253. From $500 to a $40K/Month ATM Empire

0:00Gianni was a police officer in Connecticut. Long hours, real danger, barely any time with his family. He tried real estate to escape it, but tenants stopped paying during COVID and buried him in evictions instead. Then at a family member's gentleman's club, he noticed something. A long line of people paying$20 just to use a sketchy ATM. He'd always assumed only banks could own those machines. He was wrong. Which is$500, he bought his first machine, placed it in a smoke shop full of cash-only lottery buyers, and watched it replace his police salary entirely. Today, he runs a nationwide ATM network from his home in Miami, including machines he's never even seen in person.

0:42I'm Ryan Atkinson, and you're listening to The Health With Podcast, where we interview entrepreneurs to hear their advice on how you can start a business, too. So excited to welcome Gianni to the podcast today to talk about all things ATM operations. He was on the YouTube channel and he was incredible. So excited to bring you to the podcast today and talk about all things ATM. So thank you so much for being here.

0:58Gianni Santino:Absolutely, Ryan. Great to be back, man. And I enjoyed our time that we had on the YouTube video. If you guys haven't checked it out, I recommend you do. It was a really good episode. Yeah, it was phenomenal. I'm excited to bring all your ATM knowledge here today. And I've already like basically told the audience what you do here. For the listener, give us a high level. What do you do? Yeah, guys, really simple. All I do is I place ATMs like you might see at your local smoke shop. gasoline station. And whenever you put your card in and you see where it says, hey, it's going to be$4 to get your own money, the fee we call the surcharge fee.

1:32Gianni Santino:That's basically where I make my money. I make the profit off of that. I might give the owner a commission, but the short end of it, guys, is I basically get paid to give people convenience and access to cash. And I place ATMs all over the place. Yeah. So simple. And your operation is like super legit here. Just to paint the picture of like what you do like scale wise like what do you do in monthly revenue like how many machines are you running here so since we last spoke i know in the youtube video it was 35 000 i've been getting a lot of individuals reaching out to me business owners and i've actually hit past the 40 000 a month mark so crazy with the atms yeah and i sort of just one making a couple hundred bucks just as a side gig and just snowballed into it so incredible let's dive into how you like discovered ATMs, kind of walk me through like that exact moment.

2:20You realize like ATMs, like actually could be for you and like, could be like a real business that you could start here.

2:26Gianni Santino:Yeah. I was working, you know, a side job at, um, strip club as security. And I just saw how many people were using it. And my cousins, they ran a couple of the nightclubs, the strip clubs, gentlemen's clubs, whatever you guys want to call it. But as we all know, or maybe we don't, they charge a pretty exorbitant amount compared to regular ATMs, $10,$20 you could easily get away with. Let's keep it real. Nobody's going there to save money. But I did the simple math in my head while I'm just at this gentleman's club. And I'm like, wait a second, everyone here is working from the girls to the managers to the bartenders, but whoever owns this ATM could be anywhere in the world and they're making money off of it.

3:03Gianni Santino:So by the end of the night, the guy made over a thousand,$2 ,000 off that machine. Once I stopped counting and I was just like, Hey, there's some really good money in this. And then I started noticing them everywhere. So what do you do from there then? Is it, okay, I have this business idea. How do you like source your first machine? And for advice for first time ATM operators, like what advice would you give to them for like sourcing their first machine? Let's start with the machine and we'll get to like location and all that good stuff. So for machine, especially if you're just starting off guys and girls, I recommend that you always buy a brand new machine.

3:35Gianni Santino:You could go on Google and search. Some people go on Amazon and different websites. I recommend going to a reputable distributor. And if something seems to be true, that's most likely because you might be locked into a contract. ATMs brand new are going to be between$2 ,500 to$3 ,000. It can be more expensive from there, but you're not going to need any more than that. So just make sure you do your due diligence, buy brand new, they come with warranty, and just simple Google search can find it, or you can just reach out to me and I can send you on your way. All right, so you have the machine, any like brands you would recommend to get started?

4:08Obviously, you gave us the price range there, but is there a favorite?

4:11Gianni Santino:Yeah, yeah. So just putting it out there, I'm not sponsored by any of these companies. I wish I was. So you got a couple of major brands. Ironically, they're both South Korean companies. So you have Genmega, right? That's G-E-N-M-E-G-A. And then you have Hyosung, right? That one sounds a lot more South Korean. Now, that's almost like a Toyota or a Honda. You can't go wrong with it in terms of reliability. it's just a matter of preference i prefer the gen megas over it but i also have high songs but those are the two major brands that are out there that are available for the retail atm market amazing so we got an idea like what those are going to cost we got the two brands what are some other like startup costs you obviously have to put money in the machine so how much like money should someone be putting into like these actual machines right so i recommend starting a minimum to load$1 ,000.

5:05Gianni Santino:And when you guys hear$1 ,000, you might be like, oh, that's going to be, you know, a ton of money. But remember, you're not actually spending it. Once somebody withdraws that money goes right back to your account. So$1 ,000 is a good starting point. You could use that to replenish your machine over and over. That's what I love about like this business as well as like the startup costs like really aren't that bad. I mean, right there, you're probably talking like$4 ,500. Are there any others that were like missing here? Because that's why I think the potential is here. Like it is a relatively low startup cost for decently passive.

5:34Nothing's passive in life, but.

5:36Gianni Santino:Exactly, yeah. Even stocks, you got to keep an eye on it. But I'm going to blow up Ryan's spot. I did see him Googling on his phone for ATMs during YouTube. Yeah, I was. Literally, I still think of that. It was just like such a great business model. Like you're obviously like absolutely crushing it. So it's just like so inspirational like to see. So if I ever do get my machine, I will definitely be hitting you up here. But how did you know like that first spot was like successful? Like, was it a number, something you saw happen in person? Like, then we're going to talk about how you got that location as well.

6:05Gianni Santino:For sure. So that first location, when it kind of clicked, was actually my first transaction. So I got my machine, I got the LLC, all my tools for installing. So we're right around the$5 ,000,$6 ,000 mark there, and then the actual money to put in. Now, I didn't even have the$1 ,000 put in it. So I just started with$500. I didn't even know if I was going to make any money from it. So once I put it there, you know, you kind of set it up and then you leave it. And then I like refresh my app and I'm like, holy crap, people are actually using it. Once I had that first transaction, that's where I kind of had my aha moment where you kind of go on your calculator on your cell phone, you're laying in bed, you know, at night and you're like, can I get out of the situation that I'm in?

6:48Gianni Santino:And I'm like, Hey, I just got to get more machines out there. So that's when it basically clicked for me. And it was just from that first transaction, that first$3.50 transaction. I feel like a lot of people know that feeling of opening up the iPhone calculator and like plussing a bunch of stuff together. Like, what am I like actually going to make like this week or this month? Definitely know what you mean for that. And then were you doing this? Because I want to talk to the listener as well. Where is this just a side gig when you're starting? How long did you do it as a side gig for? Yeah. So the good thing about this type of business is you don't have to be present.

7:18Gianni Santino:Once you set it up, you have an app you can check. So I was still working anywhere from 50 to 80 hours a week as a police officer. I'd be on call and I got a wife and three kids at home and they were very young when I started newborns. So not only was I able to juggle all that, but I could still do the machines because while I'd be working, you know, I have a little respite, get, grab a lunch. I could just go on my app. The machines are still working. And then they also alert me when I should load them up. So I had plenty of time to load them, But it's something really easy to do on the side as a side hustle.

7:52Gianni Santino:And the more numbers you get, eventually you're going to hit that roadblock that I'm sure most entrepreneurs do. Since I recommend if you start any business, keep your nine to five, keep stacking up the money. But I hit the roadblock where I was like, okay, I'm now making the same amount of money working a couple hours a month that I am working as a police officer, you know, upwards of 50 plus hours a week. And, you know, I had to strap on body armor and gun in my boots to head out, right? I love being a cop, but I mean, guys, compare that to just wearing your gym clothes, roaming around, backpack, drinking an energy drink.

8:25Gianni Santino:You know, it's a world of difference. Yeah, that's a total lifestyle difference. Are you ready to launch, grow, and scale a business? Inside the Uplip Academy, you'll get a complete roadmap to shortcut your success with 25 plus step-by-step programs taught by active business owners, not gurus, who share their step-by-step blueprints, plus ongoing live workshops, skills training, a business idea database, and community to share resources and celebrate your wins. Click the link in the description below to join the Elphalp Academy today and start surrounding yourself with the people and tools that can change everything for your business.

9:03Let's get into the big part of this. So we got our machine, we got our startup costs, talk about the side hustle. Let's get into the big part of locations. Locations, locations, locations. Yes. What's your three best tips for getting like actual good locations for your first or second machine here?

9:18Gianni Santino:Really, really good question, Ryan. So my tips with it is know when to say no, just because a business owner says, yes, it could be a barbershop with one chair, right? That's not going to do good, right? Just off the bat, you need numbers, you need people going in there. So know when to say no. The first person that says yes, he putting in a machine there, make sure you evaluate it. And the way you want to do that is, number two, you want to have a good relationship with an owner, right? You just don't want an owner that doesn't incentivize people to use the ATM machine. I have some businesses that are open Thursday to Sunday, but the owner sends everyone over there, and they make a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars.

9:58Gianni Santino:Whereas, if I have another business open 24-7, the owner maybe isn't present and send anybody there, and it does less numbers. So for number two, make sure the owner is on board. And for number three, make sure that you are servicing your machine because you could actually take over existing ATM locations. We've all been there where it's two in the morning. You head to your buddies to the club. You stop at a gas station to get some money for the door fee. And the ATM has a big out of order sign. It seems like whenever you need cash, the machine's out of order. So you're able to take over locations that are out of order because the owners aren't maintaining it.

10:35Gianni Santino:And that's where you can come in as a local operator and take them over. You can even find out how much you're making beforehand. So those three tips I would use for finding good locations. And I'm going to sneak in another one. Never be afraid to try a location out because it only takes like three minutes to move your machine. If it's slow, you always have that availability to move it since it's a floatable asset. Incredible. Okay. I want to talk about that service machine one for the ones that are like out of order. Because ETMs, it's like, I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I mean, it's like a pretty competitive market.

11:06There's a lot of ATMs existing already. To break into the market, should someone like try and get a new location or try to replace an existing machine?

11:15Gianni Santino:You can do either, right? Let's say if you go to a gas station where you buy a lottery tickets, they know you, they're like, hey, Ryan, what's up? You notice an out-of-order ATM and you're just like, hey, I'm actually in the ATM business, right? I can get an ATM in here, you know, for you. Does it go out a lot? And just from them hearing that, I would say probably about half the individuals that I place ATMs at are business owners that are not getting good service, right? People start a business, they don't maintain it. So you can go with either or, right? A new location, those are fine as well.

11:46Gianni Santino:It might take a little bit longer, right, to basically what I call like a warm-up period for people to notice it and start using it. But there's nothing wrong with either. Just don't be afraid to get out there. Put your machine in there. like I said the worst case scenario in this business is if it doesn't perform there's no harm no foul you can just move it I remember when we were going around to your machines like it is like totally like movable and like yeah we like we're carrying machines around like I remember that like pretty clearly so that's uh we got a good workout that day right we did yeah we got a good pump in and I need I need it after four days of shoots oh you were being a Miami boy out there yeah exactly Okay, so what types of businesses should we be looking for?

12:26What are the good businesses like surround yourself with? Should I be going to the gas station? Should I be going to the barbershop? Should I be going to the CrossFit gyms? I don't know. Like what are the best locations?

12:37Gianni Santino:Definitely not a gym. I get asked all the time. There just isn't a demand for it. Even though there's a lot of people going there, right? When people are leaving the gym, you're looking for a protein shake, not money. But the businesses you want to go for is you could have 10 ATMs making, let's say$2 ,000 a month, or you could have one location making that. So let's go for the big fish. We're here to make money, right? So dispensaries, they're not federally legalized all over the US. So because of that reason, and I get so excited, I'm almost slurring my words here, guys. But because of that reason, cash only, right?

13:10Gianni Santino:If they do have credit card terminals, a lot of times they get shut down because Visa and other of those companies can't really process transactions with them. So dispensaries, other cash businesses like African hair braiding spots, barbershops that are cash only, hair salons that are cash only, nightclubs where they charge a door fee, wherever there's a very high demand. Because like I said, we've been to some locations with me in Miami that make$3 ,000 a month and some that make a couple hundred bucks, right? So there's no problem getting the lower hanging fruit, but you want to go for those very cash incentivized businesses.

13:41Gianni Santino:It could be a bakery. It could be a restaurant. Like I told you earlier before we went live, I got a guy making$1 ,500 bucks from a cash-only restaurant a hawaiian spot yeah so as long as it's incentivized with cash it's going to be a win whether it's a bakery dispensary and then of course you have your typical bangers casinos and gentlemen's clubs a casino has to be like pretty hard to get into though doesn't it because there it does man i don't know ryan maybe you should do a dna test you got a little native american there maybe land one i tried already but yeah i know that's uh so funny All right, so let's just say we put it into, like, let's just say a barbershop, for example.

14:22What's, like, the first 30 days? What are we tracking for success? Is there a metric you typically look for? Is it just straight revenue? If so, like, what's a good revenue number? Obviously, this varies a ton, but, like, what's a revenue number you try to shoot for?

14:34Gianni Santino:Now, what I want to see is, one, how quickly I get that first transaction. It could be that day. It could be that minute when I walk out, or it could even be a week. That's going to give me, like, a good metric on how much cash you're using. If it's a week, kind of a little bit of red flag there, right? I'm still not going to throw the towel in. I usually give it between 30, 60, even 90 days if it's like a brand new business and you're building up customer base. So first red flag is going to be if it's a longer period for that first transaction. If it happens sooner, hey, that's a good sign. If I'm getting at minimum, let's say that first month between 30 to 50 transactions, I know it's going to build up over time because people start making it like their community ATM.

15:15Gianni Santino:Let's say me and you go get haircuts. We're going to a birthday party. We're going to give the person a cash gift or something. We're already like, hey, this has an ATM in it. We're going to withdraw some or if taxes or whatever. People just start kind of making it their own. I was telling you before, I'm probably going to get a haircut on Friday. When I go in, I'm going to look for an ATM. And if not, I'm going to ask, hey, do you need an ATM? And if they do have one, you know, I'm going to say, how are they? Are they good? Are they ever down? I know it's a podcast, but Ryan's hair looks great, guys.

15:43Yeah, just washed it yesterday. But let's do a role play. Prepare me for Friday. So let's just say you are going to a barbershop you've never been in. Maybe you don't have a prior relationship. They don't have an ATM. What are you saying to the owner?

15:57Gianni Santino:All right, this is the first thing, guys. We are not rolling in hot. We are chill. We're relaxed. We're just another customer. Whenever I go prospecting, I don't even gym clothes, nothing crazy, right? Because they deal with salespeople all day, whether it's internet, security, whatever. So the first thing I'm going to ask is, hey, what type of payment do you guys take? Let's say they're like, oh, we take Zelle, Cash, whatever it might be. My next thing, and I don't even have to talk to the owner. I can just ask the barbers that are there all day. And I'd be like, oh, wow. Do a lot of people ask for an ATM here?

16:27Gianni Santino:I have to say yes. Right? That's a good sign. Then I'm going to be like, wow. And at this point, I'm not even a sales guy, ATM guy. I'm just a regular customer to them. and I'm like, wow, how many people a day would you say ask? Oh, about five people a day. So I'm like, even if I get half those people, let's say three, two people a day using it, that'll be anywhere from 60 to 80 transactions a month, a couple hundred bucks there. So I'll be like, that's okay. And where do you guys usually send people that are looking for an ATM? Now I'm gonna know where the next ATM's gonna be at, whether it's down the road, across street, in the plaza.

17:00Gianni Santino:Even if it's in the plaza, people are gonna stay in the barbershop and use it. They're gonna pay for that convenience. So don't let that hold you back. Now, at that point, I'm going to be like, wow, is the owner available? Who owns it? At this point, I'm just a customer asking questions. I'm not coming off. And they might be like, oh, here I am. And I'm like, hey, how you doing? I saw a lot of the people are looking for ATM for cash. Actually, ATM business owner, I could place one here at no cost to you, put it in a regular 120 volt, like where you charge a cell phone and have it as an amenity for your customers.

17:30Gianni Santino:That way they don't have to leave, right? At that point, green light, or if they ask other questions, you just answer them. but typically as smooth as that was going to go as planned i would love it but you know they might ask some questions might be like hey what's in it for me you could always offer them a commission that's nice split like yeah 50 cents but that also incentivizes them to use it now i'm like hey you're getting 50 cents a dollar per transaction let's get them using it and if they go cash only don't take zeller cash app gold mine gonna make anywhere from 500 to 800 plus bucks that's so crazy and one big key for you as well is you always have like an ATM in your car right yep it's funny you said that because I've been getting a lot of people reaching out to me from watching the YouTube ATM on Upflip and they actually mentioned that they were like wow that you know kind of puts a fire under you if you will to get it out there and I also strike with speed money loves speed money loves speed is right yeah somebody says yes am I gonna wait a whole week and they talk to Bob Sue from down the street and get someone to change their mind.

18:33Gianni Santino:No, I'm going to place it there. Once it's in there, it's good to go. I've never had someone ask me to move it. It's so crazy. Yeah. I really want to hit on the like location piece because it is like so important, like all of this. One question I also want to ask here when I just think about like scale here, how many machines do you have? I mean, you have them all over, but yeah. So I reached 91 and I'm nine away. Yeah. From a hundred since we last spoke, I believe last time was like 83. That is just like so insane. That was like January or so. I don't know. So talk about your growth as well there.

19:02Does this like really work at like scale? Like is there a certain amount of ATMs that someone needs to have like leave their full time job? Like is this a really business that works at scale if you get what I'm trying to ask there?

19:13Gianni Santino:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So all about location. I know some people, they make 20 grand from 10 machines. I know other individuals that make 20 grand from 50 machines. So it's all going to be dictated by the most important thing, whether it's real estate, whether it's open up a restaurant, and that's going to be the location. How much does that location bring in from the transactions of the individuals? But at the same time, do I aim for the fences? Yeah, but I'll take that low hanging fruit because let's say if I'm driving, you know, 20 minutes to go load an ATM, I might have something called a route filler, a machine that's making me 150.