The desire to own a business is only slightly less a component of the American dream than home ownership. Few people however are financially secure enough to quit their day job in pursuit of their own business. Indeed, costs associated with starting a business can be numerous and generally off-putting to someone who hasn’t attempted the feat before. Luckily, there are several businesses you can start on a shoe string budget. If you are willing to do much of the hard work yourself and don’t have visions of bringing on a staff and high overhead, then there’s no reason you can’t start your very own business. Here are a couple of ideas of small businesses that can be run on the cheap.
1.) Consulting- Many people have a special area of work or interest and don’t realize it can be parlayed into a steady income. Regardless of your specialty, there is likely someone out there who can benefit from your expertise and would be willing to pay for the help. With the internet, there is no shortage of places where you can advertise your services for either a low cost or no cost at all.
2.) Personal Shopper- Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there willing to pay you to shop for them. For some people, a disability or old age prevents them from being able to make it to the store. For others, a lack of fashion sense makes it so they are uncomfortable buying their own clothes. Whatever the reason, building a steady client base can lead to a lucrative side business with no real expense on your part save the price of gas which you could bill.