The 39 Best Home-Based Businesses To Start In New Jersey [2024]

Updated: January 20th, 2022

Interested in starting a business in New Jersey in 2024?

We put together 39 of the best businesses you can start in New Jersey today.

For each business idea, we’ll show you real-world examples of how you can start your profitable, home-based small business in New Jersey.

Here's the full list:

1. Start a skin care product line ($24K/year)

Meredith Moseley-Bennett & Yolanda Grbic from Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA started Oh My Balm about 7 years ago, a skin care product line.

  • Location: Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $2,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$10K
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

Oh My Balm was founded two years ago and we make kitchen-crafted all-natural body products. Our tagline is “Two Mom’s Making it Real.”

Those two moms are us: Meredith Moseley-Bennett and Yolanda Grbic, and this is our side hustle. Meredith has worked for a non-profit in the entertainment business and before that was a costume designer for theatre, film, and television. Yolanda has been a middle school teacher for 19 years and going in Jersey City school system. Between us, we have 3 kids (12, 10 & 7), two dogs, two cats, 3 guppies, 5 goldfish and a parakeet. The kids tag along with us to craft fairs, sort containers and stick on labels; the 12-year-old is great at recon at craft fairs and the 10-year-old is already a pro at merchandise display. The first-grader gets extra math lessons by helping on inventory day and loves to count drops as they go into what we create. For a video about our crew, check out TEAMOMB.

how-two-moms-started-a-business-selling-homemade-body-butter

2. Start a digital agency ($6M/year)

Billy Ash from New Jersey, USA started Todays Business over 12 years ago, a digital agency.

  • Location: New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $500,000/ month
  • Founders: 3
  • Employees: 40

Case Study

My name is Billy Ash and I’m the Co-Founder and Chief Digital Officer of Today’s Business. We are a full-service digital marketing agency. We are one of the only full service digital and affiliate marketing agencies in the world.

Our flagship services are search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), website development & maintenance, affiliate marketing program management, social media marketing, creative design, athlete/influencer marketing, and email marketing. Our customers span across a variety of industries but a few of the most prominent include:

  • Physician groups & hospitals
  • Multi-Specialty
  • Orthopedics
  • Physical Therapy
  • Dental
  • Women’s Health
  • Real-Estate
  • E-commerce & direct to consumer brands
  • Apparel/Fashion
  • Food & Beverage
  • Supplements
  • Tech & SaaS
  • Consumer Packaged Goods

how-i-started-a-500k-month-full-service-digital-and-affiliate-marketing-agency

3. Start a marketing agency ($6M/year)

Darren Magarro from Midland Park, NJ, USA started DSM almost 17 years ago, a marketing agency.

  • Location: Midland Park, NJ, USA
  • Revenue: $500,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$5K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 14

Case Study

My name is Darren Magarro and I am the Founder and President of DSM. DSM is a full-service marketing agency based in Mahwah, NJ. We’ll be 14 years old in February 2021 and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything in the world.

We’re labeled a marketing agency, in reality, we’re a “results agency”. It’s pretty simple and definitely not rocket science. Our core competencies are digital marketing, creative, traditional marketing, and without a doubt really good account management. Without good (truly passionate and empathetic) humans managing our client’s portfolios, we’re nothing. Over the course of the last 7 years, we’ve almost tripled in size because of our team and a straightforward love of what we do. In that time, I would say our main services have really shifted into the digital space with regards to our marketing tactics. The transparency and accountability it provides our clients and our staff to “fail fast and learn quickly” has been paramount to our success. Our motto at DSM is “stop selling and start helping”, and it permeates everything we do on our own behalf as well as our clients’ efforts. 2020 was a difficult year for everyone, and we’re proud to say that we were down just a few percent on the top line to 2019 (which was our best year in the company’s history). We really focused internally on creating more efficiencies and providing a better process for our clients, and our own employees. We’re extremely data-driven and this was definitely the theme for 2020 as we realized we weren’t going to grow. We’re currently doing over $500K/month and our mid and bottom line have never been in better shape. The members of the team at DSM get all the credit here. They worked very hard this year to make sure we’re leaving 2020 in better shape than when we entered it. Our goal in 2021 is to provide more education, growth opportunities and really allow our team to continue to push the envelope. At DSM, we constantly say, “best idea wins” and it’s creating a culture that is pretty amazing from top to bottom.

how-we-3x-d-revenue-and-landed-massive-press-opportunities

4. Start an online t-shirt business ($60K/year)

Chris Durso from New Jersey, USA started The Foodnited States over 6 years ago, an online t-shirt business.

  • Location: New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $5,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

My name is Chris Durso and I am the creator and owner of The Foodnited States. The concept behind The Foodnited States is U.S. States made from food and renamed with a proper pun. Believe it or not, the idea was first suggested by my then 8-yr-old son, Cameron.

Our main product is t-shirts -- and we also have stickers, fridge magnets, coffee mugs, and posters. Although tees bring in the most revenue, our stickers seem to be the most popular item and are one of our best marketing tools.

What is essentially an offshoot of my first ecommerce shop, The Foodnited States currently generates an extra 3-5K each month with only 11 U.S. States available so far.

how-chris-durso-started-a-custom-t-shirt-business-online

5. Start an axe throwing business ($960K/year)

Stuart and Kelly Josberger/Trish and Mark Oliphant from Eatontown, New Jersey, USA started Stumpy’s Hatchet House ago, an axe throwing business.

  • Location: Eatontown, New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $80,000/ month
  • Founders: 4
  • Employees: 5

Case Study

Hi! My name is Kelly Josberger, and I’m one of the owners of Stumpy’s Hatchet House, which is an indoor hatchet-throwing venue that specializes in parties and events for adults. Throwing an axe is just part of the experience. Learning a new skill (hurling a hatchet to a wooden target), playing hatchet-throwing games, and socializing with friends and family among our beautiful rustic environment make it an occasion to remember! We host birthdays, bachelor/bachelorette parties, corporate outings, team building activities, fundraisers, reunions and more!

Stumpy’s flagship location is in Eatontown, New Jersey. After opening in 2016 and gaining popularity and success as the country’s first indoor hatchet-throwing venue, we decided to expand by franchising in 2017. We now have 15 locations open in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, and Florida, with 24 more coming soon in states across the country.

To see what the “Social Throwdown” is all about, check out this video!

how-two-couples-started-an-indoor-hatchet-business-with-13-locations

6. Start an appliance repair business ($1.2M/year)

Chad Rubin from Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA started Think Crucial about 16 years ago, an appliance repair business.

  • Location: Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $100,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1

Case Study

I’m Chad Rubin, founder of Think Crucial and co-founder and CEO of Skubana.

Think Crucial sells replacement accessories for the stuff you use around your house-- vacuums, appliances, swimming pool accessories, and almost anything you can think of.

Skubana solves the problems I encountered building and scaling Think Crucial. It’s an all-in-one e-commerce management software that helps you run your entire operation from a single dashboard. At the moment, about 99.9% of my time goes into running and scaling Skubana.

starting-a-vacuum-business-and-growing-to-100k-month

7. Start a watch brand ($1.8M/year)

Christian Zeron from New Jersey, USA started Theo & Harris almost 9 years ago, a watch brand.

  • Location: New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $150,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 3

Case Study

I’m Christian Zeron, I’m 23, the founder of Theo & Harris and I get people excited about old watches.

Really, I should be getting out of law school in May (with 200k in debt) but instead, I’m turning out over $2M in vintage watch sales a year.

how-i-started-a-1-8m-year-vintage-watch-company

8. Start a video player software business

Todd Giannattasio from New Jersey, USA started Ziotag over 4 years ago, a video player software business.

  • Location: New Jersey, USA
  • Founders: 4
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

I’m Todd Giannattasio, I’m co-founder and CMO of Ziotag.com. Our software is an AI-powered video player that autotranscribes, segments, deep tags, and creates an Actionable Table of Contents for any of your online videos. This makes your video library fully searchable down to the time stamp, and easily navigable with a Table of Contents to jump right to the topic in the video that’s most relevant.

We are currently running a private beta and at the time of writing have just around 500 customers on the waitlist, and a half dozen channel partners signed up.

Ziotag Co-founder and CMO Todd Giannattasio presenting at the 2020 ATD TechKnowledge Conference

on-developing-and-launching-an-ai-enhanced-video-player-software

9. Create an online course ($1.44M/year)

Rasmus & Christian Mikkelsen (or Mikkelsen Twins) from Chester, New Jersey, USA started Mikkelsen Twins almost 6 years ago, an online course.

  • Location: Chester, New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $120,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

We are Christian and Rasmus Mikkelsen, also known as the Mikkelsen Twins online. We run an online education company where we help people to build an online book publishing business. The reason why we teach what seems like a random/kinda weird online business model is because it’s what changed our lives almost 3 years ago and freed us from the life path we were heading down (were in the middle of a business degree in community college and there was absolutely no hope for a truly happy and fulfilled life if we had continued to take that path in life).

It’s insane to write this and reflect on the past and now look at where we are today. 2 years ago, we were just 2 very shy, insecure identical twins (and best friends) trying to overcome our fear of speaking on camera. Now we’ve built an online education company with over 800 students (probably over 1,000 by the time you’re reading this). I can confirm we’ve helped many dozens of people to build their publishing business to where they have been able to quit their jobs for good and live a life of freedom and exploring the world. I’ve also learned the majority of people never share their success stories with us, so I’m sure 100+ of our students have accomplished the same without telling us haha!

The one and only program we sell at the moment (we will begin building program #2 in the coming months) is called Audiobook Income Academy 2.0. It’s an online training program that teaches people how to build a profitable book (and audiobook) publishing business. It includes over 30 hours of step-by-step training, an incredible online Facebook group and we host live coaching calls for all students twice a month.

how-we-launched-a-120k-month-audiobook-publishing-course

10. Start a home building company ($6M/year)

Michael J Parnell from Manasquan, New Jersey, USA started MPC Builders almost 12 years ago, a home building company.

  • Location: Manasquan, New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $500,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$15K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 3

Case Study

My name is Michael Parnell, and I am the founder of MPC Builders. We provide general contracting services for custom home construction along the Jersey Shore, as well as commercial projects throughout NJ and the Philadelphia metro area.

We’re known for our open-book style of construction management, we educate our clients on all aspects of their project, from cost and budgeting to constructability and schedule. Most builders keep that information close to their chest, almost guarding the details as a way to protect themselves from conflict. We believe that an educated client is a happy client and one that will become a raving fan of our company.

We also understand that our clients have busy lives, and cannot afford to have the construction of their projects impact their lives. So we handle everything for them and keep them informed at all times on the progress of work on-site, the current cost tracking against their budget, and the overall schedule of completion.

how-i-started-a-500k-month-custom-home-building-company

11. Start a skin care product line ($396K/year)

Carole Rains from New Jersey, USA started Emu Joy almost 10 years ago, a skin care product line.

  • Location: New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $33,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$5K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1

Case Study

Hi, I’m Carole Rains, the founder of Emu Joy. My product line features 100% natural products for skin, hair, muscles, and joints based on a unique ingredient: emu oil.

Emu oil is a highly penetrating oil that’s full of moisturizing and anti-inflammatory benefits. It comes from a thick pad of fat on the back of the emu bird, which looks a bit like an ostrich. It’s useful for everyone from babies with diaper rash to grandmas with arthritis, as well as many other conditions for folks of all ages.

While the most common gender and age for entrepreneurs seem to be males in their 30s, I started my business as a woman in her 50s.

starting-a-successful-business-selling-emu-oil-creams

12. Start a mobile veterinary service ($6.96M/year)

Lisa Aumiller from Mount Laurel, New Jersey, USA started housepaws almost 14 years ago, a mobile veterinary service.

  • Location: Mount Laurel, New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $580,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 82

Case Study

HousePaws started 10 years ago this April. I had become disenchanted with practicing in a “normal” veterinary environment: appointments every 10-15 min, stressed owners/ pets/ workers, etc. I was starting work and it was dark outside and leaving work and it was dark outside. Clients, despite liking me as a vet, did not perceive the value of the visit was worth what they were paying, and the hospital I worked out was corporate-minded. The practice had one size fits all plans which were not consistent with how I like to practice. I consider every patient as an individual. Each pet, even those living in the same house, have different lifestyles sometimes.

I decided to go mobile. I wanted to bring high-quality patient care to the pet, in the comfort of their own home. I planned on using my family SUV and visiting patient homes. I thought I would make some money with the low overhead and have plenty of time to spend with my 3 young children.

At the end of 2010, I was working alone, 80 hours a week, and making $60,000 in revenue. Today we have over 100 employees and are making more than 7 million in revenue and thankfully I am not working 80 hours a week anymore!

how-we-started-a-mobile-veterinary-service-serving-our-community

13. Start a cooler business ($300K/year)

Garrett Barretta from Fort Lee, NJ, USA started COOLERSbyU ago, a cooler business.

  • Location: Fort Lee, NJ, USA
  • Revenue: $25,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$40K
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

Hi, my name is Garrett Barretta and I started COOLERSbyU four years ago shortly after graduating college at the University of Delaware (Go Blue Hens!). COOLERSbyU sells paintable coolers and accessories that make it easy to customize your cooler.

We started by offering our 26.4qt Paintable Cooler and quickly expanded into Acrylic Paints, Paint Brushes, Bottle Openers, Sealer, Stickers, and more! The majority of our customers are college students involved in fraternities and sororities who are painting coolers for Greek life events like formals and away weekends, as well as individuals interested in crafting and DIY. In these past four years, I am proud to say my business has grown from a few thousand dollars a month, to an average of over $25k per month.

how-i-started-a-25k-month-paintable-coolers-business-while-having-a-full-time-job

14. Start a money lending company ($12M/year)

Michael Mikhail from Pine Brook, NJ, USA started Stratton Equities almost 7 years ago, a money lending company.

  • Location: Pine Brook, NJ, USA
  • Revenue: $1,000,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 20

Case Study

My name is Michael Mikhail and I’m the Founder and CEO of Stratton Equities, the nation’s leading hard money and NON-QM (non-qualified mortgage) lender to national real estate investors, with the largest variety of mortgage loans and programs nationwide. We specialize in unique private money loan programs with the lowest rates in the industry and work directly with Real Estate Investors, Mortgage Brokers, and Realtors.

In 2017, I noticed how the mortgage industry had transformed after the regulations presented from 2008-2012, and knew it was time to set out something on my own - I literally started Stratton Equities with the last $1000 that I had and within the first six months, we grew to $1M. To date, we have grossed over $3M.

how-i-started-a-300k-month-money-lending-company

15. Start a time tracking app ($2.22M/year)

Dean A. Logan from New Jersey, USA started Labor Sync over 14 years ago, a time tracking app.

  • Location: New Jersey, USA
  • Revenue: $185,000/ month
  • Founders: 3
  • Employees: 12

Case Study

My name is Dean Logan, the co-founder, and CEO of Labor Sync. Labor Sync was founded in 2009 along with my father and CFO Al Logan and CTO Joe Burger.

Labor Sync is a mobile application that provides business owners with the ability to track the time and GPS location of their mobile workforce. After extensive testing, our product officially launched in 2011.

The amazing thing about Labor Sync is our expansive global presence for such a small company, only 12 employees! Our product is available in over 17 languages and used in over 100 countries.

how-i-launched-a-185k-month-employee-time-gps-tracking-app

Adam Vieira from Montreal, Quebec, Canada started Station 16 Editions / S16 over 10 years ago, an art gallery.

  • Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • Revenue: $350,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$150K
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 10

Case Study

Hi, my name is Adam Vieira, and I’m the creative director for Station 16 Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in Montreal heavily influenced by graffiti and street art.

We showcase original art, sculptures, and works on paper, which changes every month, sometimes every week. We also launch a new limited edition silkscreen print every month with international artists.

growing-an-art-gallery-to-150-000-month

17. Start a lego reselling business ($19.9K/year)

Matthew Fiore from Grafton, MA, USA started Summerfield's Toys about 6 years ago, a LEGO reselling business.

  • Location: Grafton, MA, USA
  • Revenue: $1,661/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$2.5K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

My name is Matthew Fiore, a senior in high school and a long-time LEGO lover. I also turned my passion into a business. Three years ago I started Summerfield’s Toys, an online reseller of LEGO sets and individual bricks.

I’ve been building with LEGO since I was 4. I love the feel of the bricks in my hands and the creative process of recreating a model or making my own creation, whether it be spaceships, bases, or cities.

how-i-started-a-1-6k-month-lego-reselling-business-at-the-age-of-14

18. Start a stuffed animals business ($120K/year)

Justin Baum from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA started ZZZ Bears over 8 years ago, a stuffed animals business.

  • Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
  • Revenue: $9,999/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$5K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

My full-time job is in advertising. (Think Don Draper with less Brylcreem,) And from 2005 to 2012, I worked at JWT, the United States Marine Corps’ longtime ad agency. As the Creative Director, I was in charge of recruitment advertising - writing the television commercials, print ads, billboards, etc - for the Marines during two of the most unpopular wars in our nation’s history.

Every time I’d go to a Marine base to film a commercial, I’d bring my then 5-year-old daughter back a small gift from the Marine Exchange. At the time, she was having trouble sleeping - bad dreams, fear of the dark, monsters under the bed - the usual fears of a young kid.

So I bought her a teddy bear and told her a story.

how-i-built-a-teddy-bear-business-helping-military-kids-sleep-at-night

19. Start a junk removal business ($300K/year)

Sam Evans from Pennsylvania, USA started You Call We Haul Junk Removal almost 8 years ago, a junk removal business.

  • Location: Pennsylvania, USA
  • Revenue: $25,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$1.7K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 3

Case Study

My name is Sam Evans. I am 23 years old and a recent graduate from Penn State Altoona. I am the founder of You Call We Haul Junk Removal, a junk removal company that removes anything from single items to hoarder home cleanouts. We’re located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and have been in business (part-time) since May of 2016.

We service any and everyone who may have unneeded items they are looking to get rid of. People often ask what items we consider junk, to us junk is anything you no longer need or want.

Our main customers are middle-aged and up adults, typically with a higher income that do not want to or are unable to do the work themselves. We complete over 75 jobs per month, bring in about $20,000 in revenue per month profiting about 65% per job.

how-i-started-a-18k-month-junk-removal-company-before-graduating-from-college

20. Start a stationery business ($48K/year)

Jordyn from Michigan, USA started Jordyn Alison Designs almost 6 years ago, a stationery business.

  • Location: Michigan, USA
  • Revenue: $4,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

Hey, I’m Jordyn and I’m the owner of Jordyn Alison Designs. My intentions with my products are to bring joy to your daily life as well as help connect you with others.

For a couple of years, the only thing I sold in my shop was greeting cards. But in March of 2018, I started selling vinyl stickers, which proved to be successful. I now have greeting cards, stickers, notepads, apparel and more in my shop.

Part of what I think makes my business unique is that I have a pretty strong digital side to my business as well. For that side, I work on making SVG cut files and hand-lettered fonts. As someone who can’t sit still and do the same thing every day, it’s really nice to have two distinct sides to my business that I can switch back and forth from.

how-i-started-a-3k-month-hand-lettered-stationery-products-ecommerce

21. Start a niche investment platform ($4.2M/year)

Justin Cooke from North York, Ontario, Canada started Empire Flippers over 11 years ago, a niche investment platform.

  • Location: North York, Ontario, Canada
  • Revenue: $349,983/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 53

Case Study

My name is Gregory Elfrink and I’m the director of marketing with Empire Flippers. We’re a three-time winner of the INC 5,000 award for being one of the fastest growing companies in America and we help people buy and sell online businesses.

In the last few years, we have become the thought leader and one of the largest M&A advisory businesses for digital assets in the sub $10 million range. Though, I am pretty certain we will soon be selling businesses above that $10 million mark as well.

We have brokered over $50 million worth of deals, and since we’re a big believer in transparency we also created a scoreboard that details most of our stats - from the hundreds of thousands of website visitors we get to our pool of potential buyers that grow by the hundreds every month.

empire-flippers-20m-year-helping-people-buy-and-sell-websites

22. Start an electronics repair business ($48K/year)

Allen Chiang from Connecticut, USA started Retro Radio Farm about 10 years ago, an electronics repair business.

  • Location: Connecticut, USA
  • Revenue: $4,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

My name is Allen Chiang, and I founded Retro Radio Farm, where I repair and restore old radios. I offer Bluetooth MP3 upgrade if the customer wants to play digital music.

I have a busy career as an IT professional. Retro Radio Farm is side business that grew out of a recent hobby of mine.

Right now, I make about $50K a year for the work I put in primarily on weekends. While it’s highly profitable, it has not yet lucrative enough yet for me to quit my day job. Although, the business has been growing 20% every year.

finding-and-repairing-retro-radios-turned-into-a-successful-side-hustle

23. Start a maze engineering business ($1.2M/year)

Shuhan He from Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA started MazeEngineers almost 11 years ago, a maze engineering business.

  • Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
  • Revenue: $100,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 15

Case Study

My name is Shuhan He and I’m a doctor and entrepreneur. I am the founder of a Boston-based startup called Maze Engineers. We focus on creating innovative mazes for research, integrating cloud computing technologies, wireless systems, and automated data tracking technologies to assist behavioral research. Our aim is to provide support for researchers to conduct important neurological experiments and create therapies for patients. We were actually featured on Nature.com, where we explored the science behind the mazes.

Aside from being a founder, I am also hands-on in the process of designing and creating the mazes for our clients. I have created numerous mazes for different research and purposes, ranging from mazes created for mice to VR maze intended for humans. Some of our clients are private and public universities, the military, biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and researchers.

building-mice-mazes-and-growing-to-100k-month

24. Start a candle business ($1.68M/year)

DShawn Russell from Raeford, North Carolina, USA started Southern Elegance Candle Company about 8 years ago, a candle business.

  • Location: Raeford, North Carolina, USA
  • Revenue: $140,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 20

Case Study

Hello! My name is D’Shawn Russell and I am the founder and CEO of Southern Elegance Candle Company. I started the company 4 years ago as a side hustle to make some extra money on the weekends and to get me out of the house. But it quickly grew to much more than I expected.

Southern Elegance Candle Company is all about loving and living in the South. We created home fragrance products that all have a southern theme to them and all of our fragrances are based on Southern agriculture. Apple? Check! Pine? Check! Cotton (or course) Check! Missing the Southern Sunshine? We got a fragrance for you. Our core group of customers are women that live in the South or people that appreciate Southern culture.

Our flagship products at the moment are our candles. We offer three different sizes; travel tin, mason jar and large tumbler. We also have wax melts and room spray. But, we will be slowly rolling out new products over the next year to include an apparel line.

how-i-started-a-20k-month-southern-inspired-candle-business

25. Start a podcast

Matt Ward from New York, New York, USA started The Disruptors about 7 years ago, a podcast.

  • Location: New York, New York, USA
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

Hey guys! My name is Matt Ward and I’m the founder and CEO of The Disruptors, a podcast about the future of all of us where TED level scientists, startup founders and experts join me to discuss the big issues facing humanity and how we can solve them together. I also run The Syndicate, a podcast and investment group focused on early stage startup investing.

I wanted to make a difference in the world and for me, two things drive exponentially better results and impact for all of us, startups solving big problems and innovators tackling epic and existential problems.

I have structured my work and efforts around this to empower others to change the world for the better and have the pleasure of talking to the smartest, most influential folks trying to do the same.

how-i-grew-my-podcast-audience-to-180k-downloads

26. Become a shopify app developer ($780K/year)

Todd Trimakas from Charlotte, North Carolina, USA started ByteStand about 8 years ago, a shopify app developer.

  • Location: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
  • Revenue: $65,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$50K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1

Case Study

Hi, my name is Todd and I’m a serial entrepreneur. After a long history of building various businesses, I created ByteStand, a friendly software development company run by ecommerce nerds who get excited about weird things like “cross-platform integrations” and “fulfillment networks” and “coffee”.

We design Shopify apps, with three apps currently in the app store and over 2,000 shops using our software. Our two main apps are ByteStand and FBA Shipping, which were designed to help Amazon sellers diversify and generate more revenue by importing their Amazon inventory to Shopify and exporting their Shopify orders to Amazon for fulfillment.

We also created FreshCredit, Shopify's first true store credit app. Between all three apps, we generate about $17,000/month in revenue.

how-i-taught-myself-how-to-code-and-built-my-own-business

27. Start a travel products business ($12K/year)

Regina Ye from Boston, Massachusetts, USA started Zirui over 6 years ago, a travel products business.

  • Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  • Revenue: $1,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

My name is Regina Ye, and I am the founder of ZIRUI.

Our flagship product is a modular magnetic travel toiletry case that is secure, sleek, and simple. ZIRUI is the best way to travel with liquids.

how-regina-ye-started-a-cpg-company-while-in-college

28. Start a luggage storage business ($780K/year)

Eugene Veeden from Toronto, Ontario, Canada started BagsAway Luggage Storage over 6 years ago, a luggage storage business.

  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Revenue: $65,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

BagsAway Luggage Storage is a marketplace that connects travelers and city locals with convenient, secure, on-demand bag storage locations across key cities. Utilizing the principles of the sharing economy we partner with local shops and businesses that monetize existing free-space by offering hourly/daily storage on location. We keep about 60% of all revenues while the storage partners keep the rest. With BagsAway locations in place, travelers and locals can now win precious hours back by conveniently dropping their bags at a location of their choice around the city, freeing their hands and their time to explore, experience, and sightsee without their bags in the way. Our overarching vision is to change people's relationship with things that weigh them down during travel and on the go.

We have stored over 150,000 bags for travelers thus far and have expanded to over 50+ cities and going strong! Our plan this year is to expand worldwide, with new funding and new members joining our company.

how-we-started-a-65k-month-world-wide-luggage-storage-service

29. Start an online food business ($1.2M/year)

Ethan Holmes from Cleveland, Ohio, USA started Holmes Mouthwatering about 9 years ago, an online food business.

  • Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
  • Revenue: $100,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$5K
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 3

Case Study

My name is Ethan Holmes. I’m from Shaker Heights, Ohio and I am the 25-year-old founder and CEO of Holmes Mouthwatering Applesauce.

Holmes is an all natural applesauce product I created at the age of 15 and have since grown to hundreds of grocery stores throughout the Midwest.

how-an-entrepreneur-from-ohio-launched-his-own-applesauce-company

30. Create an online course ($240K/year)

Kelan Kline from Rochester, New York, USA started The Savvy Couple over 7 years ago, an online course.

  • Location: Rochester, New York, USA
  • Revenue: $20,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$500
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

Hi there! We are Kelan and Brittany the founders of The Savvy Couple. We are a personal finance and lifestyle blog with a mission to help families organize and simplify their entire life so they can do more of the things they love.

We do this by providing content on organization, meal planning, budgeting, paying off debt, making money online, marriage, and more.

Some of our top articles include:

the-savvy-couple-update-why-we-re-focusing-on-seo

31. Build an api ($360K/year)

Ervin Ruci from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada started Geocode.xyz about 7 years ago, an API.

  • Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Revenue: $30,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$10
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

I’m Ervin Ruci. Since 2005 I have been interested in the problem of geoparsing and geocoding - a piece of software that analyzes a string of text for geographical locations, then matches them to a database of locations with latitude, longitude values. Geoparsing is the process of extracting and disambiguating location entities from text, and Geocoding is the process of matching them to latitude, longitude values.

As a graduate student, I built geocoder.ca in the summer of 2005 then I went on to build several other businesses that relied on its geocoding API. Many of these businesses are now defunct, but geocoder.ca is still going strong with 2020 being its best year to date - over 90% growth from the year before:

how-we-grew-our-revenue-by-70-in-one-year

32. Start a men's grooming company ($1.2M/year)

Doug Geiger from Mount Clemens, Michigan, USA started CanYouHandlebar about 11 years ago, a men's grooming company.

  • Location: Mount Clemens, Michigan, USA
  • Revenue: $100,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$400
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 10

Case Study

I’m Doug Geiger, founder of Can You Handlebar, a men’s grooming product company. We’re one of those low-key-high-quality brands.

We are best known for beard oils and balms, moustache wax and inventing the first application brush for beard products, the Can You Handlebar Beard Oil Brush®. We are carefully and consistently extending our product line and distribution.

In our first three years our production grew from a kitchen countertop with a crockpot I stole from my wife to “making a million bucks” and a 10,000 square foot building with a whole fleet of crockpots. Meanwhile, our retail presence -- which began on the counter of a gracious proprietor of the corner gas station -- has grown to our own network of barbers and salons across the US, international distribution and most visibly, the shelves of every Art of Shaving.

how-i-turned-a-moustache-wax-recipe-into-a-million-dollar-business

33. Start a waterbottle business ($636K/year)

Jesse Hambly from Elora, Ontario, Canada started Pressa Inc. over 8 years ago, a waterbottle business.

  • Location: Elora, Ontario, Canada
  • Revenue: $53,000/ month
  • Starting Costs: $$100K
  • Founders: 3
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

My name is Jesse Hambly, I’m 1 of 3 brothers working at Pressa Inc. Luke and Mason are full-time founders as well. We have a diverse background, Luke manages engineering and manufacturing duties. Mason is in charge of media, content creation and strategy, and I (Jesse) oversee marketing, operations, and customer relations. We’ve been in business since 2015 where we’ve been selling our flagship product, Pressa Bottle. Pressa Bottle is a unique water bottle that allows the user to juice and press real fruit into any beverage.

Our company operates at just over $50k per month and we do this primarily through our .com and Amazon. We do sell in a few retailers which are Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillards and Uncommon Goods. The product lends itself well to the healthy/active crowd but we also sell a lot of units for flavored cocktails.

how-we-created-a-53k-month-innovative-water-bottle

34. Become a proofreader ($24K/year)

Lenny Bron from New York, New York, USA started The Blog Proofreader almost 8 years ago, a proofreader.

  • Location: New York, New York, USA
  • Revenue: $2,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

Hi, my name is Lenny Bron, and I am The Blog Proofreader. I’m the annoying grammar police person you’ve always been tired of hearing from every time you use an ellipses incorrectly in a Facebook post you wrote 3 years ago.

I content edit/copy edit/proofread the work of several clients on a regular basis. Some of this is done as a freelancer for larger companies, some of it is done for startups looking to make sure their content marketing looks clean and presentable, and some of it is done for bloggers or other content creators who want their readers to enjoy the work they put out without stopping to try and process a sentence with a missing word in it.

I’ve been able to build my business from scratch to consistently make ~$2,000 per month with zero experience in the field, no expenses, and barely any upfront costs.

how-i-added-2-000-to-my-monthly-income-proofreading-blog-posts

35. Start a quilt business ($9.6M/year)

Ross Lohr from Boston, Massachusetts, USA started Project Repat almost 12 years ago, a quilt business.

  • Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  • Revenue: $800,000/ month
  • Founders: 2
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

My name is Ross Lohr, and I’m a co-founder of Project Repat. We make it easy and affordable for customers to turn their memorable t-shirts into a one of a kind, custom t-shirt quilt backed with cozy fleece.

People buy quilts from Project Repat because we have the most affordable price, which is due to us fine tuning the production process by making more than 250,000 t-shirt quilts over the past 6 years. While traditional quilts can be very expensive, we’ve found a way to make them at a much more affordable price.

We currently make 2,000 custom t-shirt quilts per week at 2 production facilities in the United States. In 2018, we will make 90,000 t-shirt quilts and do $10MM in sales per year.

project-repat-10mm-business-making-quilts-from-old-t-shirts

36. Become a corporate trainer ($150K/year)

Andrew Tarvin from New York, New York, USA started Humor That Works about 15 years ago, a corporate trainer.

  • Location: New York, New York, USA
  • Revenue: $12,500/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1

Case Study

I am Andrew Tarvin and I am the world’s first humor engineer (at least according to all the Google searches that I’ve done).

I run Humor That Works, a training company focused on human effectiveness. Our primary goal is to deliver programs that help people get better results while having more fun in the workplace.

We’ve worked with thousands of people at more than 250 organizations, including Microsoft, the FBI, and the International Association of Canine Professionals.

how-being-the-funny-guy-at-work-turned-into-a-full-time-career

37. Start a franchise development business ($120K/year)

Andrew Hoffman from Brampton, Ontario, Canada started My Franchise Partners over 9 years ago, a franchise development business.

  • Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada
  • Revenue: $10,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 2

Case Study

Hello, my name is Andrew Hoffman. I am the founder of My Franchise Partners.

My Franchise Partners is a $15-20K/month consulting agency focused on helping people understand the franchise industry before they take the plunge and invest in a franchise.

I help people find the best franchise for them through in-depth research, analysis, and due diligence. The best choice is always an informed choice.

how-i-started-a-10k-month-franchise-development-business

38. Start a slack bot business ($2.94K/year)

Daniel Doubrovkine from New York, New York, USA started Vestris LLC about 8 years ago, a slack bot business.

  • Location: New York, New York, USA
  • Revenue: $245/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 0

Case Study

My name is Daniel Doubrovkine, and I go by “dB.” I was born in Moscow, Russia, and my family emigrated to Geneva, Switzerland in 1990. That’s where I got my first computer (a Commodore-64, from a relative who upgraded to an Amiga 2000), and started programming by copying some x86 assembly code from SVM Magazine and trying to run tasm.exe. There was no Internet, then.

By the time I enrolled in C.S. at the University of Geneva, I had been selling shareware to users in 42 countries. That business was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (I was not old enough to incorporate in Switzerland) and was called Vestris, after a sunken Spanish ship in the 1400s. I made tens of thousands of dollars selling Windows shareware between 97 and 99, including XReplace-32 and Expression Calculator (sold as Global Calculator on a CDROM in Germany). I then made hundreds of thousands with a very popular Alkaline Search Engine, which powered some of the biggest websites in the late 90s, ranging from bbc.co.uk to warez.com. If you’re old enough to remember, you may have used the aGNeS forum, too. That was ad-sponsored - ads which I may or may not have been clicking on in my sleep.

I also tried to co-start another company, Xo3, but that didn’t quite pan out. So In 1999 I decided to get serious with starting a programming career, and moved to Seattle to work for Microsoft. I completely shut down my old company around 2003, and in 2004 came to New York after getting my Green Card. I held engineering jobs at various startups and spent 8 years as CTO of the fine arts marketplace artsy.net. I am currently a Principal Engineer at AWS Data Exchange.

on-developing-and-marketing-slack-bots-while-working-a-full-time-job

39. Start a leather business ($48K/year)

Jamie Clawson from New York, USA started Jamie Clawson almost 13 years ago, a leather business.

  • Location: New York, USA
  • Revenue: $4,000/ month
  • Founders: 1
  • Employees: 1

Case Study

Hi I’m Jamie Clawson, and I run Jamie Clawson - a small business designing and producing leather products and accessories. I do everything from designing, testing, manufacturing, shipping etc. All operations are done in house.

My main product line is leather skins for Apple products - iPhone, MacBook, iPad, etc. My premium leather accessories mediate between technology and a way of life that champions quality, craft, and traditional aesthetics.

My products reintroduce an enduring look and feel to the devices you use most and love best. I source the finest grade leathers from respected New York City-based purveyors. The pressure-sensitive adhesive, custom ordered from 3M, simplifies the process of application and respects your device, leaving no residue upon removal. Each product can be applied and reapplied multiple times to the same or similar devices.

being-a-solo-founder-and-manufacturing-your-own-products

meet the author
Pat Walls

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.