If you’re thinking of starting your own business, but you don’t have a lot of capital to invest, there are some great options for low cost start-ups. Making the leap into starting your own business can be extremely daunting, and everyone worries about how they will afford equipment, premises and employees. Choosing wisely makes good business sense, so before you start, why not consider these 7 ideas for starting your business on a shoestring budget:
1. Babysitter
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If you love children, then this could be a great career choice for you. If you have relevant qualifications then you’re more likely to get work quickly, but if you’re new to the idea, the Red Cross run a babysitting course that gives you a certificate at the end. Most parents will want you to have a valid CRB check, which can take anything up to 3 months to come through and must be applied for through an organisation. If you do any volunteer work with kids, you will already have this in place.
If you plan to look after children in your own home, or work for more than 2 hours a day, you will need to register as a childminder with Ofsted. Registered members pay an annual fee of around £100, but you are legally required to register by law, so will be open to prosecution if you fail to register.
The plus side is that once you’ve sorted your paperwork; there’s virtually no other outlay as parents will provide everything you need. Expect to earn between £5 to £15 an hour, depending on your qualifications, experience and location.
2. Dog walker
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Setting up your own dog walking business appeals to a lot of people as it’s cheap to set up and requires little knowledge and training, but this also means that there’s a lot of competition out there. A good place to start is by checking out the opposition by searching on Google. If you find a lot of results in your area, think about offering extras that make you more appealing such as short notice dog sitting services.
Bear in mind that most people will want their dog walked in the middle of the day as they’re out at work, rather than in the morning or late afternoon. For this reason, it’s a good idea to walk as many dogs as you feel comfortable with during these peak hours, without putting any of them in danger.
You should take out dog walking insurance, which should cost around £20 a month, it’s also a good idea to draw up a contract that you and your customers can sign about the care of their dog and your responsibilities. Bear in mind that you really need to love dogs to be able to have this type of business as you will have to be comfortable handling 4 or 5 of them at the same time.
3. Handyman
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Modern lifestyles mean that most people are busy working and don’t have time to sort out DIY jobs that need doing in their homes. This means that there’s a demand for skilled and reliable people who can fix things. Anyone can set up a handyman business, and you don’t have to necessarily be a man; a handywoman business offers something unusual and appealing to other females.
You don’t need any formal qualifications, but you’ll need to know your stuff when it comes to electrical and plumbing issues. You will be asked to tackle a wide range of jobs, so flexibility is paramount. Set up costs will include insurance, work clothes and tools, but apart from this the initial outlay is minimal.
4. Content writer
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If you have a good command of English and enjoy writing, setting up your own content writing business could be for you. Writing high quality web content features is an art, so having some relevant experience will help hugely. This market is very competitive because of the low cost of setting up a business writing content.
If you’re not familiar with SEO, it’s advisable to carry out research into this field, or better still enroll yourself onto a short course as this will drastically improve the effectiveness of your content and result in more business. With online sales booming, being able to provide high quality, SEO friendly content is even more essential for grabbing lucrative contracts.
5. Car valet
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If you enjoy keeping active and aren’t averse to a bit of hard work, setting up your own mobile car valeting business could be a good option. If you’re good at it, your customers will recommend your service to others, and there’s nothing like word of mouth for getting new business in. Targeting offices can also be a good way to get a few customers in one location, and offering a special deal will entice new customers to try you out.
The initial investment for this type of business is just the tools you need for the job; the rest is elbow grease. You will need to take out business insurance for protecting you from any damage suffered by your customers when carrying out valeting services on their vehicle.
6. eBay trader
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Perhaps the most famous auction site in the world, eBay is a great marketplace for selling products. You can start with a small amount of stock and slowly reinvest profits back into larger and more profitable products.
If you spot a niche in the market and can buy your product for a good cost, you can run a very successful business from your own home. eBay let’s you search for popular items, and you can research how much items have sold for by looking at completed listings. Some sellers even buy badly listed products off eBay and relist them with better information and images and actually make a profit.
7. Cleaner
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Starting your own cleaning business like www.idealcleaning.co.uk is great if you have little money to invest in your business. The majority of the cost will be in working hours rather than money. There’s always a high demand for home and office cleaners as people will always create a mess! You would need to take out indemnity and liability insurance and maybe look at setting up a team to be able to win bigger contracts.