Business startup ideas

One of the biggest challenges in starting your own business is figuring out how to set yourself apart from the competition. If you’re selling a popular, widely available product, you can be sure that demand is high. But with high demand comes a competitive market and larger, more established players. On the other hand, you might have a completely original product⁠—something no other company is providing. Standing out here is easy, but how can you be sure there’s a high enough demand for the product to sustain your business? Balancing these things is tricky, but easier when you start with a unique business idea. Unique businesses in more niche industries tend to have less competition, but the competition they do have assures you that there’s an audience for your products. For a new business, starting from a point of uniqueness can make a world of difference when it comes to setting yourself apart from your competitors. 17 unique small business ideas for first-time entrepreneurs 1. Be the head chef of your own food truck If you love cooking, you may have fantasized about one day opening your very own restaurant. But did you know that since 2016, growth in the mobile food industry has been In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, while many restaurants struggled to keep their doors open, food trucks were experiencing a time of For anyone who’s ever dreamed of developing their own unique menus, a food truck business offers the same business opportunity at a fraction of the price...

Randa Kriss is a lead writer and small-business specialist at NerdWallet. Prior to joining NerdWallet in 2020, Randa worked as a writer at Fundera, covering a wide variety of small-business topics including banking and loan products. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Associated Press and Nasdaq, among other publications. Randa is based in New York City. Sally Lauckner is an editor on NerdWallet's small-business team. She has over a decade of experience in print and online journalism. Before joining NerdWallet in 2020, Sally was the editorial director at Fundera, where she built and led a team focused on small-business content. Her prior experience includes two years as a senior editor at SmartAsset, where she edited a wide range of personal finance content, and five years at the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, where she held a variety of editorial roles. She is based in New York City. Some people venture into entrepreneurship with a clear vision: They know what industry they want to conquer and the path they’re going to take to get there. However, for many new entrepreneurs, it can be difficult to figure out how to start a business — plus, determine exactly what type of business is the best choice to invest in. The food truck movement has been experiencing consistent growth over the past five years — and it’s expected to continue — with the market projected to grow to $6.6 billion by 2028, according to a 2021 report by Grand View Research. You can sta...

Starting your own business doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, according to the Small Business Association, most micro-businesses (businesses with fewer than ten employees) are started for less than $3,000. Therefore we have picked our favorite low-cost business ideas to make starting your business easier. Using our detailed guide you can not only start your new business but turn it into a low-cost business idea with high profit. Exploring your options? Check out additional Teaching & Consulting Businesses These business owners enhance their clients’ lives by imparting knowledge of a particular skill set, whether it’s related to their personal or professional lives. This list of low-cost business ideas is for veterans of the relevant industries who are looking to change pace and pass on their wisdom. 1. Acting Classes Business This career is for dedicated actors or directors in the performance industry, so you will need at least a few connections within the business. Students will only want to enlist in your courses if you have some kind of credible performance reputation, but you’ll also need the teaching chops to instruct a class of acting hopefuls. If you don't have one already, you'll need to rent or buy a proper space for teaching, including room the class can walk, run, or deliver dramatic monologues in. A small management and registration staff may be required as your business grows, but by some accounts, you can charge around $500 per student for eight weeks of ...

💡 TIP: With Shopify, it’s easy to You don’t need to handle any products yourself—you just need to make the sales and pass orders on to your supplier. In fact, it’s one of the quickest and cheapest businesses to start. You can curate products from one or more suppliers into your own online store under a theme that focuses on a specific niche, like gear for yoga enthusiasts or water bowls for dog owners. When a customer buys a product from you, the order is sent to your supplier, who fulfills it on your behalf. However, you are still responsible for your own marketing and customer service. There are both local and overseas suppliers you can work with, as long as you can establish a relationship with them built on trust—an unreliable supplier will reflect poorly on your brand. Dropshipping is a great way to test product-market fit and launch a business before you invest in your own original products. Just be sure to always order a sample for yourself to make sure your supplier is reliable and that the quality of the products is fit for selling to your customers. Learn more: • • • • Thanks for subscribing. You’ll start receiving free tips and resources soon. In the meantime, start building your store with a free 3-day trial of Shopify. Get started 2. Design and sell print-on-demand t-shirts Another dropshipping model, T-shirts, hats, phone cases, hoodies, skirts, tote bags, and more become canvases for your creativity. You can think up witty slogans for developers or reference...

Starting a business is one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences you can have. But where do you begin? There are several ways to approach creating a business, with many important considerations. To help take the guesswork out of the process and improve your chances of success, follow our comprehensive guide on how to start a business. We’ll walk you through each step of the process, from defining your business idea to registering, launching and growing your business. The public often hears about overnight successes because they make for a great headline. However, it’s rarely that simple—they don’t see the years of dreaming, building and positioning before a big public launch. For this reason, remember to focus on your business journey and don’t measure your success against someone else’s. Consistency Is Key New business owners tend to feed off their motivation initially but get frustrated when that motivation wanes. This is why it’s essential to create habits and follow routines that power you through when motivation goes away. Take the Next Step Some business owners dive in headfirst without looking and make things up as they go along. Then, there are business owners who stay stuck in analysis paralysis and never start. Perhaps you’re a mixture of the two—and that’s right where you need to be. The best way to accomplish any business or personal goal is to write out every possible step it takes to achieve the goal. Then, order those steps by what needs to ha...

Can there really be that many good business ideas? Yes, there can. This is actually our filtered-down list—you should have seen how many other almost-good ideas nearly made the cut. Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or brand new to the scene, we’ve compiled the best-of-the-best business ideas for you to bring to life in 2023. These range from freelance writing to career coaching to dog walking and everything in between. Ready to find your next big idea? Keep scrolling. What Makes a Business Idea Good or Bad? It’s not always just the idea you need to think about. Sometimes it’s you, the situation, market circumstances, or industry trends. One business idea can be good today and bad tomorrow. It all depends on various factors (both predictable and unpredictable). Not every good business idea will be right for you, and that’s OK. Fortunately for you, you don’t need 50 good business ideas—you really just need one. Here’s what to keep in mind when finding the • Personal Interests: Don’t start a freelance writing business if you hate writing. Align your interests with your business. That’s the freedom you get when starting your own business—don’t throw it away from the get-go. • Bandwidth: Some business ideas require more input and investment. For example, opening and managing a new Italian restaurant will be more time-consuming than launching a restaurant consulting business. Neither is better than the other—just under your capacity and limitations. • Budget: Starting ...

Kim Lowe is a lead assigning editor on NerdWallet's loans team. She covers consumer borrowing, including topics like personal loans, buy now, pay later and cash advance apps. She joined NerdWallet in 2016 after 15 years at MSN.com, where she held various content roles including editor-in-chief of the health and food sections. Kim started her career as a writer for print and web publications that covered the mortgage, supermarket and restaurant industries. Kim earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington. She works from her home near Portland, Oregon. If you’ve been in the business world for a long time, folks might be clamoring for your knowledge and expertise within your industry. Why not turn all that know-how into a new career as an independent consultant? You can get paid to speak at industry conferences or events, serve on a board of advisors for a fledgling business or lend your expertise to shape the strategy of an existing business on a contract basis. As an independent marketing professional, you can work with small businesses who don’t have the in-house bandwidth to execute their marketing plans. Write their blogs, firm up their SEO strategy, generate ad campaigns, deploy inbound marketing tactics and do whatever it takes to get their name in (proverbial) lights. Or, you could buy property of your own (if you have the business funding, of course) becoming a property ...

Kelsey Sheehy is a senior writer and NerdWallet authority on small business. She started at NerdWallet in 2015 and spent six years as a personal finance writer and spokesperson before switching gears to cover the financial decisions and challenges faced by small-business owners. Kelsey’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Nasdaq and MarketWatch, among other publications. She also writes a column about millennials and money for The Associated Press along with a handful of other NerdWallet writers. Kelsey has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC’s "World News Tonight" and has been quoted by the Los Angeles Times, CNBC, American Banker, NPR and Vice, among other publications. Prior to joining NerdWallet, Kelsey covered college (and how to pay for it) for U.S. News & World Report. She is based in Washington, D.C. Coming up with brilliant startup ideas may feel tricky to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially when it may seem that everyone’s already swooped up every good idea for a business. Still, it’s entirely possible to become successful by improving on existing products or putting a unique spin on an old idea. Subscription boxes are a $22.7 billion dollar business globally, and the industry is still set to grow. Pick a niche, and then curate a collection of specialized goods to deliver unique experiences to consumers. Some subscription boxes focus on makeup; others focus on sustainability. Find the right starting point for you and run with ...