Are you tired of your current job? Maybe you’re out of a job and need work. Or perhaps you just want to supplement your current income with some extra income. How can you find work that requires little overhead or startup costs and still make money? Take a look at the examples below of some business startup ideas. You can either try these as a new way of making money or use them as inspiration for something else you can do to get more income for yourself.
Pet Sitting Services
This home-based business requires little overhead or startup costs. It mostly applies to dogs but can also be for any other animal you or your employee is comfortable with. This career usually involves interaction with an animal including walking, feeding, sitting, and some physical interaction, and is perfect for animal lovers. The bigger money in this career can be made from hiring other people to handle these tasks while you take care of the money, scheduling, and other associated paperwork.
This can be a very lucrative job. There are countless numbers of people interested in working with animals, and just as many who don’t want a 9 to 5 job in an office. You are the boss, and you hire people to: 1) go to someone’s house and walk their animal(s), 2) pet sit someone’s animal(s) at their own home, 3) go to the pet owner’s house and babysit, or 4) drive someone’s animal to a veterinarian’s appointment or somewhere else. These will all be different price ranges, of course, and all you have to do is interview, train, schedule, and handle all associated paperwork.
People are so picky about what they want for their animals, and they would welcome someone to work with them in almost any capacity. Once you have earned a client’s trust and they see what a good job you have done with their pets, they will not only ask for repeat business, they will willingly tell their friends about your company and its services for free word-of-mouth marketing. And since you’re acting as an agent / manager, you keep a percentage of the total amount and pay your employees the rest.
This entrepreneurial opportunity has low overhead. Most of your expenses will be having a website, insurance, licensing, and marketing. It’s a job you could do from your own home or anywhere else you can carry your cell phone. There are an abundant number of scheduling apps you can use to keep track of time, employee pay, taxes, mileage, expenses, and everything else related to this line of work. This is the type of business you can grow as much as you want.
Ridesharing
You may have heard of the more popular ridesharing companies, Uber, or Lyft. There are other ridesharing companies, and they hire you to give people rides in your vehicle, similar to what a taxicab does. The difference is the rider pays with a credit card, therefore making it a safer experience and transaction. Uber can also be used for delivery, and the vehicle can be an electric bike or scooter.
While the typical income of Uber driver is $50,000 with an average of 60 rides per week, there are other ways to make money in this business. One enterprising driver had his dashboard filled with all kinds of jewelry which he would ‘sell’ during the ride. This guy was truly a salesman and supplemented his Uber salary by selling the jewelry to a captivated audience. The product is right in front of the rider’s eyes and everything is perfectly legitimate.
Extra money can also be made in this career from sticking to the wealthier parts of the city where tips are typically higher. There’s a story of a passenger who really liked the driver and hired him as a private driver for his own business during the weekends at a much higher rate than Uber paid.
With Uber and its competitors, you simply log on when you feel like driving. So if you decide to go to the grocery store, use the destination feature and find someone who is going that way also. If there is no one going that direction, so what? You were going that way anyway. So if you can go to the grocery store and make money doing it, why not? It’s just extra money in your pocket.
Cleaning Services
A significant percentage of businesses with a brick and mortar store or office needs cleaning services after hours. If you have those later hours free in your schedule, you can price out jobs and do the work yourself or hire one or more employees to help. If you do decide to hire someone, you’ll need to do a pretty extensive background check to avoid hiring someone who steals. You don’t want that! You should try to find businesses that are near each other so you have minimal travel between jobs, and ask your employers to spread the word if they are happy with your services.
This job acquires little overhead and allows you to work with no one looking over your shoulder. It also does not require any educational degree, but it helps if you approach a potential client dressed professionally with a professional-looking business card. Try to imagine any questions they might ask so you can answer them without hesitation. If this appeals to you, you can research what competitors are charging, and then you should get out there and find clients.
The three jobs above are just a small sample of the hundreds of business startup ideas you could pursue. If you’re good with numbers, consider doing accounting work. If you enjoy planning parties, consider arranging parties for children’s birthdays, anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations, or maybe you could even think about doing wedding planning. For more ideas, search ‘Business Startup Ideas’ or ‘Side Businesses’ or ‘How to Make Extra Income’. Try to identify your strengths and passions, and try to find work you’ll enjoy.