Henry Ford once said, “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” As an aspiring entrepreneur, wouldn’t it be great to partner with your friends to bring out the best in each other? The good news is, you can.

One challenge of being an entrepreneur is feeling like you have to do everything yourself. That is why starting a business with friends can ease the burden and keep away the loneliness. But what are some of the best businesses friends could start? In this article, we’ll present some ideas that you and your friends can take to launch your own business together.

Start a Social Media Management Business

Social media management covers the process of managing someone’s online presence. This is done by strategically analyzing audiences, creating and scheduling content for their profiles, monitoring performance, and arranging collaborations with social media influencers. 

Increasingly, businesses prefer to outsource their social media management to freelancers and agencies. This demand makes it easier for new social media management companies to find clients. If you and your friends utilize social media frequently and have an understanding of how to produce content, this type of business may be a good fit.

One of the advantages of starting a social media management business is that there are not a lot of startup costs. Usually, a new business has a significant upfront investment to start operating as a company. However, social media management agency has little upfront costs other than perhaps subscriptions to social media management tools.

To really make the most of this opportunity, you may want to invest some time and money into courses where you can learn the latest techniques for driving sales, branding, and engagement. You may also want to make sure that you are caught up on the latest social media trends. This will allow you to acquire and retain clients better because of the level of your expertise.

A social media management business can be started by yourself. However, starting one with friends will allow you to acquire more and better-paying clients. Having others to share the workload will allow your business to scale much faster than if you launched the venture alone.

Launch a Clothing Company

In the past, starting a clothing company required a lot of startup capital, a storefront, and a warehouse to hold merchandise. However, these days you can start an entire clothing line on Instagram or even a print-on-demand t-shirt business with no upfront investment. These advantages make it easier to start this type of business with your fashion-minded friends.

The fashion industry can be an extremely competitive market. Not only do smaller brands need to compete with larger, more established companies, but they also need to ensure that they stay relevant as styles and consumer preferences change. So, it’s important that you and your friends set clear goals for your clothing business to ensure its success.

You also want to be sure that you clearly find the target market for your brand. This will help you save time and money with your marketing efforts. If you utilize social media, especially Instagram, you will be able to narrow down who your audience is and better understand their preferences. From selling t-shirts to summer dresses, there is plenty of room for new and ambitious entrepreneurs to take advantage of the overwhelming demand in fashion.

Start a YouTube Channel

73% of adults in the U.S. use YouTube. And that number is still growing. In the 2020s starting a YouTube channel as a business or growing an existing business is something every entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur needs to consider. And, doing so with friends can make the venture more successful.

By working together, you can leverage each other’s strengths and skills to create high-quality content that resonates with your audience. Additionally, having friends as co-creators can help create a more relaxed and dynamic atmosphere. This will make it easier to create engaging and entertaining content.

Uploading content frequently is one of the best ways to grow a YouTube channel. It is also the most challenging aspect of running a channel. By running a channel with friends, you will be able to produce more content consistently. This will help you grow your subscription base faster than if you had to create and upload content alone.

Sell Arts and Crafts

If you and your friends enjoy being creative together, selling your arts and crafts is a great business option. Starting a craft business with friends can offer a range of benefits and advantages over starting a business alone. 

Starting a craft business with friends can also provide the opportunity for creative collaboration and innovation. You can bounce creative ideas off of your friends and gain feedback quickly about your own creations. When you are running an arts and crafts business alone, it’s hard to gauge quality without feedback from potential customers..

Another advantage to running this type of business with a friend is the option of dividing responsibilities based on strengths and skill sets. For example, you may want to have the most creative friends focus on creating the products. While the other friends can focus on sales and marketing. This way, each person is doing what they do best and is contributing to the growth of the business.

Bakery Business

If you and your friends enjoy spending time in the kitchen together baking up goodies for others, a bakery business may be a logical choice for a joint venture. A bakery business can be started as a side hustle but can quickly grow into a full-time business with the right product and marketing.

Doing this with others who share your passion for baking can expedite the process. One of the very first goals you should have for your bakery business is to find your niche. Will your bakery focus on making the best wedding cakes or brownies? Will you specialize in healthy options? Or perhaps you will bake with the richest chocolate on the planet? These are just a few of the decisions you’ll need to make with your friends when launching this business.

Be sure that you and your friends are on the right page when it comes to the direction of the business. Selling baked goods is a competitive market and a business model that can go in many different directions.

E-commerce Store

An e-commerce store allows you and your friends to sell products online. The good thing about an e-commerce store is that you can get it up and running in nearly no time. There are an endless number of different products you could sell. Things such as clothing, home goods, and beauty products all have been proven to be great e-commerce items to sell. By starting an online store, you have the opportunity to reach a global audience and can run the business from anywhere with an internet connection.

Since there are several different aspects to running an e-commerce store, you want to share the responsibilities with your friends. Perhaps one person is responsible for designing the store while another person’s job is to find the right items. You also want to get comfortable with driving traffic to your store using paid ads and social media.

Food Truck

Atlanta, GA, USA – Customers order meals from a popular food truck during their lunch hour, at “Food Truck Thursday” in Atlanta.

If you and your friends love cooking and a unique dining experience, starting a food truck could be a worthwhile business to pursue. With a lower overhead cost than a traditional restaurant, starting a food truck business can be a cheaper way to get into the food industry. Because of the lower startup costs, you and your friends may be able to start this without risking the amount required to run a traditional restaurant.

Food trucks offer a unique and convenient dining experience that appeals to a wide range of customers. People are increasingly on the go. The convenience and mobility of food trucks make them a popular option for consumers looking for a quick and delicious meal. The average successful food truck can expect to generate between $20,000 to $45,000 a month.

Open a Coffee Shop

If you and your friends like socializing in a relaxed atmosphere while drinking coffee, why not create that space for others to enjoy? Starting a coffee shop with friends can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience. Not only do you have the opportunity to work together towards a common goal, but you also have the support and encouragement of close friends who are invested in your success.

However, starting a coffee shop is challenging and complex, requiring careful planning, preparation, and execution. Having more than one person handle the responsibilities will make the job easier.

Dropshipping Business

If you and your friends don’t have a lot of money to start a business but would like to get into e-commerce, you may want to consider starting a dropshipping business. Dropshipping is when a business sells goods to customers but they do not hold any inventory.

One of the best things about a dropshipping business is that a business can sell just about anything! From baby food to electronics to coffee, just about any product can be sold through dropshipping. You and your friends will need to research which products you think will sell the best. You will also need to know which products you’ll be able to market the best. 

This low-cost, low-risk business is really good for friends who don’t want to deal with the issues of having inventory but can work together to promote products to customers.

Cleaning Company

If you’re thinking about starting a cleaning business, there are a number of things to consider about this business model. While being your own boss, choosing your clients, and setting your hours are all enticing aspects of running your own cleaning business, there are other aspects you should research prior to launching your venture. Including competing businesses and the types of services they offer.

The fact that many people hate cleaning is great news for anyone exploring the potential of launching a cleaning service, as this type of service is essential to people’s lives, both at home and at work. Commercial and residential cleaning companies offer the same benefits, but their needs differ regarding supplies, customers, and marketing. In this article, we will explain the business model of cleaning services. We will also look at some of the pros and cons that come with the trade, to better prepare you to sweep in and save the day for your customers.

Catering Business

 People turn to caterers to take an important task off their plate: cooking. Whether it’s preparing food for a birthday party, wedding, baby shower, or other important event, caterers ensure everyone is served and fed. This type of business is rewarding but takes a ton of work.

That is why a group of friends who share the workload would make running the business easier. Catering is also a business that does well when the caterers have relationships with many people. The more people they know, the more life events they can be a part of through the catering business. A group of friends that are a part of the same business have a wider circle of influence where they can offer their services.

Amazon Seller

Amazon has thousands of resellers, but there is still room for more. Selling on Amazon is fairly simple once you’ve found the best items to sell. With the help of your friends, you may be able to narrow down which product or niche you should focus on. You may want to search sites like Alibaba to find items that you can purchase wholesale. There are also products such as calendars, planners, and journals that you can create and sell on Amazon.

Clothing Reseller

Clothing resellers are people who find clothing and resell those items online. Many resellers find clothing from retail resellers or thrift stores. If you and your friends like shopping for items together, you can do it and make some money at the same time.

Resellers have a lot of options when it comes to where they can sell their clothing. EBay, Etsy, Poshmark, and Mercari are all online spaces where resellers will find an audience. The challenge of this business is finding the right items to resell. However, once you get the hang of it, you’ll know where to look to find the best items to offer.

Video Production/Editing Company

Photo by Orlando Allo from Pexels

Diving into the realm of video production alongside friends is a confluence of creativity, technical acumen, and shared storytelling passion. Video production is a multifaceted endeavor that demands various skills, from scriptwriting and directing to cinematography, editing, and sound design. Friends, with their unique talents and insights, can pool their expertise to cover the breadth of these requirements.

Imagine one friend with a knack for storytelling, shaping the narrative and script, while another, with a keen eye for visuals, takes the helm behind the camera. Yet another with an ear for sound could handle audio capture and design. The diversity of skills ensures that every aspect of the video is crafted with meticulous attention.

You can also take the video editing route with your friends. With more and more people launching YouTube channels and businesses using video to market, the need for good editors is growing. You and your friends will be able to take on multiple projects at a time which will help the business grow.

Web development and Design

If you have a knack for designing websites, then a web design business may be an option for you. The difference between a web developer and a web designer is that web designers are responsible for the design of the visual layout of websites. Developers are more on the back-end of websites making sure the code is clean and the site is functional. One of the major challenges to overcome as a web designer is pricing. There is a lot of competition for web design so you will have to choose whether you are going to charge by the hour or by the project. 

If you have some friends with the same skillset, you may be able to team up to run a web development and design business. The combination of the two services offers the potential to attract more clients.

Start a Podcast

Podcasting used to be highly organized recorded programs with schedules with focused topics. While there are many podcasts that operate this way, many podcasts are just a bunch of friends talking about a particular subject. That is one reason why starting a podcast is one of the easiest businesses for a group of friends to start. Imagine getting paid for sitting around and talking with your friends.

Starting a podcast with friends can also be a great way to monetize your passions and interests. With the rise of podcasting as a medium, there are a lot of opportunities to monetize your podcast. For example, through advertising and sponsorships. By working together with friends, you can leverage each other’s strengths and resources to build a successful and profitable podcast business.

Event and Wedding Planning

Planning events is more than just planning a party. A planner has to come up with event themes, troubleshoot logistical challenges, and manage multiple vendors becomes more efficient and enjoyable when done collaboratively.

The stress that sometimes accompanies event management is more bearable when shared with friends who understand and support. Also, you get to spend time with your friends in a fun atmosphere helping other people enjoy their own friends and family.

Beauty Business

Hair and beauty is a $43 billion industry.  Whether it’s cutting hair or providing manicures and pedicures, salons and other types of beauty businesses offer clients an opportunity to look and feel their best. 

Conclusion

There are many who say that business and friendship do not mix. While that is true sometimes, other times it is a beautiful combination. If you’re looking to start a business with friends, try out a few of these ideas to see if they are right for you and your friends.

Also read:

How to Say “No” to a Friend Who Wants to Join Your Business

How to End a Business Partnership with a Friend

Protecting Yourself When Going into Business With Friends

Ralph is the Managing Editor at StartUp Mindset. The StartUp Mindset team consists of dedicated individuals and is designed to help new, seasoned, and aspiring entrepreneurs succeed.

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