Despite what many people think, you don’t need to move to a big city to start a big business. All of that can happen in a small town too. With small towns, you benefit from having a highly centralized client base, lower start-up costs, and less competition. The key to finding success in these areas is to make sure you’re satisfying a steady demand for an excellent product or service. When you’ve successfully identified what it is your community needs, you can proceed with gathering the resources you need to start your own business. If you need a place to start, here are a few successful small town business ideas to consider.
Landscaping Business
Most small townhomes have large backyards and lawns that you won’t find in properties located in more congested cities. This is why the act of opening up lawn and landscape companies around these areas is a smart business move since local residents rely heavily on gardening, cleaning, and landscaping services to spruce up their yard. There are also certain communities that have strict lawn requirements, so your business can help residents meet these standards.
Daycare Center
You can make use of a childcare or childhood education background if you have it by opening a daycare center. Parents, particularly parents with full-time jobs, are dependent on daycare centers to take their kids off their hands for a few hours while they work. If your town doesn’t have too many childcare providers in the area, then this is a great business to start.
Cleaning Services
Cleaning service businesses usually cater to both residential and commercial clients, which means you can look forward to a large prospective pool of clients who will regularly need your services. For the most basic cleaning business set-up, you’ll only need cleaning materials, labor, and transportation. But if you have more capital and have plans to expand your workforce, you can also look into opening a commercial location in your town.
Hair Salon
Wherever you go, there will always be people who need haircuts. There’s a perpetual demand for these services that will never go away, so you’ll always have a dedicated client base. Depending on your skillset and how much start-up capital you have, there are various methods to start a hair salon business. Some low-cost ways to start include converting a part of your home into a parlor or a truck into a mobile salon. If you’re a hairstylist who’s comfortable working anywhere, you can even start an on-call home hairstyling business. Of course, the most demanding yet financially rewarding approach would be to open your own hair salon location.
Bar
There’s no better place for small-town residents to convene than in a bar. Anyone looking for a good time and a cozy place to hang out will surely find it in this place, and you can expect to accumulate a ton of regular patrons. There are different kinds of bars you can open, such as a live music venue, a dive bar, a specialty bar, a high concept bar, or a sports bar. So, even if there’s already a bar in the small town you live in, you can definitely find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. If you want to go the extra mile, you might even want to open your very own craft brewery.
Bed and Breakfast
If you live in a quiet, idyllic town frequented by tourists from larger cities during the holidays, on weekends, or even during the off-season, then you should definitely consider opening a bed and breakfast. The biggest start-up expenditure you’ll have to shoulder will be buying the property that your business will operate from. Regular operating costs include but are not limited to utilities, taxes, insurance, food, and cleaning supplies.
Grocery Store
There will never be a time when people won’t need groceries. This is why opening a grocery store in your neighborhood is always a good idea. Even if there are major supermarket chains nearby, people will always prefer the most convenient option, so you’ll have a steady stream of customers who live nearby. If there are already grocery stores where you live, and you want to differentiate your grocery store from the rest, you can stock products that aren’t normally found in your area.
These ideas prove that you don’t have to move to a busy urban city to make it as an entrepreneur when there are plenty of opportunities to thrive in a small town. Forget The Big Apple and Silicon Valley, small-town America is fertile ground for businesses to thrive. You just need to be mindful of what your community requires and how your business can best satisfy those needs.
