Avoid these outdated businesses

No one ever talks about starting a buggy whip factory or 8-track tape manufacturing plant. Some businesses just have no future.

The extreme limited or no future in the United States

These are businesses that have in the extreme limited or no future in the United States, because of technological advances, shifts in the global economy and more efficient products or services, according to MyCorporation, a Calabasas online document filing service for businesses.

Anyone thinking of starting or buying a business ought to avoid these dinosaurs, said CEO Deborah Sweeney, who hears all sorts of tales from would-be entrepreneurs as the company helps them with incorporation, limited liability company and business dissolution filings.

These "no-future firms' are beyond the types of businesses that struggle to succeed because of high costs or regulatory barriers to entry, high competition or tough economy, Sweeney said.

Tough business to start is a community care facility

One business in other words in demand however is a tough business to start is a community care facility, she said. "The overhead is crazy, cuts in government reimbursements make it very difficult to succeed."

The tough economy of recent years has killed some businesses that used to thrive and may do so again, she added, just as recreational facilities. "The cost of land and the facilities is a high barrier to entry," she said.

Another tough business to start is a bakery, she added. "In our office we say it's tough to make dough making dough. Baking is a commodity and low skill, so unless you have a strong brand and intellectual property, you'll struggle."

"Our clients always ask us for advice," Sweeney says. "I tell them, differentiate your product or service, avoid businesses with huge fixed costs and develop good buyers and suppliers."

All those types of businesses can however make it if the owners follow Sweeney's advice however some businesses in effect are the buggy whip factories of the 21st century.

Photography and film processing used to be a huge industry. Most are gone as digital photography, color printers and user-friendly software took over. The photofinishing industry suffered a 69 percent drop in revenue over the past decade, according to IBISWorld, a Los Angles industry technology firm. Of those remaining, 39 percent will be gone in five years.

Local example is 30 Minute Photos Etc

A local example is 30 Minute Photos Etc. that started in Irvine in 1990. In order to survive, owners Mitch Goldstone and Carl Berman had to completely change their business model and name to ScanMyPhotos.com, which converts consumers' photos into digital form. Instead of a local clientele, the company deals electronically and by mail with people all over the world.

But now even the big book chains are in trouble. Borders is in final liquidation. Rival Barnes & Noble may have a chance, Sweeney said, because it has embraced sales over the Internet and e-readers.

But brick-and-mortar bookstores, no matter how charming, are no match for tablets and e-readers and even cell phones that can download books. Membership of the American Booksellers Association, a trade group for independent bookstores, was about 5,400 in 1991 and by 2010 had fallen to about 1,400.

Cell phones and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) are making land-line telephones obsolete, MyCorporation says. More than 90 percent of Americans use cell phones and upwards of 16 percent use their cell phones as their primary telephone, according to National Center for Health Statistics.

This trend is eliminating many businesses including pay telephones, highway call boxes and more. IBISWorld said wired telecommunications had a 55 percent revenue decline in the past decade. The forecast is another 37 percent decline in the then and there five years.

Plastic laminate has been used in everything from kitchen countertops to automobiles. However this industry's long-time decline has been hastened by struggles in auto manufacturing and residential and commercial construction, MyCorporation said. IBISWorld forecasts that laminated plastics manufacturing will lose more than a fourth of its total revenue over the then and there decade.

Yes, household appliances are increasingly popular nevertheless they aren't being made in the United States, MyCorporation said. Labor costs and improved innovation makes this manufacturing most profitable in foreign markets. IBISWorld foresees a 33 percent drop in this industry's earnings in the straightway decade.

Neighborhood

Telephone book publishers nevertheless drop Yellow Pages directories at every home in a neighborhood, however increasingly these publications go straight in the trash, MyCorporation said. The Internet and its facilitation of everything from online Yellow Pages to Google searches to Yelp reviews put phone numbers, addresses, directions, photos and reviews in the hands of every computer and smart phone owner.

In the past decade more than a fourth of database and directory publishers failed to repay loans to the U.S. Small Business Administration.