Start your own small business with these service business ideas

Published Tuesday 23 December 2025

Table of contents

• What is a service-based small business?
• Why you should consider starting a service-based business
• How to take your small business idea into reality
• What are some of the most popular service-based businesses?
• Manage your service business with confidence
• FAQs on service business ideas

Key takeaways

• Validate your service business idea by researching your target market, analyzing demand, testing profitability, and assessing competition before investing time and money.

• Choose service businesses with low startup costs and high demand such as cleaning services, personal fitness training, bookkeeping, or home maintenance to maximize your chances of success.

• Establish your digital presence with a professional website, search optimization, and social media accounts to help customers find and connect with your services easily.

• Focus on service categories that solve everyday problems people lack time or skills to handle themselves, as these consistently maintain strong market demand and profitability.

What is a service-based small business?

A service-based small business is a company that provides skills, expertise, or labor instead of physical products. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officially defines small businesses as independent companies with fewer than 500 employees. These businesses solve problems customers can't handle themselves or don't have time to complete.

Common service businesses include accountants, plumbers, hairstylists, and personal trainers. The U.S. has approximately 33 million small businesses, which are a powerful engine for economic growth, creating 63% of net new jobs between 1993 and mid-2013.

This guide focuses on service businesses you can start quickly with minimal education requirements and low startup costs. You can skip high-barrier professions like medicine or law that require years of training.

Why you should consider starting a service-based business

Service-based businesses offer unique advantages over product-based companies:

• Lower startup costs: Most require minimal inventory or equipment
• Flexible scheduling: Work when and where you choose
• High profit margins: Sell your time and expertise directly
• Quick market entry: Start earning revenue faster than product businesses
• Scalable growth: Add clients and employees at your own pace

If successful, your business can be profitable with high margins. You can start small and grow your company with more clients and employees at your own pace.

To build a successful small business, find your market niche and define a unique selling proposition (USP) that makes your offer stand out from the competition. Some service-based businesses are relatively easy to manage and may not require much formal education or certification. Others need more advanced skills and training and can be more demanding to run.

You might be able to start some businesses from home, which can be convenient if you have young children. You can also run many of them on the side alongside your day job.

How to take your small business idea into reality

Validate your service business idea before investing time and money:

• Research your target market: Identify who needs your service and what they're willing to pay
• Analyze demand: Confirm customers actively seek solutions you can provide
• Test profitability: Calculate if you can charge enough to cover costs and generate profit
• Assess competition: Understand what similar businesses offer and how you'll differentiate

Choose your business structure based on your specific needs:

• Sole proprietorship: Simplest option for single owners
• Partnership: Best for businesses with multiple owners
• LLC: Provides liability protection and tax flexibility

Select a business name that meets these criteria:

• Describes your services clearly
• Easy to remember and pronounce
• Available as a domain name and business registration

A business plan transforms your idea into a roadmap for success, helping you understand startup costs and create a pricing strategy that accounts for key financial obligations, such as the 15.3% self-employment tax rate. Include these essential sections:

• Business overview
• Sales and marketing
• Operations
• Human resources
• Financing
• Action plan

Bringing all of these elements together gives you a roadmap for your business and helps you understand your likely startup costs and how much to charge customers.

Choose your business model based on your service type:

Learn more about different types of business models and how they work.

• Physical location: Required for hands-on services like hair styling, car repair, or fitness training
• Virtual services: Ideal for consulting, bookkeeping, design, or other digital work
• Hybrid approach: Combine in-person and online delivery for maximum flexibility

Establish your digital presence with these essential elements:

• Professional website: Clear description of services and easy contact options
• Search optimization: Help customers find you through Google searches
• Social media presence: Engage with customers on platforms they use
• Compelling messaging: Communicate your unique value clearly

What are some of the most popular service-based businesses?

Service businesses sell expertise and labor rather than physical products. They help customers complete tasks they lack time, skills, or knowledge to handle themselves.

Popular service business categories include:

• Personal services: Fitness training, life coaching, personal assistance
• Home services: Cleaning, landscaping, handyperson work
• Business services: Bookkeeping, consulting, virtual assistance
• Marketing services: Social media management, copywriting, photography
• Beauty and wellness: Hair styling, makeup artistry, massage therapy
• Technology services: Web design, app development, computer repair

Here's a look at service-based small businesses where you don't need many years of schooling or a lot of money to get started.

Personal services

Personal services help individuals improve their lives. These service business ideas include:

Personal trainer

Working out of a gym or independently, trainers develop holistic fitness programs comprised of fitness, health, and nutrition targeted to individual needs. Trainers usually need professional fitness certification at different levels.

Personal chef

Working directly for celebrities, politicians, or business leaders, personal chefs are responsible for shopping for ingredients and designing and creating meals. They may study at culinary schools or teach themselves.

Home services

Home service businesses provide different services that improve life in the home. These include:

Cleaning services

There are a variety of residential cleaning services and maid services, or commercial and franchise operations.

Car wash

This includes washing cars, cleaning inside and out, detailing, polishing and waxing, and windshield cleaning.

Landscaping and lawn care services

Landscaping services include building and maintaining garden areas, patios, and outdoor spaces. This also includes lawn installation and maintenance, including lawn mowing, mulching, pruning, trimming, and general garden services.

Handyperson services

This involves general around-the-home maintenance, including repairing leaks, broken cabinets, jammed doors, TV installation, and other simple tasks.

Meal delivery services

Meal delivery services such as UberEats or DoorDash suit people who can drive and want a flexible schedule.

Transportation services

Ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft work for car owners wanting a flexible work schedule, picking up and dropping off passengers at their destinations.

Childcare services

This involves caring for children and includes nannies, babysitting, short-term, long-term and special occasions. More formal childcare settings, such as daycare centers, usually require licensed childcare providers.

Eldercare services

This involves caring for senior citizens. There are a variety of levels of such services, including caretaking and adult daycare. More formal eldercare services require licensing.

Pet sitting

This could be caring for pets while owners go on vacation, watching pets, or running kennels on private property or at the pet sitter's property.

Pet grooming

Pet groomers bathe and groom pets (dogs and cats), brushing, combing, and clipping nails. Groomers usually need specialized training and experience to offer this service.

Dog walking

Walking people's dogs, either individually or in packs, can be a good service-based business.

Pet behavior management training

This involves animal behavior management training for difficult pets. This profession requires specialist training, expertise, and experience.

Business services

Provide support to other businesses and business owners. Here are some examples:

Virtual assistant

Virtual assistants help business owners with day-to-day office management, including scheduling meetings, making phone calls, arranging travel, doing data entry, and managing email accounts.

Bookkeeping services

Bookkeepers work with small business owners to keep their accounting current, which includes critical tax compliance tasks, such as filing Schedule SE if net earnings from self-employment exceed $400.

Tasks are likely to include invoicing, account and credit card statement reconciliation, managing accounts receivable, and accounts payable. These skills will require college training and certification and prior experience.

Consulting business

Support small businesses by consulting on a wide range of topics, including strategy, financial, IT, management, marketing, sales, human resources, and operations. Typically, this is limited to one area of specialized expertise and experience in the workforce.

Property management

Property managers handle day-to-day real estate matters in both commercial and residential properties. This may be in either a single property or larger portfolio of properties.

Event planner

This involves event planning for small private events like weddings, conferences, and larger functions. Event planners typically have specialized expertise in one area, such as weddings or corporate events.

Sales and marketing services

Support the sales and marketing activities of other businesses. They are often creative in nature and require professional training, certification, and experience. Many involve digital marketing. Some top service-based businesses include:

Graphic designer

Provide design and visual imagery for other client businesses, using digital illustration and layout software for web design. Projects may also include brand identity, logos, posters, and advertisements.

Copywriter

Create marketing materials for businesses on a variety of platforms, including website content, sales materials, flyers, brochures, digital commercials, and email campaigns.

Photography

Photographers can do different categories of images for clients. Photography businesses typically specialize in a particular niche, such as weddings or corporate photography.

Email marketing

Email marketers develop email campaigns for businesses, including newsletters, sales emails, and automated sequences.

Marketing services

Marketers can create marketing strategies and conduct campaigns for businesses either on a freelance basis or on contract.

SEO strategist

Responsible for boosting website traffic through technical and on-page search engine optimization. They work with business owners to identify strategies and techniques to heighten the SEO value of a website.

Social media management

Handle social media activities of a company, analyzing trends and engagement data, and planning their digital campaigns.

Podcast producer

Help clients create and produce podcasts, often involving research, writing, editing, and producing the audio clips.

Beauty, lifestyle, and wellness

These are growing industries that provide services for individuals and businesses to improve the quality of others' daily life. Examples include:

Yoga instructor

Yoga instructors can work in a studio, gym, or private space, teaching sessions for individuals and groups and organizing retreats. Instructors will require professional training, certification, and experience.

Makeup artist

Makeup artists can work from home or from a studio, supporting weddings and special events.

Life coach

Life coaching is in growing demand. Coaches work with clients in person or online and usually need minimal equipment.

Technology

Technology services are growing and usually require professional training and certification in areas such as online business ideas. These include:

App developer

App developers create and program apps for businesses and organizations. Some developers are self-taught, while others get college degrees or certifications.

Computer repair service

A computer repair service involves repairing and fixing computers and related electronic equipment for individuals and small businesses.

Website designer

Website designers create sites for individuals and small businesses, either on a project basis or through a monthly maintenance contract.

Manage your service business with confidence

Starting a service business is an exciting step toward building the career you want. Once you've chosen your idea and launched, the key to growth is staying on top of your finances. From tracking startup costs to managing invoices and cash flow, having the right tools makes all the difference.

Xero is designed to simplify your bookkeeping, giving you clear insights into your business performance so you can focus on serving your customers. Support your new venture and try Xero for free today.

FAQs on service business ideas

Here are answers to some common questions about starting a service business.

Which service business is most profitable?

The most successful service businesses typically have low startup costs and high demand. According to American Express data, top-performing service businesses include:

• Cleaning services
• Personal fitness training
• Wellness and coaching services
• Bookkeeping and accounting
• Computer and IT services

These businesses succeed because they solve everyday problems with minimal overhead costs.

What service is most in demand?

High-demand services fall into these categories:

• Health and fitness: Personal training, nutrition coaching, wellness services
• Home maintenance: Cleaning, landscaping, handyperson services
• Pet care: Dog walking, pet sitting, grooming services
• Transportation:Rideshare driving, delivery services
• Childcare and eldercare: Babysitting, senior assistance, tutoring

These services remain consistently popular because they address essential daily needs.

What business has a high success rate?

Service businesses offer key advantages over product-based companies:

• Low startup costs: No inventory or manufacturing equipment required
• High profit margins: Sell your time and expertise directly
• Easy scaling: Add clients and staff without physical space constraints
• Quick launch: Start earning revenue immediately with minimal setup
• Flexible operations: Work from anywhere with many service types