14 Ideas for Small Businesses with Little Investment
14 Ideas for Small Businesses with Little Investment
Until a few years ago, most people's life plan consisted of a fairly common and uniform project: Study until they get a degree, start a family and keep a good job until retirement age. Simple, safe, quite comfortable and predictable.
If there were any questions in this plan, those were what should I study? In which company do I apply? What additional incentives can I aspire to?
The space for uncertainties or innovative thinking was minimal, if not zero, and was limited to making proposals (and crossing your fingers) with one or two improvements to the work environment, or to the products and services of the company for which you worked.
Fortunately, times and people have changed synergistically and based on that, the tendency to undertake has been taking hold. It is no longer so rare to get anyone who looks favourably on the exploitation of their own ideas for small businesses.
In other words, it is now extremely rare to get anyone who wants to stick to the traditional plan and leave the idea of starting up in their own business for others. There are even those who combine both visions to obtain an intermediate version with the best of both life plans.
For these people, the prevailing questions are other questions: What do I invest in? What business ideas make the biggest profit in the shortest time? How much money do I need to invest?
If you're looking for small business ideas to answer these questions, here's an interesting list of the latest trends in small business ideas.
We hope it will inspire you and help you take action to turn it into your new reality.
14 Ideas for Small Businesses That Demand Little Investment
This list of 14 ideas for small businesses does not follow a particular order, although it is organized by two major modalities of entrepreneurship: Traditional and Online.
Review it and let yourself be surprised by trends in businesses that require little investment, and that always have room for another value proposition.
Traditional Entrepreneurship Modality: 7 Face-to-Face Business Ideas
- Personal Trainer
Is fitness life your thing? Are you happy sweating and moving your body? So becoming a personal trainer is ideal for you.
This idea to start your small business comes as a ring to your finger if your willingness to help others and your commanding voice are combined with a certification.
A growing trend quite popular in all sports disciplines that also, is marketed very well by Social Networks and can give rise to other related businesses, such as healthy meals and coach of food and healthy living.
- Local Delivery Services
Yes, the big courier and package delivery companies are still there and won't go anywhere. However, nothing beats a particular motorcycle, car or bike to deliver packages locally quickly and efficiently, and at a lower price.
Every day more people add their means of private transport to help avoid the bureaucracy and slightly more expensive tariffs involved in using more recognized courier and delivery services. So, the image of a person in shorts uniforms delivering packages no longer dominates the market. And it makes sense.
The field of work has expanded thanks to the entrepreneurship of many others and so, there are other small entrepreneurs who do not have their own home delivery service, and there is the individual who needs to be approached by lunch or a pair of shoes because he was stranded somewhere. There you fit, perfectly.
If you also add the services to an application, then your business opportunity goes to the fixed one. Make yourself known and start pedaling.
- Food Trucks
In Latin America in particular, the big business of preparing and dispatching fast food from a truck has always been part of the landscape.
However, new trends and market demands add differentiating elements that you can take advantage of to introduce your own successful business idea, and make it highly profitable. Do you opt more for sweets than fast food? A waffles and cupcake food truck is also perfect to run!
In any case, investing in a food truck does require a little more investment, study, preparation and compliance with laws and regulations. Among them, you must specify the point where you will put your truck, the demand of similar businesses at that point, and the permit related to the handling and sale of food.
- Local Tourism
Tourism has also evolved in terms of tastes and demands. Thus, from so-called extreme tourism or adventure tourism to cultural or experimental immersion tourism, the strong point is to get accommodation elsewhere other than hotels, and to add to the guide experience by the so-called Bakoyanos.
How do you come in as a tour guide then, and how do you make it a very profitable small business idea? Simple: Design several packages and offer close and real experiences for people interested in getting in touch with the unique opportunities offered by your immediate environment.
You can even offer one of the rooms in your own home to accommodate your guests, and include typical breakfasts to offer them a complete, first-hand immersive experience, with the potential for word-of-mouth recommendation that you so much need to make your business flourish.
Likewise, if you rely on an Airbnb-type application and make some contacts and alliances with interpreters, restaurants, inns, iconic places according to their interests (you can collect that information from a form), you have the possibility to make a name for yourself with all the business potential in the long term.
Get creative! Design immersion tour packages for seniors, with religious interests, adventurers thirsting for extreme experiences, animal lovers, etc. And speaking of animal lovers...
- Canine Hotels (and Other Related Services)
There are many people who are co-opted to go on a trip, even for short periods, by not having someone to take care of their pets while they are away.
This idea for small business itself lacks innovation, however, it has rebounded in recent times because traditional hotels or canine inns are often expensive.
You can start by hosting one or two animals in your house for some weekends, and then include other services such as hairdressing, morning walks and even pet accompaniment for international trips.
They are ideas for small businesses based in the same niche of pet services that yield good money, and whose investment is quite low and whose ROI is usually practically immediate.
- Manager
Many people who work office hours or are engaged in their own ventures lack the time to do personal errands such as going to the bank, bringing clothes to/from the dry cleaners, buying food for the week, etc.
In some Latin American countries, the action of dealing with these tasks is called an agency and the person who executes it is called the manager. It is usually an occupation that leaves good money since the services can include from going to Notaries, to withdrawing tickets for the cinema and the like.
Having an agency that places a manager to the services of third parties is an idea for small business that promises to stand out in the coming years, and the best thing is that it can evolve into other unsuspected areas such as...
- Personal Shopper
This is the most stylized and elegant name for Personal Buyer. A personal shopper is usually responsible for choosing, buying and delivering clothes and footwear for special events. However, there are those who hire services to take care of the entire wardrobe, without obeying a special event as such.
More than an investment, what you really need to become an excellent personal shopper and make it your successful business, is to have a good eye and sensitivity to choose the best clothes and shoes for your customers, and take care of details related to the finances of those who entrust you with their wardrobe.
Start with your friends, and make them spread the word. Then you can open your own blog or website, and share tips related to your niche. If you have consistency and dedicate yourself, soon you will be hiring and training others to make your small business idea a real personal brand.
Online Entrepreneurship Modality: 7 Ideas for Small Business Not Face-to-Face
On the other hand, the Internet has given way to a whole new range of jobs that began to exist barely a couple of decades ago, and that have stood out a lot in recent years.
The particular thing about this line of jobs is that they do not require the presence of the employee and even the employer to meet the demand for services, and most importantly: Each in itself represents a successful small business idea to manage from the comfort of your home.
- Online Tutor
Education has always had a place of honour in all societies. Children will always need someone to clarify their doubts, and they will surely feel more comfortable from home, in a controlled and safe environment where they can use other tools.
If you have the ability and ability to teach online, this small business idea is meant for you. Topics and topics can range from the simple to the complex, and creating an interactive platform with interesting programs can be an adventure that also pays good dividends.
- Translator
Although Google and other similar companies offer instant translations online, the truth is that translators have the sensitivity and knowledge of the world that automated translation tools lack.
Creating an online business that brings together translators willing to provide humane solutions to translation problems is an excellent idea for small business that promises a lot of demand.
- Web Content Manager
Every entrepreneur and entrepreneur who wants to successfully overcome the barrier of the first years of uncertainty and risk needs, among many other things, to be visible on the web.
That's where content creation and management comes in as a small business idea that can actually get big very quickly. Just think about the number of websites that are published daily in your own locality, and how much money it makes to make those businesses visible.
Search engine bots require content and tag distribution to position pages. In other words, a website without content to optimize, is a wasted website.
Having the ability to create, curate and optimize content for the Internet and Social Networks is a tremendous business that demands little investment. And if you have the ability to manage personnel that will help you get rid of the creative process, then there you have the idea of a small business that can guarantee the comfort of your golden years!
- Virtual Assistant
From the same tenor of the creation, curation and optimization of content, and even of translation and audiovisual production (which we will reach shortly), comes Virtual Assistance (VA, for its acronym in English),as an idea of small enterprise that requires very little investment.
The business model that usually accompanies them, is the direct hiring of people with the most diverse profiles and abilities to assist in specific tasks to those who hire their services, and offer their services through a virtual catalog to the most diverse companies.
The company that hires the individual serves as a bridge between both ends of the equation and guarantees two things: To the Virtual Assistant a fixed rate per hour, project or production; and to the Contractor, the management of the payment and supervision of the Virtual Assistant.
- Audiovisual Producer
In times past, audio-television productionused to be a highly select guild. It was covered by a veil of zeal and professional secrecy that only a few could access, so if you were an audiovisual producer you surely enjoyed an enviable status, as well as many business opportunities with the promise of making good money if you made the right connections.
With the advent of the Internet, audiovisual production became simpler, more dynamic and more accessible as it demanded new approaches, approaches and an openness that you can perfectly take advantage of as a small business idea.
Best of all, audiovisual production, in addition to covering the traditional forms of editing and massification of final products, also has the online versions with which you will surely be more familiar.
The investments to dedicate yourself to audiovisual production will definitely depend on the formats you prefer to work with. What is certain is that your investment will always be worth it.
- Social Media Manager
Large companies with an Internet presence generally have complete marketing teams that perform many functions in parallel. Among the many functions that team members must take care of, there is the management of Social Networks.
Although it may not seem so, taking care of an ever-growing community demands a lot of time, time that the members of the marketing team need to create strategies and measure results. Thus, since it is not a key vacancy for the optimal development of the department, it is usually overlooked, and its functions become in the background.
A recent trend indicates that companies are outsourcing the hiring of the position of Social Media Manager. Here's another small business idea that you can exploit without investing too much money, and that's sure to pay off a lot in an ever-expanding customer base.
- UI/UX Designer
Just as Social Media Managers are generally making their way through outsourcing, UI/UX Designers are also riding this wave.
The functions of the UI/UX Designer are simple: Ensure that a website or application is friendly, attractive and fast loading in browsers.
It is easy to say, but it demands a lot of inventiveness and dedication to achieve it. For this reason, creating a microenterprise that is dedicated to recruiting and placing UI/UX Design specialists is a business idea that requires little investment, and that promises a fairly busy schedule for the whole year and beyond.
Something in the middle...
Just as there are ideas for traditional and online small businesses, there are some hybrid ideas that can work out very well, such as:
- Expert Consultant
Retired or with enough experience? If you have already closed a cycle and rather want to help others flourish in theirs, then the idea of turning your experience into a business combines the best of both worlds because...
- You can offer webinars, online consultancies, valuable content and evaluations from the comfort of your home.
- Reach agreements to offer talks and conferences in your area to empower those who come to take the baton in your niche.
Your experience, despite being yours, has all the potential to serve others. Make it your new business idea, and get ready to postpone your retirement.
- Public relations
In the same idea above, your experience and knowledge also leaves many alliances, acquaintances and connections that can be of great use to those who come.
Put your face to their services, and it serves as a bridge between the contracts and the contractors because, what is the point of keeping a secret that does not bring you benefits?
Ideas for Small Businesses That Create Big Profits
Entrepreneurship ceased to be a taboo word and concept widely related to risks and uncertainty, misfortune and bankruptcy.
However, to ensure that your investment has the best results, the search for ideas for small businesses must resonate in principle with your essence, potentialities and talents. That simple action will leave you with great profits and better experiences.
If you have other ideas for small businesses that have a real chance of translating into big profits, share them here. You can always learn and undertake with suggestions