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Do you have big entrepreneurial dreams but a very small budget? Always wanted to be your own boss, but have financial concerns?
If you’re looking for a new business venture but don’t have the funds to start one, this blog post is for you!
Although this list mostly consists of small business or freelance business ideas, they all have the opportunity to grow. It’s up to you what you want to make of your business over time. The good news is that not all businesses need a huge budget to take off. All of the below can be started on a very small budget: less than $1000.
1. Dropshipping & Print on Demand
Unlike traditional retail businesses – which require a large financial investment in the form of retail space and stock – dropshipping and PoD allow you to sell without being responsible for any physical products.
All you have to do is set up your website, select your products and suppliers, and focus on marketing. You may also have to do some customer service (though you can outsource this), but otherwise, you don’t have to do any of the work in creating or shipping the products. The majority of your time and budget will instead go into marketing the products, so you’ll want to have some experience and skills in this area.
With dropshipping, you use a dropshipping company to curate an online store made of other people’s products that you want to sell, then make a commission each time you sell something. To do this well, you need an amazing website, competitive pricing, and a great list of quality products (so this can take time, research and testing!).
Alternatively, through PoD, a company will create and ship YOUR items as they’re ordered by customers. You don’t need a physical store and you don’t need to worry about shipping. But you are responsible for designing the items (usually clothing, books, prints and stationary – standard products that can be printed with different designs), and making sure the PoD company is high-quality but at a reasonable price.
These two options make setting up a retail business so affordable!
2. Personal trainer
Personal trainers can earn great money if they have enough demand. They also get to work with a flexible schedule, and often both indoors and outdoors. If you have a passion for fitness and knowledge/skills regarding health and exercise, this could be the perfect business for you.
You may need to invest in some workout equipment (or space) but as you find more clients and become more skilled, you can earn more per session and upgrade your equipment. You might even hire more personal trainers to join your business as you go.
If you don’t have any official qualifications or experience with personal training, it might be worthwhile learning from some other trainers first. Take some sessions with them and see how they work with their clients. To improve trust with clients, you should also get certificates in health and exercise, so they know you know what’s best for them.
3. Etsy seller
Are you crafty? Whether it’s clothes or jewellery, art, pottery, gifts, or anything else you can create, why not try selling it online?
Platforms like Etsy are increasing in popularity as people move towards preferring unique, well-made items from small sellers, as opposed to cheap items from large companies. You can even sell ‘printables’ on Etsy, which means selling a file rather than a physical product, which people then print at home (e.g. an image that can be used as a poster, which the customers print to their liking – similar to PoD!).
The biggest hurdle with selling on Etsy is marketing. It can be difficult to get your products popular enough that your sales cover overheads. It can also be difficult to convince people to spend their money on your products, since as a small business, your prices will likely be higher than a large business. Although handmade items are becoming more popular, their price is still sometimes unaffordable for many consumers.
4. Social media influencer
It can be difficult to find ‘success’ as a social media influencer, and often those who do find success do it purely by chance (e.g. going viral). But if you can build a loyal following, you can be paid by brands to advertise their products. Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are all popular options for influencing, and some apps even pay you for creating content.
Since posting on social media is free (unless you’re promoting posts), you won’t have to spend any money to get started. But you will have to spend a lot of time creating content and engaging with other users, and you still might not gain a big following for some time. This business idea is risky!
However, if you have an interesting personality, can identify a niche, and have a knack for creating content, why not give social media a try in your spare time?
5. Start a Local SEO business
Search Engine Optimisation is a great marketing strategy for many businesses, but most people don’t have the time or skill to learn to do it themselves. If you’re tech-savvy and confident with online programs and CMS, you might want to take some training in SEO and start offering it as a business-to-business service.
The main cost for you will be training, but there are plenty of ways to learn. Courses can be expensive, so start with YouTube and books to see if you enjoy SEO before investing too much time and money.
If you want to start an SEO Business (and want to give it the best chance of success!), check out Georgie Hope’s books SEO Course for Beginners and Pre Launch SEO Checklist.
6. Blogger
Similarly to social media influencing, running a successful blog will allow you to be paid by brands to share their products. And, since you run your own website, you can also be paid for the ad space on your web pages.
Like social media, blogging is risky and it’s hard to get a big following, so don’t rely on it solely as an income at first. But it can be a great opportunity if your blog becomes popular!
To create a successful blog you have to find a niche that people are interested in, have something new to say about the topic, and be very good at writing. Marketing skills will be a great help, too. What’s a topic you know about, can write regularly about, and that can be entertaining or informative in some way?
7. Tutor
Are you particularly good at any subjects? Do you enjoy teaching?
You can earn good money as a tutor, especially if you have accreditation in any areas, or experience in education. Many students, from early primary school up to university, need extra help with their learning and are happy to pay for this kind of service.
Tutoring can be flexible – you set your session times and rates. Advertising can also be at a low cost, as you will get most work from word-of-mouth, your website, notices in school newsletters or notice boards. You may need to spend money on stationery, textbooks and a good computer. Since you can tutor from home, at the home of the client, or even at a public learning space such as a library, you don’t need money for an office.
This means tutoring can be a very cheap business to run, with great pay!
8. Consulting
A consultant uses their experience and skill in an industry to advise businesses. This can be in a range of forms, across many industries. To understand your worth as a consultant, answer the question: What’s a business issue, in my area of expertise, that I can help people solve?
This type of business won’t cost a lot of money to run, especially if you’re starting as a freelancer. However, you should make sure to have great experiences and references, as well as a strong network, before starting. Many consultants also choose to get a Masters Degree or higher in their field to prove their expertise. A consultant needs to be able to show businesses why their advice is so helpful; without a track record of success, you’ll find it difficult to get clients.
If you do have a strong network and an impressive portfolio, however, you can make good money in consulting – and you won’t need to spend money on ads, since you’ll already have a great network!
9. Photographer
Do you tend to get compliments on your Instagram? You could consider taking photos professionally!
Although cameras and equipment can be expensive, you can start small and work your way up to getting the best equipment as your business grows.
There are countless forms a photography business can take. Some photographers head outdoors to get the best photos of landscapes and sell them as prints, some attend and capture events such as weddings, and some focus on creating portraits for individual people or families. You might even become a fashion photographer, stock photo photographer, lifestyle photographer, travel photographer, or even work for journalists/magazines.
Photography can also tie back into social media influencing or blogging, if people like your photos so much they choose to follow you.
If you want to do photography for clients in your local area, a website with local SEO can help grow your business. See Georgie’s book SEO for Photographers.
10. Help with household jobs
Not just for yourself, but others!
Many people require help with tasks such as cooking, cleaning and organising in our busy world. You don’t need much money to start one of these businesses, as the client will provide most of your equipment, but you do need some skill, and you need to be able to prove that you’re trustworthy (especially when being invited into someone’s home).
Think about why people should hire you to do these services for them. Advertise your services on social media and create a compelling website. Show some before-and-after images of cleaning and organising, or tasty images of the food you can make.
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Are you thinking of starting your own Search Engine Optimisation business? To get started on your SEO training, make sure you pick up Georgie Hope’s book Pre Launch SEO Checklist!
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