Alright, its really crunch time people. If one of your new year’s day goals is going to be ‘work for myself’ or ‘start my own small business’ then listen up! You need to start the ball rolling today if you are serious about working for yourself and making 2010 your most profitable year ever. To kick start your resolution I’m going to lay out the 7 most profitable business ideas for 2010, ideas that if I were starting from scratch today I’d do.
Pursuing profitable business ideas are the difference between sitting behind a desk at reading dilbert cartoons for the next year and traveling Europe while you the small business you started in 2010 pays your way! If you are serious at starting your own small business this year then please read over these 7 profitable business ideas and take them to heart… they may just change your life!
1. Membership Site. Selling an eBook for $20 is great.. but selling a membership course for $10 a month is even better. How? Let me explain, most membership sites keep customers for between 6-9 months, depending on the price. Some keep them for even longer… so imagine the value of selling a book for $20 vs. selling a membership for 10 bucks knowing they’ll probably stay six months. $60 vs. $20? You don’t have to be a genius to make that call. Membership sites are easier than you think to set up as well, since I use wordpress in ALL of my websites I went with Wishlist member which so far has worked well and has an amazing support staff. Now you may be asking “but what do I do a membership site on?”… well, don’t whine… and just start brain-storming, I am sure you have at least enough knowledge in your noggin for a few $10-$20 a month membership sites and maybe if your in a specific field you have the knowledge for some $77-$97 a month membership courses. Now that is making some bacon!
2. Help People Work Again. What has been the problem that has plagued the world these last two years? Unemployment. And what would be the best cure for that problem? Jobs. If you can help people find jobs, help people be more equipped for interviews or help people by hiring them for a job you’ll be doing the economy a service and setting up a nice little niche business for yourself. Whether you know a trade that your willing to teach via video courses, or you want to write an eBook on how to ace an interview these are things people will pay for and are eager to find. Just create a product, build out a basic WordPress website and start marketing yourself high and low.
3. Make Currency Rates Work for You! I went to Italy this summer and was shocked at how much some things cost there that were cheap in the states. It works everywhere too, there are always countries which sell items for pennies where if they were in other countries they’d go for big bucks. A perfect example of this is the lovely jewelry and fabrics you can get from India, Thailand and the Far East for very little and sell in Europe or America for 10-100x mark up. If you aren’t willing to make the flight across the world to nail down deals (which is the most profitable way to do it) then you can buy items in bulk online from merchants like Zeelver which I used to buy all my jewelry that I resold on eBay from.
4. Turn Your Time into Money. Get into consulting. This goes back to the idea that you have enough knowledge in your head to sell it to someone, if you don’t want to make a website and do a membership site or eBook try classic consulting. Go to businesses or people who need what you have to offer and start consulting by the hour. If your good your reputation will take off and people will start seeking you out, if your really good you can get speaking engagements out of it and thats where the real money is made. For more info check out Entrepreneur magazine’s How to Start a Consulting Business blog.
5. Create an Online Store for Cheap. Starting an online store to sell physical goods can seem daunting, but in reality it is very simple if you have the right resources. I got my start online via selling on eBay and I actually started my first online business simply teaching others how to sell on eBay as well. eBay allows you to start a store and get eyes drawn to your products instantly through just signing up and paying around $20 a month for one of their online store fronts. This can be an economical and highly profitable way to escape the 9 to 5 and start your own small business without any debt.
6. Become a Talking Head. Blogging is big business, look at people like Darren Rowse and Brian from Copyblogger now not everyone who blogs reaches that level of success, actually few do. But you can carve out a nice little niche for yourself in the blogging world and use it to spring board into bigger and better (more profitable) things in the future. One of my favorite bloggers is Naomi of Itty Biz which I highly recommend to anyone exiting the rat race.
7. Be the Next Big Internet Sensation. Whether you have coding experience or not (I have none) you can become an online superstar if you hit upon the right idea… granted these ideas take some thinking and there is more rejection than approval. But when people do hit it big online, they hit it real big. Facebook, Twitter and Mashable were all just ideas at some point that a few friends threw together… then they took off. So try to be unique, think of profitable business ideas but also think of ideas that others will flock to. Because if you have one you usually can easily swing the other.
Hopefully these 7 profitable business ideas will get you on your way to starting up your own small business in 2010… its worth it folks, even though there is lots of sweat, tears and hard work, in the end escaping the 9 to 5 and being able to answer only to yourself is really the gift that keeps on giving.
