A Naval Undersea Warfare Center engineer's side business reveals what actually works, and what consumes your weekends, when building income outside a federal paycheck.
William Butterton never planned to become a small business owner. As an electrical engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Keyport, Washington, he had what most people would consider a stable, comfortable career. Then his first daughter arrived, and the math changed. The benefits and job security that come with government employment remain valuable, but they do not stretch as far as they used to. Rather than abandoning that safety net, Butterton decided to build something on the side, testing different business models to find out what actually generates cash without consuming every free hour.
What makes his story useful is the honesty. Butterton does not pretend every idea worked. He has sifted through multiple ventures and emerged with a clear picture of where effort translates into income, and where it simply drains time. His most successful operation is a company called Viking Vendors, which he co-founded in 2022 with a business partner. They operate five ATMs and three vending machines across their local area, generating approximately $1,500 in monthly profit split between the two of them, according to terminal activity summaries reviewed by Business Insider. The appeal is straightforward: each machine requires roughly ten minutes of attention during a service visit. Combined, the pair spend about an hour a week maintaining all eight units.
ATM placement works because the upfront cost is contained and the ongoing labor is minimal. Butterton estimates his initial investment was around $2,500 per machine. After that, the work involves loading cash, basic maintenance, and finding locations willing to host the units. He is quick to caution that the model only stays passive at a certain scale. He knows another operator who runs more than 100 ATMs and now spends his entire week driving between locations, struggling to take a single day off. The business swallowed him whole. Butterton believes he could probably double his current fleet without losing the low-maintenance advantage, but anything beyond that starts to look less like a side hustle and more like a second full-time job.
For government workers considering similar ventures, the regulatory environment adds another layer of complexity. The Office of Government Ethics has tightened rules around outside employment, particularly during periods of federal disruption. Employees need prior approval for many types of outside work, and even income that appears completely passive can trigger conflict-of-interest concerns if it touches any area related to their official duties. Treasury Department ethics rules published in 2024 explicitly address this gray area, making it essential to clear any side business with agency counsel before investing capital.
When Passive Turns Active
Butterton's second major venture, a sports card business called The Pack Daddies, offers a useful contrast. He and a longtime friend launched the business on Whatnot, a live-streaming auction platform, in 2024. The overhead was low: a camera in the garage and an internet connection. Making it profitable, however, demanded hundreds of hours of learning. Their first stream lost money. They streamed once a week on weekend nights for months, slowly building an audience and refining their approach to pricing and inventory. The business now generates meaningful revenue, but Butterton readily admits it is the opposite of passive. It requires constant attention, active selling, and genuine enthusiasm for the product.
That distinction matters more than ever right now. Automated business schemes flooded social media throughout 2025, promising hands-free income through dropshipping, crypto mining, and AI-powered stores. Reports from early 2026 show the majority of these systems failed to deliver, leaving buyers with sunk costs and software subscriptions they never used. The IRS has also begun paying closer attention to gig economy and side business income, lowering the reporting threshold for third-party payment networks. Income that previously went unreported is now documented, and government employees face heightened scrutiny compared to the general population.
Butterton's experience points to a practical framework for anyone balancing a full-time job with entrepreneurial ambitions. Stick to ventures with bounded time commitments and clear unit economics. Test with small capital before expanding. Avoid anything marketed as completely effortless. And if you hold a government position, check with your ethics office before spending a dollar. The most reliable passive income still comes from publicly traded instruments like dividend ETFs and REITs, which offer liquidity and require zero operational oversight. For those willing to accept more risk and more work, physical businesses like ATM placement can work, but only if you respect the limits of scale and stay honest about how much time you actually have available.
