Best businesses to start with under $1,000
If you have a bit of money to spend, a great option is to start a business that sells physical products.
It does not require the same experience as managing a training course or a service business. There are also not a lot of upfront costs.
READ MORE: 4 business ideas for beginning entrepreneurs
E-Commerce
With a budget of less than 1,000 euros, you can easily buy all the tools and systems you need to start generating real and significant revenue through an e-commerce company.
In essence, e-commerce consists of earning money by selling products on the Internet. The long-term goal is to create a complete virtual storefront.
Before you start, you need to choose your product and your niche.
What do your potential customers need and what are they willing to pay for? Study the market and your target audience.
What is selling right now? What is who One doesn't sell?
Identify market gaps that you could fill.
Here are a few things to consider when choosing your product:
- What is your price range? Make sure you're able to cover your margins, including manufacturing and shipping costs.
- Can you personalize or improve the product? If you want to stand out, do you need a product that stands out from other similar products/brands on the market?
- How heavy or how big is it? The smaller and lighter the item is, the cheaper it will be to ship. It is not a determining factor, but it is something to take into account.
- Is it something you are passionate about? If you hate fashion, starting a T-shirt business might not be the best idea. Instead, try to find something you like or identify with. Remember, it's your dream job that you're creating here!
Once you've chosen your product, there are a few things you need to adjust before you get started.
At this point, you need to start thinking about your brand personality. How do you want to present your business? Remember that these are basic things to start with.
If you're not good at design, don't worry! There are lots of free tools out there like Canva that even a complete beginner can use to create an effective logo.
Now that you've defined your brand identity, you're ready to go into a bit more detail. This is where things can start to pay off more or less. To get started, you'll need:
- Designing a store Shopify (€29.99/month) 14 days free when you open your account
- A domain for your store with a registrar (provider of domain names)
- a Facebook and/or Instagram page (free, but expensive for ads)
- A supplier ofemail marketing like Klaviyo adapted to E-Commerce (€20/month per 500 contacts), GetResponse or MailChimp
This represents around 70 euros in initial costs to set up an online store, leaving you 930 euros to cover the logistics of manufacturing, packaging and shipping your product. You will also need to invest a good part of this amount in training or research, but we'll get to that later.
Of course, that's where your costs are really going to depend on what exactly you're going to sell and how you're going to source your supplies.
If you make your own fabric clothes:
- How much will it cost you to buy yarns and fabrics?
- Do you have to buy a sewing machine?
- Or are you considering getting the prefabricated parts from a retailer?
- etc...
The good news is that if you started with $1,000, you have plenty of leeway to make changes from this point on. Here are a few tips to make sure your new business launch goes smoothly.
Tip 1: Invest in training and research
The key to the success of an online store is to Know how to invest your money. €1,000 can take you a long way, but mistakes are expensive.
That is why I recommend that you seriously consider investing at least 20% of your initial budget in your training and in particular in online courses. If you start with €1,000, you have €200 left for the training.
Training may include taking courses, finding a coach, or conducting your own research.
This is important because when you invest in systems and training that have been proven to work, you can be much more confident that the actions you take in the future will be better calculated and more likely to pay off.
Tip 2: Test before you start
As any good mentor or coach will tell you, market research and testing are a crucial first step in the process of creating any business.
One option is to do good old-fashioned market research. This can be going to talk to your prospects or creating online surveys using tools such as Typeform, Google Form, or Survey Monkey.
Another almost free way of attracting the interest of potential customers is to create a landing page with a model of your product. Instead of creating a “buy” button, you could write a message like this:
“We're sorry! This product is currently out of stock. If you enter your name and email address, we'll send you an email as soon as it's available with a 50% discount code.”
The end goal of this experience is to build a list of potential customers who are interested in buying the product. If you do not subscribe to this list after a few days, you will know in advance that this idea will be a potential failure.
If you can put together a solid email list, you can use it to keep in touch with your customers in the future.
Tip #3: Dropshipping
If you're strapped for cash, you might be wondering how much it will cost you to buy inventory for your new business. It is true that buying products to resell at a profit margin has an initial cost.
However, for entrepreneurs with a limited budget, there is an alternative: the Dropshipping. It's about a third party storing and shipping what you sell. In this way, you only have to take care of the marketing and after-sales service of your product.
While Dropshipping can be a great low-cost business idea to experiment with or test the market, we don't recommend it as a long-term strategy.
That said, it's a relatively cheap way to start generating revenue, which you can then use to invest in more strategic business goals that are ambitious.
Best low-cost businesses to start with less than €100
If you don't have a large amount of money, don't worry! You can still start your dream business with as little as 100 euros, but you'll have to do things a bit differently.
Freelance work and consulting are a great way to start earning money. Then, you can start working to reach your long-term business goals.
Freelance and consulting
When you don't have the cash flow to invest in inventory, the best low-cost business ideas are the ones that you sell as a service provider. That's why I recommend considering starting a freelancer if you have less than €100 to invest.
Before you get started, you need to think about your experience, your skills, and what you have to offer potential customers. Do you have a marketable skill such as writing or graphic design ? Or maybe you are fluent in a second language and are good at teaching. Regardless, make sure it's something that people would be willing to pay for.
Once you've decided on the service or skill you want to offer, you need to identify your target audience.
Then you'll need to invest a bit of time in your personal branding. Fortunately, it is very easy to create a website staff at a very low cost (or even for free !) You may also want to consider creating a signature for your emails.
Not only this utility is free and very easy to create, but it instantly makes you feel more professional when talking to potential customers.
With these tools, you can start earning money relatively quickly. When your consulting business starts making money, you can start thinking about next steps.
READ MORE: How much should I charge as a consultant? A breakdown of consulting costs
This could mean investing in the creation of a product, setting up a professional website, or creating marketable software.
Before you get started, here are a few Tips for creating a successful freelance or consulting firm for less than 100 euros.
Tip 1: Invest in potential customers
One of the most important things you can do when starting a freelance or consulting firm is to invest in building relationships. That's why I recommend using your €100 to invite your potential customers for coffee or lunch.
There is no point in investing in a sophisticated website or advertising if you don't have customers interested in your services. You will have plenty of time to take care of these things later.
READ MORE: The complete guide to getting clients for your consulting business
Tip 2: Develop your business digitally
One of the benefits of this type of work is that you can always add digital products or online courses to your freelance or consulting business later on. Additionally, selling digital products requires virtually no initial investment to get started.
Because it's a digital business, you can start your business quickly. Sometimes even in just one weekend. And since you don't have stock, you can sell with endless expansion potential.
Again, while digital products present a huge opportunity, I don't recommend starting there. If you want the quickest, easiest way to start a business for under $100, start with consulting, add digital products later, and then move on to more expensive and possibly more lucrative models later.
READ MORE: 5 low-cost business ideas that you can implement with less than 100 euros
Best businesses to start for free
If you don't have any money but still want to start a business, don't worry. Numerous entrepreneurs successful ones started when they had nothing.
If you're stressed about money, you'll never be able to focus and give the attention you need to create your dream business.
For this reason, you may need to evolve your strategy to allow yourself time.
The alternative is to chase quick profits and make bad decisions in the name of money, not to build a real business.
Sell your opportunities
One way to start is by selling items that you no longer need to make money.
Of course, the goal is not to become a garage sale salesman. It's about saving the money you earn to fund your business, create your website, or invest in your training. Plus, it's a great way to develop your entrepreneurial skills and make a bit of extra money.
While you're busy browsing Bon Coin, Ebay, or any other site like that, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Tip 1: Get your spending in order
Chances are you're spending money every month on things you don't need or even want to. The easiest way to combat unnecessary spending is to print your bank or credit card statement. You can then start to look at how you spend your money and identify savings opportunities.
Cutting expenses to free up money is the least interesting step but the most essential if you have €0 to invest in starting a business today.
Tip 2: Find a co-founder
The next step is looking to find a co-founder for your new business. Luckily, money isn't the only valuable resource you can bring to your project. Think about what else you have to offer.
If you're a great writer, maybe you can contribute to the project by writing all of the brand's content or by creating a blog for your website. Perhaps the best thing you can offer is your time. That is also a good thing! Use this time to research, plan, and organize your new business.
The key is finding someone you can trust and work with in the same direction.
Find someone who has money to invest, and showcase your talents and skills.
Why should he partner with you? Chances are, while you're doing the hard work investing your time to start the business, that person can fund some of the effort early on.
If you can find this person, you won't need as much money up front as you might think to build something amazing.
