Top 10 Best Businesses to Start with Little Money in 2024

Nowadays, low-cost startup business ideas are a dime a dozen. Research suggests almost 70% of Americans have a form of side hustle to bring in extra cash. ^[1] AccessWire. “DollarSprout Reveals 2024 Side Hustle Statistics: A Comprehensive Look at America’s Gig Economy,” Accessed on August 5, 2024. Digital technology, online freelancing platforms, and other modern tools have made it easier than ever to start your own business. However, most businesses require significant startup capital, making some business types impossible to begin without outside investment.

Fortunately, there are cheaper businesses to start. While most of these low-budget businesses will require a lot of hands-on work from yourself in the initial growth stages, savvy entrepreneurs will eventually be able to scale these businesses with the help of employees.

This guide explores the top ten low-cost businesses, tips for saving money when starting your business, determining which business structure is right for you, and related topics. Read ahead to find the best self-employment ideas for 2024!

Top 10 Cheapest Businesses to Start in 2024

If you’re searching for a business to start with little money, check out our top ten options:

1. Flyer Delivery Business

If you’re looking for unique service business ideas, a flyer delivery business is an excellent option in 2024. With Google and other platforms continuing to prioritize paid promotion, businesses are finding it harder to target customers online without a large advertising budget. Many businesses invest in SEO to target local customers, only to discover that their competitors are paying for the ad space above their business listings.

Dropping flyers in homeowner mailboxes can help local businesses attract attention from customers in their area. Local marketing is essential, whether landscaping, tree removal, pest removal, or any other home service.

To start your flyer delivery business, contact local businesses in your area and ask whether their existing local marketing services are working. Offer to drop flyers in mailboxes throughout their service area and charge on a per-flyer basis. To make the process easier for your clients, you may also want to offer to design the flyer for them. Plenty of printing services are available to cheaply print your flyers, so as long as you can put together a decent design, printing the flyers won’t cost much. Outsourcing the printing work means you won’t need to spend any money until a customer commits to one of your flyer delivery packages.

2. Cleaning Services

If you’ve always been good at cleaning, starting a professional cleaning service is an excellent low-start-up-cost business. Estimates suggest around 10-15% of US households use a professional cleaning service — and a higher proportion of households in urban areas use cleaning services.^[2] Gitnux. “Residential Cleaning Industry Statistics [Fresh Research]” Accessed on August 5, 2024. This presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs in urban areas to provide services to individuals and families that require professional cleaning.

To start a cleaning business, you only need basic cleaning equipment and yourself. Better yet, much cleaning revenue can be recurring if you do a good job for your clients. Many cleaning clients use their cleaners weekly or monthly (or sometimes even more frequently). As you build your brand, you can focus more on allocating teams of cleaners to different jobs and less on cleaning the properties yourself.

If you’re even more ambitious, you may want to consider commercial cleaning services. Winning contracts for office cleaning and other commercial jobs can be extremely lucrative. However, it may require more upfront investment as you will likely need staff, uniforms, commercial cleaning equipment, and more.

3. Waste Removal

The United States ranks first in terms of waste per capita — while the nation only contains 4% of the world’s population, it produces around 12% of the world’s waste. ^[3]Development Aid. “World waste: statistics by country and short facts” Accessed on August 5, 2024. While this is an unfortunate statistic, this presents an opportunity for waste removal businesses. Whether it’s a family moving to a new home, a landlord clearing an apartment between leases, or any other reason someone may need waste removal, there are plenty of opportunities to remove waste for paying customers.

Likewise, there are many areas in the country with limited recycling options. If the municipality in your area doesn’t provide robust recycling options, a cheap start-up business could involve collecting and recycling specific products for your customers.

To start a waste removal service, you need access to a car (preferably a truck or commercial van) and an understanding of local waste disposal costs. Once you understand how much it will cost to dispose of various waste, you can price your services to include a healthy profit for your business.

4. Copywriting

If you are passionate about writing, copywriting is among the best self-employment job ideas. Copywriters write text for businesses, advertising agencies, and other organizations. Copywriting encapsulates a broad range of writing services, from writing advertisement scripts to press releases and product descriptions. While ChatGPT and other AI startups have disrupted the copywriting industry by providing low-cost access to professional writing, Google recently penalized many websites for abusing AI. ^[4]ARS Technica. “Google now wants to limit the AI-powered search spam it helped create.” Accessed on August 5, 2024. Many businesses still need human writers to provide engaging, professional content.

Fortunately, starting a copywriting business doesn’t require expensive software or a commercial office space. As long as you have a computer, this is a business type you can start without money.

5. Dog Walking Business

Pet business ideas allow entrepreneurs to earn money while enjoying the company of their favorite animals. With more than 44% of US households owning a dog, many families require professional dog walking services.^[5]Forbes. “Pet Ownership Statistics 2024” Accessed on August 5, 2024. If you can provide dog walking services during the daytime when your clients are at work, you’re helping them keep their pets healthy and happy when they’re busy. While there are now apps offering dog walking services, if you can position yourself as a trusted and dependable dog walker, there’s no reason you can’t build your brand in your local service area.

So, if you’re searching for outdoor business ideas that pay well, dog walking is a perfect opportunity. Likewise, many dog walkers combine their services with pet sitting. Pet sitters stay at a client’s home while they’re away, ensuring their pets are well-fed and have company. Not only does pet sitting pay well, but it also includes free accommodation!

6. Car Washing Business

Many changes have occurred in the United States auto industry in recent years, with EVs continuing to grow their presence throughout the country. However, while there’s no doubt EVs and other low-emissions cars will continue to increase in popularity, one truth hasn’t changed: people still need to wash their cars.

While automated car washing businesses are hugely popular among Americans, the industrial brushes and materials used to clean cars can damage auto paint.^[6]Car Magazine. “Do automatic car washes damage your paint?” Accessed on August 5, 2024. Also, starting an automated car washing business is capital intensive, as setting up a commercial car washing property requires extensive investment in machinery and equipment. However, you can start a low-cost alternative by providing at-home car detailing services. Your business should target busy clients who don’t have time to take their car to an automated car location. Likewise, it may be beneficial to highlight that your car detailing service doesn’t carry the same vehicle paint damage risks associated with automated car washers.

7. Rage Room

Rage rooms are facilities where individuals pay to enter a space and vent their frustrations by breaking objects like glassware, electronics, and furniture in a controlled environment. Participants typically wear protective gear such as helmets and gloves to prevent injuries while releasing pent-up stress through smashing items with bats, hammers, or other tools. Rage rooms are considered a form of therapeutic activity aimed at stress relief, but they are also popular in social settings, such as team-building events, birth parties, and more.

While rage rooms require your business to have a commercial space to host visitors, there isn’t much else needed to start this type of business. All you’ll require is some bats, hammers, and products for your visitors to break. Rage rooms allow business owners to benefit from non-functioning items and appliances like old TVs, computers, furniture, and more. A legitimate way to dispose of waste from your wage room is critical. A rage room business could easily be coupled with a waste removal business. By receiving payment to remove waste from a home or business and using it in your rage room, your business can benefit twice from the same disused items.

8. Event Management

If you enjoy organizing parties and events, there’s no reason you can’t turn it into a business. Whether it’s planning weddings, helping businesses host corporate seminars, or managing other events, there are plenty of opportunities in the sector. Fortunately, you don’t need much upfront investment, as you can partner with vendors to provide capital-intensive services, such as catering, sound systems, and gazebos. Many vendors will likely pay you a commission for referring them to events, so partnerships within the event industry can become lucrative.

You may want to start small to build an event portfolio you can showcase on your website or social media. Once you establish evidence of your skills, you can move into larger events and begin building a network of trusted vendors.

9. Graphic Design

Businesses require professional logos, graphics, and illustrations for branding, marketing materials, and other use cases. If you have a good eye for design, then a graphic design studio is one of the businesses you can start with no money. Graphic design is another industry hit hard by recent developments in AI. However, this doesn’t mean there isn’t room to grow your design business. Many businesses don’t have time to become experts on the latest design tools. By positioning yourself as a designer with good taste, quick results, and affordable prices, you can help your business stand out from the crowd.

If you’re looking for the best business to start with little money from home, renting a commercial space for your studio is unnecessary. You can start a graphic design business right from your living room!

10. Skills Workshops

If you have a specific skill and you’re searching for low-cost business opportunities, why not offer in-person or video call workshops to clients interested in your skills? For example, if you’re an experienced photographer, you can set up a local photography workshop to help individuals interested in improving their camera skills. If you’re searching for weekend business ideas, finding a better option than skills workshops is hard.

There’s been a recent boom in online courses, with the global eLearning market expected to reach $1 trillion by 2032.^[7] Exploding Topics. “75+ Incredible eLearning Statistics (2024-2028)” Accessed on August 5, 2024. However, the online course world is highly competitive and requires you to produce high-quality instructional videos. This can be challenging if you don’t have experience in digital course production. In-person and video lessons are the perfect solution for connecting with local customers without needing to build and market a complex online course.

Tips for Starting Your New Low-Cost Business

If you’re searching for the best business to start with little money, avoiding unnecessary pitfalls is crucial. Let’s explore some tips and tricks you can use to improve your chances of success:

First, it’s critical to build a brand for your business. In the age of “there’s an app for that,” app developers are trying to tap into various markets. Building a brand is critical to distinguish yourself from existing hi-tech competitors. Not doing so will make it hard to win customers from competitors with sleek mobile apps and big advertising budgets.

For example, numerous apps, such as Rover, are already available for dog walkers. These apps connect prospective dog walkers with pet owners and allow individuals to earn money for dog walking and sitting. However, if you can build a local brand in an area, you can attract attention from local pet owners seeking an individual they can trust and at a price they can afford. Never underestimate the power of building a solid brand.

One of the biggest mistakes many new business owners make is paying for their startup costs with high-interest debt. Because it’s challenging for new businesses to access commercial loans, many turn to high-interest personal credit, such as credit cards, to fund operations.

This can hamper your business’s growth and put your financial situation at risk. A recent survey indicates that 58% of small businesses in the United States are struggling due to increases in interest rates.^[8]Reuters. “High US interest rates add to headwinds for small businesses.” Accessed on August 5, 2024. Even big companies with significant resources struggle when they utilize high-interest debt. Always avoid high-interest debt as much as possible when building low-cost startup businesses.

Next, avoid long-term commitments if you’re searching for low-risk business ideas. Tying yourself in long-term leases, loans, or agreements when starting a new business can become a nightmare. In many cases, you may need to offer personal guarantees if you don’t have an established business history. This means your landlord or any other party you have a long-term agreement with can come after your personal assets, even if your business is an LLC.

Considering a business partner is a good alternative if you can’t afford to start a business on your own and don’t want to borrow money from a lender. Here are some good questions to ask yourself about any potential business partner:

• What are their skills?
• Will their work ethic match mine?
• Do they have time to commit to growing this business?
• Do I know this person well enough to trust them with my business?

While the dream of starting your own business is likely rooted in a desire to quit your existing job, quitting immediately isn’t always a good idea. The initial months of starting a business can be a challenge. Obtaining your first few clients is often an uphill battle when you don’t have any experience, and it can take a long time. Don’t discard your income if your business isn’t yet on its feet.

Which Low Overhead Business is Right for Me?

The best inexpensive business ideas depend on your budget, skills, and location. First, you must determine how much money you can invest in your business. If you don’t have any money to start with, choose a business that doesn’t require heavy machinery or equipment. Pet sitting, dog walking, and copywriting are good candidates if you have no money to spend.

If you have a small amount of money for upfront investments, other ideas, such as car detailing, cleaning services, and waste removal, may be more suitable. Next, consider your skills. If you have an existing skill, such as graphic design or organizing events, prioritize a business that utilizes your skillset. It’s easier to prove your capability if you already have experience delivering a specific service.

Lastly, consider where you’re located. If you’re in an urban environment, plenty of potential clients are around you, so in-person business ideas are possible. However, if you are in a rural location, it’s likely better to prioritize remote business opportunities.

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to decide which low-cost business ideas are best for you!

Final Thoughts: Low-Cost Business Ideas

With so many low-cost business options, getting the ball rolling as soon as possible is important. Don’t let inaction stop you from starting a new career or building a lucrative side hustle.

No matter which low-cost business opportunity you choose to seize, having a payment processing partner to accept customer payments is critical. Gone are the days of accepting cash from clients—modern consumers expect to use their preferred payment method, even if you’re a small business.

As many startup businesses are considered high-risk, accessing credit card processing from traditional financial institutions can be challenging. Fortunately, high-risk merchant account providers help new businesses access the tools to accept credit card payments online and in person. PaymentCloud can set you up with low-cost credit card processing to help your new business get up and running— benefit from dedicated support, industry-specific payment tools, and more!

We’ve got the lowest rates in the industry. Start with PaymentCloud today

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