No Inventory Small Business Ideas

Are you looking for no inventory small business ideas from home? Are you looking for something that isn’t too complicated, requires minimal startup costs, and is easy to do from the comfort of your own home?

If so, then this blog post is for you! In this blog post, I will talk about some of the best no inventory small business ideas.

These are all great businesses that require minimal investment and started in just a few hours.
The great thing about some of these business ideas is that you determine how much you make because you can set your rates and charge customers for as much time as they need.
When there are times when you’re not very busy but want to make some money on the side, you could fill in a few hours’ worth of work every day by doing things like transcribing audio files into written text.

No Inventory Small Business Ideas

This blog for these business ideas is divided up into three sections. The first section includes the list of all no inventory small business ideas that I’ve come across.

The second section is a list of all the no inventory businesses that require minimal investment.

Finally, in the third section, I’m going to talk about some home-based small business ideas that require minimal start-up costs and are easy to manage from the comfort of your own home.

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No Inventory Small Business Ideas

1. Start a Blog

Blogging is a surefire way to share knowledge and, at the same time, earn money. If you know about a particular topic and desire to share your knowledge with the world, you should start blogging.

Starting a blog requires little initial investment.

All you need to do is sign up for web hosting, install WordPress, start your blog, create helpful content then promote the posts to your audience. Platforms like Facebook and Pinterest are great for free promotions.

Pinterest, in my opinion, is the best option for new bloggers who want to promote their content and gain page views very fast.

You can take the Pinterest Strategies course to get started. It’s an amazing course that teaches you all you need to know concerning driving traffic to your blog.

Traffic is essential for bloggers as traffic translates to sales and, sales mean money for bloggers.

Initially, you may not earn any money when you start, but as you continue to create more content and grow your audience, your income will begin to grow as well.

Some people started off earning $100 monthly from their blogs but now take in more than $10,000 from blogging.  Other bloggers are making as much as $100,000 monthly.

How much will it cost to start a website?

It will cost you as low as $3 per month, which equals $36 for the year to get hosting and a domain. 

How long does it take to make money blogging?

You can start making money through your blog as long as you have a plan in place.

I have read about bloggers who started making money within fourf months.

If you’re focused and committed to write great content and advertise your blog, you can monetize your blog in one year or less.

2. Freelance Writer 

As much demand there is for social media management, proofreaders, and editors, freelance writing is another online job that is significantly growing. 

Although freelance writing sounds exciting to people who just learned about it, long term freelance writers know how much hard work it requires to make cash by writing. Nothing good comes out of the easy route, anyway. 

Even if you do not have exclusive writing skills, you must be willing to put in the hours, develop and improve good writing skills, and work with quite some clients to make a full-time living in the freelance economy. 

But with all the hard work, there come the benefits too! Some of the most interesting and exciting benefits of a freelance writer job are: 

• Work with flexibility 
• Learn new things while working in diverse niches
• Enjoy freedom 
• Experience work/life balance 
• Blossom your writing skills 
• Free to say NO to work that can be exhausting to you 
• You can take breaks when you need them 

Freelance writing is one of the best no inventory small business ideas. If you’re willing to put in the time and effort, give it a shot. 

Hourly Earnings: $15 to $75 

An average freelance writer in the US earns $21.36 per hour! 

Where to look: BloggingPro, Upwork, FreelanceWriting, Freelancer, SteadyContent

3. Proofreader and Editor 

Are you one of those people who cannot look over grammatical or vocabulary mistakes when reading through a piece of content? 

Well, if you’re one of such people (I am too), you can turn this annoying OCD into a business. There are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every single day. The more content uploaded daily, the bigger is your opportunity to become an editor for a well-engined blog. 

An editor’s job is to proofread and edit content to make sure it is free of spelling, punctuation, grammatical, formatting, syntax, and typographical errors. 

While working as an editor, you need to be patient and precise to clear-tune the content given to you. 

Caitlin Pyle created a FREE proofreading workshop that teaches how to make money from home as a freelance proofreader.

 Proofreader Training

In the course, she shows you the basic steps,F and she provides enough information for you to decide if proofreading is something you want to do.

How long does it take to make money as a Freelance Proofreader?

This depends on the length of time it takes to get your first gig or client. As a beginning proofreader, you should expect to make a little over $10 per hour.

With more experience, improving your skills, speed, and efficiency, you increase your chances of making $30 – $50 per hour. 

4. Transcribe

When working as a transcriptionist, you get paid to listen to recordings and other audio files such as lectures, webinars, and interviews then, type them as word documents.

To work as a transcriptionist, you need to know how to type fast, listen attentively, and pay much attention to detail.

There are different types of transcription. The most common is general transcription. As a beginner, this is the best place to start.

However, if you are a law or medical student, you can choose to do transcription that is peculiar to your field.

Also, for legal transcription, there is a legal transcription e-course by Janet Shaughnessy that shows you the basics of legal transcription.

Starting a transcription business is one of the low-investment business ideas you can start from a laptop with no inventory required. 

There are opportunities to work as part-time transcriptionists on sites like Fiverr and Upwork.

How much will it cost to start?

There’s no cost for sourcing for jobs on Fiverr and Upwork. 

How long does it take to make money?

The time it takes to make money depends on how long it takes to get a gig.

How much can you make transcribing?

Beginning Transcriptionists earn anywhere from $12 to $15 per hour.

However, it’s important to note that most are paid per audio hour and not necessarily by the hour. 

You may be paid $50 per audio, but that does not mean it will take an hour to transcribe.  Your speed and experience will factor into the length of time it will take to transcribe.

Transcription Training

There is a FREE 7-lesson general transcription e-course by Janet Shaughnessy that helps beginners become expert transcriptionists. The course teaches the basics of becoming a transcriptionist and how to start a business. 

5. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a fulfillment model where Wholesaler stores and ships inventory to customers for your store. Orders are placed through your website, with shipments going to customers from a manufacturer or wholesaler.

It’s a great business to start because of the low overhead cost. Plus, you don’t have to spend money or store inventory.

There are both local and overseas suppliers you can work with, as long as you can establish a relationship with them built on trust.

Dropshipping is a low-investment way to test a product if you plan to later market as a private label.  

It’s crucial to establish a relationship to purchase a sample order for yourself to make sure you are selling quality products to customers. 

Although the wholesaler ships the item to your customers, you are still responsible for your marketing and customer service.

Marketing is the key to become successful as a dropshipper.

How much will it cost to start?

If you decide to have a website of your own, it will be the cost of hosting and a domain, $36.

If you decide to host your site on a platform like Shopify, there’s a free version and the lowest monthly cost is $29. However, their add-ons will cost you money.

How long does it take to make money?

Until you get your first sale, remember, marketing is the key to sales.

How much can you make?

That depends on your product minus the payment to the wholesaler.

6. Online Tutoring

Teaching is a reasonably respected job worldwide, and online teaching is nothing different. If you’re considerably skilled at a subject, one of your best options to make money is teaching online. 

With the digitalization of the world, almost everything has been turning on the internet. Many platforms have been introduced that connect students with teachers, such as Udemy, The Khan Academy, and Skillshare. 

From dance classes to English tutoring and art & crafts, you can teach anything and everything online. 

Hourly Earnings: $20 to $30 

Where to look: Tutor, Udemy, The Balance Careers 

7. Sell Digital Products or Courses

This is one of the no inventory small business ideas you should consider.

Course creation appears to be high in demand these days, and everyone has a piece of the pie.

If you know a particular topic, you can make short 10 to 20 minutes videos that teach people more effective ways to go about certain things.

There are platforms such as Teachable and Udemy that make it easy for you to create your courses and sell them to make money.

Bloggers like Michelle Gardner, owner of Making Sense of Cents, and Alex & Lauren of Create and Go earn six figures, and a huge part of their money comes from them selling their signature online courses.

Michelle makes over $100,000 every month and most of it comes from her Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. Alex and Lauren also make thousands of dollars monthly from selling courses.

Search for what would make for a good digital product. What would people find helpful and are willing to pay to download it? 

Some digital products are seasonal so keep that in mind when coming up with a digital product to sell.  Digital products can be sold on sites like Etsy and Shopify.

8. Launch Your Ebook

Anyone can self-publish a book or an ebook on Amazon.

If you have always wanted to write a book, this is the time to start. 

If you are unsure of what to write about, think of something you’ve always wished you could get across to others and begin writing.  

Writers publish their work, which is then available in 24 hours to 48 hours on Kindle.

The great thing with publishing through Amazon is that your book is available to be viewed by millions of Kindle subscribers within a short period.

As a writer, you are responsible to set your price but remember that Amazon takes a cut of each sale, ranging from 35 to 70 percent.

You can expect to earn up to 65 percent. The more ebooks you write, the more opportunity to increase your earnings.

Learn more about Amazon Direct Kindle Publishing.

On the other hand, you can choose to self publish as opposed to publishing through Amazon.

If you choose to go through self-publishing, you can try out companies like Barnes and Nobles Press, Rakuten Kobo, Digital2digital, etc.

To learn more about self-publishing, check out udemy.

9. Design and Sell Print on Demand

Are you good at design? You may be able to make money selling your artwork, t-Shirts, and more through dropshipping.

Print on demand is similar to dropshipping in that it puts inventory, shipping, and fulfillment in the hands of a third-party supplier.

Amazon Merch is an example of a third party supplier.

You’ll have to be approved by Amazon to upload your design.

When a product is ordered, Amazon is responsible for the production, shipping, handling, and all other customer service-related issues.

You’ll receive a commission for each item sold.

Create original designs that will go on T-shirts, bags, hats, phone cases, hoodies, skirts,  and more become canvases for your creativity.

Think of your passion, you can create a design for like-minded people. 

If you are a dog owner and have a brilliant quote about dogs, there may be other dog owners who may be interested in your product.

The advantage of print on demand is that there is no inventory.  So you don’t have to worry about not selling your inventory. 

There are several print-on-demand platforms you can work with such as Zazzle, Bonfire, Redbubble, Teespring, Society 6, to name a few.

However, always order a sample of your product to be sure you are providing quality products to your customers.

You can make up to $500 a month starting out. As with most businesses, time and effort you determines the output.

In other words, advertising is the key to letting people know your product exists. The more people know of your product, the more chances of increase sales.

10. Sell a Service

If you have a skill or you are an expert in a certain area, a service business is a great way to start a business with no inventory.

A service business is a business that provides a specific service to customers.

Just because you are skilled at something does not mean people are looking for that service.

Before you start a service business do research to be sure there are people or businesses looking for your skillset.

Offering services is a great low investment business idea with no inventory required.

An example is a Website Designer who can build and maintain websites for businesses.

A copywriter can sell a copywriting file of a high-converting sales copy.

You can offer your services through a freelance marketplace like Fiverr and Upwork to increase your chances of getting discovered by the people who need your skills.

11. Virtual Assistant

Literally, anyone can become a virtual assistant. Yes, it’s that easy.

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an independent contractor who provides a wide variety of services to businesses.

Most VA services are offered online. General Virtual Assistant’s services include:

• Blog management
• Email management
• Marketing
• Social media scheduling
• Editing and copywriting
• Researching and fact-checking
• Schedule posts to social media

If you want to start a VA business, having a website may give you added exposure but you don’t necessarily need one.

The best ways to find clients is through networking, looking through job boards, cold pitching, networking through LinkedIn, and more.

If you have the money and time to invest in a course, I’d recommend taking a virtual assistant course to help get started.

It’s called 30 days or less to virtual assistant success training.  This course is well detailed and will teach you how to successfully start your own virtual assistant business.

You can also check out  150+ services you can offer as a virtual assistant. It’s an amazing resource and I encourage you to take advantage of it while it is still free.

A beginning Virtual Assistant can about $1 to $25 per hour. The more experience you gain, the higher you should charge.

12. Build an Audience you can Monetize

If you have amassed a loyal following on your blog or any social media platform, it’s good to sell something that your followers would find valuable.

If you choose to grow your following on YouTube, Instagram, or a Podcast, there are many ways to monetize your audience:

Here are popular ways to monetize an audience:

• Become an affiliate marketer
• Sponsored posts
• Host display ads on your blog or in your newsletter
• Create and sell physical products
• Sell a service
• Begin a Patreon where people can support your creative efforts
• Sell subscriptions
• Promote other people’s products
• Create an event
• Launch a mastermind group
• Leverage your audience to gain paid speaking gigs or book contracts

You definitely don’t need millions of followers to monetize, but you need loyal followers.

Plus, you can’t sell just anything to your followers.  Know what your followers want and create a product that adds value to them.

It may take about six months to a year to build 1000 loyal followers but there are people that have done in less time. 

With determination, hard work, and great content, you may be able to monetize your blog sooner.

In Closing

There are many ways you can be creative and generate an income with these no inventory small business ideas.  One way to do this is by leveraging your skills in other areas, such as proofreading or graphic design.

If you’re in a position where you have no inventory, but want to start your own small business, there are some ways that don’t require any up-front investment.

The best way to go about this is by focusing on what type of products or services would be valuable and then going from there.

You could also use social media platforms like YouTube or Instagram as another way of generating revenue from what might seem like insignificant hobbies at first glance!

Have any small business ideas? Share them below in the comments section and we’ll feature our favorites on our blog next week!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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