A word of warning about ‘good business ideas’...Running a small business requires a large slab of your time and energy (even side hustles). So although highly profitable is the aim, if you choose something you care about, you’re far more likely to succeed than dropshipping the latest trending product.
Passionate about fitness? A successful personal training business can be lucrative but if you’re looking up personal trainer’s salary there’s a huge variation depending on how you set yourself up. Working from a commercial gym premises is the simplest option. Once you become successful you can think about your own studio. Or go to clients’ homes or offices to train them (no rent for you and convenient for them).
How to make money as a personal trainer
Got kitchen skills that your family and friends love? A food truck might just be your ticket to financial security. It’s not as cheap as some of the ideas on the list – you’ll need a kitted out truck for a start (look for second hand but remember that the cheaper vehicles will need more investing in bringing them up to scratch). You also have health and safety rules to stick to depending on where you’re based. And you’ll need to work out a profitable pitch for your food truck.
How to make money from a food truck
Stock photos are used everywhere from news stories to blogs, content marketing and websites – they’re generic images anyone can buy and far cheaper than hiring a photographer and setting up a shoot. If you want to make money selling your images as stock photography, bear in mind 1 million images are uploaded to Shutterstock (just one of many stock photography libraries) EACH WEEK. To get found you need to provide images clients are searching for...
How to make money from Stock photography
Type in ‘low investment business ideas’ into Google and affiliate marketing is bound to pop up. But what is it and is it really that lucrative? Affiliate marketing is where you advertise someone else’s products or services and link to their site. Brands will pay you a commission on the sales of people who’ve clicked through and you might get a smaller payout for leads (those who click your links) too. It’s an industry worth $12 billion growing 10% year-on-year. In theory it’s easy money but it’s possible to invest a lot of time and effort creating ads or a website and make absolutely nothing.
How to make money from affiliate marketing
This leads on to blogging – affiliate marketing can be a smart way to monetize your blog. And it’s a win-win-win for brands you talk about, customers who find relevant recommendations and you earning easy cash...
Super low cost – you can even find free website builders. But as the barriers to entry are so low, there’s a lot of competition out there. You’ll need to get smart about content marketing and social media to promote your blog. Your best bet? Find something you know loads about – something niche if possible. Start small and then explore ways to monetize your blog.
How to make money from blogging
If the idea of hanging out with dogs all day sounds like a dream job, why not get a cut of the $269 billion that the global pet market is expected to hit by 2025? You might even be able to set up at home.
How to make money from pet grooming
This is a premium car washing service that comes to you. And perhaps surprisingly, there’s serious money to be made: auto washing is an industry worth $11 billion annually in the US alone. Advertising yourself properly so that you look like a premium car washing service is key.
How to make money from a mobile car washing servic
You have skills. Someone’s probably paying you for them right now (unless you’ve already made the move to be your own boss). So there’s less risk in starting a business that’s you selling your skills as a service. The pay is usually better than working full time but you’ve also got to factor in holiday pay, pensions and stretches of time without work. Also unless you hire extra staff, it’s not scalable.
Freelance roles in high demand right now:
How to make money from freelance work
Love being out in the open and fancy getting paid to do your daily exercise? If you’re happy to walk several miles a day and love dogs, this is a job with few barriers to entry. And lockdown has caused a sharp rise in dog ownership (and a puppy shortage in the UK) all those dogs will need walks once owners return to work...
How to make money from dog walking
What can you make? Whether you’re a baker, artist, artisan or maker of any kind, it’s easy to set up an online store and see how your goods sell. Research is key, whether you’re selling bath bombs, jewelry, pet products or clothes – work out what you can offer differently. It could be the products you’ve made, how they’re sold or finding a new audience.
How to make money from handcrafted or homemade goods
Dropshipping is where entrepreneurs (like you?) can run an ecommerce store without stocking or delivering any goods. Only after you make a sale, do you pay your supplier – then they ship the product to customers.
How to make money from dropshipping
Read our guide to ‘How to make money with a dropshipping business.’
Starting an online store to sell t-shirts is simple and print on demand services mean your overheads can be low. Want to design and sell t-shirts online? We’ve a few tips...
How to make money from selling t-shirts
Read our guide to ‘How to make money with a t-shirt business.’
YouTube superstars make ludicrous money but although a tiny percentage become stars overnight for most, it takes years of hard work creating innovative content. However YouTube is the second biggest website after Google and people watch over a billion hours of YouTube videos every day. So there’s definitely space for you!
How to make money from YouTube
Fancy becoming a PI? Private investigators aren’t linked to law enforcement and work involves gathering information that can be used as evidence.
How to make money as a private investigator
So what’s the best business to start?
The great thing about the small business ideas we’re talking about is they’re low investment so you can afford to take chances. Try it. Get feedback from friends and family. Change it. Test it. Keep improving. Just get started...
Post Covid-19, online businesses have accelerated – whatever you’re planning, an online element is more essential than ever.
Research is key. Free social media channels might work best to promote your personal training business, while investing in Pay Per Click ads might make sense for affiliate marketing.
You may not need to when you start but you’ll need to promote your goods or services somewhere – particularly if you want to scale. It doesn’t need to be expensive to build an app.
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