1. Start a dropshipping business
Dropshipping is a simple business to begin. Dropshipping is a fulfillment model where a third-party supplier stores and ships products to customers for you. It’s one of the best businesses to start because it’s low expenditure, handsoff, and scalable.
You don’t need to deal with any products yourself. You just need to make the sales and pass orders on to your supplier. In fact, it’s one of the quickest and cheapest businesses to start. You can curate products from one or more suppliers into your own online store under a theme that focuses on a specific niche, like gear for yoga enthusiasts or water bowls for dog owners. When a customer buys a product from you, the order is sent to your supplier, who fulfills it on your behalf. However, you are still responsible for your own marketing and customer service. There are both local and overseas suppliers you can work with, as long as you can establish a relationship with them built on trust. An unreliable supplier will reflect poorly on your brand.
Dropshipping is a low investment way to test product, market fit and launch a business before you invest in your own original products. Just be sure to always order a sample for yourself to make sure your supplier is reliable and that the quality of the products is fit for selling to your customers.
read more about dropshipping here
Another dropshipping model, print on demand puts inventory, shipping, and fulfillment in the hands of a third-party supplier. But unlike the dropshipping idea above, the focus here is on customizing products with your own designs to create something original.
T-shirts, hats, phone cases, hoodies, skirts, tote bags, and more become canvases for your creativity. You can think up witty slogans for developers or references that resonate with cat owners—if there’s passion and pride within a community, there’s a potential t-shirt business you can start.
Even if you’re not a designer, you can find one to work with using freelance sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Dribbble, or 99Designs. With many print-on-demand services, you’re paying per product, so the base price per unit will be more expensive than if you were to order in bulk. But the advantage is that if a certain t-shirt design doesn’t sell, you haven’t actually paid for the item yet (only the design, if you outsourced it).
You can even use t-shirt mockup templates so you don’t need to spend extra money on a full photoshoot for every new design.
A book is just another type of product when you think about it. As such, you can create one to serve a special demand in the market.
Cookbooks, picture books, story books, comic books, poetry books, photo books, coffee table books, and novels, if you’ve got the knowledge or creativity, there are a variety of original books you can bring to the market. The options are endless, that’s why it’s one of the best businesses to start.
Print-on-demand is a relatively safe way to test the waters and get started with self-publishing. It also gives you control over the quality and looks of your book. Lulu Direct and Blurb are popular platforms to create, order, and distribute your books as physical and digital products. You could also sell it on third-party marketplaces like Amazon or Powell’s. While you can order one book at a time, costs naturally go down when you buy in bulk. Consider pre-selling or crowdfunding your book idea to ensure there’s demand and guarantee a certain number of sales so you can feel confident making a bulk order.
Launching your book can be a great way to monetize a blog if you have or are looking to start one.
Digital products like music, courses, and templates are unique on this list of small business ideas. Unlike the others, they’re not tangible. There aren’t recurring manufacturing or shipping costs to worry about, so your margins can remain high, making it another no-brainer for being one of the best businesses to start.
The trick in this business type is figuring out what makes for a good digital product. What is useful enough that people are willing to pay to download it? The answers range from original instrumental beats to stock photos that can be licensed to other creators to information products and templates that help people level up their skill sets in a particular field.
If you’ve got a talent that can be turned into a digital product, think about packaging it into a new stream of income.
Offering services isn’t passive, but it certainly can be a lucrative way to gain self-employment. With services-based small business ideas, time is your inventory and your biggest investment. You’ve only got a limited supply of hours in your day. However, that makes it easier to get up and running if you’ve got skills that are in demand.
Skills like writers(copywriting, SEO writing, etc), graphic designers, virtual assistants, SEO practitioners, cleaning service providers, real estate professionals, and more can build a business around their skills. You could offer these skills as an ongoing service or start a consulting business that advises on projects. It’s one of the best business opportunities because it can be expanded with any of the other ideas above to create additional revenue streams by productizing services through physical or digital goods. A photographer, for example, can service a local event while selling prints online through their Instagram account. A freelance writer can sell a copywriting swipe file of high-converting sales copy. Coupling your service-based business with physical products can give you another source of income that isn’t directly tied to your time.
You can offer your services through a freelance marketplace like Upwork to increase your chances of getting discovered by the people who need your skills.
In today’s connected world, the ability to capture and keep the attention of others is an asset. It’s one that many businesses are even willing to pay for and one that many creators can convert into a business with multiple revenue streams.
Whether you choose to grow your following on YouTube, Instagram, or a blog (ideally a combination of different channels), you have many avenues for monetizing your audience:
-Sponsored posts on behalf of brands
-Becoming an influencer
-Selling of physical or digital products (via any of the ideas on this list)
-Patreon
A combination of the above (they’re not mutually exclusive)
Taking an audience-first approach to your small business idea means you’re playing the long game (it might be months until you’ve figured it out). But you don’t need millions of followers to do it, Instagram influencer Kat Gaskin, for example, pulled off a $10,000 product launch with only 3,000 followers.
2. Design and sell print-on-demand t-shirts
Another dropshipping model, print on demand puts inventory, shipping, and fulfillment in the hands of a third-party supplier. But unlike the dropshipping idea above, the focus here is on customizing products with your own designs to create something original.
T-shirts, hats, phone cases, hoodies, skirts, tote bags, and more become canvases for your creativity. You can think up witty slogans for developers or references that resonate with cat owners—if there’s passion and pride within a community, there’s a potential t-shirt business you can start.
Even if you’re not a designer, you can find one to work with using freelance sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Dribbble, or 99Designs. With many print-on-demand services, you’re paying per product, so the base price per unit will be more expensive than if you were to order in bulk. But the advantage is that if a certain t-shirt design doesn’t sell, you haven’t actually paid for the item yet (only the design, if you outsourced it).
You can even use t-shirt mockup templates so you don’t need to spend extra money on a full photoshoot for every new design.
3. Launch your own book
A book is just another type of product when you think about it. As such, you can create one to serve a special demand in the market.
Cookbooks, picture books, story books, comic books, poetry books, photo books, coffee table books, and novels, if you’ve got the knowledge or creativity, there are a variety of original books you can bring to the market. The options are endless, that’s why it’s one of the best businesses to start.
Print-on-demand is a relatively safe way to test the waters and get started with self-publishing. It also gives you control over the quality and looks of your book. Lulu Direct and Blurb are popular platforms to create, order, and distribute your books as physical and digital products. You could also sell it on third-party marketplaces like Amazon or Powell’s. While you can order one book at a time, costs naturally go down when you buy in bulk. Consider pre-selling or crowdfunding your book idea to ensure there’s demand and guarantee a certain number of sales so you can feel confident making a bulk order.
Launching your book can be a great way to monetize a blog if you have or are looking to start one.
4. Create digital products or online courses
Digital products like music, courses, and templates are unique on this list of small business ideas. Unlike the others, they’re not tangible. There aren’t recurring manufacturing or shipping costs to worry about, so your margins can remain high, making it another no-brainer for being one of the best businesses to start.
The trick in this business type is figuring out what makes for a good digital product. What is useful enough that people are willing to pay to download it? The answers range from original instrumental beats to stock photos that can be licensed to other creators to information products and templates that help people level up their skill sets in a particular field.
If you’ve got a talent that can be turned into a digital product, think about packaging it into a new stream of income.
7. Sell a service
Offering services isn’t passive, but it certainly can be a lucrative way to gain self-employment. With services-based small business ideas, time is your inventory and your biggest investment. You’ve only got a limited supply of hours in your day. However, that makes it easier to get up and running if you’ve got skills that are in demand.
Skills like writers(copywriting, SEO writing, etc), graphic designers, virtual assistants, SEO practitioners, cleaning service providers, real estate professionals, and more can build a business around their skills. You could offer these skills as an ongoing service or start a consulting business that advises on projects. It’s one of the best business opportunities because it can be expanded with any of the other ideas above to create additional revenue streams by productizing services through physical or digital goods. A photographer, for example, can service a local event while selling prints online through their Instagram account. A freelance writer can sell a copywriting swipe file of high-converting sales copy. Coupling your service-based business with physical products can give you another source of income that isn’t directly tied to your time.
You can offer your services through a freelance marketplace like Upwork to increase your chances of getting discovered by the people who need your skills.
10. Build an audience you can monetize
In today’s connected world, the ability to capture and keep the attention of others is an asset. It’s one that many businesses are even willing to pay for and one that many creators can convert into a business with multiple revenue streams.
Whether you choose to grow your following on YouTube, Instagram, or a blog (ideally a combination of different channels), you have many avenues for monetizing your audience:
-Sponsored posts on behalf of brands
-Becoming an influencer
-Selling of physical or digital products (via any of the ideas on this list)
-Patreon
A combination of the above (they’re not mutually exclusive)
Taking an audience-first approach to your small business idea means you’re playing the long game (it might be months until you’ve figured it out). But you don’t need millions of followers to do it, Instagram influencer Kat Gaskin, for example, pulled off a $10,000 product launch with only 3,000 followers.
read more about being an influencer here
The pet industry is ripe with opportunity for all kinds of small business ideas. And it’s an industry worth nearly $100 billion, so it’s an easy one to get started in, with guaranteed demand. Your pet business could be product- or service-based—selling accessories, food, or toys, or offering grooming, walking, or training expertise.
Perkie Prints makes personalized printed pet products; everything from apparel to framed prints, plus fun projects in between.
On the service side of things, Let the Dog Out offers dog walking and bathroom breaks to its customers.
Online memberships aren’t just a hot new business idea that materialized from people being required to stay home during the COVID-19 crisis. Online memberships are ideal for entrepreneurs with an established active and engaged community. They work much like a subscription-based business—customers make recurring payments in exchange for a virtual product or service.
Memberships are great for managing members-only access to content on a website, and even for physical businesses that offer guided sessions online. Yoga studios, gyms, clubs, and art schools are a few examples of businesses that can easily take advantage of this low-investment business model. Since this content is behind a gate that only paying subscribers can access through their customer account, you can also host exclusive live streams in addition to (or instead of) downloadable content.
Regardless of the route you take, be sure to record in a quiet space so the audio is clear and distraction free.
It’s also a good idea to use email marketing to keep your members informed of new content. Emails, video teasers, and customer testimonials are great ways to build excitement for new launches.
Make sure to unselect 'This is a physical product' to remove shipping options at the checkout. (Note: Some of the setup required might change depending on which apps you choose to use later in the process.)
If you want to offer different options for your memberships, create variants. You can set different prices for each option and limit the number of times available, if needed, by editing each variant.
You could offer your services as a social media marketing professional. In this case, you would create and schedule social media content on behalf of various brands.
You could even get more general and offer a variety of digital marketing solutions. This type of business only really requires expertise and an internet connection.
If you have business expertise, offer your services as a consultant where you provide insights and guidance to other brands.
Lots of businesses could also use help finding the right candidates for specific jobs. You can do most of this online. And businesses often pay a premium to recruiting services that can help them find high level candidates.
You can publish an ebook fairly inexpensively on platforms like Amazon. Then all of the money you bring in when you make sales is mainly profit.
Starting a blog mainly requires purchasing a domain and hosting. Then once you build a following, you can earn money by offering sponsored content to brands, sidebar ads or affiliate links.
Podcasting offers a similar business model, but just in an audio format. You might have to purchase some audio equipment. But overall it shouldn’t cost much.
YouTube lets video creators earn a portion of the ad revenue that their content brings in. With just some simple video equipment and time, you can build up enough of a following to earn a profit on that platform.
check out my article on "Social media and its importance in business"
11. Start a pet business
The pet industry is ripe with opportunity for all kinds of small business ideas. And it’s an industry worth nearly $100 billion, so it’s an easy one to get started in, with guaranteed demand. Your pet business could be product- or service-based—selling accessories, food, or toys, or offering grooming, walking, or training expertise.
Perkie Prints makes personalized printed pet products; everything from apparel to framed prints, plus fun projects in between.
On the service side of things, Let the Dog Out offers dog walking and bathroom breaks to its customers.
12. Create a membership program
Online memberships aren’t just a hot new business idea that materialized from people being required to stay home during the COVID-19 crisis. Online memberships are ideal for entrepreneurs with an established active and engaged community. They work much like a subscription-based business—customers make recurring payments in exchange for a virtual product or service.
Memberships are great for managing members-only access to content on a website, and even for physical businesses that offer guided sessions online. Yoga studios, gyms, clubs, and art schools are a few examples of businesses that can easily take advantage of this low-investment business model. Since this content is behind a gate that only paying subscribers can access through their customer account, you can also host exclusive live streams in addition to (or instead of) downloadable content.
Regardless of the route you take, be sure to record in a quiet space so the audio is clear and distraction free.
It’s also a good idea to use email marketing to keep your members informed of new content. Emails, video teasers, and customer testimonials are great ways to build excitement for new launches.
Make sure to unselect 'This is a physical product' to remove shipping options at the checkout. (Note: Some of the setup required might change depending on which apps you choose to use later in the process.)
If you want to offer different options for your memberships, create variants. You can set different prices for each option and limit the number of times available, if needed, by editing each variant.
For coming this far, here are addition businesses you could start in no time:
● Social Media Marketing
You could offer your services as a social media marketing professional. In this case, you would create and schedule social media content on behalf of various brands.
● Digital Marketing
You could even get more general and offer a variety of digital marketing solutions. This type of business only really requires expertise and an internet connection.
● Business Consulting
If you have business expertise, offer your services as a consultant where you provide insights and guidance to other brands.
● Recruiting
Lots of businesses could also use help finding the right candidates for specific jobs. You can do most of this online. And businesses often pay a premium to recruiting services that can help them find high level candidates.
● Ebook Sales
You can publish an ebook fairly inexpensively on platforms like Amazon. Then all of the money you bring in when you make sales is mainly profit.
● Blogging
Starting a blog mainly requires purchasing a domain and hosting. Then once you build a following, you can earn money by offering sponsored content to brands, sidebar ads or affiliate links.
● Podcasting
Podcasting offers a similar business model, but just in an audio format. You might have to purchase some audio equipment. But overall it shouldn’t cost much.
● YouTube Video Creation
YouTube lets video creators earn a portion of the ad revenue that their content brings in. With just some simple video equipment and time, you can build up enough of a following to earn a profit on that platform.
also, choosing a business name can be so tricky, so check out my article to get started: How to create a brand name
0 Comments
Post a Comment