If you naturally love outdoor activities and you've always wanted a great business idea that is guaranteed to make you a lot of money, then keep reading.
In this article, you will learn about 10 of the best small business ideas to start if you love the outdoors. These are not just doable small business ideas; they are also lucrative businesses and relevant today. Meaning if you choose to start any of these businesses today, you will find a ready market.
10 Business Ideas for Outdoor Lovers
Many people hate the idea of an office job. Many others simply want to own a small business and satisfy their craving to be part of the entrepreneurship movement. Yet, others want to live a full, satisfying life without stressing about making enough money to fund that kind of life.
Outdoor businesses are the perfect way for adventurous people to work, make a living and live a full and fulfilled life. Extroverts often find it difficult to work in the monotonous environment of an indoors-only business. They are always on the lookout for opportunities to work outside of an office. What better way than to start a potentially lucrative business that affords you the luxury of doing something you are passionate about and allows you to set your schedule without being at another person's mercy.
That's what outdoor business opportunities provide – the opportunity to own a small business that suits your preferred lifestyle. Some businesses the outdoorsman might startup require significant capital or might not be consistently profitable. Cool businesses like boat brokerage, board-up service, flying school, canoe and kayak tours, and even farming are great outdoor business opportunities. But they are too expensive to start, or they take too much time to become profitable.
However, you can launch the business ideas listed below tomorrow if you have the required know-how and small funds to buy basic equipment. And yes, they are pretty lucrative if you work hard at it — just like every other business. So, without further ado, let's get into 10 of the best small business ideas for you if you love the outdoors.
1. Travel Blogging and Vlogging
Travel blogging is one of the most profitable businesses to start as a lover of the outdoors. You simply blog about your adventurous experiences as you travel around your favorite spots in the world. If you do a vlog instead, that's even cooler. Vlogging is a great business to launch because it only requires you to do what you love — travel! You must be very active on social media and build up an audience if you want to monetize your blog. The major work with monetizing your blog or vlog is in growing your audience — it could take months, sometimes years. However, once you grow your following to a good size, you will begin to attract brands who will pay you heavily to create content around their products and act as influencers. You could also go as far as creating your merchandise when you reach superstardom.
2. Delivery or Courier Service
A courier business benefits both the business owner and the potential clients. All you have to do is pick up and drop off parcels at various locations in town. It's a great way to explore the city and make good money at the same time. Starting a delivery service business might need a small capital to start — to buy the delivery vehicle primarily — but you mostly need to build a portfolio of satisfied clients fast. It is also wise to start a delivery or courier service in a business location. That way, you can be sure of a steady source of income.
3. Dog Training and Dog Walking
Considering that dogs are the preferred pet, there's a big market for dog trainers and dog walkers. Dog owners want properly behaved dogs but don't have the time or know-how to train their dogs. Likewise, many dog owners can't walk their dogs and often hire other people to do this. If you've got the skill, a dog training business might just be for you. Otherwise, a few bucks an hour earned by dog walking can quickly accumulate to thousands of dollars a month while enjoying some fresh air too! You would do well to anticipate the needs of your potential clients and be prepared to answer their questions if you must get consistent work.
4. Mobile Car Wash
Washing cars is an easy-to-start outdoor business that can also quickly guarantee an income. It doesn't require any technological know-how, only a small capital to buy relevant equipment and a marketing strategy to get the word out to potential clients. You would not need a physical office or store as your clients would invite you to their locations to carry out the work.
5. Pool Cleaning
Pool cleaning and maintenance isn't just some job for high school kids in the summer. It can be a profitable business with a well-built portfolio of clients. Homeowners, hotels, spas, resorts, gyms, and apartment buildings often require the services of pool cleaning businesses, sometimes all year long if it's a really hot region. However, you would need the right skill and equipment to get started.
6. Tour Guide
Depending on your location, a tour guide business can be a part-time or full-time one. It requires you to know a lot of historical information and understand the local culture of the location where you launch the business. But it is a great way to enjoy the outdoors while delighting visiting parties with your rich repertoire of facts and trivia. You might need some training to stand out, and it might help to be bilingual or multilingual, especially if you would be attending to lots of foreign visitors.
7. Ski/Hiking/Scuba Diving Instructor
One of the best – and possibly easiest – ways to make money doing what you love is to teach other people. So, suppose you are a skiing expert or have enough experience scuba diving or doing some adventurous outdoor activity like camping, kayaking, surfing, hiking, mountain climbing, etc., you could start an entirely new and profitable business. You only need your expert know-how and experience to start.
8. Painting
A painting business is a great way to spend time outdoors while helping people have more beautiful houses. Of course, house painting requires you to have the right skill-set and equipment, but that's not all you need to launch and build a successful painting business. You also need to be creative about getting a steady stream of clients. Visiting construction sites is a good way to pitch your services, and creating a referral bonus or commission scheme can motivate contractors or project supervisors to send clients your way. A painting business is not very capital-intensive as your clients will need to provide the bulk of the materials.
9. Transportation
A transportation business exists to move people from place to place, and the need for people and goods to move will always exist. Meaning you will almost always be in business. With good experience and some capital to invest in the transport vehicle, you can live life outdoors and run a successful small business. If you combine a transportation business with a tour guide business (conveying tourists between monuments and guiding them around the sights), you've got yourself a powerful two-in-one business!
10. Adventure Club
An adventure club is essentially a business where you provide adventurous activities to thrill-seekers, just like yourself but in a closed, members-only group. You would have to be creative with your club's services as members would constantly seek new exciting activities. Your membership plans could be in tiers or whatever packages you decide. The important thing is to have a steady stream of members signing up for your club. One easy way of attracting new members is to hold regular outdoor recreation activities that would attract campers, backpackers, and like-minded adventure seekers. An adventure club costs almost nothing to start and quickly scalable.
Manage Your Finance Efficiently With Skynova
Running an outdoor business would mean that you are always out and on the move serving your customers. You need a fast and efficient account managing system that suits your type of business's "need for speed" nature. Skynova exists to meet such needs.
Skynova software was designed specifically for small businesses, with features that can help you track expenses, issue invoices, keep records of sales taxes and prepare accounting statements.
You're welcome to explore all of our accounting solutions and see how they can help you be more efficient with your business finance.
Notice to the Reader
The content within this article is meant to be used as general guidelines and may not apply to your specific situation. Always consult with a professional business consultant or coach to ensure you arrive at a practical and profitable business idea.