4 low-cost business ideas you can start under $500
Anaita outlines four accessible business models: becoming a virtual assistant, thrift reselling, running a wholesale-sourced clothing store, or selling digital educational products. Each requires minimal upfront capital and leverages skills or existing marketplaces to generate income.
The lessons
If you're organized, offer virtual assistant services for customer service and admin work with almost no startup cost.
Buy undervalued thrifted clothes and furniture, revamp them, and resell online for strong margins.
Source wholesale clothing with a small minimum order and sell it through your own store or marketplaces like eBay and Amazon.
Package your existing skills into digital educational products using Canva to build a business that earns passively.
Questions people ask
What businesses can I start with under $500?
You can become a virtual assistant doing customer service and admin work, become a thrift seller by reselling revamped clothes and furniture, start a clothing store using wholesale suppliers, or become an educational provider by turning your skills into digital products with Canva.
Transcript
Four businesses that you can start with under $500. Number one is a VA. A virtual assistant can do a bunch of things, but mainly customer service and admin. If you're organized, this is perfect for you.
Number two, this is a fun one, but it can make you a lot of money. Thrift seller. This requires you to go into thrift stores and find items of value like clothes and furniture. You purchase them, you take them home, you revamp them, and you sell them online.
It's an extremely lucrative business. Number three, a clothing store. So in Sydney, there's a street in Surrey Hills called Kippack Street. There are lots of wholesale stores on that street.
You go in, you set up an account. The minimum purchase is usually about 10 products. You set up an online store and you sell the clothes. Or you can put them on a marketplace like eBay or Amazon.
And number four, you can be an educational provider. Think about what you're good at, what you know, what your skills are. You can use Canva to create digital assets. Put them on a website and market it.
This is a business that can make you money while you sleep.
