A guest post from Rodney Laws, Editor at E-Commerce Platforms
Many of you reading this are working from home as a result of the lockdown. But for others, you might be on furlough, stuck indoors, and looking for some way to be productive. Here are 4 simple small biz ideas you can start in lockdown.
Now is the perfect time to start a small business. As well as keeping you busy, it also offers a small revenue stream to keep you going, not to mention helping you upskill so you can hit the ground running once the lockdown lifts.
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4 simple small biz ideas you can start in lockdown
Help people edit and proofread their work
Know your verbs from your adjectives? Your semicolon from your colon? If so, then you might be perfectly placed to start your own online proofreading and editing business.
For some, grammar, spelling, and syntax come easy. But there are plenty of others who struggle with that kind of thing. From foreign students looking to improve their English to native speakers who just find it difficult to understand, there are plenty of people who can benefit from your services.
The best thing about it is that you don’t need any formal qualifications to help you get started. All you need is a solid grasp of English (or, indeed, any language with which you are fluent) and a website.
List your services on dedicated editing and proofreading websites. EditFast is one option, but it’s also worth looking at online student forums to market your business too.
Look to ecommerce for a DIY side business
Ecommerce is fast becoming an easy and accessible small business idea that is perfect for beginners. With easy-to-use platforms such as LemonStand available (ideal for beginners — read this review to learn more), not to mention a plethora of free learning resources,
If you have a creative pastime — arts, crafts, baking, and so on — a simple ecommerce store gives you a place to start monetizing your passion, and to grow it into a fledgling business in its own right.
Don’t fancy sourcing or creating your products yourself? You might want to consider dropshipping instead — essentially ecommerce via a third-party.
Put simply, you create an online store, and then connect with a third-party supplier such as AliExpress to source products. You never handle the products — instead, the supplier arranges packaging and delivery for you. This makes it perfect for starting during the lockdown, as you don’t need to sort storage space for your products.
Plus, there’s a wide range of products available to sell via dropshipping, so you can easily find something that appeals to your passion. This means dropshipping is great for beginners, as all they need to do is build an online store and then put all their efforts into marketing — it’s as simple as that.
Get paid to write about what you love
One of the easiest small business ideas you should consider is blogging. Simple to start and requiring very little experience, it’s an enticing option for anyone stuck at home in lockdown.
There are lots of ways to monetize blogging. Paid ads are the most common, offering ad space on your blog to businesses related to your niche. But this requires you to have a lot of traffic visiting your blog, which takes time.
You could also look to sponsored posts too. These involve brands paying you to write an article promoting their product or service, in return for a fee. Again, this is only achievable with a lot of traffic, but that is doable with a bit of time and effort.
The trick to blogging is to find something you’re passionate about and then pick that as your niche. Blogging requires you to create a lot of content, and quickly, so it’s important to find something you care about — this makes it easy to stick with it.
Consider streaming for a unique business idea
Many of us stuck indoors due to the lockdown are passing the time by playing video games. But for a select few, their love of video games provides a potential (and lucrative) side hustle opportunity.
Platforms like Twitch have made it easier than ever to stream video games live. And while most of them are esports, there are plenty of other games — Fornite, in particular — that are popular with audiences.
You don’t even need to play video games either. Simply being funny or interesting is enough to draw viewers to your channel in their droves.
So how do you monetize streaming? In-stream advertising and sponsorships are the most popular, but you could also consider subscriptions and donations from viewers to help fund your business. It might seem unusual, but streaming is a rapidly-growing industry, and a perfectly viable business option for the lockdown.
The ideas above are just a few potential avenues you could consider for your small business. The important thing to remember is to find something you’re genuinely passionate about and stick with it. It’s a great way to fill your time and improve yourself into the bargain.
Do you need help starting your small business? We offer a half hour FREE consultation to help you with your startup. Contact us for a FREE consult. We also have a great business start up guide which steps you through setting up a company. We hope these 4 simple small biz ideas you can start during lockdown will convince you to try something new as a sidegig.
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