What activities should be opened in times of crisis with little budget available? What business do you start to survive, round up, pay for your studies, in an unfavorable economic and work environment?
Below I propose 15 ideas of activities and remunerative jobs for everyone (or almost), possibly autonomous, because it is necessary to put oneself in these times, and more importantly, do not foresee a large initial investment.
Obviously, we are not going to reveal to you easy ways to get rich and, in most cases, we are not even talking about jobs for life. But when there are precarious situations it is necessary to make a virtue out of necessity, to focus on unspoken personal resources and try new roads, from what does what arise …
Enjoy the reading!
Participate in online auctions and resell
The first piece of advice is to exploit a mechanism that has been enormously successful in Australia: Liang Liu, an Australian of Asian descent, has become famous for the strategy with which he has enriched himself. Thanks to the well-known site, Alibaba has made a fortune by selling items purchased on offer and balance in supermarkets.
Here, too, you can do the same thing: it is an auction portal that allows you to “win” and grab valuables and increase the offer by one cent at a time. The last bidder at the time of the timer wins items and goods of high value, such as PCs, telephones and even household appliances, which can be resold via online sites!
This is a really clever way to pay for products much less and sell them with a considerable margin.
Social Trading: A fantastic novelty!
Social trading is a form of online investment that allows investors to study the strategies of more experienced traders: even without any knowledge of financial markets, you can start a real low-cost business.
Thanks to online trading platforms to gives you the opportunity to invest in ETFs, stocks, commodities, currencies and other financial instruments, inspired by the strategies of top traders. Alternatively, you can invest in portfolios created ad hoc by the experts of the centralized investment committee.
Attention, I’m not saying that you can make easy money: like with every investment (or an activity), the risks are there. But they are declared and numbered with values, and can be limited by copying investment strategies with moderate risk.
To get an idea of the platform you can access the DEMO version in order to learn more about all the functions of the platform. Or start immediately to invest with a minimum deposit by choosing the trader to copy.
Sell handmade creations
Here is an activity that can be started without large budgets and at home. Small handmade creations: jewelry and accessories, household items, party decorations, hand-sewn clothes, illustrations and toys – you sell all this and much more and find it on Etsy.
Etsy is a site dedicated to e-commerce of handmade, personalized or vintage objects. It is a perfect solution for lost time creatives and requires a very limited initial investment. If you achieve visibility on the site and are able to affiliate a certain audience, then nothing prevents you from turning this activity into a small business.
It is not essential to rely forever on a platform, even if it allows you to have greater visibility, you can reach potential customers also through other channels – YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.
Rent rooms and other spaces
Renting rooms and accommodations remains one of the best ways to add extra, occasional or monthly revenue. Unfortunately it is not for everyone, in fact you need to have unused spaces. If you are lucky enough to have free rooms in your home or to get a small apartment in the basement, then consider the opportunity to turn your home into a small bed & breakfast for travelers or to rent beds for students.
In reality there are many opportunities, it is also possible to rent outdoor spaces, such as the garage or the garden – for camping, see the Garden Sharing. If you have a very large garage that you do not use you can fix it and rent it as a studio, warehouse or laboratory. Finally, you can think of renting your apartment to tourists visiting your city while you are traveling or finding your family, taking advantage of the numerous online portals to let you know.
Obviously, you cannot simply publish a notice on the Internet, there are specific rules to be able to rent even a simple room, you have to inform yourself and proceed according to the rules.
Senior Citizens Services
That of services to the elderly is a promising sector because work will not fail since the average age of the population is above 40; there will certainly be a great need for operators, careers and assistants. If you are prone to helping and caring for people, you might think about working in this area, and maybe revolutionizing it a little.
You don’t need a financial investment but you have to clarify what kind of service you can offer and at what price. You have to put announcements and run word of mouth, find the first customers and let you know so as to extend the network of contacts.
The reference clientele is varied, elderly people more or less self-sufficient but also people with disabilities, so the type of service that can be offered is just as varied. There are people in need of health care, others of a generic help for the conduct of domestic activities, others still need a helping hand in managing paperwork or moving around for medical examinations, etc.
Clearly also in this sector there are several Internet sites for announcements of careers, family assistants, domestic helpers, OSS or ASA.
Franchising
Starting a business from scratch in times of crisis is a big gamble, so the solution can be to open a franchise. Managing a store under a successful brand gives some more security, but it is still an investment: before starting the challenge, you have to train yourself and do research.
As for the type of business, you have a wide choice: clothing, cosmetics, laundries, distributors, restaurants and street food, grow shops, real estate agencies etc. To have more chances of success it is advisable to stay in the sector of belonging (if you have one), it takes specific skills to deal with the sale of food rather than hemp products.
In general, less strong brands have lower affiliation costs and it is easier to have sales exclusivity in your area. Competition and affiliation costs increase with the most well-known brands. In short, there are many aspects to consider, and even if you have experience in the business sector, you must have a business plan and do a lot of training.
Virtual Assistance
The virtual assistant is a kind of remote secretary who solves small digital tasks on behalf of professionals and entrepreneurs who do not have time to deal personally with answering emails etc. Hiring a permanent employee has a certain cost so the virtual assistant is also convenient for the manager.
This activity is already widespread in the United States and soon it will also be in Italy. Services can range from making presentations, editing blogs, replying to emails, accounting, updating personal sites or social profiles, managing appointments on the electronic diary, to booking personal or business trips, but in general everything what can be done remotely from your computer.
Babysitting
It is not a joke, babysitting or babysitting is not an exclusive job for teenagers and students, in times of need it can be a resource – many parents are willing to pay a reliable person who looks after their children well.
If you like being with children, you love playing with them and helping them with homework, then you can get a real job out of this activity, which is usually occasional. In most cases parents work both and have less and less time, kindergartens cost and not all children then have neighboring grandparents, moreover, it is not uncommon for little ones to have no one to help them with study and homework.
Finding customers with Internet is much simpler; in fact, it is possible to apply on specialized agencies and websites!
Online course
Making a quality online course takes time, effort and knowledge, after which it is not automatic to find someone willing to buy it. However, if you have a thorough knowledge of a subject and you have qualified skills in some areas, creating an e-learning course is a good investment of time and energy. It will help you keep your mind busy and spend periods of inactivity without a job or looking for your first job.
The possibilities in this area are endless. The training content can be conveyed in the form of videos, live lessons, articles, podcasts or eBooks. Audiovisual lessons generally lend themselves better to use, in which case you must choose a platform on which to develop the course, or a Learning Management System (LMS) – if they are different on the internet and you have to choose the one that best suits your needs, including economic.
The Web offers endless online courses, for all tastes, some even free, so the competition is fierce: you have to know how to offer something new and truly valid. Of course, you won’t be able to get rich, but the money you earn will be a way to finance other activities with more prospects.
Freelancer
Depending on your skills and abilities, you can offer occasional or short-term work, it is called making Gig economy, that is, earning or supplementing your income by doing work only when there is demand. There are web platforms that allow you to offer your skills to other people.
The services offered range from small jobs to higher profile jobs by real professionals. The workers are all self-employed and carry out temporary, part-time or occasional activities.
The Travel Planner
The travel planner is a new generation tourist profession; it is an online travel organizer and consultant that offers a new service to travel agencies and tour operators. In fact, he is a professional able to propose customized and flexible travel itineraries, tailor-made starting from the client’s requests (tastes, interests, time and economic resources available, personal situation, etc.).
To become a travel planner you don’t need a big initial investment but you have to work in the ranks – you need real expertise in tourism, as well as organizational skills. It can be a self-employment, carried out through a personal website or in support of agencies and large networks that bring together several consultants.
Services for pets
Have you ever thought about using your time to take care of other people’s pets? The opportunities are numerous: often the owners cannot go home for several hours or even for a few days and are forced to leave dogs and cats alone, or they do not have the time to do simple things like walking the dog, washing it and accompanying it from the veterinary.
All these services can be performed by another paying person. The examples to take inspiration from are not lacking: pet sitters, dog nurseries, temporary foster care, night assistance, etc. Thanks to the Internet, everything has become easier, immediate and organized.
DropShip online
The dropshipping is a business model of electronic commerce in which the seller sells the product to an end user without physically owning it in his warehouse; the order is in fact transmitted to the supplier who makes the shipment directly to the buyer.
The advantage is that the seller is only concerned with the advertising of the products and the relationship with the customers without the relative duties related to the packaging and shipping processes. The success of the activity depends on the choice of the reference sector, the suppliers and the marketing strategy adopted.
The work of the seller and contacts with suppliers, in most cases, are coordinated by an online platform. Care must be taken not to confuse the DropShip with e-commerce in outsourcing: in the second case the owner of the goods entrusts online sales, storage and shipping to one or more third-party companies.
Graphic & Web design
Two specializations that are popular and there is great demand, with the advantage that they can be practiced by freelancers or with part-time contracts. Graphic design is about visual communication that ranges from traditional graphics to new digital frontiers.
The wider the sphere of competence of a graphic designer, the greater the opportunities to find project work, all the more so if one’s skills also concern web design, graphics applied to web pages. You can learn a lot from yourself, following tutorials, courses and doing a lot of practice.
The ways to be known are the personal site or the social page of reference, and then the creation and online publication of a portfolio of works. A graphic designer can work as an employee or collaborator for advertising agencies, communication companies, newsrooms and much more.
eSports
For the real talents of video games there is a unique opportunity to earn money: electronic sports. They are in effect a competitive and professional organized discipline. Participate in specific tournaments and millions of fans all over the world through streaming platforms follow championships with sums of money up for grabs, players.
The tournaments are giving away prizes that are then divided among the players of the winning teams. This is a potentially profitable market because it has a large following and the gains from ticket sales are considerable, unfortunately it still has to take hold in Italy.
Conclusions
We have come to the conclusion of the list of 15 ideas for activities and autonomous jobs to be launched in times of crisis and with a limited budget. Unfortunately, simple, fast solutions that meet all personal, economic and career needs do not exist.
We need to roll up our sleeves and free ourselves from the usual working channels. It is important to understand what we really like to do, what our personal talents and aspirations are, and then start to get busy. In moments of difficulty, stall or indecision, you can turn your life around, even starting from the bottom.
