55 Business Ideas to Get You Started as an Entrepreneur

You want to get started as an entrepreneur but you are not sure about what type of business to start. It seems like all the good business ideas are taken so there is no way you can compete.

Well, that is where you are wrong.

The world is a huge place with billions of people. There is always an opportunity for a new business to penetrate an existing marketplace.

So what are you waiting for to start your own business?

Listed below are 55 businesses you can start to get your entrepreneur journey going with very less or no investment at all.

Related article : What’d I Wish I Known Before Starting My Own Business

1. ACCOUNTANT

Every business needs an accountant to handle their finances, especially as they grow and their finances become more complex. When choosing to become an accountant you need to know what services you will be offering. Many accountants do entry level bookkeeping for small businesses. Accountants who want to offer a wide range of accounting services provide balance sheets, income statements, and other financial reports on a monthly, quarterly, and/or annual basis. Another specialized service for accountants is taxes, a seasonal business that can be very lucrative. With so many business processes that a business owner has to manage, they would much rather get an accountant to handle the headaches of taxes.

2. BICYCLE REPAIR

This business tends to be seasonal, due to fall and winter months, but that could lead to other business opportunities. Renting a storage unit in order to store people’s bicycles over the winter would be an idea that earns you money during the off  season. If your target market is serious professional riders, you can have business all year round. These professional will train through rain, snow, and sleet.

3. BOAT CLEANING

Boats that are not in use during the winter will need to be cleaned. Begin your business by approaching homes that have a boat sitting in the yard. You could also market your services to boat docks as a contractor to do the boat cleaning it offers to its customers.

4. BUSINESS PLAN SERVICE

Every serious business owner who wants a long-term business will need a business plan. You can offer comprehensive business plans that cover market research, the business plan narrative, and key financial statements. Your rate should be based on the main service a client will want and you can offer the other services as an upsell. You have the option to provide clients an electronic file of the business plan, or you can keep the business plan on file and offer the service updating information when changes are needed. Business plan samples are a must to show clients in order to show your level of work provided.

5. CLEANING SERVICE

This business can be operated in many different directions. If you prefer to work during hours when no one else is around to get in your way, office clients would be your target market. Focusing on retail businesses allows you to keep your customers close to one another, limiting your travel to one particular area. Restaurants must be thoroughly cleaned daily, making them a great source of steady clients. House cleaning is always a good option, with lots of customers to serve. Cleaning services don’t require you to spend lots of money on advertising and marketing – customers generally come by word of mouth.

6. COMPUTER REPAIR

You will be required to understand the main types of software that system users will want which includes : word processing, photoshop software, design software, and security software. Understand the in and out of computer components including: keyboards, f mouses, printers, and scanners. You will have to know about the different internet service providers offered in the market area you plan to cover. In order to be successful, you must establish yourself as the expert who can satisfy the needs of personal computer users, small businesses, or larger corporations. Experience and training  will be needed for this type of business.

7. CONSULTANT

Being a consultant requires you to have deep knowledge and expertise in a particular subject, so you can position yourself as an advisor to others seeking to succeed in the particular industry. Use your earned experience to guide others toward successful results, avoiding the same mistakes that you learned from trial and error learning.

8. DOG BREEDER

If you are in the U.S., pets are very popular among people, meaning a huge market opportunity exist. Dogs that are purebred are very popular, earning a large sum of money for a person who sells them. Being a dog breeder is a very serious business, nothing that an amateur should try to do. Your ability to make money will be dependent on savvy consumers, who know what exactly to look for when it comes to a quality purebred dog.

9.EBAY ASSISTANT

You are sure to have old items sitting around your house that you have no use for anymore. Determine how much you can sell these items for and make the decision to auction them off or you can choose to place them on your eBay store. A PayPal account would be the preferred method of payment to handle online transactions. The information to get your eBay business started is provided on the eBay website.

10. EDITORIAL SERVICES

Provided is a list of editorial services you can provide from anywhere an internet connection is available, including your own home:

• Copy Editing. You will be fact checking, and analyzing materials for any grammatical, stylistic, and typographical errors.
• Proofreading. Your job is the final piece of the writing process. A proofreader ensures that all copy editing changes have been made and that no new errors have occurred that were missed.
• Developmental editing. Developmental editors work with a manuscript on large scale items that include organization and content issues.
• Book doctoring. This editorial service is provided for manuscripts written by experts. A manuscript is developed and a book doctor puts it into publishable shape.
• Ghost Writing. Ghost writers are the expert writer, who do the research and write the book that someone else attaches their name to claiming it as their own work.
• Copywriting. This is a form of business writing that is also known as sales copy. Copywriting is writing that promotes a product or a service.
• Book writing. If you have experience in a particular industry or have an imaginative mind, you can always write a book.
• Magazine article writing. Magazines and newspapers allow you the opportunity to get your writing published and learn how to write within deadlines, before taking on the challenge of writing an entire book.
• Web page content provider. More businesses are recognizing the need for great content, so writing web content can be a great source of income.

11.ELECTRONICS REPAIR

Along with handling computer repairs, you will be required to service all sorts of electronic equipment beyond just computers. It would be wise to encourage people to give you their old electronics, providing you with parts to use for your other customer’s needs.

12. EVENT PLANNING

The immediate first thing on your list of activities to do is visiting every potential event space you plan to host an event at. Contact a marketing manager to tour each site and gain insight as to what is available at each location. Create a database that will provide you with specific venue information regarding its particular features – how many people can fit in the site, will you need to plan ahead for rental chairs, and many more needs. When working on the event plan with your client, be sure to understand out what are their key requirements are for the event and have on hand three or four event locations that meet the basic criteria communicated.

13. EXPERT WITNESS SERVICE

If you want to make money in this field of work, become an expert witness yourself. When you have expertise that could be beneficial in legal cases, market yourself to attorneys as an expert witness.If that is not what you want to do, you can also act as a sort of matchmaker, matching attorneys up with expert witnesses for their cases. Expert witnesses dealing with big money cases will be expected to fly anywhere to testify. Your database of witnesses should be from all parts of the country, providing you with a larger market to make money from.

14. FINANCIAL PLANNER

To get started in this field of work, you will need to go through the certification process so that you can be certified as a CFP (Certified Financial Planner). This certificate illustrates that you are equipped with expertise and credibility. This added level of depth will encourage people to choose you as their financial planner.

15. FLEA MARKET

On the weekends, people love going through tables full of other people’s old items, looking for items that they would love to have themselves. When operating this sort of business, change your layout and provide new items for sale often. You need to entice people to come back often in order to see what new item you are offering for sale. Adjust your items in different positions regularly so that they may get noticed.You never know what old item could get noticed just by rotating it in a different location on your setup.

16. GOLF COACH

Inform the public courses in your local areas about your coaching services. Develop relationships with the staff, giving them motivation to recommend you as a preferred coach. The corporate world is also another great location to look for clients who would enjoy coaching. Golfing is the game of choice that business people use to form key relationships outside of the office place. You must be a better golfer than the average golfer to develop a great reputation as a golf coach. The job also requires you to be a good teacher, possess the ability to motivate people, and have the capabilities to work with many different types of people.

17. HOME ENERGY AUDITOR

With the expenses incurred from owning a home, most homeowners are desperately looking for ways to save on their utility bills. You can be a valuable asset by providing them with an audit of their home, generating a complete breakdown of how they can produce real savings with their heating, cooling and electrical use. You can upsell your services by doing the implementation and installation of some of the suggestions you listed in their home yourself. You will also need to do a complete appliance audit, providing efficiency ratings and calculations based on the age of the appliance. The water heater is also an important item that shouldn’t be missed.

18. HOME INSPECTION

Success in this business will require you to establish contacts with real estate agents who can recommend your services to customers – people that they see everyday. The home inspection field requires you to do constantly keep your education and knowledge updated. New products are constantly being released in the marketplace that you will need to be aware of in order to remain competent. Be well informed of all safety updates of materials and issues in regards to things like off-gassing, carbon monoxide, and other chemical hazards.

19. HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZER

You are presented with two options when choosing to do this field of work. You can either do the organizing work yourself, or you can go into a home and consult the homeowner on how to better organize their home. Present a portfolio of different organizational options within different rooms in the home, and be sure to talk, with the homeowner about the particular style he or she likes. Provide checklists and questionnaires in order to gather information on how the family uses their home. This gathered information will help you design a well organizing plan, helping the family get more space out of their home.

20. IMPORT/EXPORT SPECIALIST

Without having a great deal of experience with importing and/or exporting, you will have a tough time doing well in this business. If necessary, start by learning the basics and providing educational training to teach others about what they need to know to get started in import/export. Providing such a service could potentially provide you your first set of clients. If you continue with educational training, expanding your reach outside of your local community, you could develop a sufficient and consistent customer base in a very short period of time. Just be careful not to get ahead of your learning curve!

21. INTERIOR DECORATOR

You will need to market your services to building contractors in order to gain great connections. During the home purchasing process, people can often be overwhelmed with the choices in regards to their home decorating options. It would be helpful to create some questionnaires for each major element and each major room in the house. This information will be used to find out how the homeowner will use the home.

22. JEWELRY MAKING

The jewelry business has many different ways to get started and there are many different types of materials you can work with to design your jewelry. Choosing to deal in metal will require the most in regards to specific tools used. Heat will be needed for the metal to manipulate it, and you must have metalworking tools to cut and engrave it. But there are also many other materials, that are more cost effective that you can work with to make jewelry such as : glass, plastic, beads, feathers, and wood.

23. MARKETING COPY-WRITER

If you possess the ability to write sales copy that entices people to purchase what your client has to sell, you will be in high demand in this business. If you don’t possess the experience of working in the copywriting field, you should take a course to learn how to be effective at doing the skill. Online courses and classes at community colleges and universities are offered that provide you with the education needed to write effective copy for brochures, catalogs, advertising, and marketing copy for websites.

24. NOTARY PUBLIC/JUSTICE OF THE PEACE

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.You will be required to pass an exam and a background check to become a notary. The costs to become a notary are very little and the income produced from notary work is insignificant. If you were to become a justice of the peace, you would be tasked with performing wedding ceremonies. There varying rules and procedures in place for becoming a JP and performing services. Set fees are already in place for how much can be charged for JP services. As a JP, you can add additional fees to boost your income including travel and hourly rates for additional things such as rehearsals, prep time, and any special requests.

25. PERSONAL CONCIERGE

In order to do well in this business, you need to be supremely efficient and possess the ability to make things happen. People who hire you based on the expectation of getting things when they want them. So you need to be able to provide them with not only what they want, but do so with a personal touch, enhancing the experience. Typical clients of a personal concierge service are top executives who are required to be at their office by early mornings and leaving late at night, making it impossible for them to do all complete important personal things that need to be done during those specific hours.

27. PERSONAL TRAINER

The key to success as a personal trainer is advertising your services in places where your target customer bases goes. Having a website that showcases your work is a must to gain customers. Your website is the opportunity for potential clients to determine if your approach to personal training is an ideal approach that would be comfortable with. Emphasizing the safety aspect of using a personal trainer should always be communicated. This helps you get clients fit while avoiding injury, a liability that would be on you.

28. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

As a property manager, your job will be to ensure the property is running with little to no problems. If managing seasonal properties, you will spend your management time ensuring that the property is ready for seasonal visits and also well-maintained when no one is using the property. When an owner goes leaves the property for a couple of months, the property manager is required to make regular checks on the property. The property manager is the emergency contact number for any security issues that may arise during their duties.

Part 1 of the two-part series is complete. If you didn’t see a business option that fits your skill sets, there are still 27 more options available for you to choose from. Come back for part 2 of this 55 business ideas to get you started as an entrepreneur series.

Related : The 5 Must-haves to Become a Successful Entrepreneur

29. SMALL ENGINE REPAIR

If aren’t familiar with small engine repairs, you can find community colleges that offer engine-repair courses. Knowledge can also be gained by placing yourself in a part-time position at a repair shop, learning valuable information on the job. The work will include working on push lawn mowers, riding lawn mowers, generators, edgers, chainsaws, wood chippers, and snowblowers. You need to search for bigger jobs, such as tractors, snow mobiles and ATVs in order to have the ability to work on a wide range of projects.

30. SOLAR ENERGY CONSULTANT

The job responsibility of a solar consultant basically includes conducting a home inspection and giving clients feedback in regards to their solar options for their home. The options offered can range from complete general solar installations that generate electric energy to simple solar walkway lighting. It is best to work within a solar products company to gain valuable knowledge in the solar energy field. When seeking to become a consultant, don’t become affiliated with just one company or product, you need to be able to recommend the many products and options that are available the field of solar energy.

31. TAX PREPARER

If you are just starting out as a tax preparer, most tax franchises offer educational courses, seminars, and training to get you prepared to work for them. Working within a franchise will teach you a lot about tax preparation before choosing to operate your own business. Fortunately, there is a lot of educational support available to assist you in learning about all the complexities involved in tax preparation. The financial opportunity that exist in tax preparation is the individuals and businesses who are willing to spend a few hundred dollars a year to have someone else take the headache of preparing their taxes away from them – informing them of any tax breaks available or tax burdens that may arise.

32. TAXIDERMIST

The world of taxidermy isn’t just about preserving real specimens anymore. Taxidermy also includes recreating a specimen by using completely artificial materials. Taxidermy schools offering the education of the trade are plentiful, and they typically offer courses over several weeks specializing in certain levels of expertise. As with any other industry, taxidermy conventions are held, providing information about the latest techniques and materials being used.

33. UPHOLSTERING

If you are skilled at sewing, upholstery repair could be the perfect business for you to operate. There are books and videos available that teach you about the ins and outs of this trade. In this field of work, furniture that is ready for upholstering will also require repairs. It is best to have a list available of preferred furniture repair people you can refer to your customers. Or for an added service, have repair people you work with do this work for you, adding it to the overall cost for your service. For minor repairs, you should learn how to do them yourself.

34. USED BOOK SALES

People born before 2000 are certain to have a few books lying around in their house not being used. This is a business opportunity waiting to be exploited. If you want to gain consistent customers you will need to set regular shop hours. It is best to make your shop known for specific categories of books, and implementing a swap program. Maps, illustrations, postcards, greeting cards and magazines are great complimentary products to include for sale in your store.

35. WEDDING PLANNER

Being a wedding planner will require you to be up to date on the  latest trends and fads, dress styles, color trends happening within the wedding industry. In order to earn the most money possible, offer your customers an a la carte menu of services, which include: helping to pick flowers, finding the the best wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses, and picking the venue and hiring the caterer. Before opening your business, frequent all the wedding shops, pretending you are a bride in order to learn about services the wedding gown shop provides and to experience how they treat potential customers. Knowing every detail of the business gives off the impression that you are the sought after expert for anyone planning a wedding.

36. APPLIANCE REPAIR

Every household is equipped with appliances, both large and small . You have the option to work on your own, contract with appliance stores to cover their warranty service call or you can do both, providing yourself with a steady flow of work.It is best to start slow, building your customer base on recommendations and word of mouth praise. You will need to develop relationships with contractors in order to be the preferred person to install appliances in newly built homes.

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37. COMPUTER TRAINING

If you are an expert in both Macintosh and PC, you can offer training services for both types of computers. A service you could offer is helping seniors learn how to use the internet and email so that they have the ability to stay in contact with their more technology savvy loved ones.

38. DESKTOP PUBLISHER

Desktop publishing software allows you to create newsletters, magazines, books and even marketing materials. An added service you can offer is creating the content for your desktop publications, or you can just pay a professional writer to create this content for you. Another way to make money is by advertising your desktop publishing services as designing options for writers who have newsletters and books they create on a consistent basis.

39. FENCE INSTALLATIONS

Fences are used in residential, commercial, and industrial areas. Fences don’t last forever, so they frequently need to be repaired and replaced over time. The most common material used for fences is wood. But, the use of vinyl has risen due to its longevity and low maintenance needs. Iron is another fencing option that is commonly used in urban environments.

40. FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Despite the popularity of online marketing, the need for print media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Businesses are always in need of flyers, newsletters, magazines, information sheets, letters and advertisements to spread word about their business and what it offers. Websites and online advertising require graphic design services as well. Even if you are only skilled in design, offer other complementary services for your clients, including content creation, printing, and even mailing out of the materials. You can hire freelancers to take care of these jobs.

41.GIFT BASKET SERVICE

Find a niche to satisfy when getting into the gift basket business. Find out the interest of a particular segmented market and fill your baskets with those things that they enjoy. A gift basket can be built around a product you already develop. Soaps and other scented products are also a good choice for gift baskets. A gift basket that included of your soaps, hand lotion, a scrub brush and manicure kit would make a great item that could easily be sold.

42. GRAFFITI REMOVAL

You will need to create an array of cleaning products that can clean almost any kind of kind of product (markers, chalk paint) from every kind of surface (cement, wood, pavement). In order to find a market with your graffiti service business offer a subscription-based arrangement. Within the designated timeframe that you and your client agree on, go to their property and clean off any graffiti that exist. Charging a monthly or quarterly fee and makes business simple for everyone. You just do your job and their property stays clean and presentable.

43. HAIRSTYLIST

Being hairstylist is a very popular business that can produce a great income since people need their hair consistently maintenance. A home based hairstylist business is the likely option to pursue by someone who already works in the cosmetology field and wants to control their hours of operation. If you already are equipped with cosmetology training and a license, have tons of experience working in a hairstyling salon, you should have established a clientele base that will follow you to your home based salon.

44. HERBAL FARM STAND

There are a few ways you can sell your herbs: as live plants, picked or cut in bunches and packed, or dried. If your business focused on cooks instead of gardeners, you will need to sell your herbs fresh cut and packed in sealed bags, or dried and sold in baggies.

45. LANDSCAPER

If you love working outdoors, a degree won’t be necessary for this type of work, all that is needed is the experience. Your landscaping duties will change with the seasons.Yards need to be maintained in the spring, lawns moved in the summer, leaves removed in the fall, and driveways shoveled of snow in the winter. You can also offer garden work such as spring planting, vegetable garden preparation, planting and fall cleanup, and pest control and watering. Tree care service is another option available to you. Landscaping does not have to involve plants: stone wall restoration, fencing, irrigation system installation are also services you can offer.

46. MASSAGE THERAPIST

Becoming certified in massage therapy will assist you in being able to effectively market your therapy services. Courses are available to provide certification that has information on human anatomy and physiology and the effects that massage has on both. You will also be shown how to make a business out of your massage services.

47. MOVING SERVICE

When people move, they don’t like to do any heavy lifting, so they hire movers to handle this lifting for them. Don’t over exert yourself by trying to offer large-scale, long-distance moving, leave that to big moving companies. Instead focus on the local jobs, moving-across-town or to the town next-door jobs. People will start off thinking they can handle the moving process themselves, so it will be your job to convince them of the value you provide. Your signs posted up should entice people to let you take care of their moving needs, while they focus on taking care of the many other things involved with their move.

48. MUSIC LESSONS

When starting this business, it would make sense to focus on instruments that you know how to play. If you are a multi-skilled musician you can offer lessons on several different instruments, or those in a particular class, such as stringed or woodwind. You can focus your time on individuals or classes, which will be dependent on the space available for your attendees and instruments. As public schools are continually reducing their commitment to art and music classes for students, you can seek to work with public school systems to supplement their efforts in those areas.

49. PHOTOGRAPHER

The ability to make money as a photographer can be done in a many different ways. You can choose to specialize in popular areas for photography such as weddings. The niches you can explore for as a photographer include: portraits of people and their pets, families, homes, photographs of holiday events, birthday parties, and Christmas cards. The options available to you are endless, you just have to be good at marketing your services.

50. RUG CLEANING

You will be required to know how to work with various kinds of carpet fabrics, from synthetic to wool carpets. Make a decision on whether you will clean valuable antique carpets and family heirlooms. If you decide to do so, you will need to get specialized training so that you can properly handle these carpets and understand the specialized ways of cleaning them.Provide the service of getting tough stains and odors out of carpets, especially for families and pet owners, and your services will be in great demand.

51.WEBSITE DEVELOPER

There are many courses available (especially online) where you can learn the skill of website creation. You will also need to learn about the details that are involved in websites such as, how to develop an e-commerce website, implement the proper security measures, and much more. You will be required to fully understand the needs of each company you design for. Have the proper insight about the company that you need to illustrate to the public in the website design.

52. BED AND BREAKFAST

If you have a room that has its own bathroom and is private from the rest of your home, then you can offer a bed and breakfast. If you are near attractions such as tourist destinations, sports stadiums or venues that hold frequent events, you can offer a bed and breakfast. If your home is in the country, providing peaceful serenity, you could offer a city-dweller a weekend of peaceful living. Utilize the environment around in order to offer a unique experience for your guest.

53. CHRISTMAS TREE SALES

When thinking about getting into the Christmas tree business, you need to plan well ahead. It takes approximately seven years for a Balsam fir, the most traditional Christmas tree, to grow from a small sapling to a 5- to 6-foot tree. Selling Christmas trees yourself is the best option to make the most money. Have consumers come to your property, pick the tree they want, and you cut it down for them. The other option available to you is buying your trees from a wholesaler and selling them in your yard or in a vacant lot that you rent from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

54. DAY CARE

If you have a love for children or have children of your own, the idea of taking care of a few more children during the day is probably an appealing option to you. The needs for child-care continue to soar in the United States, making it the perfect market to offer your services. Most people prefer their child being looked after in a home environment while they are at work, rather than a more institutional-like setting. These means that your home based childcare business can be up and running immediately.

55. PET SITTING

When starting a pet sitting business, your startup cost will be very minimal. The general credentials you will need l cost little or nothing to acquire. Your primary credential people will focus on is if you are personal pet owner yourself, if not currently, then at least in the past. You will also need other pet-related experience such as: working at a pet food store, an animal hospital or other animal-related business.

Well, there you have it – a comprehensive list of businesses that you can start to get your entrepreneur journey going. There is nothing holding you back from your entrepreneur desires but your inability to make a decision.

What are your skill sets?

Determine what these skillsets are and identify a business that best matches those skill sets so that you can be on the fast track to making money as a new business owner.

The great thing about many of these businesses is that you can do the part-time. If you are afraid to take the risk of quitting your job too early, or you simply want to build your business slow, you have the opportunity to do that.

You can use these business ideas as quick ways to make money, side businesses, or full-time businesses that generate the majority of your income. The choice is yours to make.

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