12 Creative Business Ideas for 2023 THE BEST IDEAS!! | Montana Happy

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12 Creative Business Ideas You Can Copy will inspire you if you’re looking to start your own small business or change careers and become your own boss.

If you’re looking for more ideas on staring your own business, How to Start a Small Jelly and Jam Business will help you on your journey.

New creative business ideas for 2022 is what’s needed to create a life you love.

I’m passionate about people finding the perfect career that is centered around doing something that they love.

Why?  I was one of those people that spent a lot of years in a career that was challenging, and yet damaging to the soul.

Stress takes a toll on you, and now that I’m doing something that I love – it changed everything else in my world.

Commuting. Bosses. Co-workers. No personal time. These are just a few of the reasons why people want to start working on  his or her own small business idea.

You might just want a side business to make some extra cash to squirrel away for your retirement.  Whatever your reasons are, finding a great business idea is difficult.

Most posts about starting your own business list all the same ideas.  I decided to do something different.

Even if you don’t pick any of these ideas, I think they will help you think outside-the-box and realize that you don’t have to create a “normal” career.

Being different makes you stand out in a sea of businesses.  You need to find something that is unique and fits your personality.

Whether you’re looking for creative business ideas from home or if you’re willing to work outside your home – there’s a great idea for everyone.

“Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.”

Anthony Volodkin, founder of Hype Machine Commuting

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Since you’re looking to improve your life by looking at creative business ideas, I’m guessing you like all things cozy living. I created a Facebook group called Creating a Cozy Life with over 67,000 like-minded souls.

It’s a group where we share recipes, pictures of things that leave you in awe, and ideas on how to make your life just a little bit more snug.  Join here to be part of the virtual cozy cabin.

Here are the 12 Creative Business Ideas You Can Copy

Creative Business Ideas #1 – Vintage Rental Decor for Weddings

I know someone who owned an antique store. As a side business, the creative entrepreneur rented out her vintage and antique items to weddings.

Her wedding rental small business grew so big, she decided to close the antique shop and focus on the rental business full-time. Some of the things she rented were antique buffets, vanities, dishes, serving pieces and display pieces.

Think about what a fantastic business this is to start.  Most brides don’t want the hassle of buying everything they need for the wedding, and then they have to sell it once the wedding is complete.

By renting unique, beautiful wedding items, the bride and groom can save money and have fewer things to do.

To get started on this business idea, you’ll need to have storage for the furniture and accents.  You will also need a truck to deliver everything and pick it back up.

Oh yes, you’ll have to go shopping for the items you’ll be renting – torture, I know.  This will be one of the creative business ideas that won’t be a chore to start.

Creative Business Ideas #2 – Specialty Farmer 

I can see your eyes rolling.  The question you’re asking me is, what’s so unusual about being a farmer?

When you choose a niche for yourself in the farming industry, it’s then you become a rockstar.

Locally, I know three people who are crushing it when it comes to specialty farming.

The first person grows garlic.  It’s not your everyday garlic – he grows every type of garlic imaginable and then makes specialty food items that feature garlic as the star player.

Another couple has a small nursery that grows specialty plants native to the area.  These plants aren’t something you find in your average nursery.

People come from all over the region to buy their plants because they want unique plants for their landscape.

They are also popular with garden designers.  Garden designers want to give their clients the best there is, and this nursery grows it.

The third person that I know in the area,  specializes in chocolate-colored flowers and makes a good living at it.  This is a brilliant idea.  She sells her seeds and bulbs online in addition to having a nursery.

Do you know how time consuming it would be to look for different companies online that sell chocolate-colored flowers?

When you find them, there are only one or two items and you would have to pay the shipping fees each time.

Find a type or color of plant that you know people are looking for, and become the go-to company that satisfies demand.

The choices are endless. If you have that green thumb, then this might be the small business idea for you.

Creative Business Ideas #3 – Food Cart Owner  

Again, stop with the eyes. I see you. Yes, the big thing right now is owning a food cart.

But…what you may not know is how a food cart business owner can dial down into a specialty and make a killing.

How about a food cart that sells only popsicles? Just grilled cheese sandwiches? Coffee & donuts? What about selling only specialty fries?

The possibilities are endless, and the investment is way less than a restaurant to test out your concept.

I recently came across a young guy that had a sushi truck.  He had a permanent parking spot next to a brewery. The brewery even let him put a fence around the area and have picnic tables.

Both parties were the winners here.  More people came to the brewery because of the amazing sushi, and the sushi truck owner had customers coming to him from the brewery.

One small business idea I ran across that I love was a gourmet popsicle food truck.  They had a variety of types, including boozy popsicles.  They even had “pupsicles” for the patrons pets.  How clever is that?

There’s a woman that lives in my area that does exceptionally well at food trucks.  She said the secret to success was keeping it simple.

This lady was successfully running a strawberry shortcake food truck.  She decided to branch out and try different food truck ideas.

The food trucks that had too many things on the menu failed.  The ones that had specialty items succeeded.

Creative small business ideas are everywhere.  Better to learn from someone else’s mistakes, than make them yourself.

Creative Business Ideas #4 – Garden Designer

Now on this idea, I agree with you. It’s not that offbeat unless you make it so.

Yes, some people design lovely gardens. What’s missing is someone who shows people how to grow their food at home.

By creating an unique business idea out of a traditional career, it will be easier to target your market online.

You can charge a consultation fee to look at his or her garden space and design a food garden that takes advantage of the sun, space, and soil.

How about teaching homeowners to grow their food vertically, introduce aquaponics to their gardening strategies, or teach them how to become certified organic gardeners.

One of the biggest threats to food garden is garden pests.  Teaching people how to companion plant also might be something you can start doing.

Not only can you teach customers one-on-one, but you can hold classes and charge for people to take your course.  There are plenty of places that you can rent a space for a pretty inexpensive rate.

Growing your food is an interest that’s gaining momentum, year after year.  Why not make a living helping people achieve their food forest goals?

Creative Business Ideas #5 – Photographer

I’m also nodding my head that this one is pretty common. So let’s make this profession a bit more uncommon.

How about becoming a wedding photographer that specializes in offbeat weddings?

The real estate market is always looking for photographers to take pictures of the newly listed homes.

Think about how much customers are selling their homes for, yet the photos online look awful (I’m looking to move, so I know this all too well.)

How about focusing on doing headshots for businesses?  If you want to climb the corporate ladder, it’s essential to have the right headshot for all the social channels.

You could specialize in photographing pets.  A local woman focused on dog photography.  She took the dogs out in nature and took pictures of them enjoying the outdoors.

One creative person  only photographs newborns and sets up individual settings that the new parents just love.

My favorite business idea of being a specialty photographer is someone I stumbled upon while browsing the internet.  She focused on taking holiday pictures for kids.  Here’s her brilliant strategy:  having AMAZING props.

For Christmas, she hired a Santa that looks exactly like you would envision the REAL Saint Nick to look like.  She dressed him in a Victorian Santa outfit and had old-fashioned toys and a decorated tree as part of the decor.

The prices she charged were high, but people were willing to pay for such a beautiful and timeless photo.  She does this with every major holiday.

Just come up with a unique look to your pictures and advertise your one-of-a-kind skill.

Creative Business Ideas #6 – Blog/Website Flipper

What on earth is a blog flipper?

Ever hear of a couple named Chip and Joanna Gaines? They had a show called Fixer Upper on HGTV.

If you never heard of them, they had a small business that takes some of the worst houses in good neighborhoods and transform them into works of art.

Now their small business idea has turned into a multi-million dollar big business.  They also followed in Oprah’s footsteps and created their own channel on television.

So what does this have to do with being a blog or web site flipper? It’s one of the creative business ideas using the same principle.

You look for abandoned blogs that are littering the internet highway and offer to buy one. Then you use your online business skills and set up social media channels and write new copy.

Content marketing is a skillset that you can use in many different forms of business.

Once you build up a readership, you sell it to someone for quite a bit more than you paid for it that doesn’t want to start a blog or web site from scratch.

You will then have your own Magnolia Farms…only you don’t have to swing a hammer.  Plus, this online business idea allows you to work from home.

If you would prefer to make passive income, you could keep the blogs once you’ve got them properly structured.

Creative Business Ideas #7 – Life Organizer

If you’re an organized person, why not get paid for it?  You can organize people’s homes, computer or even their lives.

Everyone could use a little help in getting things streamlined, so they have time to do what they want to do.

My sister met someone in California who’s small business specialized in reorganizing upscale homes for free.  Her payment would be the unwanted leftover items that created clutter.

She would then sell those items, and that’s how she made her money.  She made an excellent living doing that, and it was a creative way to get paid.

You could also focus on helping a small business owner go to the next level by increasing their productivity through an organizational system.

Creating a service using a skill that you’ve mastered is one of the best ways to pick from the best creative business ideas.

The startup cost on this business model is minimal.  Business cards and word-of-mouth client advertising would get you started after creating your business plan.

Creative Business Ideas #8 – Family Historian

If you have a knack for writing and love to talk to people than the idea of recording family history might be a great business for you.

All too often, someone we are close to dies, and they take with them stories that would benefit future generations.  It’s a shame that this happens so frequently.

What would happen if those stories weren’t lost?  Instead of never seeing the light of day, they were lovingly preserved by you by using your creativity.

The younger generations could hear about the lives of their great grandparents and learn the secrets of how they navigated through life.

Not only would you have an interesting job, but you would learn so many things in the process.

What an excellent way to earn a living by documenting history for a family!

Each person holds a vault of life lessons just waiting to be revealed to the world, and you could be the person that mines those moments.

Creative Business Ideas #9 –  Candy Maker

This small business idea is also an over-saturated market if you are looking to open a candy shop.  You don’t have to have the expensive of opening a shop when you can instead sell your candy online.

You can also sell your candy at craft fairs, farmers markets, and specialty events.  These events are loaded full of lifelong potential customers.

Contacting local businesses to buy from you wholesale is also an idea.  You would just have to find a few potential clients that have high-traffic businesses to get you started.  

What would happen if you specialized in butterscotch flavored candy? How about chili-flavored?  What about recreating only old-fashioned candy?

If you’re the artistic type, how about creating unusual candy sculptures for parties?

You could also use antique candy molds to make them.  Maybe designing candy molds is your perfect business idea?

How about making handmade candy wreaths for seasonal decor?  You can also make them for birthdays, anniversaries, and retirement parties.

You could create a blog offering recipes through the decades.   How about starting a blog recreating candy from different countries?

Your new business objective would be to introduce more sweetness in other’s lives.  Now that’s a mission statement.

Creative Business Ideas #10 – Furniture Refinisher

I’m moving, and I recently met someone who makes a living refinishing furniture when I sold him something.

This man finds furniture at garage sales and thrift stores and gives them a new life.

He loves doing this because he can work from home.  Furniture that might end up  in the dump are turned into beautiful works of art.

I would assume he makes pretty good money because he and his wife just bought a house in a lovely neighborhood.

One of the pieces he bought was a vintage buffet of mine that needed some work.  I sold it for $50.  I knew if I refurnished the piece, I could make way more money, but I don’t have the time or the right equipment.

He could quickly fix that buffet up and resell it for $300 – $400 in our area.  If you had the right equipment, it wouldn’t take very long to transform it into something desirable.

Creative Business Ideas #11 – Recycled Artist 

Here’s another idea about taking trash and turning it into treasure and a career at the same time.

Recycled artists can easily make a full-time living, turning unwanted things into something unique.  They use items in their artwork that others toss out.

Several local people turn old, rusty parts from cars and tools into animals.  A shovel head becomes the body of an owl.  The top of a vintage metal gasoline can become the body of a crab.  It’s amazing what you can do with a little imagination.

I just saw a lady featured in a European magazine that finds small objects of trash on the edge of the river that runs through her town.  She uses each little piece as a part of the picture she’s making.  Combined, they create a work of art.

The great thing about this career is you’re able to apply for grants in addition to selling your wares.  They’re available for artists because of the green movement.

You can sell your art online and at local craft shows.  Several people I know decided to live their life on the road, and their home is an RV.  They do craft shows all across the country and get to see the nation at the same time.

The picture above is from a local garden show.  The artist transformed coffee cans into light fixtures.  He also turned an old Coca-Cola cooler into part of a chicken coop.  Brilliant!

Creative Business Ideas #12 – Card Maker

If you are good at graphic design or photography, creating your own greeting card line might be a perfect fit.

Everyone loves to get something in the mail, it’s something that will never go out of style.  The key to doing well in this market is to create a niche that hasn’t been overdone yet.

You could create a greeting card company that creates cards that are sent from the dog or cat.  How about a line that specializes in cards to bridesmaids and the grooms?

I have several ideas for greeting card lines that I’m keeping under my hat in case I ever decide to go in that direction.  You can easily sell your cards in an online store, and mailing them is inexpensive because of how lightweight they are.

If you know about an unusual job that someone you met has, I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

We’ve reached the end of the Best Creative Ideas for Business.  I hope you enjoyed it, and at least one of the ideas makes use of turning your creative skill into extra money.

Make sure you join our Creating a Cozy Life – Hygge Style Facebook group.  You’re not going to believe how amazing it is.  Join here to be part of the virtual cozy cabin.

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Thanks for stopping by.  I’m so happy you found us!

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