We are currently in
Vietnam the largest operator of Bitcoin ATM's, however operating a fleet of machines is by no means easy.
Unfortunately it is far from "plug&play", forget about it and collect some $ at the end of the month of it.
The overhead to operate such machines is tremendous: Regular hardware issues, customers who manage to clog up the bill recipient with terribly folded/crumbled bills or force-inserting their money (despite stickers with clear indication of what is what) into the printer slit instead of the bill acceptor... - shaky Internet or power connection; physical safety, issues with software & telco providers... - as a start.
And by that we have not even touched another elephant in the room which provides uncertainty/burden to the business: Regulation!
And if you want to build up anything like a regular customer flow the rule number one is: Keep your damn machines online and fix problems within hours max.!
Operating them as a hobby won't work in most cases, so it will be necessary to build up a dedicated team which learns about all the quirks & features of the machines; establishes direct connections with hardware & software vendors for fast support; is able to react fast on any issues occurring; knows how to manage cash/crypto balances to "never" run out of funds while at the same time manage the risk tightly.
When the BTM Department of
BitcoinVN launched in 2016 with its first machine it was indeed nothing more than a "side business" without dedicated staff which of course had impact on the service level.
By now we have established a specialized team operating the current machines and expanding the network further location by location. It ain't easy, but our team is learning day by day and gaining some more experience and knowledge every day.
Far from easy money, but if you are willing to put in the work; be patient and build up a team it can become a business.
For those of you are interested, we recently started expanding our network further:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5198437.msg53598912#msg53598912