Keep in mind Passion is the one important key factor to success. We could create a business list of a million ideas but it would not benefit you in any way if you do not enjoy doing the one thing you choose to persue in life. It is the passion and love of what you are doing, that will continue to drive you to your goals of success, even in times you feel as though you've come to a dead end road.
Another thing to think about is how competitive your small business idea is. Is it a narrow market or will you be surrounded by a sea of competitors before even stepping foot into your new business venture?
Research your local area, especially if it’s something that can only be provided locally. Otherwise if it’s a service without any boundaries, you have much more flexibility of finding where you are needed.
However, if it’s a service that you can only provide locally focus on what will make you stand above the rest and make your very ordinary service into something extraordinary. Find something you can provide that none of your competitors offer that will truly benefit your customers.
Finally The Business List!
Currently there are only 50 items featured. There are many more to come as you can see below. We want to be able to comment and add suggestions to each item that we list so it's much easier for you to visualize with!
Marketing Services - In today’s world, any business needs some sort of marketing plan to survive. If your business suave and have good business sense in marketing and promotion, then this could be a service you could be providing to businesses to businesses locally, nation or even world-wide!
Packaging – I consider this to be a branch off of Marketing Services. Do you have an eye for great packaging and gift wrapping? You could be providing a service to help local merchants present their products in a more appealing and professional matter.
Graphic Designer – This is a field that I’ve actually gone to school for. But I do know there is a large realm of needs according to size and budget of any given business. Obviously a more established company is going to go with a more reputable and experience design firm. However, there are plenty of start-up businesses that do not have a lot of working capital. If you can provide your services for a very affordable rate, these start-up companies will be more apt to use your for you services. Down side you might even have to work for free to prove yourself. Keep in mind this is only to help build your portfolio enough where you can then start charging more and more as your experience and expertise grows.
Web Designer – With today technology, people are able to create basic nice looking sites with fewer skills and even less effort. There are hundreds of pre-made templates and services out there that could provide you with an easy way to provide this as a service. If you like working with computers and have fun creating and designing and working with code this could be something you could easily get into and work from anywhere that has internet connection. You will need to look into designer software and make sure you have a computer capably of handling the needs of these programs.
Freelance Writing/Content Writer – With the growth of the internet and the building of millions of websites…you will hear time and time again, CONTENT is KING! This is true and there are website owners looking for your writing skills. Either they don’t have the time themselves to write up topics or they are looking for multiple sources of getting their content. If you are a natural writer this could be for you!
Newsletter Service - There are several businesses and organizations in your area that provide monthly newsletters. It could be an area that you specialize in from creating and formatting the newsletter to even sending them out on behalf of the company or organization. You could even publish and create personalized newsletter for families.
Photography Business - This does require some working capital. You need the right camera and equipment and yes skills. This is an area I’d suggest taking classes on but I do know there are plenty of people that start this as a hobby and take it to the next level without having to take any additional courses. You will also need to have knowledge in photo touch up and have skills in programs such as Photoshop. This is also a pricey software so get ready to spend some money.
Web Hosting - Providing a 3rd party company service as selling it as your own. There are several well known large hosting providers that make this as an available service that you can provide and make money from.
Website Business - Have you own money making website. This can be very profitable and a very flexible venture. However, you need to have the right knowledge, skills and tools to be able to make money from a site. This process will not be overnight and can take years before getting any type of money reward from one. I will say this, anyone that has the drive to get one made right, can do this. You will also need to be aware of costs of hosting, domain name and the site itself whether it’s your time or the hired time of a designer.
Create A Blog – Believe it or not blogs can be very profitable. However, the issue now is that it’s a highly competitive market. So unless you have something completely unique and you are confident of being able to build up a large fan list without any problems...I’d only go into this thinking of it as a fun hobby to test the waters before considering it as a feasible way to make any money from it.
Resale Used Goods/Thrift Shop - Find re-sellable products anything from antiques, vintage clothing, items found at garage sales, used furniture, appliances, tools or anything you think would resell. Hunt garage sales, clearance sections of stores or even look online! You could be as specific as collecting and selling clocks or lamps for that matter. Remember let your passion drive your success and your ideas!
Business Retail Services – Working with drop-shipping and whole sale companies makes it easy to have little to no inventory of products and can be done locally, nationally or world-wide online.
Direct Selling Products on Ebay or Etsy – The great thing about these sites is that you do not have to have an ecommerce website built for you to sell online! Think up items such as discussed above in the previous ideas or come up with your very own…new or used or hand-made. Note: Etsy is strictly for art supply needs, vintage or hand-made goods.
Starting Your Own Clothing Company – If you like to sew and this is something you enjoy doing and do it well then what’s to stop you? There are plenty of ways you can promote your services locally, nationally and even world-wide. Etsy is a great way to also promote and grow this particular avenue.
Recycling Goods For Resell – If you’re creative enough you could find a special niche where you recycle items to make them into something reusable. There are several ideas of this found on Etsy. Items that have been reused to make jewelry or other unique one of a kind goods.
Event Planning- This is a good one especially if you are able to furnish and rent out the supplies needed for any specific occasion! Another important aspect is to network and work with local vendors that can cover aspects of an event that you may not be able to cover yourself. Think of all details, the more you can do and cover the more profitable it becomes!
Small Bakery – How fun would this be! If you love baking and creating beautiful cakes or have some winning secret family recipes…why NOT! There are some strict guidelines as to having special license, permits and testing for food items that vary per state but the reward could be well worth the time and investment.
Catering – Are you a master of the grill or love to cook? I know of a guy that works out of a gas station that makes up this amazing grilled pulled pork and these delicious baked beans. He makes up individual servings for walk ins but also does catering for special events. If cooking is a passion of yours who knows where this could take you!
Small Repair Shop Business – Are you good at fixing things and repairing things that are broken? You could sell your services to those that either don’t know how or don’t have the time to bother with such things.
House Cleaning – This one can be a flexible working schedule by making your services only available on specific days and times. Another nice thing about this is that you will be able to determine if you want to work holidays, weekends and also set the days you want for your vacations. Home owners are often flexible to your work schedule especially when you’re doing something they are not fond of doing themselves. Obviously if you’re a person that hates to clean then this is not for you!
Office Cleaning Service – The hours for this is often less flexible in that many businesses like the place of work to be cleaned after hours so that staff members are not disturbed. So be aware that you will mostly likely be working a lot of evenings, nights and weekends.
Home Organizer - This is one I know my Mother could have done well in. You can simply provide your organizational skills to someone by providing them a plan or solution for their home. Or you could physically go in and organize their home for them. Aside from this you could even create your own site selling and promoting organizing goods to clients or to anyone looking to organize for that matter.
Bed-and-breakfast accommodations - Wouldn't it be great to operate a bed and breakfast in the middle of a territory that attracts thousands of tourists and other travelers each year? If you've a knack for hosting people on a full-time basis and have the house to convert to a couple of extra bedrooms, you can be in business. It's truly full-time, even though you're only serving breakfast. There's laundry to do, beds to be made, bathrooms to clean and reservations to handle, but it can often be done at a leisurely pace. Room rates are $75 per night and up, so the money can add up pretty fast. Be careful of burnout, however, as there are no holidays from this job, unless you have another person/couple who can take over for a couple of weeks.
Computer Consultant - If you are a programmer, this is certainly a job that can lend itself to contract labor, run out of your own home. Competition is heavy, but once you have a few clients, you will likely make an excellent living at something you're good at and probably enjoy. The low starting rate for programmers is $50/hour and you can charge more based on your expertise and the problem to be solved. The more diversified your experience, the more likely the calls will be coming in for your services. You will need to stay up on current technology, but most programmers do this naturally. There is a plethora of magazines and other publications about the latest and greatest technology. Canvass local businesses to ascertain their computer needs. You're only selling your services, so cold calling is a low pressure issue. Most businesses have some complaint about their computer system and are looking for easy answers from someone who is local and has good knowledge and experience. Solid computer expertise is invaluable to small businesses.
Computer Services – Repair, Cleaning, IT Support or even provide selling computer goods along with your services.
Pet Sitting Business – If you have the space and yard for it and love animals this could be a great business starter for you. You could branch out into so many aspects of this as well. Providing kenneling services, dog supplies, dog grooming services or pet sitting by going to a person’s house to walk and play with a pet while the owners are away.
Packing and Unpacking Service – I suppose you could even piggy back off of existing services that do the moving where the business could either hire you out or have you referred to from the client they are moving. I’m sure some of the moving services provide this. My only concern with this would be dealing with the insurance part of covering damaged items.
Party Planning Business – This would go hand in hand with Event planning. A lot of the same principles of providing all aspects of any type of parties or you could focus on a targeted at group or specific kind of party such as birthdays, bridal shower, baby shower ECT.
Party Palace – I really considered looking into this business with a girlfriend. I like really like the idea of it. I actually came across this little shop that did princess parties for girls where a lady provided the place and a fun day with gift and games. She also did hair and make-up and glamour. I’ve seen this done as a tea party theme as well. How fun to have dress up for girl’s birthday parties.
Homemade Candles – As small as this may sound it could be very lucrative. Think about it…what house hold do not have candles.
According to the National Candle Association, candle consumer retail sales in the United States alone is projected at over $2.3 billion, not including candle accessories.
Think about all the times you’ve ever given one as a gift or received one. If it sounds like something you could find a niche in and something you would enjoy doing, it could be very profitable for you.
Gift Baskets – If you’re creative and have a great imagination: gift baskets make for a great choice for all kinds of special occasions: birthdays, weddings, special events, anniversaries, housewarmings, welcome baskets for realtors to give to new homeowners, home office starter baskets, all office supplies, baby shower baskets and anything you can think of. You could easily work from home doing this or branch nationally as long as you’re able to cover shipping rates and know that best ways of going about packaging you purchases for shipping.
Picture Matting and Framing – There has got to be profit in this market. Knowing the expense of getting any custom framing done, it’s quite expensive. So there has to be a good profit margin if you know how to go about providing this as a service. Of course supplies of a matt cutter and framing supplies would be needed but this could easily be done out of the home.
Garage Sale Organizer – You could provide people with the tables, labels, signs and anything they need to have a successful garage sale. I’ve thought of this in a different angle…starting with the web first. Have a free classified site where people could post their details online along with providing the above services in hand with this.
Welcoming New Neighbors – Create a welcoming package of lots of coupons of local shops, restaurants and businesses. Basically selling and providing advertising for these local businesses while providing a service to newbies. You can then provide these packages to realtors, apartment buildings and the city of commerce to hand out to new comers to the area. Another angel to this would be if you presented it in a manner that would be appealing enough for realtors or housing owners/landlords, you could then charge them a fee per package if you are will to present it in a manner that is unique to their particular service with placing their logo and information on it so it looks as though it is coming from them. You could also provide possible additional add-ons for promotional tools that could be added on to the welcome package.
Scrap-booker - I know I've hear many moms say they simply do not have time to scrapbook and keepup with their childrens books. You could provide this as a service. There are now digital forms of ones you can create which could be easier then hand custom creating them. This could even branch into providing your very own scrap-booking supplies and or classes!
Home Printing Business - This is a very easy idea and all you need is a good printer and some great advertising. You could start by offering your printing services locally to churches, school groups, etc
Car Detailing Service – This could be done right out of your home. I would suggest as long as you’re in a central location and are not too far away from local businesses, you could provide this throughout the day. Picking up the car and dropping it back off while a person is working. You of course will need car cleaning supplies, shop vac and if you’re not doing the washing by hand, a close location of a car wash.
Boat Cleaning and Detail - This could be a nice summer job if you like to be outdoors and by the water. I’d suggest you have love for boating and have boating experience so you know the best way to go about having a boat cleaned and detailed. I know my old boss did this in his younger years and he said it was the most fun job he ever had. He was able to make a good amount of money and enjoyed what he did being outside working his own set hours.
Lunch Runner – Go to a place of business and take orders for people that are working…pick up the food and deliver along with payment. I know working as a sales rep and 12 hour days there were many times I didn’t have time to run out to grab lunch even with an hour lunch break. So having this service would have been nice. I would have been more than happy to pay for this kind of service.
Teaching Classes - Great idea of after school classes for kids and even adults for painting, sculpture, writing, learning an instrument/music, swimming, tutoring, anything that you have expertise in that you can teach others. I had an art teacher that I went to every Saturday for 6 years. This was how she made a living, teaching others how to paint out of her home. However, it did consume her entire main floor of her house from her entrance areas, living room and kitchen which was where the classes were held!
Form Maker – Create custom forms for billing, inventory, purchasing, quotes, invoicing, supply lists, shopping lists and much more. Think of businesses that would like to incorporate their information on it and then also have it customized specifically for their needs. You could also make fun and personalized ones for families.
Prom Night Planner – Think up all the aspects of a prom night that need to be covered. What if you could come up with a Prom Package that would cover everything one would want for such an event. Think up going to local retailer and getting discounted rates for hair, make-up, dresses, tucks, flowers, limos. I can envision this for a website covering all aspects of a prom and the services. You could then branch off and link to homecoming, winter formal, graduation and other year around school events.
E-books – If you can write you can create any kind of informational books or pamphlets. Write on how to do things by creating tutorial books and teaching a craft or skill by providing your own expertise and knowledge. Then selling it in an electronic form to sell online!
Carpet Cleaning – Have the equipment? You could easily get into cleaning carpets for homes and small businesses. Need to have a niche over competitors? Think Green, think pet, baby and environmentally friendly by using products that are green. Then you could take it to another level by selling these cleaning products for everyday use!
Jewelry Making/Repair – I know this one seems to be over saturated but it seems like a very lucrative business venture right now. Especially with sites like Etsy that make it easier to sell hand-made items. As long as you have a Niche item you can make it in any field no matter how saturated it is. Be creative! I’m assuming if you like to make jewelry as a hobby you are creative enough to make something unique and one of a kind!
Fitness Trainer – This could be a hard one to get into unless you have the background to really sell your fitness experience. However, if you think you have a winning plan and would be excellent at motivating others to get fit then by all means go for it! Another way to do this is make it more specific such as targeting an audience and creating something such as a Bridal Fitness Program or maybe Baby Weight Program for Mom’s wanting to lose their baby pounds!
Lawn Care & Landscaping Services – Depending on how BIG you want to go with this, it can be a very profitable business. However, I know when owning my first house, I had a Father & Son mow my yard for the summer. The money they made all went towards the kid’s college fund. It’s hard work but I know many people that love to do yard work. This could be a perfect way of making extra money over the summer months. Depending on how big you want to get you could have people hired as long as you have the equipment to then do larger companies that will pay you out a lot more and be much more lucrative.
Baby Child Proofing Service – Thinking back on this I wish I would have taken the time to hire this done. I remember the tedious task of going around screwing in all the drawer baby proofing clips. Ahhh, not a small task. I’m sure you could even expand your services in to setting up and putting together baby equipment as well! Another PAIN that I’d been more than happy to pay for as a service.
Window Washing – This may not seem like much of a service but it is a service that there is a need for. I know with my 20 foot ceilings…if not for my husband this would be hired out. I know that our many of our neighbors do. Again this is one that could be for residential or commercial or both. Depending on the equipment you have it could be something you could do over the summer months either as extra in-come or part-time.
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