Best Small Business Ideas

Kyle includes more than 400 of the latest, greatest, and newest small business ideas and innovative new product/service-based small business approaches from all around the world in this comprehensive survey of business.

Lead a life of adventure, meaning and purpose—and earn a good living. “Thoughtful, funny, and compulsively readable, this guide shows how ordinary people can build solid livings, with independence and purpose, on their own terms.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project Still in his early thirties, Chris Guillebeau completed a tour of every country on earth and yet he’s never held a “real job” or earned a regular paycheck. Rather, he has a special genius for turning ideas into income, and he uses what he earns both to support his life of adventure and to give back. Chris identified 1,500 individuals who have built businesses earning $50,000 or more from a modest investment (in many cases, $100 or less), and focused on the 50 most intriguing case studies. In nearly all cases, people with no special skills discovered aspects of their personal passions that could be monetized, and were able to restructure their lives in ways that gave them greater freedom and fulfillment. Here, finally, distilled into one easy-to-use guide, are the most valuable lessons from those who’ve learned how to turn what they do into a gateway to self-fulfillment. It’s all about finding the intersection between your “expertise”—even if you don’t consider it such—and what other people will pay for. You don’t need an MBA, a business plan or even employees. All you need is a product or service that springs from what you love to do anyway, people willing to pay, and a way to get paid. Not content to talk in generalities, Chris tells you exactly how many dollars his group of unexpected entrepreneurs required to get their projects up and running; what these individuals did in the first weeks and months to generate significant cash; some of the key mistakes they made along the way, and the crucial insights that made the business stick. Among Chris’s key principles: If you’re good at one thing, you’re probably good at something else; never teach a man to fish—sell him the fish instead; and in the battle between planning and action, action wins. In ancient times, people who were dissatisfied with their lives dreamed of finding magic lamps, buried treasure, or streets paved with gold. Today, we know that it’s up to us to change our lives. And the best part is, if we change our own life, we can help others change theirs. This remarkable book will start you on your way.

Small Business Ideas for Side Hustlers and Entrepreneurs Stop chasing money-making schemes and cookie-cutter businesses. Real success is personal and is achieved by finding the path on which YOU will thrive. The Book on Small Business Ideas will turn you into an idea and cash flow factory. You'll generate simple small business and side hustle ideas that are meaningful to you. You'll learn how to stay motivated, analyze your ideas, and launch them successfully. The small businesses and side hustles you create are there to generate income, help you fulfill your goals, and increase your freedom. The Book on Small Business Ideas is Your Success Playbook The Book on Small Business Ideas will take you through: ** Understanding your personal drivers, allowing you to generate ideas that achieve your goals. ** Finding your personal motivation to actually see your ideas through to reality. ** Evaluating your small business ideas and side hustles against real-world criteria to determine success potential. ** Launching your ideas effectively in today's competitive environment. The Book on Small Business Ideas is filled with exercises to help you find your passion, generate momentum, and stand out from the crowd. The concepts in this book won't put you at risk, and they won't be complicated. This book will show you how to make much more money on your own, spend time how you want, build a simple business, and quit your day job. We'll do this without putting you at risk financially and without the complexity many people associate with running a business. Alright--before we move on, let me address the three "buts" I hear most often... BUT starting a small business takes a lot of time, money, and financial risk! America used to be the land of opportunity; now, we have a world of opportunity! Technology has given us all an incredible gift. And yes, launching a small business takes time. But if you do this properly, you'll pick something you're excited to do! When you are brimming with excitement, you'll have no problem waking up a little earlier. You'll want to chase down your dreams and create a better life for yourself. In this book, you'll learn the tools and processes to make room for greatness. And best of all, I'll show you how to do this so your effort is up front, while your fruits last for years to come. BUT running a business is complicated! Many businesses are complicated. Complex processes, custom systems, layers of human resources, and teams of accountants abound! But who said businesses need to be complex? The best small businesses are simple! This is why I love the term "money machine." It embodies simplicity. This book will help you avoid the complexities and find the simplest path possible. And finally...BUT it takes someone special to stand out, and I'm not special! If you pick up this book, I think there's a good chance you are special. You are striving for more. You're ready to take control. You're ready to level up your life. Most people won't turn their dreams into reality. But I can help. This book will help you uncover your true drive. You will want to pour your passion into this. You will want to outhustle the competition. You will have the tools to stand out. No more BUTS! I've filled this book with exercises to help you find your passion, generate momentum, and stand out from the crowd. The concepts in this book won't put you at risk, and they won't be complicated. So, the only thing you stand to lose is opportunity. People are taking action every day...now it's your turn.

If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.

Completely revised and updated edition of this very popular and successful small business book The first edition of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business was hailed by management guru and author Tom Peters as "Brilliantly researched. Brilliantly written. A gem of priceless value on almost every page. Read. Inhale. Absorb. Great Stuff!" In this completely updated third edition of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, renowned small-business expert and consultant Jane Applegate shares new, powerful, creative, simple, and proven approaches for building a better small business. Details how business owners can use online marketing and social networking more effectively Offers timely strategies for thriving in challenging economic times Includes scores of real-life success stories and all-new interviews with small-business owners, experts, and VIP's including Guy Kawasaki, Kay Koplovitz, and Michael Bloomberg It may be small, but your business is a big deal to you, your customers, and employees. 201 Great Ideas provides lively, practical strategies to help you manage, grow, and promote your business.

"This guide will teach you everyhing you need to know to get your own business off the ground while avoiding the costly mistakes that can kill new dropshipping ventures. We will discuss everything from the dropshipping fundamentals to how to operate a dropshipping business and deal with the problems that arise."--Back cover.

SmartStart Your Business Today! How to Start a Business in Colorado is your road map to avoiding operational, legal and financial pitfalls and breaking through the bureaucratic red tape that often entangles new entrepreneurs. This all-in-one resource goes a step beyond other business how-to books to give you a jump-start on planning for your business. It provides you with: Valuable state-specific sample forms and letters on CD-ROM Mailing addresses, telephone numbers and websites for the federal, state, local and private agencies that will help get your business up and running State population statistics, income and consumption rates, major industry trends and overall business incentives to give you a better picture of doing business in Colorado Checklists, sample forms and a complete sample business plan to assist you with numerous startup details State-specific information on issues like choosing a legal form, selecting a business name, obtaining licenses and permits, registering to pay taxes and knowing your employer responsibilities Federal and state options for financing your new venture Resources, cost information, statistics and regulations have all been updated. That, plus a new easier-to-use layout putting all the state-specific information in one block of chapters, make this your must-have guide to getting your business off the ground.

The Mom Test is a quick, practical guide that will save you time, money, and heartbreak. They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question and everyone will lie to you at least a little . As a matter of fact, it's not their responsibility to tell you the truth. It's your responsibility to find it and it's worth doing right . Talking to customers is one of the foundational skills of both Customer Development and Lean Startup. We all know we're supposed to do it, but nobody seems willing to admit that it's easy to screw up and hard to do right. This book is going to show you how customer conversations go wrong and how you can do better.