The Possibilities for an Entrepreneur with $10,000
With the convenience of online products and services in record demand in the current landscape, it is easier than ever to start a business for $10k or less.
Whether you want to start a side hustle for some supplemental income or replace your 9 to 5 job, becoming an entrepreneur could be your ticket to personal and financial freedom. But it requires the right work ethic and patience.
A $10,000 budget is a great amount to start a business off on the right foot and set yourself up for success. The list below serves as some excellent choices for the types of businesses you can start with $10k.
Financial Services
According to businessinsider.com, financial services are the #1 industry for producing the most millionaires.
With financial services, you can specialize in investing, retirement planning, insurance, and more. With training and experience, you can operate a financial service business that will have an unbeatable return on investment. The average annual income for financial service professionals is around $100k, but the earning potential is nearly unlimited.
Minimal startup costs for financial services include licensing and training courses. You’ll also need a computer and phone, but odds are you already own those items. The rest of your $10k starting capital can be used for important marketing efforts and additional training courses to help hone your sales skills.
Most of your communication with clients will be over the phone and email, so you can work from home and meet clients at coffee shops if necessary. Once your business starts taking off, then you can think about renting an office space, but it’s not required.
Wedding/Event Planner
The wedding industry is an over $50 billion industry, and that number is only increasing. For every wedding, there’s a stressed-out bride/groom-to-be that wants help planning the wedding of her/his dreams.
If you love planning things and are well organized, wedding planning may be a worthwhile business for you. Weddings are complicated events that have a lot of moving parts and brides/grooms and their families want them to go perfectly. People are willing to pay a premium for someone to do all the heavy lifting for them.
With minimal startup costs for a computer and phone that you probably already have, the only thing left to invest in is marketing. Once you build up your business, you can rely more on referrals that don’t cost you anything for marketing.
A wedding planning business can be a profitable side hustle or full-time income that has the possibility to earn you over $100k per year. You don’t have to stop at weddings either, you can open your services to any event such as family reunions, birthday parties, corporate events, and much more.
Crafting
If you love working with your hands and have a creative mind, starting a crafting business can be an extremely enjoyable and profitable venture.
Making and selling unique and handmade crafts such as candles, home decor, furniture, woodworking pieces, and many other crafts are in high demand and sell easily.
Once you invest in the necessary materials and tools, you can start crafting and selling your items through Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and local art shows. After you have some sales and repeat customers under your belt, you can start charging more for your projects to increase profits.
The sky is truly the limit with a crafting business. You can have a respectable supplemental income or a serious six-figure income with the right amount of dedication.
Real Estate Broker
If you want to start a business for 10k or less, becoming a real estate broker is a no-brainer. Many millionaires got their start in real estate sales, so it’s a proven method for wealth building.
Startup costs for a real estate sales business will be licensing and training courses. You won’t need an office because you’ll likely be on the move showing properties, but you’ll need a laptop and mobile phone.
Once you’re licensed, you can begin investing in marketing efforts to acquire your first clients. Once you’ve become a trusted local real estate resource, most of your business will come from no-cost referrals.
Real estate brokers on average make between $60k-$100k per year, but that number is just the start. Real estate brokers can make some serious six-figure or even seven-figure income once they’re well established.
Freelance Photographer
Photographers are an in-demand service for weddings, family photos, business marketing needs, and so much more. It takes special skills and equipment to produce high-quality photos, as a result, photographers are paid very well.
If you love photography and have an eye for details, becoming a freelance photographer is one of the best businesses to start. With your $10k starting capital you can buy a top-of-the-line camera, accessories, computer, and editing software. Since you’ll be going to your clients, you can do administrative work and editing from your home without the need to rent an office space.
Once you’ve kicked off your photography business, you can expect to make well over $100k per year after you’ve acquired referrals and repeat business.
Cleaning Service
There’s a lot to be said for doing something other people don’t want to do. For this reason, starting a cleaning service business may be your path to wealth if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.
No special skills are required to start a cleaning business, as most people know how to do basic cleaning. With a 10k starting budget, you can acquire all the equipment such as vacuums, mops, brooms, and cleaning products you’ll need. You may even have some money left over for a down payment on a dedicated van to transport your equipment between jobs.
Starting with residential cleaning, you can build your cleaning business up until you can invest it back into more equipment and employees for bigger commercial contracts.
Since cleaning is needed on a repeat basis, you’ll have mostly repeat customers that you can count on for a consistent income. Once you keep building more repeat customers and hiring employees for additional crews, you’ll start to see some serious high six-figure income.
Affiliate Marketing
You’ve probably heard of affiliate marketing, but why is it a great business to start?
Affiliate marketing is a great business to start because you don’t need a whole lot of money to get started. If you have a smartphone and a computer, you’re pretty much all set. If you have $10k to invest, use it for training courses and marketing efforts to get your name out there.
Start a blog, Instagram account, or YouTube channel about anything you’re interested in. Once you start to gain followers, you can start to build relationships with affiliate programs from various companies.
Affiliate programs will pay you commissions when consumers buy products from your links, so the earning potential is substantial. Affiliate marketing is not the quickest or most foolproof business to start, but if you strive to put out great content, the money will follow.
Conclusion
Starting a business in today’s uncertain economy can seem like a scary endeavor. While starting a business takes a lot of work and dedication, it is by no means out of reach for most people.
With $10k to start with, you’ll have more than enough to set your business up for success. While most of the businesses on this list can be started with much less than $10k, the extra capital gives you the flexibility to invest in marketing and training.
There is no better time to start than now. Once you get the ball rolling, the only thing you’ll regret is you didn’t start your own business much sooner.