The 5 best recession-proof businesses to buy for 2025

Want to know the best way to build a recession-proof business in 2025?

Buy one that’s already survived a recession!

Here are five tried-and-true businesses that will thrive even if the rest of the world is falling apart.

Plus, you don’t need prior experience to turn a profit with any of them.

Let’s crack into it:

1. Road sign manufacturing

Your main customers are government authorities (city, state, federal, etc.) who have to buy signs.

These contracts are worth serious revenue… and even in a recession, people will always need road signs.

Land good government contracts, and you’re set.

2. Waste management

This can be a home run if you find the right deal.

• It’s inherently recession-proof (everyone makes trash)

• The recurring revenue is infinite (people don’t make trash just once)

• It has a high barrier to entry (which keeps competition low)

One of my students bought a private waste management company in rural Alabama with just two trucks.

He kept the previous owner and his brother as drivers, and grew recurring revenue by 25% just by marketing to more homes in the area.

And he never had to pick up any trash himself!

3. Home services

This covers dozens of subcategories, including:

• HVAC

• Plumbing

• Electrical

• Pool cleaning

• Landscaping

• Gutter cleaning

Home services hit that “core three” that I constantly talk about (recession-resistant, recurring revenue, barrier to entry).

A student of mine, Lindsay, recently used an SBA loan to buy a carpet-cleaning business. She’s set to make over $180k in cash flow in her first year!

4. Paint striping

This isn’t just a “nice-to-have” for businesses.

In most areas, the government requires by law that roads and parking lots are re-striped regularly.

Get a few good contracts, and you'll have guaranteed income for years.

5. Accounting firms

I saved the best for last...

Here’s something most people don’t know:

Normal businesses are valued at 3X to 4X their cash flow.

Accounting firms are different, because they’re valued at 1X the previous year’s revenue.

So with 40-60% profit margins (which is common), buying an accounting firm for $1M can net you $500k cashflow per year.

I bought one in Kentucky in 2023 for $1.7M with $0 out of pocket, and it’s now generating $850K in annual cash flow for me and my partners.

That’s an insane ROI!

And the cherry on top...

All of these businesses are AI-proof.

They provide physical services that technology can’t replace.

(Yes, including accounting! It’ll be a minute before liability laws allow AI to do taxes unsupervised.)

Are they boring?

You bet.

But they’ve been around for generations, and will be for generations to come.

Want to learn how to buy one of these businesses for zero down, or invest passively as a silent partner?

Fill out our 2-minute Interested Investor Survey here.

Or if you’re interested in selling a business:

Let me know here, and tell me the details. We’ll help match you with qualified buyers.

Until Tuesday’s issue!