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Startup Business Ideas For Small Towns
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The Questions Every Entrepreneur Must Answer
A side hustle is something you do to earn extra income outside of your day job. According to Zapier, 40% of Americans own one and another 36% plan to start owning one by 2022.
Those who work part-time spend 13.4 hours a week working on it and earn $12,869 a year from their side hustle. You can use the money you earn to pay off debt, invest or splurge on your own goodies.
Aside from financial gain, pursuing a side hustle idea can give you the opportunity to build a new skill set. Entrepreneurs can also enjoy the satisfaction of starting a business while creating a new career path, providing greater security during layoffs.
Want to start a side business but aren’t sure you can make money from it? Here are 22 side hustle ideas you can start today.
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Turn your passion for photography into a sideline. Promote your photography services locally and earn hundreds of dollars per shoot. Alicia Ho of Precious Ones Photography has turned her hobby into a fulfilling career. “It’s an incredible feeling to be able to keep the creative spirit flowing while creating an heirloom that will last a lifetime in the family,” she says. You can follow her example and:
Expand your horizons (and make more money) by selling your photos online. Sites like Stocksy, Shutterstock and Alamy pay photographers when their photos are ordered, downloaded or sold. This can be a very lucrative business if locals don’t usually pay for their photo shoots.
The clothing industry is big business. Global consumers spend $775 billion annually on fashion e-commerce. Get a share of your expenses by using a print-on-demand model.
The best thing about this side business idea is that you don’t need to invest a lot of money upfront. Whenever you receive an order through your online store, a print-on-demand supplier will print your design and ship it to the customer – you don’t have to keep inventory yourself.
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Selling your skills is a profitable business idea if you have a tight budget. Most skill-based businesses are free to start because you don’t need an inventory. You can also do free marketing by asking if someone in your network needs help.
Look at the skills you already have and investigate whether they are in high demand – either as a position or as a proposal for a consulting business.
Ashley R. Cummingstook took this approach when she started her side business. “I worked as a full-time educator and taught Russian at the university,” she said. “My background is English, and I’ve always loved writing, so I slowly started taking on projects. Eventually, I had enough clients to replace my full-time income from working 9-5 and teaching. So I quit my job and began my freelance writing career.”
Do you have incredible organizational skills? Earn money from them by becoming virtual assistants. You will handle the administrative aspects of the business remotely, making it one of the best home business ideas to do outside of your day job.
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Ariana Rodriguez started her virtual assistant business in April 2021. It takes $2,000 to start and run a side hustle. That includes a website, business courses and the technology she needs to run her virtual assistant business.
“In April, I started making $700 a month,” says Ariana. “By December, I was making $6,000 a month and working full-time. I was able to subcontract to make the work more sustainable.”
The online language learning market is expected to be worth $25.73 billion by 2027. If you speak two (or more!) languages, you can monetize your skills by starting a side business teaching others how to do the same.
Create your own website and offer one-on-one virtual lessons. Or join an online language learning platform like Skooli, VIPKid or Qkids. Part-time English tutors can earn up to $23 an hour.
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You can also hold group classes in premises that are free to rent, such as community centres, many of which are passionate about making education accessible to local people.
U.S. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were nearly 800,000 maids and house cleaners in the United States in 2020. It’s an inexpensive business idea that’s easy to implement. Investing $100 in cleaning supplies can pay off quickly.
Take Cleanlot author Brian Winch, who started his cleaning business “with little capital, skill and training, but with passion, patience and persistence.”
“I provide parking lot litter removal services for property management companies. My services are performed on foot with simple hand tools. Almost as easy as walking! We go to properties outside of commercial properties to sweep litter material into our collection tool and then dump into the dumpster at place.”
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It cost Brian $250 to start the company. Eight weeks later, the side hustle idea ended up making more money than his full-time job. It now earns between $650,000 and $700,000 a year.
“I started a part-time business because I wanted the income from my day job to pay the bills while gaining experience growing the business,” says Brian. “The income I get from my side hustle is reinvested into it for growth.”
People spend over $3 billion a year on event planning. From weddings and birthday parties to corporate events, taking over the organizational aspects of hosting an event can bring you extra income.
Amber Sironen-Massey took this approach when she started her side business, Epic Elopements. Wedding planning companies handle everything from legalizing marriages, organizing vendors and signing contracts.
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“I knew I couldn’t sustain my full income and needed more money to start the business, so quitting my day job wasn’t an option,” Amber said. “I also want to make sure my market audience is on track and build traction before I get ahead of the game.”
Amber’s event planning business is doing well and she plans to leave her full-time job in a few months: “By the end of the year I will triple my sales from the first year, so we are growing very strong. I know I cannot continue this growth while working full-time with someone else’s business.
“It’s a scary step to take, but I have needs and I know I’ll grow even more by being able to focus on my business full time.”
More than 80 million people in the United States own pets. Many of these people also vacation without pets, which means they need someone to care for them in their absence.
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Owners often search for dog walking companies or pet boarding houses on platforms like Rover. This is an added bonus if you have pet related qualifications such as first aid or animal behaviour. But most importantly, you need to reassure potential clients that their pet is safe in your care.
If you’re not sure about keeping a pet, offer to babysit someone else’s home while they’re on vacation. Nanny earns between $25 and $30 per day, but this increases with overnight stays, house size and location. By combining this with a full-time job, you can work remotely to earn extra income while minimizing disruption to work.
User testers provide feedback about a website, application or product. Companies look for user testers to improve software before releasing it to the public and are compensated for their time.
The test can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, and is a worthwhile side job to do if you have some time to spare. Doing user testing on a daily basis can quickly add up to several hundred dollars per month.
What’s The Most Profitable Business To Start In 2023?
Dropshipping is an e-commerce business model with minimal start-up costs. Find products to sell with dropshipping apps like DSersor Spocket. Then create an online store to sell them. Whenever an order goes through, your supplier will automatically pick, pack and ship the product to your customer.
Thomas Sleeth, Founder, Dropshipping Hustle, “He worked full-time as a disability supporter for 14 years before trying dropshipping as a side hustle. I was fascinated by this business model, completely immersed in it and spent all my free time and even some work time to learn everything I can.”
It took five months for Thomas to start seeing steady profits from the small business. “But I haven’t quit my full-time job in almost a year,” he said. “At the time I felt pressured to quit my longtime job, but in retrospect I should have quit months earlier.
“I worked in direct sales and e-commerce for four years and made more money than I could have continued in my regular job.”
Top 10 Small Business Ideas
If you don’t have a lot of time to invest in a side hustle, consider renting space in your home. More than 2 million people rent out holiday homes via Airbnb
