The pandemic that rages on to this day undoubtedly puts a lot of people on the edge. The uncertainty brought by the crisis and its ill effects on people’s lives and health understandably make people jittery.
Business owners, for one, struggle to strike a perfect balance between continuing their operations and protecting their employees and customers against the risk of transmission. Fortunately, many business owners are brave and creative enough to find ways to market their products and services and rake in huge profits despite the volatility of the current situation.
If you’re aiming to enter the business world, here are five viable business ventures that you should explore this year:
Paving installation
The home improvement industry was among the pandemic’s top performers in terms of client demand and income. Data show that there were $61.8 billion U.S. hardware store sales back in 2020 due to the frantic phase of activity in home renovations and remodeling across the country. As such, any business that is related to home improvement is a viable business option.
For example, you should offer professional paving services for residential property owners who are embarking on their pandemic home improvements. Paving contractors typically need just a few skilled workers, partner paver suppliers, and basic installation tools. This means that it’s a business that you can start from the ground up without a large capital.
Dropshipping
If you’re savvy about online selling and you have decent know-how on connecting with suppliers of consumer products, then a dropshipping business is perfect for you.
This is a business model where someone sets up an online store on a dropshipping app, post products that are readily available from different suppliers, take orders from buyers, and then coordinate with the suppliers to ship the orders. In short, it’s like running an online store without the hassle of maintaining a physical inventory of products and taking care of packaging and shipping.
Dropshipping is the perfect business model for entrepreneurs who have limited budgets and resources since they simply act as middlemen in the entire process.
Cleaning services
Whether it’s for residential properties or for businesses, cleaning services are certainly sought-after, particularly during the pandemic.
Business establishments, for example, need to be continuously cleaned and sanitized to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. They are places that people from all walks of life frequent, which makes the possibility of transmission greater than in homes.
However, just because people living inside homes are no strangers to each other, it doesn’t mean that they are already safe from communicable diseases. Given that family members do go out or products from outside are being brought into the home, there’s that need to ensure that the home is periodically cleaned up and disinfected just like commercial establishments.
Virtual assistant
Not all successful professionals or business owners are skilled at organizing their daily schedules or have the spare time to personally manage their daily tasks. Whether it’s as simple as confirming an appointment or something challenging as scheduling multiple meetings in a single day, it’s important to have a level of organization to keep things buttery smooth. This where a skilled virtual assistant (VA) comes into play.
In light of the current pandemic, VAs have become all the more desired and needed by a lot of physicians, business owners, and other professionals who need a dedicated person to handle secretarial or administrative duties on their behalf. These tasks include checking and replying to email messages, setting up meetings and appointments, and taking down notes, and reminding clients about important matters.
You can do this as a solo gig or you can hire a few people to take in more clients. This is something that you can easily set up with minimal funding, so it should be a pretty attractive business idea to consider.
Online teaching
The shift from classroom teaching to distance learning means that students are now at a slight deficit in terms of the level of attention that they normally get from teachers. This is why online teaching has been a steady source of income for a lot of remote workers, particularly those with a teaching background or just good at some subjects.
This is another pandemic-era business that you can quickly start either as a solo career or with a few tutors working for you. Just make sure that you’re hiring competent people and you have the needed gadgets and internet connection for smooth online lessons.