What a year 2020 has been for business – or rather, what a year it hasn’t been. The year isn’t quite over yet, but for the majority of businesses, it’s been a disaster. That isn’t our fault. There’s nothing that could have been done to avert what happened at the start of the year, so all we can do is pick up the pieces and look for a better twelve months ahead. That won’t happen automatically, though – we have to make it happen. If you’re an entrepreneur looking for a new avenue to pursue, or somebody considering setting up a business for the first time, it’s time to think about what’s actually going to make money in the next year.

2021 will look very different from 2020. People’s buying habits have changed. People have got used to spending money on new things, and they’ve stopped spending money on things that are no longer relevant. We’re seeing a big move toward the digital, and a step away from the physical. Just as surely as digital money transactions are replacing physical money transactions, interactions that once happened in person are now happening through the internet. The key to success is to identify those interactions and work out how to make money out of them.

If you’re looking for a fresh start in 2021 and you’re wondering which industries are most likely to see significant growth, here’s our take on the matter.

Cybersecurity

The more dependant we are on the internet, the more the threat of cybercrime will grow. It’s been growing exponentially for as long as the internet has existed anyway, but we’re expecting the next few years to see rapid acceleration. Mainstream media outlets have already started asking whether business practices where it relates to cybersecurity have adapted to the times we’re living in, and the answer is usually ‘no.’ A lot of change has happened in a short space of time when it comes to how many people are working from home and how reliant we are on data being transferred across the internet, and security policy hasn’t caught up yet in most cases.

Cybersecurity is about more than designing software – it’s about education. Even the best software in the world won’t prevent human error all the time, and so people need to be trained on how to spot a scam, a phishing attack, or any other technique people use to steal money online. Whether it’s software, hardware, or education, there’s going to be a lot of money to be made in cybersecurity.

Video Gaming

We’ve almost gone back to the 1980s and 1990s when it comes to video gaming. Back then, it was common for one programmer working alone (often at home) to release a game to the market and for the market to lap it up. We need only look at the success of Kevin Toms with “Football Manager,” Sid Meier with “Civilization,” and David Braben with “Elite” as evidence of that. Times changed for a while, though, and video games became mass-produced products like movies. The latest and greatest releases often have a list of credits longer than your entire body.

Mobile gaming has changed that. People are always on the lookout for something to pass the time with on their phone when they’re bored, and simple mobile games are often the order of the day. “Flappy Bird,” lest we all forget, was developed by just one man and took the world by storm. “Candy Crush Saga” and “Angry Birds” are similarly basic-yet-popular games. Retraining as a games developer right now – or starting a company and buying someone who can code – might be a shrewd move.

Online Casinos

The growth of online casinos has been a steady process that’s been happening for years, irrespective of what’s happened in 2020. The moment it became possible to take standard casino games and encode them into websites, the casino industry was bound to change. What started as a few experimental online slots websites has now turned into a colossal industry that’s worth multiple billions of dollars each year. The revenue made by the sector has been doubling every three years and probably won’t slow down any time soon. Online slots can earn big money from the players who win cash from them, but they make even more for the people who own them.

Getting into the casino industry can be difficult, but the beauty of the model is that you don’t necessarily have to know much about money casino to become the proud owner of an online slots website. Many of the larger companies are happy for you to acquire a franchise from them, and they’ll provide you with everything you need. All you need to do is find a way of attracting customers – and that’s more about marketing knowledge than it is about understanding online slots. If it’s legal to gamble where you live, this could be a money-spinner for you in 2021.

Food Delivery

Uber Eats. Deliveroo. Just Eat. Hello Fresh. What do these names mean to you? If your answer to that question is “there are way too many food delivery services already,” you’re missing the point. None of these services existed ten years ago. They’ve grown so quickly because they found an exploitable gap in the market, and there’s no suggestion the market is saturated yet.

If you’re interested in making money this way, look for the gaps that the existing services don’t cover. Not every service is available in every area. Not every restaurant has an agreement with any of the delivery services. You could set yourself up as a local specialist, working in partnership with local firms to cover the neighborhoods near you. All you need is a few willing people with bicycles or cars, and you’re in business. Add to that a seamless job management software to ensure that all processes go smoothly, and both your partner restaurants and customers will be happy to stay loyal to you. If this sounds simple, it’s because it is. Food delivery is a very basic idea, and yet within the past decade, we’ve seen start-up companies make millions from it.

On the topic of food, have we given you food for thought? We certainly hope so. Don’t act on our advice alone, though – do your own research, and consider speaking to a business adviser. The world may have changed, but there’s still money to be made in it. All you have to do is find your angle, and the angles we’ve mentioned here look good to us!