Looking to launch a business this year? Welcome to our list of the best small business opportunities for 2020, chosen from across a variety of industries. To make the list, these businesses must: 

• Have the potential to be profitable now and for many years in the future 
• Be resilient in uncertain economic times
• Not require a Ph.D. or decades of experience. Some require trade school training, a university degree, or an apprenticeship, while others need only some prior experience and a passion for the industry
• Not demand large amounts of startup capital, but only what every startup business requires: dedication, hard work, perseverance, and a desire to succeed

None of these is a get-rich-quick scheme. If your goal in life is to become very wealthy, chances are you won’t get there as a small business owner. But you’ll have a chance to generate a healthy income, be your own boss, and make all the decisions. You could potentially have a more flexible lifestyle. Building something from the ground up can make starting a business very rewarding in itself. 

Here are our picks for the best small business ideas based on current trends in business and demographics, in no particular order. 

Fulfillment by Amazon Sales 

The Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program allows sellers of products to market their wares through Amazon, the largest online retail platform in the world.

Amazon takes most of the headaches out of running an online retail business. In exchange for fulfillment and monthly storage fees, it handles storage, packing, shipping, returns, and customer service queries.

Sellers are responsible for shipping their products to an Amazon fulfillment center and for creating their product listings on their Amazon store. Once listings are live and sales are made, the seller begins receiving their portion of the proceeds on a weekly basis.

FBA sellers source products for their Amazon stores in a variety of ways, such as:

• From original product ideas that the seller gets manufactured to specifications
• From local or national wholesalers
• From overseas bulk discount suppliers such as Alibaba
• By arbitrage—purchasing discounted items online or from retail stores and reselling them for a profit

If you wish to start a product sales business, the Amazon FBA program is an ideal way to get into the online retail marketplace.

Skilled Trades 

It’s unfortunate that nowadays many neglects considering skilled trades as a career choice, in part due to the erroneous belief that trades are poorly paid. In fact, skilled tradespeople are generally well paid and enjoy satisfying careers.

In manufacturing alone, it’s estimated that almost 53% of job openings left by boomers will go unfulfilled by 2028. These shortages will reach across many trades, and create a huge demand for talented workers in trades, such as:

• Welding
• Carpentry and general construction
• Plumbing, pipefitting, and steamfitting
• Electrical and electronic control systems
• Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC)
• Machinists and metalworkers
• Masonry
• Steelworking

The nature of skilled trades makes them ideally suited for self-employment:

• Many have fairly high salaries and strong demand for experienced tradespeople in most locations.
• Most trades can be operated as home-based businesses as the work is performed at the customer job site.
• Compared to many businesses, startup capital costs are relatively low for most skilled trades, and most cannot be automated to any degree, ensuring future job security.
• Demand exists everywhere. Many experienced tradespeople take advantage of opportunities in remote or overseas locations to command much higher levels of compensation.

Why not take advantage of the demand and consider one of the skilled trades as your next business opportunity? 

Software Engineering and Development 

Software engineers and developers create, test, and maintain software on a variety of platforms, from mainframes to mobile devices. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for software developers is expected to increase by 21% through 2028, and the median pay in 2018 was $105,590 per year.

The nature of the software development industry makes it ideal for contract employment. Many software engineers start out as salaried employees and eventually become self-employed contractors. Cloud computing and ease of remote access make software development an ideal home-based business.

Other high-demand, well-paid opportunities in the information technology sector include:

• Systems analysts
• Hardware and software technicians
• Network engineers
• Security specialists 

Meal Kit Sales and Delivery 

Meal kit services are becoming increasingly popular with busy people who don’t have the time to shop and prepare healthy meals and wish to lower their environmental footprint by reducing food waste. The meal-kit industry in the U.S. is expected to reach $11.6 billion in sales by 2022.

Customers select recipes online, and meal kits with pre-chopped and measured ingredients, along with instructions for cooking and final preparation, are delivered to their homes on the chosen date. Listed information such as calorie counts allows consumers to adhere to dietary requirements.

Meal kit suppliers often avoid large wholesalers and source ingredients from local farms, creating business opportunities for small to midsize growers, ranchers, and seafood suppliers. Opportunities may also be available for delivery-service providers to collect ingredients from producers and deliver the end product to customers’ homes.

Virtual and Augmented Reality 

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) represent a huge leap forward in immersing the user in real sensory experience. Hardware and software vendors are working furiously to bring new VR products to the marketplace, and the industry is growing rapidly—the global market is expected to expand by 34.5% from 2019 to 2025.

The potential uses of virtual reality for business or pleasure are practically limitless. For example:

• 3D movies: Movies are already being developed in 360-degree VR.
• Real estate marketing: Imagine searching for a new home and being able to take an online VR walkthrough of an advertised house from the comfort of your desk chair.
• Gaming: VR is revolutionizing the gaming industry, with new VR titles being released on an almost weekly basis.
• Team-building exercises: Shakeup team building events with a group VR experience.
• Social media VR interaction: Friends will be able to interact in a virtual online space.
• Training: VR can inject a much higher degree of realism into training scenarios. Businesses such as UPS are launching new delivery driver training programs using VR.
• Meditation: VR is ideal for customized meditation 

VR “escape rooms” and lounges (where groups of people get together to play VR games or go on VR adventures or solve group puzzles) are experiencing phenomenal growth. If you are tech-savvy and interested in technology, virtual reality could be a business opportunity for you.

Self-Storage Units 

The self-storage industry continues to be a booming business across North America, fueled by a more transient workforce, downsizing homeowners, the general trend for people to accumulate more and more possessions, and reality shows such as “Storage Wars.” In some locales such as New York, demand has exceeded supply by as high as 300%.

Ironically, the trend for businesses to reduce or eliminate storefront space has also contributed to the demand for storage space. Plumbers and electricians, for example, can store tools and equipment in self-storage at a much lower cost.

Modern self-storage requires a climate-controlled environment, lighting, and security. Initial capital costs for land and building construction are high but can be easily financed from rental income, assuming there is a steady demand for storage space in your area.

Trachte Building Systems has free web-based calculators for determining the profitability of self-storage based on demand, estimated capital expenses, operating expenses, and rental income.

Home Renovations 

Remodeling contractors are hard to find, and the good ones are always busy. Home renovation is one business that always seems to do well, even in uncertain economic times. If construction is in your blood and you think you would enjoy making clients’ home renovation dreams come true, why not turn it into a business?

According to HomeAdvisor’s 2018 State of Home Spending Report, homeowners spend an average of $7,560 per year on home improvements. That’s a lot of business for carpenters, painters, electricians, plumbers, drywallers, roofers, tilers, and other tradespeople.

The home renovations business is ideally suited to self-employed individuals for a number of reasons:

• Most renovations are performed on a contract basis.
• Startup capital investment for tools and machinery is typically much less than required for new construction.
• Business premises are not required as the work is performed at the customer location.

Remodeling contractors provide services as individuals, general, or subcontractors. They can also specialize in a particular area, such as bathroom or kitchen renovations, or niches such as restoring historic structures, improving energy efficiency, or solar installations.

To be a successful renovation contractor, you should have:

• Extensive experience in building construction, with hands-on expertise in at least one of the trades and knowledge of the others
• Good contacts within the industry, so if needed you can call in sub-contractors to get specialty work performed in a timely fashion
• Up-to-date knowledge of the local building codes and safety regulations
• Licensing and certification (if required in your jurisdiction)
• Good organizational skills

Gain the Necessary Education, Skills, and Training 

There are no shortcuts to starting your own business. You’ll have to acquire any necessary academic credentials and the skills and training to take advantage of some of these opportunities. Working as an employee or apprentice in your chosen field for a while can give you the training and business skills and experience necessary to start your own business. It can also help you make a name for yourself and develop a list of clients and customers ready to patronize your new business.

Develop a Solid Business Plan 

There are many reasons why having a solid business plan is a good idea. The work involved in writing your business plan, which includes examining your market, will tell you whether your business idea is feasible in your locale. A business plan is also essential if you need startup capital such as debt financing from a bank or equity financing from investors. 

A great idea is just the first step in launching your business in 2020, but it’s an important one. Without a winning concept, all the planning in the world won’t make your business successful.