Starting a business is complicated — but working for someone is even more exhausting, isn’t it? Especially if you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t feel that it’s going to have an impact, or feel that your life is slipping away from your hands while you are at the office from nine-to-six. Or worse: working the whole day from home with no balance whatsoever. Because that’s what remote work does, isn’t it? Seeps into the root of your routine, and you start working more than you’ve ever worked.
Starting a business is a challenge, a risk, many uncertainties to deal with, but it’s better: it’s you doing something for yourself. So: here are six small-cost ideas — mostly business ideas — you can think about while you’re considering quitting your day job.
Invest in Real Estate With Low Budget
But before describing low-investment business ideas, let’s talk about one other quick option to make money: investing in real estate.
In the past, such investments required large sums of money — but right now people use the online loan or microinvesting platforms to start earning passive income with as little as $20. During the last few years, lots of platforms offer people to try “split” investments. Several (or several dozens) users choose from different houses to invest in — let’s say, Dubai’s villa — and after several years, the platform sells the house — and shares the profits among the investors.
Another option is to buy an apartment — paying out its cost via the mortgage or giving away full price at once — and become a landlord. That’s a good option if you want to invest in cities with a significant tourist, student, or expat flow like New York, London, or Dubai.
Doggy Daycare Business
This type of business activity does not require investments at all. All you need is a love for dogs and a little experience in caring for them. A lot of dog owners hire people to take care of their pets, e.g. while they’re out on vacation or a business trip.
Dog daycare workers walk dogs, feed them, play with them — or let them play with other dogs in daycare, go for a haircut, or to the vet. Dog walkers or dog sitters are separate jobs: usually daycare is an organization, joined with a vet clinic or a shelter, — and dog walkers and dog sitters are, like, people who stay with your dog as a side job.
Both are good options: both for dogs who aren’t used to being alone after the pandemic, and for you — if you want to try your hand in caring for other people’s pets. ZipRecruiter stats say that the average hourly rate for a dog sitter is $14.
Freelance Writing
Are you a creative person who is fond of writing? Look for writing gigs — they’re all over the Internet. Businesses want to hire copywriters, scriptwriters, technical writers more and more — the content is what sells in 2022, and there’s never enough people who can write an advertisement that will both promote a brand and have a positive impact on the world. Everyone who builds personal business also wants a copywriter for marketing and advertising, Forbes says. If you’re not into marketing as a thing, try looking at niche writing positions in different industries: UX writer for app devs, narrative writer for the game industry, etc.
You don’t need to invest a lot if you want to start writing — but you’ll need some money to live while you’re building a portfolio if you still don’t have one. Writing requires your time, patience, and constant growth. When you have writing samples, start searching for small gigs on Fiverr, Upwork, or via social media — Twitter is where people from all creative industries post about new open jobs.
Design and Illustrations
If you work in Photoshop, Figma, or have illustration skills, you’ve probably thought about going solo already, scrolled through 99Designs and Upwork’s gigs, and read countless articles on “how to start a business” on Medium.
For visual artists, it’s always best to start a solo business when you have lots of engaged followers on social media (if you have them, you already know how it works — people from industries just come to ask you for your art/logos/etc.) If you’re somewhere in the middle — not, like, two followers, but not 11.6K also — open commissions. Retweets and happy commissioners will lead people who are also interested in buying art from you — and, soon, your name will reach recruiters.
Consulting
If you are already an expert in a certain field, become a consultant.
Whoever you are, whether you are a manager, a financier, or even a cook, you can give guidance to people who want to do what you do. Record videos, write learning materials, booklets, newsletters, etc. with guidelines and how-tos for the skills you want to share. Sooner or later, people will start coming to you for advice.
Consulting requires a commitment to personal branding. People who do that consistently have their personal style of writing in their social media, construct content calendars and are constantly active. To be successful, they must be sincere and truly good in what they do — and make peace with the fact that exposing a part of their lives is what brings them money. So: publicity.
Starting a consulting business requires time (to produce content) and, later in time, a small marketing budget.
Event Planning
Every holiday is special. Whether it’s a birthday, a corporate party or a wedding — people want to spend it as best they can. But it is very difficult to organize a holiday on your own.
That’s why people turn to professional event planners. But you don’t have to open an agency right away — start from setting up a personal brand, helping out people close to you with events, perhaps getting some non-profit gigs to show off your decoration and time management skills.
Whatever you decide — quit or not to quit, know there are always low-cost options you can switch to and feel better about yourself. The main thing is to have a bit of savings! Don’t hop into the unknown hoping for the better: make a plan for preparing-to-start-a-business — quitting — starting a business. Although it sounds tedious, it will help.
