Top 10 Riskiest Start Up Businesses

Evan Carmichael's Blog recently discussed the Top 10 Riskiest Businesses to start (see his link under this post title):

Trucking, Money Services, Auto Repair, Personal Services, Food Stores, Transportation, Apparel Stores, Restaurants & Bars, Communications and, Travel Agencies & Tour Operators

Evan provides convincing evidence on his reasons for consideration on why these 10 businesses make his Top 10 list. However, what they all share in common are the High Overhead Costs, Low Profit Margins and Online Competition eroding their respective market share. Let's face it, the Top 2 items of worry on a business owners mind everyday is; How to Increase the Money coming into their business and How to Decrease the amount of Money going out of their business. So why would you get into any business that is inherently suffering from these concerns.

You may or may not agree with Michael on any of the businesses on his list but, you should at least ask yourself before getting into a business; will this business have the opportunity to grow each year for the next 5 years? If the answer is yes then great. If the answer is no, because you will be fighting high overhead costs, low profit margins and growing competition (don't forget the online competition because the internet is the new economic vehicle for marketing and advertising) then you should think twice before investing your hard earned money. When you look at the higher failure rates in start ups versus franchises the answer might be because the entrepreneur didn't do their homework before starting the business.

Any business, start up or franchise, comes with an element of risk. But you can limit your risk by looking at the landscape, surveying the obstacles and planning accordingly or, decide on a different business.