Marcus Richards
The 2020s started with a whimper, but business owners are gearing up to make major gains in the post-pandemic era. As 2023 enters its final months, entrepreneurs and owners of startup companies have their work cut out for them. While inflation and supply chain woes remain top concerns, creative and hard-working professionals are no longer hampered by lockdowns, social distancing restrictions, and bans on public gatherings.
They’re taking advantage of the return to normal to ramp up marketing efforts, offer in-person services of all kinds, and explore a wide variety of profit-making opportunities. Some of the most popular choices include tax & financial service firms run by accountants or consumer counselors, delivery and transport fleets that cater to individuals and other businesses, salons that offer massage and related bodywork treatments, precious metals brokers, cleaning services that focus on office-based clients, and commercial real estate agencies. Here are pertinent facts about the most successful areas for entrepreneurs in the 2020s.
Tax & Financial Service
One thing many learned during the long months of the pandemic restrictions was that it’s much easier to sell a service efficiently than tangible products. That’s one reason online accounting, tax preparation, financial planning, and estate planning services were able to more easily survive the social contact rules of the COVID era. All or most of their primary services are fully deliverable via computer. Today’s newer providers in the financial niche are building all online businesses from the ground up, choosing to operate nationally from a single location.
Licensed tax professionals, called Enrolled Agents, or EAs, are a prime example. They are authorized by the IRS to assist taxpayers anywhere in the US, even representing clients in court when necessary. Others in the sector, like certified financial planners, can seek customers across the nation and provide in-depth service without ever meeting customers face to face.
Small Transport & Delivery Fleets
Innovative fleet management is a multi-faceted practice. It involves the complicated task of buying new trucks, cars, vans, and other kinds of vehicles for the company’s commercial fleet. Whether the organization’s mission focuses on transporting cargo across the country or delivering packages within a dense urban region, it’s crucial to know how to find the right vehicles for the job. It takes time and plenty of research to arrive at a shortlist of candidates. Even then, buyers need to evaluate performance and price very carefully.
The company’s financial health and overall productivity are closely connected to the quality of the vehicles it uses in its daily operations. What’s the solution for fleet supervisors and company owners? Step one is to review an informative, comprehensive guide that delineates all the steps of the buying process. Detailed knowledge is at the heart of selecting the most suitable trucks and cars for your transport business.
Spas & Bodywork Salons
For the first time since the early days of the COVID restrictions, the bodywork niche is booming. But that’s just one reason for the surge in popularity of services and providers in the field of massage therapy, Microderm (skin) abrasion, manicures, facials, pedicures, brow and lash treatment, hair styling, and more. Another factor in the recent growth of the personal services segment is the increasing number of men visiting merchant stores that were previously marketed solely to women.
In the 2020s, more professional men are opting to get regular massages, manicures, and hair services from what were once women only salons. The business owners have even begun to promote and advertise directly to men and women of all ages as they redouble their efforts to overcome the lost sales of the pandemic era. This helps boost customer loyalty as well since the target audience is increased.
Independent Precious Metals Brokers
During the pandemic, millions of panicked consumers and investors discovered the potential of precious metals. While there was no major surge in gold and silver prices throughout 2020 and 2021, the yellow metal did perform admirably from the early days of COVID until today. One of the hottest fields for sole proprietors is precious metal brokerage. The cost of startup is modest and consists mainly of a small inventory of bullion and several pieces of equipment.
Most owners pay for one or more safe deposit boxes in local banks to store their metals. In addition to bootstrap marketing, brokers build up their regular client list by posting ads on social media and on a few paid internet sites. The bulk of the early effort is acquiring clients who are willing to make regular purchases. The most efficient way to initiate a metals brokerage business is to do it as a side job for several months until there are enough customers to sustain full-time sales operations.
