Looking for good business ideas and profitable business ideas low in start-up costs?
Can't decide on the best business idea for you? Stuck on how to proceed?
Jim Micheal, from Owenton, Kentucky was just were you are. A small town boy with lots of ambition, little money and wondering what low risk venture he should get into to make his fortune.
That was 24-years ago and 3 good business ideas later.
I chatted with Jim Micheal one whole afternoon. What follows is a summary of his entrepreneurial experiences as the owner of 3 profitable small businesses over those years.
They are outlined below.
Courage? I’d say scared.
No one in the history of my family was ever anything other than an employee of someone. Oh, they did reasonably well, but they were not risk takers by any imagination.
In high school, I began to notice that more and more retail stores were opening in the northern part of Kentucky. Someone had to own them. Why not me?
You have got to be kidding me!
When I graduated I had less than $300 to my name. In terms of today’s dollar, that was about $900. I had worked part time all through high school. I spent very little and stashed what I could in an old toolbox.
I had a candle making business that I started in a neighbor’s shed. Mrs. Allen was so kind; she wouldn’t take a cent for rent.
I saw a notice posted at the grocery store listing candle molds for sale. As it turned out, it was a bunch of stuff her Sister gave her a couple of years earlier. It was gathering a ton of dust!
I bought the whole lot for $26 (about $80 in today’s money). Off I went. I had no clue how to make candles. I hitched a ride to the library and read every thing I could find on candle making.
I was real good at it too. I retailed and wholesaled them for about four years. I sold this entire business for $9,800 (today’s money). I was in heaven!
Next, Jim Micheal told me that he had been fascinated for some time by nick knacks that are scattered
around furniture stores.
There was no store, that I could find, that only sold this stuff. I thought this would be a real winner.
But how to get these products puzzled me. Again, off to the library I went to lean about importing.
Four months later, at the age of 23, I opened a small 840 sq. ft. retail shop on a busy road near a neighborhood with big homes.
Two larger locations later, it still is a huge success. But I sold my company after 12-years for roughly $161,000 (today’s money). There is still a wide-open opportunity for entrepreneurs interested in importing products and distributing them, really, around the world.
This is the most profitable business idea I ever had, Jim told me.
About 8 or 9 years ago I discovered the Internet. I just loved it.
But I knew zero about building a website let alone how to build a business website. There is a major difference!
One morning at the Y, my friend Ralph told me that he was building an online business where he didn’t need to know a thing about how to do it. This got my attention!
My life has never been the same.
While I don’t earn millions of dollars (not even close), my four websites provide a 6-figure income…and I can do it from nearly anywhere in the world!
Let me respond this way.
Ralph was using the methodology of a company called Solo Build It (SBI) to build his online business.
He decided to use SBI for 3 reasons:
Yes, more online businesses. The potential is actually unlimited!
Free Counseling Available
I have a Pay It Forward mission. It is to help entrepreneurs for free in assisting them in starting any online or offline business. I do this to thank all those who have helped me as an entrepreneur.
This is not some sort of trick, come-on or something to suck you into buying something.
Nope. It is a sincere offer to help you. Period!
If I may help, please just click on my photo above.
And, Thank You for visiting Good Business Ideas for Small Budgets.
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
U.S. Small Business Administration: Exporting and Importing