Low-Risk, High-Payoff Self-

Employment Ideas
By Marty Nemko


So many people would like to be self-employed, except for one thing: the risk.
Fortunately, some businesses entail much less risk than others. They avoid the six
maor sources of risk:
New idea risk !any aspiring entrepreneurs think they must come up with a novel
idea. That"s foolish. #hy be a guinea pig for an untested idea when there are plenty of
proven ideas that you could implement in a different location$ !ost new ideas fail,
and you probably don"t have deep enough pockets to endure even one failure. %f you
want to be innovative, don"t worry. &ven the most tried-and-true business provides
plenty of opportunity to innovate, for example, in advertising, d'cor, motivating staff,
and theft control.
!rend risk Today"s hot idea is often tomorrow"s has been. (igar shops were
smokin" in the )**+s and burned out by ,+++. -ou want a business that has stood the
test of time.
Large in"estment re#$ired .ast % checked, you weren"t rolling in dough. %f you"re
not and your business re/uires a large investment, it means you"ll have to mortgage
yourself to your eyeballs. %f your business gives you unexpected problems 0and they
usually do1, even for a short time, you could find yourself out of money and into
overwhelming debt. Fortunately, many good businesses don"t re/uire a large
investment: especially home-based businesses, service businesses, internet businesses,
and cart businesses. 0See below.1
Long time to profita%ility Tivo is one of the late ,+
th
century"s greatest inventions.
2nfortunately, it took the public until well into the ,)
st
century to reali3e it. 4s a
result, Tivo lost 56++ million in its first five years. 7o you have that kind of staying
power$
&ompetition risk -ou want to go into a business with little competition unless you
know you can /uickly decimate the competition. For example, for decades, 8londie"s
9i33a was the only pi33a-by-the-slice place within a block of the 2niversity of
(alifornia, 8erkeley"s main entrance. The pi33a was ust okay. &nter Fat Slice,
virtually across the street. The slices are not ust bigger but better, and the place is
brighter. Today, there"s always a line in front of Fat Slice and 8londie"s is moribund.
'i"e High-Payoff, Low-Risk B$sinesses
:f course, before starting any business, it"s wise to consult a professional to help you
assess whether a business is right for you, but % believe each of these businesses to be
low risk in all of the above areas yet offering solid potential to generate a good
income.
( small )hain of espresso )arts These are like Starbucks without the rent. %n fact,
placing your cart opposite a Starbucks and calling it ;The 2ncorporate (af'< might
work well. (ertainly pick a location with great foot traffic: next to a bus or train
station, in a large office building or hospital lobby, in front of a busy supermarket, big
box store, or a stadium on game days, etc. #hy espresso$ (offee drinks have a higher
profit margin than cocaine. 4nd carts cost so much less than a storefront. 9lus, in the
right location and run well, a cart business can generate real money from 7ay :ne.
4nd, there"s no trend risk. 9eople have been craving their caffeine fix for centuries
with no sign of withdrawal. :ther items that can be sold from carts: gift soaps,
ewelry, soup. 0% like names such as 4untie 8arbara"s Soup and The Soup =a3i.1
#orried about status$ =o one"s asking you to man the cart yourself. -ou >re the
president and (&: of the (ontinental (art (orp., with five branches to serve you.
&ons$ltant to )ollege-%o$nd st$dents and their families The hysteria around
getting into the ;right< college seems only to be accelerating. %t"s become almost de
rigueur for upper-middle-class parents to spend thousands of dollars on a consultant to
help pick out the colleges apply to, with applications, and with obtaining financial aid.
This business re/uires little money to start, but be sure you"re willing to market,
market, market. That could mean, for example, doing free workshops at suburban
public and private high schools, as well as at places of worship in upscale areas.
!ission-critical repair. =ewspaper and maga3ine printers can"t afford for their
machines to go down during a print run. -et these massive machines have many
moving parts and are trouble-prone. That"s the sort of repair business that can be
lucrative. :ther examples: machines used in hospitals, especially in operating rooms,
commercial airplane engine and avionics repair, parking meter repair.
*o"ernment )ontra)tor The government is an excellent customer. The government
pays its bills and often is less price-conscious than private sector customers. 4n
excellent introduction to becoming a government contractor is at
www.captureplanning.com?articles?,6*@A.cfm.
+nline ,ating &ons$ltant For many people, nothing is more important than
meeting !r. or !s. Bight. 4nd to do that, ever more people are turning to online
dating. 8ut they often struggle in writing their profiles and taking and selecting photos
to post. That"s where you come in. 4dvertise on singles sites.
(d"i)e I-d *i"e My &hild
%gnore the conventional wisdom dispensed by !84 schools. They encourage people
to tackle intellectually interesting innovations because they"re fun to discuss and
because the professors aren"t risking any money. 8ut in the real world, key to a
business"s success is risk reduction. 4nd above all, that means don"t innovateC
replicate.
- See more at: http:??www.martynemko.com?articles?low-risk-high-payoff-self-
employment-ideasDid)A++Esthash.9ba4&+nF.dpuf