There might be no such thing as a free lunch, but you can definitely come close. The Internet has produced a wealth of potential business opportunities for people with ambition and skills, and you could end up being one of those people if you’re willing to put in a lot of work. Do you have entrepreneurial tendencies and a need to start earning money fast? The opportunities are definitely out there if you have the drive. Here are five good business ideas for quick money and almost no investment.
Gig Work
Gig work might be the easiest way to start earning money quickly – and although it might sometimes feel as though you’re working for someone else when you’re doing the work through an app or online platform, gig work is actually a form of business ownership and self-employment. You get to choose who you’re working for, and you get to set your own hours. If you want to maximise your earnings by working through multiple platforms at the same time, you’re free to do that.
Modern gig work usually involves in-person labour, and the two most common forms of gig work include delivery services like DoorDash and taxi services like Uber. If you have reliable transportation and can pass a background check, you can get started almost immediately – and work is always available.
The pay as a gig worker can be quite good – especially if you live in an affluent area where people might be more likely to tip generously. It rarely makes anyone rich, but it can also be a stepping stone that helps you accomplish bigger and better things.
Importing and Resale
Did you know that factories in Shenzhen, China produce about 90 percent of the electronic gadgets and appliances available in stores today? Major brands source their products from Shenzhen, but the factories that produce those products will happily sell to anyone – including you. There are several online marketplaces that allow people to browse through all types of wholesale products produced in China, and many factories also sell directly through their own websites. You may need to acquire a business licence in order to access the wholesale pricing for these products. Once you’ve done that, though, you can sell them any way you like.
Importing products from China can be a great way to make quick money because the wholesale prices for things like portable game consoles, vapes, clothes and cosmetics are often extremely low. If you can find the right customer base, you can sell those products for much more than what you paid for them.
The downside of running an importing business is that there’s going to be a lot of competition – especially on the Internet. If you want to buy products from overseas wholesalers and resell them online, you’ll need to find a new and interesting type of product that isn’t being resold already by hundreds of other businesses. Don’t forget, though, that selling products within your local community can also be an option if you’re having trouble finding a product category that isn’t already overcrowded online.
Electronics Refurbishment
Are you handy with gadgets? If you are, you might be able to start a successful business by buying unwanted electronics, fixing them and reselling them. Believe it or not, many of the products that are returned to companies like Amazon aren’t actually put back on the shelves – even if they work. Instead, they’re often either discarded or liquidated by the pallet. The same is true of many other major retailers – and the best part is that you can actually buy those pallets.
Customer return pallets are usually organised by the types of products they contain, which means that you can typically choose pallets according to your area of expertise – and since you probably have an Amazon distribution centre near you, you probably have a product liquidation company near you as well. Stop by and see what’s available. You can also source unwanted electronics by advertising locally on a website like Craigslist. If you can fix something, chances are that you can find someone who wants to buy it.
When you buy broken and unwanted electronics in bulk, you’re going to find that some of those things will turn out to be unfixable – but that doesn’t mean you can’t still make money from them. There’s a huge market for authentic replacement parts for things like computers, phones and game consoles. Sometimes, you can actually earn more by parting out a gadget than you could have earned by fixing it.
Arbitrage Sales
Arbitrage selling is the technique of identifying products that are priced lower than they should be and buying those products so you can turn around and resell them for more. It’s potentially an easy way to make a lot of money. Being successful in arbitrage sales, however, requires either a wide base of product knowledge or the ability to research products quickly.
Some people look for products on websites like Amazon and eBay, but it can be hard to find good arbitrage opportunities on those sites because many other people are doing exactly the same thing. Because of the high level of competition, you’ll either and up spending too much, or the best deals will get snapped up before you see them.
The best places to find lower-competition arbitrage opportunities include:
- Estate sales
- Storage locker liquidations
- Craigslist
- Thrift shops
- Clearance sections at local stores
When it comes to selling your finds, you’re probably going to find that it’s best to operate many sales channels simultaneously. Some of the most profitable channels may include:
- eBay
- Craigslist
- Your own website
- Flea markets
If your operation becomes successful enough, you might even end up starting your own brick-and-mortar store.
Online Marketing
Online marketing can be one of the best ways to start a business and earn quick money, and there are many different ways to do it. You can start a website and earn money with affiliate links. You can become an influencer on social media and get paid through product endorsements. Even video game streaming is a form of online marketing.
The benefit of online marketing is that you don’t need any money to get started if you already have a decent computer or phone – and if you’re lucky, you can start earning a living almost immediately.
The downside, though, is that there are probably millions of other people already trying to earn money online in the exact same way. There’s a reason why so many people would like to become professional social media influencers or video game streamers – it’s because those things don’t sound like real work to most people.
Online marketing is real work, though, and being successful will require you to break through an enormous amount of competition. For the few who end up at the top, though, it can also be extremely profitable.
