Video Business
Are you the process of carrying a camera around with them all the time, or the kid who used to record all of your family’s events and remembrances on a video recorder? If that’s the case, video production could be one of the best small business ideas for you. With the rise in popularity of video on social media sites and the internet as a whole, those who can shoot, edit, or both are in high demand. Even if you have no prior video experience, such as graphic design, there are a plethora of online classes that can teach you how to cut and edit video using Adobe or Final Cut Pro.
In your initial days, you can use simple whiteboard animation software like VideoScribe or Doodly for making videos.
Tutoring Service
You have what it takes to be a tutor if you can add two plus two and get four most of the time, or if you can read “See Spot run!” You can also tutor at higher levels if your skills are more advanced. You could also hire someone to do all of your tutoring for you!
Tutoring can be done almost anywhere. You can tutor online using video platforms like Zoom. You have the option of going to your clients’ homes or having them come to yours. You can also meet in a library or a coffee shop.
The demand is enormous. My children and I hired tutors to help them improve their college entrance exam scores. We hired a tutor to home school them one year when they decided they weren’t learning much at school. The tutor was an MIT college student who had never tutored before but was fantastic nonetheless.
Tutoring is another example of a relatively simple business to start. However, you can expand it as much as you want by hiring more tutors and increasing your marketing efforts. For instance, I sold a career magazine company I founded to Kaplan Inc. With over 12,000 employees and over 1 million students, Kaplan has become a global leader in tutoring.
You will be more successful in business if you first learn about business and then carefully plan it. Consider things like who you want to target, what subjects to offer, how to price your services, and how to write a business plan. You’ll also need to brush up on some of the fundamentals of online marketing.
Craft Business
Do you want to express your creativity while also earning money? What about starting a craft business?
My Great Aunt Betty used to make and sell a variety of unique crafts. She sold them both directly to a few stores and through a small shop on her property. I recall her taking some ornately decorated wicker pocketbooks she’d made to Bonwit Teller, one of Boston’s most prestigious women’s stores.
With the growth of the Internet, the possibilities for selling your crafts appear to be endless. Selling your own crafts is simple with websites like Etsy.com. But, if you’re serious about turning this into a business, you’ll need to establish your own online presence.
You can also sell your handmade items in person. Begin by selling at local art and craft shows. You can also approach retail establishments on your own. Alternatively, once you’ve put together a good product line, you might want to hire a sales rep firm that specialises in the gift industry.
A sales representative firm will sell your products to retailers on commission, usually 15% of the wholesale price. I was able to sell my books into the gift trade with the help of sales rep firms. These companies can be found at larger gift shows or contacted online.
Landscaping Business
This is another excellent business to start small, even part-time, and then scale up at your leisure.
You can begin with a simple lawn-mowing service. You’ll only need a used lawn mower and a grass catcher. A fancy truck or trailer isn’t required. My landscaper’s lawn mower is stored in the trunk of his car.
You can quickly expand this business by adding customers and services. Leaf collection, yard clean-up, edging, weeding, snowplowing, and fertiliser application are all common add-on services. Flower, bush, and small tree planting would be the next level of services you could provide.
Cutting small lawns can earn you a lot of money! Even if you just cut a few lawns yourself, you’ll likely earn more per hour than many people who work in professional jobs. When you add in a few basic services, your earnings can quickly grow. For example, I paid $13,785 to my landscaping service for just one home last year. They did grass cutting, yard cleanup, and snow ploughing, but nothing fancy – fertiliser application and irrigation were handled by other companies.
So, how do you get started with a landscaping business and find customers? Naturally, you begin with a business plan. Then give marketing a lot of thought. I recommend that you use both online and traditional marketing strategies.
Read More
