Are you looking for something new? A new business venture to engage in? Here are some suggestions for eight small business ideas you might not have thought of. Some have low overhead fees and don’t require much specialized knowledge, while others require that you gain some skills or make an initial investment. The choices vary, but hopefully you’ll find something for you:
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E-waste recycling.
Most municipalities have programs for regular recycling, but there often isn’t a curbside program to get rid of broken or unusable electronic waste short of just throwing it away. As an e-waste recycler, you would collect waste and charge by weight for its removal and transport it to a local e-waste recycling center.
Green home cleaning.
There are many house cleaners available for hire in any given area, but green home cleaning is much more targeted market where there may not be as much competition. Green home cleaning is just regular house cleaning done using environmentally friendly and natural cleaning products. For instance, instead of using ammonia-based glass cleaners, you could use a mixture of four tablespoons lemon juice and a half gallon of water. Instead of using traditional furniture polish – which usually contains a high amount of petroleum distillates – you could polish wood with a mixture of two parts olive oil and one part lemon juice. Those are just some examples, though – the internet is full of natural and environmentally friendly cleaning alternatives. It’s a low overhead business and you can pretty much keep all your work supplies in the back of your car.
Computer tutor.
You don’t actually have to be a computer genius to be a computer tutor. There are plenty of people out there who need help with the basics – Miscrosoft Word, web research, or just basic photo editing. You can both offer private tutoring and also start teaching classes through local community centers and organizations that offer adult education classes. Of course, if you have more advanced skills – like advanced Photoshop skills, programming, or web design, then being a computer tutor should be a complete no-brainer.
Food truck.
Although there are more substantial start-up costs for a food truck than for the ideas listed above, it is still a less significant investment that a traditional restaurant and it also has a very low failure rate. The failure rate for food trucks is estimated to be under 20 percent, while the failure rate for restaurants is somewhere between 60 and 90 percent. You can stick with the basics or thrive on a slew of unique recipes of your own creation. Some food trucks become a jumping-off point for successful brick-and-mortar restaurants, and some just continue to thrive as food trucks.
Traveling salon.
Some people prefer to have their hair stylist or nail artist come to them simply as a matter of convenience. Now, though, there is also an increasing market for the growing group of elderly baby boomers who need their hair done at home. Traveling salons are becoming increasingly popular, and are poised to continue growing in popularity for some time as the elderly population increases in size and more and more people demand services at home.
E-commerce warehouse.
This is a business that requires a lot of space. With the growing number of e-commerce businesses out there, there is a continual need for the storing and shipping of inventory. Because many e-commerce businesspeople don’t have a physical store location, many of them don’t have storage space. That’s where you come in, as a storage and shipping center for small e-commerce retailers. You’d be responsible for storing, keeping inventory, and packaging then shipping e-commerce goods for one or many retailers. The number of clients would be largely contingent on the amount of storage space that you have available.
Testing. Apps, websites, programs – almost everything digital needs a tester.
How many times have you found a business site or order form that just didn’t work properly? Untested sites and software are not only frustrating for the user, but they’re also quite detrimental to business. As a tester, you would help insure businesses that they don’t lose customers by relying on apps or websites that don’t work like they’re supposed to. You wouldn’t have to have the skills to fix the problem; a tester just needs to be able to identify the problem and test thoroughly to make sure that all problems are identified.
Smartphone repair.
Unless you’re already a techie handyman, this is a job that might require some self-training. All the information you need is on the internet – you just have to take the time to familiarize yourself with it and have the handyman skills to follow through. See, smartphones break all the time, but fixing them can be pretty tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing – and replacing them is incredibly expensive. That’s why there’s a good space in the market for smartphone repair businesses these days.