This article will be discussing eight low investment business ideas you could start almost immediately.
Many years ago, you would have to come up with thousands of dollars, before you could start a business idea.
Thankfully, those days are gone for good, as we are now in an era where you can start several business ideas with just a few dollars.
Are you ready?
Let’s hit the road!
What is a low investment business idea?
Just to be on the same page, what is a low investment business idea?
A low investment business idea is any business idea that requires little capital to start up, compared to other types of businesses that may require a sizeable investment (probably running into several thousands of dollars).
This type of business is usually managed by one person or a small group of persons, as they look to build the business into a huge one.
Low Investment Business Ideas You Can Start Today!
Dropshipping
If you are internet savvy and would like to own an online business, then you should consider owning a dropshipping business.
What is a dropshipping business?
A drop shipping business is an online retail business idea, in which the business owner advertises and sells goods to customers that are owned by a third party.
On receiving a purchase order for any of these goods, the business owner forwards the actual payment and the shipping details to the third party that owns the goods he just sold and keeps his profit.
The third-party forwards the goods paid for to the shipping address sent by the dropshipping business owner.
So how does s drop shipping business owner make money?
He sells the goods on his drop shipping website at a cost higher than the actual cost of the product.
For instance, if the manufacturer or wholesaler sells the goods at $4, the dropshipping business owner may sell it at $5 or $6 on his website and pocket the difference as his profit.
Advantages of Drop Shipping
So, what are the advantages of starting a dropping business?
- It is easy to start.
Dropshipping is one of the easiest businesses you can start!
You do not require huge capital, prior experience, or knowledge in inventory management to run the business.
All you need is to learn the basics, and then you can master the rest as you go!
Oberlo has prepared a course to help you learn all you need to begin today.
- It is easy to manage
Unlike in physical stores where you need to have employees on the ground to make sales, the dropshipping business sales process is automated.
Dropshipping online stores are built to attend to multiple customers simultaneously, record their orders, and receive their payments.
All you need to do thereafter is to process these orders and send them to your supplier to ship to your customer’s address. And this can be done at any time, from the comfort of your home.
It’s that easy to manage!
The only areas that require some work in a dropshipping business are advertising, and processing customer orders (and maybe answering a few customers’ questions now and then).
- You do not require an office
This may not appear like a major advantage if you do not live in a place like New York, where real estate is expensive.
Thankfully, you do not need to rent an office space to be able to operate your dropshipping business, since everything can be done online.
This is another benefit of starting a dropshipping business.
- Flexibility
Another benefit that comes with owning a drop shipping business, is that it is flexible. You can choose to work at any time and still be okay.
If you prefer working at night, you could process orders at that time and follow up on customer requests or inquiries.
What’s more, you don’t have to work from any place specifically.
You can work from a cafeteria, park, your home, etc. It gives you the freedom to choose how you wish to run your business.
Disadvantages of Drop Shipping Businesses
It should not come as a surprise that drop shipping businesses have disadvantages, right?
Below are some of them:
- Slim profit Margins
Dropshipping businesses in a highly competitive niche have to keep prices low to attract buyers.
Since there are lots of businesses offering the same range of products, the business owner may have to sell with a little profit, to remain competitive.
2. Order Processing can be a challenge
Although it seems pretty straightforward, order processing can become a challenge, when you are using multiple suppliers to fulfill your customer demands.
In addition, different suppliers may mean different costs for shipping the same item.
It becomes a problem when you are charging customers different shipping costs, when they ordered the same product, simply because a different supplier is demanding a different price.
- You have little control over the business
The business owner has very little control over certain parts of his business since all he does is advertise, process orders and send them to the supplier.
He has to depend on the supplier to make accurate decisions in the areas of the business he has no control over. This may become a problem if the supplier does not have a good business structure in place to manage bulk orders.
- It makes customer service more challenging
Even when you make all the right decisions, you could still run into customer service issues if your supplier makes a mistake.
For instance, they may ship an order to the wrong address, or ship out the wrong size.
You will have to accept blame for whatever mistake your supplier makes, and find a way to resolve it, to keep your customers satisfied.
Starting a Translation Service Business
If you can speak two or more languages, you can start a translation service business online, where you can hire out your services to clients and get paid.
How can you start?
The best part is that you do not require any startup capital to begin this business.
All you need do is register as a translator on freelance jobs platforms like Upwork, Flex Jobs, Fiverr, etc.
After registering, you can apply for language translation jobs that you are skilled in, and make money from your skill.
You can also advertise your language translation skills on social media to get clients. There are several persons in need of your services that may stumble on your advert and decide to chat you up.
The great thing about starting this business idea is, as you keep satisfying your clients, they will refer you to friends, who may also refer you to friends.
Before long, you will have more jobs than you can handle, and may need to hire other freelancers to assist you.
Website Flipping
Another low investment business idea to consider is website flipping. What is website flipping?
It simply refers to the buying and selling of websites.
In website flipping, you buy an already running website and improve its value by redesigning it, improving its content, and employing other strategies like content marketing, SEO, to boost the value.
As you employ these website growing strategies and improve its monthly visitors and revenue, you can list it for sale on platforms like Shopify’s Exchange, and make some profit.
However, the major drawback of this business idea is that you have to be tech-savvy. If you are not familiar with web designing, SEO, Content Marketing, etc. you may be better off trying other low capital business ideas.
Home-Based Catering Service
If you love cooking or baking, you can as well make money from doing what you already love.
How can you start?
Search for small & medium event managers and advertise your services to them. You could probably give them a sample to convince them of the quality they will get when they hire you.
If you keep reaching out to event managers, before long you will get your first client.
As you get your first event, ensure to wow them to get recommendations.
If you keep impressing your clients, before long, you would have so many clients that you may need to start hiring other caterers to help you keep up with the demand pouring in.
Many established catering services today, started as home-based services, but have scaled up to become big businesses.
This is a low investment business idea that is worth trying if you trust your catering skills.
Virtual Assistant
Becoming a Virtual Assistant is a low investment business idea that you could start today. Who is a Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant is a self-employed worker that specializes in offering administrative services to clients from a remote location.
Their job description includes tasks like making phone calls, making travel arrangements, scheduling appointments, etc.
These days, lots of Executives and Entrepreneurs are hiring the services of Virtual Assistants to help them handle administrative tasks.
If you have worked as an Administrative Officer, or a Personal/Executive Assistant in the past, chances are that you will excel in this business.
All you need to start this business is to have a functional computer and a smartphone!
Does it get easier than that?
If you are interested in this low capital business, you can visit freelance job platforms such as Fiverr.
Online Tutoring
If you love teaching, online tutoring is a low capital investment business idea that you could explore.
However, a basic requirement for going into this line of business is to have a bachelor’s degree in the line of tutoring you wish to get into.
So, if you wish to teach Math, you should have a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics.
If you already have this requirement in your area of interest, you could go visits platforms like skooli and tutor, to find clients interested in your services.
These days where there are several online Video Communication platforms like Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, etc., you can take advantage of any of these platforms to facilitate your classes.
Content Writing
If you are a good writer, content writing is a business idea you should consider.
Content writing simply refers to writing any type of piece to meet the business needs of a client.
Today, there are millions of websites and blogs on the internet. These digital platforms need the services of content writers to produce good content for their platforms.
This is why becoming a content writer is a lucrative business today.
If you wish to start hiring your service as a content writer to clients, you can visit websites like problogger and fiverr to search for content writing jobs.
However, there are a few skills needed to excel as a content writer that you should take the time to learn before you go in search of content writing jobs.
It will make it easier for you to land writing jobs.
Related Article: Online Business Services to Start Today
App Development
If you are a good programmer or software developer, you can start your own App Development business today.
There are lots of organizations and individuals that require the services of software developers to help them develop software to improve their business or organization processes.
In addition, lots of entrepreneurs are seeking App developers to build games, software, etc. that they will patent and sell.
Even as the need for App developers increases, you can set up your App development business today and get paid handsomely.
If you are an App Developer thinking of how to market your skills, you can register on platforms like Upwork, AngelList, etc.
Closure
Like you would have guessed, there are lots of advantages attached to starting your low-income business idea today.
One obvious benefit is that it will be an extra source of income for you (if it is a part-time business), which could keep increasing.
In addition, many mega businesses we see and appreciate today started as low investment businesses. As we may recall, the tech giant Apple started from a garage and grew to become what it is today.
Your low investment business today may become a multi-million-dollar business in a few years if you invest time and resources into building it.
Wishing you the best as you proceed to build your business idea. Cheers!
