The most important part of any new business is the idea it’s based on. While most start-ups fail, your odds of success are much higher when you have a creative, forward-thinking plan that differentiates you from potential competitors. When you’re strategizing a new business venture, think carefully about the world around you. What needs do people have that aren’t being met? Is there a way for you to meet that need in a unique way? These are the kind of questions you want to ask yourself. To get you started, here are five creative business ideas you may not have considered.
1. Start a CBD business.
Everyone talks about cannabis, but CBD is gaining popularity and with fewer complicated legalities to deal with, the CBD industry can provide great opportunities for a savvy entrepreneur. There are so many product options, so you can sell anything from lotions and soaps to smokable flowers. Joints and cigarettes made with hemp flowers like Plain Jane’s provide a relaxing smoking experience that can be shared with friends. The industry is growing at a rapid rate and demand is high, so now is the perfect time to get in on CBD if you’ve ever been interested.
2. Provide senior services.
The global population of people aged 65 years and older will be in the billions by 2050. The elderly require many services and you can provide them. If you choose to cater to a specific neighborhood or community, you can even use a platform like Peerly to coordinate large group messages to send information and connect with people individually. You can look at peerly.com for more information on how this works, but it’s a fantastic option for anyone who needs to communicate and engage with large groups of people frequently. A meal delivery service, for example, could send out notifications with menu options and delivery times available on any given day and allow customers to respond with relevant information.
3. Create an online fashion store.
If you love clothes and have a great sense of style, you can have your own boutique even if you can’t afford a brick and mortar store. You can focus on curation and use products from other vendors instead of manufacturing clothing yourself. Places like Shopify and others offer product-sourcing software to help you find inventory. You can spend as much or as little as you want on promotion and can use social media effectively to show off your goods.
4. Launch your own creative project.
Books, art, and handcrafted pieces are all products, same as anything else, that you can create and sell on your own. Most people don’t think of their creative or artistic pursuits as a potential business, but they can and should. If you’re a writer, on-demand publishing is more accessible than ever. You don’t need a publishing company to share your story. There are a lot of different kinds of artistic projects and handcrafted goods that you can make or sell, so if you have a talent or a hobby, think about how you can turn it into your business.
5. Sell print-on-demand products and cards.
There are a lot of ways to create your own merchandise to print-on-demand. If you’re a photographer, you can dropship using a print-on-demand model as long as you own the rights to the image. Cartoonists and illustrators can also create their own work to turn into posters and printed work to sell. You can also use digital template services to create t-shirts, postcards, and anything else you can imagine online, for those who don’t take photographs or illustrate on their own.
If you’re looking to start a business, it can be intimidating to figure out exactly what you want to do and what you plan to sell. Coming up with a creative, low-cost idea for a start-up is difficult, but not impossible. Consider who your idea appeals to, what kind of purchasing power that demographic has, and how you can meet an underserved need in an unconventional or interesting way. Pay attention to trends in the market that you can take advantage of. With hard work and ingenuity, a successful business idea with a unique premise is well within reach.
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