15 Business Ideas For Entrepreneurs That Don't Like To Sell

15 Business Ideas For Entrepreneurs That Don't Like To Sell

If you have a passion for starting a business that requires little sales, there are plenty of different business ideas for you.

In this article, we’ll go into greater depth about 15 of these accessible, and potentially lucrative, business ideas that require little to no sales.

Here they are:

1. Start an airbnb management company ($420K/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$1,333 — $270,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$8,500
Time To Revenue
60 days
Skills

Gary Fox from Dublin, Ireland started Host Butlers over 7 years ago, a airbnb management company.

  • Revenue: $35,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 4
  • Location: Dublin, Ireland

Case Study

I’ve been starting businesses since I was 15. During school, I worked part-time in a mobile phone store and learned how to fix phones. During the weekends, I started my own market stall and advertised online to fix phones, replace screens, and started to earn cash that way. During college, I scaled up this business to a physical location at the University I was attending here in Ireland. I approached the college and rented an office space from them and opened my first store!

I was terrified of running out of money and for the first 18 months, I ran the company entirely on my own. I remember one particular day where I met 18 different guests at 18 different locations across the city.

Between classes, I would work in the store and when I was in class, I hired classmates and friends to work for me. Looking back now, it was an incredibly fun time but I wish I hadn’t reinvested so much money in the college bar!

how-i-bootstrapped-an-airbnb-management-service-to-35k-month

2. Start a freelance writing business ($1.5M/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$700 — $320,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$405
Time To Revenue
90 days
Skills
Business model

David Tile from Toronto, Ontario, Canada started Article-Writing Co almost 12 years ago, a freelance writing business.

  • Revenue: $125,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 25
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Case Study

In 2011, coming out of college, I miserably tried to start a penny auction website. I studied Political Science at University, which had absolutely no bearing on this idea. I knew I wanted to do something entrepreneurial and was consumed by this auction model. I had my own specific mechanics that I thought would make the game a lot more fair for the average consumer. But alas, 6-8 months later, after burning through thousands of dollars trying to get the technology right, I was absolutely nowhere.

I was resigned to not give up, but the mechanics of the auction are critical to the smooth operation of the website and if you can’t get it right you don’t have a business. So I decided to start taking on some freelance writing work, just to get some cash in.

One thing led to another and I started getting some bigger clients with bigger asks. Eventually, I snowballed hiring some writers and copy editors. Turning this thing into a full-time business operation.

how-i-started-a-80k-month-content-writing-business

3. Start a blog ($60K/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$200 — $160,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$2,687
Time Commitment Per Week
Min. 5 hours/week
Skills
Interests

Chhavi Agarwal from New Delhi, Delhi, India started Mrs Daaku Studio over 4 years ago, a blog.

  • Revenue: $5,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 3
  • Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India

Case Study

I am a licensed attorney in India and right after my master’s in law, I started working with a leading company as a lawyer. I worked there for about two years before I quit my job to become more location independent.

Choose a niche in whatever you start. It is critical for streamlining your efforts and make money.

My job paid me well but I worked 12 hours a day, I was exhausted by the end of each day, spent my weekends sleeping and I almost quit the things I liked to do - for example, sketching, yoga, traveling, etc.

how-this-couple-makes-5k-month-generating-content-about-ways-to-make-money-online

4. Become a business coach ($1.2M/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$2,250 — $9,259,259/month
Average Initial Investment
$197,119
Time To Revenue
300 days
Skills
Business model
Work from home

Kamil Sattar from Telford, England, United Kingdom started E-commerce Mentoring almost 6 years ago, a business coach.

  • Revenue: $100,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 6
  • Location: Telford, England, United Kingdom

Case Study

Finding my first drop shipping supplier was by searching over AliExpress and looking for the supplier with the best reviews and years in business and most importantly communication reliability I would get on skype calls with the suppliers and do a mini-interview to see if they fit the criteria I was looking for, also another important thing was making sure my supplier had a license to sell these products I was marketing/selling.

My supplier would handle all the logistics like inventory and fulfillment that’s how the drop shipping business model works.

I set up an LLC in the US I got an accountant to manage the books using a Shopify app called Taxjar.

how-i-started-a-100k-month-business-mentoring-dropshipping-entrepreneurs

5. Start a dog walking business ($648K/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$8,000 — $54,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$2,125
Time Commitment Per Week
Min. 2 hours/week
Skills

Melodi Landi from Bristol, TN, USA started Furry Fellas Pet Service LLC almost 17 years ago, a dog walking business.

  • Revenue: $54,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 19
  • Location: Bristol, TN, USA

Case Study

I have always had a passion for animals. I was going to school full time at the University of Rhode Island as a Pre-Vet student while working full time at a local veterinary hospital AND picking up pet sitting and dog walking clients on the side.

Since my late teenage years, I have known that I wanted to work with animals. While working at the animal hospital, I saw a great need for this type of service, and soon after decided to start this business!

I would often come across clients who had not traveled in years because their pets required specialized care or medications or because they did not know who to ask or whom they could trust with their pets and their home.

how-i-started-a-54k-month-pet-sitting-and-dog-walking-business

6. Start a tutoring business ($1.2M/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$1,000 — $375,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$1,723
Time Commitment Per Week
Min. 5 hours/week
Skills
Interests

Adam Shlomi from Miami, FL, USA started SoFlo Tutors about 4 years ago, a tutoring business.

  • Revenue: $100,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 2
  • Location: Miami, FL, USA

Case Study

I come from an entrepreneurial family. My father works for himself and my maternal grandfather started a clothing factory. Working for myself has always been encouraged by my family, but before I could get started, I needed to learn a skill. At Georgetown, I study international politics and business. Most students with these backgrounds go on to work at prestigious firms like J.P. Morgan. I really didn’t know what kind of business I could start, and frankly, planned to work as a (boring) data analyst after graduation.

If you have an idea but don’t have the knowledge to execute, use that idea as motivation and go learn how to turn your vision into reality.

Tutoring first came to mind because I had spent significant time working for other tutoring companies and cutting my teeth/learning how the industry works during my teen years. I first started tutoring when I was 15. I was hired by College Experts, a local test prep center in Davie, Florida. My first student was three years older than me, and I spent our first session teaching him how to use his calculator rather than trying to explain any complicated formulas. Being a student myself, I was able to bring a student’s perspective to tutoring. I worked for College Experts until my senior year of high school when I began tutoring on my own and finding clients on Craigslist.

how-i-started-a-15k-month-sat-tutoring-business-while-in-college

7. Start a child care business

Average Initial Investment
$100,000
Time To Revenue
180 days
Skills
Business model

Examples of a successful child care business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a child care business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a child care business ➜

article

8. Start a transportation service

How Much Can You Make?
$12,000 — $364,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$15,000
Skills

Examples of a successful transportation service:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a transportation service:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a transportation service ➜

Case Study

Hello, my name is Irakli Litanishvili and I am a co-founder of a group of companies called Aim of Emperor that operates in three niches: aviation, fuel & ground handling, and IT. One of the recent additions is Mirai Flights, where I stand as CEO & co-founder.

we-started-a-4-37m-year-private-jet-and-air-taxi-booking-service

9. Start a cleaning business ($1.05M/year)

How Much Can You Make?
$2,000 — $708,333/month
Average Initial Investment
$115,831
Time To Revenue
180 days
Skills
Business model

Examples of a successful cleaning business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a cleaning business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a cleaning business ➜

Case Study

Hey! My name is Neel Parekh and I am the Founder and CEO of MaidThis® & MaidThis® Franchise, a cleaning franchise that helps residential homeowners and short-term rental hosts (Airbnb, VRBO, etc) with their cleanings.

  • We made our niche focus on cleaning Airbnbs and vacation rentals, in addition to regular home cleaning, which is a rapidly growing industry. We became the first cleaning franchise specializing in vacation rental cleaning.
  • Local businesses are often pretty old school and typically aren’t the best with marketing, especially digital marketing. We’re bringing new-age marketing tactics to this old-school industry.
  • Remote work: we’ve been able to stay extra nimble and lean with having a global workforce. This was initially done out of necessity so I could travel, but quickly became a huge competitive advantage. Our office team works across 8 different countries.

how-i-started-a-100k-month-home-cleaning-service-for-busy-individuals-and-airbnb-hosts

10. Start a virtual accounting business

Average Initial Investment
$100
Skills

Examples of a successful virtual accounting business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a virtual accounting business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a virtual accounting business ➜

article

11. Become a youtube personality

How Much Can You Make?
$3,055 — $4,500,000/month
Skills

Examples of a successful youtube personality:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a youtube personality:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a youtube personality ➜

Case Study
  • Zoella has a total net worth of more than $5 million as of January 2021.
  • She earned this fortune by uploading her YouTube videos and has almost a billion views.
  • She has 10.8 millions of subscribers on YouTube.
  • Her popularity made her appear in several advertisements and has also appeared on television.

article

Read the full story on influencermatchmaker.co.uk ➜

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13. Start a data analysis service

How Much Can You Make?
$20 — $2,500,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$572,891
Skills

Examples of a successful data analysis service:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a data analysis service:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a data analysis service ➜

Case Study

My name is Chelsea Rhoads and I am the CEO/Co-Founder of pup-eeze, the smartest device on four legs. pup-eeze is a wellness tracker for dogs that tracks activity, monitors location and automates our dog’s lives by connecting them with hundreds of smart home devices giving ourselves and our dogs the ability to monitor, maintain and change the environment of the home if we’re concerned about separation anxiety or well-being.

We’ve had great success speaking with and testing the wellness tracker among those who love their dogs and love technology. We thought, “we bring our dogs on every other journey with us, why not include them in the technology journey as well?” With the overwhelming support from the technology community we were able to strategically partner with an emerging leader in the IoT enterprise solution field; Fathym.

how-i-created-and-launched-a-fitbit-for-dogs

14. Start a laundry business

How Much Can You Make?
$24,000 — $83,333/month
Average Initial Investment
$465,000
Skills

Examples of a successful laundry business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a laundry business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a laundry business ➜

Case Study

Hello! My name is Nishant Tripathi, and I founded Dhobilite, a premium online dry cleaning, and laundry service. I started this company in 2011 with a vision to pioneer laundry service in India.

We started operations in the year 2011. Over the years, we experimented with and developed our business model and software. In 2015, we disrupted the laundry market and became India's first app-based, on-demand laundry service provider. We have expanded into more than 15 cities in the last two years and have around 20+ stores today. In addition, we have 30 plus franchises. We also have factories in Gurgaon, Noida, Lucknow, Hyderabad, and Faridabad.

i-built-a-318k-year-business-by-digitalizing-the-laundry-industry

15. Start a handyman business

How Much Can You Make?
$8,000 — $1,600,000/month
Average Initial Investment
$50,000
Time To Revenue
240 days
Time Commitment Per Week
Min. 8 hours/week
Skills
Interests
Business model

Examples of a successful handyman business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a handyman business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a handyman business ➜

Case Study

I’m Dan Stewart and I’m the founder of Dundas Valley Pools. We help homeowners with swimming pools in Southern Ontario, Canada maximize the summers in their backyard. We do this by providing personalized, on-site services such as pool openings/ closings, pool maintenance, equipment installations, pool renovations, and new pool installations. Since our humble beginnings in May of 2016 we have serviced 350+ pools, opened and closed 200+ pools, and have installed tons of high-quality pool equipment, pool liners, and winter safety covers for happy customers throughout Southern Ontario.

Dundas Valley Pools has grown from a company producing very little revenue in 2016 to a company that is earning an average of $8000/ month net revenue during the on-season. This year we hope to actually double that number. This is due to our expansion into more technical services as well as taking on larger jobs-- namely, new pool installations.

how-i-started-a-8k-month-pool-service-and-installation-business

Pat Walls,  Founder of Starter Story
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I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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