These are some of the best businesses to start with little money. Just because they take less capital to get up and running than many others doesn’t mean they are low-quality businesses.
Several of these businesses you’re about to read about are superior business ideas that will help you make money on the side.
Once you get your business started it can take on a life of its own and become a full-time income. There is no reason to let the term “on the side” deter you from the significant amount of income these solid opportunities can produce.
There’s no shortage of people who dislike their job and feel stuck in the rut of the nine to five.
Millions of people are wondering everyday if there is something they could do with their life that’s more rewarding.
Have you ever wanted to start your own small business but thought it would be too expensive?
There are many businesses that don’t require a ton of capital to start and can be very satisfying to their owner.
Owning a small business can be very rewarding in several ways.
Independence, self-reliance, and a good income and even financial freedom being just a few.
There are many opportunities to own a small business that you can grow as big as you like. All of them with a wide range of the level of involvement required by the owner.
If you feel like the daily job isn’t allowing you to live up to your full potential or if you’re unhappy answering to the boss every day, then those are some noble reasons to start your own business.
You can even begin by going part time before quitting your job.
Here are a few small businesses that offer splendid chances for someone willing to invest some time and money and that have low start-up costs.
Freelance Business
This is becoming one of the fastest growing and lowest cost startup businesses anywhere. All businesses need help with content writing, ad development, email campaigns, video creation, and more.
To save overhead and other costs involved, these businesses would rather hire someone to work at home on their computer.
With the wide array of services needed it’s important to start with one niche area.
You may want to create eBooks, write product sales letters, create compelling videos, blog posts, pre-sell advertorials, social media memes and ads, or even handle one of their ad accounts.
It’s a good idea to learn a little about the freelance business first. Getting a small amount of education up front can make your journey much smoother.
Freelancers make really good money once they are established. This only takes a few months in some cases if the right path is followed.
If you want a detailed list of freelance pay get this free eBook.
Cleaning Service
A cleaning service can be a great small business to own. So many people are busier than ever with kids, career, and other activities that they don’t make time to clean their homes.
Many people find hiring out these smaller tasks are well worth the money paid in ease of mind and protecting against viruses.
Another big scenario is the fact that many people don’t like to clean and are more than happy to send their cleaning chores out to a cleaning company.
Startup costs are very low and limited to some cleaning supplies and advertising, which can easily be accomplished through word of mouth initially.
Later on flyers can be posted at the local library and churches, and online advertising networks. The word of mouth from friends works well because people trust someone they already know before a stranger in most cases.
Cleaners have very little liability which makes insurance inexpensive, adding to where it’s an excellent business to own.
Expanding into commercial cleaning for office buildings, retail stores, and banks can be very lucrative, especially when specializing in floors and windows.
Keep in mind that most commercial cleaning is done after hours or on weekends when the fewest people are there.
One positive is the cleaning can only take a few hours once the system is established, making the pay very rewarding along with the independence that goes along with it.
Pressure Washing
The pressure washing business is easy to start, and most anyone can do it. Startup costs are low and transportation, some small machinery, and cleaning products are all that’s required.
For both residential and commercial work, the competition is fairly low in most areas. This is unlike the landscaping business where you probably see lots of people driving around with a lawnmower in tow or in the back of their pickup.
Usually including the weedeaters too. That’s why that niche didn’t make our list.
On the other hand, you rarely see a pressure washing company in your area. Pressure washing is a smaller niche business that most people aren’t knowledgeable about.
The equipment required is a long hose, a good gas powered pressure washer, and cleaning chemicals. These chemicals are grouped for purposes of siding, decks, roofing, and tougher areas like parking lots.
All this means you can get started for a modest $500.
Depending on demand and work you put into marketing your business, you can pressure wash a house for $250-$350. Often the owner will want other areas pressure washed.
Like the area around their pool or their driveway. For those who want to go to the commercial side of this business, there are even higher profit margins.
Commercial jobs would be parking lots, fleet washing (vehicles), and apartment complex washing.
Vending Machine Business
If you’re a hands on kind of person, this is a good way to build some sideline income. It will take some start up capital to purchase or lease your machines depending on the type machines you choose.
This is a good way to produce somewhat passive income requiring little effort once established. Since vending machines are mechanical devices, they require cleaning and some repair from time to time.
Removing the cash and replenishing the contents is also part of the service work.
Soda and large vending machines are one option and are set up these days to take debit cards, cash bills and coins. Smaller bubble gum and candy machines are another option, and they take quarters.
I would recommend starting with the small machines first, since startup cost is much lower. You can scale to the larger machines when more capital is available through profits.
You’ll probably want to purchase your small machines new. One such provider is 1-800-vending. Once they arrive in their boxes, you must assemble them.
Next you’ll decide the contents to sell. Many people use gumballs and candies like Skittles to get going. These are bought in bulk fairly inexpensively.
The next step is going out and placing the machines in businesses and establishments so they can begin generating income.
The key is installing the machines in the right locations where there is a good supply of traffic and need. One could even hire someone to do the stocking and make this business as hands off as possible.
Amazon FBA
The Fulfillment By Amazon service allows sellers to sell their products through Amazon. As more and more retail outlets close this will continue to grow.
Amazon takes many of the downfalls of owning an online retail business away. They handle storage, packing, shipping, returns and customer service issues. They also list the product on the Amazon site.
Sellers are responsible for shipping their items to the Amazon fulfillment centers and creating a product listing for the online store.
When products are bought by a customer, sellers receive payment on a weekly basis.
Since online selling like this drives prices lower, it puts more pressure on retailers. Places like Wal Mart will probably never go away because people still enjoy going out and walking the aisles.
Companies of that size can also undersell smaller retailers to stay in business.
Amazon FBA is good for people who want to make some money and secondly it keeps large retailers from overpricing most products since we can buy them online.
Amazon is now offering quick delivery except for Hawaii and Alaska in the US. Online delivery times have been dropping offering next day and sometimes even same day delivery in some cases.
If you consider becoming an online retailer, the Amazon FBA is definitely worth a closer look.
Social Media Marketing Agency
Businesses need people to manage their social media more than ever. Since most of the social media posts go through a timeline and are seen only once, it creates a need to publish often. Sometimes two times per day.
With so many people using cell phones and having instant access to their social media accounts, it makes getting in front of potential customers quicker, easier, and cheaper than ever in human history.
Smaller companies often like to hire outside people to manage their online marketing because they don’t want to develop a full time in house social media manager.
This is an excellent low start up cost business. A computer and internet is about all you need. The skill set of writing good headlines and interesting and compelling posts and memes is your primary task.
Short videos are also becoming popular. You can look at companies like InVideo for that service to add more value and attract higher paying clients as you begin to grow.
Once you learn the communication style for the industry niche you want to market for, you’re on your way to building more clients and even an agency where others do the posting and you manage the team.
You can charge $500 to $1,000 per month and more to each company whose social media you manage. To get clients, it’s a good idea to have enough cash reserve money to hold you over for the first month.
This is because you will want to show these companies you can get them results and the best way to do that is offer them a one or two week free trial.
This is enough time to get lots of engagement and build more followers for the business you are managing the account for.
Since this has the least investment capital of almost any business, it makes social media management a fantastic opportunity for someone wanting to start a small business and grow it big.
Painting Business
The glorious thing about a painting business is there’s no need for big equipment to get going. A good multi-purpose ladder, lights for interior work, drop cloths, brushes, rollers and a sprayer if you like.
Painting can be a fairly simple job and the prep work of cleaning and masking off areas that aren’t to be painted being the bulk of the work. The actual application of the paint goes fast once the prep work is complete.
To begin with, you can operate without a license unlike many other trade jobs. The pay for good quality painting is fairly high.
Many retail stores even offer free training for those that don’t have lots of experience. Home Depot and Lowes have workshops usually on a weekly basis for your convenience.
This covers many little tricks of the trade and timesaving techniques, and safety precautions to take while on the job.
Although people can skip interior painting for a while the exterior is another story. These outside areas need to be protected from weather and elements that can destroy the integrity of the house or building altogether.
This would reduce the value and make it hard to sell the home or building if that time ever came up.
In the painting business there are times where sealers and stains need to be applied to decks and other structures of homes.
It’s not always for aesthetic and cosmetic reasons people need a talented painter. This broadens the scope of a painting business, and people are more than willing to pay good money to protect their biggest investment.
Imagine making ten thousand dollars your first year. You may do a lot better than that, but through the experience you gain of how to do the jobs and how to market your business to get more customers, you’ll be well on your way to making a decent full time living.
Most of these businesses mentioned can even be sold or handed down to a family member later on. This makes your effort worth lots more than the pay you receive from each client and customer.
You can be in charge of giving yourself a raise. Compare that to working the next 2-3 years for your boss and being told what time to arrive and when you can take breaks and lunch.
How about you deciding what days you get to take off and when you take your vacation?
8 Steps To Freelance Writing Success
Working as an independent contractor is a great way to earn money while enjoying flexible hours.
Another attractive benefit of freelancing is being able to work wherever you want, whether it’s at home or at your local coffee shop.
And for many people, they see freelancing to break away from the rigid structure of a corporate environment.
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Walt Disney
In this eBook you can see what the genres of freelance writer’s salaries are, along with being able to quickly learn how to make great money at home with your own freelance writing business.
The rise of AI writers is only increasing the need for good freelance writers because AI can’t personalize the content with personality. Being a good freelance writer means using AI and being an outstanding editor, which enables personalization and a higher relatability with the businesses clients.
Download this informative eBook FREE by clicking HERE.
In the recent years, more and more people have jumped ship and gone over to the freelancing side to enjoy a better work-life balance.
After the U.S. economy took a serious hit during the pandemic and during past recessions, a lot of companies have found that hiring specialized workers is a better business model than employing full-time staff.
In fact, a Harvard study in 2019 shows that the number of freelance workers in North America alone has skyrocketed from about 15 million to almost 24 million between 2010 and 2019. This number continues to grow through 2023.
As of today, this number of freelance writers is still growing and will continue to do so in the next decade.
With developments in technology and a rapidly expanding freelance job market, it’s become easier than ever to get a piece of the action.
Freelance writing: Legit or not?
With freelance writing in particular, some people are worried about getting ripped off for their hard time or getting scammed by a shady employer.
But freelancing sites like Upwork and Elance have made it possible for aspiring freelance writers to get fair-paying jobs and get compensated on time.
You need not have an academic background in language to land your first assignment.
Most companies are probably looking for someone who can write in a relaxed and casual tone to connect to readers.
Use this eBook to make great money with a freelance business
As you’ll learn, a lot of these online writing jobs specifically avoid words and phrases that might sound too stiff or formal which would alienate their target market.
So you don’t have to worry about writing like a professor just to get started with your freelance career. See how much freelance writers make.
The best part is that there’s ALWAYS work to you can do, which means you’ll have a stable cash flow even without punching a clock at the office.
If you’re ready to try this exciting, new venture, check out these 8 Tips To Becoming an Exceptional Freelance Writer:
#1: Have a system in place
This is the most essential part about finding steady freelance work.
Once you’ve done your due diligence, you’ll have no trouble getting clients and keeping them.
Better yet, you’ll have the advantage of working around a schedule that works for YOU.
Like I said, it’s easy to earn from online writing because demand for this work is high.
You’ll find that just about any industry has an online presence, and that means they need someone to provide them with content to increase their market reach.
It’s likely they have a blog, a social media page and an email campaign – all of which need to be updated regularly. Some might even need freelancers to help them out with writing brochures and other marketing related materials.
That’s where you come in.
You just need a step-by-step system for sniffing out potential customers, pitching to them and writing the content they want. After that, the rest will take care of itself.
I’ll show how to do that in a bit, but first let’s move on to the next step…
#2: Play to your strengths
Some freelance writers are better at handling large-scale assignments, like a sales report or PDF book. Others are more comfortable with an arrangement where they can quickly bang out brief articles or free reports.
Obviously, the bigger jobs pay more, but require a lot of lead time, ranging from a few weeks to a few months.
Meanwhile, brief articles may take anywhere from a half an hour to two hours, but you’ll get paid sooner.
In most cases, I’d suggest doing shorter assignments first to get a feel of how things go.
In the long run, however, try to figure out which one option works better so you can narrow down the niche you want to write for.
=> Discover this simple method to make easy money in your spare time.
#3: Know thyself
This is an important step that most freelance writers skip. I don’t recommend glossing over this one.
Experience has taught me that a little self-evaluation and soul-searching is CRUCIAL before getting into this line of work.
This gives you a better idea of which types of clients you’re best suited for, and which content you’ll be good at writing.
A good way to do this is by having a more seasoned writer go over your sample work and give you an honest assessment. They can tell you what you’re good at and what you can improve about your craft.
Also, try looking up examples of what makes up good and interesting to read writing in your intended niche.
It’s as easy as looking at a potential client’s website and quickly browse their content. This will give you a better idea of what they want in a writer.
Remember, knowledge is power, so doing this will help you step up your game.
#4: Hammer out the details
Now that you’ve done some general groundwork, it’s time to get into the specifics.
As you learned, your clients will want a particular content you will want to do.
I mentioned some earlier, but here are the other content types you could see yourself writing:
– Annual sales reports
– Slide presentations (like PowerPoint or Keynote)
– Free reports (usually in PDF format and less than a hundred pages to promote a certain product)
– Full-length ebooks
– Newsletters (often sent through email)
– Sales copy (which may include a detailed product description, its benefits, testimonials, pricing, etc.)
– Blog posts (anywhere between 500-1500 words)
– Articles (could be 500-3000 words depending on the purpose of the content)
Aside from this, it helps to check out the particular industry you want to write for.
As I pointed out, sites like Upwork and Elance are great places where you can search for jobs under specific categories.
This will help you find out which ones in your chosen industry are in demand for writers, and what kind of content they require.
Get this FREE Video Report: How much can you make as a freelancer?
#5: Find the right price
The idea is to sustain yourself with a healthy income stream, so you need to approach this the right way.
Basically, you’ll want to work for lower-paying jobs in the beginning until you can build up your game, then increase your fees later on.
You’ll probably bill your first few clients a little less than you’d like, but charge this to experience and get the job done, anyway.
In the bigger picture, it’s better to be classy about it and act professional.
So as you go along, you’ll get a better idea of the standard rate in your chosen niche.
In particular, you’ll learn how much other writers in your industry are charging on average. Depending on how long you’ve been in the game, you can decide if to charge higher or lower than that.
As you grow your client portfolio and get referrals, you’ll have more leverage to charge more for your writing services.
#6: Establish a routine
Whether you’re a freelancer or in any other profession, it’s always important to have a solid work ethic no matter what.
Find a rhythm you’re comfortable with, and stick with it. Figure out early on how you’d like to tackle a writing task.
Do a little homework before getting down to it, or maybe you’d prefer going straight into writing then adding the missing gaps later on.
Whatever approach you choose, you need to cultivate the discipline to efficiently work on writing jobs and submit them on time.
Cal Newport, author of the book “Deep Work” has a great deal to say about this – I’ll leave this here:
“The key to developing a deep work habit is to move beyond good intentions and add routines and rituals to your working life, designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into and maintain a state of unbroken concentration.”
#7: Educate yourself
Since you’re reading this now, you’re well aware that you can’t do it alone.
As talented or driven as you are in writing, it will never hurt to learn as much as you can. That goes for BOTH newbies and veterans.
Remember, the freelance writing game is always changing, so you’d best keep up with the times and adapt.
So if you’re just starting out on this journey, I don’t recommend taking the self-taught route.
It’s better to take advantage of the many resources out there so you can start strong and not make the typical “rookie mistakes” that a lot of newcomers make.
Earn five to six digits a MONTH from freelance writing? Get this free eBook worth $597.
Yes, it’s possible. You can go from one-off assignments to big-time gigs in the neighborhood of a few thousand dollars.
#8: Market your business
It’s easy to get the word out and get new clients coming in the door, so to speak. You’ll set up a Facebook page and you’ll want to have a website.
It’s super easy and very inexpensive to set up a website for your business.
To begin with, just start writing for the clients you know. Call them and tell them your intention and provide a couple samples. They will surely take you up on your offer.
They have people who they will refer to you and then as you build your base of proof you can then get your site up.
That’s how I did it, and I can teach you how.
Like I said in the beginning, all it takes is a system to help you find employers regularly. After that, you’ll be rolling in the dough from your hard work.
I probably made every mistake possible when I started out. But thanks to my experience, I finally cut the umbilical and left the 9-to-5 world for good.
It took over a year to refine my system, but now it’s like I’m earning six figures on auto-pilot.
Here’s a video Laura made about her personal journey in freelance writing—and how you can do the same:
Read this letter so you can enjoy the freedom of being your own boss while earning more than you ever dreamed of—CLICK HERE
Read our other post about Freelancing HERE.