The question of how to start a business often comes after the question of what business you should start. It’s a common topic across all social media channels, and in the business communities we are part of here in the UK,
So, to kickstart the new year, Business Services Director Dan Heelan gives his thoughts on the ‘best’ businesses to start in 2025.
The Criteria for ‘Best’
When talking about the ‘best’, I think it’s key to lay out my guidelines on how these three businesses made the list.
My criteria was:
- How easy they are to start
- How quickly you could gain customers
- The ability to start as a ‘side hustle’ and grow into a full-time deal
- The ability to be easily profitable
- The success rate we’ve seen of these businesses
- The potential to scale
I’ve looked back on the thousands of businesses we’ve worked with over the years to give a personal list based on the above criteria.
It’s worth saying, like any business, you could run this well and you can run it poorly. So the results will definitely vary, based on the entrepreneur involved! It also goes without saying (but I will point it out regardless!) that all of these will require you to have some level of skill in these areas.
Side hustle or business?
These aren’t ‘the best 3 side hustles to start from scratch tomorrow’, or just because you want a ‘business’. These are three distinct businesses that seem to work well long term, if you are passionate and knowledgeable on the subject.
(For balance, I gave some thought to what businesses are much tougher to start – see our blog “3 Business NOT to start in 2025”. Coming soon)
Are these businesses fun?
Note that I make no assumptions about enjoyment! That is very much in the eye of the beholder…
1. Freelancer Marketer
Advantages:
-
- No formal qualifications / regulation required
- Lots of traditional strategy marketers available, meaning you can easily differentiate (especially if you can prove you’ve grown social channels)
- Very low cost to set up
- Flexible working times
- Wide scope of work
Downsides:
-
- Lots of competition! It can be difficult to differentiate in your own marketing.
- Constantly changing landscape – what worked tomorrow may not work today
- Pricing can be hard if you want to work with start or scale-ups, and you may struggle to connect with businesses that can afford you.
- Some clients may want to pay related to achieved results
Accountants’ Verdict
We see consistently that there is a high demand for marketers who can make a difference to a small business.
It seems many small businesses are paying to just have stock images reposted on social channels, with no clear results to show for it. There appears to be a real space for creative marketers who can help grow these channels with innovative, stand-out content.
We see the opportunity to provide all types of marketing services including:
-
- ‘What to post’ strategies
- Social media scheduling
- Custom, branded graphics
- Copywriting
- Paid socials
It’s not just social media either. Businesses can benefit from well-produced, targeted offline marketing including good old-fashioned print!
With the cost of starting up a marketing business being so low (basically, laptop and software), there is an opportunity to grow a marketing side hustle into a full-time business.
From a scalability point of view, there are many other freelance specialist marketers and creatives to collaborate with, such as graphic designers and video content creators. These professionals have the potential to support more businesses when needed, as you expand and extend your client portfolio.
2. Consultancy or Coaching
Advantages:
-
- Can apply this model to many sectors (nutrition, mental health, productivity, career, mindset, fitness, etc)
- No real regulation, and minimal qualifications (depending on the sector)
- Can scale well using online platforms
- Rewarding impact
- Utilise skills you already have
Disadvantages:
-
- Scalability challenges if you don’t want to go online
- Pricing for a 1 to 1, in-person coaching business
- Establishing brand and gaining clients can be more challenging
Accountants’ Verdict
As accountants, we’ve seen a lot of long-term success with coaching and consultancy, particularly if you already have skills and contacts in this area.
The most success we see is from people shifting from employed work in a niche area to coaching and consultancy, such as engineering or a technical field. We’ve also seen great success from fitness coaches, career coaches, and the like.
We’ve also seen a relative explosive of growth from some coaches with the wider adoption of online services using Zoom, Teams, etc, for one-to-one sessions and group webinars too.
With industries such as the personal health sector being so massive, and a population with a thirst for tips, tricks, hacks and ‘what to do’, it’s never been a better time to get into this area.
As we said at the beginning, with any small business, there is no guarantee of success. The most common failures we see are where someone have the desire to be a coach, but no passion or experience at the time of going solo.
3. Virtual Assistant / Administrator
Advantages:
-
- Time-poor working population need help (especially business owners!)
- Can scale well using online platforms
- Utilise skills you already have
- Flexible working hours (depending on sector and services)
- Cost effective for your client vs the cost of employment
Disadvantages:
-
- Scalability challenges if you don’t want to collaborate with other freelancers
- Potential for the ‘always on’ feeling
- Finding the right type of clients
- Juggling multiple clients
Accountants’ Verdict
In a world where we are all so time-poor, particularly in the small business owner space, there has been an ever-increasing demand for cost-effective admin help.
We see opportunities for a wide range of services such as:
-
- Basic administration help
- Customer service and phone answering
- Document and powerpoint creation
- Basic data entry
For many parents of young children, this style of business has allowed the flexibility to utilise their skill sets and earn money around the growing family.
With the cost of employing someone in 2025 being so high, even for someone ‘unskilled’, looking to freelance support has never been more appealing. The biggest challenge we see is finding the right type of clients, with the right type of tasks or budget that you would like to work with on an ongoing basis.
BONUS IDEA
-
- Tradesman
Advantages:
-
- Always in demand, and the ability to pivot the type of work done to match demand
- Able to work in local area (although scalable via connecting and working with other trades has geographical limitations)
- Do the work you want, when you want.
Disadvantages:
-
- Skill is a key factor – you may need to gain significant experience or skills to carry out the most profitable work
- You may need re-certification when offering certain services
- Tracking your projects for profit. To ensure you make money on the larger projects, it is essential to have good systems to track them.
- Potentially higher investment costs in equipment if you aren’t already an avid DIYer!
Accountants Verdict
For me, this is an underserved market with real potential for both growth and profitability so I wanted to include this in the list.
With the governments continuing aim to build more houses, there is always demand. When I speak with our clients connected to the property development market (property developers, Quantity Surveyors, architects etc) they all say the same thing – we simply do not have enough trades people to build the houses we need.
Being a tradesperson is one of the more longer-term businesses as there is a need for a decent skillset, but certainly an area of business we see constant success in. There is also a growing trend for “handyman” services for domestic odd jobs that particularly suit those approaching or already in semi-retirement.
Handy help from Heelan and Associates
Whilst we can’t come round and fix your taps, we can advise you on how to set up your business. If it’s already up and running, we can help you sort your tax and finances, and do your bookkeeping!
Our paid for 1 hour, 1-2-1 consultation is ideal if you have some straightforward questions. You don’t have to become a client for some queries, so it’s an easy and hassle-free way to get the help you need, when you need it.