Great Business Ideas for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur looking to start your own business but struggling to settle on an idea? With some thought and research, you can uncover a wealth of great business opportunities tailored to your skills, interests, and goals. From tech startups to food trucks to e-commerce stores, there are options out there for all types of founders with varying budgets and experience levels.

This article will explore 12 great small business and startup ideas across different industries that have high growth potential while requiring reasonable capital to launch. We’ll overview each concept at a high level, providing insight into target customers, required investments, day-to-day operations, and more. Our aim is to inspire you to dig deeper into the ones that most excite you as you look to join the nearly 33 million small business owners and startups in the US.

App Development Company

App Development Company
App Development Company

The global app economy will be worth over $935 billion by 2023 as demand for mobile apps and development services continues its rapid growth since the iPhone launched in 2007 and ignited the smartphone revolution. As individuals and businesses seek tailored applications to meet specialized needs, app development companies have seized on this fast-expanding opportunity.

Overview:

  • Build and design mobile apps for clients on a contract or project basis across iOS and Android
  • Offer ongoing support and maintenance services
  • Ideal for those with software development and coding skills
  • Low overhead, besides cost of high-spec computers and software
  • Contract revenue model based on project scope

Food Truck

Food Truck
Food Truck

The food truck industry has swelled over recent years to over $1 billion in annual revenue as consumers crave unique dining experiences and convenience. While intensive competition exists in big cities, opportunities remain for aspiring entrepreneurs to carve out territory with creative menus and marketing in smaller metropolitan areas.

Overview:

  • Purchase, outfit, and operate a licensed food truck
  • Build loyal customer base through social media outreach and participating in community events and festivals
  • Specialize in one type of food niche (burgers, tacos, desserts, etc)
  • Initial costs range from $50k to $100k.
  • Revenue from direct food sales out of the truck

Online Course Creator

Online Course Creator
Online Course Creator

Online education is forecast to grow over 12% annually to reach $77 billion globally by 2023. As interest in remote and self-paced learning models intensifies, individual subject experts have begun monetizing their knowledge by building online courses. While it is intensive to initially develop quality teaching materials, this business idea opens up global distribution and passive income potential.

Overview:

  • Identify high-demand niche skills or hobbies to create video courses around
  • List programs on platforms like Udemy and Skillshare, which handle platform hosting and distribution
  • It requires curriculum development, videography, and editing skills upfront
  • Earnings via student tuition revshares from course platforms
  • High gross margins and passive income potential

Resume Writing Service

With over 6 million open jobs in the US as of October 2022, demand has never been higher for professional resume writing support. As job searches grow more digital, specialized resume writers help candidates showcase their achievements effectively and land more interviews. Building out a personal brand and online presence for clients can also boost income streams.

Overview:

  • Consult with individual clients to understand career goals and build optimized, results-driven resumes
  • Expand into other offerings like cover letter writing, LinkedIn profile optimization, and interview coaching
  • Requires strong writing ability and understanding of modern recruiting practices
  • Revenue model through per-project or monthly retainer fees
  • Additional growth potential via online course development

House Cleaning/Maid Service Company

House CleaningMaid Service Company
House CleaningMaid Service Company

The professional home cleaning industry pulls in over $7 billion annually in the US to meet surging demand from today’s busy families and professionals. Managing logistics for a house cleaning business can pose challenges but also creates an opportunity to scale out teams and revenue by tapping this evergreen customer demand.

Overview:

  • Hire, train, and manage individuals or teams of house cleaners
  • Reach customers via platforms like Handy and Thumbtack or through lead generation efforts
  • Set pricing and coordinate scheduling and routing to maximize efficiency
  • Requires upfront costs of cleaning equipment and supplies + marketing spend
  • Income from per-cleaning fees or monthly contracts

Dropshipping Business

Launching an online e-commerce store powered by the dropshipping model allows entrepreneurs to sell products without an upfront inventory investment. This idea offers low startup costs by leveraging existing suppliers to handle fulfillment and shipping when customer orders roll in. Niches like home goods, apparel, and accessories work well with careful supplier vetting.

Overview:

  • Identify trending or unique products to sell online through store site
  • Source reliable wholesale suppliers that handle shipping directly to customers
  • Requires website development and digital marketing knowledge
  • Income from product markup between wholesale supplier and retail pricing

Education Technology Company

Education Technology Company
Education Technology Company

Global spending on education technology is projected to hit $404 billion by 2025, underscoring this space’s enormous market potential. While competing against entrenched players with deep pockets poses challenges, smaller startups can still thrive by targeting specific learning needs or demographics.

Overview:

  • Develop software, apps, tools, and platforms purpose-built for various education segments—higher ed, K–12, corporate learning, etc.
  • Offer products that address needs like remote learning, assessment testing, admissions process streamlining and more
  • Requires specialized engineering and curriculum design skillsets
  • Revenue via subscription model based on number of users or students

Self-Publishing Business

Self-publishing has opened the floodgates for aspiring authors to bring their books directly to market while retaining control and higher royalties. For entrepreneurs with editing, design, marketing, and distribution experience, an opportunity exists to launch services tailored specifically to independent authors.

Overview:

  • Provide managed services to guide authors through self-publishing process
  • Offer manuscript editing, book cover design, distribution to sales channels, launch marketing, etc.
  • Requires strong writing, copyediting and book marketing ability
  • Revenue through package pricing or fee-for-service model

Subscription Meal Kit Company

The meal kit industry remains hot, expected to cross $19 billion by 2027 as customers flock to convenient, nutritious, home-delivered options. Though Blue Apron and HelloFresh dominate currently, regional players can still enter and target subsets of diners with niche offerings like specialized diets and locally sourced ingredients.

Overview:

  • Develop weekly meal plans featuring simple recipes and pre-portioned ingredients
  • Package ingredients for delivery along with recipe cards for fast meal preparation
  • Requires culinary expertise for recipe development using fresh, high-quality seasonal ingredients
  • Revenue from subscription model based on weekly or monthly order frequency
Virtual Reality Arcade
Virtual Reality Arcade

Entertainment sites like virtual reality (VR) arcades allow customers to experience immersive gaming and simulations that are still cost-prohibitive for at-home setups. With VR gaining momentum across industries like healthcare, education, real estate, and design, VR arcade adoption remains far below its total addressable market.

Overview:

  • Offer individual and group VR experiences spanning gaming, rollercoasters, space travel, etc.
  • Generate additional income through food and beverage sales
  • Requires physical retail space plus initial VR equipment outlay
  • Revenue model from per-experience pricing and monthly memberships

Franchise of an Established Brand

For rookie entrepreneurs who want to avoid building a business model completely from scratch, investing in a franchise of a popular consumer brand can provide stability. Extensive training, corporate support, and prebuilt name recognition are major advantages of tapping into franchising opportunities like restaurants, car washes, and home maintenance services.

Overview:

  • License rights within a designated territory to leverage existing brand, systems, and processes
  • Required financial requirements and contributions vary greatly by franchisor
  • Ongoing royalty and marketing fees payable
  • Lower startup risks but less control over certain operational decisions

FAQs:

What are some pros and cons of starting a franchise?

Major benefits of buying into a franchise include leveraging an established brand reputation, plugging into robust systems and processes, and receiving extensive training and support. Downsides can include high upfront franchise fees, ongoing royalty payments that eat into profit, and adhering to strict branding and operational guidelines from the franchisor with limited entrepreneurial control. The loss of personal and financial independence is another frequent franchising consideration.

What are signs of a good business idea?

Hallmark signs of a potentially lucrative business concept include solving a significant customer need or problem in the market, a reasonable startup budget and operating costs, a large addressable target market, a sustainable competitive advantage that barriers prevent copying, and company values and mission that align with your own.

What are the first steps in launching a new business?

The blueprint for getting any new business off the ground includes extensive market and competitor research, crafting a lean startup financial model and formal pitch deck, locking up intellectual property rights, trademarks, and permits, seeking advisor mentorships, sourcing funding such as savings, loans, and investors to launch a minimum viable product (MVP), and developing go-to-market and customer acquisition strategies.

How important is passion when selecting a business idea?

Launching an enterprise around an uninspiring concept for purely financial motivations is often a recipe for failure. Statistics repeatedly show higher success odds for entrepreneurs fueled by passion for their offerings. When interest is innate, vision remains clearer, energy levels stay higher, and pushing through hardships proves less difficult over time. Financial viability must align too, but passion provides important, lasting power.

Conclusion

The possibilities are truly endless when exploring great small business ideas as an entrepreneur. No matter your background, experience level, or available capital, the concepts shared above confirm that opportunities exist across nearly all industries. While not without risk, charting your own path by solving customer problems, monetizing personal skills, and filling marketplace voids offers rewards that standard careers simply cannot replicate.

The prospect of identifying the next billion-dollar unicorn startup, like Uber, also ignites the imaginations of founders everywhere. But in reality, businesses of all sizes and growth trajectories can deliver immense personal fulfillment and financial freedom. By reflectively assessing your capabilities against some of today’s hottest market niches, you can uncover a great business idea tailored to help unlock your full entrepreneurial potential. After pouring your passion into this first step, the foundation for future prosperity will be in place.

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