Today we’re going to explore various affordable business ideas that will help you to launch your own side hustle with minimal investment.
Whether that’s using drop-shipping or print-on-demand services to sell products, creating custom designs, utilising online marketplaces for sales or coming up with thrifty digital marketing strategies, this article is a great start if you’re thinking of launching your own start-up.
1. Selling products with no initial outlay
One of the key factors in starting a business is the cost of the product you plan to profit from. If it’s selling a service or your skills, there are no initial costs to cover, unless you wish to create your own branding, marketing materials etc. So choosing to sell your knowledge or expertise allows you to use free options to sell and promote your side hustle – more on that later.
However, if you want to sell physical products – perhaps ones that you’ve designed yourself – you don’t need to order a huge inventory of products or invest in lots of stock. It’s possible to launch a retail business with almost no investment. Investigate the capabilities of a print on demand UK service like Printful, where you can upload your designs and sell them directly to your customers, minimising startup costs.
2. Utilising online marketplaces for sales
Designing a website to showcase your product or service can be time-consuming if you do it yourself. Plus, the costs associated with hosting, designing and promoting the website soon add up. Sure, you want to make it easy for your customers to find you and purchase your offering BUT it doesn’t have to be through a domain of your own.
In fact, you’ll get more traffic and therefore more eyes on your product if you sell it through an established marketplace. Check out retail services that allow users to add their own product listings like Etsy, eBay and Amazon, many of which can be paired with a print-on-demand or drop-shipping partner. These services only cost very little (or can sometimes cost nothing at all) to list your product.
If you’re selling a product and need to process payments, there are now payment processing apps that’ll help you take payments such as VibePay. You can take advantage of zero transaction fees, instant same-day settlements, guest check-outs and easy payment requests. Faster payment processing in real-time like this helps to improve the cash flow of small businesses because you don’t have to wait for ‘on-hold’ funds, plus every penny you earn will end up in your bank account with no unexpected monthly charges or transaction fees.
3. Thrifty digital marketing strategies
Just like you don’t need a website to sell your products, you also don’t need a marketing budget to get your items ‘out there’. Social media has been an important way to communicate with customers for years and you don’t have to pay to advertise – all you need is a viral hit and you’ll get your product in front of thousands of potential buyers.
So, the way to do this is to focus on creating sharable content and then share it far and wide! See how many people would be willing to re-share it – start by asking your friends, then your social followers and then ask all your friends’ followers to send it on. Eventually, you’ll have a massive chain of people sharing and seeing your lovely images, reels, videos or articles.
A handy way to do this is to host a giveaway. That way, you’ll only need to invest in just one product or service to offer as a prize and then ask entrants to share and tag other people. This multiplies the impact of your content and will cost you significantly less than paying for advertising.
Check out more small business ideas that’ll help you make money to boost your income and savings by browsing my side hustle business category. And please let me know if you’ve created your own small business on the side – I’d love to hear your ideas and money-making tips in the comments below.
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This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂
