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10 Small Business Ideas for Budding Entrepreneurs

Looking to kickstart your business for 2023? Check out these top 10 business tips to give your new business a head start.

Business Business Life
  • Release Date: 14 March 2023
  • Update Date: 15 March 2024
  • Author: Speaker Agency

Starting a business has become easy these days thanks to the wealth of digital resources and services available to us. But while it’s easy to get started, maintaining your business and actually profiting off it can be a long haul undertaking. If you’re an up-and-coming entrepreneur with great ideas in your head, then we’ve got 10 helpful business tips that will get you and your business noticed in 2023.

690X460 Small Business Ideas

1. Pick your niche and research it thoroughly

A small business isn’t going to have the capital required to challenge large established businesses. Sure, there are miracle situations where you could stand up to giants in the industry, but the likelihood of that happening is extremely low. In the world of business, taking risks should be a calculated process where you have multiple contingency plans. This is why it’s important to do your research and to pick a subject where there is little competition.

Don’t look at large industries that have already been established. Instead, look for areas where you think you can flourish. Whether this means providing a unique service in an existing industry or creating a brand-new product that doesn’t exist on the market, you have many different options available to you. 

Discover your niche, research it, and turn that into your golden egg. Remember paypal was not started by a banker nor was AirBNB started by a hotelier. 

2. Know your audience and engage them regularly

Knowing your audience is half the battle when it comes to starting a new business. Whether you’re a large technology company like Microsoft or working on small business ideas from home, understanding your audience is a key component to success.

But how exactly do you learn more about your audience? The answer is to engage them! This could mean social media, it could be in-person at your store, or it could even be on community websites or through Reddit posts. 

Don’t just expect your audience to come to you; you hold some responsibility in looking for them as well! Make absolutely sure that you’re doing everything you can in order to speak with them, discuss your products, and even receive feedback on how you’re doing.

3. Provide a service that can solve a problem

One of the benefits of starting a small business these days is that you can attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t have an existing solution. This kind of thinking is common among entrepreneurs because they’re always looking for ways to create a new market or secure a new audience.

A great place to inspire yourself would be at home. Do you think that there is a service that could enrich your life? Have your family members or friends complained about the lack of a service that could be extremely helpful? 

This is a great way to get started with new business ideas because not only are you creating something new that you believe in, but you can also ask those friends and family members to help you test your products and services, effectively becoming your very first customers.

Here are some successful businesses to start from the comfort of your own home.

Great business ideas

Pet sitting

According to a report by BBC, 3.2 million pets were bought or adopted domestically during the lockdown. Then the lockdown conditions eased. Pet owners started to go back to their full time schools/work and holidays abroad have come on the agenda again.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a very flexible way to earn money whilst working from home. Brands reach out to other brands or influencers to tap into their network of followers/website traffic. This works by people using their online platforms to recommend products belonging to their affiliates and getting paid per click/sale. 

Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants can work from home and  anywhere in the world to help managers keep on top of their emails, schedule appointments and liaise with clients. It is a flexible business model, facilitated by speedy tech adoption by masses. There really is no startup cost as managers you work for are likely to send you the hardware and pay for your phone and internet connection.

App development

Our phones have become a natural extension of ourselves. Increasingly since the pandemic we have found ourselves resorting to apps to purchase, entertain and learn.

Apps give brands a chance to reach customers beyond boundaries.  A brand with a dedicated and easy to use app will always be a step ahead and you will be remembered and easily accessed 24/7. This is meeting your customers where they are. 

Graphic Designer

Going hand in hand with affiliate marketing and app development, Graphic Designers have one of the most versatile skill sets to apply to any project working across a variety of industries.

From logo creating to billboard visuals, from social media content creating to editing the scope is large.

Personal Trainer

Right, here is another type of business that you can do from anywhere. Today you don't need to hire or work with a gym to successfully work as a Personal trainer. Most personal trainers are happy to work with individual or group clients in various outdoor settings. Parks, beaches, benches, outdoor gyms… 

Getting fit whilst also getting fresh air is so much better for your mental well being. If you are able to commit to early mornings and sometimes chili weather, this  might just be the type of business for you.

 

4. Build your business for the long term

Far too many businesses are launched with the intent to gain short term profits. This almost never works because businesses need to plan ahead for the long term if they’re going to become profitable. Make sure as a small business owner that you have a robust business plan.

One of the best ways to approach this is to think ahead. Think about how your products can appeal to different audiences, how you can pivot to attract new customers or even future iterations of your services that add new features. There are loads of small business ideas that can work short term, but how you transform them into a long-term business will ultimately yield a more successful company.

5. Realize that running your business alone is unrealistic

Many new entrepreneurs believe that running a solo business is generally the best way to get started with a brand-new company. After all, paying for staff and services is expensive. Unless you have a lot of starting capital, you’re probably going to spend most of your savings on growing your business through buying raw materials, products to resell, or paying for marketing.

While it can seem like a massive expense, you need additional staff members to help you run your business more efficiently. Spending several hours each week on financial responsibilities is a lot more wasteful than the money you spend on hiring an outsourced accountant. Trying to do a specialized job with virtually no knowledge of it can waste a lot of time, so it’s essential that you look for ways to optimize the time you spend on your business through hiring help.

6. Research your competitors and watch what they do

No matter what kind of niche you operate, you’re eventually going to run into situations where you have competitors. As such, it’s important to do research on them to understand how they operate, what tactics they use, and also what they do better than you. You don’t need to go to war with another business, but understanding them and even taking a page out of their book can go a long way.

Keeping tabs on your competition generally involves looking at their new products and services, how they engage with their audience, and also what kind of search engine optimization strategies they’re using. This can tell you a lot about their company and will help you find ways to improve on what they’ve done. Alternatively, it can also give you information on what you should avoid targeting because your competition has a strong hold over a certain niche.

7. Learn from your mistakes instead of avoiding them

Something that entrepreneurs learn early on is that they need to learn from their mistakes if they want to grow. Sadly, this is something that is easier said than done. People don’t like failing and they certainly don’t enjoy wasting money. Even if you try to sugarcoat failures, it’s still a bitter experience that can be hard to recover from.

You need to have the strength to bounce back by dropping all of those negative experiences and trying again. There isn’t an entrepreneur on earth that hasn’t experienced failure, but you can guarantee that all of the successful ones kept trying and trying until they found something that worked.

8. Be honest and open to your audience

Honest and open businesses are in vogue these days. This is mainly because people are tired of companies lying to them and giving them false hope. Whether it’s false promises, lies about new products, or even just going back on your word, people want companies that they can stand behind and support.

No matter where you publicly appear, make sure you’re truthful and honest to your customers. If there’s a problem, explain what happened and let your audience know what you plan to do to fix things. Be careful of sensitive topics, and don’t overlook the importance of working together with your customers to make things right.

9. Make use of all the modern technology available to you

Modern technology has made it surprisingly easy to start a new business, but there are still many tools out there that are seeing far too little use. There’s a plethora of SEO tools that can help you grow your business’s online presence, there are automation tools that can make your business easier to run, and there are AI-powered systems that can open up unique opportunities for growth.

Failing to use these modern tools will make it virtually impossible for you to catch up to larger businesses. Do your research on concepts such as automation and look for ways to give your business processes a boost.

10. The longer you wait, the fewer opportunities you have

There will come a point in your business’s lifetime when you’ll be given an opportunity that is unlike any other. Perhaps you’ve received a deal from a larger company to join their team, or maybe you’ve been offered a large sum of money for your company. Perhaps it’s something smaller, such as a chance meeting with an industry figurehead or influencer. These kinds of opportunities don’t happen often, but the possibilities they could lead to are nearly endless.

Take advantage of these opportunities because they won’t be around forever. Make use of those contacts and deals that are in front of you. The last thing you want is to regret that you didn’t take action when you could have.

Some final words

It’s never easy to start a new business, but we hope that these business tips will give you some fresh ideas and perspectives on how to tackle some of the most common issues with starting up a new company. 

Whether you are planning to run your business from home or outside office, make sure to use what technology offers you to achieve better outcomes for your product and your brand. Apply design thinking principles to your business plan to help guide you towards your target.From ideation to prototyping to eventually going to market, 

Make sure your business meets a need and its values are well communicated and upheld!

Best of luck

Speaker Agency Team

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