When you have made the leap to decide to start your own business the next step is which type of business should you start? Your About.com Small Business Information Guide, has put together the top business opportunities.
The choice of business opportunities ranges from public relations or management consulting, to home contracting referral services. These business opportunities represent a convergence of trends, from saving consumer's time and money to the continued growth of new Internet users. So take a look at the top ten business opportunities for the new year.
Top Ten Business Opportunities
1. E-Learning: Learning electronically through the Internet, represents a continued strong business opportunity for development of technology and learning content. The opportunity for small business is to specialize in delivering highly focused content. For example, take copywriting consultant, Joe Vitale, who earned $68,000 by offering an email-based 5-week copywriting course.
2. Contractor Referral Service: Homeowners are challenged to find a reliable and trusted service for home repairs. New home contractor referral services have sprung up to fill this growing need. One such service is Angie's List, which has grown to 10,000 service companies, serving over 100,000 members. Become a trusted, unbiased source for contractor and home repair referrals in your hometown and build a much-needed third-party service company.
3. On-Site Computer Service: With the proliferation of computers in homes and small business, combined with increasing complexity, the market for computer services has grown to over 300 billion with no national chain. Business opportunities exist in serving business and consumer clients on-site with their repair, upgrade, and networking needs. No need to be a certified technician, but hire certified techs to provide the service or check out franchise opportunities like Geeks On Call, who has grown to over 340 locations from 70 in 2002.
4. Direct Selling: Direct selling and multi-level marketing are hot in times of economic uncertainty. With rising need for supplemental income, recruiting new members is easier. Direct sales exceeded $30.47 Billion in 2005, according to the Direct Selling Association. Craig Keeland, President and Founder of Youngevity, Inc. says, "While the general financial forecast is gloomy, the sun is shining on network marketing. As the economy enters its newest downturn, network marketing will experience a dramatic surge."
5. Online Gaming: How hot is the online gaming market? According to a report from DFC Intelligence, the worldwide online game market is forecasted by 2012 to surpass $13 billion. In December 2002, the most popular top selling game, "The Sims", went live to online gaming. David Cole, President of DFC Intelligence states, "Sims Online is a real test of the market potential. Past subscription based online games have tended to be fantasy oriented games that appeal to a predominately male audience." Cole warns, that the competition is intense for online gaming developers, but business opportunities exist "to serve the companies that are developing all these games.
