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Low Cost Start Up Businesses

One of the big draw backs for most people in starting their own business is the start up cost.

With that in mind we have put together a list of businesses with "no start up costs" to businesses with "low start up costs". Regarding costs we are referring to the injection of capital, as every business requires you to put some time into it or use your knowledge which you must have gained from somewhere in the first place in order to be capable of doing the job.

No Start up Costs

Dog walking business - Lots of pet owners hate to leave their pets alone while they are at work. A reliable person who will regularly exercise their pets each day, is something many people would find useful. Dog walkers usually charge by the hour, and dog walkers can walk several pets at a time.

Pet sitting business - Lots of pet owners hate to leave their pets alone while they are at work so having a reliable person who will visit their pets, or even just sit with them for a couple hours, is something many people would find useful. Also If you have a pet-proof home with a secure yard for exercise, you may even offer to look after pets in your own home while their owners are on vacation.

Baby sitter business - Obviously you will need to be trusted by the parents of the children you are looking after if you are going round to their house to "baby sit" - you will get paid by the hour.

Domestic cleaning business - Cleaning houses for a living - most people don't like to clean, it's a boring chore for the majority of people, and you can charge by the hour. You can ususally use the house owners own cleaning devices so you don't need to splash the cash on your own cleaning equipment.

Paper distributor business - this can mean a couple of things - you could be launching national newspapers which will obviously cost a lot of money. We are talking just handing out leaflets/coupons door to door, or distributing outside of shops / nightclubs for promotion purposes. If you enjoy walking and being outdoors then starting a paper, leaflet or coupon distribution service could be the ideal way of keeping fit and earning some extra cash at the same time. Have a look at the leaflets that come through your door and offer to do it for them at a lower price.

Market Researcher - Companies usually want information from the general public - this can be as straight forward as going into a shopping mall and asking the general public pre-written questions about a particular brand or whatever the questions the company wants to know the answer to within reason.

Affiliate marketing business - You could be just making money for yourself by promoting other peoples goods.

House sitting business - Obviously to look after somebodies house while they are away on holiday you'll have to stay in their house. If you could somehow arrange it so your time is occupied all year round you wouldn't need a house of your own and would therefore save a fortune in rent and get paid for it at the same time.

Low Start Up costs

Ebay trading business - If you have a basic camera - most cameras these days can take high quality pictures without you needing to break the bank and an internet connection, you could make money listing items on online auction sites for other people. That way you don't need any stock as your neighbours have it all - you could work on a fixed fee for listing things for people or you could have a profit share on the items that you sell. Ebay reckon people have over $1000 of stuff that is just cluttering there house but don't really have the time to sort it. You can offer to list this in online auctions starting at 99 cents. Again this won't have any extra costs if you already have a computer and internet connection.

Professional Shopper - You can offer your services to shop for people - if they are out each day working they might not have time to get the basic foods in. Apart from that though you might have the skills to track down goods at a discounted rate if you have the time and or know how, by using comparison websites or knowledge of discounting websites / stores. You could also bulk by and achieve discounts - this can ultimately be a win win situation where you get your clients a discounted rate for a product they would normally buy for more money and you can get a percentage of the saving. So for this professional shopper could come under no-cost if you are merely walking to the shops for somebody and charging them for the privilege of that or/and you might require to have a computer and an internet connection which will be relatively costly to start up if you haven't got it already.

Blog Writing business or freelance writer - If you are good with your words you can offer to write articles for companies and they can then post them on their website as their own...you could also have your own blog or website where you write articles and link to websites which you will be paid to do. Again this won't have any extra costs if you already have a computer and internet connection.

Gardening business - Offer to cut people's lawn, hedge trimming and do general weeding (make sure you know the difference between a weed and a flower though!) of borders and picking up loose leaves. You can usually charge on a per job basis so the faster you work the more you will get paid. The level of financial input for gardeing can vary depending on if you can use people's own gardening equipment and use there bins to depose of the garden waste...obviously costs will rise if you have to purchase equipment, lawn mowers, a trailer and van to carry a petrol lawn mower...now it is no longer a low cost start-up!

Pressure washing business - similar to gardening in that you might not need any equipment if you can use the house holders equipment and you are merely providing your labour. Of course cost will rise dramatically if you have to supply your own equipment and the water.

Personal Trainer - You will likely meet your clients in a local gym or go round to their house and train them there or in a local park. This could be no cost if you have some deal with your local gym, or if you already have gy membership then you aren't paying any extra. The gym may want a cut of any deals you make of course - but they could also generate leads for you if you are well respected.

Tutoring - You could be visiting clients in their home or even tutoring online. Obviously if you are online you will need a computer / internet connection and possibly a web cam.

Web designer - Obviously you will need a computer and internet connection and the necessary skills, you can pick up skills in web design online as there are millions of tutorials available for free on how to make websites etc. You will require hosting and purchasing of domain names which can cost money - but if you charge the client a deposit first - this can go to paying for it. Offer to do friends website first to increase your portfolio to showcase what you can do.

Bookkeeper - Clients will need to drop off there accounts or you can pick them up. Again this won't have any extra costs if you already have a computer and internet connection.

Cake maker - Ingredients is pretty cheap but if you have good skills in icing - you can charge premium prices for cake pops / birthday cakes etc.

Ironing Services - Either you are going to pick up and drop off clothing or and the clients can pick them up for you. You can do all the work from your own house - assuming you have a house! Obviously you will need an iron, ironing board and a source of electricity to power the iron which on the whole is relatively cheap - you'll just need a lot of elbow grease!

Hopefully we have provided you with a few ideas for low and no cost start ups in order for you to get going with your business.

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