25 Best Low-Cost Business Ideas

25 best businesses to start with little money

1. Content creation

Content appears in many places and takes many forms, from videos to the written word to graphics. The demand for high quality, original, engaging content means opportunities for creative professionals like writers and graphic designers (yes, even in the age of ChatGPT and AI content creation.) 

If this is your area of expertise, use your talents to create high-quality, shareable content for businesses and professionals looking to punch up their brand with original content. If you want to take things a step further, consider helping them develop their content strategy too. This will set you apart from other content creators who don’t get involved in the brainstorming and planning stages. 

You won’t need much to get started, although we do recommend a portfolio website, which can be made with an easy-to-use website builder like Squarespace. Otherwise, search your existing network and start posting on social media (especially LinkedIn) to drum up some clients—their future recommendations will go a long way to growing your book of business. 

2. Personal or Virtual Assistant

The digital age has transformed how businesses operate, creating significant opportunities for skilled professionals who can provide remote administrative support. Entrepreneurs and growing companies increasingly rely on virtual assistants to manage their day-to-day operations efficiently, allowing business leaders to focus on strategic growth and high-value tasks.

Virtual assistants perform a wide range of critical support functions, including managing calendars, scheduling meetings, handling correspondence, conducting research, processing emails, making travel arrangements, and providing administrative support across multiple platforms. These professionals often work with several clients simultaneously, requiring exceptional organizational skills, strong communication abilities, and proficiency with various digital tools and productivity software.

To launch a virtual assistant business, you’ll need a reliable computer, high-speed internet, and professional communication tools like video conferencing software and project management platforms. Build a compelling online presence through a professional website and LinkedIn profile, highlighting your specific skills and areas of expertise. Consider taking online courses to enhance your skills in areas like digital marketing, project management, or specific software applications to differentiate yourself in a competitive market.

3. Professional product and service reviewer

The digital marketplace thrives on authentic, detailed consumer feedback, creating unique opportunities for individuals with strong writing skills and a critical eye for product and service quality. Professional reviewers bridge the crucial gap between businesses seeking genuine consumer insights and potential customers looking for trustworthy, comprehensive evaluations on review sites like Yelp.

Professional reviewers work across multiple industries, creating in-depth analyses of products, services, books, technology, entertainment, and consumer experiences. Your work might involve systematically testing products, experiencing services, and crafting nuanced, well-structured reviews that provide valuable information to potential consumers. Companies value honest, detailed feedback that goes beyond surface-level observations, seeking reviewers who can articulate the strengths and limitations of their offerings with clarity and depth.

To launch a professional reviewing career, you’ll need excellent writing skills, attention to detail, and the ability to provide balanced, credible assessments. Start by building an online portfolio through a blog or website showcasing your review style, create profiles on reviewing platforms, and network with marketing agencies and product review sites. 

Invest in a good computer, reliable internet connection, and potentially some basic recording or photography equipment to enhance the quality of your reviews. Develop a reputation for thoroughness, honesty, and insightful commentary to attract more opportunities from companies seeking genuine consumer perspectives.

4. Event Planning Services

Celebrations and professional gatherings are complex orchestrations that require meticulous planning, creative vision, and exceptional organizational skills. Event planning has evolved from a niche service to an essential professional offering that helps individuals and businesses create memorable, seamless experiences across personal and corporate landscapes.

Event planners work across a diverse range of occasions, from intimate birthday celebrations and weddings to large corporate conferences and community gatherings. Your responsibilities might include venue selection, vendor coordination, budget management, design and theme development, logistics planning, and day-of event management. Successful event planners combine creativity with rigorous attention to detail, transforming complex logistical challenges into smooth, enjoyable experiences for their clients.

Getting started requires building a robust professional network, developing a portfolio of successful events, and investing in marketing tools and resources. Begin by offering services to friends and family to build initial experience, create a professional website showcasing your style and capabilities, and leverage social media platforms to demonstrate your event planning expertise. Budget for initial investments in planning software, marketing materials, and potential certification courses that can enhance your credibility in the competitive event planning market.

5. Translation service

If you’re fluent in a second language, you can find work converting written and spoken words from one language to another. Broadening international ties and an increase in the number of non-English speakers in the U.S. make this a growing field, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting 4 percent growth through 2032. You can start your own independent service and market yourself to businesses, schools, hospitals, courtrooms and conference centers.

6. Errand and Concierge Services

Modern professionals and families increasingly struggle to balance demanding work schedules, personal responsibilities, and everyday life management. Errand and concierge services have emerged as essential solutions for individuals seeking to reclaim their time and reduce daily stress by outsourcing time-consuming personal tasks.

Concierge service providers offer a wide range of support, including grocery shopping, package mailing, dry cleaning pickup and delivery, car maintenance coordination, home organization, and various personal errands. Your services might cater to busy professionals, working parents, elderly individuals, or anyone seeking to optimize their time and reduce personal administrative burdens. The key is to provide reliable, efficient, and personalized service that genuinely improves your clients’ quality of life.

To establish your errand and concierge business, you’ll need a reliable vehicle, robust time management skills, and a flexible schedule. Initial investments should include commercial auto insurance, a smartphone with mapping and communication apps, and basic marketing materials. Develop a transparent pricing structure that accounts for travel expenses, task complexity, and time investment. Build credibility through word-of-mouth referrals, local networking, and targeted social media marketing that highlights the value of reclaiming personal time.

7. Bookkeeping services

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a certified public accountant to work as a freelance bookkeeper. All you need is a knack for numbers and practical knowledge of basic accounting and bookkeeping tasks (though an associate degree in accounting or equivalent business experience is preferable). These are some of the services you could offer as an outsourced bookkeeper:

• Maintaining the best accounting software and filing systems
• Issuing financial statements
• Creating balance sheets
• Processing payroll using one of the best payroll services

[Read related: Accountant vs. Bookkeeper: What’s the Difference?]

8. Social media consultant

Larger companies can hire a marketing company or a full-time staff member to run their Facebook and X/Twitter accounts and blogs, but small businesses must often handle this on their own. With so many other responsibilities, business owners may be too busy or overwhelmed to develop a great social media strategy. As a consultant, you can help them determine the best tactics, posting schedules and content for their target audience. As their follower counts grow, so will your business.

9. Etsy shop

Etsy is a popular online marketplace that hosts thousands of at-home retailers and larger productions selling jewelry, patches and DIY merchandise. Starting an Etsy shop is incredibly affordable. It’s free to join the site and start a shop, though there are four selling fees: listing, transaction, payment processing and offsite ad fees.

10. Graphic design

Every company needs visual assets to brand its business and attract customers. Becoming a freelance graphic designer requires a computer, a design application like Adobe Illustrator or Canva, and an extensive portfolio of your work. You can provide a wide array of graphic design services or offer niche services, such as the following:

• Logos
• Display ads
• Brochures
• T-shirt graphics
• Flyers
• Hero images
• Infographics
• Instagram graphics

11. Online courses and tutoring

What are you passionate about? Yoga? Baking? Web design? You can help others enrich their lives by offering virtual classes if you know something inside and out. Create downloadable instructional packets and videos, or schedule real-time Skype lessons with clients. Another option for aspiring educators is to start a virtual or home-based tutoring service.

12. Personal chef

This business requires you to plan and prepare weekly or daily meals for your clients, so solid cooking skills and a working knowledge of nutrition and special diets are a must. You don’t necessarily need to have graduated from culinary school, but having some cooking classes under your belt will boost your credibility. While you may have to do some traveling to and from supermarkets and client homes, your customers should cover the cost of ingredients in addition to your service charge.

13. Video producer

Many companies, influencers and potential YouTube celebrities want to take their videos to the next level but don’t have the skills or equipment to produce high-quality videos. If you have experience as a video producer, a solid portfolio, and the desire to help individuals and businesses create stunning videos, becoming a freelance producer is an excellent career move.

14. Software training

Are you proficient in a highly specialized software program? There’s a growing demand for training from amateurs and professionals looking to expand their skill sets. Technical manuals are available for business software like QuickBooks and Final Cut Pro, but these are often expensive and difficult for the average user to understand. Schedule small group workshops or private sessions, and charge by the hour when giving a full program tutorial. Patience and a great personality are critical. [Read related: Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Software Review]

15. Music lessons

For the musically gifted, offering lessons to others who want to learn an instrument can be a great source of extra income. Unless you’re teaching piano, students can likely bring their own instruments to your home for hour-long lessons. Stock up on sheet music or songbooks in varying genres aimed at various skill levels so you can offer a wide selection for your potential clients. Voice lessons can also bring in a lot of money if you market yourself to local high schools and community theater groups.

16. Sustainability consultant

Over the past several years, businesses all over the country have taken a closer look at their environmental impact, aiming to make sustainability part of their business model. However, eco-friendly business solutions are often prohibitively expensive, even for the largest enterprises, and businesses of all sizes are looking for experts to advise them. Sustainability consultants come from various backgrounds, from management to engineering, meaning practical skills and experience are more important than a specific degree.

17. Digital marketing services

If you have experience in marketing, a solo digital marketing agency is a low-cost business idea you can get up and running in no time. If you don’t have a background in marketing but are interested in the field, you can take affordable online courses to develop your skills. One of the best yet most challenging things about marketing is that it is always evolving. Therefore, if you have a knack for storytelling and learning, a digital marketing firm is a business you can start quickly and cheaply.

18. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is easy and cheap, but it takes dedication and a long-term vision to succeed. Affiliate marketing involves promoting other companies’ products and services via affiliate links and earning a commission on generated leads. All you need to get started is a blog or website and a specific product or service you would like to promote. However, to be successful in affiliate marketing, you must attract many visitors to your website and get them to purchase products or services from your affiliate partners.

19. Online dating consultant

While it may sound like a , if you love connecting with people and playing matchmaker, you should consider becoming an online dating consultant. As anyone with multiple online or app dating profiles can tell you, filtering messages and finding interesting people to meet can be a full-time job. An online dating consultant can write interesting profiles, manage multiple client accounts, filter unwanted messages, and provide text or telephone updates on potential matches.

20. eBay seller

An eBay seller is sometimes referred to as an eBay assistant; the job’s primary function is to sell other people’s products on eBay for a small commission. Becoming an eBay seller is simple and affordable, but the platform is riddled with scammers. You must be very careful who you work with, as you could be held responsible for packages your customers don’t receive. When selling on eBay, be overcautious and never share any personal data, such as credit card or banking information.

21. Internet security consultant

If you’re passionate about IT, communication systems and computers, you are highly marketable to small businesses that must upgrade their online security. Helping business owners avoid viruses, hackers and scammers can be a very lucrative business — especially if you have the cybersecurity knowledge and skills to secure sensitive client and customer information.

22. Vlogger or blogger

If you’re passionate about a specific topic or field and love to write or be in front of a camera, consider starting a professional blog or vlog. For a blog, all you need is a computer and a website to get started. Vloggers should invest in a high-quality camera, video-editing software and AV equipment as needed. To make money, you can offer advertising space on your website, find video sponsors or create an account on a funding platform, such as Patreon or Indiegogo.

23. Domain name buyer

A domain name buyer or domain broker purchases domain names they believe people or businesses will want and sells them for a profit. Like many other professions on this list, the concept is simple. However, becoming a successful domain name buyer requires quickly acting on trends and identifying profitable domains — with an extra serving of luck.

24. Resume writer

Few people are good at writing great resumes, and even fewer enjoy writing their own. All you need to become a professional resume writer is a computer and a knack for describing professionals’ work histories. To start, you can sign up for a freelance platform like Fiverr or Upwork and market your services on social media.

25. Meal planner

Most people love to eat, but not everyone knows how to cook healthy, mouthwatering meals on an affordable budget. As a meal planner, your duties would include creating a list of ingredients, writing easy-to-follow recipes, providing nutritional information, developing a budget plan and educating your customers.

Tips for starting a business with low costs

Ready to step out on your own? The prospect is certainly exciting, but it’s also risky. Here are some tips for maximizing your chances of success and overcoming all the potential challenges.

1. If you have a job, keep it (for now).

You could have the best low-cost business idea in the world, but success still wouldn’t be guaranteed. After all, you can’t control the economy, your target audience’s income and many other factors tied to making a profit. These risk factors make immediately quitting your job to launch your business a poor decision. Instead, keep your day job while gradually rolling out your business. You can scale down your duties as you progress but don’t fully jump ship until you’ve proven your business is viable.

2. Write a business plan.

A great business plan gives shape to the hodgepodge of ideas running around freely in your mind. It’s what you fall back on to guide your decision-making whenever times get tough. Consider it your path from having a genius business idea to getting it out there and successfully onboarding — and retaining — customers or clients.

3. Review your licensing needs.

Even the lowest-cost, lowest-overhead businesses require some form of formal business licensure. The one exception might be if you operate as a freelancer, but if you advertise your products or services as a business, licensure becomes necessary. This consideration matters because licenses typically cost money, and your goal is to launch a business with low startup costs. Consider the contrast between this objective and your legal requirements from the get-go.

4. Network, network, network.

Jampacked rooms buzzing with professionals are ripe with potential clients, vendors or other potential business partners. In these spaces, you can find people who offer solutions to your problems, people who need what you provide and everyone in between. Put on a friendly smile, make casual but professional conversation and new, meaningful business connections are beyond likely.

5. Test out your idea first with friends and family.

The people you trust the most and know the best in your life shouldn’t be afraid to share their true opinions. That makes your friends and family ideal people with whom to test your business idea. Give them your product or guide them through your service, then get their feedback. Would they use it? Do they know other people who would — and how many people? This honest input can help you determine for certain whether your business idea is viable.

From idea to reality

Looking for even more ways you can start a business? Check out these other great business ideas. These exciting ideas are only the start of your journey — use them to build a truly unique company with little to no competition. Bring that business to life, and you’re off to the best start possible.

Max Freedman and Marci Martin contributed to this article.