Introduction
Most entrepreneurs who have authored business books are also owners of businesses that earn them millions. Just from reading these business books, I’ve noticed a pattern. There are three industries with high potential earnings, and these entrepreneurs have capitalized on them.
The three industries are: real estate, event planning, and coaching.
On the high end, business owners in these industries can make millions in potential earnings.
Before they’ve moved on to write books about it, they were self-made millionaires from various backgrounds. Not all of them were raised in rich families, which goes to show that with luck and hard work, you can build your million dollar business, too. Realistically, though, the average income is in the high six figures.
In this blog post, I describe the three industries with high potential earnings. I will outline their risks, qualifications, and challenges in each.
1. Real estate agency
Owning a real estate agency can really have the potential to earn you a high income. The real estate market is expected to grow to USD $729 trillion globally by 2028.
If it’s your dream to be a real estate agent, you will need to apply for a real estate license. The required coursework can take up to 1.5 years to complete within Canada, or up to six months in the US. After passing the exam, if you want to obtain a broker license and own your own brokerage, you need further training and at least two years of experience as an agent.
The startup cost of a real estate brokerage is at least $10,000. This includes office expenses, marketing, and salary for your employees.
The risks of starting a real estate brokerage are lawsuits from: not disclosing information about the property to the buyer, any breach of confidentiality, and injury on the property during showings.
The threats to your brokerage business could stem from events such as a housing market crash. The housing market is sensitive to many factors out of your control, including interest rate, supply and demand, and the health of the economy.
In addition, the rise of discount brokerages are also driving competition between different firms.
As a real estate agent, your commissions are pretty much standardized across the region that you work in, so it may not be possible to earn millions if you don’t own your own brokerage.
Furthermore, owning a real estate brokerage is just like owning any business as an entrepreneur. You must network and get your brokerage known and trusted within the industry.
In the end, real estate brokerages are in an industry that have the high potential earnings of $160,000 per year.
2. Event planning
Another industry with high potential earnings is event planning. This industry is expected to grow to USD $1.75 trillion by 2032.
Unlike real estate, you don’t need a license to be an event planner, so there are lower barriers to setting up your own event planning business.
However, it could help to be certified in event management. Once you earn your certification, experience working for another event planning agency before starting your own would be useful.
The risk to starting your own event planning business is that your highest income earning months are seasonal. In addition, the event planning industry took a tumble during the pandemic as events were switched to online virtual platforms.
This just shows how you must be able to pivot and adjust your business model in response to market conditions that are out of your control.
In addition, the cancellation of a single event would require you to refund all the tickets, leading to a major loss in income.
Finally, there is the threat of competition from other event planning agencies. but depending on your brand and price point, you may be able to find your niche more easily than a real estate brokerage.
3. Business coaching
The third industry with high potential earnings is business coaching. As a business coach, you act as an advisor for other entrepreneurs, guiding them in their business journey.
Your coaching business can have different models. For example, one on one or group coaching can be in-person or virtual, or you can sell masterclasses that your customers view on demand.
Business coaching is possibly the business with the lowest risk out of the three, because of the low overhead costs. Unless you’re thinking about leasing an office space, all you would need is a phone line to handle calls, a virtual meeting platform like Zoom, and internet.
It can also help to get certified as a coach, and these programs will have a fee.
One risk that this type of business faces is the loss of income caused by a recession or economic downturn. During these times, people will be reluctant to start businesses and hire someone to help them, though it might depend on what type of business they are in.
There are also challenges that can result in this type of business. For example, it’s also true that some niches perform better than others.
Selecting a good client can take time. There has to be a good match between client and coach, so know how to select clients who will work well with you.
Another risk is that depending on your business model, you may be trading time for money. One way to get around this is to sell access to on-demand coaching classes on an online teaching platform.
Conclusion
All three types of businesses require you to put in the effort to network and get your name out there to gather and maintain a good client base.
So, good interpersonal and communication skills are essential, and the know-how for gracefully dealing with difficult clients and customer service issues.
Also, it requires you to have realistic expectations. A good reputation is not built overnight.
A good business and marketing plan for making sales is also a major factor in the success of the business.
Expertise and experience are valuable, so find ways to gain that knowledge fast.
At first, stress and work life balance can be an issue, until you may need to find a system for outsourcing your tasks.
Avoid situations such as taking on a client that is not a good fit for your or your business, which can tarnish your reputation.
Relationship-building and leadership skills will land you far ahead of the game.