What Are Some Good Small Business Ideas For Aspiring Entrepreneurs?

1.Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a low investment and a cost-effective way to start an online or e-commerce business in India. Dropshipping means beginning a retail business online without procuring or storing products. You need to establish an online retail store and tie up with a dropshipping supplier in the dropshipping business. When a customer places an order on your online store, you will need to forward that order to the dropshipping supplier.

The dropshipping supplier will process and ship your order to your customer. You will receive the payment for the order, and you need to pay the product cost to the dropshipping supplier after deducting your percentage from the product cost. All you need to do is tie up with dropshipping suppliers and market their products on your online store.

2. Handmade Products

You can start your online personalised handmade products business when you are good at arts and crafts. Nowadays, DIY or Do It Yourself is the new trend. Many prefer to give personalised gifts or products to their families or friends for occasions such as birthdays, farewells, weddings, etc. Millennials also prefer to buy personalised products online to decorate homes or for house parties instead of visiting shops.

You can create and sell many products, such as accessories, jewellery, home decor, wall hangings, etc. You need to showcase your products and market them on social media accounts or websites to get more orders and profit by selling them. You only need to invest in the materials required for your products.

3. Photography and Videography

You can start your own business when you are good at photography or videography. Every occasion needs a photographer and a videographer. You can even charge to take creative photos on the occasion of your friends’ or relatives’ birthdays or functions. Many occasions, such as weddings, get-togethers, themed birthday parties, and pre-wedding functions like sangeet, mehandi, etc., require a videographer. It is one of the lost-cost businesses where you can earn profits. You need a good camera or video recorder to start this business. You can take photos and videos and post them on social media accounts or even send them on Whatsapp to your contacts and get bookings for them.

You can also work as a freelance photographer or videographer for events. You can freelance to take photos of events or products since companies require product photos or videos to market them. You can even click and upload your original photos on your website and sell them to interested people.

4. Babysitting

Since many couples work, they require a babysitter to look after their kids. Some may even need a babysitter for only a few hours, i.e. after the kids come from school till the parents come home or on weekends.

However, it is difficult to gain the trust of parents to be hired as babysitters for their kids. Thus, you can start to babysit your relatives’ and neighbours’ kids initially and ask them to refer you to their friends and family who need a babysitter. You do not need any investment for this, except you need to have a liking towards kids, take care of them and keep them engaged.

5. Pet Sitting

Many people have pets at home. They need to leave their pets alone when they go to work or on vacation. Many people are looking for pet sitting services by a trusted person who will take care of their pets for a few days or a few hours. You can start a pet sitting business and look after pets (dogs and cats) when the pet owners travel or go out to office or events. 

Market your service to your friends and family members and ask them to refer you to people with pets. There is no investment required for a pet sitting business except that you need to know how to take care of pets.

6. Tutoring

You can start an online tutoring business where you can teach students in lower classes. Many prefer taking tutoring classes for their children, which give individual attention. You can tutor children of lower classes in your school or neighbourhood when you are a good student. You can even tutor children at your home.

You only need a good PC or laptop with high internet connectivity for an online tutoring class. When you conduct a tutoring class at home, you need a room at your house for tutoring and a board. You will need to spend some time preparing for the class and the course and check the assignments given to students. 

7. Youtube Channel

Start your own youtube channel. You can start a channel in which you are passionate, such as showing recipes, makeup tutorials, singing, dancing, travelling, educational content, general knowledge content, home decor ideas, craft and DIY ideas, etc. You can monetise from the views of the videos on your youtube channel. 

There is no investment required to start a youtube channel except for a good camera to shoot videos, time and internet connection to edit them and upload them. It may take some time to earn revenue from it, but you can earn good revenue as the channel grows. Market your channels to all your friends and family to grow the channel and get subscriptions.

8. Blogging and Vlogging

You can create a blog where you can write quality content and publish it online. Vlogging is creating content and posting it on youtube. You must choose a niche to create a post and upload it on your blog. The niche can be anything you are interested in, such as food, fashion, lifestyle, travelling, technology review, etc. You can monetise your blog through affiliate marketing or advertising. Blogging and vlogging are good ways to make money. It does not require much investment. All it needs is a laptop and an internet connection.

9. Dance Classes

You can start a dance class online or at your home when you know how to dance or have learnt it. You can teach dance to kids in your neighbourhood at your home. You may even conduct classes and choreograph dance performances for groups performing on occasions like marriages, engagement ceremonies, festivals, etc. No investment is required except for a laptop and internet connection when it is online classes. You will need an open space or room to conduct a physical dance class. 

10. Yoga Classes

You can start yoga classes at home when you have learnt yoga. Many people are interested in yoga classes as they help to release stress and relax the body and mind. You can have an hour-long class for people in your neighbourhood. You may even start an online yoga course for your friends or college mates. You need a plain room in your house for conducting yoga class, or you may rent a hall for conducting the class. You will need a laptop and internet connection when you conduct an online yoga class.

11. Graphic Designing

You can start a graphic designing business when you are a graphic designer or good at design. Graphic design is focused on creating product information and artwork for businesses, including product packing, logos and websites. You can help people with their branding and marketing by creating high-quality designs for them. This business does not require much investment.

You can even offer your services as a freelance designer, work on a contractual basis or be an exclusive partner for brands where you create and help them with their branding elements, logos and other requirements.

12. Freelancer Writer

When you have good writing skills and are good at grammar, you can leverage this skill and sell your writing services by being a freelance writer. You can write about products or services for many clients and businesses and help them promote their business. You can even approach businesses directly and offer them to create content for their website or blog. 

You can also offer freelance proofreading services and help students correct grammar mistakes. You can help them create high-quality content for their writing assignments. However, you cannot earn much revenue from students. But as more students approach, you can ask them to refer you to businesses and writers who need grammar help and freelance writers.

13. Social Media Influencer

Social media influencer is becoming a career nowadays due to the platforms like Instagram and TikTok. They even post their content on Facebook and Youtube channels. Social media influencers have a lot of followers as they offer something valuable on their channels, whether it be expertise in some topic, creative content or lifestyle advice.

It requires time to become an influencer with a huge following. However, after you get recognised as a social media influencer, you can earn revenue as businesses tend to contact media influencers to promote their products or services on social media platforms. As a social media influencer, you can promote other businesses and influence your followers to purchase or subscribe to the products or services of such businesses and earn money from them. 

14. Reseller

A reseller business means sourcing different products from different wholesalers, suppliers and distributors and selling them under one roof. In a reselling business, you will not have to manufacture the products and will be dealing with fully manufactured products. You need to find a reliable supplier who will sell the products to you at a lower margin so that you can resell them in your online store at a marked-up price. You will need to invest in creating a reselling e-commerce store and marketing.

Reselling business is a kind of dropshipping business, but in this business, you will have the option to hold the inventory of products and ship them to customers or get your suppliers to ship orders to your customers. You can select simple reselling products such as clothes, collectables, or any item from local stores and resell them on your online store or website.

15. Website Designing

You can start a website designing business when you are a web designer. You can help businesses and individuals to create websites, and design and develop them. Even small businesses are looking to build a website to have an online presence and sell their products. Many companies and brands need a user-friendly and high-end website. 

As a website developer and programmer, you can start your business by developing websites for individuals and businesses and earn money from it. You can do website designing through freelancing or by contacting businesses directly.

16. Delivery Services

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, people have switched from buying from a physical store to purchasing online. There is a need for delivery services as people are choosing online shopping. Everything is sold online, from apparel to groceries to medicines. You can start a door-to-door delivery service business and deliver products to the consumers to earn high returns.

You can tie up with small businesses in your area or small-scale sellers and deliver their products to customers. You can even start your own courier service where you pick up orders from neighbours or retailers and deliver them locally.

17. Event Planner

You can start your own event planning business when you are good at managing things. Everyone requires an event planner for special occasions like birthdays, pre-wedding functions, parties, corporate parties, etc. You can get in touch with your family and neighbours and provide them with event management services when required. 

You can even contact hotels and restaurants or local halls that host events and offer your services to them. You need to have organisation skills to manage the event in the best manner within the budget given, be creative and market your event management skills to grow your business.

18. Bakery Business

You can start your bakery from home when you are good at baking. You can bake cakes and even offer customisation services. Many prefer to customise the decorations on a cake or in its flavour. You can sell cookies, puffs, packed drinks, sandwiches, and cakes to get more orders and grow your business.

You can create an online bakery where people can order cakes on your website, and you can deliver them. You can sell them to your friends and family and ask them to promote them to others. You will need to invest in the equipment required to make cakes or bakery items. You can buy the ingredients for bakery items after receiving an order instead of keeping the ingredients ready before you receive any orders.

19. Cloud Kitchen

Cloud kitchens are a low-cost investment business. Since it is an online kitchen, you need not have a physical space where customers can sit and order food items. You can upload the menu on your website or an e-commerce platform, prepare the food items/orders and deliver it to your customers.

You do not have to spend much on a cloud kitchen. You can even start it from home. You can create a menu keeping in mind the equipment you have at home to prepare food items. You only need to prepare and deliver food. You can start preparing after you receive an order and market it for its growth.

20. Makeup Artist

A makeup artist has a lot of demand. You can start a makeup business if you know how to do makeup on others. A makeup artist is required for every occasion such as weddings, parties, family functions and even festivals. If you provide makeup services at the customer’s home, you will receive a lot of bookings. Start by doing makeup for your friends and family. You can post social media posts of your work to expand your business and reach many people.

All you need is an initial investment in good makeup products and marketing. You can even teach makeup on youtube and promote your services through the channel. You can start a makeup class for your subscribers and offer them to teach makeup for a minimal fee.

21. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is highly profitable with low investment costs. You can earn a good income by being an affiliate marketing partner for businesses and brands. You need to partner with companies or brands, create good content for them, and promote their services or products. You will earn commissions on the sales of the products or services you promote. All you need is to have the skills to market and promote products. You can promote items such as home decor, electronics, clothing, and more.

22. Social Media Manager

Every business has a social media presence to market its services or products. They require a social media manager to handle their social media accounts. You can simultaneously be a freelancer social media manager for different companies and help them reach a large audience base. You can also be a consultant with businesses and help them to handle and grow their social media presence.

To be a social media manager, you need to advertise your ability to drive sales and include your expertise in handling different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. You can even help individuals and small local businesses with their social media marketing and help them go online to grow their business.

23. Home Cleaning Service

Now-a-days many people opt for home cleaning services. Anyone with a job and kids need help to keep their home clean. You can start the home cleaning service by using the cleaning products at your home. You can buy more home cleaning equipment as your business grows. You start with offering your services to your relatives or neighbours who need help with cleaning.

You can promote your services on social media and by word-of-mouth marketing. You can even offer home maintenance services in your neighbourhood like painting, landscaping and home repairs. You can even hire a maid as you get more revenue from the business. You can offer cleaning services regularly or on a one-time basis.

24. Franchise Business

A franchise business is a highly profitable business. It is a low investment business since you need not spend on establishing a business. You only need to operate the franchisor business. You need to sell the franchisor’s products under the franchisor’s trademark and brand name. You will need to pay the franchisor an initial amount as a fee, but you can earn profits by selling the franchisor’s products at a low cost.

25. Car Washing Business

You can offer car washing services in your neighbourhood. Many people wash their cars themselves. But when you offer to wash their cars daily or weekly for a nominal amount, they will avail of your services as it saves their time and energy. You need not spend much on this business as you just need basic washing items. Start with cleaning your neighbours’ cars or the cars in your locality. Market your services on social media and word-of-mouth marketing to grow your business.

26. Singing Classes

When you are a singer, you can start singing classes. You can start them at home or online. You can even create a youtube channel and post your songs there. It does not require any investment as you only require a mic, laptop and internet connection. You need to market your singing classes to get more students. You can even promote your classes online on your social media channels. You can even offer to perform at events and expand your business. You can perform at functions, festivals, restaurants, local events, etc.

27. DJ Business

A DJ is a person who plays music for an audience. Though DJ is not popular in India yet, it is catching up. People require a DJ at parties like sangeet, birthdays, etc. Restaurants and pubs need good DJs who have good taste in music. To start a DJ business, you must learn how to play with various mixers and turntables. To be a professional, you also need to learn about the different types of songs and music. Initially, you can start by being a DJ at your friends’ house parties or events of your relatives. Post your work on social media to market your work. Later on, you can contact restaurants and offer DJ services.

28. Pet Grooming

People with pets choose a pet grooming service to bathe and keep their pets clean. Although many people may wash their pets on their own, they will select a grooming service for various things like cutting the hair and nails of their pets. You can start a pet grooming service along with a pet sitting service and earn profits. Pet grooming services include washing them, cutting their nails and hair, and dry cleaning them. 

You can provide a mobile pet grooming service, i.e. offer to groom the pets at their house for a nominal fee and earn huge profits. You can even offer a pet training service. Many would opt for training services as training requires a lot of time. You need to only invest in grooming materials like shampoos, nail cutters, etc.

29. Packing Business

You can start a packing business where you need to pack packages. To start a packing business, you must tie up with e-commerce websites or platforms and get packaging orders from them. Since e-commerce websites and platforms receive many online orders, they will require packing services. You can even tie up with businesses and offer packaging services for their products. You can even contact local businesses and provide creative packaging for their products to attract customers and help them grow. Starting this business requires no investment as you can do it from your home. 

30. Recycling Business

You can start a recycling business and earn profits while running an environment-friendly business. Recycling business means collecting redeemable things from people who throw them away and converting them into something useful. Then, you can sell recycled and sustainable products to your customers through an online store. You can collect food trash and convert them into manure and sell them. You can collect plastic waste, convert it into decorative items, and sell them. You can collect old clothes and make a quilt out of them. 

There are various ways in which you can convert waste items and recycle them to make them useful. You do not have to invest much as the redeemable items you collect are your raw materials. You may need to invest in recycling them and starting an online store. But you can earn money when you sell such recycled products. 

31. Laundry Services

Many people do not find time to do laundry and iron their clothes. You can start a laundry business and provide clothes washing and ironing services to your neighbours, friends and relatives. Many would also prefer a laundry service when you offer to pick up and drop off the clothes at their place. You can market your business online and by word-of-mouth to grow your business. To start this business, you will have to invest in a washer, dryer and iron machine. You will also need the required supplies, such as fabric softener, detergent, bleach, etc.

32. Data Entry

Every business needs help with data entry. Companies have a lot of data entry work. You could start a business to help other small businesses with data entry. You can even provide a data entry service as a freelancer. You can start this business from home, or you can also offer on-site work to companies. There is no investment required for this business. You need to know typing and working of excel sheets for this business.

33. Tech Tutor

There is a huge demand for tech support. If you have knowledge of technology, you can start a tech support business. Technology can be overwhelming for the elderly. You can start a consulting agency and provide technical support to the elderly and businesses. You can tutor them on how to use a particular software or application. 

You can even open a Youtube channel and create videos on the operation or usage of technology features, software or application. You need not invest much as you can start this business online. You need to have good knowledge and interest in technology. You may even do certifications in software and help business giants implement software more efficiently and effectively.

34. SEO Service

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is required to operate a web business successfully. If you are good at SEO and know about it, you can start your SEO business and help online businesses rank or appear on the first page of search engines like Google.

To start this business, you need to learn SEO basics and understand SEO strategies and tools. You can provide SEO service online and need not invest much in the business. All you need to do is help businesses with their SEO and improve their visibility online.

35. App Developer

If you have graduated in IT, computer science or have coding skills, you can become an app developer. You can develop an app or mobile apps and sell them to tech giants. You can also partner with software developers and work on multiple app creation projects. Experiment with mobile wallets, cloud-based apps, AR/VR, chatbots and IoT to earn a high income. 

You can start offering your development services to businesses in your area. You can even work as a freelancer for businesses or software developers. App development is a great way to make money and grow your business since many new apps launch in the market in a short period.

36. Marketing Company

Marketing is essential for the promotion and success of a business. Whether social media marketing, digital marketing, or inbound marketing, it helps a business reach a target audience, create brand awareness, and generate leads. You can start a marketing company or consultancy and tie up with businesses or entrepreneurs to advertise and promote their products to achieve the desired results.

Businesses are looking for marketing campaign managers to drive their sales. You can help them with online marketing, email, social media, advertising, campaigns, and other online marketing tools. You need to spend some money to establish your company or consultancy. Once it is established, there is not much investment required to run your company.

37. Sales Consultant

Every business requires strategies to drive its sales and grow its business. If you have knowledge about sales and marketing strategies, you can start a sales consultant service. You can partner with local and small businesses and develop strategies to increase sales. You can even help them with lead generation and grow their business. You can work with them as an outside consultant or on a contract basis.

38. Virtual Assistant Services

You can start a virtual assistance service if you are good at administrative tasks. As a virtual assistant, you need to do administrative tasks remotely for a client or many clients by handling their appointment setting, scheduling, inbound and outbound phone calls, travel arrangements, typing, email, etc.

All business owners and people in high positions in a company need an assistant to take care of their daily tasks. You can tie up with local small business owners or other entrepreneurs and provide virtual assistance services. 

39. Video Editing Service

You can start a video editing service. Since businesses, individuals having Youtube channels, full-time YouTubers, and even lecturers publish videos online daily, they will require a video editor for their videos. You can start a video editing service if you are good at editing videos. You can provide your service as a freelancer or under a contract. You do not have to invest much in this. You may require to get a subscription to editing apps and spend some time editing videos.

40. Stitching and Clothes Designing

You can start stitching and clothes designing business when you know to stitch. Many people like to customise their dresses. Some people prefer to make their dresses beautiful by adding stone or mirror works, while others may want to get a dress stitched from scratch according to their customised design. This is a great business opportunity in India as people usually search for new designs for saree blouses, churidars, kurtas, lehengas, kids’ dresses, etc. They prefer to have a customised dress at a reasonable price. 

All you need is a good stitching machine and be up to date with fashion to provide new designs to your customers. You may also need to shop for specific materials for an order, such as stonework, satin cloth, velvet cloth, net cloth, etc., as per your customer’s order. However, you can recover the specific materials cost in the chargers for that particular order. Market your designs and dresses on social media to grow the business and get more orders and revenue.