What Makes a Good Small Business Idea?
A good small business idea is profitable. This means it introduces something new and meets a specific market demand, leading to people buying its products or services.
At the same time, a good idea is doable, meaning you can manage the business by yourself or helped by a small number of people, at least in the beginning. That’s because a great small business idea is sustainable and scalable, too. The business will be profitable in the long term and will grow over time.
Many entrepreneurs consider a good idea one that can be set up with a small budget, doesn’t require renting a place or hiring people (e.g., online business ideas), and requires knowledge you already have (no specifical training).
To sum up, you are in the right place if you want a profitable, doable small business idea that requires minimal resources and low costs. You will find hints on how to make it sustainable, scalable, and easy to manage.
Small Business Ideas to Consider
Start looking for a business idea based on what you know and want. For example, having a background and expertise in a particular field is a significant strength you want to build upon. Owning a property that you can use for commercial purposes is another advantage. Then, add the wants, such as you want to work from home or establish your business in your hometown, you prefer an offline or online business, and you want to put your creativity to work. The following ideas may bring you one step closer to your ideal business.
Small Business Ideas for Working at Home
- Podcast Production: Transform the spare room into a recording studio and offer your production services to podcasters. This is an excellent idea for people with a background in multimedia production because the initial investment is small, one can manage the business alone, and the podcasting market is booming.
- Copywriting and Content Creation – A computer is all you need to start this business. You can work online, keep your accountancy by yourself, and make the most out of your creative writing skills. If you are fluent in international languages, such as English, French, and Spanish, you can offer your services worldwide.
- Life Coach – One doesn’t need a fancy office to offer life coaching sessions. You can arrange an office in your home and either have people visit you or provide online sessions. The initial budget is minimal, and the demand is high. It is also a scalable idea, as you can start with individual sessions and grow to group sessions, workshops, and corporate events.
- Bed and Breakfast Owner – If you own a house that can be partially rented to travelers and vacationers, a bed and breakfast small business is ideal for you. All you need to do is register with your local authorities and join a booking platform like Airbnb. It may be a seasonal or full-time activity, but either way, it will bring you a steady income with minimal effort.
Easy Small Business Ideas
- Pet sitting business - If you love animals, you can dedicate extra time to caring for them. You can offer your services to busy people who don’t have time to walk their dogs during the day or people going on holiday and needing someone to sit with their pets. The business requires no initial budget or training, but you must be an animal lover and have some experience caring for pets.
- Handyman business – If you know how to fix almost everything that gets broken around the house and want some extra money, becoming a professional handyman is a good idea. You can start with your family, friends, and neighbors and grow your business there. All you need is a shed or garage to keep your tools and a way to keep your appointments organized.
- Personal Trainer—Becoming a professional personal trainer is another small business idea that builds on your strengths. There are many types of personal trainers. Think about fitness, pilates, relationships, well-being, sports, lifestyle, CrossFit, or health. This option allows you to master your schedule and take on any number of clients you want. You can offer in-person training sessions or virtual coaching.
- Online Teaching—If you are a teacher, consider tutoring and providing online workshops and classes. Online education is in high demand and offers many options for a well-trained teacher. Everything works, from tutoring school children for exams to teaching foreign languages to students, from photography classes to business workshops. And if you think you’re ready, platforms like Skillshare, Udemy, or Domestika will happily host your course.
Small Business Ideas for Women
- Fashion Designer: All you need to start a small business in fashion design is passion, creativity, and design skills. It’s a scalable business; all great fashion designers began with a small atelier, sewing by themselves. It is also gratifying because it is a creative business.
- Makeup Influencer—This trend is very trendy nowadays. Makeup influencers are makeup artists, often self-trained, who produce social media content advertising particular makeup products and brands. You need some knowledge of video production, gear, public speaking, and makeup skills. Regarding gear, a recent iPhone and a cheap tripod are an excellent way to start.
- Photography Business – Another creative small business idea that suits women is that a photography business may involve any photographic genre and have the scale you are prepared to sustain. For example, you can create fine art prints in your spare time or establish a photo studio for portraiture or wedding photos. It’s really up to you how much time, effort, and money you want to invest in this business.
- Gift Box Business - If you pay close attention to detail and love wrapping presents, consider starting a gift box business. You can offer a range of readymade gift boxes, including sweets, gourmet products, cosmetics, lifestyle products, toys, etc. Alternatively, you can let people mix and match products and deliver them gift-wrapped and personalized.
Small Business Ideas in a Small Town
- Home Repairs Business: The advantage of a small town is that word of mouth is a powerful and cheap marketing strategy. You want to provide the services people need, such as construction, roof repair, carpentry, house painting, and electrical work. Start with one service, the one in your area of expertise, and grow from there by hiring or partnering with people with different skills.
- Graphic Design Studio – A graphic design studio may be an online business from the privacy of their house or a mixed online/offline business with a dedicated office space where clients can come in person. You get to work on your terms and decide how much you want to expand your business.
- Mechanic Shop – If you are trained as a mechanic, opening a garage in your small hometown may be the business you’ve dreamt of all your life. It’s a small but profitable business in the long term. It is also scalable as you can rent a larger space, hire more people, and attract clients from neighboring areas.
- Baker Shop – Creating cakes for weddings and birthday parties is a lovely idea for a business in a small town. You can deliver them yourself or arrange a cake shop with a table or two for tasting and chatting over a coffee.
Small Business Ideas for Marketers
- Creative Strategy Consultancy – Create a small marketing business that helps businesses like yours build a brand, find the best marketing strategy, and engage their clients. You can create personalized campaigns and narratives that help your clients while avoiding the buzz of a large marketing corporate environment.
- Social Media Marketing Business – With so many people building businesses on social media, social media marketing is in high demand. You can work online, from home or an office, choose your working hours, and take time off whenever needed.
- Affiliate Marketing Management – Content creators use affiliate marketing to increase their income. But they don’t want to become experts in affiliate marketing, and here is where you come in. You can manage multiple accounts and help creators boost sales, give advice on SEO, and manage the relationships with the vendors.
- eCommerce Marketing Strategy – Help online shops attract and retain customers with online marketing strategies. You can work with one big or multiple smaller clients, limit your activity to a particular type of shop, and work on your own schedule.
Quick Profitable Small Business Ideas
- Dropshipping Store – A dropshipping store is an online shop that connects customers with vendors. You don’t handle the products yourself, so you don’t need a warehouse or manpower. Instead, you register customer orders and pass them on to your suppliers. Usually, you work with multiple suppliers and provide a wide range of products.
- Virtual Assistant – Being the virtual assistant of one or many busy people is a small business that brings quick profit. All you spend is your time and energy. You don’t need an office, can work from anywhere in the country or the world, and can hire others to help you once the business grows.
- Catering – If you have a background as a chef or baker, the fastest way to make a profit is a catering business. You can use your kitchen at home or the client’s kitchen, deliver to restaurants and cake shops and work alone or with part-time hired staff.
- Tax Consultancy – As tax systems become increasingly complicated, the demand for tax consultants increases, too. You can choose to work only with regular taxpayers or professionals and freelancers. How many clients you take on and how many hours you work per week is up to you. Many times, you might feel like such jobs are boring. Still, when you become good at your craft, you will earn much more money than a typical employee by helping wealthy individuals optimize their finances or look at their business taxes from a different angle.
Unique Business Ideas
- Food Truck with Specialty Foods – If you have a signature dish but don’t want to take on a complex catering or restaurant business, try a food truck. You can work only on weekends or holidays, partner with a family member or friend, park the truck in a fixed location, or move it from one event to another (e.g., festivals).
- Online Flower Arrangements Shop – You don’t have to run a flower shop to sell flower arrangements. You can sell them online and deliver them to people’s homes and offices. Create a portfolio and announce daily what flowers you have available. To grow your business, you can take event bookings and hire part-time staff to help you.
- Nutrition Consultancy – The well-being market is rapidly increasing. More and more people ask for a personalized diet, expert nutrition advice, and customized programs. If you have a holistic approach and a background in nutrition, create an online business from which you can expand to a consultancy studio, write books, podcast, and provide workshops. You can also niche even further. Think about a specific diet or for a particular persona (busy entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms).
- Decluttering Business: Teach people how to declutter their homes and offices and buy only what they need. A minimalist lifestyle approach is in high demand, but few people can manage it independently. You can start with a website, private sessions, or workshops and grow from there. If you’re thinking about Marie Kondo while reading this business idea, she is an excellent example of a professional in this field.
Small Business Ideas for Beginners
- Rideshare Driving Business – With as little training as a driving license, you can drive people around and earn an income. It’s the ideal business for beginners as it has no initial costs, doesn’t require a designated location, and allows for whatever working hours you can put in.
- Transcription Service Business – This online business has good scalability, as you can hire more people and take on more jobs over time. You can work from home with as little equipment as a laptop and a pair of headphones. It requires no initial investment or training.
- Cleaning Service Business – Cleaning houses may start as a one-man job and grow into a business with a few employees. As a beginner, you may prefer smaller spaces, such as apartments. However, you can switch to houses, commercial spaces, and other significant tasks over time.
- Gardening Business—If you are considering starting a landscaping business, begin with essential gardening services such as lawn care, hedge trimming, flower sitting, etc. You’ll only need essential tools and skills to meet people, learn their needs, and tailor your future landscaping business accordingly.
Best Small Businesses to Start with Little Money
- Travel Planning—If you love traveling and want to earn extra money to fund your future trips, try travel planning for others. You can work online, from home, and with no initial budget. Collaborate with travel agencies if needed. Start with a location you know inside out and accompany the client’s bookings with advice and tips.
- Bicycle Repair Shop – Most people starting a bicycle repair shop are passionate about bikes and already own all the necessary tools. Your garage may be the starting place of the business, and your friends and acquaintances may be your first customers.
- Real Estate Brokerage – If you have a license as a real estate agent, you don’t need money to start your own business. You can create a website and/or an office in your home.
- Proofreading/Editing Business – You only need a computer with a text editor to start a proofreading and editing business. You can work from anywhere and manage your projects online, using cloud storage platforms to deliver your work safely.
Most Successful Small Business Ideas
- Web Development Studio – If you have a background in web development, becoming an entrepreneur isn’t more manageable now than ever. The huge market allows you to find your niche, attract clients, and generate consistent revenue. You can use freelancing platforms (like Upwork), professional networks (think about Stack Overflow, GitHub), or social media marketing to find your first customers.
- Event Planning – Event planning means much more than planning weddings these days. Corporate events, workshops, festivals, conferences, retreats, and small-town fairs need planning experts. You can start with little money, reach clients through word of mouth, and work from home. Over time, you can establish a small business with a few employees and a standard office and land new clients through online advertising.
- Childcare Business – Whether it is a private kindergarten, after-school program, or babysitting business, childcare is in high demand. It requires expertise and an appropriate space, but it is also a well-paid activity that brings a steady income in the long term.
- IT Consultancy – With a background in IT, you can switch to entrepreneurship in no time. Instead of working for a corporation, you can be your own boss and choose the project you invest your time and energy into. For example, you can only provide services to non-profit organizations or select projects that address environmental changes or medical and social issues.
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FAQ
What’s the definition of a small business?
A small business is defined as a company with limited size, in terms of its revenue, number of employees, or both. It usually runs locally.
How do you start a small business at home?
To start a small business from home, one needs an idea that can be implemented from home (e.g., an online business, a business that requires only a room, etc.). The idea should build on the owner’s expertise and background and require no more than one or two people to run. The next step is to develop a business plan and ensure the business will be profitable and sustainable.
Before running the business, the owner must register the company with local and tax authorities, open a bank account, and create a marketing strategy to attract customers.
What are the top growing small businesses?
The fastest-growing small businesses currently operate in food preparation and serving, personal care and services, IT and technology, healthcare, legal services, and community and social services.
What are the top 10 small businesses to start?
The most successful, easy, and popular small businesses to start right now are:
- dropshipping stores
- content creation
- online shops
- pet sitting and care
- crafts-related businesses
- online marketing consultancy
- graphic design services
- copywriting, proofreading, editing, translating, and transcribing services
- video and audio production
- digital education.
What makes for a good work-from-home small business idea?
A good work-from-home small business idea requires no or minimal initial investment, inventory, and supplies. Unlike online businesses, it also takes up little space. Most work-from-home small business ideas require only a computer.
In addition, a good work-from-home small business idea doesn’t have a fixed working schedule and doesn’t disturb the household’s lifestyle. As a result, it is usually run by one person. Other people may be involved, provided they work from their own homes.