The best and worst small businesses for the future
The best and worst small businesses of the future would be easier to predict if we had a crystal ball with future-seeing abilities. That's because businesses succeed and fail on the whims of economic systems, public policy and the skills of their leaders. Thankfully, there are indicators in society and in the marketplace that hint at which businesses could be rising stars, and which ones could be doomed.
Best businesses
Anything to do with energy — whether it be production, capture or distribution — will be in demand. One idea is car charging stations in places where cars are parked away from their home garages. Airport parking lots, office parking lots and even mall parking lots are prime locations.
Another potential best small business is one that audits greenhouse gas emissions and is a forerunner of small businesses that specialize in carbon-based activities. If public policy develops sufficiently to include more environmental concern, then being able to quantify carbon benchmarks will be an important part of integrating policy with actual environmental conditions.
Privacy protection will continue to be a growing area for innovation and development of small businesses. Social networking is expanding the universal access to information — even the most private. Government security and surveillance powers are also expanding. Since nothing is perfect or foolproof there will continue to be security breaches on even the best-guarded information. Companies that figure out how to gather information on particular subjects, assess risks and then lock down the riskier portions, will find clients ready to pay for that level of security.
Robots are becoming mainstream and are no longer just the things that make for good science fiction movies. Not only are people who design and fabricate robots going to be kept busy in the future, but those who maintain them will be as well.
Worst businesses
As computer-related technology advances to make the Internet the delivery vehicle for entertainment, those who still cling to the physical disks and tapes that have carried video and audio to its present point of evolution will be holding items of little use. So opening a video, gaming or DVD retail store is probably a bad idea. Unless, of course, it is in a community where there is no Internet service.
With the arrival and continued refinement of digital cameras, film is slowly fading away. Opening a photo finishing service, unless it is for reworking and cleaning up digital photos, will probably come up negative.
Small appliances have become so cheap that they are not worth repairing, which potentially makes small appliance repair one of the worst small businesses for the future. There was a time when almost every town had an appliance repair shop, but today those largely don't exist because the cost to repair would exceed the cost to buy new. Of course this could change if economic conditions cause the price of the items to increase, create a shortage of those items or decrease the cost of repair.
As the costs of high-quality printers have declined, the need for having many items copied at a copy shop have also declined. Most offices today have printers that will print everyday documents. So a photocopy shop would have to be extremely well-located near people who wouldn't usually have access to a printer or copier. Otherwise, it's likely that the business won't be able to turn out a profit.
As far as the best and the worst small businesses, a final word of caution is in order. There are always businesses that succeed beyond all odds and nobody knows for sure what economic winds will blow next.
