5 Businesses That You Can Start for Free

Ever wanted to be your own boss? Did you always think about starting your own business where you can decide when to work? Maybe you like the idea of running a company but don't know where to start. Most aspiring entrepreneurs start to feel overwhelmed when thinking about the amount they need to start a business and get it off the ground. So, here are the five businesses that you can start for free.

1. Consulting: A consultant is one who works as an advisor either to a company or to another individual. Starting a consulting firm depends on the skills you have and how could you bring that to the table. Maybe you are working as a social media marketing expert right now or have legal experience, you can start a consulting business in your area of expertise, absolutely free of cost.

2. Cleaning: House or office cleaning businesses are quite appealing these days due to their low cost of entry. Most cleaning service businesses can be operated on a part-time or full-time basis, either from home or a commercial location. There's great potential in such business if you focus on the quality and offer competitive rates for your service.

3. Event Planning: If you have an experience in event planning or a natural instinct for organizing events, then this business is the perfect option to turn your idea into reality. From weddings, corporate events to conventions, you have a wide range of options in event planning business. Just choose which type of event you are comfortable with organizing or you can even go with all types of events for getting a wider customer base to market your service.

4. Pet Services: If you love dogs and love spending time with them, you turn your love for animal into a business. Start pet services such as taking dogs to salons for grooming and vet appointments, pet sitting, pet care, and so on? Once you have a good number of customers, you could easily start a small business involving full-service pet help, including pet spa, salon, daytime care, play date services, training class, veterinary care and more. However, before turning your small pet services business into a full-fledged pet care company, take up a business startup course to get clarity and confidence and learn about licenses, contracts, and insurance.

5. Gardening or landscaping: If you have a knack for gardening, mowing and lawn maintenance, then you can start this business easily. You just need some basic tools, landscaping skills and business management skills to succeed in this endeavor. Taking up a start your own business course can be extremely useful in this niche as you need interpersonal skills, the ability to manage finances carefully, and to get a realistic picture of what the job will cost in the end.

Whatever business idea suits you, professional guidance is important to succeed. Join a business startup course before starting working on your idea. Getting mentored by an experienced entrepreneur during your start your own business course will help you learn how to get a steady stream of paying customers while staying lean, avoid overhead costs and grow your small business quickly. 

3 Reasons Small Businesses Fail and Here’s How to Avoid Failure

Why do small companies fail? According to a recent study, over 50% of startups fail in the first year and about 95% of small businesses fail within first five years. The most common reason for failure is the lack of business management and entrepreneurial skills or lack of capital or both. The following list includes some of the reasons why businesses fail along with advice on what you as a small business owner can do to avert disaster before it strikes.

1. Lack of Skills: Your business can fail if you don’t possess good entrepreneurial and business management skills. From finances to managing resources, poor management can affect your entire business. Business management includes planning strategies, organizing things, operating processes, directing others and communicating to your partners, staff or stakeholders. You need to learn business skills if you want to avoid failure.

2. Choosing the wrong business: Depending on whether you are targeting local customers or want to do business globally, your competitors and customer profiles, it’s important to choose an industry where you can achieve sustained growth. Even though some of the best ideas can be turned into a profitable venture, but it takes more than an idea and passion to make your small business successful. Understand your competitive marketplace and customers’ buying habit and take up small business courses online before taking a huge step in the entrepreneurial landscape.

3. Inadequate cash reserves and cash flow: Generally, it takes at least six months or so before a business starts making money. So, it’s important to consider both business and personal living expenses to determine how much cash you need to run your business. If you fail to determine how much cash reserve you have or don’t have enough money to start a business, then it is better not to start one. Positive cash flow is essential for a business to be viable in the long term. Poor cash management could put your small company out of business within the first few months. Therefore, it’s critical to understand your cash flow problems and solve them.

How to avoid business failure?

Business failure can be painful, especially when it's inevitable in some form. By identifying the main reasons for which most small businesses fail, it would be easier for you to avoid them proactively. Here are the ways to consciously avoid business failure:

• Join business mentoring programs: Having a business mentor can benefit your startup more than you think. In such programs, you will find successful business mentors who have experience in new ventures and have an understanding of the steps needed to get your new business off the ground. A business mentor will help you make a business plan, support you through the challenges and enable you to get right foundations in place for your business.

• Learn Business Skills: To be a successful businessman, there are four critical skills you'll need to master including leadership, problem-solving, time management and organizational skills. Developing these skills can make a difference between failure and success of your business. How to learn and develop these skills? Take up small business courses online to sharpen your business acumen and move forward in a right direction.

Running a business is no easy task. Being aware of common reasons most small businesses fail can help you proactively avoid them. Take up business mentoring programs to gain necessary knowledge so that you don’t go out of business within the first few years of its establishment.