Nowadays, a lot of us dream of escaping from the boring office work and start up our home-based business. However, a lot of obstacles are preventing many from getting started, such as lack of capacity, startup fund, networking, the presence of high risk, and etc. Do you have a dream to earn money by freelancing, and eventually turn it into a full time business? Here are 10 money-making small business startup ideas that require less capital and professional skills.
1. Cleaning Service
Everyone knows how to clean as it requires minimal skills to get started. Don’t limit yourself to house cleaning, you can also focus on providing cleaning services for offices and retail shops. One of the biggest benefits of providing cleaning services is you don’t have to spend a lot of money on advertisements because your business will probably gain awareness through word-of-mouth. Kyle Walker, the youngest cleaning business owner launched his company at age 15 and hits his first million dollar revenue at age 21.
2. Dog Walking
Cities like United Kingdom, Dog walkers can charge up to an average of £11.50 ($14) per hour per dog walking. If you happened to help your clients to walk 192 dogs per month, your annual earnings can be £26,496 ($ 35,472). Pawshake is one of the dog walking service providers in Singapore and other countries, where clients can recruit pet sitters and dog walkers. This is definitely a great job for dog lovers.
3. Tutoring
Are you good at certain subjects? Do you have a passion for teaching? Tutoring can be the best job for you to earn extra income. You can choose to be a home tutor or online tutor, which does not require any physical classrooms. The only thing you require is proficiency in the subject you teach, and your willingness to give up a few hours each week to help someone else. Sites like Tutor.com are places you can sign up with and start your tutoring job. Market rates for tuition jobs are around $15 to $50 per hour, depending on your qualifications and the education level of your student.
4. E-Commerce
Last year, Alibaba smashes its Single’s Day record once again as sales hit 168.3 billion yuan ($26.3 billion). This showed how potential the E-Commerce market is. In order to set up a fully functional E-Commerce store, you just need a domain, hosting and web design with little budget. However, the effectiveness of your marketing and advertising effort will influence the profit you earn. To succeed in this business, you don’t have to sell a hundred types of products. Instead you just need to sell the right items at the right time. For example, coffee powder has a high demand these days. Here is the screenshot of the interest on coffee powder searched online.
5. Event Planning
There are many different events throughout the year. Besides wedding (the most common one), there are also corporate events, conferences, concerts, farewell and birthday parties and many more. According to a survey conducted by Payscale, the salary of an event planner ranges from $10K to $54K per year, with an average salary of $30,952 per year. It’s best to start with a birthday party, which requires only a small budget. This is because the materials and equipment needed to set up a birthday party is relatively lower than other events. Once you accumulated more profits/capital, you can grow your business and hold larger events for bigger profits.
6. Editorial
There are several editorial services you can provide without any initial monetary investment, such as:
- Book writing. If you are a professional in certain areas and would like to share your experience and expertise with a lot of people, you should write a book.
- Copy-editing. A copy editor reviews and corrects written materials to improve accuracy, readability, and fitness for its purpose, and to ensure that it is free of mistake, inconsistency, and repetition.
- Proofreading. A proofreader makes sure the copy-editing changes have been properly made and no new errors are created in the process. He or she also checks for grammar errors, sentence structure, etc.
- Ghostwriting. A ghostwriter is a writer who is paid to write for someone else, under that person’s name.
- Copywriting. Also known as business writing, this is writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing.
- Web page content provider. A writer who focuses on composing website content.
7. Virtual Assistant
As a virtual assistant, what you need to have is a phone, a computer and internet access. This is a great job to have if you like flexibility. The work of a virtual assistant varies, and can cover tasks like researching, editing, data entry, preparing report, social media management, and others. They usually charge $15-20 per hour depending on the specifics of the job.
8. Photographer
A photographer doesn’t need to have an expensive studio or office to kickstart his business as he can conduct his business anywhere. Whether it is for wedding, family events, marketing events, people pay good money for professional photography. A simple research shows that a professional event photographer can charge from $100 to $150 per hour. If you’re looking for even more income, a photographer can also sell his/her photos online on websites like shutterstock, 123rf and iStock Photo.
9. Social Media Consultant
As we know social media is now the most popular and influential advertising channel to gain awareness. As a result, many companies are looking for people who are well versed in social media to help them manage their social media presence. Although you may already know how to post on Facebook and tweet on Twitter, you need more knowledge and skills to become an expert in social media. So should you attend special training to become one? Not really. In fact, there are many complete professional courses offered by Google. Some of them even offer certifications from Google.
10. Mobile Auto Detailing
Mobile auto detailing is probably a perfect side business for car lovers. In essence, your job is to make cars sparkles inside and out. A person offering mobile auto detailing service does not need an automatic car wash machine and system, or even a shop. When the customer name the time and place, they will bring the cleaning kits right to their car and help the clients to wash, wax and pamper the family wheels. Basic car grooming normally charges around $150, which means you can earn up to 70% margin as the cleaning kits can be used for a long time.
BONUS : Buying and reselling on eBay, Amazon and Carousell
No matter who you are, you can start your business on ebay, Amazon or Carousell without any capital by selling the second-hand stuff around your house. After you’ve made your profits, expand your business by selling the trending products. For example, some sellers even hit rummage sale and thrift stores for cheap goods they can resell. Here are some tips that can give you an idea: how to make $4000 per week selling on ebay.
How to Get Started?
We know it’s not easy to start a business. Luckily, nowadays you can kick start with a low budget instead of having to invest on renovation and rental for a physical shop. We’re pleased to present to you a few simple steps to start your business:
- Decide what you want to sell and come out with a business plan
- Build your own online store
- Register a domain name
- Choose web hosting service
- Design your website
- Attract and retain your customers
- Promote your online store across social media
- Adopt online marketing to reach more people, such as SEO advertising
Once you have completed all the steps above, work consistently on your business. Just keep in mind that success takes time, patience, resilience and constant learning.
