July 30, 2012

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Out of approximately 27 million businesses in the U.S., a growing number are one-person operations (solopreneurs), or what the government calls “nonemployers.”

Indeed, the number of firms without employees has increased to nearly 22 million in 2010 from about 14 million in 1992, according to the Small Business Administration. Many of the self-employed may have gotten their solo starts following a layoff or other event that left them looking for a paycheck. Others likely made the move for personal, career or family goals.

Sageworks, a financial information company that analyzes privately held companies, recently researched which small, service-based businesses could be good options for people looking to start their own companies. Through its cooperative data model, Sageworks collects financial statements for private companies from accounting firms, banks and credit unions, aggregating the data at an approximate rate of 1,000 statements a day.

Among U.S. services industries with the highest sales growth over the last 12 months, there are several that include businesses that could be started by one person. Each of these categories has also generated solid profit margins, according to Sageworks’ data.

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