Boring businesses are gaining attention to everyday entrepreneurs and for good reasons. I’ve now tried 12-15 businesses or side businesses in the last 17 years. I’ve chased the sexy business, and over time realized that if your end goal is to make money then consider starting your business in a niche that is less glamorized, competitive, and saturated.
Entrepreneurs these days chase and brag about being able to raise 10 million in funding but have not made a dime in profits.
Nothing wrong with celebrating the wins, but I believe measuring true success in business is about growth in revenue and profits, year over year. Not so much the media that you may post for clicks and vanity.
If you could marry the boring business with the hedgehog concept from Good to Great, by Jim Collins, then you can have a business that checks all your boxes, ideally.
Hedgehog Concept “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
The hedgehog concept is illustrated as a Venn diagram and in the middle of it is you, or the business you are thinking about starting! The 3 circles represent your passion (Or a business that you are deeply passionate about), skill (What you can be the best in the world at), and the reward or (what drives your economic engine).
The concept I’m pitching here is similar, however, when it comes to boring businesses, we would put less of an emphasis on passion for that business, and maybe insert reliability, stability, higher probability, and lower competition. Really everything that makes a business… boring.
Why are boring businesses are so lucrative?
“Boring” businesses, or unsexy “not so glamorous” businesses, have major advantages that make them better options for certain business owners and entrepreneurs, but it may not be for everyone. These less exciting businesses typically offer increased stability, reduced competition, diminished risk, enhanced resilience, simplified access to financing, extended longevity, and decreased operational costs.
The Merits of Boring Businesses
More Stable: Boring businesses are usually less volatile and more stable than the trendy businesses that everyone is chasing. They tend to provide consistent revenue and profits over time.
Lower Competition: Boring businesses face less competition than sexy ones because they are seen as less glamorous and exciting. People like talking to people about their sexy business vs lets say, starting a trash collecting company.
Less Risky: Boring businesses typically carry lower risk and are less likely to be affected by sudden market fluctuations or changing consumer buying behaviors because they offer products or services that have a steady demand.
Resilient: In times of recessions or economic downturns, boring businesses often do better than more glamorized businesses. People will continue to need necessities and essential services, regardless of where the economy is.
Easier Financing: Boring businesses are usually more attractive to lenders and investors because they have a proven the test of time of making money, even in a recession. Getting funding, raising money, or attracting investors can be easier for these businesses.
Longevity: Boring businesses tend to have a longer lifespan because they tend to provide fundamental and necessary goods or services that stick around for many years.
Lower Overhead: Boring businesses may have lower expenses when it comes to marketing, as they aren’t competing with many other businesses, which allows their CAC or cost to acquire a customer to be much lower than in more competitive businesses.
So this tells us why starting a boring business is a good idea, so now let’s look at some examples of boring businesses.
Think of those local neighborhood spots where you can send packages, rent mailboxes, and get documents printed.
You can decide whether to buy an existing business and increase revenue and lower expenses or start this business from scratch.
There are a few ways to make money in this boring business. You can charge customers for using the store’s address and mailbox rental, monthly or yearly. You can set your store as a virtual mailbox as well.
It can act as a bunch of mini businesses that can add up. You can sell stamps, business cards, perform notaries’, charge for faxes, printing documents, and selling office supplies, boxes, greeting cards and gift items.
If you are looking to invest in a mailbox business then look for locations that have the space to add services, like these, that have not been implemented yet, so that you have room to grow the business, purchase at a lower price point and can increase revenue and profits. Make the business more valuable.
Potential Earnings: Earnings will depend on traffic, location and services offered, but a well-run center can yield great returns and income, ranging from $40,000 to $200,000 or more annually.
Newsletter
Newsletter businesses create and send out daily or weekly newsletters to their subscriber base, and are usually being monetized through subscriptions, advertising, or sponsored content.
Potential Earnings: Earnings depend on the subscriber base and advertising revenue. A successful newsletter can generate anywhere from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars annually, and the big ones are clearing millions.
This is a business I’ve started and currently growing, so speaking from experience, I can say that if you execute this correctly, provide consistent value to your subscribers, continue to push out content and build a brand, you can make a lot of money here.
It’s also a great place to start if you have never started a business before.
You can start on substack and build your newsletter there.
Once you have subscribers you can think about how you want to make money from your newsletter. So you can do this in a few ways, or a combination of them all.
You can start paid subscriptions: You basically charge a premium, let’s say $10 a month for access to premium content to only your paid subscribers.
So if you have 1000 paid subscribers at $10 a month, that 10K a month in revenue.
You can also sell ad space directly to advertisers where your audience has some synergy.
You can also sell your own digital products or services and drive revenue from that.
If your newsletter is big enough, you can get sponsors that will contact you and pay you to promote their business to your subscriber base.
And you can make money with newsletters through affiliate marketing, where you get a commission every time someone uses your link and makes a purchase.
Junk Removal
Junk removal services help individuals and businesses in getting rid of unwanted items or waste.
This is exactly what we mean when we say, unsexy business or boring business that not everyone wants to do but has low competition and the ability to make bank.
I think coming up with a memorable brand, like junk in the trunk and combining that with a great marketing plan can make all the difference here.
If you already have a truck, you can just buy necessary equipment, uniforms, start a website and run ads and start making money.
Potential Earnings: Earnings depend on the volume of jobs you have and pricing. A junk removal business can earn anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 or more annually.
Speaking of junk, the next boring business is…
Dumpster Rentals
Dumpster rental services provide temporary containers for waste disposal at construction sites, events, and many other locations. You ever driven by a house and seen those huge metal contains in the driveway?
A dumpster rental service lets you provide temporary dumpster containers for waste disposal to your customers. These dumpsters can be rented for different purposes, like cleaning your home or doing construction work. Customers are usually billed weekly or monthly, and there may be extra charges based on how heavy the waste in the rented dumpster is.
I’ve thought about starting this business, and here’s why:
Profitability: First, you can make a lot of money doing this business, especially in with active construction or renovation projects.
Repeat business opportunities: Building relationships with other local businesses can lead to new customers and long-term partnerships, helping your business grow and maintain steady predictable cashflow.
Streamlined Operations: With the right team in place, your role mainly involves taking calls, scheduling jobs, and hiring a truck driver for deliveries, pickups, and waste disposal. The day-to-day operations are straightforward and simple.
Potential Earnings: Earnings depend on the size of the fleet and demand. Annual revenues can range from $50,000 to $500,000 or more.
Vending Machines
Vending machine businesses get mentioned a lot for being a boring business, but its also a great way to get started in starting a business, if you have never started one before. These machines provide snacks, drinks, or other products through vending machines placed in various locations.
Won’t go too deep into this, but you can buy used machines for $1,500 to a few grand and reach out to locations to see if you can place your vending machine in their establishment. I would try to get the location before you buy the machine, so that way you know you have somewhere you can place it.
There are online software’s that help you keep track of your inventory. You would need to refill the machines and collect the money,
Potential Earnings: Earnings depend on the number and locations of machines. Annual profits can range from $3,000 to $10,000 or more per machine.
Laundromats
Laundromats offer self-service laundry facilities for individuals to wash and dry their clothes.
This is a recession-proof boring business and is great to buy or invest in one that is already running.
Before buying this business, it is important to check the existing equipment, to make sure it was well maintained and serviced, how much more use can you get out of them and look at the pipes and electrical as well.
Look deeply into the finances, expenses, and income from the previous operator. Take your time and make sure you know everything that’s going on before you take the leap to buy an existing business.
Potential Earnings: Laundromats are known for their impressive 95% success rate and can offer a solid return on investment (ROI) ranging from 20% to 35%. Owning a laundromat can be quite profitable because it involves minimal labor costs and can generate up to 2 -$300,000 in annual cash flow.
