Codie Sanchez is the CEO and founder of financial advice enterprise Contrarian Thinking.
The financial platform, which educates workers on money management and entrepreneurial advances, boasts more than 2.5 million subscribers and more than one million subscribers on YouTube.
According to data published by the research engine Statista, in the three months leading up to January 2024, there were around 133,000 redundancies made in the UK.
So far, in the first three months of 2024, the cost-of-living crisis and financial impacts of Brexit on businesses have forced companies to increase the number of layoffs.
The companies that have announced further staff reductions include Google, Microsoft, Nike and Amazon.
Reflecting on her experience with “terrible layoffs”, Sanchez recalled: “During the financial crisis, I was sitting in my cubicle watching people pack up everything they owned into cardboard boxes as 20 per cent of the workforce was fired.”
“It was terrible… People were crying, protestors were outside,” the financial advisor added.
However, Sanchez noted that employees can avoid employment anxieties by emerging into the entrepreneurial sphere.
According to the financial advisor, there are several businesses that staff members can start in the build-up to layoff season:
Service Businesses
Service businesses require little money and a lack of skills, Sanchez explained, going on to note that a service business defines “things where you are providing, not a product to a person, but a service that is really just time traded in a particular segment that is not the users time.”
“I would start a service business for a few reasons,” the financial advisor continued. “They are low cost; they don’t cost you much to start. You can have higher margins if you are actually running the business. There is a lower failure risk because you don’t have much money upfront. No shipping or supply chain nonsense comes with e-commerce.”
Starting a service business also allows entrepreneurs to “add a more sophisticated B2B option, which means you can charge more. They are beginner-friendly, which means they are easier to start. Finding clients is easier than most other businesses, and you can scale it.”
The service businesses favoured by the financial advisor include auto detailing (1), power washing (2), landscaping (3) and cleaning (4).
“You typically do not need any licence to mow lawns or clean houses,” Sanchez explained. “Finding clients is also much easier because you live next to them, and most people need these types of services.”
In-demand Businesses
In-demand businesses include consultancy (5), productised services (6), and the use of a product as a service (7).
Before starting an in-demand business, workers should consider if they “have a skill set that is valuable enough to be a consulting business,” the financial advisor said. “If you have anything that is not a labour-based business but a thinking business, you can likely be a consultant.”
To win clients, the financial advisor said aspiring entrepreneurs should analyse their skills and market themselves to “people they already know.”
Simple Service Businesses
Simple service businesses are best suited to entrepreneurs who “have a good salary but are feeling stuck. You have some money set aside but don’t know much about running a business,” Sanchez explained.
High-earning workers can start building a start-up by buying a laundromat (8) or a self-storage business (9) to rent to customers.
According to the financial advisor, entrepreneurs will also be able to profit from buying a roofing business (10) and a garage door business (11).
The financial advisor noted that service businesses allow entrepreneurs to own the company while employing experts to carry out the trade.
