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I think a lot of people have the perception that starting a business needs to cost a lot of money. In reality, there are lots of business ideas that you can get off the ground for $100 or less. These aren't just "toy" businesses, either. Many of them have the potential to generate real income. What types of businesses do you know of that can be started for under $100? |
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Many people consider coaching as business coaching or mentoring. But if you're an athlete and don't mind working face to face with people, personal coaching can be very lucrative. I know someone who distributes flyers for a 6-week early morning boot camp in large apartment complexes. He uses their fitness center from 6-7 AM on Mon/Wed/Fri, charges $99 per person, and has about 20 people per session. When you break it down to a per hour rate, it's over $100 and you get the benefits of starting your day early and getting to work out with a group. There's also the possibility of cross-selling more personalized packages at individual rates. They key is to get permission from a large apartment community (not hard as this is usually seen as a value-add to its residents) and advertise in the common areas: fitness center, lobbies, etc. I've considered doing this and having a registration period where individuals simply confirm by email their registration. If too few people sign up, you can simply cancel due to low enrollment. It's certainly not automated, but can be a great income stream for those wanting more flexibility in their schedule. |
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Here are some ideas for businesses you can start for less than $100. Most only require a website and your time to get started. Consulting/coaching - if you have some expertise to share, chances are you could find some customers who are willing to pay for that expertise. A website will help you find clients and describe what you do, but that's not even a requirement to start consulting. Affiliate sales - check out clickbank or Commission Junction and you'll find that there are 1000s of companies out there who will compensate you for selling their products. All you need to do is create a website and add some value (original content, reviews, etc.). Affiliate marketing is literally a $13 billion dollar business in 2009. Independent software vendor (ISV) - ISV is the name for very small software shops. If you know how to write software, there's no reason you can't create a product and sell it to customers for virtually no startup costs these days. Sure, a budget might help you hire people and pay for advertising, but plenty of ISVs are building great applications for next to nothing. Blogging - you can get a blog up for free on hosted platforms, or for way less than $100 on your own domain name. Blogging isn't an easy way to make an income, but can be a great platform for other things, or to sell your own books or information products. |
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My standard answer for this question is something people rarely think of: Small-batch specialty food production. Got a good jam or chutney recipe? $100 is plenty for ingredients, canning jars, and some labels. Cook up a big batch and sell them at your local farmers market. The quantity you can make for $100 will easily net you a profit, giving you more money to put back into it. Jams and chutneys regularly sell for $6-8 per half pint jar. I've seen granola, something else that's very cheap and easy to make, selling for $8 for a half-pound bag. |
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I'll second affiliate sales. It's something I'm starting to experiment with a little bit. I don't know much about it now, but what I do know is that there are people out there making a lot of money doing it and the cost to entry is very low. What it does take is a pretty good understanding of niches and SEO techniques. If you're a photographer you can upload your photos to places like iStock Photo or other websites where people pay to get photos for their websites. A couple of notes there:
I'm not sure I would say this could be a true business, but it is an idea for generating some streams of income. |
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