Types of Business Opportunities

There are many types of small business opportunities and many ways of categorizing them. However, most small business opportunities fall into one of three major categories: retail, manufacturing or service.

The following is a list of questions which might help you discover new ideas or approaches to developing small business opportunities.

1. What product could I purchase the manufacturing rights for?
2. What product could I assemble, recondition, rebuild or re-manufacture into another product?
3. What product or service could I supply to another producer?
4. What product or service could I offer to gain a small percentage of a large market?
5. How can I add value to existing products or services?
6. What products and/or services could I combine?
7. What lifestyle or fashion trends in society provide a product or service opportunity?
8. What recreational or leisure trends provide a product or service opportunity?
9. What successful products or services could I imitate?
10. What products or services could I market and/or sell?
11. What products could I distribute and/or sell wholesale?
12. What products could I import/export?
13. What types of events could I plan, promote or publicize?
14. What expertise do I have that I could market as a consulting or information service?
15. What skills and expertise could I teach to others?
16. How could I help existing businesses access important information?
17. What existing business, franchise, or distributorship could I buy and operate?