Your idea will bring you your company, your company will bring you the people, and the people will bring you the market. And as we all know, a good idea has no monetary value, just a whole lot of bursting potential. Today, the world’s most successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk may hold the possibility of building pyramids out of notes, but none of them started at the top of the ladder. Facebook was created out of a Harvard dorm room at minimal cost and Microsoft was formed two years after Gates decided to drop out of college.
The reason to stress on these remarkable entrepreneurial stories is because they provide an important lesson for all those wishing to embark on a similar journey – that a single great idea is the most important step to creating a game-changing business. And sometimes, if you plan it well, these ideas can build you a company at the lowest initial-costs while getting you the highest possible returns.
Tracing the business history of our country, it has been noted that the market is ripe for the ambitious entrepreneur to dominate it today. Some individuals may have the business acumen to influence the market but have not yet managed to narrow down on a single idea to begin with.
But as Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” On that positive note, here are a few business ideas that we believe can be launched within an initial cost of Rs 10,000:
Travel agency
The travel industry in India has witnessed a boom in the past decade. Keeping to people’s changing habits and their desire for the ultimate ‘wanderlust’, the time is ripe for aspiring entrepreneurs to put their money where the map is. The most cost-effective measure to open up a home-based travel agency is by tying up with a host-agency. By doing so, you will receive the benefits of pace (helping you get your ARC, CLIA, or IATA number faster), convenience (they perform all the ‘back-end functions’), and help you earn higher commissions and keep your costs low. While the rates differ according to the host agencies, your main initial costs that will fall within Rs 10,000.
Mobile recharge shop
Even with online recharge, in India most mobile-users prefer visiting a recharge shop to fill their balance. So those looking to practise this business can start by renting a space in a small local shop. This rent will be the primary (monthly) expenditure. You also need to form ties with the network providers of the area, such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea etc., and pen down their commission rates, where they will receive a cut of your profits from the sale of the commodities taken from them. Assuming that you aren’t looking to rent out a shop-space in any expensive real-estate property, your overall costs will definitely feature below the Rs. 10,000 scale.
Breakfast joint
You must have noticed how those little breakfast and tea stores across your city are almost always filled with customers. This is because food as a commodity will always do well in a competitive market. To open up your own breakfast joint, you need to invest money in renting a space for it, after having received a permit for it from the respective authorities. If your rent is within Rs 5000 a month, you can dedicate the rest of your budget on buying groceries and other raw materials as well as second-hand tables and chairs.
Tuition centre
This is possibly one of the most cost-effective businesses to launch, due to its near zero starting cost requirement. Most tuition-teachers take classes in their own homes, thus eliminating any expenditure on rent and supplies. The only effort you need to put in as a tuition teacher is to take to advertise yourself on social media or go the old school way with flyers and ‘word-of-mouth’ recommendations.
Fruit juice kiosk
Who doesn’t appreciate fresh fruit-juice on a sweltering day? To tap into this lucrative business, you have to start by requesting for a permit to open a kiosk in a chosen locality, preferably one that is hard to miss. Following this, you will need to pay rent for shop-space. Other than this, the only other investment you need to put your money up for is for the purchase of the raw materials, supplies like machines for making the juice, and the salaries of the employee(s) making the juice.
Garment tailor
In cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi, the demand for good tailors has increased tenfold due to the increasing popularity of self-made designs. Other than a small rented space, you only need to invest in powerful sewing and stitching machines, and of course electricity.
Online bakery
While names like ‘Ovenfresh’ have taken years of hard-work, recruitment, and funding to reach where they are today, it only goes to show that the market is ripe for online food-based services, especially in the realm of baked foods. Single-handedly run online baking companies are popular, too, like Confectioner’s Touch by 23-year-old Charulata Ghosh from Kolkata, which has been turning heads and raising numbers since its inception in 2013.
“I started off with very little. Like Rs 2,000. But as my business proceeded, I was able to invest in other things like Zomato, custom boxes, and cake boards,” says Charulata, who is up to her elbows in cake considering the non-stop online orders coming her way.
Blogging
This is possibly one of the most lucrative fields to tap into in the digital age. Professional blogging requires only a minimal start-up cost. You only have to invest in a domain name and hosting space –initially at least – which in its ‘unlimited’ capacity costs a maximum of roughly Rs 3600. As for promoting your blogs through the right channels, the cost-free and limitless expanse of the internet is all you need.
YouTube channel
YouTube is a hotspot for creative and talented individuals looking for great returns with little monetary investment. YouTube allows its users to create independent channels and upload their videos for free. In fact, it even pays some YouTubers whose channels are popular. To know more about how to make money out of your YouTube channel, click here.
Event organising
Event managers barely spend any time in office. They are best at networking and managing, checking out the hundreds of venues, meeting sponsors, scheduling performances, and basically being on the field 24/7. On that basis, their demand revolves around their brand image and popularity, which can be built with a good online marketing strategy. However, the overall startup cost for building this brand is minimal, if at all priced.
Wedding consultants
The term ‘big fat Indian wedding’ exists for a reason. This is because weddings are taken very seriously by almost all cultures making up our diversified society. Today, even multinational corporations like Uber are tapping into this lucrative industry and centring their campaign on it. The most important investment you need to make to launch a wedding consultancy is in maintaining a popular website for it. The best way to reach out to potential clients in this field is online. Thus, ensure that your website has the requisite base of followers and is detailed, accessible, and colourful.
Online courses
While any form of education is priceless in its ideal, it can still be priced for a good value. Developing and running an online course for students interested in learning a subject is a profitable feat. While some online-course providers may offer the course for free on their own personalised websites, most usually tie up with other digital content companies, which provide them with the tools to carry out their lessons. In this too, the maximum cost you will incurred would be the minimum amount you pay for your domain name and hosting space, or to the digital content company in question for them to feature your course on their platform.
Photography
Assuming that you intend to take up professional photography, you may already are in possession of a high-definition camera. Without taking the latter’s cost into consideration, as an aspiring photographer looking to take on independent projects, the only investment you need to make is your time in building your profile online.
Street-side book stall
If you’ve ever crossed by the Flora Fountain area of Mumbai or College Street in Kolkata, you’ve probably encountered scores of little second-hand book stalls thronged by avid readers and flustered students. The first thing to do is set up a stall with a permit, which needs the right local contacts, following which your only investment is purchasing a dozen or so books from other sellers to start the business of second-hand book exchanging.
Ghost writing
Ghost writing may not be recommended as a primary profession, but it definitely ranks as high as any of its counterparts, considering the standard amount that a prospective client is willing to pay for a story to be written anonymously. Here too, the best way to make clients reach out to you is through recommendations, be it online or in person, and your only investment, after accepting the project, is your time. This is extremely lucrative, since clients usually offer exorbitant amounts as compensation for writing their story for them.
Customised jewellery
If jewellery made from real silver, gold, and diamond were all we had as options today, we’d possibly be roaming around empty-pocketed for most of our lives. However, custom jewellery has been part of our ancient tradition and is still one of the most profitable markets today. To look into that business, you should be prepared to get into well-placed bargaining deals with the manufacturers of these customised pieces, either offering them a good cut from your sales or buying their products in a bulk, for a cheaper price. Either way, the trick is to sell it at a higher price than it was bought at, in a shop or stall (in a popular place), for which you need to pay for rented space. Despite this, your overall collective cost will possibly be covered in within Rs 7000-8000.
Advertising campaign developer
A profession that is almost exclusively online, the idea of running this kind of a business stems from the fact that most corporate advertising firms have taken to outsourcing their campaign developments, as an attempt to break the standard patterns and reduce the pressure. As a result, stand-alone advisors on a company’s advertising campaigns are in high demand in the market today. Hence, as someone looking to build a business along these lines, you should be prepared to invest your time and money in running an active website (with a domain name, hosting services, and perhaps SEOs), offering your services to potential clients.
Tea stall
Can you imagine a world without tea? What would we do with our evenings? While the tea-industry as a whole has done exceptionally well over the decades, the smaller tea stall owners have definitely been reaping the benefits of their overall success. Besides a basic budget for renting a small room or stall for space, the only other investment you need to make is on buying tea from the manufacturers and purchasing makeshift benches and tables.