With unemployment at an all time high and more people struggling to make ends meet
we look at potential low cost business ideas that people can get into to make some
extra money or even a complete business, in this article we’ll look at five of these
ideas, but will update it every time we get a new idea so come back for more, you’ll
find it in the work section.
Stock media creator | Low cost
If you have a digital camera or musical equipment and are fairly handy with it you could create stock media. Stock media are the pictures, illustrations, videos and sounds that organisations use when they need a photo of a specific item, concept, or social situation, or music for a particular video sequence. In most instances you create a sellers account, upload your media and when someone buys it you get paid a set amount, usually around 20%-40% of the sale price which means you could get between 20p - £8 per item depending on the size the buyer chooses. Anyone who can create good quality sharp media can become a stock media creator. Amongst the most popular of these sites are www.istockphoto.com, www.gettyimages.com, and www.fotolio.com
Leaflet distributor | Low cost
You are the person that puts advertising leaflets for companies into peoples letter boxes. A pretty simple business, to get started you would have to make your services known to local printers, and companies that want to do a distribution. You can expect to make on average £20 per 1,000 leaflets delivered, but be warned delivering 1,000 leaflets can take about 3 hours.
Business stationary designer | Low cost
If you have a computer and a desktop publishing application such as PagePlus or Microsoft Publisher then you have all you need to design business stationary, such as logos, leaflets, headed paper or business card, and with an array of on-line printers, the ability to have them all printed. You can create logos from £35 up to all inclusive packages costing £150. All you need to do is advertise your services.
Ebay selling assistant | Low cost
If you enjoy selling items on the number one auction site, Ebay, then becoming an Ebay selling assistant could be for you. You sell items on behalf of people who either do not know how to use Ebay or who don’t have the time. You simply agree an estimate of what you think the item will sell for, you post the item on Ebay as necessary, and then when it sells, you take a percentage of the money made after expenses such as postage, usually about 20%. It’s important to make sure that the item you are selling is in a saleable condition, if there is anything wrong with it the buyer will come back to you, and may leave negative feedback.
Sell video tutorials | Low cost
Think you’re fantastic at Photoshop, excel at Excel, know your page breaks from your section breaks in Word? If you think you have skills you could teach people, why not sell video tutorials. Get some screen capture software, such as the free BB FlashBack Express, a decent microphone. Create at least 1 hours worth of tutorials on the most popular elements or the tips and tricks only you know, and sell it using places such as www.Ebay.co.uk, or www.Gumtree.co.uk. For each hour you could sell the tutorial for £5, you can provide it as an e-item to download or post it to the buyer. You can post samples on www.Youtube.com or www.Vimeo.com so people can see what they will be buying.
Don’t forget to check this article again next week in the work section where we’ll add 5 more ideas.
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