10 Top Business Tips for Starting a Business That Will Succeed

Starting a business for the first time and worried about failure? Give your new enterprise the best chance of success with these top business tips, the best advice I've collated from other entrepreneurs and developed from my own experience of more than 20 years of having "been there and done that" as a small business person.

1) Be passionate about what you do.

You don't have to love whatever your business is about (and probably shouldn't), but you do have to be fired up about it.
You're going to devote a lot of time and energy to starting a business and building it into a successful enterprise, so it's really important that you truly deeply enjoy what you do, whether it be running fishing charters, creating pottery or providing financial advice. Make sure you're on the right track by asking yourself these three questions before you do anything else.

Best Skilled Trade Businesses to Start

1 Skilled Trades Are in High Demand

According to the ManpowerGroup's Annual Talent Shortage Survey, the hardest skilled positions for employers to fill have not been engineers, nurses or sales representatives. The number one most difficult people to find are skilled trades workers such as electricians and welders.

The need for skilled tradespeople is expected to become even more acute as more baby boomers hit retirement age and exit the labor force. Trades are disproportionately affected by this phenomena because trades people are on average older than many other segments of the workforce. Enrollment in trades has declined over the past several decades as many young people incorrectly perceive the trades to be poorly paid. They see them as not intellectually stimulating and "beneath them." More than 60 percent of skilled trades workers are 45 or older in some North American locations.
High demand is one reason the skilled trades are ideally suited for those wishing to become self-employed and start their own businesses. Another is that most trades can be operated as home-based businesses because the work is typically performed at the customer job site. A third reason is that startup capital costs for things like vehicles and tools are relatively low for most trades, at least compared to many other types of businesses. Skilled trades cannot be automated to any degree, ensuring future job security. Even in the welding trade, which is automated to a certain extent in manufacturing, there are many types of jobs that cannot be feasibly automated.
Here are some of the best business opportunities in the skilled trades.