Starting your own small business is one of the most dynamic career moves you can make, putting you at the forefront of seemingly endless ideas and possibilities spurred on by making your first sales or opening up your own premises.
While starting a small business is an exciting time, it can be hard to balance creativity with business profitability, and the tough economic climate reflected in the autumn budget undoubtedly raises the bar for small business owners already struggling to stay open and maintain growth.
How Can I Ensure my Business is Profitable?
Now there isn't an exact science to creating a profitable business, but there are some industries which are proving to be highly resilient in the current economy. Let’s look at some of these models to find out how they are making profits and expanding their operations!
Before We Dive in: Profit Proofing Your Business
“Profit is the financial benefit to a business that occurs when the revenue generated from the activity exceeds the costs involved in the operations of the business”
Sounds straightforward enough, but ensuring that you have a profitable business consists of more than just sales. Here are the 3 of the easiest and most effective ways to maintain your business bottom line:
Keep on top of business costs - By keeping an accurate and up-to-date record of money going in and out of the business, you will have a clear idea of whether the company is spending more than it is making. Keeping a thorough record can also make you aware of overheads (typically fixed costs like rent) that can be negotiated and lowered to reduce overall spending.
Price goods and services strategically - It is essential to price goods and services competitively within the market, and new small businesses can often underestimate admin costs such as time materials and additional overheads when choosing a price point, resulting in under-pricing against competitors. While this may increase the initial volume of sales, companies will in fact be working harder for less of a return on investment, making this an unsustainable strategy for a profitable business in the mid to long term.
Build relationships - Building strong relationships with both your customers and suppliers will put you as the business owner in a good position to ensure long term profitability. Establishing strong relationships with repeat customers can help you to upsell based on trust or even offer discounts to increase customer loyalty on recurring payments, while maintaining a suitable profit margin. Similarly, positive relationships with suppliers can help you to negotiate discounts, or spread payments out over time for items purchased on credit.
Trending Ideas – Which UK Businesses are Profitable Right Now?
Although almost any business can be profitable through strategic planning and ingenuity, sometimes the smartest approach is in choosing the path of least resistance. In today’s tough economy, this means fulfilling an existing need rather than trying to create one with a focus on digital solutions offering speed, convenience, and ease of use. This is more than likely why digital business models offering food, transport and essential FMCG products are enjoying widespread success with consumers across the board.
Several underrepresented niches are also proving to be consistently profitable in the current market, with no signs of slowing down. Here are some unique opportunities that we’ve noticed hiding in plain sight:
Personal Trainers / Fitness Coaching
Worth close to £6 billion at the end of 2024, the fitness industry in the UK has experienced a huge boom, and is continuing to grow. Many individuals are passionate about fitness and there are several different ways to break into this industry, from offering digital fitness tracking solutions, to hosting bootcamp classes in your local park.
Becoming a personal trainer is a profitable niche small business within health & fitness, either delivering 1-2-1 in person training or remote sessions with clients. It’s easy to advertise at your local gym, and from there many fitness trainers expand into online spaces, where they can package their most popular nutrition plans and best workout sessions into digital products catering to a wider audience. Not to mention using social media platforms like Instagram to build a personal brand that people come to trust over time.
Cleaning Services
Cleaning may not sound like a particularly visionary or glamorous profitable business opportunity, but it is thriving in the UK, and founders can quickly expand their services through word of mouth and positive reviews. As busy people continue to require domestic cleaning services, you can quickly expand your client base and build your company, requiring little up front capital to get started.
Another approach, could be to launch a specialised service, such as carpet cleaning. This would require some upfront investment for specialised equipment, however as an in-demand service it would quickly pay for itself. It could also create opportunities for working with general cleaning companies that haven’t invested in specific equipment, saving you time and money on advertising through forming professional partnerships.
While cleaning might not sound that inspiring, it’s an incredibly resilient small business model providing essential services that people need regardless of the current economic climate. The cleaning industry has also been globally valued at £486 billion by 2030, so it presents a huge opportunity for new companies to tap into the market.
Pet Care
We adore our pets in the UK, there’s no doubt about it! They are embedded in popular culture from TV shows to social media, with no expense spared when it comes to keeping them happy and healthy; and for hands on entrepreneurs, this presents a big opportunity. Over 50% of UK households owned a dog or a cat in 2024 according to research from Statista, so there is a huge market for pet care services such as dog walking, training, grooming, dog sitting, and even running pet hotels!
While it might even seem whimsical, a team of pet lovers could easily expand and scale a simple dog walking business, as busy people more often choose convenience and speed over trying to squeeze in walks themselves during the week. This isn’t just a problem for those needing to commute to work either; anecdotally, the work from home force also appreciates the time saved by using their local dog walkers!
Conclusion:
There we have it. Our best picks for the most lucrative and resilient small business opportunities in the UK right now.
Of course there’s no perfect formula, but the minimal costs of starting one of the above businesses compared with the potential returns makes this worth considering if you are hoping to start a company of your own.
For more information on running a business, visit our Knowledge Base where you’ll find a whole library of articles on how you can build and incorporate a successful venture with Easy Digital Company.
