High-tech ventures aren’t the only path to success. Down-to-earth businesses that deliver stellar customer service can be your ticket to entrepreneurial gold.
As a former business school dean, entrepreneurial mentor, and professor, I’ve often shared a piece of advice that’s not commonly heard — consider starting “dumb” businesses that excel in customer service.
While high-tech or AI-related ventures are valuable, impactful, and can be enormously rewarding financially, there’s merit in service businesses that aren’t necessarily sophisticated but fulfill essential needs, require zero to very little capital, and excel in customer satisfaction.
I’m living proof.
Over the past twenty years, I’ve found success by starting many such “dumb” businesses.
An admissions coaching and test prep business
I began humbly enough, advising friends on their graduate application essays and how to prove their “fit” with this or that school. I turned out to be pretty good at it, so I eventually became a full-fledged admissions coach with a fully booked schedule for half the year every year. It didn’t happen overnight, but by being disciplined, delivering really useful coaching, and getting myself known by speaking at all events and media opportunities that came my way, things ramped up quickly.
I also developed the self-confidence (I was still in my twenties) to raise my fees many times over, getting comfortable with turning away some clients to “filter in” those that were a good match.
My success in this part of the admissions process led me to team up with a partner to organize highly personalized GMAT, GRE, and other test preparation courses. We hired top-notch professors and provided a tailored service that included not just test prep but also helping students choose the right graduate programs, universities, countries of study, and even sources of financial aid. “We take care of everything except driving you to the airport,” I’d tell people.
Never stop improving your customer experience
Each year, at the end of the application process, I would organize a cocktail party before my coachees’ and students’ graduate programs started to help them connect with peers who’d soon be attending the same university or living in the same city. I also connected them with former clients who were already abroad or had just graduated, were now working, and could be sources of future employment.
The list of ways I’d try to “wow” my clients goes on and on.
Admittedly, this took place in the mid-2000s, before an onslaught of online competitors appeared, shrinking the market for in-person test prep. But the market hasn’t disappeared even today: some folks are still willing to pay handsomely for individual tutoring and end-to-end help.
I ran this business for ten years and made a good living before selling my share to my partner. It also generated many coaching clients for me.
At the five-year mark of running that business, I hired a manager and used some of my surplus income (and freed-up time) to start another “dumb” venture:
A college intern business
Small and mid-sized company owners had shared with me a need for reliable college interns and help supervising their interns’ projects. Existing providers were inadequate, and the talent attraction process was painful for time-scarce owners and managers.
Therefore, I launched a one-person company that carefully recruited interns from various universities and programs, tailoring their profiles to each company’s specific needs. I provided a satisfaction guarantee on my recruitment and ensured interns received a company stipend for their work. I charged a healthy fee for our “headhunting” service, management of the interns, and project supervision.
Not all companies were willing to pay for our work. Yet, by focusing only on those who were, I ensured my business was profitable from the start and dealt with companies that truly valued our help.
Profitable and healthy businesses can always be sold
Fast-forward ten years. By then, I was employing over 50 people, working with nearly 200 companies whose young talent attraction processes had been outsourced to us. That’s when I set out to find investors interested in buying my company at a fair price, knocking on doors until I was successful.
Today, I’m taking a breather to write on Medium, pen a couple of books I’ve wanted to put out, and deepen my meditation practice before—you guessed it—I start looking around for another “dumb” business idea.
My takeaway for you
Complex business ideas involving venture capital, setting up a Board from the start, etc., are fine. However, there are also hundreds of ways to make a good living as an entrepreneur that are fun, socially meaningful, lucrative, and require little to no capital — and where delivering a really great customer experience will get you a long way.
