10 Home Business Ideas With Low Startup Costs

Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit and drive? Are you looking for home business ideas with low startup costs? Well, you’re in luck! Here we'll be looking at some home business ideas that you can consider starting without the need to take out a loan or eat up your savings. Simply figure out what you want to do, register your LLC or other business structure, and you’ll be good to go

If you aren’t sure what needs to take place when starting a business, take a look at our business checklist, which has tons of helpful information to assist you along the way.

1. Consulting

Do you have a skill you can share with others? Maybe you’re an expert in a certain industry? As a consultant, you can take the knowledge you possess, share it with others — and get paid. People are willing to spend money on individuals who can help make their life easier by learning a new skill or improving upon an existing one. This is a great low-cost startup business idea, though you'll need to work hard to market yourself and find clients.

2. Reselling Products

Home business ideas with low startup costs can actually mean not spending a dime — or at least not spending any more than you have already. Look around your house; you probably have plenty of items laying around that you can sell and get rid of. Open an eBay account and start selling your junk, or utilize platforms such as Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure; there’s a ton of money that can be made reselling things you don’t use around your home. From there you can branch out and buy cheap items at garage sales, and then resell them online to make a profit. Amazon is another place you can search for deals, buy cheap, and resell at a higher price.

3. Virtual Assistant

Another home business that you can do online is becoming a virtual assistant. It’s difficult to put a label on the responsibilities of a virtual assistant, as there are many. If you are good at data entry, you can get hired as a contractor to take over those responsibilities for a business. If you are great at researching, you can take the reigns on that type of project for a business. For pretty much any responsibility you can think of where you can excel, solve a problem, or save people money — you can make money doing it as a virtual assistant (and you don't need to only focus on one thing either).

4. Start a Blog

Blogging is still one of the best home business ideas with low startup costs. You can have a free WordPress website or spend a little money to purchase your own domain and hosting site. Either way, your words can bring in revenue. It may take some time to build your audience, but once you have them, you can monetize your blog in a few different ways. We recommend finding a niche subject to blog about. The broader topic or subject you write on, the harder it will be to funnel in a specific audience without spending a ton of money advertising your blog.

5. Brokering

How is your network? Did you work at a company and build a Rolodex of names you can call on at any point? If so, congrats — you now have a low-cost startup business idea right before your eyes. To be successful as a broker, you simply need to pick up the phone and call on people to buy a product or service from a company who brings you on as a broker. The great thing about being a broker is you can sell almost anything you want for whomever you want (assuming you don’t sign a non-compete agreement). You also don’t need to be tied down to brokering for just one company; you can have a handful or more depending on your reach and how hard you’re willing to work.

6. Freelance Writing

This author is living proof that freelancing can be a lucrative and low-cost startup business idea. If you enjoy writing and are knowledgeable in any area, you can offer your freelancing services to businesses in that particular market. As long as you already have a computer or laptop, there truly aren’t any other expenses you would incur unless you decided to start a website to promote your business (which is fairly inexpensive).

7. Online Coaching

Are you a personal trainer, life coach, relationship coach, mentor, etc.? If so, you don’t need a fancy office to start your business. This low-cost business idea can have you helping people across the globe from the comfort and privacy of your own home. You can Skype or FaceTime with clients, call them or simply communicate via email — whichever approach works for your business. The power of the internet allows us to be remote and still help make a change in the lives of others.

8. Sell Products

This is different from reselling mentioned above; rather than reselling items, you are creating something from scratch and selling it online. With websites like CafePress and Zazzle, you can create your own unique designs and put them on anything and everything. You can add your work of art to apparel, glassware, stickers, and just about anything your heart desires on these sites. Best of all, many of them do not cost a penny to start, and these platforms can handle the production and shipping for you (they simply take a percentage of your sales). This helps keep your costs down and makes this a simple home business to start with low costs.

Before getting started, make sure to research your business name and make sure it's available in your state. Use our Business Name Search Tool for guidance: