31 Six Figure Service Businesses

Business not for everyone, but it’s for you if you despise your job, and you’ve loathed every job you had before that. It’s hard, and it’s stressful, but it’s worth it to be able to live on your own time and not have to call another man your boss.

If you’re like me, working a job for the rest of your life is just not an option, and therefore owning a business is essential. Unfortunately 90% of businesses fail, the most common cause being cash flow. I want you to avoid that fate, that’s why I recommend starting a service business.

In a service business, you have way less upfront costs, and way less monthly expenses. But you have to work hard, learn how to sell, and put the numbers in. You won’t make six figures doing 10 calls a day, you’re going to need to do 100 calls/emails a day in the first year, plus what you can get from your inbound marketing.

All these jobs pay when you can sell and you put in the numbers, by numbers I mean at least 100 cold calls or emails a day for your first year, plus advertising and marketing if you have the money. Service biz, highest success rates, lowest upfront/no upfront costs.

31 Six Figure Service Businesses

Blue Collar 

Blue collar businesses aren’t sexy, but they pay, because no one wants to do them. Just keep in mind that a blue collar business will usually have higher expenses than the other businesses on this list because of equipment and supply costs.You also might need some school or training and might need employees to get to six figures.

Of all the options, a blue collar business is my least favorite, but it beats the hell out of working a job.

  • Electrician
  • Plumber
  • Ashphalt Paver
  • Contractor
  • Landscaping (I worked for a sole proprietor doing this in high school)
  • Carpentry
  • Repairman
  • Roofing
  • Flooring
  • Pool cleaning
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical

Sales 

A sales business has some of the highest earning potential on the list. I knew a guy in Toronto making 500k a year selling real estate. You’re also looking at no or very little upfront costs or monthly expenses. For most sales businesses though, you’ll have to get certified and you’ll probably have to work for someone for 2-3 years to learn the business before you can start out on your own. With that said, that’s not the worst thing, because you end up learning the business on someone else’s dime.

  • Recruiting/Headhunting
  • Car brokerage (my friend my 40k in his first year using only inbound adwords campaign)
  • Insurance
  • Real Estate
  • Event planning

White Collar

Tons of money to be made in white collar businesses. Depending on what you want to do you might need to go to school. I’m not a fan of the idea of law school, but if that’s what you want to do it’s your call. Again, for some of these businesses you might also have to pay your dues as above to learn the business.
With that said, depending on how you position yourself, you might not need formal training. Guys like Andrew Henderson of nomadcapitalist.com make their living using the services of various lawyers and bankers. Some of these businesses you could also make into location independent vehicles.
  • Accounting
  • Tax planning (big niche for digital expats/nomads)
  • Ethical Financial services (andrew henderson, flag theory guy examples)
  • Legal

Online

Below are the best paying online businesses, ideal if you want to become a digital expat. Again you’re looking at low/no upfront costs and very low expenses. You also have the option of transitioning that business into a guru business. Eg. you master corporate video production, then you create a site and YouTube channel teaching other guys how to make it happen.
  • Programmer
  • IT/Tech Support
  • Web Design
  • Video Production/Editing (tons of money in corporate video
  • Marketing/advertising services
  • Social media management
  • Sales Copywriting
  • Graphic design
  • Corporate document writer
  • Coaching/Training Business (life/business/fitness etc. – can do offline as well
   

10 Comments

  1. Hey Will this is awesome – thanks.

    Which one would you have done if you did a service business instead of your site?

  2. I can attest to there being lots of money in corporate video production. I do regular freelance for a large company working only a weekend or two per month and I can pull in $2-4K a month on that stuff alone. Best part is they provide equipment, transportation costs, etc. and I just show up with myself and my skills and leave with a fat check that I get to determine the dollar amount on (best part imo). I personally call it the lazy man’s way of having a business where the only working tool I own is my own skill set.

  3. You know, all blue collar jobs are potentially free and need people, but after a while of working in such environment you see the competition. It’s not easy to compete with people who are working for half of the price.

  4. Thank you, I would have done real estate in toronto if I purely wanted money, if something more enjoyable that I can move online I would have done personal training.

  7. Hi Will,

    I’ve been reading your blog for a while now; it’s great stuff and has really helped me, so thanks!

    You mention adding value a lot on your videos, what do you think about an online fitness trainer (just starting out) giving clients a free coaching trial in order to get more referrals/word of mouth etc?

    Do you think this could be a good stretagy or not?

    Many thanks, and keep up the good work!
    Alex

  8. Thanks Alex.

    I think it wouldn’t hurt, but I would together a serious plan for outbound marketing and sales. Check out my 3 part series with phil on how to build a coaching business.

  9. when you say real estate what’s the game plan for that? it seems a bit open-ended. my dad is recommending me to do real estate but it seems over saturated and not a huge fan of having my name plastered on billboards like some people do over here lol.

    seems like there’s a lot of different kind of ‘real-estate’ business.

    was thinking as blackdragon says having 3 different unrelated streams of income and then focus on the one that pops off so maybe real-estate, social media marketing, and my music.

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