This 22-Year-Old Went Viral For Showing How Much Money She Makes Owning A Car Wash, And It's Time For Me To Switch Professions

    It's hard to see someone living your dream.

    Andria Moore
    by Andria Moore

    BuzzFeed Staff

    If you've ever wondered how to make a six-figure income without working your life away, never fear, 22-year-old Hannah Ingram is here to help.

    Travis / Via giphy.com

    Earlier this month, the Tennessee native posted a behind-the-scenes TikTok where she told users, "I bought a car wash and I'm going to show you how much money it made."

    Spoiler: It makes a lot of money.

    Buckets of change and cash with the caption, "Let's go make a deposit"
    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    Because it's a self-serve car wash, it doesn't require a lot of maintenance or a full-time staff. Hannah only has to tend to it for a few hours per week to restock vending machines for air fresheners, glass cleaners, tire shine, and other cleaning products. "The biggest nuisance is the trash has to be taken out every other day," Hannah explained. But that problem is easily solved by the high school students Hannah occasionally pays to take the trash out for her.

    Her viral video got more than 32 million views on TikTok.

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    I'm guessing because people were just as flabbergasted as I was upon seeing the "good chunk of change" that was overflowing from her coin and bill collectors.

    BuzzFeed reached out to Hannah to find out what it takes to start a business on your own dime.

    With this method, Hannah was able to buy the car wash on her own, without parental help or a loan, for a whopping $140,000. "I just pay the seller's payment every month," Hannah explained — meaning she never had to front $140K, but instead pays the same amount that the sellers were paying for their loan each month. "They already got a loan from their bank for the $140,000, so I just make their payments to their bank. However, all of the income, expenses, and maintenance are all mine."

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    "That's what is so great about seller financing," she continued. "I didn't have to get my credit pulled from a bank and the bank didn't make me put 20% down for a commercial loan. All I did was have a lawyer draw up a contract saying I was responsible for the car wash mortgage that the sellers already had obtained from the bank years ago." 

    It cost Hannah $400 to have a lawyer explain the legalities of her situation and draw up the paperwork for the car wash. "You definitely want to choose a lawyer that communicates well and can help gently guide you through the process if needed," she added.

    Hannah had always planned to go into the business sphere in some capacity while studying for two years at community college and then at the University of Tennessee at Martin, but she dropped out when she realized she went to college for all the wrong reasons.

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    "I went to school to please my parents and the people around me," she said. "And I just sat there one day stressed out and I was like, I'm gonna get out." Because she dropped out of Martin in her first semester, she was able to avoid student loan debt.

    Growing up, she read a lot of success books in high school, and there was one quote from Warren Buffett that stood out to her: "If you don't find a way to make money in your sleep, you will work until you die."

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    That quote stuck with her, so she started studying the business model for passive income, and "one of the outlets for that was a car wash."

    But the car wash was certainly not the first stop on her journey to success. After dropping out of college, she used the $2,000 she had saved from mowing lawns and selling wasp spray to acquire a real estate license and begin working as a real estate agent. Real estate is still her primary source of income.

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    "Real estate is kind of my main thing," she said. "I do investment properties, I do wholesaling, but most of my business ventures are in real estate."

    Meanwhile, her car wash still makes roughly $50,000 a year in gross income.

    Huge bucket of quarters
    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    Enough money that Hannah was fortunate enough to purchase her dream car: a Maserati.

    She's currently in the process of expanding her car wash and building storage units on the same property. "I lucked out with that commercial piece of property," she said. "I'm going to record the whole process."

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    Hannah said her friends and family were definitely concerned about her life choices at first. "I'm over here taking crazy risks, and I think they think I'm crazy half the time," she laughed. "All those years through high school, I was so obsessed with reading business and self-improvement books."

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com

    I think at this point, it's safe to say those books paid off. (Literally.)

    @hannah_ingram_ / Via tiktok.com