Tokens, blockchain, and NFTs are just a few of the new elements that complicate understanding today’s virtual worlds.  Screenshot (CC) by Duncan Rawlinson.

Are you a proficient online gamer or metaworld master based in a rural community? You could make a small business out of being a virtual world tour guide.

Years ago, a now-defunct business ideas site profiled Synthtravels, a business that offered guided tours of online virtual worlds.

If you’ve heard of the metaverse or virtual worlds, but didn’t know how to begin or where to go or what to do, why not let a real person act as tour guide and show you around? That’s the idea of this business.

As online worlds increasingly overlay and relate to the physical world through augmented reality, connecting with a guide makes even more sense.

I can imagine starting with Zoom or video calls to help the customer setup hardware like VR goggles, or to get started with the software behind worlds like Decentraland, Fortnite, or Horizon World.

Then imagine customers venturing into the virtual world, but with a guide at their side to answer questions and ease them through common initial issues.

After that, there’s potential in helping people set up wallets, learn about tokens and NFTs, and understand the blockchain underpinnings of the metaverse.

If you are experienced with virtual worlds, this is a business or sideline you could operate from anywhere you can get online. You could target niche groups of customers, like parents curious about what kids might experience and business executives trying to get started in this new market.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Subscribe.

Shawn popped up a business test in his own yard! Photo by Deb Brown

Your fellow reader Ava asked a great question:

If I am already working, in school, and wanting to start up just a real small small business, then how would that work differently from someone who is coming from a completely different stand point, like not working or in school and is just generally starting up their business with saved money? Thank you!

The secret to starting a real side hustle, side gig or just a real small small business is to take small steps.

Try small scale steps that get your idea in front of people who can pay for it. That’s how you’ll build knowledge of what works, build an initial following in the market, and build assets toward your next, bigger step.

What can you do to test a business idea?

You don’t need much to start small. Even one square foot of space may be enough. Photo by Becky McCray.

• Try something temporary: pop-up for a day, a week or a season.
• Try something tiny: look for just a few hundred square feet to set up in.
• Try something together: set up your business inside an existing business, coworking space, maker space, shared art studio, or shared commercial kitchen.
• Try a truck or trailer: use more than one town to gather enough customers.

For example, a high school student in Alva, Oklahoma, popped up a business test by borrowing just one square foot of counter space in a beauty salon. She sold hand braided headbands made from fabrics scraps.

Our Deb Brown wrote more about testing your way into business here: Business plans are not worth the paper they’re written on

Surprise twist: this is how I’d advise someone not working or in school, someone who was generally starting up their business with saved money, too.

You can ask your rural small business question here.

These apples from a backyard tree might go to waste, or they might be the start of a profitable side business.

By Becky McCray

Need an idea for your next small town or rural business? This one would make a good side hustle: Gather and resell fruit that would otherwise be wasted.

Think of all the fruit, berries and nuts that no one picks, especially in yards and public spaces in your town.

You don’t have to be in a big town, either. In my yard, we have apple, pear and pecan trees that produce far more than we can use. Then there are my neighbors’ half dozen fruit trees, the wild greens and seeds growing along the side of the road, not to mention the wealth of mulberries that drop each year. All that in a community of just 30 people.

It will be different where you live. My friends in Maine talk about gathering and cooking fiddlehead ferns, and Deb learned that you can forage for hazelnuts in Iowa in a workshop from her Legacy Learning group.

You might have heard food gathering called foraging, urban harvesting or gleaning. Whatever you call it, it’s an opportunity for a small business, especially a seasonal or part time gig.

Where to find free foods to gather

You can ask around to find good sources for fallen fruits.

• Who has lots of fruit trees in their yard?
• Who used to garden but is older now?

Knock on their door and ask for permission to harvest the fruits or plants they won’t be needing. You can even offer to split the harvest: part to them for having the trees or plants, part to you to sell.

You can also look around for fruit, berries or nuts that are free for anyone to take.

• Where is fruit falling on sidewalks or over fences into the alley?
• Where are berries or nut trees growing wild or in public places?

Look for classes or workshops in foraging or harvesting wild foods. Extension education groups or cultural heritage organizations may offer sessions.

Talk to your elders to learn what they remember about gathering wild foods. My grandmother told me about gathering wild greens for salad back in the Great Depression.

Be good neighbors

Learn to forage safely and for safe foods. Check your library for books about local wild foods you can check out. Ask librarians if they know of workshops and classes. Learn and follow the health and food safety regulations that apply in your area.

Don’t enter people’s private property without permission, of course. Ask permission if it’s not clear where the boundary is or it just seems like you ought to.

Leave some for others. You’re part of a community, so don’t strip shared trees bare or take more than you are pretty sure you can sell. Maybe take special care to leave some easy to reach fruits on lower branches for kids and elders who may come after you.

Be smart business people

Take small steps in your business by gathering a few samples, just enough to sell at the farmer’s market this weekend. Then you’ll have a better idea what and how much to gather on the next foraging trip.

Add value to your wild foods. Find out the health regulations, then try your hand at jams, jellies, roasted nuts or even baked goods.

Wild sand plums make great jelly that’s always in demand in Oklahoma. The bushes grow wild alongside many county roads.

You can add value to nuts like hard shell pecans by having them cracked. Learn how to thresh wild grains to make them more valuable to customers.

Even cleaning and displaying your fruits attractively will add value. Scout around the farmer’s market or grocery store for ideas how to make your own foods sell better.

The types of wild foods available and the ways you can add value to them will vary, so learn from those local workshops and local elders.

I bet you could even sell responsibly foraged flowers.

The county is just going to mow these wild sunflowers down. What if you cut some to sell at the farmers market?

Falling Fruits on the map

There’s a collaborative global map of free places to go look for foods to harvest at FallingFruit.org with entries in most countries including the US, Canada and Australia.

When you find good free food sources, add them to the map. As rural people, we know we depend on each other especially in tough times. That’s a good reason to share what you know.

You’re part of the Food Business Ecosystem

Gathering fruits and berries is just one part of a whole ecosystem of local food businesses. Find out more about creating a local food business ecosystem with this video we created with SaveYour.Town.

Easy summer business for teens: helping seniors with their cell phones.

Looking for the perfect instant summer business idea for young entrepreneurs? Try phone clinics.

I saw this idea pop-up in a meeting that involved a cross section of the town of Cathlamet, Washington. People of all ages were there: students from the high school, county commissioners, chamber of commerce members. One of the adults was lamenting that they didn’t know how to fix a certain annoying problem with their phone.

“That’s easy,” one of the students said. “I’ll help you after this is over.”

Immediately other adults spoke up. They had phone issues, too! Could they get help?

That’s a business idea! With just a sign and a couple of chairs, any tech savvy person could set up a booth at an event. Set a price by the job or by time.

There’s plenty of demand from older adults who are online and need some tech support. Maybe not a full time class, just a quick solution.

Especially in small towns, there aren’t a lot of established alternatives, so there’s not too much competition.

More help with Youth Engagement

Deb Brown and I are sharing what we’ve learned from working with students and youth in small towns. Learn more about our Connecting with Kids video here.

Photo (CC) by Malin Andreassen, on Flickr

“If only” is a statement I hear often from small-business owners.

Sometimes the wishes are big and grandiose. But most of the time, the wishes are just what one might expect such as more customers, a big order, more space or more money to work with or in the bank at the end of the month.

Yes, often the wishes are just dreaming, yet I have also seen a them come true.

It is great when that happens but, when asked, business owners often reflect that this great positive showed weaknesses in their planning and preparation.

Issues that these owners have faced include: keeping customers happy once they start coming; getting and training an adequate level of staff, needing more space and equipment, finding where to get more raw materials, and, of course, needing more money. Even when things are going good and money is starting to come in, the demand for access to even more cash grows as well.

Business owners comment that they were looking at much larger loans or at new challenges as they considered raising equity capital or working with an angel or venture capitalists.

So should you, as the owner, give up on your wishes? Not at all. For most people, the wishing stage just gets us started thinking about the future. And those thoughts form the start of what all business owners should do, planning.

Wishing is a good lead for the next step, the “what if” statements. How might your business be impacted if a wish does happen? Are you ready to respond?

Being ready to respond will make achieving your wish feel so much better. It also may help direct what you wish for. For example, many people enjoy the creative process. If demand should skyrocket, he or she becomes a manager and loses any hands-on role. It’s something to think about and plan for to ensure that your small business continues to fulfill your dreams and desires.

Wishing or dreaming or whatever you want to call it is a huge motivator. It keeps us motivated. And that will build your business.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” The key to this story is do not let your wishes be the end of your dreams.

Photo (CC) by One Way Stock, on Flickr

Knowing what your customer wants is the base to building a successful business.

Of course, you still must meet that need, let customers know you have what they want, and price it at a level that customers feel is acceptable. But the process begin with knowing the problem they are trying to solve.

Market research is how to get the answer to this question.

Small-business owners need to use market research. When doing so, they also need to remember that all customers are not the same and that desires change through time.

Examining and understanding each part of the demand for a business’ services and products will help the owner be far more precise in understanding and planning how to meet the demand. Just like owners know that customers have a variety of responses in terms of acceptable prices, customers vary in the specifics of what they want.

To understand the idea of market research better, let’s look at food-related businesses.

People need food to sustain themselves. Thus, the need is very basic. Yet the demands for food can take a variety of paths, which offers business owners various opportunities.

When thinking of the opportunities, an owner might begin with the foods your customer grew up with in terms of heritage, culture and local offerings. This is only the beginning today, however. Now some people want to experience new things. Others would like to do it themselves, while some want the foods already prepared. Of those who want it prepared, some want to do the final cooking at home, while others will get it from a full-service restaurant.

So one desire can turn out to be multiple desires and multiple opportunities for a business. This does not even take into account the fact that for customers, the choices aren’t an either/or but are somewhere on a continuum. 

As a market researcher, you shouldn’t stop there. You have individuals who need certain specific diets and others who just desire such a diet. You also have people who want the items grown locally and those who are happy to accept getting what they want from whatever source that will provide it.

Market research can find these niches. Each one may (emphasize the “may”) be an opportunity for a small business or a new line for an existing business. Knowing what the customer wants may not tell you a specific business to start. You still need to determine which of the opportunities is the best for you. 

Market research is not a one-time task, though. Times change, people change and our worldview changes. People age and travel, and technology brings new ideas. Thus, an opportunity today might not be there in five or 10 years. Look at restaurants that come and go. Think back to what grocery stores offered 10 years ago to what they offer today. Or go to a different region of the country and see how a grocery store’s offerings differ just based on regional differences.

Being successful in business means knowing what the customer wants. Knowing what your customer wants comes from ongoing market research.