Businesses You Can Start with Little to No Money
Many people would love to start a business of their own, but believe starting a new business will cost them more money than they can imagine. This idea couldn’t be further from the truth.
Today is unlike any time in history. People looking to start their own business have so many opportunities and tools available to them, there’s no reason not to get started right away. True, some businesses do cost a lot of money to start. If you don’t have a lot of money, however, these aren’t the businesses you should be thinking about if you want to get going fast, and without putting yourself in debt.
Luckily for you, there are a number of businesses you can start right from the comfort of your own home, and you probably already have most of what you need to begin. Technology, for example, has opened the door to many people who would have otherwise had no opportunity to become their own boss. It has allowed them to create thriving businesses, where they can reach and interact with customers and clients from around the globe.
What Do You Need?
Do you have a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a smartphone, or a tablet? If you answered yes to any of those, you’re on your way!
For the new business that you want to start for little to no cost, the best place to focus is online. You could start your own YouTube channel which you can monetize, or a podcast you can generate revenue from with ad placements. You could write ebooks that you can sell online, and also turn into audio books or have printed on demand. You could start an online clothing and home products store for free from places such as CafePress, Spreadshirt, Zazzle, and Spring. The possibilities are endless.
Think about what skills or talents you have. What are your interests? Any of these can be turned into a business if you take the time to plan out a strategy, and begin with a clear goal and purpose in mind. Are you a musician? For little to no cost you can create and produce your own music, then distribute it to major streaming outlets using services such as Distrokid. If you’re an artist or into design, you can create designs and downloadable artwork with free tools such as Canva and Gimp, and sell those designs and artwork in places like Etsy, Spring, Gumroad, and many more.
These are just a few ideas. Depending on your interests there are countless more. Maybe you don’t want to have a business in the creative, design, or entertainment fields. Maybe you have knowledge that can be useful to others, and you want to use that knowledge as the starting point for your business. If so, then maybe a consulting business is for you. You can work with people and businesses in your local area, or expand nationally, even internationally, using communications tools such as Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and others to contact and work with customers over the internet. Distance is no longer an issue when you factor the possibility of those types of situations into your business plan from the start, and plan ahead for them. You can write ebooks or create online courses to teach people what you know. You can start your own website or blog, offer your knowledge and services from there, and you can easily take payments for your products and services online as well.
The key things to remember when planning your new business are to do something you will enjoy, and do something with the tools, knowledge, skills, and equipment you already have, so you won’t feel as if there is some kind of roadblock standing in your way. Work within your means. Start with whatever free tools you can, then expand or upgrade later.
How Do You Start?
The first step to getting started in your new business is to begin the brainstorming process. What would you like to do? What kind of structure do you want your business to have? What do you have right now that you can use to get it going? Once you figure out what you want your business to be, the next thing you need to do is to check with your state or city to see if there are any licensing requirements you’ll need to take care of so you can start your business legally in the area where you live.
After that, if you have enough money on hand to buy a domain name for your business, one that you can use to start a website or blog with, or to create your own professional email address with, that would be a great next step. You can get a domain name cheaply at places such as Godaddy.com. If you can’t register your new domain name for multiple years to begin with, start with one year, then renew it later for another year or multiple years when the time comes.
If you don’t have enough money to buy your own domain name yet, not to worry. You can still start up free online stores or websites with some of the places mentioned earlier such as Spring and Etsy, Square, Weebly, Wix, Google, and others. If your business only requires you and your knowledge, then the startup requirements can be even fewer. As we discussed, do the most that you can with what you already have. If you have some money to invest into your business from the start, great. If not, don’t let that hold you back. There are many tools and services you can use to get your business up and running as well.
Get Started
Although the scope of this article can’t possibly cover in detail all of the steps, tools, and services available to start every type of business one could come up with, hopefully it can help to get you thinking, and moving in the right direction. Many times the only one holding us back is us. Don’t let that be the case for you. If you want a business of your own, get one started. Once you do, you’ll be glad that you did, and you can keep building that business from there. It doesn’t matter if a business starts big or small. What matters is that it starts. Good luck to you in your new endeavor, and please let us know how your new business grows and thrives and becomes everything that you want it to be!
