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Traditional businesses are risky! If you wanted to start a restaurant business, you’d have to invest a lot of money for something that is likely to fail!
If you are a risk-adverse individual like me, then traditional businesses are way too risky for you. Luckily for the both of us, it is 2020 and where anyone can start a low-risk online business for less than $100! The only significant thing you need to do is to invest your TIME.
So if you have the time and not much money, but still want to make money, then continue reading to learn about 5 low-risk online business ideas you can start today!
1. Blogging Business:
Wait are blogs even businesses??? Some blogs are not businesses because they don’t make any money! However, there are some blogs that make TONS of money!
What is it?
A blog is a website that creates written or video content for people. The reason why people start blogging businesses is to position themselves as an expert.
Example: If you’re a yoga expert, a blog will let you share your experiences and knowledge as a yoga teacher. When people read this, they will want YOU as their yoga teacher because they trust you and see you as an expert, after reading your blog.
It is a lot easier to sell your products or services to people who TRUST you.
How to Start?
You can start a website using Wix, Squarespace or WordPress, but I highly recommend WordPress because it is the best for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and its is the most customizable.
To start a WordPress site you need 2 things.
1.You first need a domain name, which is the name of your website. Mine is “www. Lifeplanting.com.” ($20.00)
2. Next you need website hosting, which is a service to host all of your website’s data. My favourite hosting is Siteground because it makes your website run really fast and the customer support is amazing. ($80.00)
PROS
- Low up-front costs. The total cost to run a blog is only about $100 per year
CONS
- Blogs take time to grow a strong following. A new blog may take months or even years before you can make a sale
2. Online Education Business:
The online education business is EXPLODING! According to Forbes, Global Industry Analysts expects the online education business to grow to $320 billion by 2025, from $187 billion in 2019.
And when you see a growing industry… that’s an opportunity.
What is it?
An online education business is where you create a digital course to teach a skill that you are proficient at online.
An example can be teaching piano, languages, math, visual art, and basically anything!
How to Start?
There are so many online education platforms that you can use. They provide a simple platform for you to create your courses and receive payment from customers. The most common are Thinkific, Teachable, and Udemy. The start-up costs depends on which platform you use, but it varies from $0-$50 per month.
PROS
- If you start now, you can ride the growing trend in the industry
- Online courses are seen as a premium digital product, which means you can charge more money usually between $100 – $2000
CONS
- It is more expensive and requires a lot more time
- Online courses are very complex to create and can be difficult to sell if you don’t have a strong following base. That’s why people usually start a blog first, and then start selling online courses
3. Sell Digital Products:
Before I used to love reading physical books, but I would never finish them because I would never carry around a 5 pound book with me. But when i started reading digital books on my phone, I could suddenly read anywhere!
What is it?
Digital products are basically non-tangible items that you can sell. This can include printables, e-books, excel templates, and anything that you can think of that only exists in the digital world.
How to Start?
Starting a digital product is even easier than starting an online education business. All you need to to:
(1) MAKE IT: To make a digital product all you need to do is write if its a book, or design if its a printable.
(2) SELL IT: To sell digital products, you can use marketplace platforms such as Amazon or Etsy. These sites are great because you have active people who are looking to buy your products.
PROS
- You can create a digital product out of thin air costing you $0!
- You have access to customers who are looking to buy your digital product through marketplace platforms
CONS
- Many people don’t like buying non-tangible products
- Most digital products sell between $5 – $100
4. Dropshipping:
According to Grand View Research, the global market size of the dropshipping was $102.2 billion USD and it is expected to grow by 28.8% per year until 2025. If you like selling and online shopping, keep on reading.
What is it?
Dropshipping is when you can sell products through an online store, where you don’t have to keep your own inventory. There are 3-parties that are involved in a dropshipping business:
The Dropshipping business: example selling T-shirts
The Supplier: example Alibaba
The Customer:
(1) The business purchases t-shirts from the wholesaler for $5.00. But the Supplier will still hold the T-shirts.
(2) Next, a customer purchases the t-shirts from the T-Shirt Store through an online store. The customer pays the business $10.
(3) Lastly, the supplier ships the t-shirts to the customer
How to Start?
The first step is to decide on what you want to sell. Afterwards, need to sell it through your online store using Shopify/Wordpress, and sell through a market-place like Amazon/Etsy.
PROS
- You don’t need to hold any inventory
- People like to buy tangible/physical products
CONS
- Lower Margins: Since you are selling a physical product, you have to consider manufacturing costs and shipping costs
CONCLUSION
These are the top 4 best low-risk online business ideas!
Now that you know this, having not enough money to start your own business is no longer an excuse! Even if you fail, you don’t lose much money and you learn so much!
Let me know in the comments what business you would like to start and feel free to share some other more low-risk online business ideas that I didn’t cover!
