

2014: Took a sales role at a Bay Area health tech startup. $60K all-in salary. Living below the Palo Alto poverty line.

Three weeks a month on the road implementing tech with NFL teams, special ops units, rugby programs.

Living out of a carry-on.

2020: Wife pregnant.

11pm in Denver airport, buying a $4 bottle of water out of the vending machine

I knew the owner paid $0.25 for it.

He made the sale while sleeping at home while I was dealing with flight delays while chasing a quota.

That gap bothered me more than the price of the water.

2021: Placed my first AI-vending machine at an apartment complex that had turned away every traditional operator.

Built it on the side, kept my W-2.

2022: Left the W2 job. 18 months after starting, not before.

I also bought a used machine that died at month six and paid for it twice.

Lost money on Bitcoin Mining. Amazon FBA, Meta Drop Shipping

Tried to figure it out Vending alone for way too long before building a community of help.

Now: National AI-Vending Company with over 10,000 machines in the wild. Me personally, have over 300+ machines myself, $100K+ profit per month, run by hired operators and systems.

Built the VendHub platform to help vending operators find leads, operationalize their route, and make ad revenue off their screens.

We have an Airbnb investment close enough so we can use it when we want.

Other alternative investments we've had success with outside of real estate and vending include our Amazon eBooks and land flipping, most recent one with a 270K capital gain after 18 months.

The calendar is mostly empty these days. Only filled with things I want to do.

Dinner's at home with my family.

I'm not here to sell you on quitting your job.

My whole point is the opposite: Entrepreneurship is hard. You're not alone. Also, don't quit your job.

The W-2 funds the side project until the side project can replace it.

I was a performance coach who spent a decade training elite athletes.

Then I trained my money to work the same way, so my time could belong to me and my family.

That's what I write about now: building ownership that buys back time, not just income.

Vending is an unsexy, low-capital place to start. That's why I love it. KISS

That's exactly why it works for people with a full-time job and no extra Saturdays.

If you're a W-2 worker, especially a parent, who's starting to feel how fragile a single paycheck is, I'd like to hear where you're at.

MH

PS - Being a Girl Dad of 3 girls 5 & under is the best 😎

Sweat equity is still equity.

The early hours count, even when nobody sees them. The nights. The weekends.

The things you figure out yourself because you can't pay someone yet.

My first rental was a $70K house in the Midwest. $14K down, about $280 a month in cash flow. Not glamorous. But it was mine.

Start small. Put in the work. Own the result.

What are you putting your sweat into right now? 👇

“I'll just do it myself” gets the task done. It also keeps you on call.

Before you take the next task back, agree on three things:

- What does done look like?
- What can they decide without you?
- When should they check in?

Give them a clear handoff and room to own it.

Follow for practical lessons on hiring, delegation and building a business beyond doing every task yourself.

It took him 16 months to hit his first $1,000 day.

That’s why I love this win.

No shortcut. No viral moment. A VP member who kept going and learned the hard lesson: he had to end contracts at locations that weren’t selling.

Cutting a location you fought to win is tough. But a bad spot doesn’t just earn less. It eats your time, your gas, and your restock days.

He leaned on other operators, cut what wasn’t working, and kept building.

In his words: “I still have much to learn.” And: “Don’t give up!”

Boring works. It just takes longer than the internet says.

Every hour you work is either rented or owned.

Rented hours pay once. You show up, you get paid, it's done.

Owned hours build something that can run without you: a system, a process, a team.

In sales, I traveled about three weeks a month. Good job, good people, rented hours. Building on the side was how I started owning some of mine.

Look at your week. How many of your hours are rented? 👇