If you had to start all over right now what business would you start? What sector would it be in? What sectors would you avoid? How about real estate?
I’ll tell you what I wouldn’t go into – and thats Tech. Its mature. Competition is strong. The market isn’t growing anymore like it used to be. Its getting cheaper and its a race to the bottom right now.
I also would avoid a new product. Again the competition is strong and the market isn’t there. You are spending tons of money to educate a market because nobody knows its out there. Not ideal and high risk.
Retail is also brutal. Online retail has boomed and flattened. You are competing with China and all goods are turning into commodities. Its a race to the bottom.
Online content and trying to become an online influencer and build a brand around that is also a tough business for those starting out right now. Everyone wants to be an instagram influencer or a YouTuber and its getting harder to carve out your niche. The amount of people on their phones scrolling or watching youtube videos is nearing its peak. The market isn’t going to grow forever. The people in that business need to double down and milk the golden goose while shes still there and start leveraging other opportunities and think hard about where the market is going and where they are headed.
America is a service economy right now. Its exploding. Specifically in the service businesses I would target those that customers sign on for scheduled service over and over again. The subscription model. Where a customer is going to utilize your service weekly or bi weekly or monthly for as long as you can keep them on board.
I think pest control is a great business. It would be relatively simple to scale and easy to train employees. Customers can stay with you for 10+ years so you could do creative things to get new customers in the door knowing they are very valuable in the long run. Same with lawn care and lawn treatment. I love the home service businesses that are not just one time hit and runs.
I also love businesses that are seasonal because you can plan and think ahead and rewrite your business plan in the off season and improve leaps and bounds based off the things you learned during the peak season. In our seasonal business we are really able to analyze our market and find our wheelhouse every year and focus on it. Its a common theme at Storage Squad that they pay us the big bucks for our work in November when nothing is happening and we aren’t servicing any customers. Thats when the real advances are made. We’re working in quadrant 2 and nurturing our wheelhouse.
I also love businesses with the opportunity to lead into specialized real estate. Real estate is the end goal because of the massive tax advantages and passive stress free income that comes along with it. However the real estate most people invest in is so competitive there are no deals left. If you are buying rental houses on Zillow you are competing with 1000 other buyers in any neighborhood. Everybody wants to own rental properties or buy and flip because its the sexy thing to do right now and the TV shows on HGTV glorify it and make it look easy. I hate that. If you are going to get into real estate and think you can just go on Zillow and find a good rental property you are sadly mistaken. If its on Zillow you are too late. You have to find a competitive advantage. Cleaning up tax liens or estates. Buying foreclosures. Doing your own repairs and remodels. You have to find additional ways to add value or its very hard to thrive.
I would also love to start a business that leads into real estate in a niche market where you aren’t competing with a lot of other players. That is where the real value can be gained. Examples of this would be warehousers or distributors because it leads into warehouse and commercial assets. Maybe a vacation rental management company that leads into vacation home assets. It was my experience in the storage industry that lead me to self storage assets.
But honestly. The number one business would be the trades. I’m encouraging my kids to be electricians. These industries are so far behind everything else when it comes to tech, customer service, marketing and sales that implementing these things I talk about on this blog would put you leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else in the industry. None of the owners of other companies work in quadrant 2 and think about their wheelhouse. They are all just running around working to keep their head above water.