TLDR: No matter how much you love a business idea, youâve got to remember that not all businesses are created equal. So it is important that whatever you do, you go into it with your eyes open. It may save you from tears!
- â€ïž To Each Their Own
- đ„ Restaurants (and Bars)
- đïž Retail Boutiques
- đ Wantrepreneur
- đ Bookstores
- đȘ The Chad Takeaway
No one is debating that starting any business can be very fulfilling.
It just hits different when you see cash come in from your very own entrepreneurial venture. Something that at some point was just an idea in your mind.
And as they say âif you love what you are doing, you are already succeeding.â
But letâs press pause on that thought for a sec.
Some businesses are just not big money makers. No matter how much drive and passion you put into them.
So letâs dive right in into four different businesses that will definitely not be killing it this year.
Seems weird, right? I mean, eating will never get out of fashion.
But restaurants are a complicated animal to tame, and in fact, 60% of them close in their first year.
You need more than your extra secret recipe that your family passed on from generation to generation.
You need a well-oiled procurement system (that’s getting all your ingredients without breaking the bank), predict how many hungry mouths youâll feed (forecast demand), and deal with the wild world of food storage.
You donât want to be that guy with a mountain of wilted lettuce, do you?
Restaurants typically see action during lunch and dinner so there is a mad rush to make bank in a short window⊠followed by crickets (a.k.a. âoff-peak hoursâ).
Also, the restaurant scene is packed.
Even with people spending more dough on dining out, your local joint is duking it out with big names like McDonald’s and that hip new sushi spot down the street.
So how can you still make money preparing food?
You may need to get creative and consider a different approach. Enter the dark kitchen.
No, this doesnât mean not paying your electricity bill. It means that you prepare your dishes behind closed doors and take advantage of the surge of delivery apps.
No storefront means a huge cut on overheads while also having much simpler logistics. Your clients can just eat at their home.
The problem is that most people want to get into the food business to actually welcome people and sit them at tables. If that is you, I love you! I really enjoy going to restaurants.
But get ready to deal with the high probability of having to close doors quickly.
Oh and you can apply a similar logic to a similar business⊠bars. Sorry to slip this one in too. It is pretty hard to make money from this fun-sounding venture.
đïž RETAIL BOUTIQUES
Pretty much everything retail is getting hammered against e-commerce.
More and more stores are shrinking and shopping malls are at a record high of empty premises.
On the contrary, online malls that never close.
These digital heavyweights are like the superstores of the internet, offering everything from socks to sofas with just a few clicks.
Add to that because sales would happen upfront, you need to find a high traffic spot, which probably will also have a high rent to start.
Retail boutiques need to be more than stores; they need to be destinations.
So if you still dream of having your own real life boutique, how can it survive? Personalization is the key.
Try to offer an experience that thereâs no way to be replicated online.
Something Instagrammable… think about great customer service.
As brick and mortar owners say, now more than ever they live and die by how good of an experience they can provide.
This one’s a bit of a curve ball. Itâs not really a business per se, but an attitude to business that is doomed to fail. We hereby present the âWantrepreneurâ.
This style of doing business (or actually not doing business) can be seen in any industry. But it is most commonly spotted in the âTechâ space.
The name says it all. Someone who does everything but actually making money as a businessperson.
The path of the wantrepreneur is often littered with grand visions but lacking in the stepping stones of validation and consistency.
We have all met one at some point⊠captivated by the glamor of becoming the next Zuckerberg or Musk, they try to ‘boil the ocean’ rather than starting with a single pot.
They can be great at raising money, but terrible at actually making it.
Wantrepreneurs hop from one venture to the next without grounding their ideas in market realities. They are always envisioning the million-dollar jackpot but neglecting the practical first step of earning the first hundred dollars.
They see that as below them *facepalm*.
The antidote to this pattern is not less ambition, but more focusâstarting small, validating early, and growing with intention!
Also focusing on less glamorous industries (like we talabout on Starting a Boring Business), can really push you to avoid the Wantrepreneur death trap.
Itâs one you probably knew was gonna be on the list. And it is not without great grief that this beloved business joins this list because I love them.
Reading books? People still do it. The publishing industry? Believe it or not, still with strong sales. The twist? Brick-and-mortar bookshops are struggling to get a slice of that pie.
It just has too many natural predators to survive.
E-books changed the way people read. Fewer physical books mean fewer reasons to stroll into a bookstore.
And online shopping is like the convenience of microwave meals for book lovers. Trying to out-muscle Amazon in the book game might just be as impossible as dodging rain.
Another nail in the coffin? Audiobooks, which post stronger sales every year. They saw a 10% revenue increase in 2022, and thatâs just flexing at this point with eleven straight years of gains.
So, how do bookstores manage to withstand the test of time?
The key here is differentiation. Some of them, like Peter Harrington books in the UK, specialize in rare, obscure and very hard to find books, aiming for the collectorâs market.
But most others successfully transitioned into becoming âliterary cafĂ©sâ, becoming sort of a social pub. You can add selling lattes to your book sales.
In the world of business, just like in life, it’s all about going into it with eyes wide open.
Knowledge is power after all.
So now you know what kinds of businesses and attitudes to business are best to avoid if you want to make the big bucks.
If you still want to give them a go, the key is not just to survive but to thrive by embracing change and creativity.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure you know how much money it can actually make you and that number fits with your life goals.