A lot of us don't have thousands of dollars that we could just
be shelling out on inventory and warehousing and retail space.
But contrary to popular belief, there are actually many business
ideas that let you focus less on the logistical and upfront costs
and more on getting started.
So in today's video, I'm going to take you through some low
investment, small business ideas that you can start
making money with this year.
Let's get into it.
I am so excited to be filming this video because I think
the pandemic has really forced us to think differently.
So in today's video, I'm going to be sharing some unconventional,
different, fun business ideas to get you started.
So, number one, you can start a charitable business.
Now you don't have to be a nonprofit in order
to make this work.
You can still be a profitable company and weave in a charitable
aspect into your business plan.
So, for example, when COVID hit Toronto had a local designer,
her name is Rachelle LeBlanc and she built protective plastic
shields for business owners that couldn't afford to buy them.
So that's just one idea off the top of my head.
But of course, you're going to want to choose a cause that you
care about and that'll give your business meaning, and it's going to
make you motivated to work harder.
What would actually make your life a whole lot easier is to download
a Shopify app called give and grow.
It makes it really easy to partner with charitable organizations.
So you can set it up to donate a specific amount or maybe a
percentage of sales, or you could even ask your customers
to add a donation at checkout.
Obviously, you're going to want to talk about your charitable
efforts in your marketing.
And I think there's definitely a tasteful way that you
can actually go about this.
So you can share humble blog posts, or you can get other people to
talk about your, your humanitarian work on your behalf, if you don't
feel comfortable, you know, putting that on blast, you can talk to
publications or influencers and they can talk about it for you.
Create your own fashion boutique.
Now I know you're probably thinking, okay, this video
is supposed to be about not holding any inventory.
But you actually do not need to buy any inventory in order to create a
successful online fashion boutique.
You just need to have an eye for style and upcoming trends
and curate your own shop.
So you can source clothing from product sourcing apps, like
Oberlo, Ali express, Alibaba.
And that's going to allow you to adopt a drop shipping
model for your business.
If this is the first time that you're hearing about drop shipping,
check out this video right over here, where we explain it in
depth about how this works.
With this type of a business, it's all about picking a niche and just
really sticking to it and only holding inventory that appeals
to a specific type of person.
So, as an example, if you are targeting a riot girl type of
aesthetic, then you're going to want to hold, you know,
punk and goth style clothing.
And really only that type of clothing.
Try starting a pet business.
Okay.
Is it just me or is everyone getting a dog?
I don't know if it is the pandemic or what, but the
pet industry is worth nearly a hundred billion dollars.
So you can take a piece of that pie by offering pet services.
If you're an animal lover, it could be meaningful to start a pet
walking or a pet sitting business.
You can sell packages for clients that might be too busy with
work or ready to go on vacation.
So my recommendation would be to start by marketing your
services on an app like Rover.
You're going to want to start here because there's already
an established user base.
And then once you establish those relationships with regular clients,
then you can direct them over to your own Shopify website in order
to convert them to larger packages.
Create a membership program.
Starting your own membership program is a really nice way
to make recurring income, especially if you already
have an established network.
And I think right now, everyone is probably a little bit fatigued
with online classes, but you can still stand out if you find
a way to differentiate yourself and scratch a specific itch that
people are currently having.
So right now off the top of my head, um, I think people
are lacking community and they're lacking connection.
So maybe if you wanted to start like a woman's circle, for example,
where people could connect.
That could be an interesting take on this.
And it is super easy to start your membership
based business in Shopify.
So set up a new product, just like you would for a physical product,
but create a name and description that tells people about your
membership services or events.
If you want even more inspiration to start, we've actually compiled
a list of over a hundred in demand business ideas, and
they're actually broken down into categories to make it super simple.
So we have categories like fitness, apparel, and gaming.
So all you have to do is click here to download the big list
of business ideas for free.
You can start a zine.
So do you have something important to say?
Do you have a specific viewpoint on a topic?
Are you super creative?
Well, if you said yes to all of these things, then you might be
interested in starting a magazine.
And I think this is just such a fun business idea because you get to
collaborate with other creatives in order to make this come to life.
Starting a zine also creates space for breeding a new culture that you
could lead and you could spearhead.
And I think it's nice to bring like-minded creative
people together, especially in today's climate.
So the best way to make this all go down without having to hold
any inventory at all is by using a method called print on demand.
So what happens with print on demand is you only pay for an order
once someone actually puts the order in, you only send it to print
once someone has paid for an order.
So if you are interested in how the print on demand method
works, feel free to check out this video right here.
It goes into depth on how you can print books and magazines without
holding any inventory at all.
Sell your digital artwork.
So if you're a creative person and you want to monetize your
talents, then selling your work is a perfect for artists who want
to take their work more seriously.
So you can either scan in your artwork and use the print on demand
method that we just talked about.
Or you could do digital drawings, like my friend ALPO here.
Or how about this method, I literally just heard about
this recently, but creators are starting to sell crypto art.
Crypto art is a category of art related to blockchain technology
and if any of you know about how this works and definitely let me
know in the comments section, I think this could be a really cool
concept and it might be nice to hop on this trend before it blows up.
I don't know, but what I do know is that there's real opportunity here
to make this a lucrative venture.
So you can aim for volume and sell as many prints as
possible, or you can use scarcity tactics to make your work feel
exclusive and hard to come by.
Once you've gone ahead and locked in your business idea,
I would recommend that you start building your business,
using a free trial on shopify.
It's powerful.
It's easy to use and it really simplifies running your business.
So you can click this link right here to claim your free trial now.
All right.
It is common time.
This is literally my favorite part of these videos, because
I get to answer your comments that you've left for us.
So let's get into it.
Um, have Faiza, Azizi is starting a business and they
ask, I need help with a very specific question, they say.
I'm willing to open a nichev pet store.
And if you were me, which product would you set as the main product?
And then they go on to list a few and then they say they all have
good reviews and well selling rate on Ali express and Amazon.
But I'm confused about which product.
So I think this is a great question.
And I wanted to include this question because I think if
you're watching this video, a lot of us might be having
trouble about, you know, which product we should choose or
which service we want to go with.
And I think it's common.
So whether you're selling pet items like Faiza or anything
else, really, you're definitely going to want to validate first.
You're going to want to make sure that sure that there's
a market for it, and that there is space for you.
So here's how to validate.
First checkout, Google trends.
Search your region and timeframe to see if your product has an
upward trend and you can also get even more specific and
see which states have the most demand for what you want to sell.
You're also going to want to download keywords everywhere.
This is a Chrome extension, and it's going to help you see
historical data on how many people are Googling your item.
Like here, we can see that pet hair remover.
This was one of the items that have Faiza was asking
about, and we can see that it has been growing over time.
And then my last tip is to use Google keyword planner.
And this will give you an estimate of how many people
are searching for it.
And you can also get a general sense of how competitive it
may be to sell that product.
All right.
Let's look at the next comment.
So over here we have Ronnie Raja and they say, thank
you so much for your advice.
My daughter is 15 years old and she wants to start
her own jewelry business.
I've never done this before and want to help her establish herself.
Okay.
I love this for so many reasons.
First of all, I'm so glad that our videos have helped you, but also
this just goes to show you can be 15, you could be 50, you could be
anywhere in the world and you could start your own e-commerce business.
And I think in my humble opinion, I think Shopify helps you do that.
Um, if you have a question or if you have a funny,one-liner drop
it for me in the comments section.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I hope this video has helped you and given you some
inspiration on what business you guys want to start.
I'm curious to know, let me know in the common section, what
business are you guys gonna start?
And if you aren't already subscribed to this
channel, be sure to do so.
Especially if you are an entrepreneur, we have videos just
like this with simple, actionable tips on getting your business
started or growing your existing business and hit that notification
bell so that you're not missing out on any future videos.
I'm your host Michelle Bali and I will see you in the next one.
Bye.