No Inventory? No Problem: 04 Low Investment Small Business Ideas

        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, upfront costs and more on getting started. So in today's blog, I'm going to take you through some low investment, small business ideas that you can start making money. I think the pandemic has really forced us to think differently. So in today's blog, I'm going to be sharing some unconventional, different, fun business ideas to get you started.

        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. 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.

       2! Create your own fashion boutique. Now I know you're probably thinking, okay, this blog 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 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 article 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.

       3!Try starting a pet business. 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.

       4!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, 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.

       I'm so glad that our blog 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. 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 reading. I hope this blog 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 comment section, what business are you guys are going to start?