What type of small business should you start?

If you are looking to start your own business and don’t know where to begin, you are not alone. Many 9-5 workers and aspiring entrepreneurs long for the freedom that small business ownership provides but don’t know where to begin.

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The truth of the matter is that you will never be 100% sure that you have the right idea, the funding and all of the business expertise that it takes to be successful. You’ll need to learn to jump once you get 80% of the way there.

Build a DTC or Ecommerce business

Building a website that sells your products to consumers or directly to businesses is called the Ecommerce industry. These companies are also frequently called Direct To Consumer companies or DTC for short. One of the great feature of building this type of business is that you can be location independent and it takes very little startup capital. You can learn more about sourcing or creating products, developing your ecommerce website and selling your business here. These companies can sell products DTC either through catalog and website sales or through a third party marketplace such as Walmart or Amazon. 

Small construction business

With only a licence and a few hundred dollars worth of tools, you can build a home remodeling or construction business like On Point Builders Inc. did. This means that you’ll be remodeling bathrooms, kitchens, basements and potentially building homes from the ground up. Note that this will take some expertise and a license. In addition to the skills, you’ll also need to come up with the equipment that the job requires. At the least you’ll need a hybrid saw like the ones featured here, contractor saw or large table saw to complete the job. You can read more about the steps you can take to scale and sell your construction business here. 

Product private labeling or white labeling

Whether you elect to sell through wholesalers or direct to consumers as we spoke about previously, you need to know that you’ll have to hire and pay a manufacturing facility to create your product for you. For some industries such as the spirits business, you’ll need a facility that is licensed, has all the requisite equipment and has a trained staff to distill the gin, vodka or whiskey for you. R6 distillery offers contract distilling in Los Angeles. This service should be utilized by anyone who wants to build a spirits business. Using another companies facilities will cut tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars off of the build of your business and help you avoid very costly mistakes.

If you are looking to build a service other than spirits, it still may be worthwhile for you to hire a manufacturer that specializes in building that product. While many companies opt towards using Alibaba and finding a manufacturer in China that can fulfill their needs, there are many US based manufacturers that do as good of work or better work and can typically get your items to you in a shorter time frame which will save you money.

Getting started

Now that you know the basics of these business models, it is time for you to take out a clean, white sheet of paper and start mapping out your business. What business model makes sense for you? How much money will you need to start? What skills do you need and what skills do you already have?

It is a certainty that building a business is difficult, but the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and you will need to get started in order to progress and fulfill your life as an entrepreneur.

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