Mar 24, 2026
With smartphones having become such a big part of our daily lives, it’s easy to feel as though you can’t separate yourself from your device for even a moment.
Gone are the days when we all used regular telephones — one with a handset, a cord and buttons that you actually have to push down. And if this quick glimpse back into our old reality has you feeling a little nostalgic, you’re not alone.
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One savvy entrepreneur has taken this longing and turned it into a successful small business, where she sells landline phones that are Bluetooth enabled. A report from CNBC Make It details how Cat Goetze started Physical Phones, her business that brought in more than $789,000 in sales in just six months (1).
Goetze said she got the idea in 2023 after the pandemic saw her trying to cut down on screentime. But when she looked into getting a landline, the cost of installation — plus the $80 a month she’d have to shell out — pushed her to find an alternative.
Goetze, who studied science, technology and society at Stanford, built a prototype and revealed it in a TikTok video in 2023. Her product, however, got very little attention.
“I was like, OK, whatever, that’s fine,” she shared with CNBC. “This was, like, a fun project. I wasn’t really trying to make money off of it anyways.”
But two years later, after building CatGPT — an online brand focused on wellness and artificial intelligence — she posted another video about her Bluetooth-enabled telephone. And this time it went viral.
In its first three days on the market, the product raked in $120,000 in sales, CNBC reports. Goetze attributes her product’s success to her ability to tap into the zeitgeist.
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“As a creator-founder,” Goetze told CNBC, “my zone of genius, if you will, comes from my ability to stick that cultural antenna up into the air and understand what my audience wants, and being able to predict and build what they want next.”
Starting a small business
Data from 2025 shows there are 36.2 million small businesses in the U.S. (2).
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — measuring the survival of private-sector businesses from 2013 to 2023 — found that 20.4% failed after one year. And after 10 years, only 34.7% were still in operation, meaning about one-third survived the decade (3).
The costs of starting a business will vary depending on what your business is. For example, starting a business that sells vintage items on a resale app could be low-cost, needing only a few hundred dollars to get started, whereas a larger operation could cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to get off the ground. Goetze was able to fund the first round of production for her phones with pre-order sales.
Some startup costs for small businesses might include:
- Business registration fees or incorporation fees: anywhere from a few hundred dollars to over $1,000 (4)
- Licences or permits: varying cost
- General liability insurance: about $500/year
- Business taxes: 21% corporation tax, plus 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare for employees
- Website: starting at $2,000 for a professional designer (5)
- Rent or real estate costs: varying
- Inventory costs: varying
Taking the leap to start a small business can feel like starting a side hustle, or leaving your 9-to-5 completely, but it depends greatly on your specific circumstances. To figure out what’s feasible for your move into business ownership, you can seek out counseling through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) website, which has a tool that connects small business owners to local counselors (6).
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How to know when you’re ready
When it comes to assessing whether you’re in a good place financially to start a business, consider your risk tolerance, and whether you have personal debt that could impact your ability to cope. Make sure that your initial investment and operating costs will be manageable.
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The SBA website has other tools for small business owners, including information on market research, writing a business plan, calculating startup costs, and information on how to apply for funding. There’s also information on day-to-day operations such as managing finances, hiring and managing employees, and paying taxes.
Assess your market awareness as well; Goetze’s insight that people were wanting to get away from screens, and felt nostalgic for landline phones, spelled success for her company. Doing your own research into whether there are other businesses in your area that offer similar services, and whether there’s a market for your product or service, is another important step.
You can also try reaching out to entrepreneurs that may have inspired you for advice, or find books and podcasts by people who’ve started similar businesses.
When it comes to your business finances, you may want to think about how you can protect your assets as you start your business. Consider the different types of incorporation, and which ones could offer possible protections against personal liability for debts, or if someone sues you.
It’s also recommended that you aim to keep your business finances separate from your personal finances. This will make finances easier to manage, and may reduce your liability when it comes to asset protection (7).
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
CNBC Make It (1); U.S. Small Business Association (2, 6); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (3); Shopify (4); Stripe (5); Western & Southern Financial Group (7).
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Rebecca Payne has more than a decade of experience editing and producing both local and national daily newspapers. She's worked on the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Metro, Canada's National Observer, the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
