5 Low-Investment Businesses You Can Start in a Weekend

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Starting a business may sound like a daunting endeavor that requires a massive plan, a lot of capital and years of planning. However, that’s not always the case.

In fact, some businesses can be started with very little capital in as short as a weekend. However, they will still require careful planning and some basic skills or a network that you can tap into. Here are five low-investment businesses that you may be able to start in a weekend. 

Consulting

• Cost to start: $100 or less

Consultant is a generic umbrella term that means anyone who brings a particular expertise to help others improve something in their business or finances. There are social media consultants, marketing/PR consultants, organizational consultants, design consultants, e-commerce consultants and many more. If you already have one useful skill set you know could help other businesses or individuals, then all you really need to do is prepare a simple website to advertise your skills, and then network, network, network. 

Sites like Wix make website design uber-simple, and you can get on a plan for as little as $16. While many counties require a business license to operate even a sole proprietorship, these typically start on the low side — around $50 — and may go up based on how much income you earn.

Pet Sitting

• Cost to start: $20 or less

People travel for leisure and work all the time, and anyone who has pets knows that it can be incredibly difficult to find quality care, especially on short notice. While you can connect up with apps like Rover, people are often more willing to rely on someone they know, or who is referred by a trusted source.

The great thing about pet sitting is, ideally, you could set this up for little to no investment at all. You might need to produce a business card, which you could design and print yourself for around $20 for the business card paper, or create a simple web presence. However, there are plenty of free ways to do this without needing to create an entire website. Utilize something like LinkTree or create a free Substack newsletter as placeholders for a website.

Personal Assistant

• Cost to start: Free (potentially)

In this digitally connected world, it’s easier than ever to offer services to people from your own home desk. Many business people need help that you can provide virtually, as a personal assistant doing administrative tasks from afar. From scheduling appointments, to managing a social media account to a variety of tasks, if you’re organized, effective and don’t mind speaking on behalf of someone else, you could offer these skills with little more effort than signing up through sites like Fiverr or Upwork.

Though setting up accounts on those websites is free, you may have to pay a percentage out to the site of any fees you earn through them.

Tutoring

• Cost to start: $20 to $100

Are you gifted in an area of knowledge that others struggle with? Writing essays, for example? Or math? Do you understand the English language well enough to help others learn it better? These are all areas of learning that are in high demand, not only at the student level, but often in adults who are looking to improve their skills for work-related reasons.

As with other jobs on this list, at minimum, you can probably get away with just a business card. However, a website or other digital presence is often a great way to get leads. Start with your existing networks of friends or family and ask them to spread the word. Or, contact local schools, universities and your chamber of commerce to see if you can advertise in their directory, which could run around $100 or more.

Pop Up Bakery

• Cost to start: Cost of supplies

While starting your own actual bakery would be quite expensive and require scouting for location, you can run an at-home bakery making goods for local events and friends quite easily. Even consider a pop-up bakery, where you show up on-site as requested. Your costs will be in supplies, and will vary, but start simple. Once you get a response, you can spend money on things like logo design and packaging.

While most of these jobs can be started with minimal costs, keep in mind that there are other costs you may want to invest in over time such as a professional headshot, professional website, marketing or advertising (and in some cases, supplies). If your current computer and desk set-up are outdated, you might want to invest in these, too. However, you can get a start and potentially be earning money before you have to lay out these costs.

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