Starter Story - 2021: The Year Of Opportunity

Hi there,

Pat from Starter Story here. Doing something a bit different... I wanted to share an update on 2020 and some of my thoughts on 2021!

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2021?

Are you ready for a new year?

I'm so damn excited for 2021. I believe that 2021 will be the greatest time in history to start an online business.

Why? Because of all of the changes to our world in 2020. These changes are actually the catalyst to thousands of new business opportunities.

At the bottom of this email, I list out 5 of the biggest trends I think we will see in 2021. But there will be more, and we will be sure to cover them all next year at Starter Story :)

One thing - we will be raising the prices for our Premium membership in the new year. Today and tomorrow will be the last chance to get our membership for $1.71/week (see the bottom of this email for more info).

Starter Story grew a ton this year

2020 was an amazing year for Starter Story, and this project has grown so much since its humble beginnings in 2017.

This year, we grew traffic to 500k/month and revenue to $30k/month. We are now a team of 6!

I just wrote up a whole personal recap of 2020 and what I learned in 2020, I think you might like it.

I've also documented the entire journey here, month by month, which you might like as well.

My favorite stories of 2020

I know you're busy and we have done a lot of interviews, but I wanted to highlight some of my favorite stories from 2020 that are worth reading.

(1) Dylan Jacob grew his drinkware business to $12M/month. Solo founder, amazing story.

(2) Ryan Chen got his product on Joe Rogan and grew his biz to $6M/year.

(3) Tyler productized "care packages" and made $500k/month.

Those are my top 3, but in 2020, we published hundreds of stories. See them all.

Trends for 2021?

That is the big question. What will be the trends in 2021? Here's my prediction:

(1) Education and online courses businesses

Because traditional "college" is now mostly on Zoom, this makes online courses seem a lot more valuable. In other words, regular people are willing to pay a lot more money now for learning, education, and information. 

Our SEO course did $30k in sales. Caitlin makes $2M/year selling proofreading courses. Alex makes $1.2M/year selling Pinterest courses.

(2) Cryptocurrency-related businesses

Bitcoin is making its biggest run in history. As the Fed continues to print out money, people will become fearful of owning cash and invest in cryptocurrencies and other assets.

Vamshi makes $1.2M/year with crypto tax calculators. And $32K/month crypto filled USB drives.

(3) Remote work and nomading

Once the vaccine comes out, people are going to go wild. They will not return to offices, but finally, get to travel the world like they always wanted, and still work remotely!

$3M/year remote recruitment agency. $13K/month blog helping remote job seekers. $50K/month digital nomad goods brand.

(4) Local services businesses

Regular. Old. Local. Businesses. Moving companies, pest control, roofing companies.

There is a massive opportunity here because 95% of these businesses are stuck in the stone age. With a little bit of technology and SEO, you can build a booming business.

$1M/year moving company. $665K/month roofing company. $21K/month chimney service company.

(5) Home-related businesses & products

In Denver, the average time it takes to sell a house is 9 days. Everybody, and their mom, want to own a home right now.

The bigger trend here is that more people are working and spending time at home. This means home goods, e-commerce, and even pets will all explode in 2021.

$12M/month drinkware business. $54K/month dog walking business. Candle business started in 30 days.

Want more ideas? Check out our database of 3,000+ business ideas.

Ends tomorrow: Subscribe for $1.71/week.

Today and tomorrow, December 31st will be the last days to get our 2020 pricing.

Ends tomorrow: Get our Premium membership for $1.71/week.

Or, get our Premium Plus membership for $3.83/week. This also gives you access to our Lean SEO course.

(all of our plans are billed yearly)

Cheers & have a great new year!

Pat Walls, founder of Starter Story

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P.S. huge thank you to Klaviyo - our exclusive sponsor at Starter Story. By using Klaviyo, we've grown our email list to 41K and added thousands of revenue per month through email marketing. Get Klaviyo today!