A couple of years ago, I was driving to work when I heard a guy on local radio talking about his business. He travelled around local restaurants, sharpening their knives. He had a van kitted out with sharpening tools, took the knives into his van, sharpened them and then gave them back. Customers were on a regular cycle, so pretty much everything was repeat business.

In these days of myriad online opportunities, it’s easy to overlook the traditional ‘old school ones’. Think how many restaurants and café’s there are in your area, the number of hairdressers with scissors and shears…and then add in the number of households with blunt knives, hedge trimmers and lawn mowers. Might there be a business there for you?