Kisah Mantan Polisi yang Jadi Kaya Raya dengan Mesin ATM

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A police officer from the United States named Paul Alex managed to become wealthy through the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) business. He also successfully achieved work-life balance through this business.

When starting the ATM business, Alex was actually a police officer who had a career in San Francisco, United States. He was known as a successful police officer, having worked as a detective in the Narcotics Task Force before joining the Special Victims Unit. In 2020, his salary reached US$ 133,000 (Rp 2.5 billion) per year.

With bonuses and other benefits, the amount of money he received reached US$ 272,000 (Rp 4.2 billion). Although his job as a police officer provided financial stability, Alex admitted that he lost balance between his professional and personal life. His working hours could be 60-100 hours per week. At one point, Alex was moved to change his path. He stopped taking overtime with the consequence of a significant decrease in his income.

He began to think about investing in movable assets to break away from the monthly salary trap. This way, the monthly salary he received could be allocated for tertiary needs such as vacations, buying a car, and additional investments.

Initially, Alex thought about investing in the real estate sector. However, the large capital required made him change his mind. Moreover, the real estate business involves high costs for maintenance and operations.

Beginning of the ATM Business

As a result, in 2017, Alex was inspired to invest in ATMs. Initially, he got the idea from a colleague who was researching about the business.

He delved into it by joining social media groups, watching YouTube videos, and reading various materials related to the ATM business.

One could say that this business was completely opposite to his knowledge. However, he was interested because the capital required was not too high.

Compared to real estate business, the capital needed to set up an ATM could be less than US$ 3,000 (Rp 46 million). Moreover, the risk was relatively low. If an ATM built in a certain location didn’t generate profit, the owner could relocate it to a more strategic location.

Therefore, he considered the ATM business as a movable investment. Without waiting too long, he began running the ATM business in 2018 as a side job.

When installed, the ATM machines quickly started making a profit. Three years after opening his first ATM, Alex resigned from his profession as a police officer in March 2021.

According to documents seen by Insider, from January 2021 to April 2023, Alex’s total sales amounted to US$ 12 million (Rp 185 billion). His net profit was US$ 2.5 million (Rp 38.6 billion) through his company ‘ATMTogether’.

ATM Together provides ATM machines and services. After learning the ins and outs of financial transactions, he then founded the company ‘Merchant Task Force’ which provides credit card terminal services.

His revenue was US$ 844,000 (Rp 13 billion) with a net profit of US$ 742,000 (Rp 11.4 billion) during the same period.

Locating ATMs

In 2018, before opening his first ATM machine, Alex took a 2-week leave to find strategic locations. He aimed for busy areas to receive incentives when installing the ATM machines.

Alex targeted tourist areas and crowded locations such as nightclubs, restaurants, and office buildings. He also offered small business owners to place his ATM machines without any additional charges.

He shared his experience of contacting hundreds of business owners and walking to more than 20 locations.

“When I first started this business, I faced a lot of rejections. It was very difficult for me to work [as a police officer] while also thinking hard about this side business,” he recounted.

Alex initially planned to open 3 ATM machine locations. However, he ended up securing 6 ATM locations. These included 3 in liquor stores, 2 in hair salons, and 1 in a beauty salon in the San Francisco area.

When the machines started operating, Alex placed around US$ 2,000-3,000 (Rp 31-46 million) in each of them.

Alex recalled that the minimum income from one ATM machine at that time averaged US$ 200 (Rp 3 million) per month. He eventually realized that the most used location for ATM transactions was in liquor stores.

The withdrawal commissions in those locations gave him a larger profit, ranging from US$ 250-500 per month (Rp 3.8-7.7 million) per ATM machine. Meanwhile, other locations only generated profits of US$ 25-100 (Rp 385 thousand to Rp 1.5 million) per ATM machine.

He gave his ATM machines 2 months before deciding whether to maintain the same location or relocate to another area.

Alex admitted to having a mentor from Facebook who had been in this business before and achieved success. Based on the advice he received, he moved 3 ATM machines from beauty salons and hair salons to supermarkets and other liquor stores.

From this decision, he started to earn a larger profit. The average monthly profit from one machine reached US$ 600 (Rp 9.2 million).

Within 6 months, his ATM machines became more popular and the profit per unit reached US$ 3,000 (Rp 46 million) per month. **Mengupas Strategi Bisnis ATM yang Sukses**

Dalam dunia bisnis, terdapat banyak sekali strategi yang bisa dijalankan untuk mencapai kesuksesan. Salah satunya adalah dengan berinvestasi pada mesin ATM. Seperti yang dilakukan oleh seorang polisi bernama Alex, yang berhasil meraih kesuksesan dalam bisnis ATM-nya.

**Mengumpulkan Modal untuk Berbisnis ATM**

Dalam waktu 6 bulan, Alex sudah bisa balik modal dari investasinya dalam bisnis ATM. Strategi yang ia jalankan cukup cerdas, yaitu dengan memanfaatkan kartu kredit untuk membeli mesin ATM. Dengan memilih kartu kredit yang tak memiliki bunga selama 1 tahun pertama, Alex punya waktu untuk mengumpulkan lebih banyak uang tunai tanpa harus membayar bunga tiap bulan.

Saat pertama kali membeli 6 mesin ATM, Alex mendapatkan diskon. Namun, ia kemudian menyadari bahwa mekanisme tersebut tidak menguntungkan karena harus membayar komisi sebesar 30% dari pendapatannya. Namun, setelah bekerja sama dengan produsen langsung tanpa melalui agen, Alex berhasil meningkatkan keuntungannya.

**Mengoptimalkan Keuntungan dari Mesin ATM**

Dengan memiliki 30 mesin ATM yang tersebar di San Francisco, Alex mampu meraih keuntungan yang signifikan setiap bulannya. Meskipun belum menyamai gaji dari pekerjaannya sebagai polisi, bisnis ATM yang dijalankannya semakin berkembang.

Pada tahun 2021, Alex berhasil mendapatkan profit yang berkali-kali lipat dari bisnis ATM-nya. Hal ini membuatnya memutuskan untuk berhenti dari pekerjaan sebagai polisi dan fokus menjadi seorang pebisnis ATM yang lebih fleksibel.

**Pesan Berharga dari Pengalaman Alex**

Alex mengambil pelajaran berharga dari pengalaman bisnis ATM-nya, yaitu pentingnya berinvestasi pada diri sendiri. Menambah ilmu dan terus belajar merupakan kunci kesuksesan dalam berbisnis. Ia juga menyarankan untuk selalu mencari ide baru dan terus mengembangkannya dengan tekun.

**Kesimpulan**

Kisah sukses Alex dalam bisnis ATM menunjukkan bahwa dengan strategi yang tepat dan tekad yang kuat, kita bisa meraih kesuksesan dalam berbisnis. Penting untuk terus belajar dan berinovasi agar bisnis kita bisa terus berkembang. Jangan takut untuk mencoba hal baru dan terus berusaha untuk menjadi lebih baik setiap hari.

Dengan mengikuti jejak Alex, siapa pun bisa meraih kesuksesan dalam bisnisnya. Teruslah berinvestasi pada diri sendiri dan jangan pernah takut untuk mengambil risiko. Inilah kunci utama dalam meraih kesuksesan dalam bisnis.