Starting a small business in the UK comes with plenty of opportunities across a wide variety of industries. From e-commerce stores, freelance writing, boutique fitness studios and mobile app development – whatever your skill set is, there is a niche where you can thrive.
Simply identify your target audience, know the legal requirements and deliver brilliant marketing strategies and your entrepreneurial vision can flourish into a successful business.
With the right idea, you can create a brand or business that makes money. Below are ten of the best small business ideas, covering various industries, for budding entrepreneurs:
- E-commerce Store: Open online store selling handmade or drop shipped products.
- Boutique Fitness Studio: Create a physical or online fitness offering that offers subscription services.
- Mobile App Development: Create new games or innovative business apps.
- Sustainable Fashion Brand: Establish a fashion brand that identifies itself with ethically sourced material.
- Personalised Gift Shop: Offer homemade or customised products.
- Pet Care Services: Provide a variety of services such as pet sitting or grooming.
- Home Renovation Services: Offer handyman or more complex home improvement or design services.
- Digital Marketing Agency: Market other businesses products and services to create an online presence with their target audience.
- Sustainable Food Truck: Offer fresh food made from locally sourced and eco friendly produce.
- Virtual Assistant Services: Offer administration services for businesses or busy professionals.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to start an online coffee brand or a qualified professional offering freelance services, there are several methods to find success and multiple opportunities to grow your own business.
Let’s look in more detail at some of the most profitable small business ideas that aspiring entrepreneurs are using in the UK:
E-commerce Store
Due to the Covid pandemic, online shopping has seen a meteoric rise in popularity. An online store can be beneficial when trying to grow your customer base due to lack of geographical restrictions. This allows you to focus more on your products and offer customised goods to enhance customer shopping experience without having to restrict your offering to a geographical location.
Boutique Fitness Studio
Opening a boutique fitness studio in today’s thriving health and well-being industry can help grow your customer base and capitalise on the growing demand for specialised training programmers or classes like Yoga and Pilates. By marketing your services correctly, you can attract fitness enthusiasts to grow your business and community presence.
Mobile App Development
Nowadays, most businesses have an online presence and provide a host of services through their app. Creating an app development business can be lucrative for IT-minded entrepreneurs. In today’s digital world, everyone is looking for a user-friendly app – be it a game or for a service – which is why there are so many available opportunities in this industry.
Sustainable Fashion Brand
The industry is becoming more concerned with the sustainability of brands and products. By creating a sustainable fashion brand, it allows you to create your designs while remaining eco-friendly. This has become a major selling point for consumers so by ethically sourcing materials and marketing brands in the correct way, your business can grab a share of the market in this competitive industry.
Personalised Gift Shop
Customised gifts are very popular for people shopping for something unique. Offering customised or partially customised products can add a personal touch to gifts and grow your market share.
By creating a memorable personalised gift and shopping experience, you can use the emotional aspect of gift giving to become the stand-out brand in your industry for customised gifts.
Pet Care Services
Pets are fondly thought of by many pet owners and offering pet care services can be profitable as well as rewarding. By offering services such as pet sitting or grooming you can service the growing demand for these services. Pet owners often spend as much on their pets as on themselves making it an important market to be in.
Home Renovation Services
Homeowners in the UK are always looking for ways to improve their properties. Offering services like maintenance, interior design solutions or property staging can be a profitable business idea that can help you tap into an already well-established market with plenty of demand.
Digital Marketing Agency
In today’s digital world, it’s important for every business to have some sort of online presence. Creating a digital marketing business to help businesses achieve this and reach their target market can be extremely profitable for both your business and theirs. These services could include content creation, SEO (Search engine optimization) and management of businesses social media accounts. Digital Marketing offers massive potential for entrepreneurs.
Sustainable Food Truck
Street food and food related markets are becoming extremely popular in the UK, so starting a street food vending business can be a fantastic opportunity to make some profit, especially if products are eco-friendly and ethically sourced. By serving dishes covering a specific cuisine or a mix of different cuisines, with added selling point of ethically sourced ingredients, it can attract customers to your business making it more profitable. Food trucks also allow flexibility in location meaning you can attend different events to grow your business
Virtual Assistant Services
Businesses and other professionals often require assistance with time consuming administrative and planning tasks. Offering virtual assistant services allows you to offer services world-wide and not be limited by geographic location. This type of business requires minimal start-up costs but can add massive value to a business currently struggling with administrative and planning activities.
As you can see, there are a variety of options available when trying to start your own business. By drawing on your existing skill set or learning something new, there will be an opportunity to turn your passion into a viable business and hopefully a rewarding entrepreneurial journey.
High Demand Ideas
There are also plenty of opportunities that arise from high demand industries in the UK.
Virtual event planning
Virtual events are becoming increasingly popular and are a great business opportunity for those with an interest in event management. Growing almost 25% in popularity since Covid pandemic, virtual events such as conferences, networking groups and educational sessions are now being held more regularly from the comfort of participants’ living rooms!
Pet sitting
Another rewarding business opportunity for those that love animals is pet-care services. Like childcare, there is now a demand for pet Care Services such as grooming, pet-sitting or dog-walking services. To find clients, you can join existing websites or create your own although it’s important to remember any legal requirements before starting.
Subscription boxes
Creating your own subscription boxes can be a great way to get recurring business without having to outlay large sums on up-front investment. It also provides the chance to work collaboratively with other entrepreneurs which may benefit both parties.
Tips For Starting A Small Business
Everyone is looking to earn that bit extra and although starting a business can be straightforward, there are many laws and regulations which need to be adhered to. Before spending large amounts of time and money on set-up, research your industry and target market carefully to give your business the best chance of success. Below are our top tips:
- Know your target market, find the right location and plan your next steps carefully
- Call on your network for help with sharing and promoting your business.
- Understanding target industry and researching opportunities is key to success
- Understand the laws and regulations relating to your business.
- Plan required actions and funding needed carefully and continue to monitor.
- Consider any available government grants when starting in business
- Conduct pricing analysis and continue to monitor to understand what works best for your business
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the risks associated with starting a small business in the UK?
Unfortunately, there are many risks associated with small businesses and especially in the start-up phase. These risks cover areas like funding, regulations, insurance and employee rights. It’s important to carefully consider each risk and take steps to mitigate them as much as possible.
By spending time understanding the risks associated with small businesses, you can make informed decisions to give your business the best chance of success while adhering to any regulations in your chosen industry.
Are there any tax considerations when running a small business in the UK?
Yes, in the UK there are tax implications with running your own business. Filing tax returns can be complex and it’s advised to seek professional advice from a qualified tax advisor. They will help with filing returns, registering for a unique Tax ID and paying the correct amount of tax on earnings.
It’s important to understand your tax liabilities, so make sure to seek advice from qualified professionals although it’s also worth attending networking groups to gather further information and advice from other like-minded professionals.
What are the legal requirements for starting a small business in the UK?
- Correctly structuring your business as per UK regulation. For example, registering as a sole trader or limited company as tax rules for each are different.
- Registering with the appropriate government bodies to understand and fulfil your tax obligations. For limited Companies, this involves registering their business with Companies House whereas for sole traders and partnerships, they will need to register as self-employed with HMRC. Taxes include Income tax, corporation tax and VAT if applicable.
- Data protection regulations to ensure utmost privacy for customers’ data and to comply with GDPR
- Depending on which type of business you operate, you may require specific certifications. Alcohol and firearms are good examples.
- It is also important to understand the health and safety regulations related to your business so you can ensure a safe environment for your staff and customers.
What are the best ways to market a small business in the UK?
Small businesses can face many challenges when attempting to promote their products or services but establishing a presence both online, and in the market, can increase your chances of success.
Attending networking events can be critical for reaching a wider audience and establishing new relationships with other business owners. This will help brand promotion as well as meeting potential trial new customers.
Building a memorable brand for your business is also crucial. There are different methods available to do this but the most common and often the most cost effective is social media. This helps you reach a wider audience that might not be possible in person. Finding the correct marketing method that works for your business will help it grow.
What resources are available to help a small business in the UK succeed?
There are several resources available in the UK to help small businesses be successful. These range from legal and financial advice to branding and marketing strategies.
Conclusion
You don’t need to be Lord Sugar to have a successful small business in the UK. There are a variety of ways to do this due to available opportunities in every industry. The emergence and reliance on online shopping and services delivery has also increased the opportunity further.
Whether it’s creating an online store or offering services on a contract basis, there’s plenty of opportunities to earn additional income although it’s important to adhere to any rules and regulations to ensure legitimacy of your business.
By selecting a winning idea and working hard to build your brand, you can make your small business into a very profitable operation.
