Starting a business in the current climate is risky, but with that said staying in full-time employment has its risks too. With most of the world’s economy shut down or working at limited capacity job security isn’t too secure at the moment.
For some of us staying in our current jobs hasn’t been an option and having to move jobs because of this pandemic is something that many of us have had to do. For some people, this has allowed them to start their own business and if you are thinking of doing the same this article is here to help you with some ideas that you could start with minimal investment.
Dog Walking
Starting a dog walking business has to be one of the quickest ways of making money while not requiring much investment. With dog walking you can also upsell your services to make more money too. Dog walkers can supplement their income by offering pop-in services as well as overnight stays for pets if you have the facilities to do so.
Starting a dog walking business doesn’t require much capital or any formal training, you simply need to love animals and enjoy working in the outdoors. Everything else can be worked on and learned while on the job.
To get started dog walking you could set up some profiles on social media while getting fliers printed and distributing them in your local area. You can even go to your local park and hand out the fliers to people with dogs.
Graphic Design
If you have the skills to do so, starting a freelance graphic design business can be very profitable without having to invest much capital in your business. All you will need is a computer, your skills, and Photoshop or the equivalent.
Photoshop used to cost thousands but these days you can pay a low monthly fee for the range of Adobe products that allow you to get into a wide range of graphic design projects.
Depending on your skillset or your interests you can go into a variety of graphic design niches. You could work on producing brochures for businesses, wedding invitations, photo editing for models and so much more.
Niching down in graphic design is going to allow you to work with the clients you like while commanding a higher fee.
Marketing Agency
Starting a marketing agency can sound more complicated than it is. What you need to understand is some business owners are happy for someone to come in and help them even if they haven’t been in the industry for years. As long as you have more experience than them you are a valuable asset to their business.
Marketing has multiple disciplines that you will want to try out before offering one as a service. The easiest discipline to get started in is social media marketing as most businesses don’t have the time to set up and manage their profiles.
You can provide that service. All you need to do is find businesses in your local area that don’t post much on social media or ones that don’t have profiles set up and then contact them and offer social media management as a service.
If you contact enough businesses offering your services you will soon build up your client list and become a profitable marketing company. If you don’t have any idea on how to get started with social media or any other types of marketing use the internet to learn, you can also start a lead generation business from home.
Youtube is a great website for learning new skills and you can learn how to do social media marketing, Pay per click marketing, SEO, and many more forms of marketing for free. All you need to do is put the time and effort into learning a new skill and you can sell your newfound skills to others.
Consulting
Have you worked in an industry where it’s common to hire a consultant? If so could you become a consultant in the same industry?
Businesses hire consultants all of the time and if you have the experience that could be valuable to another business then consulting may be an option for you.
David an IT consultant from Firewall Technical says that “Businesses hire consultants when they don’t have the resources to build a team in-house. An IT consultant can help a business with setting up a secure network to handling their emails. Consultants add to a business and as a result, you can charge a nice fee for your services.”
Consultants come in many forms, a business consultant can help with setting up a business, while a financial consultant can look at your business’s numbers and show you where you are most profitable while showing you the best places to cut your losses.
Photography Business
Photography takes skill and time to master, but you can still make money with photography even if you have never picked up a camera before. All you need is a camera, a few lenses, and the willingness to learn.
Once again you can learn photography and its concepts on websites such as Youtube or you can go to your local library and rent out photography books too.
Photography is a difficult job and it’s not as easy as pointing and clicking on your camera but with a little bit of work you can make money doing it. You could be a baby photographer, a wedding photographer, a music photographer and so much more. Your interests will play a big part in the images that you want to capture so think about what you would like to photograph and then start photographing it.
Your biggest outlay as a photographer is going to be your camera equipment but don’t let that put you off being a photographer as you can purchase equipment second hand to keep your costs down. You can also rent your camera equipment if you need to while you build up your business.
Cleaning Services
Offering cleaning services to offices and homes in your local area is a great way to make money while having to invest little into a business. All you need is your cleaning products and you are ready to work.
Contacting offices in your local area is as simple as signing up to Linkedin and adding all of the managing directors in the business and then emailing them.
If you do this enough times you will build up your client base and your word of mouth will grow to a point where businesses will be contacting you for work.
