How to Start a Boring Business | 5 Boring Business Ideas & How to Start Them

🗞️ Things worth checking out

The best businesses solve specific problems. I’ve created an ever-expanding database of problems that are begging for a better solution.

Are you tired of wasting time and resources on business ideas that just don’t stick? It’s not because you’re not smart or hardworking - it's because you’re not focused on solving the right problems.

This database takes the guesswork out of entrepreneurship. Instead of sifting through endless ideas, you’ll have access to a curated list of high-potential problems that are begging to be solved.

Here's what you get:

• Problems & pain points

• Potential solutions

• Competitive analysis

• Research to back it all up

Benefits:

• Focused Strategy: Direct your efforts toward problems with proven demand and strong potential for success.

• Time Savings: Cut down on research time with ready-made competitive analysis and research.

• Lifetime Access: As new problems and opportunities emerge, you’ll be the first to know, without paying a penny more.

🗂 Overview: 5 Boring Business Ideas & How to Start Them

In 2024, boring businesses are anything but boring.

Boring businesses are all the rage thanks to social media personalities such as Codie Sanchez and Nick Huber.

Today, I’m going to give you 5 boring business ideas you can start this weekend and show you how to build them.

But first, why are boring businesses becoming sexy and why should you start one?

Simply put, they offer lower competition, predictable revenue, and high profit margins. Starting one provides a reliable and scalable way to achieve financial security by addressing essential, ongoing market needs.

⭐️ Examples:

• Egg Cartons - Bought for $0 upfront and makes multi-millions in revenue. More here.

• Stage Timer - Makes over $200k per year with a simple countdown stage timer.

• Music for Pets - Generated over 7 figures in profit and sold for 8 figures.

• No Degree - Resume writing service that does $10k/m.

• What’s My IP Address - A free website that checks IP addresses makes over $1m a year.

• Van Trump Report - Agriculture newsletter that does $20m a year in revenue.

• Cookie First - Cookie consent management platform does $1m a year.

You can find a huge library of other boring businesses here.

👎 Problems:

People often get obsessed with starting the next Instagram or supplement brand. But often times the businesses that are most likely to succeed are “boring” businesses that target a specific niche and solve a specific problem.

Boring businesses have:

• Lower Competition

• Recurring Revenue

• Steady Demand

• High-Profit Margins

• Work-Life Balance

They also offer more economic stability as they don’t require much upfront capital or ongoing costs and have a steady stream of income.

📈 Stats:

• The service industries account for 81% of the total UK economic output and 82% of employment as of early 2024. (source)

• The service industry accounts for around 80% of the GDP in many developed economies, such as the United States. (source)

🧐 Opportunities:

1. Niche Specific Marketplaces

• For example, you could create a marketplace for UGC creators. These creators would list their services and examples of their work and businesses would be able to list briefs for their projects.

• Creators could apply for the projects and businesses can reach out to creators.

• It could either be a subscription model where creators pay a small fee each month to access the business leads (like solidgigs) or you could make money off payment processing by taking a % of every transaction.

• Some examples are Trend.io or Billo.app but most of these marketplaces focus on America, not Europe, Asia or South America.

• You can build an MVP using Sharetribe, Niceboard or Softr

2. Niche Web Scraping Tools

• There are a million web scraping tools for emails, social media accounts etc but there are some niches that are underserved.

• For example, you could make a web scraper that can pull real estate listings and organise the data to help people find better deals.

• Or you could create one for the agriculture industry that scrapes data on environmental conditions, crop yields, etc.

3. Make Free Websites for Local Businesses

• I’ve previously broken down how you can do this here.

• The basic premise is you create the website for free and charge between $30/m - $199/m for hosting/support/maintenance.

• If you can create 15 websites a month at $50/m (not that hard if they’re free and if the websites are made using templates) by the end of the year you’re making $9k/m or over $100k every year.

• Scrape a list of every business in your niche from Google Maps using Clay or Outscraper and cold email them with your offer using Instantly.

4. Private Label Products

• You can find suppliers from Alibaba or Global Sources for pretty much any product you want.

• You can private label these products and put your own branding on them and sell them as your own.

• For example, you could see that Detergent Sheets are trending and create your own brand using Sheets Innovation as your supplier.

• Create a store on Shopify and start running Meta/TikTok ads using UGC-style creative.

5. Local Services with a Twist

• Take Pink’s Windows for example. They’ve added a retro twist to the window cleaning industry. They offer franchise opportunities and even have an online store selling their merch (that sells out often).

• They’ve branded themselves differently from anyone else in the market by making it a fun and exciting business that people want to hire and be a part of.

• What other niches could you apply this to? Landscaping, mowing, house cleaning, plumbing, auto repair shops.

• Find a niche and look at ways to differentiate yourself using branding and service offerings.

• List yourself on Google My Business and every local directory + run local advertising campaigns using flyers, local newsletters, and local social media pages, etc.

🚀How to Grow:

1. Niche Specific Marketplaces

• SEO Optimization: Optimize your platform for search engines to attract organic traffic from creators and businesses searching for UGC services.

• Content Marketing: Create blogs, videos, and guides on effective UGC and how businesses can leverage it.

• Partnerships: Partner with influencers and industry leaders to promote your marketplace.

• Referral Programs: Implement referral incentives for existing users to bring in new creators and businesses.

• Paid Advertising: Use targeted ads on social media platforms frequented by creators and marketers.

• Webinars and Workshops: Host educational webinars to showcase the benefits of using your platform.

2. Niche Web Scraping Tools

• Niche Forums and Communities: Engage with niche-specific online communities to understand their needs and promote your tool.

• Demo and Free Trials: Offer free trials or demos to showcase the efficiency and utility of your scraping tool.

• Case Studies: Publish case studies highlighting how your tool solves specific industry problems.

• Technical SEO: Optimize for keywords related to niche web scraping needs.

• Influencer Partnerships: Collaborate with industry influencers to review and recommend your tool.

• Educational Content: Produce tutorials and webinars on web scraping best practices and use cases.

• Twitter: Give away databases on Twitter to grow your audience and reach.

• Lead Magnets: Use databases of the data you can scrape as lead magnets.

3. Free Websites for Local Businesses

• Cold Outreach: Use tools like Clay or Outscraper to generate a list of local businesses and cold email them with your offer using platforms like Instantly.

• Local SEO: Optimize your service for local search terms to attract nearby businesses.

• Community Engagement: Participate in local business events and offer free workshops on website benefits.

• Referral Program: Encourage satisfied clients to refer other local businesses.

• Social Proof: Showcase testimonials and case studies from existing clients.

• Local Advertising: Run ads in local newspapers, community boards, and social media groups.

4. Private Label Products

• Market Research: Identify trending products and reliable suppliers on platforms like Alibaba or Global Sources.

• Brand Development: Create a compelling brand story and visual identity for your products.

• UGC and Influencer Marketing: Use user-generated content and partner with influencers to create authentic promotional content.

• Social Media Ads: Run targeted ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

• Content Marketing: Develop content around the benefits and uses of your products.

• Email Marketing: Build an email list and run campaigns to promote new products and offers.

5. Local Services with a Twist

• Unique Branding: Develop a unique, fun, and engaging brand identity, similar to Pink’s Windows.

• Franchise Model: Offer franchise opportunities to expand your brand presence.

• Merchandising: Create branded merchandise to sell online and increase brand visibility.

• Local SEO: Optimize your Google My Business profile and list on local directories.

• Community Involvement: Engage with the local community through sponsorships and participation in events.

• Traditional Advertising: Use flyers, local newsletters, and ads in local newspapers.

• Social Media Presence: Maintain active profiles on local social media pages and run localized advertising campaigns.

🔥 Cool Stuff

(Bookmark these)

• Increase your sales & attract more clients with a done-for-you newsletter - check it out.

• Want to grow your business? Here’s a database of tools that can help.

• Want to promote your startup for free? Here’s a database of free places to promote your startup.

• Want to turn your idea into a business? Check out this business idea checklist.

• Want to differentiate from your competitors? Check out this Differentiation Strategy Guide

• Want to run ads for your business? Use these proven psychological ad positioning strategies.

🤯 Recommendations

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