Giving away "boring but stable" offline business ideas!

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Inspired by this thread started by @MTF : What Is the Online Equivalent of a "Boring But Stable" Offline Business?

In the thread, online businesses are being explored and compared to "boring but stable" offline businesses. The thought is a good one, but perhaps we could go back even further to the root...

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As far as "boring but stable" offline businesses go, I can think of nothing better than self storage.

The average new business fails in the first 5 years at a very high rate. However, self storage has one of the lowest rates of failure of all businesses, at 1-10%.

Of course, this is a real estate investment that requires money to buy or build, not a product or service started from scratch.

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We also have this thread: GOLD! - 100 Unsexy Business Ideas: Name as many as you can!

So what would you consider "boring but stable" or even just "stable" (but not boring)?

- Blue collar trades
- Manufacturing
- Transport, trucking, hauling, shipping, freight
- Professional trades (white collar work - law office, doctor's office, dentist, real estate brokerage, CPA/accounting business)
- Products, especially with a strong need, rather than want.

Of course, making any these into a CENTS business is the real challenge - and it's all about innovation and execution!

What would you add?

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

For products that fulfill needs, I would break this down into different categories. Maybe some of you have work experience here. Consider:
- Rubber-related
- Textile-related (clothes, clothing, sewing)
- Lumber/wood products
- Metals - from ore to plate, pipe, finished products - a mill is massive, but a distributorship doesn't have to be
- Chemicals
- Food, whether agricultural, raw, finished, etc
- Electronics, especially items that are used to connect things, make things work, aren't final branded items
- Power/electricity - transformers, circuits, meters, cables, wires

You can up the ante with a higher entry level - or a more "niched down" product.

 

[MTF]

All kinds of services for the elderly? Definitely unsexy but super stable with a growing elderly population that is often much richer than younger people these days.

Stuff like:

• Retirement communities. A quite big real estate investment but I imagine it can generate very stable ROI. Just need to invest in the right place attracting retirees, like Florida in the US or Spain/Portugal in Europe.
• Medical services. Definitely much harder to figure out as you'd need to hire a lot of qualified people.
• Preventative medicine, including physiotherapy, fitness coaching, life coaching, etc. This could also include trendy "alternative" medicine that's cheaper to offer including yoga, acupuncture, meditation, etc.
• Online assistance and/or concierge in general. "We'll figure confusing stuff for you." Could even include stuff like crypto investing, understanding new technologies, etc.
• "Legacy" services. We'll help you write your autobiography, we'll help you create your own unique piece of art, we'll help you make sure that the government won't steal your assets when you're gone, etc.

Damn, I kind of think it would be a really cool industry to focus on despite being quite unsexy and boring.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

All kinds of services for the elderly? Definitely unsexy but super stable with a growing elderly population that is often much richer than younger people these days.

Stuff like:

• Retirement communities. A quite big real estate investment but I imagine it can generate very stable ROI. Just need to invest in the right place attracting retirees, like Florida in the US or Spain/Portugal in Europe.
• Medical services. Definitely much harder to figure out as you'd need to hire a lot of qualified people.
• Preventative medicine, including physiotherapy, fitness coaching, life coaching, etc. This could also include trendy "alternative" medicine that's cheaper to offer including yoga, acupuncture, meditation, etc.
• Online assistance and/or concierge in general. "We'll figure confusing stuff for you." Could even include stuff like crypto investing, understanding new technologies, etc.
• "Legacy" services. We'll help you write your autobiography, we'll help you create your own unique piece of art, we'll help you make sure that the government won't steal your assets when you're gone, etc.

Damn, I kind of think it would be a really cool industry to focus on despite being quite unsexy and boring.

This is perfect. I like it too because there is a strong motivation and higher purpose behind it.

Your business would be helping people with a very strong need. Love all of these.

This is sad, but all of the "end of life" services, too. Funerals, wills, gravestones, burial plots, etc.

 

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[Rossoneri]

Residential/Commercial Trash Removal. It has a high enough barrier of entry to prevent competitors from popping up, and is a stable source of recurring revenue. I'm assuming it's recession proof as well

I've been looking to take advantage of this opportunity in my area, since all of the major trash removal companies have 1-3 star reviews, and the few good companies are family owned smaller operations. Sadly I'm severely undercapitalized and lack experience to execute for now at least.