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40 Profitable Business Opportunities For Mechanical Engineers (2020)

Looking to start a mechanical engineering business but not quite sure what to start?

The good news is, there are so many opportunities to become an entrepreneur and build an innovative product/service in this line of work.

If you're looking to start your own mechanical engineering business, there are several low-capital options you can choose from.

We put a list together below of the most profitable mechanical engineering business ideas you can start today!

Here they are:

1. Start a small machine shop

Examples of a successful small machine shop:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a small machine shop:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

2. Start a nuts and bolts manufacturer

Examples of a successful nuts and bolts manufacturer:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a nuts and bolts manufacturer:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

3. Start a home equipment business ($780K/year)

Zachary Brown from Newington, New Hampshire, USA started Moki Doorstep over 3 years ago, a home equipment business.

  • Revenue: $65,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1
  • Location: Newington, New Hampshire, USA

My wife and I have always been travelers and the adventurous type. One thing always held my wife up from getting after the powder on a bluebird day on her own. Because of her height, she struggles to use car top racks. Come to find out, she wasn't alone.

Knowing when to launch and other key factors will help you not only reach your goal faster, you'll end up on the front pages of Kickstarter as well as crowdfunding tracker sites.

Depending on the vehicle and type of rack, I often struggle as well. Using my background as a firefighter I knew the anatomy of vehicles. This helped me formulate the design and placement of the Moki Doorstep.

how-this-65k-month-step-to-improve-car-roof-access-was-one-of-the-largest-shark-tank-on-air-deals

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Zachary Brown, on starting Moki Doorstep ($65,000/month) full story ➜

4. Start a tutoring business ($180K/year)

Adam Shlomi from Columbus, Kansas, USA started SoFlo SAT Tutoring over 1 year ago, a tutoring business.

  • Revenue: $15,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1
  • Location: Columbus, Kansas, USA

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

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Adam Shlomi, on starting SoFlo SAT Tutoring ($15,000/month) full story ➜

5. Start a motorcycle parts business ($7.2M/year)

Justin Pflanz from Lincoln, Nebraska, USA started TAB Performance almost 17 years ago, a motorcycle parts business.

  • Revenue: $600,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 9
  • Location: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

My Brother and I grew up in a very entrepreneurial family. Our parents had started, grown and sold several companies growing up and it’s something we both had a passion for.

We’ve also always felt that our personalities and experiences complimented each other well. Generally speaking, I tend to be more detail oriented and risk averse whereas my brother is better at looking at the big picture and is more comfortable taking risks. I went to college and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in business and he got his degrees in both Business Administration and Marketing.

how-two-brothers-started-a-4-8m-year-motorcycle-parts-manufacturer

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Justin Pflanz, on starting TAB Performance ($600,000/month) full story ➜

6. Start an auto repair business

Examples of a successful auto repair business:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

7. Start a smart home camera business ($12M/year)

Yun Zhang from Kirkland, Washington, USA started Wyze Cam over 3 years ago, a smart home camera business.

  • Revenue: $1,000,000/ month
  • Founders: 4
  • Employees: 30
  • Location: Kirkland, Washington, USA

Wyze has four co-founders and we all met while working at Amazon. As a team, we have a very deep understanding of retail operations, including both e-commerce and big box chains. Team members have worked at Microsoft, Best Buy, REI, Groupon, etc. At each of these companies, as well as Amazon, roles varied between team members. Some of our team members have expertise in operations, some in marketing, some in sales, and so on. We complement each other very well when we bring it all together. This is absolutely at the core of our success since we are able to see problems from many angles and perspectives.

We discovered that in the smart home market, customers only have two options:

  1. Expensive premium brands
  2. Cheap, low quality me-too brands with little-to-no customer service.

going-viral-and-selling-300-000-cameras-in-6-months

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Yun Zhang, on starting Wyze Cam ($1,000,000/month) full story ➜

8. Start a 3d printing business ($3.96M/year)

Roy Kirchner from Odesa, Odesa Oblast, Ukraine started Ultimate 3D Printing Store over 5 years ago, a 3d printing business.

  • Revenue: $330,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 4
  • Location: Odesa, Odesa Oblast, Ukraine

In 2014, I was one-half of a partnership working primarily in advertising and marketing. At that time, my partner and I were successful and wanted to explore other verticals. We began working with a client who had a product that we believed was singular and unique throughout the world, and we put forward a significant amount of capital out of our own pockets to try and develop that product, only to reach a point where the deal went south and litigation ensued.

Make plans to do things as a family, and do your best not to let work interfere with those moments, but know that there are going to be times when you will have to sacrifice an outing, a dinner date, a holiday weekend.

In trying to think outside the box and figure out a way to create a similar product, I found myself for the first time in an innovation lab in Tampa, Florida, where I saw a 3D printer in operation for the first time. I couldn’t look away. I realized immediately that 3D printing had the potential to change the world as it became more integrated into daily business activities such as manufacturing. That’s when I decided to leap of faith.

how-i-started-a-330k-month-ecommerce-specialized-in-3d-printing

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Roy Kirchner, on starting Ultimate 3D Printing Store ($330,000/month) full story ➜

9. Become an author ($168K/year)

Nick Thacker from Colorado, USA started Nick Thacker almost 4 years ago, a author.

  • Revenue: $14,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1
  • Location: Colorado, USA

I’ve always been a fanatic reader, specifically in the thriller genre. I discovered Dan Brown as a kid, then James Rollins, and I’ve always love action movies that combine adrenaline and history (think National Treasure, Indiana Jones, etc.).

I decided to write a book (my first was called The Golden Crystal, and it has been re-launched as The Atlantis Stone) when my grandfather passed away. He had always been a strong positive influence in my life, and he, my dad, and I often swapped paperbacks we liked. That first book was intended as a gift for my dad for Christmas, and it was going to be the only one I ever wrote -- just to see if I could do it.

I had no idea what I was doing (arguably, I still don’t…). I just thought it would be fun to combine technology with the discovery of Atlantis… in some way. When I got started, I was naive enough to think that books simply happen, but the book very quickly got the best of me. I took a six-month break and consumed as much as I could on the subject of the craft of writing fiction. I’d never really written anything before, so it was an eye-opening experience to learn about structure, plot tropes, character development, and everything else that goes into a good, cohesive story.

how-i-generate-10k-month-as-an-indie-writer

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Nick Thacker, on starting Nick Thacker ($14,000/month) full story ➜

10. Start a skills training business ($9.07K/year)

Andrew Kamphey from Remote started Better Sheets 8 months ago, a skills training business.

  • Revenue: $756/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 0
  • Location: Remote

It began as a side project while building a web app. I had wanted to launch something helpful to a broad set of people. And I wanted to launch something that could run without my interference.

In the company that I co-founded, to do ad sales we were constantly building biz models and outreach in Google Sheets. My co-founder earlier this year mentioned that all my Google Sheets look great. And are way above anything else he had seen.

I didn’t have to validate it, necessarily, before creating it. I just launched the damn thing on a Friday. Landing page, 4 free videos, and 4 paid videos. I set a price and moved on with my life. Come Monday I had a sale, and everything blasted off from there.

on-creating-and-monetising-google-sheets-tutorials

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Andrew Kamphey, on starting Better Sheets ($756/month) full story ➜

11. Start a recruiting agency ($3.48M/year)

Sharon Koifman from Montreal, Quebec, Canada started DistantJob over 12 years ago, a recruiting agency.

  • Revenue: $290,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 26
  • Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

I started off by running and owning a hosting company called Empire Host. We had about 3K clients at the time support was run from two offices in India with nearly 30 employees.

We were also providing an outsourcing package. Our business solutions were really cheap and to be frank, our results were mediocre at best. Although the service was fine for any mom and pop shop or even an “any results will do” kind of company, we noticed that too often, people who run tech companies actually outsourced to companies such as ourselves even work that went into their core offering - because it was cheap.

At the time, what outsourcing really was, was an arbitrage business. But the concept that people would outsource big chunks of their business to a company that does not provide the same level of communication, process, quality control, and culture just because they’ll save a lot of money, that idea really stuck with me.

how-i-started-a-3m-year-remote-worker-recruitment-agency

-  
Sharon Koifman, on starting DistantJob ($290,000/month) full story ➜

12. Start a window manufacturer

Examples of a successful window manufacturer:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a window manufacturer:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

13. Start a scrap metal business

Examples of a successful scrap metal business:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

14. Start a solar energy business ($7.2M/year)

David Gomez from California, USA started Clean Energy Solutions almost 7 years ago, a solar energy business.

  • Revenue: $600,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 20
  • Location: California, USA

As far back as I can remember I’ve always wanted to have my own business. I didn’t go to college (besides a few junior college classes). Instead, I started working in sales, first selling car insurance for a few years, and then making the jump into mortgage loans. After a few years of gaining experience, I opened up my own mortgage company and rode the wave of the mid-2000’s real estate boom. It was an incredibly lucrative time and it seemed like it would go on forever. However, by the end of the decade, the good times were over and the recession hit. Although I hung in there and we did extremely well for several years in a down economy, I still ended up having to shut down my company. During this time I experienced some of the most challenging times of my life and career.

After rolling with the punches, I started looking for the next business opportunity to get involved with. A friend of mine had been telling me for several years about solar power and how renewable energy was the future. After doing some research, I realized what a great opportunity it was.

  • There’s an unlimited amount of solar energy.
  • Solar is clean energy compared to fossil fuels that damage the environment.
  • Solar energy is a cheaper source of energy than fossil fuels, in the majority of markets.
  • Power purchase agreement (PPA) allows a homeowner to get a solar system without having to actually purchase the system. There is not a purchase loan or lien required on a client’s home.

how-i-started-a-600k-month-company-selling-low-cost-solar-energy

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David Gomez, on starting Clean Energy Solutions ($600,000/month) full story ➜

15. Start a metal sign business

Examples of a successful metal sign business:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

16. Start a welding business

Examples of a successful welding business:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

17. Start a product assembly service

Examples of a successful product assembly service:

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

article

18. Start a drain repair service

Examples of a successful drain repair service:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

19. Start a mobile mechanic service

Examples of a successful mobile mechanic service:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

20. Start a waste management business ($492K/year)

Examples of a successful waste management business:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

21. Start a machine building and design

Examples of a successful machine building and design:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

22. Start a supply chain management

Examples of a successful supply chain management:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a supply chain management:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

23. Become a camera manufacturer

Examples of a successful camera manufacturer:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a camera manufacturer:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

24. Start a shipping company ($240K/year)

Examples of a successful shipping company:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a shipping company:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

25. Become a bicycle manufacturer

Examples of a successful bicycle manufacturer:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a bicycle manufacturer:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

26. Start an auto electrical repair business

Examples of a successful auto electrical repair business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a auto electrical repair business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

27. Start a drain repair service

Examples of a successful drain repair service:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

28. Start a generator repair service

Examples of a successful generator repair service:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

29. Become a packing supply distributor

Examples of a successful packing supply distributor:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a packing supply distributor:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

30. Start a security installment business

Examples of a successful security installment business:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

31. Start a fitness equipment manufacturing business

Examples of a successful fitness equipment manufacturing business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a fitness equipment manufacturing business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

32. Start an e-bay seller

Examples of a successful e-bay seller:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a e-bay seller:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

33. Start a private jet repair business

Examples of a successful private jet repair business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a private jet repair business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

34. Start a maintenance and repair blog

Examples of a successful maintenance and repair blog:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a maintenance and repair blog:

For further info, check out these books and products:

35. Start a security vehicle sales business

Examples of a successful security vehicle sales business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a security vehicle sales business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

36. Start an auto paint shop

Examples of a successful auto paint shop:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a auto paint shop:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

37. Start an ac repair business

Examples of a successful ac repair business:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

38. Start a solar panel installation business

Examples of a successful solar panel installation business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a solar panel installation business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

39. Start an aviation maintenance and repair business

Examples of a successful aviation maintenance and repair business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a aviation maintenance and repair business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

40. Become a lecturer

Examples of a successful lecturer:

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

For further info, check out these books and products:

article

-  
Starter Story,   Founder of Starter Story

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