Got an itch to drop the nine-to-five grind and take control of your own destiny? Congratulations, you’ve just come face to face with the desire for self-determination.
Now you just need to figure out what to do.
If you already know, more power to you. If you’re still up in the air about it, here are some small business ideas for entrepreneurs to help you find your way. The beauty of all of these potential enterprises is they can be started with little to no investment capital.
Ecommerce Merchant
One of the fastest growing industries extant, the ecommerce marketplace is expanding by leaps and bounds. With more and more people becoming comfortable shopping online, the possibilities are limitless. You can sell items you make yourself or resell items. With drop shipping, you can avoid keeping inventory on hand and have it sent to buyers directly from the manufacturer. You can use Shopify, BigCommerce, or Squarespace to set up your store with far less trouble than building it from scratch. You can also sell items on Amazon and eBay.
Virtual Assistant
Your clients will include individuals and other small businesses. You’ll help manage correspondence, schedule appointments, and keep your client’s day on track. You’ll also fill in on any of a number of other tasks as they come up. It can be fun, rewarding, and you’ll learn a lot about other businesses as well. Your services can be marketed on sites like Upwork and Freelancer.
Gopher Services
You’ll run errands for people, pick up dry cleaning, go grocery shopping, and etc. Other duties might include driving people around and picking up kids from school. Basically, you’ll do whatever someone needs help doing so they can focus on running the other aspects of their lives. TaskRabbit, Cheaver, or ErrandTribe are good places to post your services for consideration. You’ll need a reliable form of transportation and good physical fitness.
Custodian/Housekeeper
So many people are too busy to keep up with cleaning these days. If you love a shiny sink or kitchen floor and you derive pleasure from making it become that way, you could well have a business in this area. Besides the knowledge of how to tidy various spaces up to professional standards, some of the essentials you’ll need to get started are cleaning supplies, equipment, a business license, and cleaning liability insurance.
Tutoring
Good at math, science, English, or some other academic topic? Kids in your town are in need of your services and many of their parents will gladly pay you to help their progeny with homework. Make presentations to the principals at the schools in your town — emphasizing your academic background — so they’ll be comfortable recommending you. Be prepared to pass a background check.
YouTube Video Producer
Got a subject about which you have a deep well of knowledge? Start a YouTube channel dedicated to it with you as the producer and director of the videos. This one does take a bit of time to ramp up, but you can also do it nights and weekends — while you work your regular job — until it reaches critical mass.
Keep it Legal
While the temptation might be great to ask to be paid all in cash to help you avoid taxes, this will catch up with you eventually. Trying to operate these small business ideas for entrepreneurs without the required licenses and permits will become problematic sooner or later as well. The good news is these documents are easy to acquire and inexpensive to maintain. Far less costly in fact, than being caught operating without them.
Part of being an entrepreneur is coming up with the perfect idea for your new small business — so keep exploring until you find the right fit.
Frank Ringer says
Not every entrepreneur starts out with a specific idea in mind. And with so many small business ideas, finding the right one is easier said than done. It may seem like all of the good business ideas or the best small ideas have been taken, but they are not. Most successful small business ideas come from individuals who work for someone and they believe they can do better. Prestige Capital Corporation is a financial firm that helps to give a new way to many factoring companies ( https://www.prestigecapital.com/situation/early-stage-financing/ ) to start with new strategies.
sandip says
There is u mention lots of idea but i personally really like e-commerce merchant there was many scopes in this future because lots of people are buying online don’t have time to buy physically to get better opportunity to start an e-commerce business
Platinum Accounting says
I really appreciate the way you elaborated everything so well. Every point is in so detail and easy to understand. Everyone needs to know about small business ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Jonathan Riley says
These are superb ideas, Pauline! Being a social media influencer or YouTube Vlogger is in-demand nowadays and more people are getting into it. In fact, I started a YouTube channel just a few months ago to help with my business. In terms of legalities, I couldn’t agree more with what you mentioned here. All required permits and documents would be processed to avoid any issues with the law and penalties. Thanks for sharing your valuable insights!