15 Most Profitable Small Businesses to Start

Becoming your own boss means you’ll need to stay adaptable, learn new skills and make good business decisions — starting with what type of business to open. Starting a new business takes hard work and risk, but some industries are less risky than others.

We’ve rounded up the most profitable businesses with a reputation for generating strong and consistent cash flow right from the very start.

What are the most profitable businesses?

The most profitable industries in 2024 are banking, oil/gas production and tobacco, according to an analysis of net margins by New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Industries that are more friendly toward smaller businesses yet still have good net profit margins include things like entertainment software (20%), green and renewable energy (15%), homebuilding (12%) and restaurants/dining (11%).

What makes a business idea profitable?

Many things go into making a business profitable. For small businesses, in particular, focusing on strong cash flow is very important, especially in the beginning. It’s not as easy for small businesses to get financing compared to larger companies, and when financing isn’t an option, it’s your cash flow that’ll keep your business alive.

Businesses with a high cash flow potential tend to have low expenses and high revenue, unsurprisingly. The more your business needs to spend in order to generate income, the harder it’ll be to maintain a steady cash flow and make a profit. That’s why coming up with good estimates of your potential business costs and revenue is essential to seeing whether your business idea has any profit potential.

15 profitable business ideas

You, as a business owner, are ultimately responsible for making or breaking your business. It doesn’t matter how good your business idea is if you make poor decisions around marketing, pricing, hiring and tax and legal compliance.

That said, even the best entrepreneurs aren’t magicians. By applying strong management skills to business ideas that are already likely to succeed, you can maximize your odds of long-term success when starting a new business. Here are some of the most lucrative business ideas:

1. Website and mobile app design

• Skills needed: Technical programming knowledge, attention to detail, creativity

Software businesses focusing on entertainment, system and application development can be highly profitable, with net margins of around 20%, according to a 2020 report by New York University’s Stern Business School.

These businesses also feature low startup costs. After all, if you’re using a computer to access the internet to read this article, you already have most of the equipment you need aside from general business management programs and investments in your skill set.

Plus, these businesses are highly scalable, since you can start them as a part-time side hustle and grow it into a multi-employee business over time.

2. Personal training

• Skills needed: Personal training certification, physical fitness, compassion, problem solving, patience

If you enjoy working with people and staying in shape, a great low-cost business idea with high profit potential is personal training. The average personal trainer earns $46,480 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with demand projected to increase by 14% over the next 10 years.

You’ll have a lot of options to pursue the most profitable business model with a personal training business, thanks to the many different shapes it can take. You can sell pre-made workout templates for passive income, work one-on-one with groups or clients and even offer ancillary services like nutrition counseling.

Certification typically takes three to six months and costs up to $1,000, but after that, you can offer to meet clients online, in public facilities like gyms or in their own home.

3. Cleaning services

• Skills needed: Attention to detail, honesty, time management, physical fitness, communication

Residential and commercial cleaning businesses are always in local demand and have low start-up costs. Many house cleaners even use their customer’s own cleaning supplies and equipment, so you may be able to get started and continue operating with minimal costs.

Cleaning businesses can be very flexible and easy to scale, perfect for new business owners. As your business grows, you can start to hire employees and offer new and specialized services, such as professional carpet deep cleaning or exterior surface cleaning.

In general, cleaning businesses generally operate with profit margins ranging from 10% to 28%.

4. Virtual assistant services

• Skills needed: Communication, adaptability and willingness to learn, writing, time management

Just as potential customers might need help in keeping their home’s physical spaces tidy, in today’s modern era many online entrepreneurs need help keeping their virtual affairs tidy too. As a virtual assistant, you can work on a flexible schedule doing things like sending emails, scheduling interviews, doing basic admin tasks and in some cases, managing a customer’s social media presence.

Getting started as a virtual assistant is quite easy if you’re fluent working in digital spaces, requiring no more than your computer to get started as far as tools go.

In 2024, the average virtual assistant made $26.71 per hour, according to Indeed.com. And with little in the way of expenses, profit margins can be very high.

5. Social media marketing

• Skills needed: Marketing, learning new platforms, communication, search engine optimization (SEO)

Social media is becoming increasingly important for any small business owner’s success, with 41% of enterprises now relying on it to generate revenue. Yet, understanding the ins and outs of marketing campaigns, customer engagement and maintaining a regular posting schedule isn’t something that most small business owners have the time or energy to focus on.

That makes a perfect low-cost business idea with a high profit potential for you if you’re comfortable with these platforms.

The average profit margin for digital marketing agencies typically ranges from 10% to 15%.

6. Freelance writing

• Skills needed: Writing, time management, marketing, SEO

If you’ve ever had a blog, it’s a natural transition into writing the same kind of articles for clients. Like social media marketing and virtual assistant services, the startup costs are minimal, your time commitment is flexible and you have many opportunities for growth. Most freelance writers earn between $46,000 and $82,000 per year, according to Glassdoor.

At the low end of the spectrum are “content mills” that are easy to get started with, churning out articles for poorly paid rates — often just one cent per word or less. As you gain experience, you can begin to take on corporate clients, ghostwriting work and white papers in industries that are highly paid, such as healthcare and IT security.

7. Vacation rental management

• Skills needed: Communication, organization, networking, problem solving

Websites like Vrbo and Airbnb offer homeowners a great way to earn extra income. But just because someone owns extra property doesn’t mean they’re also a business owner. That’s why many pay small local businesses to manage the day-to-day details of their vacation rental, like scheduling bookings, addressing guest issues and cleaning in between reservations.

Vacation rental property managers generally earn about $56,985 per year, according to ZipRecruiter.

8. Computer repair

• Skills needed: Technical computer knowledge, attention to detail, time management

Computers are essential to staying connected, but many people don’t understand how they work, nor how to fix them when they break. That means there’ll always be consistent demand; job growth is even predicted to increase at a faster-than-average pace of 6% over the next 10 years, according to the BLS.

You’ll need a lot of technical skills and experience with building and modifying computers in order to start a computer repair business. Traveling to customer’s houses can be a great way to start, especially because you can charge higher fees and eliminate the cost of maintaining a storefront.

9. Bookkeeping

• Skills needed: Accounting, attention to detail, problem solving

Small retail businesses often have a lot of transactions to keep track of in order to maintain accurate business records, but they may not have enough resources to hire an in-house accounting department. Starting a bookkeeping business to help other businesses is a time-proven way to earn money and requires little in the way of start-up capital.

Since you’re not offering tax advice and only helping to keep a business’s financial records straight, there isn’t much in the way of formal schooling or certification required, although it can certainly help.

Data from the BLS show a median income of $47,440 per year for bookkeepers and accountants.

10. Photography

• Skills needed: Creativity, marketing, communication, attention to detail

Working as an independent photographer can be a low-paid position or extremely lucrative, depending on how you structure your business. If you provide services to people and businesses where a large amount of money is exchanged, like for real estate listings or weddings, you can generate a good income.

You’ll need to have a creative eye and invest in some quality equipment to get started, like lighting equipment and editing software.

According to the Professional Photographers of America, photography businesses generally have a profit margin of around 50%.

11. Tutoring services

• Skills needed: Patience, advanced knowledge in one or more study areas, problem solving

If you’re looking for a profitable part-time business idea, tutoring has long been a go-to option among students. But it’s not limited to people still in school — as long as you can demonstrate your credentials or experience in a given subject, you can charge money to help others learn those things too.

Having advanced skills and knowledge can help you charge higher rates, such as for college exam prep. In fact, small independent tutoring businesses can yield profit margins up to 90%. But you can still get started with low (or even no) cash investment, even if you just offer services as an online conversation partner for people learning the English language.

12. Event planning

• Skills needed: Communication, creativity, time management, networking, problem solving

Another area where a lot of money is exchanged is through events, including corporate events like employee retreats, client conferences and product launches, as well as private events like weddings, birthday parties and baby showers. If you like creating fun experiences for groups of people, this could be one of the most profitable businesses for you.

A typical event planner earned a median salary of $62,280 in 2023 according to the BLS, with good net profit margins ranging from 10% to 20%.

13. Notary

• Skills needed: Strong organization and time management abilities, attention to detail, strong ethics

Many types of contracts and legal documents require an impartial witness who can verify the identity of everyone involved, and that’s where notaries come in. It’s a surprisingly cost-effective business to start, ranging from $100 to $600 with all expenses included, according to the National Notary Association (NNA). Completing the requirements to become a notary typically takes up to three months.

According to an NNA survey, half of all full-time notaries earn $2,000 or more per month, with 16% earning more than $7,500. Even on a part-time basis, a third of notaries were earning over $1,000 each month.

It’s flexible as well, with the option to offer in-person, remote or mobile notary services in most states so that you don’t need to maintain a dedicated public-serving business location.

14. Landscaping

• Skills needed: Physical fitness, working outdoors in inclement weather, caring for plants, using loud and heavy tools

Traditional landscaping companies require a lot of employees and expensive equipment like commercial lawn mowers, lawn aerators, skid steer loaders and dump trucks, among other equipment. That’s certainly something you can work toward if you like, but you don’t necessarily need that to begin.

Many entrepreneurs offer smaller specialized services like tree care and pruning, garden consulting, landscape design, houseplant maintenance and more. Over time, you can add more services as your business grows.

According to the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the typical landscaping company operates on a net profit margin ranging from 15% to 20%.

15. Life coaching

• Skills needed: Compassion, active listening, problem solving

As long as people have goals, there will always be a need for life coaches who can help folks achieve those objectives. Compared to therapists, a profession which requires extensive and specialized training, a life coach focuses more on helping you and holding you accountable to achieve specific goals like exercising regularly, developing your public speaking skills, budgeting, saving and more.

You can differentiate yourself by getting certifications through industry trade organizations like the International Coaching Federation, but all that’s really required is a computer and an internet connection.

Most life coaches earn between $2,000 and $20,000 each month, depending on the clientele and the types of services available.