Self Employment Ideas with Low Start-Up Costs

Stress, boredom, low-pay, or having an entrepreneurial spirit may all be causes for wanting to leave a 9 to 5 job and become self-employed.  Having a goal to become self-employed starts with figuring out what it is you can do to start your own business.  Not everyone who wants to work for themselves know exactly what to do and where to start.  Below are some low-cost start-up ideas that may get your creative juices flowing.

Freelance Work - If you have a skill such as web programming, copywriting, or other technical skill, then freelance work will be an easy transition.  You can simply market yourself and as you get more clients, word of mouth will soon work in your favor.  Sooner or later, you will have more work than you can handle - this of course depends on the level of service you provide and the quality of your work.  Start-up costs should remain low as you will need at the most: business cards, a web site, software (depending on your skills), hardware (computer), and office supplies.

Drop shipping - I'm sure you have heard of drop shipping before.  If not, it is a very low-cost way of selling physical goods without having to buy a ton of stock up front.  Most people who use drop shipping have online stores, collect payments from customers, and forward on the orders to the drop ship company which fulfills and ships the products directly to the customer.  Most businesses utilize eBay to take advantage of their huge customer base.  The costs for this remain relatively low since there is no up front stock to buy.  You may have to purchase shopping cart software for your web site, a merchant account, or pay fees if you go with eBay.

Self-publishing on the Internet - Do you have a love for writing?  Do you have a skill or talent that you can turn into a how-to guide?  You can begin self-publishing your own information products and market them over the internet.  What makes this low-cost is because the most you would need to purchase is a web site, web hosting, and possibly some advertising.  You could begin this business around $100 or so.

Out of the above examples of low-cost self-employment ideas, my favorite remains self-publishing.  Information will never run dry and as long as you are able to help solve someone's problems, there will be a customer base ready to purchase your products.