12 Shockingly Simple Service Businesses You Can Start for Under $100
Are you looking for a business idea that requires no special skills, minimal tools, and little to no startup capital? Forget complex tech startups and expensive franchises. The real opportunity lies in providing simple, essential services that people are willing to pay for to make their lives easier.
This list reveals 12 incredibly straightforward service businesses. The best part? You can start them tomorrow, operate them remotely using subcontractors, and build a significant, recurring revenue stream. Let's explore these low-competition, high-demand opportunities.
1. Trash Can Valet Service
The Concept: You bring customers' trash and recycling bins to the curb on collection day and return them after they’ve been emptied.
The Proof: Can Monkey makes $3 million a year with this exact model. They started with residential clients but now primarily serve Airbnb hosts and property management companies who need a reliable service for their rental properties.
How to Start: Target local Airbnb owners and property management firms. You can sign up entire portfolios of properties with a single contract. The startup cost is virtually $0—all you need is a mode of transportation.
Pricing: ~$49/month for two cans.
2. Dog Poop Removal Service
The Concept: A weekly or bi-weekly service where you clean up dog waste from a client's yard.
The Proof: Scoop Poop (scooppoop.com) generates over $100,000 a year in revenue. 75% of her income comes from recurring weekly cleanings, creating a stable, predictable business.
How to Start: Market your service to busy dog owners in your community. Offer one-time "spring cleanups" as a gateway to securing long-term recurring clients.
Pricing: Starts at $65/month for bi-weekly service.
3. Parking Lot Sweeping
The Concept: Cleaning litter and debris from commercial parking lots early in the morning or late at night when businesses are closed.
The Proof: As featured on the Side Hustle Nation podcast, an entrepreneur makes $650,000 a year in profit with his company, Clean Lots.
How to Start: Don't target massive lots; focus on strip malls with 5-7 stores. Call property management companies and offer your service—many don't even know it exists.
Pricing: Charge a recurring monthly fee per lot.
4. Laundry Pickup & Delivery Service
The Concept: Pick up dirty laundry from clients, wash and fold it, and return it clean.
The Proof: Poplin has built a network of 115,000 "Laundry Pros" across the U.S. who complete 3 million loads of laundry annually, all coordinated through their app.
How to Start: You can either join a platform like Poplin or start your own local service. For higher revenue, target commercial clients like restaurants that spend thousands on linen services each year.
Pricing: Varies based on load size; commercial contracts are highly lucrative.
5. Moving Labor Rental
The Concept: Provide manual labor to help people move—without the trucks. Clients rent "muscle" by the hour.
The Proof: Community Labor Partnership makes $600,000-$700,000 a year in profit by connecting people who need moving help with laborers.
How to Start: Their entire customer acquisition strategy is Craigslist ads and flyers at storage facilities. You simply act as the middleman, booking jobs and taking a fee while the laborer gets paid directly by the client.
Pricing: ~$100 for a single worker ($50 booking fee to you, $50 paid directly to the laborer).
6. Trash Can Cleaning
The Concept: Pressure-wash and sanitize customers' trash cans on a regular schedule.
The Proof: This is a growing industry. Companies like Tidy Trash Bins charge $50 for a one-time cleaning or $30/month for a recurring service.
How to Start: Begin with a pressure washer and soap. Target homeowners directly or secure contracts with HOAs and property managers for entire neighborhoods.
Pricing: $20-$30/month for recurring service per can.
7. Mattress & Couch Cleaning
The Concept: Offer deep cleaning services for upholstery and mattresses.
The Proof: A Denver-based company charges $265 to clean a sectional sofa and $149 for a king mattress. These are high-ticket, add-on services.
How to Start: The SEO competition is incredibly low. Keywords like "mattress cleaning service" have a difficulty score of 0/100 on Ahrefs, meaning you can easily rank a website and book jobs you can subcontract out.
Pricing: $150-$300 per job.
8. Industrial Byproduct Flipping (Pallets)
The Concept: Collect unused pallets, cardboard, or crates from warehouses (often for free) and resell them to businesses that need them.
The Proof: A entrepreneur documented making $875 in 50 minutes by picking up 125 free pallets and selling them for $7 each to another business just 3.5 miles away.
How to Start: Drive through industrial districts and ask warehouses if they have spare pallets or cardboard to get rid of. Find buyers online or at local pallet yards.
Pricing: Pallets sell for $3-$7 each.
9. Cardboard Removal Service
The Concept: Offer a recurring subscription service to pick up and recycle cardboard from homes and businesses overwhelmed by packaging from online shopping.
The Proof: While no major company dominates this space yet, the problem is universal. Many people and small businesses would gladly pay a monthly fee to have someone handle this tedious chore.
How to Start: Target suburban homes and small businesses. You could even get paid by the recycling center for the cardboard you bring in.
Pricing: Charge a monthly subscription fee ($15-$30).
10. Curb Number Painting
The Concept: Paint house numbers on curbs to improve visibility for emergency services and delivery drivers.
The Proof: Curb Number Painting operates nationwide, focusing on securing contracts with entire Homeowners Associations (HOAs) for hundreds of homes at a time.
How to Start: Get stencils and spray paint. Pitch your service to local HOAs and property management companies for bulk jobs.
Pricing: Charge per house; bulk HOA contracts are most profitable.
11. Dead Animal Removal
The Concept: A specialized service to remove deceased animals from properties.
The Proof: This is a high-demand, low-competition niche. Removal of a single animal can cost $200-$600, and prices can exceed $1,000 if the animal is in an attic or crawl space.
How to Start: The keyword "dead animal removal" has low SEO competition (difficulty 1/100) and high search volume (2,400/mo). Build a simple website and subcontract the actual removal to local pest control workers.
Pricing: $200-$1,000+ per job.
12. Light Bulb & Smoke Detector Replacement
The Concept: Offer a subscription service to replace light bulbs and smoke detector batteries for rental properties, Airbnb units, and commercial buildings.
The Proof: A handyman reported making $600 a day performing this simple service. Property managers and landlords need this done regularly between tenants.
How to Start: Target commercial property management companies and Airbnb hosts. A single contract could cover dozens of properties.
Pricing: $75+ service call minimum, plus $7-$20 per bulb replaced.
Your Blueprint for Success
The common thread among these businesses is their simplicity and reliance on recurring revenue or commercial contracts. You don't need to be an expert; you need to be a good organizer.
1. Start Local: Choose one service and test it in your neighborhood.
2. Systemize: Create simple processes for booking, doing the job, and invoicing.
3. Subcontract: Once you have a steady stream of clients, hire subcontractors to do the physical work while you manage the business and market for new customers.
4. Scale: Expand to neighboring cities by replicating your marketing system and hiring local subcontractors there.
These ideas prove that a valuable business doesn't have to be complex. It just has to solve a simple problem reliably. Which one will you start first?