What Are The Best Businesses To Start Now? Top 3 Considerations

Ask 1,000 entrepreneurs and you will get 1,000 different answers on this one.  There is no definitive answer.  There are only guidelines.

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Before you open shop, here are some considerations.

1. Assess Your Skills To Find The Best Business For You To Start

Different businesses require different skills.  Some are heavy in desk work, some in field work, and some require internet skills.  Inventory what you've got to offer a business.  What?  Nothing comes to mind?  Sure it does.  Try on some of these:

• Customer service skills from working on the hot line at business.
• Strong interpersonal skills from working for pushy people.
• Exceptional organizational skills for all your volunteer organizing.
• Sales skills garnered from all the garage sales you have put on.
• Marketing skills from promoting events for church or political parties.

Go a bit further even, and encompass skills from your hobbies and daily life:

• Gardening skills
• Auto repair skills
• Camping and hiking skills (yes, even these can help you in business)
• Child raising skills
• Horseback riding

These are very real skills.  Just because you weren't paid for all of them, or paid very much, doesn't make the skill any less valuable.

So start out by having a serious conversation with yourself about just what you bring to the table as an entrepreneur.  Have a brainstorming session or two, writing down all the stuff that comes to mind.  Odds are that in very short order you will have a long list of skills to draw upon. 

Odds are too that this list will provide the genesis of the business you could consider starting.

2.  Assess Your Sales Tolerance

You are looking at business.  That means you will be selling something, whether it is books written by others, your own advisory services, or products in a store.  A lot of people have trouble selling.  Honestly, what I think most people dislike is confrontational selling.  I hate it too.  So you note that on this website, the "sales" is unobtrusive, at the top of the page or along the side.  Other websites are sometimes very intrusive in their selling.

In person sales are much the same.  There are sales people who provide information and genuinely want to help customers.  We enjoy those sales people.  There are others who are truly obnoxious, and most of us aren't so fond of them.

Decide up front what you "sales tolerance" is when deciding on the best business to start.  Is cold calling ok?  Are retail sales ok?  How about making sales presentation for your services?  This is truly one of the crucial decisions in finding the best startup business for your set of skills.

3.  Decide How You Want This Business To Grow

It may mean an after school child care service in your home, which will later grow into a chain of after school service programs.  It can also be a four year plan, after which you will close it and pursue something else.

Sometimes the best startup business is a sole proprietorship of some sort.  Incidentally, these don't necessarily make less money; they are just a distinct way of running a business.

And sometimes a business needs dozens, or hundreds, of employees to be successful.

There are many who say that "how much money the business can make" should be at the top of your list.  Not so.  In truth, nearly any business can make a lot of money, or a little, depending on how you structure it and work it.  Heck, if you really love making cup cakes, you can create a little shop on the corner, or you can create a factory that makes cup cakes for markets in your area.

Starting a business is a Big Deal.  It requires a commitment from you for time and money, and perhaps the backing of your family as well.  Before starting out, take the time to decide just what is YOUR best business to start.

And yes, our Start Up Right Now workbooks are indeed designed to help you work through these decisions. 

Also check out these other articles on business startups: