1 niche + 1 problem + 1 service = $100K?

Dear starters,

Pat Walls here, creator of Starter Story.

As you know, every Thursday I send you an email highlighting the best case studies that we've published on our platform. This is a bite-sized summary of the most interesting experiences that starters have shared with us.

I hope you enjoy it!

And remember that as a newsletter subscriber, you are eligible for a very special deal to enjoy unlimited access to our Ideas database. Join us now and get Starter Story Premium for $79/year, a 45% discount from our regular price. That’s just $1.71 per week, an absolute no brainer investment in your business.

1 niche + 1 problem + 1 service = $100K business

We first interviewed Chase on Starter Story a while ago when he shared how he started a $55K/mo email marketing agency focused on ecommerce, and we followed up a few years later to find out how he grew the business 300% in that time.

At Starter Story we are firm believers that - even if making your target market smaller might seem counterintuitive - going niche is a great way to start building a lucrative business.

Learn from these entrepreneurs who succeeded by following this strategy:

• $48K/year newsletter for sneakerheads
• $1.8M/year selling Southern gift baskets
• $8K/month posting about sports bets
• $12K/month niche investing community

Starting a $24M/year business with just $10K

What kind of business can achieve this, you may be wondering? Discount mattresses. 

Do you know the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? Well, this is really the case. By contacting factories, they landed contracts to purchase factory-blemished samples, R&D products, and warranty returns that they would sell with huge discounts. 

Can you think of another space where this could be replicated? You may have a huge opportunity in front of you.

Also, David is a genius. His trick to steal web traffic from their competitors is brilliant, don’t miss it!

The truth is that most businesses in the homeware space tend to have high tickets, which usually means high margins. That’s why we have so many examples of highly profitable businesses in our database:

• $9M/year selling mattresses online
• $18K/month smart home appliances online store
• $100K/Month weighted blankets brand

45 businesses you can start while keeping your day job

Some of the most successful businesses started as side projects. Apple, Instagram, Twitter and Craiglist all started as side projects!

If you are interested in starting a business but you still have a full-time job, you must pick an idea that can work with your busy work schedule, preferably something you can work during nights and weekends.

We’ve put together 45 business ideas for people with a full-time job - all of these ideas come from real-world examples of entrepreneurs starting while they had a job.

💰 Start your own business today

Learn from real people sharing real stories. The struggles, the wins, the good and the bad. 

How do people get inspired and find great business opportunities? How do they get their 10 first clients? What challenges do they face at every stage and how to overcome them?

Get unlimited access to 2,000+ case studies, 3,000+ business ideas and 200+ proven growth strategies for $79/year (just $1.51/week). This is the best deal we've ever had.

​Or, get even more with our Premium Plus membership for $199/year and you will additionally gain access to the Lean SEO course (sold separately for $249) where I share how I've grown Starter Story to over 900K monthly visitors.

(all of our plans are billed yearly)

7 strategies to build a $1.8M/year business

Jeff is one of the three co-founders of Tiny Away - a network of tiny houses for people looking for a different experience. 

He shares the company’s journey with an incredible level of detail. Including the 7 strategies that they’ve used to grow their business (i.e.: leveraging platforms, user-generated content). It is truly an amazing breakdown.   

If you’re looking for ways to grow your business, don’t forget to check our growth database with 200 marketing tactics.

Can one app generate $50M of extra revenue?

While building apps for Shopify, Artyom realized he had to concentrate on his flagship product – an application to automate upselling and cross-selling. Instead of developing new apps, they focused on growing the one that showed traction.

Their biggest win besides having a killer product? They found an acquisition channel that brings over 50% of their traffic.

Shopify is a platform that keeps growing and growing, with almost 2M merchants (using 6 apps on average), Shopify app developers earned more than $230 million last year; which means that the opportunities to make money in that space are also growing. These are some examples of successful case studies that we’ve published:

• A $29K/month WhatsApp plugin for Shopify
• This analytics app for Shopify reached $12K MRR in just 7 months
• These two Shopify apps generate $42K/month

Trending articles this week

1. Reaching $450K/month and getting acquired

2. How we grew revenue to $10.6M in 2020

3. I started doing SEO at 13, now I make over $4M/year with it

4. On starting the Amazon of business documents

5. From making extra income with affiliate websites to building a $360k/year business

6. Making $1M/year with CBD treats that calm anxious dogs

7. We turned our passion for sustainability into a $2.4M/year hair & body care brand

8. Tired of bad hosting services, we decided to start our own [now a $3.6M/year business]

9. We developed a $12M/year property management SaaS for landlords

10. In 15 minutes I coded a $360k/year TikTok & Instagram automation tool

Looking for a job, or some work on the side?

Get your feet wet before you take the plunge into founder life.

Many of the companies we interview are hiring in operations, design, marketing, engineering, and more...

Check out our jobs portal for all new opportunities - new jobs are added every day!

Thanks for reading!

Pat

🙏  If you enjoyed this newsletter, you could really help me doing one of these things:

1. Share this newsletter on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin.
2. Forward this email to a friend who’s starting their own business!
3. If this was forwarded to you, subscribe to receive this email every week.

I really appreciate you sharing and spreading the word. It really means a lot!

P.S. Huge thank you to Klaviyo - our exclusive sponsor at Starter Story. By using Klaviyo, we've grown our email list to 150K and added thousands of dollars in revenue per month through email marketing. Get Klaviyo today!

Looking for a business idea? Find yours from our database of 3,000+ business ideas.

Want to grow your business? Get access 200+ marketing playbooks.