What Businesses to Start from $1000 with actionable steps

In this article we will show you what businesses to start from $1,000 dollars.

We have written down this detailed guide in which you will learn about the critical aspects of a business that you should look for.

1. E-commerce business

An e-commerce business is a business that has the ability to interact with customers and clients over the internet and through the use of online technology. It allows customers to purchase through a website or an app on their mobile phones.

E-commerce is the most growing business, particularly in post-COVID times. According to Statista, retail e-commerce revenue is expected to cross the $1.7 trillion mark by 2027.  

How to start an E-commerce business from $1,000

Capital allocation

• Build a professional e-commerce website ($100). Shopify and Woocommerce are the best and most cost-effective e-commerce solutions.
• Domain name ($15)
• Inventory ($500). Initially, start with a couple of SKUs, subsequently, expand based on the demand.
• Online ads ($300).

From $1,000, we will test our product and walk through the e-commerce process. Once you successfully rotate inventory a couple of times, you can invest more and increase product variations.

Find products and decide what to sell

Product selection is a ‘big cheese’ in e-commerce. It is the foundation of the e-commerce business.

Remember, don’t find customers for your products. Instead, find products for your customers.

Spend most of your time and effort in product hunting.

You can see google trends, online forums, and best sellers in online marketplaces such as Amazon, Ali Express, etc.

For your quick reference, the following are the most trending categories in 2022:

• Power tool accessories
• Dog toys
• Costume shoes
• Laptop batteries
• Shot glasses
• Slipcovers
• Wall plates and covers
• Baby shirts
• Curtain and drape rings
• Cabinet knobs and handles
• Watch accessories
• Tumblers
• Model train sets
• Signage
• Wedding dresses
• Table runners
• Motor vehicle parts

Check your competitors and make a business plan

Perform detailed research on your competitors. Check where your competitors are doing good and where they are lacking.

Google your competitors and check how they are sourcing, setting prices and what sales channel they are using.

Read your competitor’s customer reviews and evaluate the consumer sentiments after using the product.

Always listen to the customers, not the competitors.

Choose a logo and name and set up your online store

Kendrick Lamar

Your online store name is the one that your customers will remember. Don’t just start with a random name. Your store name should have some story. It shapes your e-commerce brand. 

Please refer to the below tips while deciding on your e-commerce brand name.

1. Keep it short and simple
2. Easy to remember
3. Be original.
4. Select the appropriate domain name.
5. Be original.
6. Easy to spell

You can also consider using online name-generator tools.

Marketing of e-commerce business

So far, so good.

It’s time to launch your e-commerce store finally. 

You have selected a product, taken care of the supply line, and created your online website.

Now here comes the moment of truth. We need to reach out to our audience through different marketing channels.

We need to see our consumers as human beings, not just buyers. We need to consider all dimensions real people have.

In this way, we will be able to market our e-commerce store effectively.

Allocate a small budget to run online ads on leading social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, etc. Evaluate which platform is giving the best conversions.

In parallel, you need to focus on the SEO of your website to bring free organic traffic. Write detailed user and buying guides on your blog. It will help your website to rank well in the search engines and gain authority around your niche.

2. Sell on online marketplaces

An online marketplace is a platform that connects buyers with sellers. Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress are examples of online marketplaces.

If you don’t know how to build a webstore, selling on online marketplaces is the right option you should take up.

Amazon, Walmart, and eBay are enjoying around 47% of the online retail market in the U.S.

According to Satista.com, Amazon made sales of $469 billion in 2021. And consumers spent a whopping $3.23 trillion on the top 100 marketplaces globally.

Amazon attracted more than 5 billion monthly visitors in July 2022 alone.

You can leverage this huge customer base. You can start sales from the day first due to having huge customer footfall.

As Amazon is the world’s most prominent online marketplace, we have listed down basic steps to follow to become a seller.

How to start Amazon FBA with $1,000

Product hunting and other research work

First and foremost, you need to checkout the Amazon’s restricted products. Also, some categories require approval from Amazon before listing.

Secondly, perform a rigorous product-hunting exercise. 99% of success depends on the right choice of product. There are many great tools that offer reliable data to check the stats of products already producing good results.

Helium, Keepa, and Jungle Scout are the best tools for product hunting.

These tools will give you a fair analysis of how much profit you will be making, considering the shipping costs, Amazon fees, etc.

Product Sourcing

Bring down the product cost better than your competition by good sourcing. That is how we can have a competitive advantage.

You can source your product locally or from China.

Alibaba is a great platform where you can find suppliers for nearly every product. Just post your request for a proposal, and you will get quotations from different suppliers very quickly. You can negotiate the price and decide on a shipping plan.

Before shipping your inventory to Amazon’s warehouse, test the sample of your product and check if it meets the requirements. Ensure that your product provides better quality and features than your competitors. 

You can choose air shipment (an expensive option) or sea shipment (cheap but requires more time to deliver).

Create listing and marketing

Hire a professional copywriter and photographer who can make a professional listing on Amazon. Otherwise, grammatical errors in the product listings and low-quality images ruin the customer’s experience. 

To generate sales, you need to run a PPC campaign so that your listing receives orders. Also, you can initially offer different discounts to generate sales and earn customer reviews.

3. Dropshipping business

Dropshipping is an excellent business to start with technically no investment. In dropshipping, the business owner doesn’t keep the inventory it sells. The products are purchased from a third-party supplier once the buyer places an order.

Products are manufactured, warehoused, and shipped by a third party. A business will only book the orders on its website and passes them to the third-party drop shipper for order processing and delivery.

Revenue through Dropshipping business model will touch half a trillion mark by 2026.

Find a profitable dropshipping niche

Alert! Dropshipping is a very competitive space; you will find thousands of websites running around the dropshipping model.

Start from a specific niche instead jumping into a broader niche.

For instance, “home improvement” is a broad niche, and chances to rank in this niche are near impossible.

Dig down further to sub-niche under home improvement, which could be “home security cameras.” This is a particular niche, and building authority around this sub-niche is much easier than simply targeting the broad niche. 

Define your target audience

Know your audience and plan accordingly. 

Continuing the above example, we will work on the products related to home security cameras. Now identify the target audience who will be interested in buying these cameras. 

Know the personas of the households usually concerned with their home security.

• What kind of features are they looking for?
• Are they interested more in night vision cameras?
• What are their preferences in terms of design?
• Do they prefer to monitor the surveillance from their phones?

Just explore the product listings of home security cameras on Amazon, and read the customer reviews. Review the 1-star reviews where the customers are complaining about the product. You will find out what kind of particular features a real consumer requires.

On these lines, you will be able to select a suitable product meeting the consumer’s requirements.

Also, the above data will help you in creating targeted sales funnel around your products. 

Finding dropshipper suppliers

There are thousands of dropshipper suppliers to choose from. Also, creating product listings, linking a payment gateway, and other technical stuff could be a tough job for beginners.

Shopify is a great platform where you can create your dropshipping store in less than an hour.

Everything is automated. You need to bring a customer to your website. Once a customer places an order, everything will be automatically processed. The supplier will get a notification of the order. He will pack, ship, and share the tracking number with the customer.

Creating an online webstore

An online e-commerce store is an online catalog where you list your products. Customers view the listing and place an order. Shopify offers a seamless experience; anyone can create an online store with a few clicks.

• Signup for a Shopify account and buy a monthly subscription to avail the maximum benefits.
• Register a domain name for your online store and link it with your Shopify store.
• Start importing your desired products using Shopify apps integrated into the interface.

Market your dropshipping store

The third-party dropshipper handles packing and shipping since everything else is automated. We have a chance to use all of our energy towards marketing and generating sales. The methods you can use to market your website are listed below.

Running ads on social media websites.

Social media websites are gold mines to generate sales. We need to run targeted ads specific to our desired market segment. We can identify online behaviors, gender and age classifications, likes and dislikes, and the pages they follow. in this way, we can easily show our product through ads to our relevant audience.

SEO of website

The Webstore must be compatible with search engines. Every month, there are more than 100,000 searches conducted by Google.

Run an SEO campaign to rank your product listings.

You will be able to get free visitors looking for the products you have.

Pros of dropshipping business

• No initial capital required.
• Nothing to worry about packing and shipping of products.
• Very easy to expand product lines.

Cons of dropshipping business

• Limited control over quality of products.
• High dependence on third party dropshipper.
• Margins can be too low if the manufacturer increases the prices.

4. Bookkeeping services

Bookkeeping services revolve around the recording of financial information in accounting software. It includes processing payroll, recording income, expenses, sales, and purchases, and preparing financial statements.  

Normally, small businesses need more expertise and budget to hire accounting professionals. They don’t even set up their accounting department.

Small businesses prefer to engage a professional services provider (an agency or accounting expert) to handle their bookkeeping affairs. 

Typically, a bookkeeper charges from $20 to $50 per hour, depending upon the complexity of the work.

The market size of bookkeeping services

The market size of bookkeeping services in the U.S. alone exceeded $60 billion in 2022.

6 steps to start a bookkeeping business

Select a sector/ industry

Bookkeeping is different for each sector. Choose a specific sector or industry in which you have the most expertise.

Bookkeeping in the trading business is different from service business.

Similarly, manufacturing businesses have a different chart of accounts than tech companies.

Ensure that you have in-depth knowledge of your target business sector to which you will provide bookkeeping services.

Proposal

Make a detailed proposal for your bookkeeping services. You must outline the essential services and deliverables you will provide to your clients.

Include your CV stating your professional certifications and experience.

Bookkeeping is a specialized area. Clients will be much more comfortable if you possess certifications like CPA, CMA, or other certifications relevant to accountants.

Select a bookkeeping software

Quickbooks is the best accounting software you can explore for bookkeeping services. It’s a cloud-based online software allowing you to record financial information anywhere. Also, sharing required reports with your clients is very convenient.

Legal aspects

Incorporate a limited liability company and provide services through a separate legal entity.

Get insurance to protect you against lawsuits in case of a dispute with your client.

How to find clients for bookkeeping services

Create a professional website highlighting your services. Showcase the certifications you possess and what value you will add to the businesses with your services.

Join accounting and small business groups on Facebook and share your detailed proposal. Explore business directories and reach out to newly incorporated businesses.

Write guest posts on business blogs and give your link to your landing page in the author’s bio section. 

Pros of Bookkeeping services

• Flexibility to work from anywhere.
• Long-term business relationships.
• Customer retention rates are high.
• Highly scalable business.
• Clients bring more clients by high referral rate.
• Doesn’t affect when economy is in recession. All businesses need bookkeeping services.

Cons of Bookkeeping services

• Slightly risky if you are covered against unlimited liability.
• Need to ensure the high level of client’s data security.
• Difficult to build team.
• Highly active business, difficult to plan vacation.

5. Graphic design services

Graphic design is an excellent business if you have a talent for drawing or designing.

It has a market size of more than $13 billion in the U.S. alone. You can sell your artwork and make money by doing that. There is no upfront cost, but you will need to learn how to draw and design.

To begin with, you will need to make some sample designs. These will serve as your portfolio. They will demonstrate your ability to create good designs.

The business of graphic design is growing fast. Many people are now making a decent income by designing graphics for businesses. You can make much money if you know how to design well.

Most of the design software is available free of charge.

However, you may have to pay for specific graphic design software packages such as Canva.

The program that you purchase will contain a variety of tools that you can use to create designs. There are many software programs available for different purposes.

Start from a specific category.

Graphic design has many categories. A newbie cannot master all graphic designing skills. Therefore, you need to select one specific sub-category to penetrate the market. After some time you can expand your skill set and offer in other categories of graphic design.

Following are a few category ideas from where you can take a jumpstart:

• Logo design
• Web graphics
• Brochure design
• T-shirt design
• Poster design
• Infographics

Get clients

Showcase your sample works on your website and present your offerings. At the start, give your clients more value and offer discounts.

Signup to all freelance websites such as Fiverr, Upwork, and Getafreelancer, and post your gigs. Bid your proposals to the job postings and offer good quality work at relatively discounted charges. In the services industry, once you meet the client’s requirements, he will not go anywhere. You will get lots of recurring work.

Pros of graphic design business

• Make money from your passion.
• Flexibility to work remotely.
• Once you develop learning curve, requires very little time to deliver a job.

Cons of graphic design business

• Too many revision requests.
• Very difficult to scale.
• Competitive market.
• Very less expensive work force available from developing countries.

6. Make money from Etsy

Etsy is an online marketplace where sellers list unique handmade items for sale.

If you have a unique product, Etsy is a great platform to make money from your creative ideas.

Etsy is a multi-billion market offering designers and art enthusiasts many opportunities.

Annual gross merchandise sales (GMS) of Etsy Inc. from 2005 to 2021(in a million U.S. dollars)

When making your first purchase on Etsy, you must set your payment method. You can choose from PayPal, check, direct deposit, etc. You can set up your store on Etsy by creating a listing on their website. You can either buy products from other sellers or design your product.

Following are the stepping stones by which you can start making money from Etsy:

• Select which products to sell. Check the best seller’s products and decide which particular product is getting more reviews. Make a better product at a low price and start competing with other sellers.
• Choose a catchy store name showing the aesthetics of your store.
• Use high-quality photos of your products. It’s a deal breaker in the e-commerce industry.
• Run ads for your listing and offer attractive discounts on your initial order to attract positive reviews.

Pros of Etsy

• Very easy to start.
• Less commercial than Amazon and eBay.
• Very easy to bring differentiation through unique designs.
• Credible platform where you can find serious customers ready to pay the right price.
• Less price war as compared to Amazon.

Cons of Etsy

• Very limited market.
• Many copycats are selling replicas of the original products.
• Lack of control, risk of account suspension.

7. Amazon affiliate marketing

Amazon pays a commission to its affiliates for selling things through their link. The process is very straightforward. You must sign up if you want to participate in the Amazon affiliate program.

You will be given a referral I.D. to embed in the product links.

Once a customer purchases a product from Amazon through your links, you’ll get a commission.

How to start making money from the Amazon affiliate program

Create a blog – start a micro-niche blog on a specific product category. It takes a lot of work to rank on broad categories. For example, “coffee makers” will be a broad blog niche. Instead, go for “coffee makers for travel.” Building authority is far easier in micro-niche than in broad niches where we can’t outrun big players.

Signup with Amazon affiliate program – There is a detailed signing-up process where you need to fill in the required details and add your website, blog, or any other social media channel which you will be using to promote Amazon’s products.

Your store I.D. – in the final step, you will be asked to choose your store I.D. This ID will be embedded in your product links so that Amazon can identify the traffic through your link.

Generate traffic – you need substantial traffic on your blog, which will redirect to your product listings. If you have done the niche and keyword research right, it will be easy to rank on the keywords and receive free organic traffic from search engines.

Pros of Affiliate marketing

• Billion dollar business.
• No need to handle customer service and after sales services.
• No upfront capital required.
• Highly passive business model. Earn while you sleep.

Cons of Affiliate marketing

• Commission structure changes anytime.
• Referring hard earned traffic to affiliate websites for small commissions.
• Revenue loss if products you are referring are out of stock.

8. Clothing business

Clothing is a multi-trillion industry in the U.S. alone. Generally, it requires enormous capital to start a clothing brand. However, if you follow the right strategies, you can start the clothing business from $1,000.

If you are passionate about fashion, the clothing business allows you to apply creativity and skills.

Define your clothing niche

You must decide from which clothing category you want to start your journey. Do you like sportswear, classic wear, casual wear, or any other category in which you are most interested?

Research your target audience

Perform comprehensive research on your target audience to check their likes and dislikes in terms of their clothing preferences. You can explore online product reviews and clothing forums, post queries on Quora, etc. Also, visit the local brick-and-mortar clothing stores and interview the business owners to know your audience. Once you have this data, you can easily tweak your product and try to resolve the shortcomings faced by the consumers.

How to start clothing business from $1,000

Since we are on a budget and can’t spend money on manufacturing or inventory, we can start a clothing business from $1,000.

Dropshipping model: In this model, you will be selling products from third-party suppliers from your website. The investment will be spent on online marketing and running ads.

Contract with a local wholesaler: You can engage a local wholesaler supplier who will be giving you products on credit. You can market the supplier’s catalog on your website or social media channels. Once a sale is made, you can buy the product from your supplier and ship it to the customer.

Conclusion

We have presented the best business ideas with actionable steps to start from just a $1,000 investment. All the business ideas are scalable and can quickly expand as you grow. Our list will help you start with a full-time job and eventually make it your primary source of income. Please let us know your thoughts and share your experience if you have started any of the above-mentioned businesses in the comment section below.