5 Unique Business Ideas Right Under Your Nose

What are microgreens? These superfoods are seedlings of vegetables and herbs that are not harvested by cutting or trimming like their mature counterparts. While their use is constantly expanding, they are popular as garnishes or greens for sandwiches.

Microgreens are extremely profitable due to the small amount of space they take up (hence, micro), low set-up costs, and quick growing cycle. This means you can plant, harvest, and sell your first crop in just a few weeks!

Here are some of the important details about selling microgreens:

• Customers: Residential & professional chefs, farmers market goers, grocery stores, wholesalers
• Startup Costs: You can get started with one or two 10″ x 20″ trays of microgreens and grow (literally) from there. Each tray costs around $2 with soil and seeds.
• Turnaround Time: Microgreens are ready to harvest in as little as 1 week.
• Pricing: Your pricing depends on how much you want to be paid for an hour of your time. Factor in the time it takes you each day, your general startup costs, taxes, electricity, etc. Determine your desired profit margin and set your prices. If you can, research local competitors to make sure your rates are comparable.

When embarking on a microgreens business venture, you have to make sure you are taking detailed records (amount of water, variety of greens, time in the sun, etc.) and doing in-depth research to find high-quality information.

No, we aren’t talking about flipping pages, though that is certainly encouraged. We’re talking about flipping used books for a profit! Used books are a massive business in the US, the book publishing industry brought in an estimated $25.71 billion in 2020.

Book flipping takes advantage of the price difference between the book buyer’s and bookseller’s market. You buy a book for a lower price from one market and resell it on another. If you can sell it for a higher price, your profit will be the difference.

Here are the key takeaways when considering flipping books:

• Types Of Books: You can flip just about any book. Textbooks, first-editions, rare books, used classics. The foundation of your book-flipping business might even be sitting in your home gathering dust as we speak!
• Startup Costs: If you don’t have inventory, you can find books for relatively low prices at thrift stores or garage sales. Check out your Facebook Buy Nothing groups for bookshelf cleaning lots or Craigslist for college students selling their textbooks from last semester.
• Where To Sell: Bookseller sites like BookScouter.com or AbeBooks are popular options for book flippers. Be aware of the fees these sites may charge. You can also consider Amazon, eBay, Craiglist, Facebook Marketplace, or even brick-and-mortar booksellers.

The best part about book flipping is that it only takes one book to get started! Just make sure you’re checking the ISBN number (not the title) to get an idea of the value of your inventory, choose the right marketplace, and plan to get the book to your customer in a timely manner.

The pet-sitting industry has many different niches. Some pet-sitters specialize in “drop-by” visits for more independent furry (or scaley, or winged) friends while others may take a sort of “live-in” approach and stay in the home of a client to keep a constant eye on their wards.

A specific kind of pet sitting that’s becoming more and more popular is short-term pet sitting. No, we don’t mean a long weekend away, we mean watching pets for owners returning to the office full or part-time after working from home for the past two years. Some pets adopted during that time don’t know anything different than having a human around them 24/7 and can experience high anxiety that could impact their physical and mental well-being.

• Protections: Some pet-sitters pride themselves on being insured and bonded. Some risks come with watching other people’s pets, and you don’t want to be responsible for the costs of being sued, damage to your client’s property, or vet bills if an animal gets injured in your care.
• Best Practices: It’s always a good idea to meet your potential clients (and their owners) before deciding whether or not you’re a good fit.
• Location: While some owners may prefer you care for their pets where they’re most comfortable, in their own home, some may prefer to drop them off before their day begins and pick them back up in the evenings. This can be especially lucrative if you live near a large number of businesses or have access to plentiful green spaces.

While this business can become a full-time gig, short-term pet sitting can complement your current remote work. You may find it nice to have some company while you work your regular job.

Digital products are a popular business idea for many reasons including the ease of distribution, their continued popularity, and the ability to pair them with physical items or services. (Think: Sell a digital birthday card; possibly offer a printing service to go with it.)

The best part about selling some digital products is that they only need to be made once and can be sold over and over again to different customers with no need to restock. They’re a great form of passive income.

Here are some reasons why selling digital products might be right for you:

• Variety Of Products: You can sell seemingly endless kinds of digital products. You can sell guides, tutorials, music, fonts, photo editing presets, courses, invitations, marketing services, or other online services.
• Variety Of Online Platforms To Sell Products: It’s easy to create an online store using a platform like Shopify or Square to sell your digital products. These platforms include apps that make connecting to your store and delivering PDF purchases easy.

With New Year’s resolutions, spring cleaning, and movements like the Marie Kondo Method sweeping through communities, decluttering is on people’s minds more than ever.

Do some research to see if there are professional organizations in your area like the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals offer great resources to help. An easy way to practice your skills and see if you have what it takes to cut it as a professional is to practice on your friends and family members.

Here are some important things to know about professional organizing/decluttering:

• Before And After Photos: Photos of your work are more important than you may know. Set up social media accounts and a professional website to show real results from your clients. Everyone loves a good before and after!
• Know Your Strengths: Think about what you are passionate about and determine what services you’ll offer based on your strengths. Focus on translating these to your clients and offer specialized services. You can even consider becoming certified to work with clients with specific conditions impacting their living situations like OCD, ADHD, or hoarding tendencies.
• Discretion: Because you will be going through some clients’ dirty laundry, you may come across sensitive paperwork like financial documents, divorce details, and doctor’s notes. You can easily decide to turn a blind eye to these kinds of private materials, but it can increase the credibility of your small business to offer a confidentiality agreement.

Coming up with a unique business idea is mostly about knowing your own strengths. Do you have professional knowledge you can turn into a guide? Are you really good at your hobby and need to finally start selling? Find what you are good at and hone in on your niche to begin marketing your own existing strengths.

We recommend platforms like Square or Shopify to start taking payments for a unique business, or any small business just starting out. For businesses that don’t have existing income or business history, these platforms democratize payments to just about anyone (accept high-risk businesses). You can sign up and start selling on the same day, with little to no money upfront. Just be sure to understand if your type of business is accepted, and be aware that holds can happen, especially with larger sums of cash.