One of the most common reasons why people hesitate to start their own business is because they don’t have much capital. It’s a common misconception that you need a lot of money to launch a company. You can start one of the five small capital businesses below with just a couple hundred or thousand dollars and some good old-fashioned hard work.
5 Profitable Small Capital Businesses
Personal Chef
If you love to cook, you may want to consider offering personal chef services. Many people are too busy to cook and would love to have someone come to their home and prepare meals for them. According to Indeed, you can earn nearly $90,000 per year as a full-time personal chef, which translates to a pretty high hourly rate.
All you need to get started is a website and marketing plan, which should include posting on local social media like Facebook Marketplace and Nextdoor. Once you get your first few clients, your business will grow organically as you get referrals from existing customers.
Lawn Care Business
One of the most profitable small capital businesses you can start is a lawn care company. If you’re willing to do the work yourself instead of hiring employees, you can buy all the equipment you need to get started for as little as $500. And according to Entrepreneur.com, you could earn up to $50,000 in your first year with the right marketing plan, which is a great return on your minimal investment.
Website Flipping
If you’re an SEO guru, then website flipping could be a great side hustle for you. You can start your own e-commerce store or blog from scratch or buy one from Flippa or Shopify Exchange. Then you can try to grow its revenue through link building, content marketing, and running ad campaigns on social media.
Once it’s earning about $1,000 or more per month consistently, you can sell it for a profit. Most websites sell for two to four times their annual revenue. So if you have an e-commerce store that makes $12,000 per year, you could net as much as $48,000 when you sell it. Not bad for a couple of month’s worth of work!
Tutoring
The tutoring industry is booming because of the pandemic. Nearly 9 in 10 parents are worried that their kids have fallen behind because of distance learning, and many of them are hiring tutors to get their kids up to speed.
Some tutors have been able to command rates as high as $100 an hour for private one-on-one lessons due to increased demand. You don’t even need a teaching degree to become a tutor—just a love of working with kids and a strong grasp of one or more school subjects.
Selling Microgreens
If you have a green thumb, you can turn it into cash by starting a microgreens business. Microgreens are nutritious plant sprouts that can grow indoors under LED lights or outdoors. They don’t require much space, so you can easily fit them in a corner of your garage or basement. Another plus is that they can be harvested about a week after you plant them. This means that you’ll always have products on hand to sell.
As for startup costs, microgreen seeds are inexpensive and only cost about $1 per ounce. But since sprouts are considered a gourmet product, they can be sold for up to $30 a pound to restaurants, grocery stores, and consumers. So selling microgreens is definitely one of the most profitable small capital businesses.
Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t take a lot of money to start a profitable, successful business. Don’t let a lack of startup capital stop you from launching the company you’ve always dreamed of.
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Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.