Article

You just bought a beautiful new home. You spent a lot of money, so you want to get the most out of your investment by looking for opportunities to make it income-producing while residing in it. Along comes a friend with a novel idea. A local manufacturing company exceeded its monthly waste allotment and needs a new location to store its surplus HAZMAT material. This company will pay an extraordinary amount of money – $1,000 per barrel per month – to take up what would otherwise be unused space in your basement.

So... would you do it?

The potential of a massive passive income stream can be enticing. However, in this case, the risk you’d take on is enormous. What happens if the barrels are faulty – or they leak? What if they drop in transit – and crack open? What if there’s a natural disaster – a fire or a flood? How widespread might the damage be? Would you face fines for contaminating the environment? What about the resell value of the house? And if the waste leached out, how would it affect your family’s health?

The fact is that the possible damage is so severe that most cities, states, and counties forbid HAZMAT storage in residential property.

Credit Card Processing

Storing, processing, and transmitting payment card data also comes with potential risks and rewards.
On the one hand, adding an eCommerce component to a website can open up a sizable income stream, which the merchant can then use to grow the website or offset the initial build cost. However, the effects of credit card breach can be fatal to a business: customers may lose trust and take their business elsewhere; credit card companies may lose money from fraudulent charges; and the merchant may be required to pay for significant upgrades without the budget to do so – as well as face fines as high as $200 per credit card transaction affected.

Ouch!

Similar to managing hazardous materials, a single breach wipes out gains and even leaves the merchant stuck cleaning up the mess.