Starting your own business can be an exciting yet overwhelming job. While there are several risks and hassles associated with this new venture, escaping the monotonous 9-5 office routine and being your own boss is perhaps one of the world’s best feelings. Unfortunately, a lot of people fail to fulfill their dream of starting a business due to insufficient funds. But that doesn’t have to be the case! With several low or no investment small business ideas at home that are profitable, you can now launch your own business and become an entrepreneur.
Low-cost Small Business Ideas that are Profitable (You can start from home today)
Here’s a list of nine profitable low-cost small business ideas at home that might appeal to you.
Dropshipping
Do you want to sell products online but lack the money and resources to buy and stock inventory? No worries! Dropshipping is the answer to all your problems! It is an extremely popular ecommerce business model wherein you don’t have to manage products physically. Everything happens virtually. All you have to d is open an online store and team up wih a third-party supplier or suppliers who fulfill the customers’ orders for you. Best of all, you don’t need to spend time on product research because dropshipping apps like Oberlo can do the job for you.
For example, you want to deal in imported handbags and jewelry. As a dropshipper, you don’t need to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars in your products and store them in your house or rented warehouse until they’re sold. Instead, you partner with a third-party vendor who already has the warehouse space to store your items. Once you receive an order from someone, your supplier or suppliers take over the process and ship the product directly to your customer. You don’t have to deal with the logistics either. You simply receive the profit for the sold item or items.
One of the biggest reasons why people use dropshipping is that you don’t have to hold inventory. Nevertheless, if stocking inventory isn’t an issue – perhaps there’s enough space in your home or garage –you can also source products wholesale. Your main job as a seller is to draw customers to your online store – through online marketing. You can easily do that from anywhere as long as you have a laptop, a Smartphone, and a reliable internet connection!
Website Flipping
Website flipping is investing in websites that are already making profit, improving its design and content, boosting traffic to the website, making money from the huge amount of website visitors, and then selling the website for a profit. There are a few online platforms where you can buy and sell websites to make a profit. For example, Shopify’s marketplace Exchange allows you to buy ecommerce websites that you can further improve via SEO, content marketing, and other tactics. Once your site starts generating more revenue than your buying amount, you can list it for sale on the marketplace.
If you’ve successfully launched a money-making site, selling it won’t be hard. There are brokers like Flippa and Empire Flippers who find buyers and handle the process for a percentage. You need to keep records in order to decide the site’s selling price
Cloud Kitchen
Today, we run our business, track financial records, stream our favorite movies, and even store our photos in the cloud. And just like that, it’s also where we’re ordering our favorite dishes. And thanks to the pandemic and its related restrictions on socializing, opening a cloud kitchen could be the best decision ever. Cloud kitchens, often referred to as virtual kitchens, ghost kitchens, or shared kitchens, is a commercial kitchen space that provides virtual food businesses with the facilities and services required to prepare food items for takeout and delivery.
Unlike brick and mortar restaurants that entail a lot of investment and overhead expenses, these ghost kitchens are built around food delivery rather than Sit’n’Dine service. This saves up on a lot of overhead expenses like labor cost, utility bills, repair and maintenance, and so on. It also allows a virtual restaurant or kitchen to increase its focus on food preparation and brand marketing, while minimizing the administrative hassle and logistics that often come with traditional food businesses.
Monetize Your WordPress Blog
Blogging could be expensive, even when you’re doing it on a free platform like WordPress. Aside from the time and effort it takes to craft your posts, you also need to pay the domain renewal fees, security certifications, and any added plugins that you may use. If you’ve been there for long and consistently generating thousands of views per month, you’re two steps closer to success.
Sure, all techniques to monetize a WordPress blog will require some extra time and effort, and there’s certainly no assured way to make money quickly. Any business, small or big, online or offline, requires time, work, and persistence to survive the competition. However, here are a few well-worn techniques used by successful bloggers to earn profit over time.
- Use display ads
One of the easiest ways to monetize WordPress is using display advertisements. You may either make them appear on your pages as popups, static displays, and/or native ads. You can also install a WordPress theme with ad space if you consider it right for your website.
- Become an affiliate marketer
Compared to advertisements, affiliate marketing is a more profitable option and offers a better user experience. Affiliate marketers work by promoting third-party products or services in their blog content. They strategically mention the product or service names in their blog posts and add special affiliate links, which the readers can click and make a purchase from the third-party website.
- Write sponsored blog posts
As a seasoned content writer, you can gain sponsorships, wherein brands pay you to review and/or mention their products in your blog posts. Although devoting your time and effort in reviewing a product seems cumbersome, it can give you a lot more revenue than affiliate marketing and display ads. Once you start reviewing products from certain brands regularly and publishing them on your page, chances are that those brands will soon collaborate with you.
- Offer membership
A membership website is a restricted website, wherein only subscribed members of the page can view its content. These blog sites typically grant access to a special community forum or message board for their fans to discuss certain posts and interact with the owners. This monetization technique is more profitable and trustworthy than one-time paid content, since there are recurring membership costs.
WordPress Support
A lot of websites out there are hosted on WordPress, and almost every WordPress website owner requires support in form. So, if you’re familiar with the ins and outs of this platform, you’ll have several opportunities to make money. Clients may contact you to fix their CSS, find and address security holes, and more. While you can use platforms like PeoplePerHour and Upwork to get your first clients, we recommend that you create a custom website and list your services there. That way, you’ll be able to avoid high commissions and build high-quality relationships with your clients. Hands down, offering WordPress support stands as one of the most unique business ideas to try in 2021.
Stock Photographer
If you have a knack for clicking candid moments or you receive a lot of compliments for your photography skills, consider becoming a stock photographer by starting a sole proprietorship under your name. Famous stock photo brands like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, and the like are always on the search for appealing images. Get started by submitting a few of your best clicked photos on these platforms. Once you’re done with the submission, wait for the users to download them. Most of these popular stock photography websites pay the image owners a royalty for each download on their platform.
Another lucrative option is to start your own photography website and put up images for sale. However, this option is viable only if you have the right resources and techniques to promote your website.
Podcasts
Podcasts are digital audio and video files that subscribed users can download or listen to online. With the number of US podcast listeners increasing by 16% in a year, it’s definitely a promising platform to make money using the right techniques. It might not be that easy in the beginning, (and that’s perfectly fine), but that doesn’t mean that you cannot start building your community today. There has never been a better time than now! Here are three key factors that determine the success of your podcast and help you make money out of it – content; presentation, delivery, & performance; building community & relationships.
Start by choosing the right hosting platform and nurturing your community. Once you’ve mastered these two, gradually consider monetizing your podcast with sponsorship deals, affiliate marketing, and more inventive ways like programmatic advertising. You can earn money by including advertisements towards the beginning, middle, or end of the podcast session. Audiobooks are a different and more popular type of podcast. This is because people find listening to audiobooks more relaxing than reading books. Start your website where you can sell your audiobooks as well as earn money from the site traffic.
Online Coaching Business
Today, we live in an online world. Thanks to the pandemic, we’ve never been more dependent on the internet to get our regular stuff done. From office employees using Zoom and Google meet to conduct their business meetings to families and friends using Skype and Facetime to talk to each other, the Internet has become the primary source of knowledge and interaction. With the world evolving so rapidly around us, it’s important to adapt to the changes and make the most of this situation. The learning industry is an ever-booming one, and there’s no better time or opportunity to start your own online coaching business.
Before you start, it’s important to understand that coaching is different from counseling, which necessitates a special degree and licensing. You also need to understand your niche category for coaching and see if it’s right for you. For example, a corporate coach helps entrepreneurs with their business expansion; whereas a life coach can help you cope with regular stress and motivate you to work towards your goal. A health coach, on the other hand, works with people who want to get fit and lead a healthy life. If you’re not adept at any of these niches, you can hire someone who’s trained at one or more of these.
Seasonal Businesses
Do you dream of being an entrepreneur but don’t want something that requires an all-year commitment? No worries, we have a solution for you. Choose a niche for your business idea that works only during a particular time of the year. Alternatively, you can also run a business for, say, three or six months and then run another seasonal business for the rest of the year. Seasonal businesses often need to work harder to promote themselves, simply to remind their customers that they do exist.
You must also have enough time for your publicity and advertising to attract prospective buyers. Start hoarding products and promote your business at least a month before the peak time so as to create a demand in the market. You have to tap into the right time, the right set of audiences, and drive profits to your seasonal business.
In conclusion,
Times are changing and while it’s good to have a job on hand, having a second source of income comes as a bonus. With these above mentioned small business ideas, you don’t need to make a hefty investment or strict commitment. All you need is a little effort, research, persistence and positivity, and the best part you can start these small businesses at home. Of course you won’t earn revenues right away, but the long-term results are definitely promising. Good luck!
Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the Media and Digital marketing sector, Passionate about innovation and bringing the future into new business solutions.
