5 BEST SMALL BUSINESS IDEAS TO START FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

“It doesn’t always take money to make money”

One of the biggest obstacles to starting a business that people seem to always be struggling with - is founding enough money to get off the ground.

Honestly, this is a fact but you actually don’t need to spend millions of shillings to start a new business.

Contrary to popular belief, there are many Startup Business Ideas you can work on without spending very money at all. These small online business ideas all offer a wonderful opportunities if you’re just getting started in your entrepreneurial journey.

Get it in your mind that it won’t be easy. You need to develop a strong brand, invest your time in marketing and operations, and provide an excellent user experience.

Below, is a list of 5 low – cost startup business ideas that I hope will demonstrate that money isn’t everything when launching an online business – it’s all about passion and creativity!

 

1.    START A CONSULTING BUSINESS

It’s obvious that you’ve spent the first 20 or 30 years of your life learning skills whether in high school, college or in the University.

Some of the skills you’ve developed over the years can be used to generate income. Use your knowledge and talents to solve the problems of other people, your clients - that’s what a consulting business is all about.

Just a simple website is enough to get you started.

2.    LAUNCH A DIGITAL PRODUCT

Providing services can be very lucrative, but another equally profitable and low – cost way to deliver a solution using your skills through a digital product.

Whether that’s an e – book, a course, an article, a template, or anything in between, you can help people by digitizing your knowledge.

In contrast with other traditional ways to deliver knowledge, like seminars, books, or consulting, digital products allow you to help people at scale. This means you create the product once and then you sell it as many times as you want with almost no recurring costs involved.

3.    GROW AN INSTAGRAM FOLLOWING

Did you know that you can make extra cash through your Instagram account? Instagram isn’t a fun way to waste time, liking your friends’ picture and sharing your own – but now days,  commanding a following on instagram is an asset and a way to leverage influence to make money.

Many Companies now days are willing to pay good money to people like you to promote their products. That’s the entire business model of becoming an “influencer”.

If you can build a strong following on instagram by taking and sharing photos that connects with an audience, rest assured that you can make money from it.

The key to monetizing an Instagram account isn’t to grow as big as possible, but to build a loyal group of followers.

All you need is just a Smartphone (maybe a camera), editing software, and your creativity.

Most mobile editing software  is free – even though withsome limitations. Apps like Adobe Photoshop Express, Snap seed, Canvas, or even Instagram itself own editing software all free and enough to get you started.

4.    START A YOU TUBE CHANNEL

You tube is one of the most popular website in the world with over 30 million daily active users. Thousands of independent channels have been launched by regular folks with nothing but just a camera and a computer – and the results have always been enormous.

Many You Tubers have made millions of shillings from a mix of advertising, sponsored videos, affiliate offers, and the sale of their own products.

The good news is, you don’t need such a large audience to succeed with You Tube. Just like with Instagram, the goal is to have a loyal audience that trust your brand, regardless of its size. In this case, like in many cases in life, quality trumps quantity.

In order to start a You Tube Channel, all you need is a camera and editing software. The camera doesn’t have to be like the ones used by professional photographers. Your phone camera is enough to get you started.

5.    START A BLOG

Blogging is one of my favorite hobby. If you like writing – and you’re passionate about something, you can share it with your audience through blogging hence generate an income.

Blogging has been a popular way of building audience since the late 90s and people are making good money from it. The same revenue streams mentioned above apply for bloggers as well – the most popular in this case being affiliate marketing.

Starting a blog is quite easy and cheap but competition can be tough in many industries – especially those related to health, marketing and business.

Most of the work needed to drive traffic to a site requires you to find a unique angle, create highly useful content, and promote it to the right audience.

 

Conclusion;

You may have noticed that all of these ideas have one thing in common;- influence. If you are able to build a following – whether through Instagram, You Tube, Blog or other channels – rest assured you can make money with the little monetary investment upfront.

All you need to do is finding the right ideas to delve into that will make people want to enjoy and share your content and then come back for more.