I have been doing alot of thinking the past few years about starting my own business. I’ve run through a number of ideas but haven’t settled on anything as of yet. I’m wondering what your views are on the best businesses to start on your own with the highest liklihood of success. I realize that this depends on many factors, but in general if you were to start one today what types of businesses would you lean towards?
In San Diego: credit counseling, financial advisor, foreclosure and repo and collection companies; it’s hard to think of a profitable business going into a recession. Basically, people are cutting back on their spending.
It all depends on what skills you have and how much you are willing to invest to get the thing going. I started in a business that I worked in for almost 10 years, so I had some good experience and a good network. Look at things like start-up costs such as equipment, hardware, office real estate, etc.
I would highly recommend starting off small and consider trying a virtual office. The virtual office concept might seem foreign to some, but it can be a great (and inexpensive) way to conduct business if you do it right.
Consulting’s always a good place to start if you can scrape the client list together. I’m in IT and do a fair amount of side business this way. I’ve been growing clients for a few years with an eye towards doing it full time. The jump is hard to calculate, of course…it’s always a leap of faith in your abilities.
Any kind of knowledge-based service business will weather a recession better than a retail or manufacturing business, I think. Sounds contrary, I know, but in a recession we’re all trying to cut corners and piece-work consultants can cost less than keep staff on-line AND you can control your costs to a finer degree with not-to-exceed work contracts or the simple expedient of pulling the plug on a consultant.
The virtual office is a great idea, and to take it a step further I was also hoping to find a business that I could begin part time from home. I know a guy who started a technology training company from his garage at night. He tried multi-level marketing for a while, and hated it. He’s an extroverted engineer and once he got into the training gig he strated to do very well. He took it full time and does about 1 Mil a year now.
I’m encouraged when I hear other success stories out there. Some young mother in San Marcos started a company called Stroller Striders and is raking it in now. She franchised the idea, and basically all they do is set up events where mothers can meet and exercise with strollers!
Here’s a simple and unappealing idea. Bathrooms are dirty everywhere I go – Barnes and Noble, restaurants etc. Seems like they are always a mess. Enter my bathroom cleaning company that comes by a few times a day and keeps them looking clean. We also erase graffitti.
I’d think twice about the bathroom cleaning idea, if it’s not a joke. The owners of the bathroom are already too cheap to pay someone $8-10/hr to clean the bathroom. Unless you can do it for cheaper than this amount, I wouldn’t go for it.
.
