From Dropshipping to SMMA and even if you are not an IT literate, you will get results from your home, with a very little initial investment. You don’t have to be filthy rich to become an entrepreneur or start your own business. Indeed, you can launch your own business for under $1,000.
Have you always wanted to start your own business but were afraid of the costs? With so many small- and medium-size companies joining the ranks each year, it’s never been easier. Consider looking into service based businesses as these tend have a lot less overhead than product driven ones do.
Would you like to quit your job and start a business? If so, there are many options right now and there are so many business ideas out there! You can even do this with little capital. However, starting up is the easy part; making it successful takes more than that.
People often think that starting a small business requires very low capital and effort but they fail to recognize how much work goes into actually running one – especially if done correctly from day 1 (and not by cutting corners). There’s no guarantee in entrepreneurship which means failure may be imminent for some people who don’t carefully plan everything out before quitting their jobs or mortgaging homes/assets needed for a business.
You might wonder: how to start a business with little to no capital? And, do you have any business ideas in mind? So, you’re looking for small business ideas where you don’t need much upfront funds. Today I’m going to give you 11 businesses you can start with little capital. Enjoy!
1. Dropshipping
You don’t need a lot of capital to start your own dropshipping business. Do you know IKEA? Yes, probably the biggest-selling company when it comes to furniture. Do you know that during their early stages they were a simple dropshipping business? Let me explain: a dropshipping business is a particular one that sells products without physically owning them. Today, with the Internet, it’s possible to do this exact process in a faster way, which is eCommerce.
Dropshipping is a very popular way to start a business with little to no capital. Dropshipping is when you sell goods for another company at a markup but don’t actually have the goods in your possession. When customer buys the product, they are buying from you and you buy directly from the supplier. The supplier will then ship the good directly to your customers’ home.
It’s one of the most effective website ideas that will help you earn money. There are plenty of options available, but my personal advice would be: use Shopify and Oberlo. This is a no-brainer really. With Shopify, you will create an e-commerce store that sells products listed by Chinese suppliers (Aliexpress for example), and Oberlo will simply automate the whole process when a client will click on the order button.
If you are really passionate about this kind of low capital business, you should get quality professional indemnity insurance, as you will deal with 3 or 4 entities constantly, and in case something goes wrong, you and your clients will be covered.
2. Event Planning Business / Party Planner
If you have an event planning business, you find yourself in charge of scheduling events for various clients. That’s a great low capital business idea right there.
Do you have experience organizing small events with your friends? Then, starting to organize larger events in exchange of money can be a great business idea. When going with this business opportunity, one thing that you need to keep in mind is your business plan. There are many elements you need to include in a business plan. Don’t worry, we came up with this free business plan template that you can easily follow.
Many people who are looking to start new businesses online, actually have a big creative mind. So why not put this in a professional environment? If you like to organise parties, events (of every form, tone and in every location) what you need is a simple website (if you don’t know how to do it, you can create a simple Facebook page!) and some form of contact, like an email account.
3. Udemy
Launching your own course on Udemy is one of those small business ideas that you can launch almost instantly. Launching your own course on Udemy is one of the best ways to earn money online via passive income. Successful eachers on Udemy are making anywhere between $10,000 to $50,0000+ per month in passive income by sharing their knowledge with the world through video tutorials! Sounds awesome? Let’s dive in.
Udemy is an online learning platform where teachers can create courses on topics ranging from yoga to game development and share their knowledge with people all over the world. Are you a Graphic Designer, a Coding Expert or simply that good at something? Then teach graphic design or whatever you do online!
4. Youtube and Live Streaming
With the popularity of live streaming growing exponentially, entrepreneurs across the world are beginning to look into hosting their own events and streams. In this section we will discuss how Youtube and Live Streaming works and what opportunities there are for aspiring entrepreneurs like you who want to start a low capital business.
Content creation has and will be the pillar of the internet. This is because people are always browsing looking for the next trend, that funny youtube video and why their Adwords campaign wasn’t that successful. Now, using Youtube and Live Streaming for content creation is, of course, the easier route. If you are a Graphic Designer, for example, Twitch (the biggest streaming platform available) has a section called “Creative”, where you can find musicians, designers, painters and many more.
You can set up a “Donate” button so you can get some extra money from it and of course, if your channel reaches decent numbers, you can apply for a Twitch Partnership, so you will get a percentage on how many viewers you are having per session.Youtube, on the other hand, is something that is more recommended to people with decent video-editing skills, since the competition has become really intense. If you are confident with your video skills and not too shy to talk in front a camera, Youtube is a great way to start a business with again little to no capital.
Becoming an influencer or a thought leader thanks to the video platform crazes is a great small business idea for anyone not being too shy. You need to know that every good business starts with your target audience though. Never forget that.
5. Virtual Assistant
In a nutshell, a virtual assistant helps people in their personal and business affairs. A VA manages all kinds of tasks in a more efficient manner than people ever could do themselves.
Naturally born problem solver? Are you a detailed oriented individual? This is something that might interest you. Being a Virtual Assistant, your duties will be based on your experience. Many companies want to outsource their repetitive tasks and many entrepreneurs or business owners are looking for virtual assistants (VAs). Why not you? For example, you might be an Office Admin or an IT Technician.
Do you want to know more how to start up a business with little capital?
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6. Business Development
What is Business Development? It’s not sales, it’s not marketing. So, what is it? John Sumser has some thoughts on this…
Perhaps the best way to come to terms with business development is to understand that there are at least three distinct components or types of business activities. The first is sales. Sales people sell product and services directly to customers. There are many different kinds of sales organizations most of which can be characterized as either B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer).
These terms are used in just about every industry and company that exists. Every company selling anything wants to know who their next customer will be and they the ability to find them easily. Sales organizations are typically compensated in accordance with revenue. The sales force at most companies is the only group that interacts directly with the customer.
The second component of business activity is marketing which includes all of the activities that are designed to build awareness, generate preference, stimulate demand and create top-of-mind positioning for a company’s brand name products or services. Marketing is important because it changes behavior without imposing any constraint on how, when or where people can buy or use things they acquire through marketing.
Marketing also produces many of the inputs needed by sales but in general it does not produce money. It consumes budget but it doesn’t provide any direct return on investment (ROI). This means that there has always been tension between marketing and sales.
Many companies have started to measure marketing ROI because it is becoming such a large cost item that they feel obliged to do so. Thus, there has been some consolidation of the marketing function into the sales organization as marketers try to keep their jobs by selling their services directly to customers.
The third component of business development includes all the activities designed to find and secure new customers and/or introduce new products or services (for both existing and potential customers). It also includes activities like mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, strategic alliances, joint ventures, licensing arrangements and many others which create access for an organization’s offerings in new markets; expand distribution; gain market share; enhance or service development; reduce costs; secure funding for new initiatives; and many others.
Business development activities are frequently organized as corporate functions within the executive office of the CEO, or they may be carried out by corporate divisions reporting to a Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Marketing Officer or Chief Operating Officer. In some companies business development is a type of sales role often associated with a strategic account manager.
In other cases it is a senior-level management position that reports directly into the chief executive officer (CEO). Because business development deals with direct interaction with customers, data from these interactions can provide important insights into customer behavior and preferences. This makes it valuable input to marketing strategy and sales planning which helps justify its existence in organizations where it does not report directly top management.
Business development always offers a lot of opportunities if you’re good at it and that’s a great low capital business opportunity. This is the kind of successful small business ideas you should look into if you’re a people’s person, already enjoy company meetings and you’re also good at influencing and convincing others.
If you are that successful in running your company, your store, your studio, then you might take this one into consideration. Being a Business Development Consultant is something that requires a lot of experience, but for a natural born entrepreneur is a very appealing challenge, especially if the business you are trying to help is something that you are passionate about.
When it comes to business development, you have to be known about how a company works. In particular, you have to be known about how to set up a successful business from scratch, keeping in mind that probably (if you manage to land a position as a consultant) your clients will have no clue about what Business Development is, otherwise they wouldn’t have called you.
7. Become An Affiliate Marketing Entrepreneur
Businesses today are all about generating leads and getting prospects into their sales funnel. So if you’re in the game, you’ve probably heard of affiliate marketing, or at least know someone who’s done it successfully.
Basically, an affiliate marketer is someone who promotes another company’s product as if he was advertising his own. But instead of getting paid for sales like a traditional ad agency would, the only reward that an affiliate gets for his hard work is derived from their agreement with the advertiser who made this possible. This could be anything from a percentage of the sales, to a flat fee per lead generated, or any combination of both.
Affiliate marketing is basically just an agreement between the affiliate and the business where they agree on how much commission each will earn based on certain actions taken by their referrals. If you’re still with me at this point, great! Now that you know what affiliate marketing is, it’s time to answer another important question: why should I bother?
Speaking about low cost business idea, here’s one… If you already have a solid social media following then you are already at 70%. Basically, you choose a product you like, promote it, and make a profit on each sale that stems from your marketing efforts. If you are a “social media expert” and you are passionate about networking, this is probably the best choice for you.
8. App Development
There are plenty of companies that recently became big for mobile app development since the future is focusing in that direction. This business venture is definitely in high demand. If you have a decent coding knowledge and you are passionate about UX and UI, starting a business like this one could be a home run.
With many different tools on the market, even the non-coding experts will be able to create good selling apps, especially if related to economics, photography and video making, since those are the biggest trends right now in the app’s world.
With the number of resources, tutorials and video course online, you can start learning app development skills even with low capital. Mobile app developers are in high demand whether it’s for Android or iOS. So, if you decide to jump into the app development space, you will already have so may potential clients interested in what you do and this can become a very lucrative business for you.
9. SMMA (Social Media Marketing Agency)
I’m sure you know that social media marketing skills are in high demand. A solo social media agency can be an ideal business idea for any person with experience in the marketing field or those looking to get their feet wet. With low startup costs, you don’t need a high income before launching this type of company. Online courses are also available at affordable rates that will teach beginners about how best practices evolved over time and what they mean now versus earlier eras!
Starting a business is hard and risky, but not impossible. If you want to make it big in entrepreneurship without putting your bare money on the line, try launching an online business with low costs to put upfront is now possible.
Social Media is something that moves businesses all over the world, and it’s only getting bigger. If you think about it, having your business page on Facebook is a must. A decade ago, was something that people thought was a bit “too much”. If you are a Social Media literate, and you know about how to interact with people if you are a great content creator and if you have a good knowledge of PPC (Pay Per Click), then this might be your choice.
There are no guidelines, really. You could be focusing on pure content creation or digital marketing. In the end, your SMA will reflect your approach when it comes to Digital Marketing, which is a great thing.
Learning social media skills whether it’s content creation, copywriting or creatives is now easy with the amount of free resources you can find online. Starting a social media agency is one of those businesses you can start with little to no capital in a matter of weeks.
Now is the time to start a low capital business and make it a success!
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10. SME and SMM (Social Media Executive and Social Media Manager)
If you are passionate about being in the “Jet Set” then you probably know how much wealthy personalities are attached to their social media. In fact, many Hollywood superstars have their own Executive, who creates content for them and manages all their social media accounts (IG, Facebook, Twitter).
This lately has applied a lot to many different Youtubers and Instagram personalities (Jake and Logan Paul, for example, have a massive team behind their social media, who coordinates everything from video editing to press) and different Hollywood actors (Robert Downey Jr, for example) have reportedly admitted that their “assistant” was responding.
11. Sell Your Art
Do you have the artistic fiber? Are you crafting your own little inventions. Selling your art is one of those out-of-the-box, creative business ideas and you should give it a try. If you already have objects or art that you created, selling it is surely a low cost business idea you should think about.
With many different websites like Fiverr, for example, you will be able to sell your music, your graphics, your videos to a very big audience. Keep in mind that using this type of websites to sell your work is purely a numbers’ game: you don’t wanna spend 400 hours on a project that will be sold for 5 dollars and has at least 200+ competitors. If you are interfacing with this kind of reality, you want your rankings to go high, so people who are browsing the platform will find you easily.
I know this could sound like “killing the art” for you, but this is the worst part when it comes to Content Factories. Of course, if you are that creative and are able to create some incredible art within very little time frames, then this could be a perfect fit for you.
My personal hint would be using templates to help you out at the very initial stage of your work (this particularly applies to graphic designers, record producers and videomakers who focus on looping content like Beeple). Keep in mind that the content should be copyright free, so be careful with samples, producers!
So, there are many businesses you can start up with little capital! Stop waiting!
There are so many low capital businesses to start but you need motivation and determination. There are many profitable business ideas available even if you don’t have initial funding. However, it’s important to know that there’s no easy business out there. You have to put on the work. No successful entrepreneur made it far without hard work. The benefits of picking one (or more) of the business ideas above is that you don’t need to craft a long business model. You can start almost right away.
But wait a second! In order to do any business, you will need the appropriate bank account. Here’s how you can open the right type of bank account for your business.
What are you waiting for to launch your business idea? As a matter of fact, waiting can be expensive. All it takes is one bad day to wipe out weeks or months worth of work and that’s just with your time! Don’t wait to release your business idea. You know your business idea is good when it’s a no-brainer to take the leap. Get it out there and see what happens!
The longer you hold onto a product or service, the less chance of success that item has at generating revenue for yourself because people will grow tired waiting on its development with no tangible results in sight. A recent study found that most entrepreneurs lose up to 50% percent when they spend too much on developing their product before launching because there are so many unknown factors at play during this stage.
The balance between starting a business and being confident in your idea can be difficult. You need determination, but before you take that first step into entrepreneurship it’s important to have clarity on what exactly will make up the foundation of this new company.
A lot goes through our heads when we’re deciding whether or not launching an entrepreneurial venture makes sense – from how much time do I want dedicate per week?; am I currently employed full-time enough hours each year?; even issues around funding (or lack thereof). It sounds like there are many factors at play here! But all these thoughts should lead towards one conclusion: knowing yourself well enough so as never feel unsure again about trying out something different
Good business ideas are not what’s missing.
So you want to be your own boss, start a successful business but worry about the risk and potential hardship that comes with funding your business ideas? You’re right to do so. Less than half of new businesses make it past year five. And these days, many entrepreneurs start out successfully by starting up minimal capital projects.
Passion may be important, but it’s not enough to start a business. If you want your new company to make profit and stay competitive in the market, not only you need an original idea, you also want to stand out from the crowd and have a clear value proposition.
Even if I gave you a few business ideas you can start up with little capital, this doesn’t make it easy to make a business successful. Make sure you avoid these 11 mistakes when starting a business. As you could see there are many possibilities and opportunities for you to be your own boss. I gave you 11 businesses you can start up with little capital and there are plenty more. What are you waiting for? It’s time for you to become your own boss and start the entrepreneurship journey!
Growth Hackers is probably the best growth hacking company if you want your startup, small business or large enterprise to grow, thrive and succeed. We help them with digital marketing, growth hacking, product development and fundraising. We help them drive traffic to their websites and apps, build their brand, increase their visibility, generate leads, improve conversions and increase their revenue. If you’re interested to start or grow a business, get in touch with Growth Hackers now and you’ll be on the right path to independence and success.
Don’t just take our word for it! We’re always happy to answer any questions you may have about your business idea. You can find out if the concept is sound by speaking with people in a position of expertise and getting their feedback first-hand, or looking at other businesses within related industries that are already doing well before trying something new yourself (though keep us updated so we know where things go).
4 Comments
Thank you very much.
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Good Day!
What an interesting and insightful article. So many rare gems here. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks much for your important information and thanks for sharing
Thanks for your ideas. I am going to try at least one of them right away.