Get a List of the Best Business Ideas

These are a few business ideas that can give budding entrepreneurs the best chance of making money – and just as importantly, the opportunity to start a business that will last and make money for years to come.

Some of the ideas on this list are, admittedly, more exciting than others, but if you know anything about business, you know that it’s often the simple, plain idea that yields the most as the most successful businesses meet people’s needs.

There are plenty of business ideas that did not make this list that can be developed into successful small businesses. These are just 10 that have great potential. One of these may be the best business to start for you!

Medtech

Medical Technology
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Medtech, the business of creating and producing medical devices, has never been more accessible. The combination of inexpensive resources such as 3D printing and open-source software and hardware make producing prototypes much less costly.

And the medical technology market is booming. The United States remains the largest medical device market in the world with a market size of around $156 billion in 2017 (Medical Technology Spotlight). What could you create to make medical treatments easier and/or more effective?

Cloud Advisors

Cloud computing
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The last few years, social media management has been a hot IT-related business. But the big migration continues to remote servers hosted on the internet after cloud computing took the world by storm in 2015. Many businesses are keen to get there but don’t really know that much about it. Others are hanging back because they don’t see the necessity and fear the disadvantages.

Knowledgeable IT types who can make the business case for moving various processes and apps to the cloud and do it for businesses have huge opportunities. Knowing ​the ​advantages of cloud computing will help you make your case.​

"Safe" Food

Apples
Dave Mcleod / Susan Ward

Food safety is becoming more and more of an issue. Consumers want to feel secure that what they eat has been handled to prevent contamination and to ensure that ingredients in products are accurately labeled.   

It’s not just burger meat or undercooked chicken that threaten consumers; even products such as organic lettuce have been subjected to food recalls. For their own well-being, consumers are paying more attention to the food they buy, and the local food movement is growing apace.

More emphasis is being placed on identifying foods that can contain allergy-risks. Consumers want to know that the products they are buying fit their health requirements. That means providing them with items that may be gluten-free or peanut-free. 

Senior Care

Senior care
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The burgeoning numbers of senior baby boomers also provide burgeoning business opportunities for senior care. In-home care and senior residences are the obvious ones. Don't forget all the related opportunities such as driving, delivery, catering, and cleaning services for seniors who want to stay in their homes. You can certainly develop your own business providing care for seniors, but there are also quite a few senior care franchise opportunities available.

Senior Moving Specialist

Seniors moving
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Aging sucks and one of the ugly aspects of aging that many people face is having to leave what’s been their home for many years and move into someplace smaller. What makes it even worse is that many seniors in such circumstances have no one on the spot to help them.  That’s why Seniors Real Estate Specialists are a growing niche market in Canada and the U.S.

And while the process to become a Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) involves already being a Realtor and taking a course designed by the National Association of Realtors, you don’t have to be a Realtor to get into this niche market.

Patti Priestman’s Home Suite Home business takes a slightly different tack, focusing on assisting clients through every step of their move, from decluttering their current home through ensuring everything in is the right place in the new one.

Yoga

Yoga pose on mountain
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It's one of the best business ideas for now and years to come. Forget spin cycling and Pilates: yoga is the fitness business to be in. The number of practitioners continues to grow each year, perhaps because yoga itself is so adaptable and accessible. Karaoke yoga, “gray” yoga, hot yoga—there’s truly a form of yoga for everyone.

Note that American spending on yoga products, from trendy attire and mats to studio classes, rose from $4.7 billion in 2007 to $7 billion in 2012.  and Revenue for the overall domestic yoga industry is projected to grow to $11.6 billion by 2020 according to consumer market data company Statista. Why not direct some of that revenue your way?

Drones for Business

Man with a drone
Richard Newstead / Getty Images

Using drones for business purposes is an industry in its infancy but I think it’s going to grow up fast as more ways to profitably use drones are discovered. Drones can be used for surveying, crop dusting, search and rescue, and checking out fires to see if it’s safe for firefighters to enter are just a few. There are numerous business ideas for using drones.

After several years of weighing how to regulate drones in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration issued rules on their use. The Remote Pilot Certificate program launched in 2016 for commercial and recreational use of drones. Drones must be registered and can only fly up to a certain height. By comparison, Transport Canada's rules for flying drones (a.k.a. unmanned aircraft systems) have been seen as simpler and less restrictive. There have been fears that drone usage will be constrained and the “potential benefits will be dampened by over-stringent rules” (The Economist).

Baby Products Online

Baby products
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Parents raising newborns are always looking for retailers that can supply them with clothes and other products to help them keep up with their rapidly growing children. Even in a slow economy, infants and toddlers still need apparel, furniture, feeding products, and other items suited to them.

The closure of Babies R Us in 2018 created a vacancy in this niche of retail that other companies want to fill. This is not limited to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. With how easy it is now to get into e-commerce, it is possible to quickly become a seller of baby gear and tap into a market that regularly enjoys steady consumer demand.

Scooter Sales & Service

Seniors on a scooter
kali9 / Getty Images

People who want to quickly move around their neighborhoods without the demands of owning larger vehicles might turn to scooters. Less intensive than handling a motorcycle, a scooter lets riders make short trips with some of the same convenience as riding a bike. Their small profile allows scooters to maneuver through areas that might otherwise be too jammed or crowded for a motorcycle. They can be used to run errands such as picking up a few groceries or visiting a nearby friend.

If you choose this business opportunity, don’t forget to provide gear like helmets and riding gloves too.

Translation Services for Business

Translation services
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Did you know that there are over 200 languages spoken in Canada and 381 spoken in the United States? Or that there are more than 6,700 spoken throughout the world?

These are signs of the ever-growing potential and need for translations in the business world. With e-commerce ever growing and increasing numbers of companies striving to sell to more than just the hometown crowd, the need for websites, documents, and videos to be translated into other languages is exploding.