Business Ideas – Curatedweb

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

What’s the true failure rate of small businesses? Well, it depends on who you ask and whether it includes pandemic closures or not. Or, if there were economic or political drivers that worsened the closures. And frankly, it depends on who is counting and how they’re counting. It is arguable that the mistakes that make or break small businesses are similar across industries and geography. Whether it’s focusing attention on places that don’t produce income or build relationships, not setting boundaries or ignoring their online reputation, I’ve watched small businesses make these mistakes that make or break them.

Seven mistakes that make or break small businesses

1. Not defining an ideal client

I attended my first networking meeting more than a decade ago. There was a woman who represented a skincare line who said, “My ideal clients include anyone with skin…” While it’s great to be able to serve anyone who comes to you, it is also important to have a specific ideal client well-defined. That doesn’t mean you can’t work with others. It simply focuses your marketing efforts, including your short presentation at a networking meeting. A better commercial would be: My ideal client is a woman of a certain age who is concerned about fine lines and wrinkles. Failing to define an ideal client means your business can go in any direction and you become #2.

2. Busy but not productive

If you don’t know who your ideal client is, you set meetings with anyone in the hopes to find your clients. You become busy but not productive. I can still remember a couple of guys from years ago who ran around to networking meetings like it was their job. And in some sense, I guess it was their job, or at least what their business had become. They just didn’t know who they wanted as an ideal client. So they wasted a lot of time doing activities that were not income-producing. They looked busy but when I sat down with them, they were struggling financially. It was sad to hear but it was also a good lesson. When you focus your efforts, you get more accomplished and business grows.

3. Not setting boundaries

If you like working weekends, late into the night or during a time when you’d otherwise not want to be working, then do not set boundaries. If you want a life outside of business, set boundaries. I’ve found that if I don’t send emails or contact clients when outside of my normal work hours, they respect my time. Boundary setting is also important in contracts or agreements when describing the scope of the project. If a client wants more work, I have a stipulation in the agreement for the cost for work outside the scope of the original project. It saves a lot of time for everyone wondering what is within the scope and what is not. By clearly defining the hours and scope of the project, I can focus on the work and delivery. Without those in place, I could be working on a project indefinitely.

4. Ignoring reputation management

My husband and I make it our goal to leave positive reviews as much as possible and appropriate. All too often businesses only receive negative reviews, and they deserve positive reviews as well. Whatever review your business receives, you’ve got to be aware of your brand reputation online and respond to all reviews. There are reputation management companies whose sole focus is to respond to reviews, both good and bad. It can be a great investment for your business to hire one of them.

5. Working without a contract

Find out what your state requires to be considered a contract. An email of terms that each agrees to within the email that is dated is sufficient in some states while others may require an official, wet signature contract. Not only does the contract define the cost and payment terms, but it should also define the scope of the project. That means if the client wants more work, there is an added cost. Allow for a provision for work that is out of scope that will be billed at an hourly rate or whatever is customary in your industry. This will save you from miscommunication when you have a contract in which to refer. When the client asks why you can’t do additional work, tell them it’s out of scope per the terms of the agreement and what the cost is if they’d still like the work completed.

6. Not selecting a business structure

What I mean by this is that you haven’t incorporated or created an LLC for your business. Without one of these, you’re operating as a sole proprietor and personal assets are all at risk should the business be sued or sent to collections. Once a business structure is selected and set up, put an Operating Agreement (LLC) or Bylaws (Corporation) in place. You need to do this so that in the event you are incapacitated or worse, your business can continue without you. That means employees and vendors get paid, along with other receivables. Clients can continue receiving goods and services. Your family will also be protected.

7. Not collecting outstanding invoices

I can’t tell you how many freelancers post in social media groups that they are having trouble collecting from a client. And, they continue to do work for the client! I have a stipulation in my agreement that if invoices aren’t paid within a certain number of days, the work stops until the account is made current. You can also keep credit cards on file or set up a monthly subscription, so you’re paid automatically. In 11-plus years of freelancing, I’ve had one $75 invoice left unpaid. The rest are paid, and most are paid on time. Make it part of your contract and process for clients to pay you on time.

Without processes and boundaries, small businesses can easily work many hours with little to show for it on the bottom line. Learn from others the right ways to do business. Avoid these mistakes and be productive. Success is yours to be had!

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Solopreneurs are Changing the Face of the Economy https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/solopreneurs-are-changing-the-face-of-the-economy/ Thu, 31 Mar 2022 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/420714

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Solopreneurs are on the rise and with such speed, that we’re still settling on the right terms to describe them. In 2019, the SBA identified 50.7 million businesses as small, employing up to 499 people. But, 81 percent of them were business owners with no additional employees who were lumped into the same category. As more people shift their focus toward starting their own businesses, an army of new technologies is emerging, wielding the tools to turn anyone into an entrepreneur. In fact, they’re making it easier than ever for more people to run businesses entirely on their own.

These are solopreneurs — entrepreneurs who are taking on business ownership completely solo — and they’re about to make major changes to our economy.

Solopreneurs run a one-person show

Every solopreneur is an entrepreneur, but not every entrepreneur is a solopreneur. The majority of entrepreneurs start as solopreneurs, but the biggest difference is in their intention. While the entrepreneur is looking to create a major enterprise, a solopreneur wants to create their enterprise alone. We used to assign such one-person shows to the category of freelancers, who provided typical freelance services: designers, consultants and accountants. Now, although we keep trying to use the same language, a rising segment of these single, independent workers no longer conform to these traditional conceptions. Content creators, e-commerce providers and old school service providers are all pushing this revolution. They come in all shapes, and some of them don’t even bother leaving their nine to five job.

Today, we can observe a mass exodus. People are leaving jobs in favor of starting their own businesses. Not because they imagine becoming a massive corporation, but to redefine their work-life balance or find purpose in starting something uniquely their own. A 2021 MBO Partners report identified 51 million people as independent workers. But, Census Bureau data indicates that less than three percent of them filed as businesses intending to hire employees. The report also found that 82 percent of independent small business owners were happy to keep their company small, and 56 percent said they wanted to remain solopreneurs. Many turned to entrepreneurship to improve their well-being, not to add the headache of managing other people or building a mass operation. Solopreneurship gives them that option.

Technology opens doors for more diverse solopreneurs

The earliest divergence of solopreneurs from freelancers happened when the former started building themselves as brands through social media influence. In the beginning, we might have imagined influencers as a niche market. Now, even nano- and micro-influencers with smaller followings can make between $60,000 and $100,000 a year. Many still offer services that resemble freelancing. But, they also run content operations, selling physical products through affiliation or their own line. Ten years ago, a phenomenon like solopreneurship might not have been possible. But today, with automation increasingly facilitating the project of running a business, people are realizing they can do it on their own.

By outsourcing manufacturing and packaging to private label producers while letting different services handle her sales and fulfillment, Kylie Jenner (of the Kardashian clan) created a cosmetics empire. It’s made her a billionaire, at least by some accounts, powered by only seven full-time and five part-time employees and her massive social media influence. And Kylie’s not alone. Drop-shippers have evolved from third-party order fulfillment for Amazon and eBay. They have developed themselves as brands through platforms that let them create, manufacture and sell their own products directly from factories to their audience via a personalized e-commerce store. Solopreneurs, from dog trainers to therapists, can bring home six-figure incomes. A range of passion-oriented businesses — from babysitting to gardening to selling homemade cupcakes locally — are turning dreams into a reality. As technology continues to make doing what people love even easier, solopreneurs will increasingly move into more areas of business.

A diverse economy is a stronger one

In 2020, independent freelancers represented 36 percent of the U.S. workforce making up an estimated $1.2 trillion of its economy. That figure is up 22 percent from 2019, and one survey found 83 percent of executives planned to increase their use of freelance workers in the next three years. The global health crisis contributed to this rapid growth, but solopreneurship had already been on the rise for over a decade. Reports as early as 2013 showed non-employer firms experiencing significant growth, and three years later, they predicted the number of solopreneurs to skyrocket by 2026. With technology making business easier and our long-standing views of the workplace transformed, solopreneurs will continue to take up an increasingly larger segment of the economy each year.

Solopreneurs are neither freelancers booking services nor entrepreneurs looking to grow. This new class of solopreneurs is commanding more than a new name: they’ll need a new set of tools. Project management software is less useful when running a one-person show. Instead, solopreneurs need tools that automate as many areas of their business as possible so they can remain solo and still stay competitive. For most, managing all of these tools is what starts to complicate the process. This has given rise to a whole new industry of consulting solopreneurs, websites connecting them with companies that need their business or platforms like ours that supply people with both the tools and guidance to keep them running solo.

Major enterprises continue to automate and consolidate. They’ll need less manpower to generate the same revenues, leaving fewer places in the old system for everyone to fit. But more room for people to start their own businesses. Even without employees, solopreneurs bring jobs to themselves, support families and spread economic benefits throughout communities. They’ll create more networks of solopreneurs hiring solopreneurs, and increasingly develop more resilience working together. A large economic downturn will end up shuttering a percentage of small businesses. But with many small, decentralized operations, closing each and every one of them down is much harder.

As solopreneurs become increasingly diverse, society as a whole will demonstrate greater economic endurance. Solopreneurs give us the option of a local butcher and handyman instead of letting big businesses drive the entire economy. Just as agriculture is driven by its own logic, which leads to the cultivation of seed banks and planting more than one type of apple, diversification leads to better chances of a group’s survival. As solopreneurs continue to take up and lift more economic spaces, the more stable they’ll become.

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6 Ways Small Towns Can Create More Economic Growth https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/6-ways-small-towns-can-create-more-economic-growth/ Tue, 29 Mar 2022 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/420802

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In the simplest terms of economic growth in an area, it comes about in one of two ways: You’re either growing organically or you’re attracting growth from an outside market and bringing it into your market.

Three ideas for local economic growth

1. Create new entrepreneurs

This one could be a little more resource intensive. Look to the aspiring entrepreneur community and create a list of aspiring entrepreneurs and local investors from the region. Using that list, partner with your local organizations to create a multi-week entrepreneur’s workshop series (essentially, how to get a business up and running correctly). Once that workshop is completed there will be aspiring entrepreneurs who really stood out. Suggest that they reach out to potential investors in the area (or have the workshop conclude in an entrepreneur pitch day to investors). Guide the parties to bringing the ideas to fruition.

2. Focus on businesses that are there and create relationships

Use the businesses that are there and find a way to help build/strengthen relationships with other local businesses. Running a business is time-consuming. Sometimes there are wonderful opportunities that are waiting to be capitalized on but the business owners just don’t have the time to make them happen. Reduce that friction by laying the roadmap out for them. As an example: say there are three businesses in town that are run out of homes: a house cleaner, landscaper and contractor. Maybe individually they would not be comfortable about renting a storefront, but perhaps all three would be happy to split the cost of that storefront. Depending on the services offered, the businesses create new revenue synergies, in addition to having a new storefront rented out.

3. Look to the big employers

Look to the big employers in town: larger businesses, hospitals, schools, etc. Those businesses might benefit from having an off-site area specifically for training. Does the school have certain certifications that could benefit from a training facility? Could those employers benefit from having an off-site incubation hub where they could test new ideas or products? Put those empty spaces to use by showing the potential upside.

Three ideas for attracting growth from an external market

This pitch would be a little different because you’re asking someone or a group to move to a new area. But, the goal is still the same — get more economic growth into town.

1. Testimonials

Consider having an interview with any business founders that have moved to the area. What were their greatest pros/cons in the process of moving to the area? Were there any unforeseen challenges they wish they knew from the start? Were there any exceptional pros to the move? If you can’t find anyone who has moved there to start a business, consider asking native business owners what their pros/cons are of doing business in the area and use those as talking points.

2. Identify what’s missing from town

Is there something missing from town that you think an entrepreneur could come in and capitalize on with minimal resource cost. Are there any businesses that could move in with little to no competition and generate value for the people of the town? What opportunities are there where a business can turn profitable fairly quickly? What natural resources are there for them to use, etc.? Using that info, you can put together a sell sheet to send out to businesses/entrepreneurs you think would be a good fit.

3. Learn your market to create incentives to attract talent

If you have relationships built up with companies in town, perhaps ask them what the weak parts are of their business model. Or, ask what their five-year plan looks like. They might be able to provide some guidance on a business they wish they had locally, to either work with or to send work to. Or maybe they will be looking to acquire a business in the next few years to fill a gap in their business model. Use that info to curate a list of businesses that you think could be a good fit and reach out to them. It would also help to have key points of information on what the town is doing to drive improvement (high speed internet, reliable transportation, etc.).

When it comes to generating growth in an area, there is always a cost vs. reward ratio. Not sure what to try first? Generate a list of growth ideas within cost-to-reward order. Start with the idea that costs the least for the most amount of growth and work your way down the list. And remember, when it comes to getting businesses to move in, you’re selling the area more than anything else.

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Looking for a New Business Idea? Here’s How to Identify What People Really Need. https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/looking-for-a-new-business-idea-heres-how-to-identify-what-people-really-need/ Mon, 21 Mar 2022 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/421003

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

As a would-be entrepreneur, it can sometimes be tempting to think that all the good business ideas have already been taken. When practically every industry seems to be overwhelmed with businesses (particularly in the e-commerce age), it can seem hard to find a way to stand out from the competition.

In reality, however, there are still plenty of opportunities out there for entrepreneurs who are willing to dig a bit deeper. By looking for niche, underserved needs in their industry of choice, entrepreneurs can develop new and very successful brands of their own.

As it turns out, you don’t have to try to serve everyone to create a successful business.

1. Consider your own interests and underserved needs

While pursuing your passions is a cliche starting point for any entrepreneur, it is particularly important when you are trying to identify more niche needs. By focusing on your own interests, it can be easier to identify areas where your own needs currently aren’t being met.

Brainstorming a list of your skills, hobbies, interests and problems that you’d like to see solved in your own life can serve as an invaluable starting point for finding niche opportunities.

Sometimes, entrepreneurs can even identify niche business opportunities by combining aspects from different interests. On a smaller scale, this can easily be seen on sites such as Etsy, where, as one example, you’ll find products that combine an individual’s talent for laser-cut wood art with their interest in video games.

2. Evaluate what others in your industry don’t offer

If you already have a particular industry in mind, it can be helpful to conduct competitor research. Don’t just look at what others in your industry offer — look across multiple companies’ websites so you can get a better idea of specific products or services that aren’t generally available.

This stood out during a recent conversation with Ashley Sarnowski, co-founder of Sunnie Hunnies. As she explained, “We found our niche focus of super soft swimwear for newborns and toddlers in part because it was an issue that had come up within our own families. However, what really helped give us the drive to launch our own product was doing research and seeing that the type of products we were looking for didn’t really exist in the current market. Our research gave us the confidence that we could offer something unique in a crowded market.”

You can go outside your own experiences and get ideas for niche needs by surveying others in your potential target audience. You could start with family, friends or business associates, or you could go to internet communities and take part in their conversations.

Pay attention to the problems people are experiencing, the products or services they wish they had or the questions they are asking. Consider how these pain points and desires relate to your niche, and how you could use your skills and knowledge to provide a meaningful solution.

Aside from evaluating audience problems and needs, dig deeper so you can understand their buying behaviors and motivations. By more fully understanding the persona of your target audience, you won’t just be better able to develop an on-point niche product or service. You’ll also know how to market it effectively.

While your own personal experiences or anecdotes from friends and family can help you identify underserved needs, not all niche ideas are created equal. Before going all-in on a niche business idea, you should conduct keyword research to validate its potential.

According to NerdWallet, “If a keyword has under 500 searches per month, you are facing an uphill battle in terms of demand. ‘Ideally, you want between 1,000 to 2,000 searches per month. With a number like that, you can test your product without burning through cash.’”

On the other hand, if a keyword has a higher than expected volume of keyword searches, it may not be as niche or underserved as you originally anticipated. Tools like Google Trends can also help you see how interest in a keyword rises and falls over time, or whether a particular product or service experiences seasonal fluctuations in demand.

Just because other competitors already exist within your desired sub-niche doesn’t mean you can’t enter this space. Use your initial keyword research as a launchpad to identify what you can offer that is different or better so you can make a big impact in these smaller markets.

Niching down to find success

Finding the right products or services for the right niche can ultimately allow your business to become far more cost-effective and successful than if you tried to target a broad audience.

While focusing on a smaller niche means the total potential audience is smaller, brands that focus on a more specialized audience often become much more profitable. With less competition and the ability to engage in more highly targeted marketing, entrepreneurs can engender significant brand loyalty and word-of-mouth growth. By being one of the first to establish a foothold in your niche, you can also dominate SEO.

By putting in the effort to work with niche, underserved markets, you create a true win-win scenario for yourself and your customers.

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Need a Business Idea? Here Are 55. https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/need-a-business-idea-here-are-55/ Mon, 21 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/201588 This article has been excerpted from 55 Surefire Home Based Businesses You Can Start for Under $5,000 and other great resource books published by Entrepreneur Press .

Looking to launch a successful business but don’t know where to start? You’re not alone. Today, tens of thousands of people are considering starting their own business, and for good reasons. On average, people can expect to have two and three careers during their work life — and with the great resignation in full effect, many are looking to become their own boss or a small business owner. Those leaving one career often think about their second or third career move being one they can run out of their own home. The good news: Starting a home-based business is within the reach of almost anyone who wants to take a risk and work hard, as are a plethora of other low-cost ideas. Here are some business ideas to get you started.

1. ACCOUNTANT

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Create a flier outlining your services. Before you do that, you need to know what those services will be. Do you want to simply do bookkeeping for a small business? A more involved level of accounting would be to work up balance sheets, income statements, and other financial reports on a monthly, quarterly, and/or annual basis, depending on the needs of the business. Other specializations can include tax accounting, a huge area of potential work.

2. BICYCLE REPAIR

In many parts of the country, this business tends to be seasonal, but you can find ways around that. Rent a storage unit and offer to store people’s bicycles over the winter after you do a tune-up and any needed repairs on them. If you want to cater to the Lance Armstrong wannabes, you can have business all year round. These road race riders are training through snow, sleet and dark of night. Some of them work on their own bicycles, but many of them don’t, so you can get their business all year. And if you keep Saturday shop hours, you can be sure you will have a group of enthusiasts coming by to talk all things cycling.

3. BOAT CLEANING

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Boats that are hauled out of the water for the winter or even just for mid-season repairs will need the hull cleaned. And depending on the type of boat, it is a good time to give a major cleaning everything else too–the decks, the sleeping quarters, the head, and the holds. Start by approaching homes that have a boat sitting in the yard. Or you could market your services to the marina to contract you to do the boat cleaning it offers to customers.

4. BUSINESS PLAN SERVICE

Has expansion possibilities

Offer a soup-to-nuts business plan, including market research, the business plan narrative and the financial statements. Plan your fee around the main one that the client will want and offer the others as add-on services. You can give clients an electronic file and allow them to take it from there, or you can keep the business plan on file and offer the service of tweaking it whenever necessary. Have business plan samples to show clients–and make sure to include your own!

Read This: Write Your Business Plan by The Staff at Entrepreneur Media | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

5. RIDE-SHARING DRIVER

Getting paid to drive during your free time is a great way to make extra money. It won’t likely replace a full-time paycheck but can be a lucrative extra revenue stream or side hustle. According to Nerd Wallet , here is a break down of the income you can expect: “To make an annual income of $50,000, the average Uber driver needs to provide 60.21 rides each week, while those working for Lyft need to give 83.76 rides a week, and Sidecar drivers would have had to provide 72.03 rides in a week.”

6. CLEANING SERVICE

There are many directions you can take this small business idea. If you want to work during hours when no one else does, you can focus on office clients. You can focus on retail businesses and keep your customers clumped into one or two blocks. Restaurants are in great need of daily thorough cleaning and can be a great source of steady clients. Perhaps you would be more interested in house cleaning. Many times with cleaning services you don’t have to spend lots of money on advertising or marketing because your customers will come by word of mouth.

Read This: Start Your Own Cleaning Service by Entrepreneur Press and Jacquelyn Lynn | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

7. CHILDREN’S PARTY PLANNER

The children’s birthday party business is a multiple-million dollar industry, with the average American spending $500 per party. The book Start Your Own Kid-Focused Business tells you everything you need to know to get your own kid biz off the ground: from insurance costs to food and beverage selection to arranging unforgettable entertainment that gets lots of smiles and lots of referrals from happy customers.

8. CONSULTANT

Has expansion possibilities

To be a consultant, you need to have expertise in something so you can market yourself as an advisor to others looking to work in that area. Perhaps you managed several large warehouses in your career with a drugstore company, you did all the marketing for many years for a large shoe manufacturer or you set up a chain of beauty supply shops or take-out restaurants. You can use this experience to help others do similar things without making the same mistakes that you made along the way. A good calendar app will likely come in handy as time tracking is crucial to accurate billing.

Read This: Start Your Own Consulting Business by Entrepreneur Press and Eileen F. Sandlin | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

9. DOG WALKING

Experience, training, or licensing may be needed

Dog walkers take pooches out for their daily constitutional one or more times a day, either individually or in small groups. In some cities across the United States, like New York, dog walking alone can be a booming business. But it’s actually more common for dog walkers to offer additional services, including playing with and feeding pets, bringing in newspapers and mail, and turning lights on and off. You could even have fun with the marketing of your business on social media.

Read This: Start Your Own Pet Business and More by Entrepreneur Press and Eileen F. Sandlin | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

10. EBAY ASSISTANT

Do you have items lurking around your household that you could sell on eBay? Here’s a relatively straightforward online business idea: figure out your asking price and decide whether to auction it or put it in your eBay store. Then decide if you want a minimum bid and how long you want the auction to last. You will want to establish a PayPal account to use for transactions. The eBay website provides all the information you need to know to get up and running with an eBay business. Chatbots are offering creative new ways to help businesses with these functions.

Read This: eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies by Marsha Collier | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

From Editorial Services to Household Organizer

11. EDITORIAL SERVICES

Has expansion possibilities

Here are some of the freelance writing and editorial services you can provide from the quiet of your own home:

Copyediting. This is where fact checking takes place, and where grammatical, stylistic and typographical errors are caught.
Proofreading. This is the last stop for a “finished” piece. The proofreader makes sure the copyediting changes have been properly made and no new errors are created in the process.
Indexing. There are indexing courses available and you can get indexing software.
Developmental editing. A developmental editor works with a manuscript on big-picture things like organization and content issues.
Book doctoring. This is an editorial service provided for manuscripts written by experts. They create a manuscript as best they can and then a book doctor puts it into publishable shape.
Ghostwriting. As a ghost writer, you actually do the research and write the book and someone else’s name is attached as the author.
Copywriting. Also known as business writing, this is writing that promotes a product or a service.
Book writing. Do you have expertise in something professional, such as accounting or interior decorating? Or personally, like knitting? Why not write a book about it?
Magazine article writing. Magazines and newspapers are a great way to get your writing published before tackling the daunting task of writing a whole book.
Web page content provider. Providing content for a web site is a good way to make some money writing.

Read This: Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business and More by Entrepreneur Press and George Sheldon | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

12. ELECTRONICS REPAIR

Has expansion possibilities

This business is similar to the computer repair business, but you will take on all sorts of electronic equipment besides just computers. With smaller electronics, you will need to be prepared to have customers bring their repair projects to you, as you would have difficulty recovering the cost of driving around picking up broken equipment and returning it. You may also want to encourage people to give you their old electronics so you can use them for parts.

13. EVENT PLANNING

Has expansion possibilities

One of the first things you need to do is visit every potential event location with which you plan to work. Work with the marketing manager to tour each site and learn what is available at each location. Start a database that will allow you to sort venues by varying features, such as the number of people each site holds, AV equipment available on site, if you will need to arrange for rental chairs, etc. Then when you are beginning to plan an event with a client, you can find out what the key parameters are for the event and easily pull up the three or four sites that meet the basic criteria. and engagement parties, etc.

Read This: Start Your Own Event Planning Business by The Staff at Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

14. EXPERT WITNESS SERVICE

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

One way to make money in this field is by being an expert witness yourself. If you have expertise that could be useful in legal cases, you can market yourself to attorneys to act as an expert witness. Another way to be active in the expert witness field is to play a sort of matchmaker, matching attorneys up with expert witnesses for their cases–either for the defense or for the prosecution. Expert witnesses for big money cases can be expected to fly anywhere to testify. There’s no reason your database of witnesses can’t be from all parts of the country.

15. FINANCIAL PLANNER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

To start, you should go through the certification process so that you can label yourself a CFP (Certified Financial Planner). Your certificate shows that you have expertise and credibility, and this differentiation will help people choose you as their financial planner.

16. FLEA MARKET

Has expansion possibilities

People love to spend weekends rummaging through tables full of other people’s unwanted items, looking for treasures. Make sure to change your layout and put new stuff out for sale often. You want people to come back time and again to see what’s new. You don’t even have to have that much new stuff to make things look new. Just moving an item from a table to the top of a bookshelf might get it noticed, even though the item has been in your inventory since you first started having sales.

Read This: Flea Market America: The Complete Guide to Flea Enterprise by Cree McCree | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

17. GOLF COACH

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Let the local public courses know about your coaching business. Cultivate relationships with the staff and encourage them to recommend you as a coach. Another place to look for potential customers is in the corporate world. Golfing is a game that business people use to develop relationships outside the office. You do need to be a better than average golfer to develop a reputation as a golf coach. You also need to be a good teacher, know how to be motivational and be willing to work with many different types of people.

18. HOME ENERGY AUDITOR

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

All homeowners are always on the lookout for ways to save on their utility bills. You can come to their aid by providing them with an audit of their house and giving them a breakdown of how they could accomplish real savings in heating, cooling and electrical use. You can go one step further and do the implementation and installation of some of your suggestions in their home yourself. Do a complete appliance audit, with efficiency ratings and calculations based on the age of the appliance. And don’t forget the water heater!

Read This: Toward a Zero Energy Home: A Complete Guide to Energy Self-Sufficiency at Home by David Johnston and Scott Gibson | Amazon | Indigo.ca | Barnes & Noble

19. HOME INSPECTION

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

In order to be a successful business owner in this field, you will want to establish contacts with real estate agents who can recommend your services to customers. The home inspection field is one where you will need to do constant updating of your education and knowledge. New products are constantly coming out on the market–if you only know about decks made of wood, you will not know how to inspect and assess the new materials on the market, such as composites that are made to look like real wood. Also keep apprised of all safety updates of materials and issues with things like off-gassing, carbon monoxide production, and other chemical precautions.

Read This: Start Your Own Home Inspection Service by Entrepreneur Press | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

20. HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZER

Has expansion possibilities

You can choose either to do the organizing work or consult on the things that the homeowner could do to better organize themselves. Have a portfolio of different organizational scenarios in different rooms in the home and talk with the homeowner about the style he or she likes. Create checklists and questionnaires to understand how the family uses the home. Are the kids wildly busy with after-school activities? Or are they usually home after school and want access to their toys? Do they share rooms? All of these things will help you tailor an organizing plan and become a hero to potential customers and families.

From Import/Export to Solar Energy

21. IMPORT/EXPORT SPECIALIST

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

If you don’t already have work experience with importing and/or exporting, you will have a longer learning curve. You can start by learning the basics and hosting educational sessions to teach others what they need to know to get started in import/export. That alone would probably gain you your first couple of clients. If you keep going with educational seminars and expand your reach to outside your immediate region, you could probably develop a sufficient and ongoing customer base very quickly, but be careful not to outpace your learning curve.

Read This: Start Your Own Import/Export Business by Entrepreneur Press and Krista Turner | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

22. INTERIOR DECORATOR

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Market your talents to building contractors. People purchasing new homes can often be overwhelmed with the choices and possibilities in home decorating. Design some questionnaires for each major element and each major room in the house. Find out how the homeowner will use the home–are there children? Pets? Does the woman of the house wear high heels? Do the home’s residents neglect to remove shoes? How will each room be used? Where might task lighting and ambient lighting be most appropriate?

23. JEWELRY MAKING

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

There are many different ways of getting into the jewelry business and different types of materials with which you can work. Working in metal will probably require the most in the way of specific tools. You need to be able to heat the metal to manipulate it, and you need metalworking tools to cut and engrave it. But there are many other materials that you can work with to make jewelry–glass, plastic, beads, feathers, even wood, to name just a few.

Read This: Start Your Own Fashion Accessories Business by Entrepreneur Press and Eileen F. Sandlin | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

24. MARKETING COPYWRITER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

If you can write copy that gets people excited about purchasing what your client has to sell, you can make good money in this business. Unless you are highly experienced from working in the copywriting field, take a course. There are online courses or classes at community colleges and universities that can give you a leg up in getting savvy at writing copy for brochures, catalogs, advertising and, of course, marketing copy for the web.

25. NOTARY PUBLIC/JUSTICE OF THE PEACE

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

In most states in the U.S., a notary public is a state officer who is authorized to witness and attest to the legalities of certain documents by signature and stamping a seal. Most states require that you pass an exam and a background check. It costs very little to become a notary and your income from notary work is negligible. A justice of the peace typically performs wedding ceremonies. States have varying rules and procedures for becoming a JP and performing services. Becoming a JP and/or notary public does not cost much money. And it is not a big moneymaking venture! Many states set the fees you can charge for JP services. JPs can add additional fees, and often do, including travel and hourly rates for additional meetings such as rehearsals, other prep time and any special requests.

26. PERSONAL CONCIERGE

This small business idea is for someone who is supremely efficient and has the ability to make things happen. People who hire you will expect things when they want them and you need to be able to come through with not only what they want, but with a personal touch and a smile on your face. The most likely clients for a personal concierge service are top executives who find themselves at the office by 7 a.m. and are there most nights until 9 p.m., leaving them very little time to do all those things that often need to be done during those very hours.

Read This: Start Your Own Personal Concierge Service by Entrepreneur Press and Ciree Linsenman | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

27. PERSONAL TRAINER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Advertise your fitness skill and training services in places where everyone goes, like restaurants and grocery stores. Having a website and social media presence is a good idea–people want some privacy in their decision-making when it comes to getting fit. They can go to your website and determine if your approach to personal training is an approach that would work for them. It is important to emphasize the safety aspect of using a personal trainer. You can help clients get fit and avoid injury.

Read This: Start Your Own Personal Training Business by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | Indigo.ca | Barnes & Noble

28. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Your job, in the case of rental units, will be to make sure the property is running smoothly. For seasonal properties, you will most likely spend your management time making sure the property is ready for seasonal visits and well-maintained when no one is around. If the owners go away for six weeks in the winter, the property manager makes regular checks on the property. You will be the contact number if the security system operator needs to contact someone about a breach in security.

29. SMALL ENGINE REPAIR

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Most community colleges offer some level of engine-repair courses. Another way to learn would be to take a part-time position at a repair shop or a rental facility where you could learn on the job, although you will want to be open about your plans. You should be prepared to work on push-behind lawn mowers, riding lawn mowers, generators, garden tools such as rototillers and edgers, chainsaws, wood chippers and snowblowers. You need to decide whether you’ll want to take on bigger jobs, such as tractors, snowmobiles and ATVs; space may be your decision-maker.

30. SOLAR ENERGY CONSULTANT

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Has expansion possibilities

As a solar consultant, you can basically conduct a home inspection and give clients a report on their solar options for their particular home and site. This can range from full-fledged general solar installations that generate electricity to simple solar walkway lighting. You might want to start by working in a solar products company to become knowledgeable in the solar energy field. However, to be a consultant, it is often best not to be affiliated with any one company or product and be able to recommend products and options across the field of solar energy.

Read This: Solar Energy: Technologies and Project Delivery for Buildings by Andy Walker | Amazon | Indigo.ca | Barnes & Noble

From Tax Preparer to Graphic Design

31. TAX PREPARER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Most tax preparation franchises offer courses, seminars, and training to get you ready to work for them. You will learn a lot about tax preparation while working for them before going out on your own. There is a lot of educational support out there to learn tax preparation and all its complexities. And there are lots of individuals and businesses willing to spend a few hundred dollars a year to have someone else prepare their taxes and keep watch for tax breaks or tax burdens on their behalf.

32. MUSIC LESSONS

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Turn down the volume and listen up: your music skills are in high demand and could earn you between $50-$75 an hour. There are a few ways to approach running your own music business: you can be mobile and teach in your clients’ homes, or you can run it out of your own space (a separate building or designated area of your home.) To get started, try to connect with local music schools for part-time gigs, which will allow you to see if you really like it, and also help you build a reputation with potential clients.

33. UPHOLSTERING

If you have a knack for sewing, upholstery repair might be a perfect business idea for you. One of the best ways to learn how to upholster is to get some discarded upholstered furniture and start tearing it apart. Many books and some videos are available to help you learn this trade. Often furniture ready for upholstering will also need repairs. Have a list available of furniture repair people you can recommend to your customers. Or you can take the piece in, have repair people you work with do this work for you, and add it to the overall cost. You can also learn to do this work, especially minor repairs, yourself.

Read This: Spruce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Upholstery and Design by Amanda Brown | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

34. USED BOOK SALES

Almost everyone has a few boxes of books stashed away in the house somewhere. Why not make a business out of them? In order to gain customers–especially repeat customers–you will need to have some regular shop hours. Make your shop known for something-a specific category (or two) of books, having some first editions for sale, all paperbacks a dollar and all hardcovers two bucks, and/or a swap program. Maps, illustrations, postcards, greeting cards and magazines are good sidelines to include in your shop.

35. WEDDING PLANNER

You will need to be up-to-date on wedding trends and fads, dress styles, color trends–almost everything under the sun! Offer your customers an ala carte menu of services, from helping pick flowers, the wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses to picking the venue and hiring the caterer. Before you open your business, shop at all the wedding shops, and even pretend you are a bride-to-be to see what kinds of services the wedding gown shop provides and how they treat potential customers. You need to know every detail of the business to give the accurate impression that you are the go-to person for anyone planning a wedding.

Read This: Start Your Own Event Planning Business by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

$1,500 to 3,000 to start up

36. APPLIANCE REPAIR

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Every household has a number of appliances, large and small. You can work on your own or on contract with appliance stores to cover their warranty service calls–or, best of all, you can do some of each. Plan to start slow and build your customer base on recommendations and referrals based on work well done. Consider developing relationships with contractors to be the go-to person to install appliances in newly constructed houses.

37. COMPUTER TRAINING

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Has expansion possibilities

If you are proficient in both Macintosh and PC, you should offer training in both types of computers. You could probably make a living helping seniors learn how to use the internet and e-mail to keep in touch with their loved ones, who are now commonly spread around the country. Err on the side of caution in this business. People do not want to know all the details about what makes a computer work. If you overload them with information from the beginning by explaining bits, bytes, and megapixels, they will stick to their paper and pencil forever.

38. DESKTOP PUBLISHER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

You can use desktop publishing software to create newsletters, magazines, books or even marketing materials. You can create the content for your desktop publications, or you can pay a writer to create the content for you. Alternatively, you can advertise your desktop publishing services to design and create newsletters and books for others with their content.

39. FENCE INSTALLATIONS

Fences are everywhere. And they don’t last forever, so they need to be repaired and replaced with a certain amount of frequency. The most common fence material is wood. However, vinyl has become a popular fence choice due to its longevity and relative freedom from maintenance. Wrought iron is another common fencing, especially in urban environments. You can have fun shopping for vintage wrought iron fencing at salvage yards.

40. FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Despite the proliferation of the internet, print media is here to stay for the foreseeable future! Fliers, newsletters, magazines, information sheets, letters and advertisements are just a few of the types of print media that business hire freelancers to create for them. Websites and online advertising need graphic design services as well. Even if your expertise is only in design, offer the works for potential clients, including the editorial creation and the printing and even mailing of the final piece. You can line up regular freelancers for those parts of the job you can’t do.

Read This: Start Your Own Graphic Design Business by Entrepreneur Press and George Sheldon | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

From Gift Baskets to Rug Cleaning

41. GIFT BASKET SERVICE

Has expansion possibilities

Finding a niche is the best way to start out in the gift basket business. Are you a dog lover, horse enthusiast, or exercise guru who could put together baskets that hold the things that people with this interest would like? Do you already create a product that a gift basket could be built around? Have you made your own soaps for the past 10 years? A gift basket that included one or two of your soaps, hand lotion, a scrub brush and manicure kit could be a lovely basket to receive.

Read This: Start Your Own Gift Basket Service by Entrepreneur Press and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

42. GRAFFITI REMOVAL

Create an arsenal of cleaning products that can clean almost every kind of product (paint, chalk, markers) from every kind of surface (cement, wood, pavement). The best way to conduct a graffiti service is to offer a subscription-like arrangement. Once a month or whatever interval makes sense for your clients, go around to their property and clean off the graffiti. Charge them a monthly or quarterly fee and make it simple for everyone–they don’t have to think about graffiti, and you just do your job.

43. HAIRSTYLIST

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Hairstyling is a popular business idea that can be quite lucrative with the right skill and marketing. Generally a home based hairstylist business is likely to be started by someone who has already has a cosmetology career and wants a change. If you already have your cosmetology training and license, and loads of experience under your belt working in a hairstyling salon, you probably have a following that will follow you right home without any hesitation.

Read This: Start Your Own Hair Salon and Day Spa by Entrepreneur Press and Eileen F. Sandlin | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

4. HERBAL FARM STAND

As a budding entrepreneur, you’ll need to decide whether you will sell your herbs as live plants, picked or cut in bunches and packed, or dried. If you plan to market to cooks instead of gardeners, you will want to sell your herbs either fresh cut and packed in sealed bags, or dried and sold in baggies. You can also consider a “pick-your-own” arrangement; however, be aware that herbs are more delicate than most P.Y.O. products. You may save your garden a lot of strife and your plants a lot of wear and tear if you do the picking.

45. LANDSCAPER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

If you have a knack for this type of work, a degree won’t be necessary. Most people want their yards tidied up in the spring, their lawns mowed in the summer, their leaves removed in the fall, and their shrubs and driveways ready for winter snow. You will also want to offer garden work such as spring planting of annuals and perennials; vegetable garden preparation, planting and fall cleanup; pest control and watering. You can offer tree care service. There is plenty to do in the yard that has nothing to do with plants: stone wall restoration, fencing, irrigation system installation.

Read This: Start Your Own Lawn Care or Landscaping Business by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

46. MASSAGE THERAPIST

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

You will want to become certified in massage therapy to be able to effectively market your services. Courses that lead to certification include not only information on human anatomy and physiology and the effects that massage has on both, but also on how to make a business out of the field of massage. You could do either a certification program or an associate’s degree and stay within the $5,000 scope of this book.

Read This: Start Your Own Day Spa and More by Entrepreneur Press and Preethi Burkholder | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

47. MOVING SERVICE

Lots of people who are moving want to hire someone to do the heavy lifting for them. You can leave the large-scale, long-distance moving to the big moving companies. Your work can be the local, moving-across-town or to the town-next-door jobs. These are the ones that people start off thinking perhaps they could do themselves, and it will be your job to convince them otherwise. Your signs around town will tempt them to let you take care of that part of the move, while they are busy taking care of those other 500 items on their list.

48. FRANCHISE OWNER

The benefits of owning a franchise are many: you have a proven business model, a built-in brand and corporate support. And the good news, not every franchise will cost you millions of dollars to start. There are many you can start for less than $10,000, in fact, including: Dream Vacations , Cruise Planners and Jazzercise Inc.

49. PHOTOGRAPHER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Making money as a photographer can be done in a number of different ways. You can specialize in one area, the most common being weddings. There are niches you can explore for photography: portraits of people and their pets, families, and homes; photographs of holiday events, birthday parties or Christmas cards; the possibilities are endless.

Read This: Start Your Own Photography Business by Entrepreneur Press and Charlene Davis | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

50. RUG CLEANING

You will need to learn how to work with all kinds of carpet fabrics, from synthetic to wool carpets. Decide whether you will take on valuable antique carpets and family heirlooms; if so, you will want to get specialized training in how to handle these carpets and the specialized ways of cleaning them. Learn how to get tough stains and odors out of carpets–such as dog and cat odors–and your services will be in great demand.

From Websites to Pet Sitting

51. WEBSITE DEVELOPER

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Many courses exist (many of which, logically, are offered online) where you can learn the language of website creation and can learn about the details, like how to set up shopping cart systems, security concerns, etc. You will, of course, need to learn about each company you design for. What is the atmosphere of the company that you need to reflect in the website design–is it wild and contemporary, meaning brilliant colors and fun graphics? Or will more classic colors like black, navy blue and maroon be more appropriate?

52. BED AND BREAKFAST

Do you have a room that has its own bathroom and is private from the rest of the living space? Are you near attractions such as a tourist area, sports stadium or venue for a large annual event? Or is your home in the country with spring peepers, summer crickets and crisp fall nights that could give a city-dweller a weekend of peaceful living? Say you can rent the room for $150 a night for Friday and Saturday nights 48 weeks a year–that’s $14,400 in revenue! Utilize what you have and create a unique experience.

Read This: Start Your Own Bed and Breakfast by Entrepreneur Press and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

53. CHRISTMAS TREE SALES

If you want to start a Christmas tree farm, you need to plan ahead. It takes approximately seven years for a Balsam fir–perhaps the most traditional Christmas tree–to grow from a small sapling to a 5- to 6-foot tree. Selling your trees yourself is the best option. Consumers come to the property, pick the one they want, and you harvest it for them. The other option is to buy your trees from a wholesaler and sell them either in your yard or in a vacant lot that you rent from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

54. DAY CARE

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Perhaps you love children, or you have children of your own and the idea of taking care of a few more for part of the day appeals to you. Childcare needs continue to soar in the United States. Many people prefer the option of their child being cared for in a home environment while they are at work, as opposed to a more institutional-like setting. These things mean that a home-based childcare business can get off and running immediately.

Read This: Start Your Own Child-Care Service by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Jacquelyn Lynn | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

55. PET SITTING

Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Starting a pet sitting service requires almost nothing in startup costs. You do need some general credentials that will cost little or nothing to acquire. Your list of credentials should probably include personal pet ownership–if not currently, at least in the past–as well as other pet-related experience, including working at a pet food store, an animal hospital or other animal-related business. You will need to spend a little to become “bonded.” This is known as “honesty insurance,” and ensures your clients that you won’t get their house keys and make off with their valuables (or that they’ll get their money back if you do).

Read This: Start Your Own Pet Sitting Business and More by Entrepreneur Press and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

From Editorial Services to Household Organizer

11. EDITORIAL SERVICES
Has expansion possibilities

Here are some of the editorial services you can provide from the quiet of your own home:

Copyediting. This is where fact checking takes place, and where grammatical, stylistic and typographical errors are caught.
Proofreading. This is the last stop for a “finished” piece. The proofreader makes sure the copyediting changes have been properly made and no new errors are created in the process.
Indexing. There are indexing courses available and you can get indexing software.
Developmental editing. A developmental editor works with a manuscript on big-picture things like organization and content issues.
Book doctoring. This is an editorial service provided for manuscripts written by experts. They create a manuscript as best they can and then a book doctor puts it into publishable shape.
Ghostwriting. As a ghost writer, you actually do the research and write the book and someone else’s name is attached as the author.
Copywriting. Also known as business writing, this is writing that promotes a product or a service.
Book writing. Do you have expertise in something professional, such as accounting or interior decorating? Or personally, like knitting? Why not write a book about it?
Magazine article writing. Magazines and newspapers are a great way to get your writing published before tackling the daunting task of writing a whole book.
Web page content provider. Providing content for a web site is a good way to make some money writing.

Read This: Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business and More by Entrepreneur Press and George Sheldon | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

12. ELECTRONICS REPAIR
Has expansion possibilities

13. EVENT PLANNING
Has expansion possibilities

Read This: Start Your Own Event Planning Business by The Staff at Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

14. EXPERT WITNESS SERVICE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

15. FINANCIAL PLANNER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

16. FLEA MARKET
Has expansion possibilities

Read This: Flea Market America: The Complete Guide to Flea Enterprise by Cree McCree | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

17. GOLF COACH
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Let the local public courses know about your coaching business. Cultivate relationships with the staff and encourage them to recommend you as a coach. Another place to look for customers is in the corporate world. Golfing is a game that business people use to develop relationships outside the office. You do need to be a better than average golfer to develop a reputation as a golf coach. You also need to be a good teacher, know how to be motivational and be willing to work with many different types of people.

18. HOME ENERGY AUDITOR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Read This: Toward a Zero Energy Home: A Complete Guide to Energy Self-Sufficiency at Home by David Johnston and Scott Gibson | Amazon | Indigo.ca | Barnes & Noble

Getty Images | David Sacks

19. HOME INSPECTION
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

In order to be successful, you will want to establish contacts with real estate agents who can recommend your services to customers. The home inspection field is one where you will need to do constant updating of your education and knowledge. New products are constantly coming out on the market–if you only know about decks made of wood, you will not know how to inspect and assess the new materials on the market, such as composites that are made to look like real wood. Also keep apprised of all safety updates of materials and issues with things like off-gassing, carbon monoxide production, and other chemical precautions.

Read This: Start Your Own Home Inspection Service by Entrepreneur Press | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

20. HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZER
Has expansion possibilities

From Import/Export to Solar Energy

21. IMPORT/EXPORT SPECIALIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Read This: Start Your Own Import/Export Business by Entrepreneur Press and Krista Turner | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

22. INTERIOR DECORATOR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

23. JEWELRY MAKING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

There are many different ways of getting into the jewelry business and many different types of materials with which you can work. Working in metal will probably require the most in the way of specific tools. You need to be able to heat the metal to manipulate it, and you need metalworking tools to cut and engrave it. But there are many other materials that you can work with to make jewelry–glass, plastic, beads, feathers, even wood, to name just a few.

Read This: Start Your Own Fashion Accessories Business by Entrepreneur Press and Eileen F. Sandlin | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

24. MARKETING COPYWRITER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

25. NOTARY PUBLIC/JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

26. PERSONAL CONCIERGE

This business is for someone who is supremely efficient and has the ability to make things happen. People who hire you will expect things when they want them and you need to be able to come through with not only what they want, but with a personal touch and a smile on your face. The most likely clients for a personal concierge service are top executives who find themselves at the office by 7 a.m. and are there most nights until 9 p.m., leaving them very little time to do all those things that often need to be done during those very hours.

Read This: Start Your Own Personal Concierge Service by Entrepreneur Press and Ciree Linsenman | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

27. PERSONAL TRAINER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Advertise your services in places where everyone goes, like restaurants and grocery stores. Having a website is a good idea–people want some privacy in their decision-making when it comes to getting fit. They can go to your website and determine if your approach to personal training is an approach that would work for them. It is important to emphasize the safety aspect of using a personal trainer. You can help clients get fit and avoid injury.

Read This: Start Your Own Personal Training Business by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | Indigo.ca | Barnes & Noble

28. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

29. SMALL ENGINE REPAIR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

30. SOLAR ENERGY CONSULTANT
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Has expansion possibilities

Read This: Solar Energy: Technologies and Project Delivery for Buildings by Andy Walker | Amazon | Indigo.ca | Barnes & Noble

From Tax Preparer to Graphic Design

31. TAX PREPARER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

32. MUSIC LESSONS
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Turn down the volume and listen up: your music skills can earn you between $50—$75 an hour. There are a few ways to approach running your own music biz: you can be mobile and teach in your clients’ homes, or you can run it out of your own space (a separate building or designated area of your home.) To get started, try to connect with local music schools for part-time gigs, which will allow you to see if you really like it, and also help you build a reputation with clients.

Getty Images | Jetta Productions

33. UPHOLSTERING

If you have a knack for sewing, upholstery repair might be a perfect business for you. One of the best ways to learn how to upholster is to get some discarded upholstered furniture and start tearing it apart. Many books and some videos are available to help you learn this trade. Often furniture ready for upholstering will also need repairs. Have a list available of furniture repair people you can recommend to your customers. Or you can take the piece in, have repair people you work with do this work for you, and add it to the overall cost. You can also learn to do this work, especially minor repairs, yourself.

Read This: Spruce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Upholstery and Design by Amanda Brown | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

34. USED BOOK SALES

35. WEDDING PLANNER

Read This: Start Your Own Event Planning Business by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

$1,500 to 3,000 to start up

36. APPLIANCE REPAIR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

37. COMPUTER TRAINING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Has expansion possibilities

38. DESKTOP PUBLISHER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

39. FENCE INSTALLATIONS

40. FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Read This: Start Your Own Graphic Design Business by Entrepreneur Press and George Sheldon | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

From Gift Baskets to Rug Cleaning

41. GIFT BASKET SERVICE
Has expansion possibilities

Finding a niche is the best way to start out in the gift basket business. Are you a dog lover, horse lover, or exercise guru who could put together baskets that hold the things that people with this interest would like? Do you already create a product that a gift basket could be built around? Have you made your own soaps for the past 10 years? A gift basket that included one or two of your soaps, hand lotion, a scrub brush and manicure kit could be a lovely basket to receive.

Read This: Start Your Own Gift Basket Service by Entrepreneur Press and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

42. GRAFFITI REMOVAL

43. HAIRSTYLIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Hairstyling is a popular business that can be quite lucrative. Generally a home based hairstylist business is likely to be started by someone who has already has a cosmetology career and wants a change. If you already have your cosmetology training and license, and loads of experience under your belt working in a hairstyling salon, you probably have a following that will follow you right home without any hesitation.

Read This: Start Your Own Hair Salon and Day Spa by Entrepreneur Press and Eileen F. Sandlin | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

4. HERBAL FARM STAND
You need to decide whether you will sell your herbs as live plants, picked or cut in bunches and packed, or dried. If you plan to market to cooks instead of gardeners, you will want to sell your herbs either fresh cut and packed in sealed bags, or dried and sold in baggies. You can also consider a “pick-your-own” arrangement; however, be aware that herbs are more delicate than most P.Y.O. products. You may save your garden a lot of strife and your plants a lot of wear and tear if you do the picking.

45. LANDSCAPER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Read This: Start Your Own Lawn Care or Landscaping Business by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

46. MASSAGE THERAPIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Read This: Start Your Own Day Spa and More by Entrepreneur Press and Preethi Burkholder | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

47. MOVING SERVICE

48. FRANCHISE OWNER

49. PHOTOGRAPHER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Read This: Start Your Own Photography Business by Entrepreneur Press and Charlene Davis | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

50. RUG CLEANING

From Websites to Pet Sitting

51. WEBSITE DEVELOPER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Offer: Get a 10-day free trial to Lynda.com and learn web development – among many other topics and courses – anytime, anywhere.

52. BED AND BREAKFAST

Read This: Start Your Own Bed and Breakfast by Entrepreneur Press and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

53. CHRISTMAS TREE SALES

54. DAY CARE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Perhaps you love children. Perhaps you have children of your own and the idea of taking care of a few more for part of the day appeals to you. Childcare needs continue to soar in the United States. Many people prefer the option of their child being cared for in a home environment while they are at work, as opposed to a more institutional-like setting. These things mean that a home-based childcare business can get off and running immediately.

Read This: Start Your Own Child-Care Service by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media and Jacquelyn Lynn | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

55. PET SITTING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Starting a pet sitting service requires almost nothing in start-up costs. You do need some general credentials that will cost little or nothing to acquire. Your list of credentials should probably include personal pet ownership–if not currently, at least in the past–as well as other pet-related experience, including working at a pet food store, an animal hospital or other animal-related business. You will need to spend a little to become “bonded.” This is known as “honesty insurance,” and ensures your clients that you won’t get their house keys and make off with their valuables (or that they’ll get their money back if you do).

Read This: Start Your Own Pet Sitting Business and More by Entrepreneur Press and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble

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Finding Your Blank Space is Key to Designing Your Destiny https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/finding-your-blank-space-is-key-to-designing-your-destiny/ Sat, 05 Mar 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/417030

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Every entrepreneur has passion, energy and hope, but these qualities alone do not suffice. You also need a clear and prescient vision for a need in the market that your product can meet. Essentially, you need to find a blank space and a brilliant way to fill it.

More than four decades ago, I discovered my own blank space. I loved my life as a teacher of art, music and writing in public elementary schools, and helped my students see that these subjects were as essential to human invention and problem-solving as science and math. I became so passionate about this pedagogical approach that I dreamt of creating an entire university devoted to creative invention.

But how would this new college stand apart? What need would it meet, that every other art school in the U.S. wasn’t already meeting? I pored over course catalogs, curriculum guides, studies on art and design education. I reached out to friends in higher education, considered my own graduate and undergraduate education and where it had been lacking. I interviewed alumni from prestigious studio programs. What do they wish their alma maters had done differently?

“I wish they’d taught me how not to be a starving artist,” more than one person sardonically offered, with a laugh. My attention was piqued. They spoke fondly of their educational experiences, all the technique and languid studio days, but mourned how their professors taught them nothing about how to monetize their talents into a sustained creative career. Here was my blank space. I would create a new university that prepared students for creative careers. Our motto: No starving artists.

In 1978, this was heresy. To marry the words “creative” and “career” in a college course catalog was unthinkable back then. I carefully crafted our mission statement for prospective students and families, and 44 years later, while this statement has been refined (a word here, a clause there), its essence remains remarkably the same: to prepare students for creative careers.

SCAD has grown to three locations on two continents and is one of the largest art and design universities on the planet. But what hasn’t changed is that we’ve never wavered from our mission statement. This mission informs every decision we make. We don’t add new programs just because they’d be fun to teach or because they’d look prestigious and appealing in the catalog.

How to find your mission

Once you’ve articulated the need your startup will meet for your client, you’ve got to check every new idea against that mission statement.

As an example, look at Reese Witherspoon. Now in her 40s, Witherspoon noticed the roles she was being offered were woefully condescending. She saw a need for a studio that wrote, produced and created intelligent, entertaining content for women. With this in mind, Witherspoon started her media company, Hello Sunshine, with an equally crystalline intention: to change the narrative for women in film.

Witherspoon’s company creates films, TV shows, and podcasts that “put women at the center of every story.” Hello Sunshine’s wild success — Big Little Lies, The Morning Show and Little Fires Everywhere, among others — are critically acclaimed, top performers among the streaming services they live on. The company is valued at $900 million, because Hello Sunshine holds fast to its founding intention, refusing to accept the status quo that sidelines women in entertainment. Her studio meets an urgent need, producing powerful stories about women, for women, by women.

Leadership presents a series of decisions. Through choices and actions, we create our realities. If you want to lead successfully, you must first recognize the blank space in the market and how your enterprise will fill that space with elegance and invention.

As you design your destiny, I encourage you to think about what may seem deceptively simple: that resonant phrase, packed with punch, that maps your mission. Just as every word in an essay must support its thesis, every element of your business must propel your vision forward. Find your voice. Meet a need. See the blank space and fill it with your whole heart.

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What Thomas Edison’s Relationship With Jazz Teaches Us About Innovation https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/what-thomas-edisons-relationship-with-jazz-teaches-us-about-innovation/ Thu, 03 Mar 2022 21:30:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/415875

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

While Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor, he was passionate and vocal in his dislike for jazz. He was famously quoted for saying the music sounded better when it was played backward. Ironically, it was his most-prized invention, the phonograph, that enabled the newly-created musical art form to reach a wide audience quickly. The anomaly of contradiction continues to grow as there is now a coveted Dutch music award known as the ‘Edison Award’ that acknowledges personal contribution and advances in music. Many of the recipients have been significant contributors to Jazz.

Edison ignored the musical art form by not considering that Jazz might have any beneficial contribution at all. A very powerful and well-known man at the time, Edison used his power to shame anyone who might consider Jazz music by mocking the music and saying it sounded better by being played backward. As with most disruptive innovations, even the force of disapproval from someone influential like Thomas Edison could not squash the momentum that was being built as musicians filled with hope and possibility began to explore and experiment.

While not directly regulated, Jazz was subject to the regulation of prohibition. Jazz flourished in Speakeasies where people congregated in the underground to drink alcohol, profess their anger against the establishment and dance. In this free and alcohol-influenced environment, Jazz musicians were not constrained by “official” culture from exploring and experimenting. The guitarist could lead, a flute could be played and themes were toyed with as what would become a renowned American art form evolved.

Edison’s refusal to entertain or even spend a moment considering that Jazz might be a viable musical art form is a clear example of two of the three of the worst responses to change: ignoring, shaming and regulating. The same process occurs when a new or innovative idea is introduced in the workplace. The best of us will fall into the dangerous ignoring, shaming and in the most extreme cases, wonder where the regulation is to contain the emerging chaos.

I am reluctant to admit that sometimes I am not a fan of the new music I am hearing, but I’m sure that I’m not the only one who is somewhat bothered by it. The same goes for the workplace. There is often an extreme resistance to new ideas that don’t come from the senior leadership team, and of course, there is equal resistance to ideas that do come from them. When all employees ⁠— without reference to title or power ⁠— can’t explore new ideas, the business always suffers. After all, the organization is leaving the untapped potential of the people closest to the work stagnant.

The danger of ignoring, shaming and over-regulating

Unfortunately, when ideas become mainstream and mature, they can suffer the same barriers they initially overcame. Ignoring, shaming and over-regulating is dangerous to the future of any organization because they distract employees, leaders and investors from understanding and embracing innovation.

To stay relevant, we must meet challenges, trends and new realities head-on, no matter how uncomfortable they might make us or how skeptical we are. If you find yourself embracing any of the debilitating three qualities that squelch innovation, challenge yourself to embrace a new idea or concept. Evaluate the idea through a balanced lens considering what could happen, versus creating barriers to protect the current system. There is no risk in exploring ideas.

The world is small and accessible, and available knowledge is limitless. Our business ecosystems ⁠—which include our suppliers, partners, employees, customers and surrounding community ⁠— contain unlimited resources that are available if we are willing to look beyond false barriers and become open to using what is readily available. Title and hierarchy are not important when creating and innovating. Ideas can come from the top, the bottom and the middle.

We all have to be ready when the spotlight shines on us. The guitarist or the drummer may lead in a jazz ensemble, and when the light shines on them they know it’s their turn to shine and show what they have. The music they create at that moment will be unique to them and never repeated in quite the same way.

Miles Davis said, “Time isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing.” Time is our only resource. We have more freedom and flexibility in the workplace than ever. We cannot even imagine what is possible with individual contribution and boundless collaboration. Alternatively, we will never know what we could have contributed individually if we don’t fully show up and use the time and resources we have to the fullest extent.

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What is Your Value Proposition? https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/what-is-your-value-proposition/ Fri, 25 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/417591

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Entrepreneurship is one of the most exciting journeys anybody can embrace. When we start with our business, we assume everybody will love and understand what we have to offer. But the main challenge in sales is not money or the price but not making our value clear to our potential clients.

As we compete in a saturated market and find ourselves struggling to sell, we have to ask ourselves these questions — what is my value to others?, and why do my clients need me over others?

The value proposition is a common term within creative agencies. However, most entrepreneurs have no experience doing these strategy sessions and miss implementing this critical step. As a result, they do not know the reason why their sales are low. As part of our sales journey, we have to come back to this question — what is our value?

There are many steps to consider to define our value proposition. Keep in mind there is a process of strategy and brainstorming to find it and it can take many sessions to perfect it. Below are some of my recommendations for you to consider so you can gain a better understanding as you pursue sales.

What is your product? What does it solve and why do you think it is worth it?

Remember the price of your product should not only be based on the production costs or what you want to make, but also on the value and impact it has on your customers.

Know your target market

You may be aiming at the wrong segmentation. Perhaps you consider your product is for high-paying clients while your value is actually for low-budget clients. Accepting this will allow you to position your value and the price accordingly. Be realistic.

Define all the solutions your product offers

Think of the short-term and long-term effects, and put a price on each. Also, I recommend comparing them to your competition with details — explore the advantages and disadvantages. You may find your value is greater or less than you previously thought.

Do not be modest in your communication

Often we overlook how much value we have to offer. We focus on the description of our services, the logistics and the legal aspects. But not expressing enough how much impact we can create for our clients or customers.

Put yourself in your client’s place

Imagine how the experience will be for them. Will they use your products for a long time or a short period? Knowing this will help you understand your value.

Understand the difference between wanting something, needing something or both.

Sometimes we are confident to know what others need and we assume our assumptions are correct, but we do not really know for sure the lives of others. When we understand that our products address a desire, a need or both, we can be clear on our value, our price and who to market it to.

Don’t ignore the emotional aspect

Sales are tied to emotions. A potential client may sit and postpone buying a product that will be a solution for something that is needed. They may make an impulse buy or expensive transaction on something that instantly changes their mood, such as a vacation. It makes no sense but people spend faster on things that they know will make them feel better, no matter the cost. So to find your value, determine how your product can connect to their emotions and make them feel better. Addressing pain points, in my opinion, can create a resentful reaction, and fear of being manipulated. We all are seeking to feel good, so find your value with this intention.

Work with experts to do creative and strategy sessions

Explore your customer journey and the impact your product offers. Creative people are always thinking outside the box, exploring all possible scenarios.

Remember, our value is constantly evolving. Our clients and we, as business owners, will change as well. So our value is something we constantly have to revisit. The more we place ourselves seeking sales, the more we will be forced to understand what we have to offer. Don’t give up, just keep learning your uniqueness and you’ll get there.

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How to Find Purpose in Your Business Projects https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/how-to-find-purpose-in-your-business-projects/ Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/415473

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Does a business project need a purpose? Throughout history, there are examples of projects that seemingly held no purpose when initially conceived. Yet, they became wildly successful after they were implemented. From famous buildings to technological innovations, many projects had proven their usefulness over the years. Even when it wasn’t apparent what that would be at the time of their conception. Does this mean that a business project should have a purpose when initially conceived? Or does it suggest that good business projects eventually find their place in the world? Considering a goal for a project relies on what the project will ultimately be used for.

A good starting point

The business use case is a great starting point for determining the project’s value. However, time and time again, executives will have seen how a project might not have a specific business use case. But it turned out to be priceless in solving a problem the business might not have yet encountered. Unfortunately, the company doesn’t have the kind of money to keep investing in projects without any real purpose attached to them. Determining the worth of a project is more than simply picking the ones that benefit the company today. It’s about spotting those that can enhance the company in the future and even set it up as a leader in the industry.

Suppose a project is expected to fit under a specific budget and be completed within a particular time frame. If it goes over those constraints; many businesses would simply cut their losses. Yet there are many projects that have shown their worth today that have gone through similar teething issues. The Sydney Opera House and the Empire State Building are both projects that took longer than initially proposed and went way over budget. But both stand as monuments to their respective countries. They didn’t have the same purpose when they were conceived that they adopted over time. They remain examples of projects that could have been shut down because they went over budget. If the business use case is just the starting point, where does a business go from there to determine whether it’s worth putting the time and effort into completing the project?

Why a business case isn’t the only rationale

Businesses put substantial resources into building the case for a project’s implementation. They need to understand the project and its potential impact on the company before implementing it. This approach usually requires in-depth research into the project itself and what it can offer. The downside of this approach is that it relies on individuals who may have a vested interest in seeing a project succeed. In these cases, regardless of the analysis and downsides of the project, it may still find ardent supporters that lead to its implementation. Completing projects means having a viable use case in addition to its purpose. A survey done by PriceWaterhouseCooper notes that only 2.5 percent of companies complete 100 percent of their projects, a shockingly small number.

Building purpose into a project

So how does a business ingrain purpose into a project? The goal of a project might be as simple as answering a question that could benefit the company’s bottom line or its employee engagement. It could be even more complicated, like examining what the company does differently from its competitors and determining the customer sentiment in either case. Hard, concrete statistical analysis might offer insights into a business’s processes. These business processes may have technical and statistical insights that the company wants to meet. However, setting too high a bar on these might constrain the project or make its goals unachievable. It’s important when setting these goals that the business looks at what it can achieve within a limited time. Building on that success is much better than achieving a massive goal in one effort.

To build purpose into a project requires looking at the reason it exists. This reason must go deeper than just being a vehicle for making money. The project must have importance to the business and those who work on it. The employees dedicated to the project are likely to give it purpose. Employees’ intrinsic motivations impart a drive to the project that nothing else can. This inherent motivation makes a project stand out and has meaning even beyond its profitability. But why should a business even consider being purpose-driven? Are there any intrinsic benefits to ingraining purpose into its projects?

The benefits of purpose to businesses

The EY Beacon Institute contends that purpose-driven businesses are up to 2.5 times more effective at driving transformation and innovation than their peers. But how do they consistently do that? Their success stems from the purpose behind their project implementations. Employees who see the project’s goal have a vested interest in seeing it succeed. This vested interest makes them emotionally attached to the project, and emotions are powerful. For businesses to achieve this, they need leaders that can spot the innate talent that an employee may have for a project and help them see the purpose for that implementation. This methodology goes deeper than metrics or return on investment. When a project connects to an employee’s feelings, it transcends these mundane business measures and takes on a life of its own.

Finding out the why of a project

One of the most effective ways of determining a project’s purpose is constantly asking why. One answer usually leads to another question, and so on. Choosing the more profound meaning for the project allows the business to maximize its benefits. Unfortunately, not all projects have a relevant end to this chain of questioning. Even a mind map online can only take the questions so far. If the business doesn’t find a relevant reason for the purpose’s existence by the end of that chain of whys, it may not have any innate purpose. Questions designed to outline the project’s timeline, deliverables and impact are crucial to determining if the project deserves to reach its conclusion. Cutting the business’s losses on a project might not look good on paper, but it’ll save the business time and money in the long run. Finding out the why of a project helps connect employees and the business to its innate purpose. Sometimes that’s the most crucial element towards ensuring its completion and seeing its benefits to the organization.

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Why Staying Grounded as a Founder is More Important Than Raising Capital https://ngedemo.com/curatedweb/why-staying-grounded-as-a-founder-is-more-important-than-raising-capital/ Mon, 21 Feb 2022 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/415919

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I’m the founder of a social impact startup. No, you won’t find me on a 30 Under 30 list. You also won’t find any articles about our software on Techcrunch — even though we’ve invented two natural language processing algorithms and have nearly $2 million in booked annual recurring revenue. We work with more than two dozen major institutions (Fortune 500s, international nonprofits and major state agencies). We have raised nearly $1 million in capital, and we are thriving as a startup. And this is not because we are experiencing product market fit.

On the contrary, it is because our company focuses on who we are and who our customers are more than we focus on numbers. Our values and authenticity have allowed us to carve a space in existing markets. We’ve been able to align ourselves with people who have felt othered in their methods of thinking. Let’s take startup leadership for example: the general expectation is that startup founders should be extremely active on social media to build your personal brand because as they say, at early stages the founder is the brand.

As a startup founder, I maintain a low profile on social media by only posting on Twitter and Linkedin occasionally and sharing very limited aspects of my personal life. I have always been this way and while I felt the pressure to change my behaviors to help my startup succeed I ultimately chose not to. There was no data showing a direct correlation between our sales and my tweets or between social activity and acquiring new investors. Staying off social media has helped me maintain sanity but most importantly use that time for strategy and sales.

Being semi-incognito also results in less stories in major publications like Techcrunch or Forbes; honestly, sometimes I do think of what this can do for our company. But again, I go back to the data and have seen founders featured in these publications and still yield no revenue and no consistent growth. Every time I have considered going the traditional path of what I see founders do, I go back to the values of our team and our customers. Because this is what constitutes our company.

The question every founder should ask themselves

One thing I remain cognizant of is the fact that every social group, every institution is made up of people who have similar values. Within their social or institutional systems it is those values that foster a common set of values, language and symbolism that develops a culture you all commit to. It took me some time to figure this out and get off the pop culture startup wave that can draw one in so easily. However, once I did figure this out, mapping our values and using those to stay grounded became natural.

Our focus as a company and my ethos as a leader has always been about challenging the status quo. So every day, when I ask myself the question, am I doing this for the right reason for my business?, I also ask myself, am I doing this for the mission that we serve? By asking myself this question every day, I started to map out the core of what I do and why my team and I were so committed to this mission. At first, it started with small words and a recognition of the obvious things: a lot of team members have tattoos, we all believe current social systems should change, we all honor we are intersectional beings.

Over time these small phrases grew into core values that now feed three rules we live by:

1. Focus on sustainability, not scaling at a fast rate

Simple, right? However, most startups will focus on cash burn and having enough money to spend. Then focus on their next fundraise so that they have enough money to burn through all over again. They don’t focus as much on revenue models in early stages. Before they know it, they have burned through their capital and need to raise again. Fun fact: I had one investor tell me on a call that I am not focused enough on getting money back to investors. Rather, I need to create a strategy that is focused on my exit and work backwards. And I completely disagree. That’s not what I need to do. What I need to do is create a business that is sustainable and that can weather economic times. And if the economy falls apart, my business is still surviving. This is why we grew 10X in the middle of a pandemic. This is why we’re projected to grow another 10X this year. And this is why, even if we don’t raise another round, we will still survive and scale at this rate. Because we’re building a business that’s based on sustainability, not on how much cash we burn through. So ask yourself: Are we profitable? Are we putting money to the side for our reserves? Are we safe for a rainy day and not based on investors but our actual cash and what we’re growing? This is just how businesses used to operate before venture capital. People tend to forget that VC only came around in the mid-1900s. Businesses have thrived for thousands of years without it.

2. Our greatest investors are our team

Our team is really diverse and at the end of the day, everyone has their own personal focus and personal beliefs. But one thing we can come together on common ground and say is that the change that we are working towards is something we really care about. And so we design our interview and our hiring practice to be focused on that. And honestly, sometimes team members don’t. In addition to that, it’s not only about finding the right team, it’s about retaining them. Our minimum salary is $70,000. Our benefits focus on equity, mental wellness and making sure our team members are the key investors in our business. Our board and investors are also committed to this value, ensuring that we are developing our team and creating a company where they can thrive.

3. Our best advice comes from customers

I’ve taken time and we will continue to take time to listen to our customers. To understand what features they want, why they care and then find that line that connects all of our customers together. When we look at our business, that line is the groups of people working in corporations, government and nonprofit organizations who have dedicated their lives to listening to community members. They are actively working towards the benefit of people. And that is something that’s beyond demographics. When they tell you to make a user persona and you’re writing, oh, it’s a female and she’s 45 years old and this is her title. That is one thing, and sometimes that can work for you. It honestly can if you’re trying to automate your marketing. But if you look a little bit deeper, you’ll see that there’s a common belief system and a set of values, actions and philosophies that many of your customers have. And that’s what we built into our customer persona, not some set of demographics that kind of describe what they look like and the things that they do on the weekends. But it’s actually a set of values. And by looking at that even deeper, we’re able to repeat the sales cycle and find those people over and over again. So they can finally see something in the market that is a tool that they want to use that aligns with their beliefs and value systems.

Capital is nice, but staying grounded is way better

I look at many of the startups today that are trying to do things that are great, create a new vision for the world and a lot of them really are doing things that are great. But I also speak to a ton of founders who are terrified of pushing against the status quo. Even though they really want to. Because if they push against the status quo, they can’t get the big funder they want.

My honest response to this is always: but is that what you need? Yes, a lot of startups depending on the sector absolutely need upfront capital to build their company. I truly understand that but we also have been conditioned to believe this. Because honestly, without startups asking for capital, VC as an industry would die. They need us, we may not need them.

You did not build your business for investors or splashy headlines. You built it to solve a customer problem and your team will continue to build it to solve that problem at scale. No word matters more than that of your customer and there is no greater investor in your business than the team you hired. With that at your core, you can truly change the world.

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