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Small Business Ideas: The MFM Guide to Opportunities Hiding in Plain Sight

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Small Business Ideas: The MFM Guide to Opportunities Hiding in Plain Sight

A woman named Heather Torres sells pumpkins. Not year-round. Not at scale. Just pumpkins, arranged tastefully on porches in affluent neighborhoods for six to eight weeks each fall. Her company, Porch Pumpkins, generates 2 million in annual revenue with 40 to 50 percent net margins. She works two months and earns what many tech workers chase for a decade.

The pattern appears again and again on My First Million. The hosts and their guests keep stumbling onto businesses that seem too simple to work—kids’ dance studios, gutter cleaning services, seasonal flower operations. Yet the numbers tell a different story. These small business ideas are not stepping stones to something bigger. For many operators, they are the destination.

What separates the ideas that print money from those that consume years of effort is rarely complexity. It is usually the opposite.

What Makes a Small Business Idea Work

The term “small business” carries baggage. It conjures images of struggle, of barely breaking even, of working harder for less than an employee would earn. But the businesses discussed on My First Million share characteristics that distinguish them from the median case.

The best small business ideas share three traits: they serve a need that customers cannot ignore, they resist technological disruption, and they operate in markets where the smartest competitors refuse to play.

Sam Parr and Shaan Puri have spent hundreds of hours cataloguing these opportunities. The common thread is not industry or startup cost. It is the gap between perceived sophistication and actual profitability. Dance studios sound small. They often generate $1.25 million in revenue with 50 to 60 percent EBITDA margins. The perception creates the opportunity.

Local Service Businesses: The Hidden Profit Centers

The most overlooked category is local services. These businesses cannot be disrupted by software. They cannot be offshored. They require physical presence, which functions as a moat.

Kids’ Dance Studios

Sam Parr broke down the economics in an episode on local businesses. A studio with 300 students charging 900,000 in tuition alone. Add recital fees, costume sales, and summer camps, and revenue easily exceeds $1.25 million annually.

The margins are striking. Dance studios typically run between 50 and 60 percent EBITDA. The primary costs are rent and instructor wages—both predictable, both manageable. There is no inventory risk, no complex supply chain, no venture-backed competitor willing to lose money for market share.

The business also benefits from what economists call switching costs. Parents do not casually move their children between studios. Friendships form. Recitals are planned months in advance. The result is recurring revenue with remarkably low churn.

Goldfish Swim School

The franchise model takes the local service concept and adds systems. Goldfish Swim School operates 300 locations generating approximately 2 million per unit*. That figure is roughly double what a typical swim school earns.

The premium comes from standardization. The franchise has optimized everything from pool temperature to instructor training to the parent waiting area experience. An independent operator would spend years learning what Goldfish teaches in weeks.

The tradeoff is clear: higher startup costs and ongoing royalties in exchange for proven unit economics and operational playbooks. For operators who value certainty over autonomy, the math often favors the franchise.

Lap of Love: At-Home Pet Euthanasia

The most counterintuitive business in the research is also one of the most profitable. Lap of Love provides in-home euthanasia services for pets—a category most entrepreneurs would never consider entering.

The company handles approximately 10,000 customers per month at 1,000 per service. Simple multiplication suggests monthly revenue between 10 million. The business grew entirely through local SEO—ranking for searches like “pet euthanasia near me” in markets across the country.

There is a lesson here about category selection. The most uncomfortable topics often represent the largest opportunities. Competitors are scarce precisely because the work is emotionally difficult. That difficulty is the moat.

Seasonal Businesses: Concentrated Effort, Concentrated Returns

Not all businesses require year-round commitment. Some of the most profitable small business ideas compress their revenue into narrow windows.

Porch Pumpkins

Heather Torres built Porch Pumpkins by recognizing a simple truth: affluent homeowners want beautiful fall displays but lack the time or taste to create them. Her service handles everything—sourcing premium pumpkins, designing arrangements, delivering and styling porches.

Chris Koerner detailed the economics on his Side Hustle King episode. Torres processes 1,300 to 2,000 orders per season at an average order value of 1,200. The math produces 2 million in revenue during a six to eight week window. Net margins run 40 to 50 percent.

The seasonal concentration creates its own advantages. Marketing spend is compressed. Hiring is temporary. The operator has ten months to plan and prepare for the next rush.

Chrysanthemum Sales

The same logic applies to simpler products. One business featured on the podcast generated $15,000 in its first year selling mums—just chrysanthemums, purchased wholesale and resold to homeowners during fall. The founder targeted 100 percent year-over-year growth.

The startup costs were minimal. The inventory risk was limited to a single season. The learning curve was measured in weeks, not years. For someone testing their appetite for entrepreneurship, the downside was negligible and the upside was educational.

Home Services: The Backyard Funhouse

Affluent homeowners spend extraordinary sums on their properties. The trend toward outdoor living has created opportunities that barely existed a decade ago.

Sport Courts

Chris Koerner introduced the concept he calls the Backyard Funhouse. Homeowners want basketball courts, pickleball surfaces, putting greens. Contractors quote 60,000 for installations that cost $30,000 in materials and labor.

The margin exists because expertise commands a premium. Homeowners do not know how to evaluate contractors. They do not want to manage subcontractors. They will pay significantly more for someone who handles everything.

The same dynamic applies to adjacent services: in-ground trampolines at roughly $10,000 per installation, artificial putting greens, outdoor kitchens. Each represents a five-figure transaction with margins that would be unacceptable in most industries.

Power Washing and Exterior Cleaning

Lincoln Snyder started Sunshine Exteriors while still in high school. His sweaty startup generated $60,000 in revenue at margins exceeding 50 percent. His primary marketing channel was Nextdoor—a platform that most sophisticated marketers ignore.

The business required minimal capital. A pressure washer, a vehicle, and a willingness to knock on doors. The limiting factor was not money but initiative. Snyder understood something that escapes many aspiring entrepreneurs: the best business is often the one you can start this weekend.

Gutter Cleaning

Shaan Puri devoted airtime to SuckMyGuttersClean.com—a business that generates 2 million annually from 6,000 jobs. The name is memorable, but the operation beneath it is more instructive.

The business succeeds because of marketing sophistication applied to an unsophisticated category. The landing page builds immediate trust, displays clear pricing, and enables one-click booking. Competitors rely on yard signs and word of mouth. The gap creates the margin.

Niche Services: Finding the Overlooked Market

Some of the most interesting small business ideas serve markets that most entrepreneurs do not know exist.

I Buy Fax: AWS for the Amish

There are approximately 400,000 Amish people in the United States. Their population grows 5 to 7 percent annually. They use technology selectively—and fax machines fall within acceptable limits.

Shaan Puri described a business called I Buy Fax that functions as infrastructure for Amish commerce. The service connects Amish businesses to modern supply chains through fax-based communication. Revenue reportedly reaches 1.2 million annually.

The business exists because someone noticed a niche that everyone else overlooked. The Amish need to buy supplies, sell products, and communicate with non-Amish businesses. Someone had to bridge that gap. The opportunity was invisible until it was obvious.

Tarro: Answering Phones for Restaurants

Restaurants hate answering the phone. The interruption breaks kitchen flow, staff are poorly trained for phone interactions, and busy periods make consistent service impossible.

Tarro built a $100 million business by handling phone orders for restaurants. The service is not technologically complex. It is a call center with specialized training. But it solves a genuine pain point that restaurant owners experience daily.

The insight generalizes. Many small business ideas involve doing something that existing businesses need done but hate doing themselves. Phone answering, bookkeeping, HR administration, permit filing—the list is long and the competition is often thin.

Acquisition: Buying Instead of Building

Starting from scratch is not the only path. Brent Beshore built Permanent Equity into a $350 million portfolio by buying existing businesses rather than creating new ones.

His first deal was a pool service business in Arizona. He was 24 years old. He secured an SBA loan for $1 million. The business eventually returned 20 times his investment.

The acquisition model offers several advantages. Revenue exists from day one. Systems and employees are already in place. The seller’s asking price often reflects their fatigue rather than the business’s potential. Beshore estimates he buys businesses at 3 to 7 times earnings—multiples that would be impossible in public markets.

The largest company in his portfolio is a fencing business in Dallas. Fencing is not exciting. It does not attract Harvard MBAs or Y Combinator applicants. That absence of competition is precisely the point.

The Framework: What These Businesses Share

Patterns emerge from the specifics. The most successful small business ideas share characteristics that can guide opportunity evaluation.

Essential demand. Dance lessons, pool service, pet euthanasia—these are not discretionary purchases that disappear in recessions. Parents will sacrifice other spending before pulling their children from activities. Homeowners will maintain their properties even when budgets tighten.

Local SEO moats. Several of the businesses discussed grew primarily through local search. When someone searches “pet euthanasia near me” or “gutter cleaning [city name],” the first result captures the transaction. Ranking for these queries requires patience, not capital.

Recurring relationships. The pool business cleans the same pools weekly. The dance studio bills the same families monthly. Mobile fuel delivery serves the same customers indefinitely. Customer acquisition happens once; revenue continues indefinitely.

Underestimated margins. Dance studios at 50 to 60 percent EBITDA. Power washing at 50 percent net. Porch Pumpkins at 40 to 50 percent net. These figures exceed what most people assume service businesses can earn.

Talent arbitrage. The smartest people in every generation follow prestige into finance, technology, and consulting. This creates a vacuum in industries where competent management is scarce. Applying basic business skills to underserved categories produces outsized returns.

FAQ: Small Business Ideas Answered

What small businesses can I start with less than $5,000?

Several businesses in the MFM catalog require minimal startup capital. Power washing requires a pressure washer and basic supplies. Seasonal flower sales require inventory and a vehicle. Teen baking businesses require kitchen access and ingredients. The constraint is usually initiative rather than capital.

Which small businesses have the highest profit margins?

Dance studios consistently generate 50 to 60 percent EBITDA margins. Power washing and exterior cleaning run above 50 percent net. Seasonal decoration services like Porch Pumpkins achieve 40 to 50 percent net margins. The pattern suggests that service businesses with low material costs and high perceived value outperform retail and product businesses.

How do I find small business ideas in my area?

The MFM approach emphasizes observation. Drive through affluent neighborhoods and notice what services homeowners hire. Search Google Maps for categories with few reviews—sparse competition often signals opportunity. Talk to local business owners about services they wish existed. The best ideas are usually hiding in plain sight.

Should I start a business or buy an existing one?

Starting requires less capital but more time to reach profitability. Buying requires more capital but generates immediate cash flow. Brent Beshore made 20x on his first acquisition. Lincoln Snyder built a profitable business in high school with almost no capital. Both paths work. The choice depends on resources, risk tolerance, and timeline.

What is the “gateway drug” business for beginners?

Codie Sanchez calls laundromats the gateway drug business—simple enough to understand, limited enough in downside that failure is not catastrophic, and educational enough that owners learn due diligence and management skills. The laundromat itself may not create wealth. The education it provides often does.

Sources & Episodes

Related: Boring Businesses | Sweaty Startups | Sam Parr | Shaan Puri | Chris Koerner | Brent Beshore | Permanent Equity | Franchising | Local SEO | Acquisition Entrepreneurship | SBA Loans

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