Welcome to our list of the best small businesses opportunities for 2019, chosen from across a variety of industries. To make my list, these businesses must:
- Have the potential to be profitable now and for many years in the future
- Be able to do well even in uncertain economic times
- Not require a Ph.D. or decades of experience. Some require trade school training, a university degree or a prior apprenticeship, while others need only some prior experience and a passion for the industry
- Not require large amounts of startup capital, but only what every startup business requires: dedication, hard work, perseverance and a desire to succeed
Most of these opportunities can be operated as home-based businesses.
If your goal in life is to become very wealthy, chances are you won’t get there as a small business owner. You’ll have a chance to generate a healthy income, be your own boss and make all the decisions. You could potentially have a more flexible lifestyle. Building something from the ground up can make starting a business very rewarding in itself.
Here are our picks for the best small business ideas based on current trends in business and demographics, in no particular order.
01 Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Sales
The Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program allows sellers of products to market their wares through Amazon – the largest online retail platform in the world.
This is a great business opportunity because Amazon takes most of the headaches out of running an online retail business – in exchange for fulfillment and monthly storage fees, Amazon handles storage, packing, shipping, returns, and customer service queries as well as listing on Amazon’s websites.
Sellers are responsible for shipping their products to an Amazon fulfillment center and for creating their product listings on their Amazon store. Once listings are live and sales are made, the seller begins receiving their portion of the proceeds on a weekly basis.
FBA sellers source products for their Amazon stores in a variety of ways, such as:
- From original product ideas which the seller gets manufactured to specifications
- From local or national wholesalers
- From overseas bulk discount suppliers such as Alibaba
- By arbitrage – purchasing discounted items online or from retail stores and reselling them for a profit
If you wish to start a product sales business the Amazon FBA program is an ideal way to get into the online retail marketplace.
02 Skilled Trades
It’s unfortunate that nowadays that some parents have a tendency to discourage their children from considering skilled trades as a career choice, in part due to the erroneous belief that trades are poorly paid. In fact, skilled tradespeople are generally well paid and enjoy satisfying careers.
It has been estimated that 40% of current tradespeople will be retiring in the next decade, creating a huge demand for talented workers in trades such as:
- Welding
- Carpentry and general construction
- Plumbing, pipefitting, and steamfitting
- Electrical and electronic control systems
- Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC)
- Machinists and Metalworkers
- Masonry
- Steelworking
The nature of skilled trades makes them ideally suited for self-employment:
- High salaries and strong demand for experienced tradespeople in most locations
- Most trades can be operated as home-based businesses as the work is performed at the customer job site
- Compared to many businesses, startup capital costs are relatively low for most skilled trades, and most cannot be automated to any degree, ensuring future job security
- The ability to relocate to other jurisdictions where demand is stronger. Many experienced tradespeople take advantage of opportunities in remote or overseas locations to command much higher levels of compensation.
Why not take advantage of the demand and consider one of the skilled trades as your next business opportunity?
03 Software Engineering and Development
Software engineers and developers create, test and maintain software on a variety of platforms, from mainframes to mobile devices. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for software developers is expected to increase by 17% each year through 2023, and the median pay in 2017 was slightly over $100,000 per year – making it a great business opportunity for those who pick up the skills.
The nature of the software development industry makes it ideal for contract employment. Many software engineers start out as salaried employees and eventually become self-employed contractors. Cloud computing and ease of remote access make software development an ideal home-based business.
Other high demand, well-paid opportunities in the Information Technology sector include:
- Systems analysts
- Hardware/software technicians
- Network engineers
- Security specialists