What are the most profitable small businesses to start?
Executive summary
Small, high-margin services (accounting/bookkeeping, virtual assistants, consulting, digital marketing) and low-capital online retail models (dropshipping, niche e‑commerce) are repeatedly cited as among the most profitable small businesses to start in 2025 because they combine low overhead with high demand [1] [2] [3]. Tech-adjacent plays — app/software development, AI consulting and automation services — appear as higher‑upside but higher‑skill opportunities, while labor-and-local services (cleaning, landscaping, senior care) offer steady demand and scale potential [4] [5] [6].
1. Services-first: high margins, low startup costs
Multiple outlets identify professional services that sell expertise — bookkeeping, accounting, tax prep, virtual assistants, consultants and digital marketing — as consistently profitable because they need little capital beyond skills and a computer, can charge hourly or retainer rates, and scale via clients or subcontractors [7] [3] [1]. Zarla highlights accounting and tax-related services with a large market (U.S. accounting services as part of a global market projected at more than $700 billion in 2025) to explain why those lines show strong bottom lines [1].
2. E‑commerce and dropshipping: low overhead, growing market — with caveats
Dropshipping and niche e‑commerce recur across guides because entrepreneurs can sell without inventory, reducing overhead and risk; LegalZoom cites a projected 28.8% growth in the dropshipping market through 2025 as evidence of opportunity [2]. But several sources warn profitability depends on marketing skill, margins, supplier reliability and competitive niches — success is not automatic and often requires investment in customer acquisition [8] [2].
3. Software, apps and AI consulting: top upside, talent barrier
Forbes and Shopify position software, app development and AI-related services as high-income/high-profit possibilities because of large addressable markets and scalable products, but they also note these require technical skill, product-market fit, or specialized consulting capability [4] [9]. The US Chamber and other trend pieces point to prompt engineering and HR automation consulting as emerging niches where experts can charge premium rates [10].
4. Local, labor-intensive businesses: steady demand, predictable margins
Cleaning services, landscaping, real estate-related ventures, short‑term rental management and senior care are repeatedly listed as profitable small businesses due to recurring demand and local market scarcity [7] [6] [11]. BusinessNewsDaily and Taqtics emphasize aging-population trends and landscaping market growth as durable demand drivers — for example, landscaping is projected to grow notably through 2030 [6] [11].
5. Creator economy and digital branding: monetizable audiences but competitive
Several compilations urge entrepreneurs to monetize audiences (influencer partnerships, digital branding consultancies, content creators) because platforms let individuals scale reach quickly; Management.org and Wolters Kluwer list digital branding and creator-economy businesses as profitable opportunities if you can secure brand or audience monetization [5] [7]. Competition for attention and platform dependency are implicit issues in these models [5].
6. What all sources agree on: low overhead + real demand = profitability
Across sources the common formula is clear: businesses that combine low fixed costs, clear and growing customer demand, and scalability deliver the best odds of profit. Lightspeed and SBG Funding stress that macro conditions (boom vs. recession) change which sectors perform best — luxury and travel in booms, repair/resale and essential services in downturns — so timing and market selection matter [8] [3].
7. Hidden tradeoffs and unspoken agendas to watch
Many lists emphasize ease of entry (dropshipping, freelancing) which can attract readers but understate customer-acquisition costs and platform risk [2] [8]. Industry sites with commercial interests (platforms, payment or hosting services) may highlight business types that drive their product sales; sources like Shopify or LegalZoom naturally foreground software, e‑commerce and legal/franchise topics [9] [2]. Readers should weigh promotional bias when a site’s business model benefits from the recommended ideas.
8. Practical next steps the reporting suggests
Validate demand locally or in a niche online market, estimate customer-acquisition costs, test a minimum viable offering, and choose a model aligned with your skills (accounting/bookkeeping if you have finance skills; AI consulting if you have technical chops; cleaning/landscaping if you can scale teams) — all recommendations echoed across the guides [7] [8] [4]. Available sources do not mention specific startup checklists or exact first‑quarter revenue benchmarks for each idea.
Limitations: this roundup synthesizes trend and listicles from business publications; it does not include proprietary profitability data for individual firms. Sources cited: Wolters Kluwer, Entrepreneur, Lightspeed, Management.org, LegalZoom, Shopify, GoDaddy, BusinessNewsDaily, SBG Funding, Forbes, Zarla, US Chamber and Taqtics [7] [12] [8] [5] [2] [9] [13] [6] [3] [4] [1] [10] [11].