You’ll need knowledge, business skills, technical skills, artistry, self-sacrifice, stamina… Well, let’s be reasonable: you won’t need all of these things at the same time, but you will need most of them. Remember that we are not talking about easy businesses, but about activities that you can start without investing in almost anything. Some ideas are new, others we already mentioned at the time on the blog, but we thought it was worth making a compilation.
Do not forget that no matter how cheap it is to set up your small business, you will always need a few minimum tools. I have prepared a list with the ones I use daily, in case they work for you too.
- 1. Buy wholesale and sell retail
- 2. Write a blog, about one of the best businesses without investment
- 3. Insurance Brokerage
- 4. Being a consultant in your area of expertise
- 5. Repair toys
- 6. Personal trainer
- 7. Boat cleaning
- 8. Mysterious client
- 9. Translation agency
- 10. Make jewelry, another profitable business with little money
- 11. Design and manufacture clothing for fashion stores
- 12. Virtual assistant
- 13. Turn your hobby into a business
- 14. Sell used products on eBay
- 15. Organize events
- 16. Personal Shopper
- 17. Private classes
- 18. Commercial intermediary
- 19. Asset Manager
- 20. Redesign a CV
- 21. Work budget broker
- 22. Sell on eBay for others
- 23. Marriage agency
- 24. Aesthetics or hairdressing at home
- 25. One of the best profitable businesses without investment I saved for last: Coaching
1. Buy wholesale and sell retail
Modern tools at your disposal, such as electronic marketplaces, allow you to buy almost anything at the best price. You can for example visit a website like Solostocks.com (which usually has quite a few items at a good price) and see if you could dedicate yourself to selling products at retail. Depending on the type of items you buy and the number of units, the initial investment can be very reasonable. You can also opt for other platforms such as Etsy.com.
You also can search stocks of companies in liquidation to buy deeply discounted products and sell them by units. You can start small, and then reinvest your initial earnings so you can buy more.
2. Write a blog, about one of the best businesses without investment
Creating a blog is certainly an interesting way to start an online business. You will need to have specialized knowledge. Here we recently talked to you about the possibility of a blog about insurance, and more time ago about another about celebrities. Although a domain of your own doesn’t cost a lot of money (for less than €100 a year you can have excellent hosting ), you can also start without paying anything, with a free blog.
3. Insurance Brokerage
Are you an expert in the insurance sector? Why don’t you set up your own brokerage? As an intermediary, you will not need much investment, and at first, you can set up your office in a room in your house. You will have a lot of competition from other brokerages and you will have to comply with a series of legal requirements, but if you have a good network of contacts, you can get it.
4. Being a consultant in your area of expertise
More than one professional with experience, hardened in many battles in the business world, realizes that many people could benefit from their knowledge. Some take the step of quitting their salaried job and setting up a specialized consulting firm. Ask yourself if you are an expert in something that you could monetize, maybe you can be successful as an independent consultant.
5. Repair toys
Do you know how to fix almost everything? Do you know electronics? Why not try to bring a smile back to those children who have damaged their favorite toys? In some places, they call these businesses the poetic name of “toy hospital”. Nowadays, as many families do not have too many expenses, it could be an interesting business. And you only need technique, talent, and a few tools.
6. Personal trainer
If you know everything about physical education or are willing to train, a very promising business is working as a personal trainer. Some time ago it was a service dedicated almost exclusively to celebrities and wealthy people, but it is becoming more democratic. And it is that doing sports efficiently and with the appropriate frequency is not so easy. Having the services of a personal trainer for a few weeks is the best way to get serious and not give up.
7. Boat cleaning
If you live in Europe, we’re sorry, you probably won’t like this idea very much. But since Europe is a maritime country, more than one inhabitant of coastal cities can consider a boat cleaning activity. It is a seasonal business, with peak season beginning in the spring. It is about touring the marinas and offering your services to leave the boats clean and ready for use.
8. Mysterious client
A mystery shopper is a person who visits stores incognito, like a normal consumer, but appreciates the service and attention received. If you have contacts in the quality and marketing sector, you could set up your Mystery Shopper agency, and start by doing the evaluation missions in the first person.
9. Translation agency
Do you perfectly master another language? If you are looking for profitable businesses without investment, why don’t you start offering your translation services to companies? An interesting clue is all those online stores that only have a Spanish version and do not take advantage of the full potential of the Internet. In a world where international exchanges are more and more present, there are many more opportunities for translators, although of course there is also a lot of competition.
10. Make jewelry, another profitable business with little money
If you know how to make necklaces, rings, bracelets, and other jewelry pieces, you should think about selling them. You can follow different marketing strategies, especially organizing sales at friends’ houses and setting up your own website.
11. Design and manufacture clothing for fashion stores
Although independent retail is having a harder time than the big chains, there will always be a market for original creations. If you know how to make your own designs, you can choose to draw and make your own models, and then sell them to fashion stores.
12. Virtual assistant
An underlying trend in the economy is the outsourcing of non-strategic functions, a phenomenon accentuated in times of crisis. A single person can provide virtual assistant services to many professionals and small businesses, with the consequent savings for them. If you are an organized person, this could be your chance.
13. Turn your hobby into a business
Are you a collector? This means that you have most likely learned a lot about the object of your hobby. A good way to start a business without initial investment is to dedicate yourself to finding and reselling collectibles. You will have to learn to differentiate your hobby interest from your business goals, but it can be a very profitable activity.
14. Sell used products on eBay
Another way to start a business with no money is simply by buying and selling second-hand products. For this, you can use well-known portals such as eBay, or set up your online store. Perhaps it is best to start with the first, and once you have contacts and fame, move on to your store. And what can you sell? In the blog, we proposed some exotic ideas like second-hand accordions or sewing machines, but you can do it with almost anything.
15. Organize events
The organization of events needs a lot of organizational capacity, and many contacts, but you can do it with little money. You can think of planning weddings, birthdays, or business events. It is one of the most interesting and profitable businesses without investment for a person with people skills and good taste.
16. Personal Shopper
If you are passionate about fashion, you can consider becoming a Personal Shopper, that is, buying things for other people. As you can imagine, to turn this idea into a profitable business you will have to have many contacts from a high socioeconomic class, that is, rich people. Otherwise, it is quite difficult for you to live on it.
17. Private classes
Within the profitable business opportunities without investment related to knowledge is the possibility of giving private classes. Depending on your background, you may be able to teach schoolchildren, high school kids, or even college students.
18. Commercial intermediary
We could also call it facilitating contacts. If you have a good business network, you can earn a lot of money without spending a single euro. The only thing you have to do (and it’s not easy, obviously), is to connect people who need to sell something with other people who need to buy that something. It’s something that can be done in almost any industry but can only be achieved by people with excellent command of the business and a great network of contacts. You can get to do very profitable business, especially in sectors with high-value products.
19. Asset Manager
The last crisis made the wealth manager activity flourish. Between a brick whose value was plummeting from month to month, a chaotic stock market, a faltering euro, and some very expensive precious metals, it was very difficult for someone with little money saved to know what he should do. Hence the interest in this profession to which we dedicated a previous article. Today it is still a very interesting business because more and more savings are available.
20. Redesign a CV
How many people are looking for a job without even having a presentable resume? There is an interesting business opportunity around advice to the person seeking employment. We mention the design of the resume, but in reality, much more can be done, from the preparation of job interviews to the elaboration of a balance of competencies.
21. Work budget broker
The number of workers had fallen a lot due to the crisis, but at the same time, people were more demanding and were looking for the best value for money. An interesting profession is being a construction budget broker. That is a person who knows the sector, who receives the request from an individual or company and sends it to a whole series of professionals to obtain the best value for money, and to be able to respond to the client’s needs. It is a business that can be profitable and can be launched for little money. Just enough to launch a simple web page.
22. Sell on eBay for others
More than one person wants to get rid of their old junk to get both money and space at home. But many do not know very well how to do it or do not have time. One solution is to sell used things to others on portals like eBay for a commission.
23. Marriage agency
After years of the Internet and the triumph of dating sites, it seems very old-fashioned to talk about setting up a marriage agency. However, for many people, the computer or mobile is a very cold and unreliable interface, since people can easily lie and cheat. A traditional agency can interview your candidates and offer contacts with greater guarantees.
24. Aesthetics or hairdressing at home
Home services are both very practical for the customer and very cheap to start up (no need for premises). And they are usually profitable businesses that require little investment. This is especially true for service activities such as cosmetic and beauty care in general. At the beginning of the blog, we proposed home hairdressing as an idea, and it is still a valid idea today. There are also other options such as bringing the bar to your home or bringing romantic catering.
25. One of the best profitable businesses without investment I saved for last: Coaching
As you may have seen, the topic of motivation and personal growth is something that we find very interesting on the blog. Very recently we explained what coaching is. If it is a subject that you are passionate about, that you know about psychology or are willing to learn, it could be a business opportunity for you.
