Stop Chasing the Next Big Thing. Build Around What People Can't Stop Buying.

September 2026

There's a strange bias in entrepreneurship.

Tell someone:

“I'm building an AI startup.”

Interesting.

Tell them:

“I'm buying a commercial cleaning company.”

Silence.

Tell them:

“We're developing blockchain infrastructure.”

Sounds ambitious.

Tell them:

“We're consolidating pest-control routes.”

Not exactly cocktail-party material.

But customers don't pay businesses because their founders sound interesting at dinner.

They pay businesses to solve problems.

And some problems aren't going anywhere.

Buildings still need heating.

Pipes still leak.

Electrical systems still need installation.

Medical facilities still need cleaning.

Termites still eat wood.

Businesses still need industrial space.

People still accumulate stuff.

Which creates an interesting question:

But don't read those as five random business ideas.

Look underneath them.

That's where the strategy gets interesting.

Suppose you sell decorative wall art.

Customer thinks:

“I'd like that.”

Then the economy tightens.

They think:

“Maybe next year.”

Now imagine it's 17°F outside and their furnace stops working.

Different buying decision.

The question isn't:

“Would I enjoy having heat?”

It's:

That's a fundamentally different category of demand.

Businesses become interesting when the cost of not buying becomes substantial.

Think:

Broken refrigeration at a restaurant.

Electrical failure at a warehouse.

Flooding in an apartment building.

Pest infestation at a hotel.

Compliance failure at a medical facility.

Customers aren't browsing casually.

They need resolution.

Here's a useful way to evaluate boring businesses.

Ask:

If the answer is:

“Not much.”

Demand may be discretionary.

If the answer is:

They lose revenue.

Operations stop.

Property gets damaged.

Employees can't work.

Customers complain.

Regulators become involved.

Insurance exposure increases.

Health or safety becomes a concern.

The problem gets more expensive.

Now you're looking at something different.

You don't need fake scarcity when reality provides it.

This is perhaps the biggest misconception about traditional service businesses.

People hear:

PLUMBING COMPANY

and imagine themselves underneath a sink.

They hear:

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR

and think:

“I don't know anything about electrical work.”

But the entrepreneurial opportunity can be different.

Imagine a brilliant HVAC technician.

Excellent diagnostician.

Customers love him.

But his business runs like this:

Calls arrive on his personal phone.

Appointments live in a notebook.

Invoices get sent three weeks late.

Trucks cross town unnecessarily.

Parts are purchased retail as needed.

Nobody follows up on estimates.

No maintenance program exists.

No review system exists.

No customer database gets marketed.

Technically excellent.

Operationally weak.

You don't necessarily need to become a better HVAC technician.

You could build:

Take almost any traditional service company and examine:

Scheduling.

Routing.

Estimating.

Purchasing.

Inventory.

Billing.

Collections.

CRM.

Follow-up.

Reviews.

Retention.

Subscriptions.

Marketing.

Hiring.

Training.

Customer communication.

Reporting.

Technology.

You may discover that the service itself isn't the biggest opportunity.

That's why an old industry can still contain new opportunities.

You're not necessarily inventing a better wrench.

You're building a better machine around the person holding it.

Imagine an HVAC company that only hears from customers when something breaks.

That's transactional.

Customer calls.

Technician arrives.

Repair happens.

Invoice gets paid.

Goodbye.

Now imagine the company offers:

Includes:

Seasonal system inspection.

Priority scheduling.

Discounted emergency service.

Filter reminders.

Annual plumbing check.

Maintenance history.

Early warning recommendations.

Now the relationship changes.

Instead of waiting for emergencies...

the company has recurring customer contact.

And instead of competing for that customer again every time something breaks...

it already has the relationship.

This principle goes far beyond HVAC.

Quarterly prevention plan.

Recurring facility contract.

Seasonal property plan.

Scheduled inspections.

Preventive maintenance.

Managed support.

Monthly maintenance.

Monitoring.

Ask:

That shift can transform the economics.

Everyone sees the flashy trend.

Few people ask what the trend physically requires.

Take AI.

The obvious opportunity is:

Build an AI company.

But AI also requires:

Data centers.

Power.

Cooling.

Construction.

Electrical systems.

Backup power.

Network infrastructure.

Security.

Maintenance.

Specialized facilities.

That's the picks-and-shovels principle.

When an industry grows rapidly, don't only study the companies at the center.

Study everything they suddenly need more of.

Instead of:

Ask:

More data centers?

Maybe more electrical infrastructure.

More warehouses?

Maybe more industrial maintenance.

More senior housing?

Maybe more accessibility services.

More e-commerce?

Maybe more last-mile logistics infrastructure.

More electric vehicles?

Maybe more charging installation and electrical upgrades.

The headline trend attracts competition.

The supporting infrastructure may attract less attention.

Consider commercial cleaning.

Company A says:

Company B says:

Same broad industry.

Very different positioning.

The second company can build expertise around:

Protocols.

Documentation.

Employee training.

Materials.

Quality control.

Scheduling.

Facility requirements.

Compliance.

Now customers aren't simply comparing:

“Who charges less per hour?”

They're evaluating:

“Who understands our environment?”

That's a better competitive conversation.

“Cleaning” sounds inexpensive.

But:

Cleaning a neighborhood office...

is different from:

Cleaning a pharmaceutical environment.

“Electrical work” sounds generic.

But:

Replacing a residential outlet...

is different from:

Supporting a facility with specialized power requirements.

“Pest control” sounds ordinary.

But:

Treating one homeowner's ants...

is different from:

Managing pest compliance across a regional food-processing operation.

The category might be boring.

The customer problem doesn't have to be small.

Most entrepreneurs dislike regulation.

Understandable.

Paperwork.

Certifications.

Inspections.

Documentation.

Rules.

Training.

But here's another way to look at it.

Suppose entering a market requires:

Specialized certification.

Detailed records.

Employee training.

Insurance.

Regular inspections.

Reporting.

Operational procedures.

Most competitors think:

You should at least consider:

Because every legitimate obstacle that makes you want to quit may make someone else quit too.

Imagine two pest-control companies.

Company A:

“Call Bob.”

Company B:

Digital scheduling.

Technician tracking.

Service records.

Automatic reminders.

Transparent pricing.

Documented treatment plan.

Customer portal.

Subscription options.

Automated billing.

Professional follow-up.

Same fundamental service.

Different buying experience.

Technology doesn't need to eliminate the traditional business.

Sometimes it simply makes the traditional business dramatically easier to buy from.

Traditional businesses don't need AI sprinkled on everything.

They need technology where it improves economics or customer experience.

For example:

Less windshield time.

Fewer administrative hours.

Faster approvals.

Fewer unnecessary visits.

Fewer collection problems.

Less back-and-forth.

Know which accounts actually make money.

Reduce waste and emergency purchasing.

That's practical technology.

Not technology for the press release.

Technology for the P&L.

Imagine a self-storage facility.

Great location.

Strong occupancy.

But operations haven't changed since 1998.

Paper leases.

Padlocks.

Cash/check payments.

Limited website.

No automated access.

No dynamic pricing.

No digital rental process.

Owner answers every phone call.

That's not necessarily a bad asset.

It may be an inefficient asset.

The opportunity could be:

That's very different from inventing a startup.

Suppose there are four independent commercial cleaning companies in neighboring towns.

Each has:

One owner.

One administrator.

Separate billing.

Separate software.

Separate marketing.

Separate purchasing.

Separate websites.

Separate recruiting.

Now imagine one operator acquires all four.

Customers keep their service teams.

But behind the scenes:

One accounting system.

One CRM.

One scheduling platform.

One purchasing function.

One marketing engine.

One recruiting system.

One management layer.

That's where consolidation becomes interesting.

You don't necessarily change the service.

There's another advantage traditional businesses can have:

Imagine a pest-control company with 100 customers scattered across 80 miles.

Compare that with 100 customers concentrated across eight miles.

Same customer count.

Completely different operational economics.

Less driving.

More appointments per technician.

Lower fuel costs.

Faster emergency response.

Easier supervision.

Stronger local brand recognition.

That means expansion shouldn't always begin with:

“Which new city should we enter?”

Sometimes it should begin with:

Once operations become digitized, you can begin asking:

Which technicians produce the highest customer satisfaction?

Which routes generate the most profit?

Which customers repeatedly need emergency service?

Which contracts lose money?

Which neighborhoods convert best?

Which equipment fails most frequently?

Which customers are likely to cancel?

Which services lead to repeat purchases?

Which locations should we acquire next?

Now the boring business starts behaving like a sophisticated operating company.

And that's the point.

The five businesses in the source look different:

HVAC and plumbing.

Electrical infrastructure.

Commercial cleaning.

Pest control.

Storage and industrial space.

But underneath, they're remarkably similar.

They tend to benefit from some combination of:

Customers can't indefinitely ignore the problem.

Maintenance, contracts, subscriptions, or rent.

Many smaller local operators.

Processes that can potentially be improved.

Expertise can reduce direct price comparison.

Modern tools can improve an old service.

Knowledge and compliance can become barriers to entry.

Multiple small operations may share centralized infrastructure.

That's the actual opportunity framework.

Not:

But:

When evaluating an opportunity, score each category from 1–5.

How painful is doing nothing?

Does the problem return?

Can customers move onto contracts, memberships, maintenance, or subscriptions?

Are there many independent competitors?

Are competitors still running inefficiently?

Can existing technology materially improve margins or service?

Can you dominate a narrower, higher-value customer segment?

Do regulations or certifications discourage weaker competitors?

Can one relationship become economically meaningful over time?

Can customers or assets be concentrated geographically?

Are smaller operators available that could potentially be acquired?

Can you sell additional essential services to the same customer?

You're not searching for the sexiest score.

You're searching for:

The title “5 Boring Businesses That Will Make Millionaires in 2026” should be treated as a headline, not a financial guarantee.

The transcript makes numerous specific market-size, growth, margin, occupancy, acquisition-multiple, customer-value, regulatory, and efficiency claims. For example, it gives specific figures for HVAC/plumbing economics and acquisition multiples, commercial-cleaning margins and labor savings, pest-control pricing and market size, and self-storage occupancy.

Those figures are presented in the transcription without enough underlying sourcing for us to independently establish them from this file alone.

So we shouldn't build the newsletter around:

“Buy this and become a millionaire.”

The useful lesson is more grounded:

And essential doesn't mean automatically profitable.

HVAC companies can fail.

Cleaning companies can lose money.

Pest-control businesses can churn customers.

Electrical contractors can misprice projects.

Storage facilities can be overleveraged or purchased at the wrong price.

Acquisitions can destroy value.

Recurring revenue can still have poor margins.

Technology can cost more than it saves.

Execution matters.

Capital structure matters.

Purchase price matters.

Management matters.

Local competition matters.

Labor matters.

And cash flow matters.

The opportunity isn't simply buying something boring.

Don't start by asking:

Drive around your own market and ask:

Look for businesses where customers complain about:

Nobody answering the phone.

Missed appointments.

Paper invoices.

Confusing pricing.

Slow estimates.

Poor communication.

Outdated websites.

No online booking.

Inconsistent service.

No preventive plans.

No follow-up.

Limited payment options.

Long arrival windows.

Bad reviews.

Then ask:

Because if customers need the underlying service...

and the industry isn't serving them particularly well...

you may have found something worth investigating.

Entrepreneurs are trained to look toward the future.

The newest technology.

The newest platform.

The newest trend.

The newest business model.

But sometimes opportunity isn't sitting five years ahead of everyone else.

Sometimes it's sitting twenty years behind.

It's the HVAC company still scheduling on paper.

The commercial cleaner that doesn't know which contracts make money.

The pest-control company without recurring plans.

The electrician who is technically exceptional but can't market.

The storage operator who still requires customers to visit the office during business hours.

None of these businesses needs to become sexy.

They need to become better.

Better systems.

Better technology.

Better customer experiences.

Better recurring revenue.

Better specialization.

Better purchasing.

Better routing.

Better management.

Better economics.

So while everyone else searches for the next revolutionary business idea, there's another place worth looking: