Business ideas that require little or no capital
Do you dream of someday starting your own business? Have you been contemplating going into business but have no money?
Well today's your lucky day. In this article we'll go through a number of business ideas that require little or no capital to start.
You must however note that not all ideas are worth pursuing. This will depend on your personal situation as well as external factors such as the size of population and amount of competition.
So once you have found an idea worth pursuing, I recommend that you test it by converting it to a business model and finding out if it could work for you.
I also recommend going out and actually talking to people. This will keep you from overhyping yourself or talking yourself out of ideas. The most reliable information will come from the market.
Oh.. and before we get into it. This post contains affiliate links. Which means if you click on a link and eventually make a purchase, I will earn some income at no additional cost to you.
Now that we got that out of the way...
Here are a few business ideas you can start with little or no cash to start.
31 BUSINESS IDEAS THAT REQUIRE LITTLE CASH OR NO CAPITAL AT ALL
1. Book keeping and tax preparation
If you have a basic knowledge of accounting principles and are good with numbers, you can familiarize yourself with tax preparation processes. Leveraging on your knowledge, you can then approach small businesses in your local area to offer your services.
2. Blogging/Vlogging
Are you the type that just can't stop talking once someone brings up your passion? Well then, turn that into a steady stream of income. Create a blog to experience and share your passion with the world. People make money from talking about food, cars, places, magic and more. With so many blogs out there on the internet, it might seem like everything has been said. Things are however changing on a daily basis and the world needs to hear your take on it.
3. Business Consultant
Do you have a specific Skill or knowledge that others can benefit from? If so, you can create your own consultancy. This can be in branding, sales, environmental issues or even operations. You can help others start and set up their businesses, by finding resources, opportunities and more.
RECOMMENDED READING: THE ULTIMATE STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS
4. Catering
Do you enjoy cooking? You can easily start your own catering business and put your culinary skills to good use. Start by working out a menu that potential customers can try out. This doesnt have to be expensive. Simply experiment with your own meals, take pictures and share them. Once you've acquired clients, you can then charge a deposit, which you will use to purchase the necessary ingredients for each meal. Provide an awesome service and use word of mouth to market your business. You can even start with simple events like romantic picnics or birthday parties and grow from there.
5. Cleaning services
Using a broom, a mop and a dust pan, you can start your own cleaning business. Add a vacuum cleaner plus some detergents and you're good to go. Start with your own community and work your way up to the corporate clients.
6. Delivery
Do you own a small truck? Find other small businesses that need to carry items from one place to the next. Potential clients include your local green grocer, small scale farmers and stationery shops.
7. Gardening
Do you have some land to spare? Why not try out your hand at gardening? Get an assortment of seeds and seedlings and start growing your own crops and trees. Supply your community with fresh flowers, vegetables, fruits and spices.
8. Independent Marketing/Sales
How good are your people skills? You can approach other small businesses and offer to sell their products or services at a commission. Most small business can not afford to pay a full time sales force. Using this strategy, you allow them to sell without incurring the overhead that comes with it. Once you have an agreement you can then work your magic to drive sales to them. Remember to document the agreement. Approach a number of companies, get a wide range of products and watch your commission grow.
9. Logo design
Are you a great artist or graphic designer? Using your computer or phone you can create stunning designs for clients. Do some research on what makes a successful brand and start helping small businesses to improve their visibility. Build up your portfolio and publish it online. Over time you will become a branding specialist or authority and this will attract even more top tier companies.
10. Mobile hairdresser
Use your creativity and technical skills to make people feel great by giving them good hair. Build up a list of regular clients and you have your own mobile hairdressing business. This works particularly well in a close knit community such as a work compound or university campus.
11. Mobile App development
People have become more dependent on their phones and tablets to do all sorts of tasks. You could provide a specialised service by giving them apps which suit their specific needs. So get started as a mobile app developer. All you need is an Android phone and you're ready to build.
Don't know how to create apps? Easy... download an app called Sketchware and you're set.
RECOMMENDED READING: HOW TO COME UP WITH BILLION DOLLAR MOBILE APP IDEAS
12. Social Media Marketing
Do your social media posts get a lot of likes and comments? Help other businesses and personalities to build up their own presence. Manage their social media and build their brands. If you're not sure where to start, you can check out the following presentation by Neil Patel on how to get started in social media marketing
13. Photographer
Do you enjoy taking pictures of people, items and landscapes? Turn that into a business by becoming a photographer. Social media has become more driven by visual content and thus pictures and video are in great demand. You could even start with your phone if it has great features. Take sample pictures, create an instagram profile and start posting away. As you gain followers, so does your reputation. Remember to brand your pictures. As time goes on, invest in more advanced equipment and set up your own home studio.
Click the image below to check out this awesome photography kit from Canon.
14. Youtuber
If you enjoy recording and creating video content you could become a Youtuber. Use your mobile phone to record funny clips, tutorials, pranks and all sorts of fun stuff. The idea is build a pool of subscribers that you can then leverage on to make money. YouTube requires about 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours before you monetize. This might seem like a lot, but with engaging content, posted consistently you'll be able to grow your subscriber base. Once you have an audience, you can monetize your channel with ads, sponsored products or affiliate products. Try and create evergreen content, which users can always refer to regardless how much time passes.
15. Affiliate Marketing
If you have a website, a huge social media following or you have means to generate internet traffic, then you could also try your hand at affiliate marketing. This is where you refer clients to online sellers and get a commission for every successful sale. To get started, you could join an affiliate program such as Amazon Affiliates , JVZoo or Share-A-Sale. Once you have joined the program, you can then select products to sell. You will be given unique links with your own personal identifiers. These will be used to track your sales and to identify the customers that were referred by you.
16. Tutoring
Do you have a skill or specialised knowledge which is highly sought after? You could start a tutoring service to teach people how to do what you do. This is easy to set up and in most cases can be done even in your living room. You could kick it up a notch and make it an online course. This widens your audience and allows you to teach around the clock by providing your material online.
17. Personal fitness trainer
Are you a health and fitness enthusiast? Try helping others to achieve their diet and weight goals by becoming a fitness trainer. You could develop your own workout routine. Make it fun and unique. More importantly, go after tangible results. You can then leverage on the power of social media to promote your service and help others to achieve their body goals. You can even go a step further and prepare your own customized diet and merchandise. If you're not sure where to start, check out this white label program that you can try
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18. Security
If you're built for it or you have some advanced self defense skills, you could package this as a service. High profile individuals often require a personalized security detail and you could provide them with that. You could also partner with wedding planners, local clubs, pubs and bars to be in charge of security whenever they have events. There are also events such as weddings where individuals might require specialised security. We wouldn't want that bitter ex ruining things now, would we? So you could position your service as an executive offering. Remember to take into account items such as customer confidentiality.
19. Cake making
If you enjoy baking and have the creativity to make some awesome cakes you can start by inviting your friends over for cake. Show them your exceptional skills and then find out if they loved it. If it's good enough, that should give you your first few customers. Keep that up and encourage them to spread the word. Also use social media to showcase your lovely creations. Everyday is someone's birthday, so this could eventually become a regular flow of income. Remember to pay attention to detail and to always stay clean. Who doesn't love cake? Well it's only a handful.
20. Cookie making
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Another simple business you could start is a cookie business. Do you have a famous recipe that everyone loves? Why not try that out and see if you can build it into a business. Start with a few samples. Visit the local store and see if they could display and sell your products. Another option is to approach a nearby school and see if they can be sold at the school tuck shop. If the customers love them, you could build on your range and find even more outlets to sell at.
RECOMMENDED READING: HOW TO GET YOUR PRODUCT INTO THE MAJOR RETAIL OUTLETS
21. Make up and Nail artist
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Have you ever thought about becoming a make up or nail artist? All it takes is some creativity and a little research to get started. Start by doing it on yourself. Apply the make up to your own face and fix your own nails. Experiment and practice until you are confident that you can do it really well. Take picturesas well as videos and post them online. If someone passes a compliment, pass them your business card and turn them into a client. Come up with your own product combinations, tricks and secrets. Sell them and continue reinvesting in your business.
22. Personal shopper
Are you always up to date when it comes to the latest fashion trends? Do you frequently travel to nice shopping destinations? Why not turn that into a business by becoming a personal shopper for busy executives and celebrities? First demonstrate your style and fashion sense to gain some credibility. Once you've done that, you can then use then go shopping and charge them a premium.
23. Music Production
Most people love and enjoy music. You could start by creating your own music using software such as fruity loops or Reason. You can then sell this music to recording artists, video producers, advertisers and even movie production companies. If your equipment permits, you can even record your own vocals and set up your own music studio. Despite the levels of piracy being high, there is still a lot of money to be made in this sector.
24. Event Planning
You could try your hand at planning and organising exclusive events. Are you worried that you don't have any experience to pull it off? Why not start by partnering with a local parks or camping sites. You could then start organizing picnics or small events for couples. Using their deposit money, you can take care of the food, transport and other items such as photography to capture the memories. As you gain experience, you could then expand to host even bigger events.
25. Virtual assistant
Working from the comfort of your home you could approach companies and provide a virtual assistant service. This is whereby you will respond to phone calls, emails, messages and user queries. The company could provide a virtual number or create a profile for you on their portal. After familiarising yourself with their products or services and procedures you can start responding to their customers.
26. Tour guide
Does your town or city get a lot of tourist traffic? You could take advantage of this and provide a service to show them your city. Most tourists want to get a feel of the lifestyle, culture and every aspect of a place. This is something that most major tour operators aren't quite effective at doing. You can start by partnering with local hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and tourist attraction sites. Get exclusive access to key activities, events and information. This will position you as an insider. The next step is setting up a website to promote your new service and make your service easy to find.
27. Social media influencer
Do you have a large number of social media followers? Use that to your advantage by leveraging your audience as a marketing tool. The key however, ti being an influencer is your ability to get users to act. Say you recommend a product or make a call to action- how many people are likely to act on that?
If you keep your users engaged then companies will approach and pay you to mention their products on your social pages. The key however should be that you are able to drive traffic. The logic is that if you have 100000 users and you recommend a product. About 1% (that's 1000 people) of them will buy the product. That's a good deal for advertisers.
28. Car wash
I had a student who used to come and clean my car every Friday after school. He knew where I parked the car and would clean it even when I was not there. This became regular, and so over time it made more sense to pay him a lump sum every month.
He charged $5 per wash, and used to clean my car every week. That's $20 per month. I paid him $30.
I noticed he had a group of friends and this helped them clean the car faster. This also gave them more time to clean other cars as well. 50 cars per month at $30 each, would give you $1500. With a little more extras that could easily be doubled.
You can build on this idea by building a loyal customer base and thus a regular monthly income.
29. Insurance broker
You could approach an insurance company and get accredited to sell their policies. Payment will be based on commissions. Over time you can build a pool of regular clients by educating them about the products, and handling their feedback.
RECOMMENDED READING: THE ULTIMATE SALES GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS
30. Business plan writer
Every business needs a business plan. It needs the business plan to guide its strategic direction and in numerous instances, the business plan is needed by other external individuals and institutions such as banks. They use the plan to have a better understanding of the business. Most business owners however, would rather focus on running their businesses and leave the business plan writing to someone else. If you have a good business background, you could use your expertise to write professional business plans at a cost. Over time you could build a stack of plans across various sectors and sell them on your website as well.
31. Domain registration and web hosting
Most people who want websites aren't really into the technical stuff. They would rather focus on the front end aspects of their websites whilst letting someone else handle the complicated stuff. You can take advantage of this and use it as an opportunity to provide hosting services for users in your local area. These can include local shops as well as bloggers and corporates. One reputable web hosting provider that offers a hosting package is Bluehost. Their packages start from as little as $11 and you can learn more about them here
RECOMMENDED READING: HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR IDEA INTO A BUSINESS MODEL
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