Top Business Ideas for 2015

It’s the year of the entrepreneur. Thanks, in part, to social media, crowdfunding and alternative lending options, and the constant evolution of technology, it’s a great time to start a business. And with new trends popping up constantly, there are plenty of ways aspiring entrepreneurs can capitalize on them. Here’s a list of 17 business ideas to inspire your entrepreneurial spirit in 2015.

Box subscription services are popping up everywhere in the food, beauty and even pet product sectors, ready to deliver goods right to your door each month. One of the perks that keeps customers coming back for more is the idea that these subscription boxes are carefully curated just for them based on their likes and interests, and each month, the boxes’ contents are a surprise.

Find a unique product category that’s still untapped by the box subscription industry, or find a way to put a new spin on an existing service, and you could have a lucrative business on your hands.

In its 10th annual trends report, The Future 100, which highlights the big and small trends to watch this coming year, JWT Intelligence noted that millennials are drinking alcohol less than ever and focusing more on health and fitness. This means that health and fitness services are being rebranded to become trendier and more sociable.

Opening a health club or fitness center targeted specifically to millennials could be a great way to capitalize on the trend, especially if you focus on creating a strong, fun and engaging social media presence to really connect with young members and potential customers.

Kids are your future customers, so gaining their loyalty now isn’t a bad idea.

JWT Intelligence also cited the connectivity of kids as a big trend for 2015. According to Common Sense Media, three-quarters of kids have access to a mobile device. This spells a big business opportunity for anyone who can create products or design apps just for kids. And, if they also happen to be educational or promote good health, you’ll win their parents over, too. You can start small by designing a few kid-friendly apps and see where your business goes from there.

Most homeowners have pickup bins for standard recyclables like paper, glass and plastic, but they often don’t make the effort to properly recycle electronics and batteries, which can be extremely harmful to the environment when left in landfills.

Offer to pick up all the e-waste that’s been collecting dust in people’s garages — old televisions, broken laptops and defunct cellphones, for example — and bring them to your local electronics-recycling facility for a fee. You can charge per item, by weight, or a flat fee plus travel to and from the location.

If you’re proficient in a highly specialized software, you can get paid to pass your knowledge on to amateurs and professionals looking to expand their skill sets.

Technical manuals are available for programs like QuickBooks and Final Cut Pro, but these are often expensive and difficult for the average user to get through. Schedule small group workshops or private sessions, and charge by the hour for a full tutorial of the program. The best part about this gig is that it can be done part time.

The combination of aging baby boomers and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act means that the health care industry will rapidly continue to expand and change.

As an independent health care consultant, you can offer management and data analysis for organizations like hospitals, labs and therapist offices to help implement solutions to improve efficiency and save money. If you have a marketing or economics degree, this is a great opportunity to put it to use.

We included this on our list of business ideas for foodies, and for good reason: A December 2012 study by Intuit and Emergent Research predicted that revenue from the food truck industry will reach 2.47€ billion by 2017.

A truck is a much less expensive investment than a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and according to Mobi Munch founder Josh Tang, the failure rate for food trucks is just 10 to 20 percent (as opposed to 60 to 90 percent for restaurants). With the right equipment and some great recipes, you can have your mobile eatery up and running in no time.

Companies are increasingly turning to freelance and contract workers to fill the skill gaps in their staff. It’s not hard to imagine that you could build a whole company around providing freelance services of one sort or another.

According to Freelancer.com, which lists more than a million freelance projects on its site, the most in-demand freelance services are data entry, academic writing, Excel projects, data processing, Web search and Facebook-based jobs. Some freelance gigs pay by the project and others pay hourly, and the rates can vary greatly. But as you gain more experience, your earning potential will soar.

Mobile tech is now a must-have for almost any business, but finding ways to go mobile is a challenge for many business owners. If you can provide affordable mobile solutions to businesses that need them, you’ll find mobile consulting a rich business opportunity.

According to Jamie Turner, founder of The 60-Second Marketer, there will be an ongoing need for mobile assistance.

“Research from The 60-Second Marketer indicates that there are more people on the planet who own a mobile device than who own a toothbrush,” said Turner, who co-authored the book “Go Mobile” (Wiley, January 2012) with Jeanne Hopkins. “So it’s safe to say that your prospects are using mobile. If you’re in business, it’s your job to be where your prospects are. Your prospects are in mobile right now.”

There’s no denying the global marketplace is growing and reaching beyond the borders of China and Mexico. All that cross-cultural communication is creating a growing need for translators.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, the hiring of interpreters and translators is projected to grow by 46 percent by 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations. This means it’s a big business opportunity for entrepreneurs who can bring foreign-language speakers together with businesses in need.

Employees are increasinglymobile. In fact, according to a forecast from the International Data Corp., the U.S. mobile-worker population is expected to grow to 105.4 million workers worldwide by 2020. So how are employers supposed to keep track of what their workers are doing? Aspiring entrepreneurs can find many ways to solve this problem.

There are plenty of vehicle-tracking time clocks and time-clock apps, but employers often don’t have the staff or the time to manage all this new data and distill it into what is needed for payroll and billing. A company that could provide employee-monitoring services, as well as some additional outsourced human resources functions, would be in great demand right now.