Why Start a Side Business?
Side businesses can help bring in more income and be a great learning experience in the long term. Below I listed some business ideas to start for under $1k and even much less depending on the option. I researched and compared what was working for some of the options below.
After researching, I found options that could be done fully remote from home or in-person, helping local clients.
Write for Businesses
I was recently looking into different ways people make money online, and I saw writers on Upwork and Fiverr selling their services for a substantial amount of money. When searching, I focused on finance writers, and I saw people charging between $50 to $125 an hour on the first page of my Upwork search.
This side venture can be an effective way to make money on the side, especially if you enjoy writing. I saw some profiles had $7k+ earned, and even one had $100k+, which shows there could be potential to make some decent side income. I even saw someone with over $200k earned on the website!
Looking into some of the high earners, I noticed they had thorough descriptions that explained experience, included niches they write about, and plenty of skills listed at the bottom.
Flip Items
Flipping items can be a low-cost and fun way to make a side income. It may require researching where to find the products and then storing the items for a temporary period until they sell.
Websites like eBay and Facebook Marketplace have items listed for cheap if you do enough research in a specific niche and negotiate some deals.
The main cost is buying the product to flip, but once a profit is made, that money could be used to find alternative products that offer higher returns.
You could pick an area of the market that has higher profits; in my research, I found this blog post that has over 33 different niches to look into with high profits.
Sell Custom Items
If you enjoy making or creating things, a great idea for generating income can be to sell custom items. For example, if you like to make clothes, jewelry, or anything else, you could sell these items online and make money from them.
This option may require more work upfront, but you may be able to build a brand in the process and grow it long-term.
Build Websites
If you like to build or design websites, this can be a great way to make money. There may be some saturation in this niche, but starting with your network and seeing if anyone owns a business could be a great start. Making the first one or two websites for free or at a very low cost and then using them for your portfolio can also be better for pitching services to a potential client.
Making a website doesn’t require advanced coding, just time and effort. Most of the material to build a website can be found online to guide you through the process. Even outsourcing some of the work on Fiverr or Upwork could efficiently deliver a better product to the client.
Start a Blog
I am in the process of starting a blog right now (the one you are reading), and it could be a great way to learn more about a niche and potentially make some income. It is a patient-side business to start, but the upfront cost is low compared to other businesses.
If you enjoy writing, it could still be another way to learn more about a topic or niche. When I write about a topic, I increase my knowledge on various topics through research and due diligence. There is plenty of online content, like podcasts and videos, since blogging is such a large niche.
Tutor
If you are knowledgeable on specific or various subjects and enjoy teaching, then tutoring can be a great way to make a side income. If you don’t have the time to tutor in person, I found this website with a section where you can apply for online tutoring.
Look through the website and see what other subjects people are tutoring and how they structure their profiles. Other websites have the option to list tutoring services on, like Upwork.
Here are some things I noticed in my research of the high earners on the website:
Positive Reviews
Fast Response times (some said 40 minutes for a response time and others 3-4 hours)
Thorough descriptions of their experience
Good availability times
I noticed these tips from researching and filtering the available options by high hourly rates. You can use this strategy to implement what works for those with high earnings and positive reviews.
Fix Things for People
If you are good at doing small jobs around the house, like painting or landscaping, you could start a low-cost side business that could be done on the weekends or after work. There are numerous websites, social media platforms, and local newspapers that you could use for advertising.
Tools and equipment are most likely where the budget is spent, but after a couple of jobs, that income could be reinvested into better equipment.
Once again, word of mouth and doing some jobs for a lower price, in the beginning, could help bring in more leads.
Conclusion
Side businesses can be a great way to generate more income and even test out to see if it has the potential to be a full-time venture down the line. A budget of $1000 can go relatively far when starting online businesses. The tangible businesses like custom items, flipping, and fixing things can have more of an upfront cost.
Once money starts coming in, reinvesting it into the business may help compound the income and bring in more money. The more positive work done can help generate additional clients. Research the competition and even reach out to ask what’s working for them; this could save a lot of time in the beginning.
If you like personal finance, please check out more articles covering various topics, from investing to passive income.