Starting a business can seem like a mountain of a task ,but the amount of the time ,money and involved all depends on the business idea you chase .
Contrary to popular belief ,there are actually many ways to start a business that let you focuss less on the logistics and upfront cost and more on getting started .
These low investment online business ideas make a great entry point for the begginers ,bootstrappers ,or anyone with without having to drop everything else .
You still need to more come with a solid idea ,build a brand put effort ,into marketing and provide excellent customer service.But you can bypas many traditional startup costs such as initial inventary ,warehousing and retail space.
Here are 10 of these low investment business ideas you can start today.
- Partner with a dropshipper
- Design and sell print-on-demand t-shirt
- launch your own book
- Create a digital product or courses
- Sell print-on-demand posters ,prints,etc
- Start a chartiable business
- Sell a service
- Create an online fashion boutique
- Sell hadnsome goods
- Build an audience you can monetize
1.Partnership with a dropshipper
Buy store ,store it ,pick it ,pack it ,ship it.Managing inventarty can be a big commitment when you’re running an online business .
Dropshipping is a fulfilment model where a third party supplier stores and ships inventory to customers on your behalf .You just need to make the sales and pass orders on to your supplier :you don’t need to handle the products yourself .
you can curate products from one or more suppliers into your own online store under a theme that focuses on a specfic niche ,like gear for yoga enthusiasts or water bowls for dog owner ,when a customers buy a products from you .the border is sent to your supplier who fullfill it on your behalf .However,you are still responsible for your own marketing and customers services .
There are both local and overseas suppliers you can work with as long as you can establish a relationship with them built on trust -an unreliable supplier will reflect poorly on your brand .
Dropshipping is a low investment way to test product market fit and launch a business before you invest in your own original products .Just be sure to always order a sample for yourself to make sure that your supplier is reliable and that the quality of the products is fit for selling to your customers .
2.Design and sell print on demand t shirts
Another dropshipping model ,print on demand puts inventory ,shipping and fullfullment in the hand of a third-party supplier .But unlike the dropshipping idea above ,the focus here is on customizing these product with your own design to create something original .
T-shirt ,hats,phone cases ,hoodies ,skirt ,tote bags and more become canvases for your creativity .You can think up witty slogens for developers or references that resonates with cat owners -if there’s passion and pride within a community there’s a potential t shirt business you can start .
Even if you’re not a designer you can find a designer to work with using freelance sites like fiverr ,upwork ,Dribble,or 99 desgin .
With many print on demand services you’re paying perproduct .so the base price per unit will be more expensive than if you were to order in bulk .but the advantage doesn’t sell ,you haven’t actually paid for the item yet
You can ever use t-shirt mockup templates so you don’t actually need to spend money on a full photoshoot for every new design .
There are a variety of print on demand platform you can work with many of which can be integrated with your shopify store for seamiess order fullfillment .However be sure to always order a sample of your product to make sure your custom products look goods .
3.Launch your owon book
A book is just another type of product when you think about it .And as such ,you can create one to serve a particular demand in the market .
Cookbooks,picture books,comic books,poetry books,photo books,coffee table books ,and novels -if you’ve got the knowledge or the creativity .there are a variety of original you can bring to the market.
Print on demand publishing is a relativaley safe way to test the wates and get started with self publishing while giving you control over the quality and look of your book .
Lulu xpress and blurb publishing are popular platforms for this purpose ,letting you create ,order,and distribute your own books as digital and physical products .
while you can order one book at a time,costs naturally go down when you buy in bulk ,you can consider pre-selling or crowdfunding your book idea to ensure that there’s demand and generate number of customers for a bulk order.
Launching your own book can be great way to monitize a blog if you have one or are looking to start one .
4.Create digital products or courses
Digital product like music ,coureses and templates are unique on this list of ideas ,unlike the others ,they’re not tangible products .There aren’t recurring manufacturing or shipping costs to worry about so your margins can remain high .
The tricks is figuring out what makes for a goal digital products .what is useful enough that people are willing to pay to download it?
The answer range from a original instrumental beats to stock photo that can be licenced to other creators to information products and templates that help people level up their skills in a particular field.
if you’ve got a talent that can be turined into a digital product .you can think about packing it into new stream of income .
5.Sell print on demand posters ,getting cards ,and prints
if you’re artistically inclined or know your way around a camera ,you can dropship using a print on demand business model to let others physically own a piece of your work ,Just be sure you have the rights to the content you want to print ,unless you’re using public domain assets that you can freely monetize .
If you’ve already got an engaged online following say you’re a cartonist or on urban photographer .you’re in an especially good positions to give this business idea a try .
Depending on the printer you work with you can turn your work into products such as posters or frame wall art even greeting cards .There are plenty of digital templates and mockup generators like place .It that you can use to showcase your products without having to print out each item and conduct your own photoshoot
6.Start a chartitable business
starting a non-profitable organsiation isn’t the only path you can take to help fund a better world .
Having a mission to go along with a business and setting aside some profit for a cause ,gives social entreprenuers a unique way to position their company in the market while addressing the issues they care about most.
In fact 89% of consumers surveyed said they were likely to switch to a new brand with similar products and prices if it was associated with a good cause .
While many social enterpricses offer their own original products .you can also take any of the business ideas above and partner with a non profit or execute that social good with your own hands as long as you’re transport about how it works
As part of your marketing ,you can share the impact that your customers are having by supporting your business .such as a blog post covering your work in the community or a real time impact calculator on your website.
7.Sell a service
With serivces based business “time “is your inventory and your biggest investment .You’ve only got a limited supply of hour in your day.However ,that makes it easier to get up and running if you’ve got skills that are in demand.
Writer ,Designers,developers,photograghers,house cleaner.Fitness trainer ,and more can build a business around their skills.
They can also expand their business with any of the other ideas above to create addtional revenue streams by “productizing “thier services through physical or digital goods .
A photographer ,for example can services a local event while selling prints through their instragram account .A copywriter can sell a copywritting swipe file of high-converting sales copy .Coupling your services-based business with physical product can give you another source of income that isn’t directly tied to your time .
8.Create an online fashion boutique
If you love fashion and sharing your sense of style online,you can consider creating your own online fashion boutque .You don’t need to become a fashion designer either -you can simply curate items from other vendors into your own online store
9. Sell handcrafted and homemade goods
If you’re a maker -whether you DIY soap,candles sauces ,or pottery -you’re in a unique positon to start an online business since product development and procurment are literally in your hands.
Unlike many of the other ideas on this list.You will need to consider shipping and inventory management .but you can start out simple on a per-order basis or with a small batch until you start generating consistent sales.
10.Grow an audience you can monetize in multiple ways
In today’s connected world,the ability to capture and keep the attention of the others is an asset .it’s one that many businesses are even willing to pay for ,and one that many creators are able to convert into a business with multiple revenue streams .
whether you choose to grows yuor following on youtube ,Instgram or a blog ,you have many avenues for monetizing your audinece .
- Do sponsored posts on behalf of brands
- Become an affiliate
- Sell physical or digital products
- patreon
- A combination of the above
Taking an audience -first approach to start a busniess means you’v playing the long game .But you don’t need millions followers to do it -instgram kat gaskin .for example ,pulled off a $10k -product launcj with onl3000 followers.