According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), there are approximately 25 million entrepreneurs in the United States alone. These numbers are a clear indication that more and more people are choosing entrepreneurship over a 9-to-5 job.
If you’ve considered venturing out on your own, you’ve probably figured out what they already know: there is plenty of opportunity out there for anyone to get ahead if they’re willing to do the work. But just because you have to work hard doesn’t mean you can’t find an opportunity that’s a little easier to get off the ground. Plenty of businesses can be set up with minimal knowledge and experience; you just have to know what to look for.
Online selling
Online selling is one of the fastest ways to start earning money online. And it’s something you can do on the side while you build up your income. Many people start out selling used items on eBay. But the most successful ones quickly move up to buying products wholesale and selling them on Amazon or on their own platforms.
A great example of a product that’s well-suited to this is vitamins. You can find one or two quality vitamin manufacturers where you can reliably source your inventory. And then you can choose to list them on Amazon or create your own selling platform. This is an item that works well with a website where you can blog about health and fitness to draw an audience. You can then sell the vitamins directly from your online store.
It’s perfect for beginners because you can scale the business as slowly or as quickly as you’d like. Plus, you can start with very little inventory to test the market.
Landscaping
Landscaping is a business that many people bootstrap in the beginning. But it actually has the potential to make you a lot of money. You can start out just mowing lawns around town in the beginning. But if you put all your earnings back in the business, you can purchase bigger equipment and hire more help.
Landscaping usually entails mowing, weeding, fertilizing, pest control, sod installation, design, and residual care. But once you’ve built up a steady clientele, you can probably hire out the menial tasks and use your time on the more creative aspects of the job. The work isn’t easy and it’s certainly not for everyone, but if you have a green thumb and like the outdoors, it could be just the career for you.
Party planning
Party planning is a good business for someone who is organized and outgoing. And you don’t have to start with any physical products at all since it’s more of a service industry than anything else.
Party planners coordinate with other professionals to set up catering, decorating, photography, and anything else necessary for their events. For example, if you’re throwing a retro birthday party, you might be looking for disco decor, hippie costumes, and arcade games for rent. You might start just planning events on the weekend and then move into full-time as you build up clients.
Construction
If construction work is something you’re skilled at, running your own business is usually much more profitable than working for someone else. And you can start with very few supplies, using your upfront deposits to purchase what you need for your first jobs.
Much of the big equipment you’ll need can even be rented. For example, you should be able to find big machinery like forklifts and cement trucks from a material handling company in New Jersey or any other state you might be working in.