
25 Unique Business Ideas That Will Make You Money [2022]
Looking for a business idea that will set you apart from the competition?
We put together a list of the most profitable unique business ideas that anyone can start today!
Some of these are pretty weird and crazy business ideas, but that is actually what makes them successful.
If you're looking to do something original, then this list is for you.
Here's the list:
1. Start a dog walking business ($54K/month)
Do you love dogs? If yes, you can turn your love for animals into a lucrative side hustle that can help you pay extra toward your mortgage, save for a vacation, or even clear that student’s loan.
If you choose to offer dog walking services as a side hustle, you could earn an average income of between $10,000 and $30,000 per year. As a dog walker, sitter or boarder, you offer your services to dog owners looking for a caregiver for their puppy. Register on a legitimate dog-walking app and create a compelling profile to get started.
Melodi Landi started Furry Fellas Pet Service LLC, a dog walking business, about 16 years ago:
Hi. My name is Melodi Landi. I am the Founder & Owner of Furry Fellas Pet Service LLC.
Furry Fellas has been voted in the TOP 3 Pet Sitting / Dog Walking Company within the RI / MA area for 8 years in a row!
2. Create a board game ($4.5K/month)
Creating your own board game can be a fun, challenging and rewarding activity. Games are an integral part of our culture and are played by all walks of life.
You can create a board game from scratch with some basic knowledge of programming, or several hours of practice. Board games are easy to manufacture, can be created from home, and can become very popular and profitable businesses.
Travis Hancock started Facade Games, a board game, over 7 years ago:
My name is Travis Hancock and I’m the founder of Facade Games. We have published 3 board games, each disguised in book boxes.
Our games have raised over $1 million on Kickstarter, and we’ve sold about 80,000 copies of our games around the world. I work full time from home with my wife Holly. We love inventing and publishing games!
3. Invent a hangover cure ($105K/month)
56% of drinkers have experienced a hangover! That's a lot of people dealing with headaches, nausea and general lethargy. The good news is that there is an entire industry devoted to curing hangovers.
Eddie Huai started Flyby, a hangover cure product, over 5 years ago:
Hey guys! I’m Eddie and I’m the founder of Flyby. We’re a health & wellness startup focused on building supplements that’ll allow people to be the best versions of him or herself.
We launched in March 2017 and in approximately 10 months, hit $1M in sales. We are now doing close to $200K/mo in sales, in some of the top retail stores (Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, American Eagle) and are on track to do $2.5M this year. And since the release of our new formulation, we’ve consistently generated over 40 percent in repeat purchase revenue.
4. Create an online course ($117K/month)
Online course businesses are one of the fastest-growing online business models. Creating an online course is an awesome way to generate extra income because it allows you to monetize the knowledge you already have. More people are taking online courses every day, and the COVID pandemic has accelerated that, with some online learning platforms having seen 15-folds growth in the number of users.
Another advantage is that these new platforms are so easy to use for instructors that you don't have to worry at all about the tech side of the business. You just need to focus on creating exciting content that is informational & engaging at the same time.
Rasmus & Christian Mikkelsen (or Mikkelsen Twins) started Mikkelsen Twins, a online course, about 4 years ago:
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).
Fast forward to today, our company is making over 6-figures in profit every month which is almost unbelievable for two 24-year-old (ambitious) idiots with just a laptop, wifi connection and a small team.
5. Start a city maps business ($3.5K/month)
Businesses around the world generate billions in revenue by selling city maps online. Most of these maps are sold on popular e-commerce websites like eBay and Amazon.
Love Regefalk started Mapsery, a city maps business, over 4 years ago:
Hello StarterStory! My name is Love Regefalk (yes – it actually is) and I am the co-founder of Mapsery. I founded Mapsery together with my twin brother, Daniel, and we run Mapsery on the side of our engineering studies.
Looking at our customers, they can be found all around the world (30+ countries to date) who share a love for maps, traveling and interior design. Owing to the fact that our website is in English and that we only run ads in English, a majority of our customers can be found in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. To a lesser extent, we get customers from other corners of the world. In terms of demographics, slightly more women than men purchase our products and people aged 25-34 are our primary age group.
6. Start an axe throwing business ($70K/month)
Throwing axes is a great way to relieve stress, bond with friends and coworkers, and even make some money.
Axe throwing is a new and exciting activity that is growing in popularity, especially for corporate or business events.
James Anderson started Forged Axe Throwing, a axe throwing business, over 5 years ago:
Hi there! My name is James and three years ago I started an axe throwing venue called Forged Axe Throwing. We teach people how to throw axes and then run amazing tournaments with everyone. Many of our clients are visitors to the area as we’re in a resort town, but we also have a locals league and get lots of local businesses coming to us for events.
We do about $960,000 of revenue per year through our in-venue axe throwing business and I can’t wait to cross that sweet sweet $1M mark!
This was our team early on, we’ve since expanded to about 22 staff members.
7. Become a professional cuddler ($8.8K/month)
Imagine being a professional cuddler for a living. Getting paid to snuggle your clients may sound strange, but this type of service has been in high demand over the last few years.
Think of 'snugglers' as a more personal therapist. They get paid for many services: hugging their clients, listening to their problems, coaching them, comforting & reducing stress, cooking and eating meals together and more.
Samantha Varnerin started Snuggle with Sam, a professional cuddler, almost 6 years ago:
Hi there! My name is Sam Varnerin and I created Snuggle with Sam, my independent professional cuddling practice, while I was still working full-time as a construction engineer.
Here’s all of the contributors on the panel at CuddleXpo in Chicago presenting how we came up with the Code of Ethics for Professional Cuddling. Back left to right: Maryelen Reid, Madelon Guinazzo, Samantha Varnerin (me!), Samantha Hess, Jean Franzbleau, Fei Wyatt, Janet Trevino. Front left to right: Keely Shoup, Lisa Meece. Photo credit Rellian Chen Merrin
8. Create tiny homes ($156K/month)
People love living in small spaces. They're affordable and easy to maintain.
The tiny homes industry is expected to grow 3.57B by 2026.
Jeff Yeo started Tiny Away, a travel booking app, over 5 years ago:
Hi! My name is Jeff and I am one of the three co-founders of Tiny Away (a Big Tiny hospitality management subsidiary, which is also co-founded by us). The Tiny Away network includes a range of comfy eco-friendly ‘tiny houses’ for travelers seeking alternative and unique accommodation experiences. Having already grown to over 75 private locations across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia & Queensland, Tiny Away offers adventurous road-trippers and weekenders the chance to immerse themselves in Australia’s, without compromising on comfort.
On average, we are taking in about $156,000 monthly in terms of rental revenue, not including the other streams of income, as Tiny Away is a subsidiary of Big Tiny which owns the entire tiny house ecosystem from designing to manufacturing, shipping, assembly, deployment, management, and after-sales service.
9. Build treehouses ($63.5K/month)
Dustin Feider started O2 Treehouse, a construction company, almost 18 years ago:
Hello, I am Dustin Feider the founder, lead designer, and CEO of O2 Treehouse Commercial Inc (O2 Treehouse or O2T) and Treewalkers! O2 Treehouse is a company of nature-lovers, builders, designers, and engineers dedicated to creating innovative architectural structures in trees all over the world. Combining modern engineering with old-school craftsmanship, we’ve built over 85 structures in the past 17 years. In that time, we have developed a proprietary building technology called the Tetratruss, which has radically transformed the way treehouses are built, while also creating the O2 Treehouse signature style.
Today, O2 Treehouse is so well known, that we have a two-year backlog of projects waiting to be brought to life and have been featured in over 85 publications!
10. Start a cat cafe business
Cat cafes are a growing trend in the United States. They are a place where people can come together to enjoy the company of cats, drink hot beverages and eat yummy treats, all while the cats roam the cafe. The Cat Café is a great business because there are minimal costs involved with owning the animals, and keeping cats fed and happy is quite low maintenance.
11. Start a glamping business
Glamping is the ultimate in eco-chic these days. A glamorous twist on camping, glamping feels more like a 5-star hotel and less like roughing it.
You could turn your backyard into a campground that earns money every day.
12. Start a sensory deprivation tank business
Experience total isolation and float your way into blissful serenity. The sensory deprivation tank business has been growing, 20-25% as of a few years ago.
As our lives become more chaotic and stressful, people will continue to look for ways to destress, and float tanks might be one way that they pull out their wallets.
13. Start a pet hotel business
Over 60M households own dogs or cats in the United States. What happens when they leave town or go on vacation? Pet boarding is a lucrative industry that can be served locally in any state or city across the world.
14. Start a cat treats brand ($30K/month)
Spyq Sklar started Cat Sushi, a cat treats brand, almost 7 years ago:
My name is Spyq and I am a co-creator of Cat Sushi.
Cat Sushi is a flaky, tuna based treat that cats love. It is our flagship product that eventually led to us forming our current company Presidio Natural Pet Company, where we design and manufacture ultra-premium, natural, and healthy food products for pets.
We focus to create products in the pet space that best serve the customer - your pet - and believe that high quality and healthy pet products can help cultivate relationships between customers and stores.
15. Start a puppet fabric store ($10K/month)
Laurie Nickerson started Puppet Pelts, a puppet fabric store, over 9 years ago:
My name is Laurie Nickerson and I and the co-owner of Puppet Pelts. At Puppet Pelts, we manufacture and sell hand dyed fabric used for puppet skins to professional puppet builders around the world.
Our Pelts are made from a textile that is really only used for puppets. It is a wonderfully stretchy nylon fleece fabric that is milled in the United States. We buy the fabric in white and dye it a bunch of colors to sell to our customers.
16. Start a weighted blankets brand ($239K/month)
Elizabeth Grojean started Baloo Living, a weighted blankets brand, over 4 years ago:
Baloo Living is asleep and wellness company launched from Bali in 2018. Our signature product is a weighted blanket, an incredible tool for calming the nervous system with gentle pressure, similar to the way being hugged or held makes us feel naturally comforted. These blankets have been used for decades by therapists and are only now going mainstream as people discover just how powerful they can be for improving sleep and soothing anxiety--without the use of medication.
It’s exciting to be bringing a product to market that does so much good and only beginning to reach critical mass. The market for weighted blankets is exploding - currently, on Amazon, there are millions of dollars in sales monthly, and we know that e-commerce generally represents 10% of retail sales in the US. We reached six figures in our third month, and seven figures after our first holiday season before even a year has passed! Baloo took off like crazy, partly because we stand for the highest product quality, customer service, and thoughtful design.
17. Start a golf simulators business ($500K/month)
Igor Vainshtien started 24/7 Golf, a golf simulators business, almost 6 years ago:
My name is Igor, and I am the founder and owner of 24/7 Golf - an Australian startup in the virtual golf industry. I sell golf simulators for personal and commercial use and am the distributor for SkyTrak Golf in the region (Australia, New Zealand and surrounds).
Working for someone did not last long - after 3 years, and working in Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia and Japan, I started my own SAP consulting firm and from a humble $280,000 in 1st year revenue went to over $4,000,000 annualised after 4 years. But I also burnt out! After a small career break, I went back into consulting and also got addicted to golf.
That led me to investing into a virtual golf centre, then building a brand of unmanned virtual golf centres called 24/7 Golf! Having sold over 1.1m of golf simulators in the first iteration of the business called GolfTec Australia, I partnered with SkyTrak Golf from USA to use at my venues and also to resell. After 18 months of growth in sales I decided to switch to a fully online only e-commerce store … with Shopify! Once I did that, the online store grew and grew and keeps growing!
18. Start a respirator mask business ($90K/month)
Michael Vahey started Breathe Healthy, a respirator mask business, almost 13 years ago:
My name is Michael, and I’m the owner of Breathe Healthy.
Breathe Healthy is the name of the company that I started. We produce comfortable, wearable respiratory protection that also looks good. We have been in business since 2009, and our sales surpassed 1 million in 2017. We continue to grow and disrupt the “traditional” paper/disposable mask market.
19. Start a flight tours business ($759K/month)
Corey Rust started Envi Adventures, a flight tours business, about 5 years ago:
If you have ever met me (which is pretty unlikely), then you probably learned relatively quickly that I’m really into airplanes. And by ‘really’ I mean borderline obsessed. My name is Corey Rust, and I own the Troutdale, Oregon based air tour business Envi Adventures.
Now, our best month was over $30,000 in revenue, and that is only in our second year. For a dumb guy like me, it makes me happy to know that I’m providing a service that people from all over the world are interested in. Not only that, but we have been able to generate a brand that people are beginning to recognize and connect with on a different level. Personally, I think that’s the most exciting part.
20. Start a hammock brand ($40.1K/month)
Ben Hancock started Maca, a hammock brand, about 5 years ago:
Hi everyone! My name is Ben and I am the founder of Maca, a brand that sells handmade Mexican travel hammocks. Our hammocks are for people that want a unique, kick-ass, on-the-go hammock. Maca celebrates people who get out and explore somewhere new! But all that exploring requires some downtime and there is no better way to recharge the battery than to sink into a Maca hammock. Campers, vanlifers, hikers and nomads love our hammocks and especially connect with our “giving back” story.
We sell our hammocks 100% direct-to-consumer via our website. At the moment, we are selling a couple of hammocks a month and have big plans to increase this number in 2020.
21. Start a discount travel website ($163K/month)
Garth Adams started I Know The Pilot, a email newsletter business, about 6 years ago:
Hi, my name is Garth Adams, founder of I Know The Pilot. We send out airfare and accommodation deals to our subscribers every day. While other travel deal sites rely on paid subscriptions, we have been 100% free from day 1.
And then the pandemic hit. Australia closed its borders and international leisure travel went to zero. Soon after, most of the country went into hard lockdown. For a travel business doing 95% international flights, it wasn’t good.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s take it back to how I got started, and then find out how we are doing now that vaccines are slowly being rolled out.
22. Start a knife sharpening service ($200K/month)
Marc Lickfett started Knife Aid, a knife sharpening service, almost 3 years ago:
I am Mikael Soderlind, I started Knife Aid in January 2019. Knife Aid is a mail-in knife sharpening service, modernizing an antique service by giving anyone who mails in their cutlery access to a master knife smith using the highest quality in techniques and materials to revive your knives.
As of January 2020, we are currently trading at $250,000 per month and have seen a steady increase month over month and continue to see the same in this coming year. Some of the main reasons for our success are that we are a service that pretty much every American home is in need of. Creating a business that speaks to the masses ultimately leads to great success. We have also had tremendous PR just this past year including top national publications and TV shows including Shark Tank and The View.
23. Start a food truck ($125K/month)
Food trucks are a highly profitable business that offers customers a variety of meal options. This basically operates on a large vehicle equipped with kitchen and food products.
The initial expense of setting up a food truck business is quite low when compared to that of a restaurant. The basic expenses to start a food truck business are as follows:
- Food truck : There are various truck brands available in the market based on your requirements. However, to save cost, you can also buy a second-hand commercial truck that is less than 5 years old along with the insurance. In general, a commercial truck can cost between $50,000 to $90,000.
- Kitchen equipment: It is advisable to buy new equipment as they are mostly electronic items, in order to cut down the maintenance cost.
- Licenses & Permits: The cost of license and permit and other fees vary from state to state.
- Staff: To run a food truck, a maximum of 2 chefs are required. The average salary of a food truck cook can vary from $28,000 to $75,000 for an experienced chef.
- Marketing: promotion and marketing your food truck business through social media or a website.
In order to start a food truck business in a particular city, it is mandatory to check what kind of food trucks are already operating in your city.
Jeffrey Mora started Food Fleet, a food truck, over 10 years ago:
I started my career at the world-famous Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles Apprenticing under Certified Master Chef Raimund Hofmeister.
We also provide design and build services as well as food manufacturing and consulting for a number of large scale companies.
Food Fleet’s growth Year after year has been at an at over 30 %. From 2017-2018 we had an unprecedented 160% growth spurt. With a team of 6, including my partner and I, we managed over 20 million in sales for our clients. As an example. We took over a convention center 3 years ago managing their food truck business. For their largest event of the year, we were up 53% over the previous year. I honestly would have to equate some of that success to the under-reporting of sales by the previous operator. But the following year we were up 19% from that figure and again close to that this year. That is due in large part to our understanding of transaction times, menu mix, the equipment in each truck or pop up and other factors.
24. Become an interior designer ($110K/month)
Interior design involves making indoor spaces safe, functional, and beautiful by determining space requirements and selecting essential and decorative items such as colors, lighting, and materials.
The global luxury interior design market is growing at a CAGR of 9.0%. The growth metrics show there is great potential for entrepreneurs targeting households.
If you are starting a luxury interior design business, focus on style and specialty. Add valuables with creative professions such as interior design, so you stand out from the rest. Ensure you hire the right people and hone the brand identity.
Remember, the path to a successful interior design business is often riddled with trial and error.
Annemarie diSalvo started diSalvo Interiors, a interior designer, ago:
Well, to make a long story short, my mother and I started this company together in 1996. I was working as a staff interior designer at a private firm in NYC, and my mother, Rosemarie was the manager of the Estate and Trust department at a large Law Firm. We both HATED our jobs and dreamed of doing our 'own thing'. We had no idea what that looked like, and so we turned to our passion..antiques and design.
That passion has morphed into a boutique design firm that boasts over 1M in annual revenue and has completed hundreds of trophy projects.
25. Start a blog ($5.8K/month)
Starting your own blog can be an exciting, rewarding, and challenging experience. Blogs give you a great way to connect with your readers, grow your brand and develop an audience of people interested in the topics you cover.
There are over 600 million blogs on the internet. The average person spends 37 seconds reading a blog post. 2/3 of people’s main reason for blogging is income. The average time spent on writing a post is increasing by the year and The average length of a blog post is now 1,269 words.
Natalie Kay Smith started Sustainably Chic, a blog, almost 8 years ago:
Hi! My name is Natalie, and I help people build conscious wardrobes through my blog Sustainably Chic. It’s the ultimate destination for everything in a sustainable fashion. From learning what it is to brands who produce it, you can find all of that information on my blog. Sustainably Chic is here to show you fashion can exist responsibly.
I make $6,000 per month, and Sustainably Chic receives around 60k monthly visitors.
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