8 Business Ideas For Under 5k: While some people dream of starting the next Facebook or Google, others may be looking for some creative, low-risk ways to earn some extra cash on the side. If you’re looking to start your own business, but you don’t have thousands of dollars to invest, these eight business ideas are perfect for you!
8 Business Ideas For Under 5k
Each can be started with as little as $500, and all can be started from home. You’ll just need time and dedication to see your business grow. With the help of this article, you can get started with any one of these 8 business ideas.
1) Online Courses
A simple business idea that requires very little start-up capital can be to create an online course for others interested in learning about a particular topic. To get started, identify your expertise. What do you know that would interest others? If you’re not sure where to start, look at what interests you and think about whether it could apply to a course.
For example, if you love makeup, maybe there’s an opportunity to teach people how to use products they already have. Or maybe you’re obsessed with a new software program and think that sharing your knowledge could benefit others. If so, try putting together some sample lessons and see if anyone is interested in taking them!
Depending on how much information you want to provide and how quickly you want to cover everything, creating an online course may require anywhere from hours (if you just want to share your ideas on social media) up to several months (if you really want to go into depth).
This will also affect how much money you spend on things like web hosting fees and tools like audio editing or photography programs. Be prepared: once you put something out there on a platform like YouTube or LinkedIn Learning, it’s out there forever—and even after all of your hard work creating it, no one has any obligation whatsoever to purchase anything from you.
2) CPA Offers
Starting a business in order to help other businesses save money can be a great way to make a living. By offering your services as an accountant, you could soon find yourself with enough clients to start working for yourself full-time. Setting up shop is one of the most intimidating parts of starting your own business, but it doesn’t have to be scary if you get organized and go about it methodically.
A good place to start is by writing out each step along your path, which will give you a list of things to do and an easy way of keeping track of them. Once you’ve got that outline drafted, all that’s left is following each task through till completion. Of course, things won’t always work out as planned—which is why it’s important to revisit your plan regularly and see how (and if) changes need to be made.
But having a clear idea of what needs doing should take some of the worry out of trying something new. If you really want to stand apart from competitors, another strategy might be using CPA offers—special promotions on certain products or services aimed at getting new customers into a store or office. It’s not too hard to create one on your own or work with existing companies that already offer these sorts of deals (provided they’re right for your particular industry).
Either way, setting up CPA offers is just one more smart move toward going into business for yourself. One final benefit of offering CPA offers: You’ll quickly discover who your best clients are, which means you’ll know where to focus your efforts and where you can potentially turn away customers who may not fit into your target market.
3) Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great way to get into business for yourself. There are tons of different affiliate programs out there for you to join. Whether you’re looking for free or paid advertising options, you can be sure that affiliate marketing will be profitable. The key here is to choose products that align with your target audience and display ads relevant to them on your website or social media.
Having a strategic plan in place before you begin promoting is a must! Any online business idea worth doing will take time and effort, but it’s well worth it in the end when things start to grow. How much money do affiliates make? In 2017 alone, affiliates generated over $185 billion in revenue, according to statistics by Governing Magazine.
A year earlier they made $163 billion and just a few years ago they generated only $35 billion. Those numbers show how quickly businesses (and affiliate marketers) are growing online; if you want to cash in on those billions of dollars (and even more), join an affiliate program today!
4) Drop Shipping
Many entrepreneurs who are new to business start by selling things on e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon. And, why not? They’re easy to set up, you don’t have to worry about inventory management, and if you use a platform like Shopify you won’t even have to think about shipping.
These are all good reasons to begin your entrepreneurial journey online—but if you want your business to grow (and I assume that you do), it’s best that drop shipping isn’t your only option. How will you scale without having control over your own inventory? The fact is: businesses work best when they can control their supply chain.
5) Paid Online Surveys
Starting a consulting business can be an inexpensive, profitable way to get a business off of the ground. Consultants are called in to offer professional services on a specific subject or industry when other businesses need help getting advice on how to improve their workflow, productivity, or organization.
Consulting is also an excellent side business idea if you have experience working as an employee in a specific field but want to set up your own business so you can be your own boss and make more money than you could as an employee. This is exactly what I did when I left my job as an engineer and started my design business full-time, which allows me to write for you each week with zero worries about paying off pesky monthly bills.
In fact, I’m making more money now than ever before! If you’re looking for an awesome step-by-step guide that shows you everything from creating a website to securing clients, check out The Startup Checklist: 25 Steps To A Profitable Business .
It’s truly one of my favorite business books because it covers all of those crucial start-up steps that most people don’t think of until they’re too late. Using real life examples like Virgin Airlines and 3M , it’s perfect for newbies who know they want to start a business but aren’t sure where to begin.
6) Selling Things on Fiverr
If you have a marketable skill and are comfortable with direct customer sales, then Fiverr is an excellent way to make money online. In fact, there are some Fiverr income reports that show people earning over $100,000/month doing nothing but selling things on Fiverr.
Once you set up your account and create your Fiverr promotion (called a Gig), you’ll immediately begin getting orders in your dashboard. Then when you deliver a quality product, they will pay you with one of their famous fivers.
7) Consulting Businesses
If you have expertise in a certain field, consider starting a consulting business. You’ll be able to charge businesses or individuals for your advice and there are plenty of options available. For example, if you’re an expert in SEO and social media marketing, look into opportunities with some local companies.
However, if it’s more physical products that you specialize in (such as cars or building materials), try scouting local retailers who might need help getting specific products onto their shelves. See what they have done so far, see how many people they sell each month/year/how many units they bought from specific manufacturers/retailers.
Identify what weaknesses are preventing them from increasing sales numbers and fix those holes for them! – The only real disadvantage is pricing yourself out of low-volume markets but that is true with any type of small business; higher-ticket items benefit greatly from professional assistance.
8) Website Flipping
Consider buying an existing website and flipping it for a profit. While there are no guarantees in business, buying an existing website can be much cheaper than building your own from scratch. Depending on your niche and market, you can buy websites for as little as $100 and up to tens of thousands of dollars.
A lot of work goes into buying a good website — so only do it if you have enough money to invest upfront without worrying about how you’ll pay other bills later. And don’t forget that time is money — sites that need a lot of work can cost just as much or more than purchasing one that’s already profitable. Visit BuySellSite for details on how to find a quality website at a great price.
Also Read: 10 Cheap Business Ideas For Under 20k
Conclusion
Starting a business can be difficult, but it’s not impossible. To help you get started on your entrepreneurial journey, we’ve compiled 8 ideas for under $5,000 that have been proven to work. You might not be able to turn all of these into a full-time income; but with focus and hard work, you could definitely make some extra cash from one of them. Good luck!
