Top 10 Businesses

What are the top 10 businesses for someone starting out on their own? It’s a popular title for articles on line. I’ve recently seen top ten lists for franchising, stay at home moms, opportunities, and more.

Can you indulge me for just a moment? I want to play at being the contrarian. Let’s swim against the stream and be a bit rebellious. I need to have a rant for a moment.

If you visit a site that claims to tell you the top small business opportunities you should run a mile or at least be very careful. These lists are worthless and I’ll show you why.

Lets talk about the best way to find the right opportunity for you! Opportunities that match your experience, ideas that fit with your skills. Businesses that you can afford and that you’d actually like to do.

So what if we could talk about you for a moment and what you’d like to do. What if we could take inventory of your experience, your interests, your skills and your passion and come up with something that each day you’ll get out of bed and be excited to be a part of. Well, that’s what Rob and I are interested in.

So let’s look at three hilarious top 10 businesses lists I’ve seen recently.

My mouth dropped as I read that the number two franchise is McDonald’s. Now I’m not saying anything against the Golden Arches. However, there’s one little catch here. You’ll need somewhere between $1-2 million dollars to play. That’s great if you have millions of dollars, but most of the people we meet, don’t have that type of money.

Next up is a top 10 small businesses list that claims that shoe washing is the best idea for stay at home moms. The idea is that you wash people’s training shoes for them with chemicals that make them fresh. Here’s a basic question for yourself. How much would you pay to have your sneakers cleaned? $5, no? Ok, $10, how about $25, I doubt it. They claim that you’ll be earning handsome money! This is their number one idea!

And finally, another Top 10 list gave its best idea as “The internet”. Their advice is to “Just stick up a web site and watch the cash roll in.” Of course, it’s that easy! That makes me so mad.

If you are looking for a list of top 10 businesses ask yourself why. Rob and I have a strong point of view that your best idea will be based upon

Your experience

Your skills

Your passion

It’s not about top 10 businesses lists at all. It’s all about you!