How To Decide What Business To Start: 10 Things To Consider
Contrary to widespread assumption, there are numerous ways to establish a business that allows you to focus on the business itself rather than on logistics and upfront costs.
These low-cost small businesses are ideal for entrepreneurs, newcomers, and anyone with a hectic schedule. You can start your own business without risking your financial security.
It is, however, critical to develop a sound strategy, establish a brand, invest in marketing, and deliver excellent customer service. There are, however, some ways to avoid the traditional launch costs associated with inventory, warehousing, retail space, and initial inventory.
Pros: What I Liked
- You can (at long last) pursue your passion.
- You are in command.
- You may achieve a work-life balance that is adaptable to your circumstances.
The Good
Cons: What I Didn’t Like
- You are entirely accountable for EVERYTHING.
- You’re going to require a lot of self-motivation.
- Pay may not always be consistent.
The Bad
13 Low-Investment Business Ideas That Make Money
Are you wondering what a decent business or career to start in 2022 would be? Consider the following list of best small business ideas that you can start this year:
1. Start A Dropshipping Business.
You need to buy stock, store it and pick it up, then pack it and ship it. When running a business, inventory management is a huge commitment.
Dropshipping is an easy small business idea to start. Dropshipping is a fulfillment approach in which a third-party provider stores and sends merchandise for you. Because it is low-cost, hands-off, and scalable, dropshipping can be an excellent method to start a business.
You can combine products from multiple sellers to create your online shop. This allows you to focus on certain niches, such as gear for yoga fans or water bowls suited for dog owners. Your supplier fulfills the customer’s order when they buy a product. You are responsible for customer service and marketing.
You can engage with both local and foreign suppliers, providing you create confidence with them. An unreliable supplier might be a terrible reflection of your brand.
2. Design And Sell Print-On-Demand T-Shirts.
Another dropshipping is print-on-demand, which outsources a third-party supplier’s inventory management, shipping, and fulfillment. This strategy differs from dropshipping in that you may tweak things and create unique designs.
With t-shirts, hats, phone covers, and hoodies, your imagination is limitless. There are numerous strategies for developing funny words and references that resonate with cat owners. If a community has passion and pride, there is a chance of beginning a t-shirt business.
Even if you lack design experience, you may still locate a designer to work with using free sites such as Fiverr and Upwork.
Print-on-demand is a per-item service. This results in a higher unit pricing than if you order in bulk. The benefit is that even if a certain t-shirt design does not sell, you may still purchase it (or the design if you outsourced).
Additionally, you can use mockup templates to cut down on the cost of photoshoots for each new design.
3. Launch Your Own Book.
Consider that a book is a different type of merchandise. A book can be written in response to particular market demand.
You can sell children’s books, cookbooks, graphic novels, and poetry collections.
Photo books, novels, downloads, and coffee table books are all viable options. It’s one of the great business ideas.
Print-on-demand publishing is a relatively risk-free approach to begin self-publishing. You retain complete creative and editorial control over the design and content of your book.
Lulu xPress or Blurb enables you to order and distribute your books on popular platforms like Lulu Xpress. Additionally, you can sell it on third-party markets such as Amazon and Powell’s.
While you can get a single book, ordering in bulk will save you money. To ensure that your book is well-received, you may wish to explore preselling it or crowdfunding it. This will ensure that you have a specific number to place bulk orders confidently.
Launching your book is a wonderful method to monetize your blog, whether you already have one or are considering starting one.
4. Create Digital Products Or Online Courses
Music, courses, and templates are all examples of digital products. These are some of the most innovative small company concepts. They are intangible, which distinguishes them from other ideas. They do not incur ongoing production and transportation costs. As a result, you may keep high margins while still collecting passive income, making them an excellent option for entrepreneurs.
It’s critical to understand what characteristics define a good digital product. What is sufficiently valuable to compel others to pay for it?
These responses can take the shape of unique musical songs, stock photographs licensed from other producers, or instructional goods or templates that assist individuals in developing their talents in a particular profession.
Consider packaging your talent into a new stream if you can turn it into a digital product.
Shopify offers a free Digital Downloads tool that enables you to swiftly and easily sell digital products in your store.
5. Sell Print-On-Demand Posters, Greeting Cards, And Prints.
If you are artistically inclined, dropshipping is a method to allow people to own your creation. Ascertain that you own the rights to the information you plan to print or that you can freely exploit public domain goods.
This is an excellent small business concept for people with a sizable online following, such as cartoonists or urban photographers.
Depending on the printer you select, you can create posters, framed wall art, or greeting cards. Utilize digital templates and mockup generators such as Placeit to demonstrate your items.
6. Start A Charitable Business.
Fundraising does not have to be associated with establishing a nonprofit organization. Social entrepreneurs can utilize their businesses to further a cause they care about while also profiting from it.
While social enterprises frequently sell their products, you can use any small company idea to partner with a nonprofit or independently carry out the social good.
Assist your customers by highlighting their marketing impact. A blog article on your community work or a real-time impact calculator is two examples of how you might accomplish this.
The Give & Grow Shopify mobile app simplifies working with charitable organizations and integrates your mission into your business. You can configure it to contribute a particular amount or a percentage of sales, or you can request a donation at checkout from your customers.
7. Sell A Service.
While providing services is not passive, it can be an excellent source of self-employment income. Services-based small business ideas are your most significant investment. Your time is limited. If you have in-demand abilities, it is easier to land a job.
Numerous individuals can establish enterprises with their talents, including writers, graphic artists, virtual assistants (SEO consulting business), cleaning service providers, dog walkers, and real estate specialists.
It is one of the lucrative business opportunities since it can be expanded with additional revenue streams created by “productizing” services via physical and digital commodities.
A photographer, for instance, may attend a local event while simultaneously selling prints on the internet via their Instagram feed. A freelance writer may market a copywriting file with very effective sales content. Additionally, you can earn money by combining your service-based business with physical products.
Shopify includes the BookThatApp, Acerill Appointment Book, which enables clients to effortlessly book a session or consultation, as well as pay tickets to a class directly from your business.
Additionally, you can list your services on a marketplace such as Upwork. This increases your chances of being discovered by those looking for your skills.
8. Create An Online Fashion Boutique.
If you are passionate about fashion and want to showcase your style online, you can open your fashion boutique online. You do not have to be a professional fashion designer to participate. Using the dropshipping model mentioned earlier, you may curate products from different suppliers and sell them through your online store (using the dropshipping model discussed earlier).
You may launch your fashion brand by acquiring dresses, shoes, swimsuits, and accessories from Shopify. Then, you can use the products as models in your product pictures and social media postings, establishing yourself as an online trendsetter.
9. Sell Handcrafted And Homemade Goods.
It makes no difference if your pastime is soap making, candle making, pottery making, sauce making, or candle making–you have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to develop online business ideas. It’s practically at your fingertips because you manage product creation, sourcing, and other elements of your organization.
This is in contrast to a number of the ideas on this page. There will be a requirement for shipping and inventory management. However, you might begin by selling in small batches or on a per-order basis until you achieve consistent sales.
Shopify is brimming with home-based business entrepreneurs who began with an idea and sold it via word-of-mouth to their friends and family. After establishing a market for their items, they were small business entrepreneurs.
Pay close attention to any rules that apply to your product category, especially if the items are intended for consumption, inhalation, or application to the skin.
10. Build An Audience You Can Monetize.
In today’s connected environment, capturing and maintaining people’s attention is a critical asset. It is a cost-effective asset for which many organizations are willing or able to pay. And it’s one that a large number of creators may leverage to generate revenue streams.
There are numerous avenues for monetizing your audience.
- Brand-sponsored posts
- Developing Your Influence
- Selling physical or electronic things (via any of the methods on this list)
- Patreon
- All of the previous. They do not mutually exclude one another.
By approaching your small company ideas with an audience-first mindset, you will be playing the long game, and it may take many months to uncover the solution. However, it is not necessary to have millions of followers. Kat Gaskin, for example, marketed a $10,000 product with only 3,000 followers.
11. Start A Pet Business.
The pet industry offers numerous small business prospects. It is a market worth over $100 billion. This makes it simple to get started and ensures demand. Your pet company may be product- or service-based–you may sell accessories, food, or toys or provide grooming, walking, or personal training business.
PerkiePrints specializes in custom pet items such as shirts and framed prints. Additionally, there are enjoyable projects.
Let The Dog Out provides dog walking and “bathroom breaks” services.
While business planning is frequently used to acquire finance, many entrepreneurs find it beneficial to draft a strategy even if they do not engage with investors. You may discover free business plan templates online.
12. Create A Membership Program.
Online memberships have become a successful business model for various reasons, not the least of which individuals were obliged to stay at home during the COVID-19 problems.
Memberships make it simple to administer members-only access on a website like a subscription-based business. This is also beneficial for brick-and-mortar businesses that provide guided online sessions. Many companies, including yoga studios, can benefit from this low-investment business model.
13. Join An Affiliate Marketing Program.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing technique in which businesses compensate individuals (referred to as affiliates) to promote and sell their products. When an affiliate brings a customer, the company pays the affiliate commission.
Affiliates can promote products on their websites, blogs, social media platform, and forums. Affiliate marketing can be a low-cost side hustle that grows into a profitable business over time.
The following are the steps to join an affiliate program:
- Affiliate programs can be found on websites such as ShareASale or Affiliate.
- Choose the promotions you wish to advertise.
- Create an affiliate link.
- This link should be prominently displayed on all of your assets.
- You will receive a commission for each person who signs up or purchases using your link.
Commission rates vary according to the type of offer and the company. For instance, you might earn as low as 5% on each transaction while promoting up to 50% of your class or event.
Three Tips For Choosing The Best Business Idea
While the small business ideas we’ve discussed are logistically easier to run, it does not mean they’re simple. There are at least three points to consider as you weigh your alternatives, regardless of the type of business you decide to start.
1. Focusing On A Niche Makes Marketing Easier.
Marketing is critical to the success of any organization. You cannot simply assume that there is a market for your products. You must devise strategies for contacting those individuals. It is critical for your business to attract the correct customers.
Marketing becomes significantly easier when targeting a certain demographic or segment (e.g., vegans, board gamers, local photographers). These individuals can be contacted via social media or tailored advertisements. This method will assist you in developing a consistent brand by allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of the individuals with whom you are communicating.
2. Pricing Is About More Than Profit.
If your products are priced too low, customers may conclude they are poor quality. You risk losing customers if you price your products excessively high. You’ll need to strike a balance between offering discounts and attracting clients, even more so if your business plans to pay for advertising.
3. Test, Learn, And Grow As You Go.
One of the most significant roadblocks to starting a business is an obsession with perfection. Bear in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all formula.
It’s simple to switch in and interchange things (much more so when there is no stock). Your store’s design can be entirely overhauled. You can adjust your prices and also swap suppliers. You can make these adjustments based on the dozens of signals available to you (traffic data, time spent on your site, abandoned carts reviews, etc.).
How To Start A Small Business From Home
A dream alone is insufficient to begin a business. To get things started, you’ll need the following:
- Utilize the time you have. When defining company goals, it is critical to be realistic but ambitious.
- Investigate new business opportunities. This new business idea could originate from your hobbies, a market opportunity, or an experience it could create from any place.
- Validate your hypothesis. This is where you may ascertain the viability of your proposal. Are individuals willing to spend money on it?
- Come up with a business name. Your name should be succinct, straightforward, memorable, and distinctive. Consider the following tips for developing business name concepts.
- Construct a business plan. This is critical for maintaining the direction of your business and attracting investors, lenders, partners, and other financial resources.
- Recognize business finances. Establish business bank accounts, obtain financing, and implement sound bookkeeping and accounting procedures.
- Create your own product/service. Now comes the enjoyable part! This is the stage at which your product or service idea becomes a reality.
- Select an organizational structure for your business. Your business’s structure can affect taxes, operations, personal liability, and various other variables. The key to selecting the appropriate business structure is balancing the financial and legal safeguards you desire and the available possibilities.
- Search for licenses and rules. Your business will be governed by the laws applicable to business in your location.
- Choose the software that is required to manage your business.
- Determine the location of your business. Determine the best place for your shop based on available space, retail requirements, and fulfillment requirements.
- You should schedule your workload and team size in advance. If you do most of the work, you are constrained by the amount of time you have available. You’ll need to factor in the cost of hiring assistance.
- Establish your business. Create a buzz with promotions and A/B testing of paid advertisements.
Ways On How To Decide What Business To Start
There are numerous resources available to assist you in developing amazing business ideas. Perhaps you or a family member has had a negative experience with a business. You are more knowledgeable.
Brainstorming Business Ideas
There are various methods for brainstorming if you’re having difficulty with your business ideas. Maintain a list of all your profitable business idea. You can keep a brainstorming board, either digital or physical, where you can jot down all your thoughts. After that, you can review it with fresh eyes.
There is also strength in numbers. To generate fresh ideas:
- Solicit assistance from friends and relatives.
- Solicit suggestions from your consumers and target markets.
- Take note of what people share on social media and what they seek online.
- Begin with a broad range of thoughts and then narrow your emphasis to the most critical ones.
Protecting Unique Business Ideas
When it comes to protecting their small company ideas, entrepreneurs have many options. The type of business you refer to will dictate the appropriate one.
- Copyright. Copyright is a legal term that refers to the protection of intellectual property. This means that anybody else cannot use them without your permission. This holds for language and other forms of media such as music, graphics, design, art, photography, and music.
- Trademark. Trademarking is another method of protecting intellectual property. You can prevent others from using a word or phrase, logo, symbol, or design that you “own.”
- Patent. A patent is a legal document that restricts the use of your invention by others for a certain length of time.
- Agreements of confidentiality and non-disclosure. As mentioned in the NDA, these legal papers ban anyone from exchanging information.
- Contract of a non-compete. Employees and contractors can sign this paper to agree not to compete with you.
- Agreement for work for hire. This material is intended for use by workers only. This indicates that any work produced by the employee throughout their job period is the employer’s responsibility, not the employee’s.
Getting Funding For A Business Idea
Obtaining funding for your business idea is one of the most challenging but critical components of launching a business. There are numerous avenues for funding your business idea.
- Loans for small businesses. Shopify Capital provides business loans and grants. It’s an excellent place to start.
- Cash advances from merchants. If you find yourself in financial difficulty and require immediate cash, you can apply for a cash advance through Shopify Capital or a bank.
- Investors. Many investors are looking for the next big thing for enterprises with viral potential. Create a pitch for your business idea to offer to investors.
- Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding operates similarly to how investors do. You will, however, require a large number of investors prepared to make tiny financial contributions.
- You may finance it on your own. Cash can be raised through low-investment company concepts. Keep an eye out for potential dangers.
Become Your Own Boss With Little Financial Hassle
Technology, third-party suppliers, and the ability to rapidly test new ideas online make it easier than ever for any business owner to generate revenue and start selling.
This strategy enables you to evaluate potential investments or earn money on the side without incurring inventory-related responsibilities.
FAQs
What Are The Most Successful Small Business Ideas?
The following are some of the most profitable business ideas:
- Food trucks
- Ecommerce store owner
- Personal trainer
- Online courses
- Pet businesses
- Online tutoring
- Bookkeeping and accounting
- Personal wellness
What Are The Top Businesses To Start?
- Selling print-on-demand shirts
- Dropshipping business
- Become a blogger
- Sell digital products
- Create homemade products to sell online
- Sell freelance services
- Media (YouTube, podcast, channels, etc.)
- Pet sitting and products
- Affiliate marketing
- Online fashion store
What Is The Easiest Business To Start?
Dropshipping, tutoring, fashion boutiques, service-based businesses, and tutoring are just a few of the simplest business types to start. Online businesses are simple to scale and require a little initial cost. You can earn more money while working less.
What Services Are In High Demand?
- Translating
- Freelance writing
- Consulting
- Accounting and tax advice
- House cleaning
- Web development
- Uber driver
- Pet grooming
Are Those Business Ideas Listed a Scam?
So, are the businesses on our list a scam? Not technically. You can make money with them, but it’s definitely not as easy as most companies make it sound.
There’s a ton of work to be done upfront, no real guarantee of success, and – most importantly – you need to do a ton of volume to make any real money.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with front-loading the work and making the money later.
But if you’re grinding it out for 3 months, $3-5k in the hole on ads (because that whole “get started with $5 a day” thing is total BS) and then your reward is 15% profit on a $12 product (which comes out to $1.80), it’s not really worth it.
What if, instead, you could do that same 3 months of work (in your spare time), and your reward was a $500 to $2,000 payment that came in every single month?
And what if you actually didn’t need to wait 3 months? What if you could get started today and have your first payment in a week?
And what if you could double it next week?
Well, that’s the power of Digital Leasing.
And, unlike dropshipping, you can legitimately do this from anywhere. It’s a true lifestyle business.
Your laptop and an internet connection is all you need.
Some of the most successful students in this program run their entire 6-figure businesses from:
- A camper in the middle of the woods
- A beach chair on the water in Mexico
- A small villa in Greece
They’re able to travel around, living their lives first, and focusing on their income second.
Because even if they stop working for an extended period of time, the money keeps coming in.
So adventure, memories, and experience are the top priority.
And they never have to worry about how to pay for the next trip, or consider asking for time off.
If this sounds more like the type of life you want to lead, just click here to find out more about Digital Leasing.
Are There Alternatives To Our Business Ideas List?
Yes, there are plenty of eCommerce programs and resources to choose from if you want to pursue this business model. Here are just a few:
What Is Our #1 Recommendation For Making Money In 2024?
Our review team has spent months researching, reviewing, and vetting dozens of business models and thousands of programs.
While there may be no “perfect business”, the research IS conclusive:
Digital Leasing is the #1 online business model for those just starting out.
Whether you’ve never made a dollar online, or you’ve been in this space for a while but never really “made it,” Digital Leasing is for you.
Why?
1) It’s Flexible: got an hour a day? You can do this. Ready to drop everything else and dive in full time? You can do this. Yes, the more time you put in, the faster you see results. But even with a little time each day, you can move the needle in a Digital Leasing business.
And because this system is so flexible, you don’t have to constantly be working to make more money. It’s called PASSIVE INCOME because if you stop working, the money doesn’t.
Imagine taking 3 months off to just tour around Europe, rent a cabin in the woods to write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, or live on the beach and surf all day.
This is only possible if you have an income stream that’s not tied to your time.
2) You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With dropshipping for example, you don’t really own anything. You have no control over the quality of products. You don’t even own the products because they go straight from the supplier to the customer.
Yes, if you’ve got a Shopify store, you technically own that. But if every ad platform suits you down, you’ve got a store with no customers. Which is literally worthless.
With Digital Leasing, you own the assets, which means you have all the power and all the control.
3) Little To No Startup Costs: It’s possible to get into Digital Leasing with zero dollars upfront. Because, using the strategies outlined in this program, you can get a client to pay you BEFORE spending a penny out of your own pocket…even before you do any work.
Even without getting paid in advance, you can have your first Digital Rental Property up, running, and generating profits for less than $100.
4) No Inventory: Ok, so technically you don’t have to worry about inventory since you’re not filling up your garage or a warehouse with products.
But, you still have all the headaches of a physical products business.
Since most dropshipped products come from China, you already have a 2-3 week wait time from when a customer places an order.
But right now, with global supply chain issues, your customers would be lucky to get anything in less than a month.
Imagine finally landing your first customer after months of experimenting, and then getting hit with a refund request or chargeback because they had to wait 6 weeks to get their order.
With Digital Leasing, a 100% online business, you never even have to think about that risk.
5) Easy To Duplicate: Ok, here’s the best part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up and running, you can literally DOUBLE your income with a few clicks, a couple keystrokes, and a single phone call (and you don’t actually need the phone call).
Remember: each Digital Rental Property is worth $500 to $2,000 a month in semi-passive income (over 95% profit). Every time you decide to create another one and increase your income, it gets easier.
Because you have more knowledge, more experience, more results, and more momentum.
If you wanted to double your income with dropshipping, you’d have to double your inventory, your profit margins, OR your average order value. And, guaranteed that’s a lot harder than a few clicks and a few minutes of your life.
6) Make Money Helping Real People: This part is what makes it all worth it. 99.9% of the time, dropshipping provides no value to anyone but the seller.
In a lot of cases, it has a negative impact on the customer because of poor product quality and an overall bad experience (i.e. waiting 6 weeks to get your order).
And that makes it pretty hard to sleep at night.
But with Digital Leasing, you’re actually helping people by solving your clients’ biggest problem:
Small, local businesses need more customers, and with Digital Leasing, you are unleashing a flood of happy, paying customers for these businesses.
You make money by helping them make money.
Not a big, faceless corporation either…a small business owner who’s using that money to put food on the table for their family, start a college fund for their kids, or take care of a sick parent.
Once you see how Digital Leasing makes a real impact in the lives of real people, you’ll sleep like a baby with a big smile on your face.
Now, the choice is yours. You could continue browsing, looking at opportunities like businesses on our list which could one day make you money.
You could continue researching, never making a decision.
OR, you could take a look inside, consider what you really want, and join a program that makes your dreams a reality. At the same time, joining a community of over 2,000 successful students that are living life on their own terms thanks to Digital Leasing.
A consistent, reliable, semi-passive stream of income that doesn’t depend on you or your time to keep producing profits.
All while genuinely helping real people who are grateful and happy to pay for it.
If this sounds more like what you want out of life (or if you just want some nice side income), click here to learn more about Digital Leasing.
