25 ways to self employ yourself
Do you want to start your own business, but don't know exactly which
business to go into? Or not sure if you can leave the 9-5 grind because
of too much debt? Check out our post on
how to get out of debt to help you get the ball rolling on being self-employed!
Here's a list of some of the best self-employed jobs available right now.
And if you find one you like, jump into it. Even if it's on a part-time basis.
Each will cost you very little to enter, it can start as a
part-time way to make money fast,
and could be the kind of work you've been looking to do all your life
allowing you to not only have money but also have enough
money to save!
We're going to focus on business ideas that are skills-based, and cost little or nothing to start.
If you are wanting to keep your personal and business finances separate, I recommend getting a
separate business credit card and opening a
separate checking account. This will allow you to keep business money by itself and then pay yourself a “salary” into your personal account.
Oh – even though these are numbered, it’s not a ranking – it’s just for easy organization.
What will determine the value of a self-employed job is whether or not it’s right for you.
1. Uber Driver
Uber
has become a work on your own time sensation. Their requirements are
pretty mild and you can get started right away by going to their
website,
filling out the online application, and getting your background check going.
You
can expect to make anywhere from $13 to $25 per hour with Uber. A lot
of that variance has to do with where you live and how many Uber riders
are in the area. Also, if you have a nice vehicle, you may qualify for
some upgraded Uber services that charge a premium price.
2. Social Media Consultant
If
you're under the age of 30, you probably have a built-in advantage for a
business like this. If you spend a lot of time on social media –
Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Instagram, or any other of the social media
outlets that are popping up all the time – you may be able to find some
clients who are in need of a social media consultant.
What started
out as a social game just a few years ago, is rapidly becoming
important in the business community. The social media is an important
way for businesses to connect with ordinary people, without having to go
through all channels.
It’s also a way to market businesses,
products and services. If you know how to promote events, products, and
even concepts, using the social media, then this can be the perfect
business for you.
3. Academic Tutor
This can be a natural
business for you if you are at least above average in one or more
academic subjects. English, science and mathematics are prime subjects
for tutors. Since they are required course curriculum in virtually every
school, and many students struggle with them, you can create a business
out of helping kids improve in these subjects.
You can market your tutoring business just by creating a professional looking flyer, and distributing it to the local schools.
Notice:
At GFC we work with self-employed business owners all the time. One
thing many self-empl0yed individuals lack is proper life insurance.
Before you set off on being an entrepreneur make sure to have your life
insurance policy in place to protect your loved ones, should something
happen to you. Get more information in our guide to the
best term life insurance companies. So you can find the right coverage for your needs.
4. Music Tutor
Academic
courses aren't the only subjects were tutors are in demand. If you can
play an instrument, and are reasonably good at it, you can create a
business teaching kids – or even adults – how to play.
A lot of
people just learn better in a one-on-one environment, rather than in a
classroom. You don't have to be an accomplished musician either. If you
know the basics, and you have the patience to teach them to students,
this can work very well for you.
5. English-as-a-Second-Language Tutor
There
are millions of people coming to the US, and many of them have a poor
grasp of the English language. You can make a business out of teaching
people how to speak English, or how to speak it better.
The market
is also wide open here for tutoring the children of immigrants, who may
need help with English because the family's native language is spoken
in the home. But whether you are teaching first generation immigrants or
their children, this can be a rich business opportunity.
6. Eldercare
With
millions of people now living into their 80s and 90s, and with the cost
of institutional living arrangements skyrocketing, many elderly and
their families are opting instead for at-home companions. It not only
keeps the cost of care low, but it also enables the elderly to continue
living in their own homes.
If
you have patience and skill to work with the elderly directly, you can
become a companion. However, if you want to scale it up into a
full-scale business, you can instead start a service that provides care
providers for the elderly. As the owner of the business, you would
arrange and manage the care engagements which are provided by others.
7. Consultant
Sooner
or later every business needs specific help either with an established
area of the business, or in taking on an entirely new function. As a
consultant, you can come in and help them do just that. The advantage is
that you will be coming in as a fee based independent contractor,
rather than as an employee in need of a permanent salary and benefits.
One
of the best ways to do this is by offering related services. For
example, if you have significant marketing experience, you can act as a
marketing consultant for a retail operation, a computer software
company, or an ecommerce business.
Identify your specialization,
then figure out ways that you can help various businesses move forward,
and you will have created a consulting niche for yourself.
8. Video Production
An
entire closet industry in the video space has developed with the
arrival of YouTube. If you have been creating your own videos, such as
music videos, how-to videos, or just-for-fun videos, you may be able to
sell your services to the general public.
Small businesses are
looking for custom videos put on their websites, to broadcast through
the social media, and even to include in emails. Videos provide a better
way to reach prospective customers who are either primarily visual
learners, or people who simply don't have time to read a lengthy article
or webpage.
9. Freelance Writer
The Internet has opened
up all kinds of opportunities to write on a freelance basis. There are
millions of websites and blogs, and many of them need content to drive
traffic. If you have solid writing skills, and can write intelligently
on several topic areas, you can quickly earn a living as a freelancer.
Even
beyond blogs and websites, you may also step into marketing type
emails, advertising copy, and even ghostwriting ebooks. This is the kind
of business venture that can start small, and grow into a six-figure
income as you get better at it.
10. Freelance Web Designer
Almost
everybody wants to start a website of some type but most people lack
the skills to make it happen. You know how to build even simple
websites, you can turn that into a full-fledged business. If nothing
else, you can prepare simple websites for upstart businesses that have
limited budgets. But as your business grows and your skill level and
your client base increases, you can begin doing more complicated
websites for higher fees.
Much like freelance writing, freelance
web design can be done on a remote basis. That means you can run your
business completely from your own home.
11. Any Kind of Repair Work
We
live in a society of machines, and sooner or later every one of them is
in need of repair. But we also live at a time when very few people
choose careers based on repair work. If you can repair just about
anything – cars, computers, furniture, appliances, or homes/buildings –
you can start a repair business.
There'll be some investment of
capital needed for tools, and perhaps even a vehicle. But once you get
your name and reputation established, you’ll probably have more work
than you can handle.
12. Mobile Repairs
If repair work
represents a viable business idea, then mobile repairs is potentially
even more lucrative. If you are a person who makes house calls, you will
likely be in demand in short order. In that way, you will not only be
providing much-needed repairs, but they'll be delivered directly to the
customer's door – which is made to order for today's market.
One prominent example of this are
mobile mechanics.
Rather than having the customer bring their vehicle to a repair shop,
the mobile mechanic instead goes to the customer's home. It's easy to
see how this will be a valuable service for the customer whose vehicle
won’t start.
But mobile mechanics aside, virtually any repair
business that will come to the client's home will be a welcome relief to
people who schedules are already stretched too tightly.
13. Blogger
Do
you have a topic area that you are passionate about? If you do, you
could turn that into a business by starting your own blog. Thousands of
blogs come and go each year, but the ones that offer topics in
information that adds value to the readers tend to stick around. And
they also tend to be profitable.
More from GFC, Below
The way to
make money blogging
comes from advertising revenue. Advertisers love to place ads on
specialized blogs, and those ads generate revenue, either as one-time
payments, or as ongoing cash flows provided by pay-per-click
advertising. You can also add affiliate programs to your blog. These are
ad offers in which you are paid either a flat fee or a percentage of
the sale amount any time a visitor makes a purchase from that vendor
from your site.
You can also sell your own products and services
from your blog. E-books are especially popular offerings from blogs, as
long as they provide valuable information that your readers would be
willing to pay for.
The best blogging niches are in areas like
investments, credit cards, autos and auto repair, computers, real
estate, travel, fashion, or even entertainment. Any topic area that is
relevant to a large number of people can turn into a profit generating
blog.
14. E-Commerce
If you have ever sold anything on
eBay or related sites, this could be a business option for you. It's
simply a matter of developing low-cost product sources of items to sell.
EBay even allows you to create an online store that enables you to sell
your products and services on a regular basis.
As you might
imagine, an eBay business is not quite as simple as many of the
proponents claim. It is a business in the true sense, and that means
you'll have to provide products that offer some type of advantage over
to what's out there right now. For example, products need to be either
unique, low-cost, or have certain valuable features that make them stand
out. Competition is heavy, especially with Amazon.com slowly gobbling
up the retail world.
And speaking of Amazon.com, it’s another outstanding site to consider running your ecommerce business on.
15. Grocery Delivery
There
are people who spend so much time on their jobs that they have little
time to perform even necessary chores, such as grocery shopping. You can
make money in a business that handles that job for them. And with the
Internet, it's pretty easy to automate that business. People can simply
email or text their orders to you, then you can arrange delivery. You
can even set up an online payment arrangement, such as PayPal.
Once
you get large enough to have multiple customers, you could probably
even combine shopping trips, by shopping for several customers at the
same store and time frame. You can charge a flat fee, or one based on a
percentage of the grocery order.
16. Buying and Selling
If
you are good at locating bargains at places like thrift stores, estate
sales, garage sales, or even online, you can start a business buying and
selling. The basic idea is to buy items on the cheap, and sell them at a
healthy profit.
This is something like running a pawn shop in
your home and online. You can sell your merchandise on websites such as
eBay, Amazon.com, and Craigslist. You can also opt to sell them at
garage sales from your home, or even at flea markets and swap meets.
The
basic idea is to sell an item for $100 that you purchased for $10. If
you have a skill like that – and some people actually do – it could turn
into a lucrative business.
17. Career Coach
If you're
good at whatever career you have (or had), but you're looking to make a
change to take it in a new direction, becoming a career coach could be a
natural shift. You're taking what you know that works in your career,
and training others in the same career how to use those skills to
improve their own career paths.
In a way, you have to become an
advocate for whatever your career specialization is. That means you have
to have an idea as to what the bigger picture factors are, such as the
credentials that a person may need to move ahead, as well as the
contacts or networks. There may also be certain skills that need to be
learned in order for a person to be promoted. You should be able to help
with all of that.
There are different ways that you can handle
this too. For example, if you have held several careers in your life,
you may be able to act more in the capacity of a general coach, helping
prepare people either to advance in their current careers, or to
transition into a new one.
18. Life Coach
This is similar
to being a career coach, except that you are extending to nearly all
facets of a person's life. It can include career coaching, but it isn't
limited to occupation alone. You'll be offering advice and planning in
the areas of motivation, finances, social activity, and
even hobbies. Your job will be to create a successful and well-balanced life for your clients.
People
do pay for the services. After all, if your job is dominating your
life, you might consider paying someone – an outsider – to help focus
you on improving other areas of your life, including your career.
You
can also create specialized niches here too. For example, you can
specialize in being a life coach for people who are coming out of a
divorce. Or, you can work with people who are undergoing career
transitions, or even people who are new in town and are looking for
connections and meaning in a strange place. You can take this in any
direction you like!
19. Professional Speaker
Are you
comfortable speaking in front of large groups? That's a potential
business right there. And again, there's a lot of flexibility with this
type of business. You can give specialized talks to businesses and
industry groups, talking about specific topics, or even just providing
motivation. You can even become a pitch man for certain products.
A
lot of businesses are looking at presentations as a way to market their
businesses. But if business owners don't have the ability or courage to
do so, they may a hire a professional speaker to do it for them. You
could be that speaker. All it takes is a few clients, and you'll be on
your way.
20. Voice-over Specialist
This is another
business idea that’s growing with technology. Companies often hire a
voiceover specialist to do podcasts on their websites. They may also
want a voiceover specialist to handle the audio on any videos they are
preparing.
At the higher end, there is also voiceover work doing
commercials. This is a growing field since commercials are no longer
limited just the TV. Thousands of commercials are popping up all over
the Internet, especially on YouTube.
21. Resume Writing Service
If
you can put together a pretty resume, this could be a good business for
you. And even if you can't, there are online sources where you can
learn how to do it quite easily. The secret is knowing how to write
effective resumes for specific careers – which again, is a skill you can
learn quickly. Resumes are typically written off of templates, and when
you have access to those templates – which you can often get free – all
you need to do is customize the details.
The built-in advantage
that you have here is most people either lack the ability to construct a
coherent resume, or have no desire to do so. You'd be filling a
valuable niche by stepping in and doing it for them.
22. Stand Up Comedian
I
realize that this is a very unconventional business idea, but it could
also be perfect if you have the ability to make people laugh. The
ability to do that is actually quite rare, at least on a consistent
basis. But if that describes you, this could be a viable business.
Like
all entertainment-based businesses, getting into it is hit or miss, and
moving forward might be more of a zigzag pattern than a straight line.
For that reason, most people who get into it typically have “day jobs”,
in order to pay the bills while getting started.
You can look for
jobs playing for company functions, being an emcee at parties, working
steadily at local comedy clubs, or even as the opening act for another
comedian, a band or some other entertainment act.
23. Light Hauling
If
you have a sturdy pickup truck or van, you may have all you need to
operate services for light hauling. People need a service like this for
jobs that fall short of a full scale household move. For example, they
may need delivery of a large item that they purchased at a store. Or
they may need a large item that they sold to people moved to the buyer's
home. It could even be a situation in which an adult child is moving
out on their own.
Any of these situations create the need for
light hauling. Customers will prefer a low-cost independent to an
expensive moving company, since they may charge a premium price based on
the small size of the job. As well, your ability to perform light jobs
quickly will give you a competitive advantage.
24. Childcare
With
so many people working outside the home, child care is becoming a
critical household need. The demand for childcare has grown now that
most households feature either a single working parent, or two parents
both holding full-time jobs outside the home.
There are different
ways that you can approach this. You can provide care for children in
their own home, or you can care for the children of several families in
your own home. While the second option will obviously allow you to scale
up your business, it is a highly regulated business, likely to require
state licensure. If you want to take it up to the next level, you can
even open up your own daycare center.
You
can also opt to do it as a full-time program, an after school only
program or even seasonally to cover summer vacations and the various
school vacations during the school year.
25. Home Staging
One
of the major requirements for real estate agents selling homes is
making sure that the interior of the house is sales-worthy. That means
converting someone's home from a place where people live to one that’s
almost like a museum.
That involves removing clutter, rearranging
furniture, and even adding helpful touches here and there, such as a
house plant in a corner, a picture on the wall, or a coffee table in
just the right place. Most property sellers – being emotionally attached
to their own homes – lack the objectivity to be able to stage their
homes for sale.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, it could
involve putting a tasteful amount of furniture and decorations in an
unoccupied home, in order to help prospective buyers to visualize
themselves living in the property.
It's a specialization, and if
you have a knack for it, you can create a business based around it. You
mostly market this kind of business to real estate agents, but you may
also find willing clients among builders and even people who are trying
to sell their homes on their own.
BONUS – Graphic Artist
People
and businesses are in need of all kinds of graphics for websites and
other projects. If you have skills in this area, you can offer your
services out to customers on a retail basis. You can find yourself doing
diverse projects, from designing logos to creating webpages.
You
can start any of these business for no more than a few hundred dollars –
and some with no upfront cash at all. Most can be started as side
businesses, that you can grow into full time businesses over time. Find
one that will work for you, get a couple of clients, and you’ll be on
your way to becoming an entrepreneur.
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