15 Best Low-Cost Business Ideas With High Profit

Ever thought about starting your own profitable business without spending a ton of money? Well, you can! In this article, I’ll break down the 15 best low-cost business ideas with high profit you can launch right now! You don’t need to be rich – just bring your passion, and we’ll turn those dreams into reality.

You’ve got to spend money to make money, they say.

But here is the catch: we all want to make money, but not all of us have much to invest.

But you know what? This old saying isn’t true anymore.

Right now, there are plenty of profitable small business ideas you can start from the comfort of your home without breaking the bank.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not!

Below, you can find the 15 best low-cost business ideas with high profit, and I will share a success story for each to motivate you to get started!

So, what are we waiting for!?

15 Best Low-Cost Business Ideas With High Profit

1. Sell Digital Products

Digital products have exploded in popularity in recent years. And selling them has become one of the best low-cost business ideas with high profit potential out there.

Think of digital templates, graphics, PDFs, audio content, and printables – these are things you can create for free and sell through online marketplaces like Etsy.

Plus, because digital products are stored, sold, and delivered online, you don’t even have to invest in any inventory.

Plus, once you have created a digital product, you can sell it an infinite number of times, meaning digital products can be an excellent source of passive income.

Pro tip: Take your digital products business to the next level by investing in tools like Adobe Creative Cloud to make your products more unique or your own personalized online store with Shopify.

How to get started

Possible business ideas

2. Cleaning Business

This is one of the most in-demand and affordable business ideas out there.

You can start a cleaning business with only a few basic supplies.

Or, you can invest in specific equipment for more specialized cleaning – think of a power washer, a carpet cleaner, or a ladder for gutter cleaning.

That’s just the thing about the cleaning game – the options are pretty much endless, and the more specialized you get, the more money you can make.

While it’s not uncommon for someone doing house cleaning to make $20-$50 per hour, if you expand into commercial cleaning of warehouses, retail spaces, or more specialized cleaning like power washing or move-in/out cleaning, you can make even more!

3. Virtual Assistant

With the rise of digital business practices, the virtual assistant industry is now one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and one of the best low-cost businesses with high profits.

As a virtual assistant, you will do just about everything a regular assistant does for a business or individual, but remotely.

This could include booking appointments, customer service, data entry, creating blogs and other digital content, and even managing social media accounts.

Because virtual assistants are in such high demand, it is not unusual for VAs with little experience to earn $30-$50/hour or more!

4. Growing Microgreens

One of my favorite affordable business ideas right now is selling microgreens. Think of things like arugula, fennel, radish, kale, and chard – these are high-nutrient greens that more and more people are including in their diet.

Unlike a full-scale vegetable operation, a microgreen operation can be set up easily. All you need is a few hundred dollars of equipment and about six feet of indoor space, meaning you can start a microgreen business in a spare bedroom, basement, garage, office, or even a closet.

Then, you can sell to individual customers or restaurants and grocery stores for even higher profits.

5. Blogging

Yes, I’m probably biased, but blogging might be my favorite of all low-cost business ideas with high profit.

Why?

Because it’s a way to make money by sharing something you are passionate about with the world!

Sure, building and growing a blog can take some time, but if you’re willing to stick with it and put the work in, the sky is pretty much the limit for what you can make.

But how do you actually make money?

There are so many ways – from affiliate marketing to selling products, to brand partnerships, to teaching courses, and beyond.

6. Freelance Writing

My favorite thing about freelance writing is that it is so versatile, meaning you can make money in so many ways.

It could be writing articles for online magazines or newspapers, ghostwriting blog posts or books, or writing marketing campaigns and website copy for businesses; it could even mean writing social media content or scripts for videos and podcasts.

With a little experience, freelance writers can often make thousands or even tens of thousands per month!

7. Online Tutoring

Parents are always looking for tutors for their kids, while college students are always looking for extra help with their classes, meaning that if you are an expert in a particular subject, online tutoring can be one of the most profitable small business ideas around.

If you have teaching experience, an easy place to find work is BookNook, where you can get paid to tutor kids in math and reading.

You could also advertise your services on a digital tutoring directory like Care.com, place advertisements in Facebook groups, or speak directly to people you know with children.

You can even teach people with custom classes in just about any topic you want on Outschool!

8. Food Services

If you love food, this is definitely one of the best and most profitable small business ideas out there because there are so many options at your disposal.

If you’re an incredible cook, you could become a personal chef for families and busy professionals, offer readymade meal delivery, or do catering for dinner parties and events.

Or, you could launch an online store selling specialty items like homemade jams, baked goods, or snacks.

Don’t feel like making things again and again? You could teach others your skills and share your passion with a food blog, a YouTube channel, or by offering courses or workshops.

9. Bookkeeping

Like virtual assistants, remote bookkeepers are in extremely high demand, since every business needs to keep track of its numbers.

As a bookkeeper, you will do things like recording sales transactions, managing bill payments and reconciling expenses, entering and organizing data, and producing reports for record keeping.

While you don’t need any special qualifications or accounting experience to get started, I would recommend taking a look at these amazing free classes on how to earn money with a freelance bookkeeping business.

Pro tip: Consider freelance tax preparation and earn big money helping individuals and small business owners during tax season.

10. Dog Walking

Did you know that more than half of the households in the United States have a dog? And guess what? Many of them are looking for someone to walk these dogs for them while they are at work or simply too busy.

Starting a dog walking business can be as easy as speaking to dog owners in your neighborhood or posting in a local Facebook community group.

But if you want to get started today, the best and easiest way is with Rover, where more than one million pet owners head every month. There, you can offer dog walking, as well as a variety of other services like pet-sitting and drop-ins for dogs and all sorts of other pets.

11. Self-Publishing

It used to be nearly impossible to get a book published. But that’s no longer the case!

It is now so easy to self-publish your work using platforms like Amazon KDP and Lulu. And because these platforms allow you to sell your books on a print-on-demand basis, you don’t even need to invest any money to get started!

Bonus tip: Definitely one of the cheapest, most profitable business ideas in the self-publishing niche is what is known as ‘low-content publishing.’ This means that you sell books with nothing in them. Think of things like journals and diaries, coloring books, books of games, even the lined paper used by students. People make big money selling these things with almost no effort!

12. Event Planning Business

Event planning is one of the best low-investment high-return business ideas if you are an expert organizer and planner.

Just think about all the options for events you could plan – from weddings (the most popular niche) to business conferences and corporate retreats, to product launches, charity events, and more!

What works for you will all depend on where your skills lie and what type of things you like!

Bonus, you can even rent the things people who are putting on events need. Think of things like chairs, silverware, and glasses, wedding décor, audio/video equipment, kitchen equipment, even bouncy houses!

13. Social Media Management

These days, every business needs a social media presence, and many are hiring freelancers to manage their social media accounts for them.

A recent report shows that the market for social media managers is expected to triple by 2027.

If you’ve got an eye for what goes viral, a knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO), and love spending time on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, or the platform formerly known as Twitter, then social media management can be one of the most lucrative business ideas out there with extremely low startup costs.

As a social media manager, you can do just about everything related to a brand’s social media presence, including creating eye-catching content, coordinating ad campaigns, engaging with followers, and beyond!

14. Selling Online Courses

You’ve heard me talk about it before – the e-learning industry is off the charts right now, having doubled in size since 2019, and expected to triple in size by 2030. What this means is that selling online courses has become one of the cheapest most profitable business ideas around.

Online courses are so easy to create and sell using platforms like Teachable, Skillshare, or Udemy. Check them out! They give you all the tools you need to create something unique that sells.

Even better, once you’ve created the course, you can sell it an infinite number of times. As mentioned with digital products, this means passive income!

15. Coaching

Similar to selling courses, coaching is a way to help people reach their goals while getting paid for it.

With the number of people out there right now looking for new ways to make money, ways to be healthier, and ways to enjoy life more, coaching is, without a doubt, one of the best low-investment, high-return business ideas there is.

What you could coach depends on what you’re good at. Think about business and career coaching, health and wellness coaching, financial coaching, coaching for parents, and so on.

To start finding clients, first leverage your existing networks – think friends, family, colleagues, and social media contacts – and consider the things people already ask you to help them with.

Ready to start your low-investment, high-return business?

So there you have it: the best low-cost business ideas with high profit!

With so many profitable business ideas to choose from, you should be able to find one that works perfectly for you and start making money without digging in your pockets for an upfront investment.

The only thing left to do is dive in!

As you do, please let me know how it’s going in the comments! I’d love to hear about your success and just how much you can make without, as they say, spending money to make money.