Next month I will be moving from Las Vegas, NV to Saint George, UT. The move is a little unexpected but necessary and will benefit myself and my family. I have lived in Las Vegas for eighteen years. I have visited St. George before but never thought I would move there. Frankly, I never thought I would live anywhere but Las Vegas. St. George is quite different from Las Vegas in many ways such as: sheer size, liquor and beer only laws, non-legalized gambling, traffic and free-way systems (or lack thereof), recreational activities are much more abundant and prominent, the community and the housing.
I took a trip to St. George this weekend and while it is developed city it seems small to a Las Vegas native. There are a lot of things in Las Vegas that I love that I’m not going to be able to find in St. George. Certain restaurants and specialty grocery stores are top on the list. Driving from St. George to Las Vegas is an hour and a half drive, certainly to long to bring groceries back home. So I began to think, this could work towards my advantage. Why not bring my favorite parts of Las Vegas to St. George and start a business?
Here are some of the ideas that I came up that could quite potentially be great part and full-time work at home business to starts in smaller cities.
1. Web Design
I searched the web for St. George web design and the results were pretty sparse. I searched and probably found a total of five. With good design skills and some sales experience a person could make a living on it. There is an undiscovered business for web design. I also did many searches for St. George real estate, rentals, MLS, jobs, leisure activities, cost of living, etc. Of the very few websites I found many were extremely out of date and not optimized for search engines. I picked up the classifieds and real estate guides from the grocery store and discovered dozens of businesses actually had websites but I could not find them in Google.
2. Restaurant business
I love Caribbean food. As far as I can tell, from searching the internet, St. George does not have a restaurant that serves Caribbean food. Starting a specialty restaurant in a city like St. George would be cheaper than starting one in a city like Las Vegas and would also produce more loyal customers. All it would take is a little creative marketing.
3. Automatic toilets
Everywhere you go in Las Vegas you are sure to find automatic toilets, sinks and sometimes soap and towels in most of the public restrooms. It is something that I am very accustomed to. This type of sales based business would take an extremely clever, creative and motivated sales person with one spectacular sales pitch. However it could definitely pay off for the right person.
4. City magazines
Las Vegas has dozens of magazines I’ve seen everything from Las Vegas pets to Las Vegas golf. These magazines are geared strictly for Las Vegas locals. They can include local events, photos, stories from locals and anything else you can think of that someone from the city might enjoy. Revenue would come from advertisers and subscriptions if you choose to charge one.
5. Spas
A great spa is essential in every city. A unique spa in a small to medium sized city has great potential. This business would also need creative marketing to establish itself in a city that already has day spas but it can be done.
6. Hobby and craft store
Many smaller sized cities lack full-sized hobby and craft stores. Residents usually have to obtain these items from the internet or drive to the nearest city. Hobby and craft stores are not going to appeal to everyone, specifically in small towns. However proper trial and error in regards to the right products should produce steady customers, repeat business and a nice stream of income.
I am sure there are hundreds of other great ideas like these so feel free to share them. I would love to hear them. I may just have to start one of these business myself (I love the magazine idea).
