25 Businesses you can Start For Free or with Low Investment Capital

Millions of people across the globe often dream about being Self employed with a Business they create and Own.

The desire to be your own boss and to have the blissful freedom to set your own hours is a powerful force for just about anyone.

But what most often bursts the bubble of those who dream of self-determined financial independence are the immediate roadblocks that present themselves. The most common barriers are:

* The need for large Start Up Capital.

* The need for a Special Skill or Education.

* The need to find a business that can support you as well or better as your current job.

* The need to find a business in a field that is not already crowded with competition.

* The need for a business that does not require special and expensive equipment.

* The need to find a business that can be done anywhere in the country where you reside.

 

Most often one or a combination of the above keep people where they are – in the rut of their current dreary, low-paying job, or unemployed.

That’s why I went searching for the kind of businesses that leapfrogs all of the above, and which just about anyone can start right away with little or no Start up Capital, and do it no matter where they live or what their level of skill or education is.

Here are 25 businesses that you can literally start for free (and those that aren’t completely free require Low Investment Capital). They all don’t require expensive training or degrees, fancy equipment, or lots of materials, space, or product.

However, most of the businesses mentioned below require, at a minimum, regular access to a Computer, Laptop or other Mobile devices, the Internet, and perhaps a Car. However, if you’ve got those sorted already, then you’re good to go and bound to find a Business idea that suits your skill set if you think Creatively.

1. Blogging

While not a new concept, monetized blogging is always a popular option for an essentially no-cost business.

There are tons of options when it comes to making money from your blog, such as affiliate partnerships, producing ebooks, offering online courses and webinars. Some of these work better than others, as certain blog niches will be more popular and easy to monetize than others. For instance, beauty, food, and parenting blogs are some of the most popular niches, and will, therefore, be easier to monetize (though you’ll also face stiffer competition).

It’s worth mentioning, however, that monetizing your blog will work best when you choose a subject that you are actually passionate about and personally invested in to blog about. So, this route works best if you’re thinking for example, “Yeah! I’ve always really wanted to start a blog about my love for Travel!” (or whatever else gets you going). Merely wanting to make money isn’t enough.

2. Consulting

Starting a consulting business is always a popular free business to start. The type of consulting you choose to offer will depend on your skill set; do you have a social media marketing background, or maybe you’ve got legal experience?

Look at your skills and your previous job experience and see what you could bring to the table that others might not have your expertise in. Check out Neil Patel’s article on lessons learned starting a consulting business for an in-depth look at the process.

3. Event planning

An event planning business can be a great free (or at the very least inexpensive) business to start; you primarily need a computer and capital to create a website and any branding materials. You can get loads of tips here, the Event Manager Blog has plenty of great resources (such as this article on How to Start an Event Planning Business).

4. Make Up Artist

Have you perfected the ever-coveted smokey eye? Can you tell what colour lipstick

would look great on someone based on a quick assessment of her complexion? If you

have an eye for aesthetics and a desire to use your talents and creativity to make other

people look beautiful, becoming a makeup artist might be the right career path for you.

Learn how to and what it takes to build a career in makeup artistry here. Become-a-Makeup-Artist

 

5. Drop shipping

With drop shipping, store owners can sell and dropship products to their customers without actually seeing the products. After you sell a product, you simply buy it from a supplier and have it shipped directly to the customer.

Entrepreneurs love it because there is no inventory to hold, and a lower upfront investment lets you concentrate, in most cases, on the most important thing – bringing in customers.

I won’t even begin to get into drop shipping further—especially when Shopify has such an excellent drop shipping guide already.

The appeal of drop shipping is obvious: it involves little when it comes to specific skill set, can be done from anywhere, doesn’t involve startup capital, and can be hugely lucrative.

6. Personal Shopping.

This is for you if you’re good at–color, shopping, putting things together and knowing what someone else will like, what they can wear and what will make them look good and feel good etc.

A typical personal-shopper day begins with an interview to determine a client’s needs, sometimes amplified by a written personality test, as well as his or her personal preferences when it comes to style and color.

Next, the image consultant may simply advise the client about brands, colors and other wardrobe issues.

The consultant also may take the client on a shopping expedition, or do the shopping sans client, delivering suggested garments to the client’s home or office for a private fitting.

This is a glamorous, fun and exciting career [with] actual opportunity.

7. Sewing and alterations

If you’re a skilled seamstress or someone with a desire to learn, you may want to consider starting a sewing or alterations business. Startup costs are virtually nonexistent, provided that you already have a sewing machine and the necessary skills (and even if you don’t, these one-time expenses are still fairly low in the grand scheme of new business ventures).

For more, check out this extensive guide: Profit from a Home Sewing Business.

8. Building websites

If you know how to set up a killer website, you’re in luck—most people don’t, and the demand for high-quality business websites is only continuing to grow.

Before you jump in, check out this article, 10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting a Web Design Business—you’ll learn that the biggest competitor to your web design services isn’t other designers, but business owners who choose not to hire anyone at all. So, how will you make yourself seem invaluable?

9. Logo and image design

If you’re artistic and good with Photoshop, consider starting a logo or graphic design business. You can list your services on sites like Upwork, 99Designs, or any of the number of other freelance sites available to help build a portfolio and a client base to start.

If this sounds right up your alley, check out these resources from How Design,geared toward those interested in freelance graphic design or starting a design business.

10. Programming

It is possible to teach yourself programming and build your own App as programming services will always be in high demand. If you are a skilled programmer, you can start a business with no money offering your programming skills.

Here are some useful tips for landing your first clients as a freelance developer, and if you’re interested specifically in building apps, check this article out.

11. Etsy Business

While some Etsy businesses have a cost component associated with starting (think jewelry making and other crafts where materials are involved), there are some products that can be sold on Etsy that involve very minimal startup costs.

For example, if you’re a designer but not much interested in logo creation, digital art and other printables such as to-do lists and calendars are hugely popular on sites like Etsy.

A basic search of the term “printable” should bring up hundreds of ideas, with everything from wedding invitations to word art. The beauty of this business idea is that you simply create the image and list it; once it’s purchased, your customers do all the work.

12. Errand runner or jack of all trades

Have you heard of TaskRabbit, the site where you can essentially ask anyone to do any task for you—no matter how menial? (Though I assume you’d get a few funny looks if you asked someone to help you open that tricky jam jar.)

Consider employing a similar idea, and start a business as a jack-of-all-trades or general errand-runner. Someone needs dry cleaning dropped off, groceries purchased, or old clothes donated to Goodwill? You’re on it. For even more specificity, you could consider choosing a niche, such as running errands for seniors.

13. Catering Services.

If you  love cooking or enjoy baking, then you can cash in on that by starting a home based Culinary and take away service with little or no Investment Capital.

However, depending on your location, you may be required to get the appropriate licensing for this so I suggest you do your home work properly before starting.

 

14. House or office cleaning

Cleaning businesses are incredibly appealing due to their low cost of entry—it essentially comes down to the cost of cleaning materials alone. Not only that, but you can guarantee that cleaning services will always be in demand.

15. Virtual assistant

If you are organized and can easily accomplish tasks in a timely manner, consider becoming a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants handle scheduling, bookkeeping, and various other administrative tasks remotely from their home office; similar to freelancing as a writer, editor, designer, and so on, virtual assistants can build up their client base and experience on sites like Upwork.

For more on becoming a virtual assistant, check out The VA Handbook, a site dedicated to helping others start and manage their own virtual assistant businesses.

16. Freelance Writing or Editing

Are you a strong writer? This one is a no-brainer. If you have solid writing skills, consider starting a business as a freelance writer.

To build up your portfolio and client base, you may want to start with a site like Upwork

Similarly, if you have a great eye for necessary structural changes and enjoy editing for grammar and punctuation, you may want to consider starting a freelance editing business.

As long as there is written content, there will be a need for editors (this blogger discusses an instance in which her roommate and fellow editor took on an entire thesis over the weekend) so if you have writing experience and a good eye, freelance editing may be a business idea to consider.

17. In-home child care

If you love children and have a good setup for it, turning your home into an in-home childcare facility might be a great option for you. There will be associated fees and licensing requirements but these aside, the costs associated with starting a childcare business are minimal to none.

18. In-home dog care or Pet Services

In a similar vein, if you love caring for animals, consider setting up a doggy daycare business. You can operate during business hours, for folks who need someone to watch their dog while at work, or you can look after dogs for people while they are out of town.

In addition to being low-to-no-cost, the skill set you need is pretty self-explanatory: experience with caring for dogs, and ability to patiently and carefully look after them. If you’d love to start a dog care business but haven’t spent a ton of time around dogs, consider volunteering at an animal shelter first.

Check out DogVacay to get a sense of what this looks like, and what other sitters are charging in your area. You can even list yourself on the site!

You can even start a business that encompasses all of the smaller details of pet ownership, such as taking pets to grooming or vet appointments, dog walking, pet sitting, and so on?

Mix and match services depending on what works for you; you could easily start a business involving full-service pet help, including walks, trips to the groomer, sitting during the day, and so on.

19. Resume building

Maybe you’ve worked as a hiring manager for years, and you know exactly what employers are looking for. Maybe you are a graphic design whiz and love creating a polished, professional-looking resume. Maybe you also have a great eye for detail (and I mean great—no mistakes allowed here!).

If so, consider starting a business as a resume builder. There are multiple ways you could approach this; some services specialize in editing existing documents,while others will build an entire resume—graphics, content, and all—for a considerably larger fee and time expenditure. What you choose will depend on your skill set, but both are viable options for free businesses to start.

20. Driving for Uber

Do you have a car? That’s about all it takes to become an Uber driver, along with at least three years of driving experience and a clean record.

If you have the above, starting a business as an Uber driver can be wildly lucrative. While you may not reach the heights of the so-called “Uberpreneurs” who make upwards of $200,000 a year, it can be a great free business to start.

 

21. Music lessons or tutoring

If you are great at a specific school subject or play a musical instrument, consider starting a tutoring business. The possibilities are nearly endless, enabling you to specialize in your niche skill set or interest (though you may have more luck as a general English tutor and not, say, as a specialist in 19th-century Gothic Literature).

You can check out this Udemy course on starting a tutoring business.

 

22. Language teaching and practice

If you speak more than one language, you have a golden opportunity to start a business teaching a language, or holding language conversation practice sessions.

If you’re wondering where to list your tutoring services, there are plenty of options

23. House sitting

Okay, sure, you’ve done house sitting for friends before—but can you turn this into an actual, profitable business?

Turns out you can—by building up a reputation of respectful, trustworthy behavior, keeping client needs first, and thinking about what they would want in a house sitter.

Good references are of paramount importance when starting a house sitting business (though experience managing a home, caring for pets, and conducting minor lawn care are also important). That being said, building these up, in the beginning, may be as simple as finding families in your social circle who are going out of town this summer!

24. Home organization

Do you love to keep a clean, tidy home? Does the idea of tidying up and organising fill you with excitement? If so, you may want to consider offering home organization services.

To get a taste of what the process of becoming a professional organizer looks like, check out this article on Organize 365, where blogger and professional organizer Lisa Woodruff discusses the process and offers tips.

25. Gardening and landscaping

If you have a green thumb, you might want to consider starting a gardening or landscaping business. If you have basic mowing, pruning, and lawn maintenance skills, you’ll likely find that the bar to entry for starting a landscaping business is fairly low.

The more complex the process (i.e., more complex irrigation techniques and similar) may require additional learning, through a course, degree, or mentorship.

Though the latter does take away from the “free” aspect of starting this business, it’s still worth looking into (and perhaps you can mentor under an expert in the field to learn new skills at no cost). For more on starting a landscape gardening business, read this guide.

Ready to start your Business?

If you’ve found the perfect business idea, great—it’s time to get started. I’ll be sharing tips on Business Planning in another blog post. If you liked this, kindly share and leave your comments below.