Are you tired of the rat race and would like to put up your own business? This article will show you 5 businesses to start with little money.

There are many reasons people want to put up a business of their own. The obvious ones are they don’t like their present job, they want to have a different lifestyle that’s less work-centric, or simply want to earn more money. Some people have different, nobler reasons, such as wanting to raise money for charity or put up their own charity. Whatever the motivation, is it easy to put up your own business, even with little or no money capital?

The answer is yes, and here are a few businesses to start with little money

1. Content Provider

What does a content provider do? This occupation deals mostly with writing for online assets like blogs, social media sites or creating and uploading videos. Content can mean a lot of things, but as a business, you can market yourself as a third-party supplier that makes articles, videos, reviews, infographics or whatever material that can be posted online and used to promote anything from a cause to a product or service.

To make money as a content provider, you can make your own content that has value for a certain market, then upload it on YouTube. Once that’s done and you rack up enough views or subscribers to your content, you’ll earn revenue from advertisers.

Another way of making money as a content provider is to farm out your services to clients. These can be private individuals who need a ghostwriter or content creator for their blogs or business websites, or big corporations that need someone to write articles for their blogs, and create other content for their websites to become visible when searched in Google or other search engines.

To start this kind of business, you’ll need a laptop and a fast internet connection, and recording equipment and editing software if you want to include videos as part of your services.

2. On-Call Handyman

If you have the knowledge and skills for repairing items like household appliances, gadgets, or cellphones, you can become a repairman that makes house calls or works from your home. There’s still a need for someone who can repair malfunctioning appliances like toasters, older-model TVs and refrigerators.

Apart from repair, you can also provide installation services like air conditioning units, new doors and doorknobs, new locks, doorbells and other home fixtures. Offering your services as an installer or repairman for electrical wiring or plumbing can likewise be a lucrative venture. All you’ll need is the necessary skills and knowledge for repairing wiring, plumbing, and basic carpentry, plus the needed hardware to start this business.

3. Caterer

You don’t have to be a chef or hold a culinary degree to become a caterer. Start with a few good recipes, compute their costs and price them reasonably, and you can sell your dishes or food items from your home, or deliver them to nearby customers by contracting other delivery services.

Update your menu and learn new recipes from online sources. You can send samples of your dishes to offices along with a calling card to accept deliveries or accept contracts to provide the food for company events or parties. If your menu offers dishes that are unique and can’t be replicated by run-of-the-mill restaurants, individuals or companies will appreciate your personal touch.

One great thing about this business is that as long as you’re passionate about the food you cook and cook dishes well, you’ll always be offering value and it’s easier to avoid business failure quickly.

The best part about a business like this is that it thrives by word-of-mouth. If enough people like your food, sometimes they’ll recommend you to their friends and relatives without you asking. It’s even easier now for the word to get around about your catering business if you use social media to promote your services and show off your dishes.

4. Dog Walker

Simply walking a busy dog owner’s dogs can be good business. Most people are usually off at work and keep their lonely pets at home, where they become restless and may end up damaging their owners’ furniture or possessions. Most people can’t hire a full-time caretaker to walk their dogs or make sure they’re fed, so this is where you can come in.

In fact, you can charge a flat or hourly rate for offering this service. The investment you’ll likely have to make consists mostly of your time and energy, as some dogs can be a handful. As long as you’re good with dogs, enjoy walking them and don’t mind dogs jumping on or drooling on you, this can be an enjoyable and profitable business.

5. Sneaker Restoration and Repair

People today pay a lot of money for sneakers. Look around and you’ll see young professionals and business types walk around in sneakers that cost upwards of P5,000. This is a potentially large, untapped market.

In other words, in sneaker restoration and repair business, you can pick up a few tricks of the trade from other restorers like this one. You can work from your home to save on office space rentals, but your investment will largely be on the shoe restoration equipment like the cleaning solvents, chemicals, shoe parts, and tools.

Depending on how extensive your services will be, you can offer a range of services from simple one-day cleaning to a full restoration of the sneakers, which could take two weeks to a month, and cost anywhere from P150 to almost P2,000 depending on the severity of the damage.

Finally, these are a small sample of the many possible businesses to start with little money. Part of getting your business off the ground is to figure out what people need and have the skills and enough know-how to match it and charge a decent price for it. You’ll also need a computer and internet connection to get your business up and running; and to avoid running into any legal problems, get your business registered.