About 20 years ago, my uncle started a humble lawn care business in Ohio. He was in between a rock and a hard place when he started it.  He was recently married and had just lost his job. You might want to say that this was not the best way to impress his new wife.  He was a bit unsure of what exactly to do. He could apply elsewhere with hopes of gaining employment the old fashioned way, or he could try the unthinkable and start a new business of his own. It was unthinkable because nobody in our family had done that sort of thing before, and he just graduated from a high school that spent four years of his life teaching him to work for someone else. Today, there is an abundance of training on how to be a successful entrepreneur and small business owner. In fact, there are a handful of monthly magazines on the subject available too. But 20 years ago, you really were a lone ranger  if you were starting your own small business. Just recently he sold his 20 year old lawn care business to a major competitor. By doing this, he was able to have a home custom built in Florida. The best part of all this is that he paid cash for it all, and he doesn’t have a mortgage now. All of this was made possible with a lawn mower and some desire.

Now, I share this story to make this very important point. Your small business need not be a glamorous business to be profitable. It just needs to be ethical and meet a consumer need. Personally, I never knew that there was that much money in the lawn business, and I certainly don’t view it as glamorous. But, there sure are a lot of lawns in the world that need some TLC and a lot of owners that do not feel like dealing with them.

So as you consider various business opportunities, just remember that the business need not be glamorous to be both successful and profitable.