6 Small Business Ideas Under $500

#entrepreneurhelp #smallbusinessideas #sidehustles

Living in America has never been more expensive. As inflation continues its upward trajectory, rent has continued to skyrocket as well. Across the 50 largest major metropolitan areas in the country, the median rent hit a new record high of $1,827 in April 2022. According to Realtor.com, and Nationwide, rents may have surpassed $2,000 for the first time in May 2022.

Most Americans are still struggling to build solid savings accounts nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 56% of Americans are unable to cover an unexpected $1,000 bill with savings, according to a telephone survey of more than 1,000 adults conducted in early January by Bankrate.

Instead of drawing on their emergency savings funds, many Americans would have to go into debt to foot an unexpected $1,000 bill, either by asking family and friends for a loan, taking a personal loan from a bank or charging a credit card. Still, rising costs are also making it difficult for Americans to save.

Inflation surged 7% in the last year, the fastest pace in 40 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ December 2021 consumer price index release. Nearly all costs measured by the index increased in December, with the prices of shelter, used cars and trucks, energy and food boosting the measure most. Nearly half of Americans said that higher costs are keeping them from saving more, according to Bankrate.

1. SERVICE - An easy way to start a business with little capital is to use your car for ridesharing. Using your car is an easy way to make extra income when you get off of work. We know a guy who is a school counselor during the day. He needed away to pay off his student loan debt faster. He started ridesharing with Lyft, Uber and delivering food with door dash. He was able to pay off his car and student loans with the extra money plus tax breaks that saved his family money. Other options include starting a mobile auto detaining service, doing video voice overs, providing landscaping services, doing video editing for businesses and or YouTube content creators, just to name a few.

EXPERTISE- If you are an expert in your field, you have a huge advantage over your competition. We know of a Youtuber who was a practicing attorney for 20 years. He started a YouTube channel giving advice to single fathers in regards to child custody. He has an advantage over other YouTube creators because he can give a

legal perspective on real life cases. In one month, he reports that he made $50,000 dollars! Consider this, If you are fluent in a different language, you can become a translator and profit from your expertise.

SALES -I remember when Ebay was a popular website on which to sell products. Now you can use Facebook market to sell your items. You can sell shoes, hats, belts, make up flowers to name a few - items that you would usually donate, without any financial return, can now be easily sold for a profit. We know of people who buy items for a lower cost with the plan to resell them for higher cost. Example - buy a name brand shirt from Goodwill and sell it as gently used on apps like

Poshmark. You can also find a Network Marketing company and sell their products and services. Network Marketing companies usually have a proven and simple system you can plug into along with mentors that can help you along the way. There was a guy who was an assistant principle who loved his profession working with kids. He needed to make extra money, but he did not have extra time to start a full time solo business. He started a network marketing company instead, working a few hours during the week, while still working his 9-5. A few years later he started making a 6-figure passive income.

Educate - let's say you have a skill in self-defense, you can teach people how to protect themselves in evening classes. You can find a park and have classes a few times a week. If you know how to line dance or salsa dance, you can use Facebook to advertise and start teaching couples how to dance. You can even use streaming platforms like Streamyard to provide paid online classes! As a way to negotiate a venue for your in person classes, you can make a deal with a local restaurant to provide dance lessons at the restaurant to bringing more customers to the venue. Consider this, you can start a tutoring program using Zoom for kids in school.

EXPERIENCE - if you know your city well, you can start a tour guide company for tourists in your neighborhood on Saturdays. Or, you can start a workout bootcamp for people who are trying to get in shape. If you have a skill with playing a sport, you can train kids for $50 dollars per child. We know a guy who plays baseball well and since many parents are busy working hard to keep up with the inflation prices, the baseball player provides baseball training once a month. For his experience he charges $50 dollars per child/group session. He takes the kids to the local baseball field and he teaches the kids for two hours. Also, he has individual training sessions as well for $50 an hour.

ENTERTAINMENT- 6 out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV.

YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day. 8 out of 10 people from the ages 18-49 years old watch YouTube. You can make a funny short video and get your channel monetized with AdSense. You can sing on line and display your talents to the world. There is a rap group out of Philadelphia that started rapping to popular beats on the popular social media sites - Youtube, TikTok, Instagram etc; A few of their videos went viral. Record companies started reaching out to the group. They got signed to a record label and they were invited to rap on the Tonight Show.

Still need some guidance to get your small business started?

Grab your FREEBIE Small Business Checklist HERE!

For more entrepreneur tips and business advise join our Facebook group!

Thanks for reading!