52 Low Cost Business Ideas with High Profit

In recent years, there has been a surge in entrepreneurship, with more and more people starting their own businesses. According to a report from the Commerce Institute, there were over 5.5 million new businesses started in the United States in 2022. This trend is expected to continue in 2024 and beyond, as more and more people are drawn to the flexibility and freedom of being their own boss.

If you’re thinking about starting your own business, but you’re on a tight budget, don’t despair. There are plenty of low-cost business ideas with high-profit potential. In this blog post, we’ll share 52 of our favorite low-cost business ideas that you can start in 2024.

Why start a low-cost business?

There are many benefits to starting a low-cost business. First, it’s a great way to test out a business idea without risking a lot of money. Second, low-cost businesses are often easier to start and manage than businesses with high startup costs. Third, low-cost businesses can be just as profitable as businesses with high startup costs. In fact, some of the most successful businesses in the world started out as low-cost ventures.

Best businesses to start with little money

Short on cash and want to start a small business? Here are a few examples of low-cost businesses with high-profit potential:

1. 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 many businesses are willing to pay for and one many creators are able to convert into a business with multiple revenue streams.

Whether you choose to grow your following on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or a blog (or, ideally, on a combination of different channels), you have many avenues for monetizing your audience:

• Sponsored posts on behalf of brands
• Becoming an influencer
• Selling physical or digital products (via any of the ideas on this list)
• Patreon
• A combination of the above (they’re not mutually exclusive)

2. Start a dropshipping business

Dropshipping is a fulfillment model where a third-party supplier stores and ships inventory to customers on your behalf. It’s one of the best businesses to start, because it’s low overhead, hands-off, and scalable.

You don’t need to handle 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 dropshipping niche, like gear for yoga enthusiasts or water bowls for dogs. 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 marketing and customer service.

Dropshipping is a great way to sell trending products and launch a business before you invest in your own original products.

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: Instagrammer Kat Gaskin, for example, pulled off a $10,000 product launch with only 3,000 followers for her brand, The Content Planner

3. Design and sell print-on-demand t-shirts

Print on demand puts inventory, shipping, and fulfillment in the hands of a third-party supplier. The benefit of print on demand is you’re 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. You can even use t-shirt mockup templates so you won’t need to spend money on a full photoshoot for every new design.

4. Sell a service

Offering services isn’t passive, but it can be a lucrative way to move toward 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 in-demand skills.

Writers, graphic designers, virtual assistants, SEO practitioners, cleaning service providers, dog walkers, 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.

You can use the BookThatApp or Acerill Appointment Booking for Shopify to let customers easily schedule a session or consultation or buy tickets to a class with you through your store.

You can also offer your services through a freelance marketplace like Upwork to increase your chances of getting discovered by the people who need your skills.

5. Join an affiliate marketing program

Affiliate marketing refers to a performance-based marketing tactic where a business pays people, a.k.a. affiliates, to promote and sell products for them. Every time an affiliate brings in a new customer, they receive a commission from the business.

Affiliates can promote products on their blogs, social media accounts, or websites, or in communities. For many, affiliate marketing is a low-cost side hustle that turns into a profitable business over time.

To join an affiliate program, do the following:

1. Find an affiliate program on sites like ShareASale, CJ, or LinkShare.
2. Choose offers you want to promote.
3. Get an affiliate link.
4. Promote that link across your assets.
5. Get a commission every time someone signs up or makes a purchase through your link. 

Commission rates vary, depending on the company and offer. You could earn as low as 5% for each sale, while some commissions can be as high as 50% if you’re promoting a class or event. Some affiliate programs also offer a flat rate versus a percentage.

6. House and pet sitting

As travel increases, so does the need for home and pet care while people are away. And with the prevalence of remote work, long-term holidays are more commonplace—so while people might be able to leave their home unoccupied for a weekend, a month-long trip may require some more care.

House and pet sitting are good business ideas to start if you feel comfortable caring for and staying in a stranger’s home, potentially with their pets.

You can create your own website on Shopify to market and sell your services, and there are also dedicated home and pet care websites and apps you can use. Here are some examples:

• HouseSitter.com: This website is for both house and pet sitting. You can create a profile and apply to postings. People who need house/pet sitting can also browse sitters and reach out to them.
• Rover: Rover is a website and app specifically for pet sitting. On it, you can create a profile and apply to gigs. These arrangements include drop-in visits but not overnight visits (or house sitting).
• Care.com: Care.com is a listing site where pet sitters can create a profile and list their experience. You can also apply to jobs posted by people seeking pet sitters. Care.com is a good site to use if you offer senior care, tutoring, housekeeping, and child care services.
• TrustedHousesitters: TrustedHousesitters is a great place to start if you need experience or testimonials. The platform specifically prohibits paid gigs, so these arrangements are viewed more as an exchange—you get a free place to stay, and they get free sitting.

Consider that some pet sitters offer on-site services while others care for pets in their own homes. You can even add a dog-walking element to appeal to a wider range of people. Regardless of your choice, it’s important to communicate this upfront.

7. Tutor

Tutoring school kids or adults who want to learn a new skill can bring in extra income around your regular working hours. You might be great at math, playing the drums, or speaking French, so why not teach others? You can promote your tutoring services on local Facebook groups and in nearby schools to get the word out and build up your client base. 

8. Personal assistant

Becoming a personal assistant requires little upfront expenditure and means you can work with a range of businesses. You’ll essentially be helping business owners take care of admin tasks, like booking appointments, responding to emails, and taking notes in meetings. Start networking with business owners on LinkedIn and market your services to them. 

9. Dog walker

Dog walking is a fun and rewarding job (and you get a bit of exercise at the same time). Check your local state laws to see what licensing and insurance you’ll need, then set up a Facebook profile or a local website to advertise your dog walking services. If you don’t want to manage the administrative aspects, sign up with a company like Rover, a directory that owners can use to connect with potential dog walkers. 

10. Airbnb host

You don’t need a fancy second home to become an Airbnb host—in fact, the accommodation platform originally started as a way for homeowners to temporarily rent out their spare room for extra cash. If you have the extra space in your house, you can create an account with Airbnb and rent it out at weekends, for overnight stays, or whenever suits you. 

11. Sell baked goods

Are you always called on to bake cakes and sweet treats for your friends and family? If the answer is yes, you can sell baked goods to locals in your community. As well as baking cakes for birthdays and events, you can also create batches of baked goods to sell in local coffee shops and cafés. 

12. House cleaner

If you’re a stickler for cleanliness, starting a cleaning business can be a fulfilling way to make money. Create a batch of flyers to stick through doors in your neighborhood and advertise your services on local Facebook groups. If you do a good job, chances are word of mouth will help you organically pick up customers. 

13. Car washer

Car washing has long been a source of fundraising for high schoolers, but it can also work as a business for adults too. If you’ve got space outside your house or a nearby yard, you can offer car washing and valeting services to locals. Alternatively, you can go door-to-door to hand out flyers and wash cars on the road while you build up your business. 

14. Newsletter

Newsletters offer a direct line of communication to a prebuilt audience. If you’ve got an online presence and knowledge to share, consider starting a newsletter business. There’s little you need to get started—just an email marketing provider and a way to generate subscribers—then you can make money selling sponsorships, products, or services directly through your newsletter. Alternatively, when the numbers are high enough, you can charge subscribers to receive your newsletter in a subscription-style model.

15. Offer child care

The rise in demand for child care services with a decreasing supply is a perfect mixture for starting a new business. If you enjoy taking care of kids and can get the proper licenses, a new child care business could be a good business idea for you.

16. Become a handyman

Everyone has a go-to handyman in their family. You know, the person who’s always doom chores around the house: a plumbing issue, installing tile, cleaning out gutters, putting up a fence. They’re always the person friends and family call on for odd jobs. If this is you, why not get paid for your work? The home repair and improvement industry sits at around $570 billion in market value. Whether it’s fixing a boiler or building a patio deck, if you’re a handyman who likes to fix things, this could be a lucrative business for you.

17. Life coach

Life coaches help people navigate career changes and build lifestyles they love. If you’re good at helping people make decisions, are a great communicator, and enjoy guiding people toward their dream lives, this could be a good business idea for you. You’ll need a qualification to get started, but otherwise, you can start picking clients up on social media, via local advertising, and, eventually, through word-of-mouth marketing.

18. Consultant

If you’re a specialist in a certain area or have deep knowledge of a particular subject, you can monetize that by opening a consultancy. For example, you might decide to offer consultancy services to companies looking to improve their hiring practices or, if you’re skilled at search engine optimization (SEO), you might open a business offering your knowledge as a service.

19. Create digital products or online courses

Digital products like music, courses, podcasts, and templates are unique on this list of low-investment 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 is figuring out what makes for a good digital product, and how much people are willing to pay for it.

Some good digital products include original instrumental beats, stock photos that can be licensed to other creators, and 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.

20. Test app development

Creating a million-dollar app or your own business is not easy. In fact, 99.5% of consumer apps fail. Most apps don’t have product-market fit. They need a ton of marketing, and they’re expensive to create.

So, why bother putting this on our easy business ideas list? Because consumer app development isn’t the only path for entrepreneurs. New apps for the Shopify App Store crop up daily, with a market of motivated businesses eager to find the tools they need.

21. Start an online coffee shop

Selling coffee can be profitable with a strong brand and the right marketing plan. Sure, coffee has a lot of competition. But that shouldn’t scare you away from this multibillion-dollar industry. Selling a high-commodity product like coffee has many benefits:

• There is a high volume of customers.
• Customers typically associate small brands as having a higher quality than corporate brands.
• There are many positioning opportunities.

Because coffee is so widely available, it’s easier to sell. People already want coffee—you only need to make them want your coffee.

22. Become a social media management consultant

As of 2023, there were over 4.9 billion active social media users around the world. That’s nearly 60% of the world’s population. Between YouTube, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, and all the other social networks available⁠—brands need help managing their accounts.

A social media manager is responsible for creating and analyzing content for brands’ social accounts. Clients will pay you to create engaging content, write attractive bios, respond to comments, run ads, and more. You could charge by the hour or by project rate.

23. Offer résumé writing services

Resumes are crucial to landing a new job, so if you’ve had good responses from previous employers, consider helping job seekers optimize theirs. You can offer two different services:

1. Writing résumés and cover letters from scratch
2. Improving and optimizing existing résumés

It’s often much more difficult for us to write our own résumés than it is for an objective third party. Use this to your advantage and sell résumé writing services on your website or social media, or via local recruitment centers.

24. Translator

Are you fluent in another language? If the answer is yes, you have a great in-demand skill under your belt. Translators can do everything from translating website copy from one language to another to translating in-person conversations. Consider specializing in a specific form of translation, such as translating medical journals or finance publications. Then, create a website to advertise your services or create flyers to drop through doors.

25. Travel planner

If you’re always the person who gets asked to plan upcoming trips, there might be a career for you in travel planning. While people are using travel agents less and less, there’s still a market for bespoke, luxury travel planning. Set up a website and start advertising your services on social media to generate interest.

26. Become a content creator

There are more than 207 million content creators—a positive sign the creator economy is a blossoming industry to get involved in. Content creators are people who post videos, stories, and content on social media to build an audience and make money. This can be done via brand partnerships, product promotions, selling products, or advertising revenue. If you already create content and enjoy sharing stories on social media, it may be a no-brainer to become a content creator.

27. Sell digital products

Digital products include templates, journals, checklists, guides, and designs people can download and use from the comfort of their homes. It’s easy to experiment with a variety of different product types to see what sells—simply use a design tool like Canva to design your downloads, and create a website or use a marketplace like Etsy to sell them on.

28. Bookkeeper

Good with numbers? Why not start a bookkeeping business? You’ll be in charge of monitoring and recording small business accounts each month to make sure your clients are on top of their finances. You might need a relevant degree or certification before you get started, but once your business is set up you can work with clients from the comfort of your own home.

29. Start a pet business

The pet industry is an industry that’s worth more than $300 billion and ripe with opportunities. 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.

30. Create a membership program

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 take advantage of this business model.

It’s easy to start your membership-based business with Shopify. Set up a new product just like you would for a physical product, but create a name and description that tells people about your membership services.

31. Become a virtual event planner

Virtual event planning is a profitable business idea if you enjoy organizing and connecting people. The significant rise in business events and the adoption of virtual tools for conducting meetings will keep this market growth high. As a virtual event planner, you’ll be responsible for creating virtual conferences, networking opportunities, and educational sessions for companies around the world.

32. Start a landscaping business

Got a love for nature and outdoor design? A landscaping business is a great option for you. Landscaping, also referred to as lawn care, means modifying and maintaining the visible features of an area of land. You’re responsible for creating beauty out of natural, living elements like flowers, grass, and trees.

There’s a growing demand for residential outdoor landscape maintenance in younger households across the country. Competition in the market is moderate. You’ll face a few leading landscaping companies, like TruGreen, as well as smaller local service providers.

33. Invest in vending machines

Here’s a unique business idea: vending machines. Yes, there’s money to be made with vending machines. Though the industry took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, projections indicate vending machines will bounce back.

Offer the right products at the right location to make your vending business a success. Do your research to find high-traffic areas, who is walking by, and what they might need at that moment. Consider the various airport vending machines. You’ll find the expected vending machines with snacks and drinks, but there are also machines with makeup and accessories, like phone chargers and headphones. With a strategic approach, vending machines can be a profitable business with a small investment, and an overall great business idea.

34. Online dating consultant

Consider yourself a bit of a matchmaker? Become an online dating consultant and help singles find love. Besides helping people set up online dating profiles, you can source potential matches, and offer coaching through the initial first dates. Try it out on some willing friends first and use these success stories to promote your services to other singles.

35. Personal trainer

If you enjoy going to the gym and staying active, consider starting a personal training business. You’ll need a qualification to get started, but once that’s in place you can build up a roster of clients who regularly come to work out with you. Take it a step further and offer personalized training plans, nutrition advice, and exercise mentoring to make additional income. You can advertise your business on local Facebook groups, create flyers to stick around the neighborhood, or create a website to attract remote clients that you can train with via video call.

36. Personal chef

If you love to cook and often find yourself hosting delicious dinner parties for friends and family, a personal chef business might be for you. Start small by cooking meals for your neighbors’ dinner parties and expand to include downloadable menus and personalized multicourse meal plans. It can help to specialize in a specific cuisine or style of cooking to build up your name, such as vegetarian meals or Japanese dishes.

37. Meal prep

Meal prepping is all the rage as people’s lives get busier—just take a look at the success of meal subscription boxes like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron.Tackle this pain point by offering a meal prep service where you batch-cook food for the week and deliver it to your clients. You can even enhance segments of your meal prep by offering related food, like a line of condiments. Promote your business locally and hand deliver meals or advertise online to a wider audience and send meal boxes by post.

38. Voiceover artist

Got a voice smoother than Morgan Freeman’s? Become a voiceover artist who narrates television adverts and online videos. The sheer popularity of video today means there’s plenty of work to go around. Set up a website to advertise your services and sign up for voiceover directories to connect with potential clients.

39. Tour guide

Becoming a tour guide can be a fun way to show people around your city, especially if you enjoy and are knowledgeable about the local history. Consider differentiating your business from other tour guides by focusing on a specific activity, like food, music, or culture. Advertise your services online and create flyers to distribute in well-known tourist spots.

40. Teach classes online

While tutoring often takes place in person, you can also share your subject expertise online by teaching online classes. You can either teach one-to-one classes or get a group of students together at the same time. Decide what skill (or two) you’ll teach and advertise your services online or through local Facebook groups. As well as teaching subjects like English, math, or science, you can also teach workshops on specific topics, like résumé writing or financial planning.

41. Professional organizer

If you’re known as the “organized one” in your group, consider starting a business as a professional organizer who helps people declutter and restore order in their homes. It can be really difficult for people to juggle day jobs and organize their homes to a high standard, so you might find yourself in high demand. This job is obviously geared more toward a local client base, so rely on local Facebook groups, handing out flyers, and word-of-mouth referrals; you can also increase your revenue with organizational videos and paid downloadables.

42. Personal shopper

Personal shoppers help their clients find the right clothes, furniture, or jewelry. If you’ve got a good eye for fashion or interior design, this can be a rewarding way to make money. Start by choosing what kind of personal shopper you’d like to be and then advertise your services locally via Facebook or flyers to spread the word.

43. Sell print-on-demand posters, greeting cards, and prints

If you’ve already got an engaged online following—say you’re a cartoonist or an urban photographer—you’re in an especially good position to sell your art online.

Depending on the printer you work with, you can turn your work into products such as posters, framed wall art, or even greeting cards. There are plenty of low-cost digital templates and mockup generators like Placeit that you can use to showcase your products without having to print out each item and conduct your own photoshoots.

44. Create an online fashion boutique

If you love fashion and sharing your sense of style, you can consider creating your own online fashion boutique. You don’t need to become a fashion designer—you can curate items from other vendors into your own online store (using the dropshipping model we discussed earlier).

Dresses, shoes, swimwear, accessories, and more—you can build your own fashion brand using one of several product-sourcing apps, model them on your own with product photos and social media posts, and build an online following as a trendsetter. Apps like MyOnlineFashionStore let you import various styles into your Shopify store.

45. Sell handcrafted and homemade goods

If you’re a maker—whether that’s DIY soap, candles, sauces, or pottery—you’re in a position to find a small business idea, because product development and procurement are literally in your hands.

Unlike many of the other ideas on this list, you will need to consider shipping and inventory management, but you can start out simple on a per-order basis or with a small batch until you start generating consistent sales.

In fact, many makers on Shopify started out with a home business idea, selling on Etsy or eBay, or to friends and family through word of mouth, and grew into full-time small business owners after establishing demand for their products.

Just be mindful of any regulations in your product category, especially for anything customers will eat, inhale, or put on their skin.

46. Sell your photography

Got a passion for taking photos? Turn your hobby into a full-time online photography business. Today, you don’t just have to sell services for weddings and corporate ad campaigns. You can easily set up a store and sell prints, posters, NFTs, and more. Or you can sell your photos on stock photography sites.

47. Makeup artist

If you love makeup and enjoy making others look good, start a business as a makeup artist. You can offer your services for weddings, photoshoots, or special occasions and decide whether you want to work with locals or are willing to travel to build your client base. As well as advertising your services on local Facebook groups, create a website and flyers where people can find out more about what you offer.

48. Start a beauty business

The beauty industry really pulled through the pandemic and the momentum continues to build. Businesses that sell online with unique positioning and enhanced delivery services will continue to win.

Some product ideas with high demand are:

• Personal care products like hand soap and sanitizer
• At-home spa rituals like face masks
• Beauty technology like massage guns, smart mirrors, and makeup refrigerators

Consider launching a makeup brand or a hair care line and targeting a specific audience segment, like curly girls or teens.

49. Phone accessories

Because so many people own mobile phones now, there’s a huge market for phone accessories. And there are many different ways you can go with these accessories—print-on-demand, handmade, niche by product type, dropshipping, and more.

Some ideas for phone accessories to sell include:

• Phone cases
• Car and desk holders
• Tripods
• Charms
• Earbuds/headphones
• Bluetooth speakers
• Portable chargers
• Wireless chargers

When listing your phone accessories for sale, remember to include which devices they’re compatible with. You don’t want to create a negative yet avoidable experience for customers who receive an item they can’t even use.

50. Sell subscription boxes

If you’re not interested in creating your own products to sell, you can curate them. One of the best small business ideas is to sell subscription boxes with curated products that follow a certain theme.

One of the great parts about subscription boxes is you can create them for pretty much every niche out there. For example, featuring merchants and makers in your community is one of the best local business ideas for subscription boxes. You can also go for themes like yoga, beer brewing, or pets—the possibilities are limitless.

Like memberships, subscriptions are good business ideas to start because they create a recurring revenue stream. People have to proactively cancel their subscription if they don’t want to continue paying for it.

Subscriptions also lend themselves to collaboration. When you curate products from different merchants, you can get in front of their audiences—a whole group of potential new subscribers.

51. Alterations specialist

People will always need a button sewn back on or a hem altered. If you’re good with a sewing machine, you could be the person to do it. Start small by offering to hem or mend your neighbors’ clothes and, as you grow, add services to your repertoire like dressmaking and alterations.

52. Furniture restoring/upcycling

Furniture upcycling gained huge momentum during the pandemic as people upgraded their living space. If you’ve picked up a few restoration skills along the way and enjoy refurbishing a well-loved piece of furniture, why not open a furniture restoration or upcycling business? You can either buy items from local charity shops or reclamation centers to do up and sell, or you can offer to upcycle people’s existing furniture.

Starting a business FAQs

What is the cheapest, most profitable business to start?

A print on demand business is by far the cheapest, most profitable business to start because of the minimal startup costs, the feasibility of scaling quickly, not having to invest in product upfront, and little need for extra staff.

Many people run print on demand businesses entirely by themselves; it’s a highly profitable business model that doesn’t require many extra hands.

The perks of running a print on demand business

• Minimal startup costs
• No inventory management or storing inventory
• Low shipping costs
• Easy to scale and add new products
• A wide variety of products to sell, from posters to phone cases, custom hoodies, and mugs

How to get started with a low-cost business

If you’re interested in starting a low-cost business, here are a few tips:

1. Do your research. Once you’ve chosen a niche, take some time to research the market and identify potential customers. What are their needs and wants? How can you best serve them?
2. Create a business plan. Your business plan should outline your business goals, strategies, and financial projections.
3. Invest in the essentials. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on startup costs, but you will need to invest in some essential items, such as a computer, internet access, and marketing materials.
4. Start small and scale up. Don’t try to do too much too soon. Start small and scale up your business as you grow.

How to select a low-cost business idea with high profit

• Consider your current skill set
• Determine your goals
• Evaluate your budget
• Check demand

Consider your current skill set

If you choose a job you already have the skill set for, you’ll save on startup costs and time. Make a list of your skills and interests to help you pick your business idea.

Determine your goals

To start a business that aligns with your personal and career goals, use these questions to guide you:

• What kind of work do you enjoy?
• How many hours do you want to work per week or month?
• Do you want most of your work to be online or in-person?
• How much would you like to earn?
• Do you want to work alone or have a collaborative job?

After you answer these questions, consider jobs that allow you to meet these goals.

Evaluate your budget

Startup costs for the businesses on this list vary based on these factors:

• Necessary training
• Equipment
• Website and other software

Determine what your budget is to get started. Here are some high-profit job ideas based on various budgets.

Budget of $100:

• Sell digital products and downloads
• Start a clothes or furniture flipping business
• Design and sell low-content books
• Offer social media management
• Edit photosHelp with event planning
• Plan vacationsBecome a blogger or influencer
• Become a fashion consultant
• Walk dogsPerform SEO audits
• Write songsSell stock photographyProvide childcare services
• Develop appsOffer content editing and proofreading

Budget of $500:

• Become a virtual assistant
• Sell online coursesHelp students as an online tutor
• Offer copywriting servicesIllustrate books
• Develop websitesSell graphic or print design
• Offer data entry services
• Become a beauty consultant

Budget of $1,000+:

• Host workshops
• Help others by coaching
• Become a yoga instructor
• Manage ecommerce stores
• Offer IT support

Check demand

Once you narrow down business ideas, check their demand to ensure there’s earning potential.

Use social media and other online communities for market research. You can also do keyword research at no cost using Semrush Keyword Magic Tool to see what industries people are searching for.