Coming up with brilliant startup ideas may feel tricky to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially when it may seem that everyone’s already swooped up every good idea for a business. Once you’re reaping the lifestyle benefits of being your own boss and hustling your way into making significantly more money with your business ideas than you ever could at your day job, the hard work will have all been worth it.
The cost of setting up a new business has never been so low. Especially for online-based businesses. Technology has made starting your own business easy, affordable and possible. Obviously, some of these small startup ideas have more earning potential than others, but what they all share in common are relatively low barriers to entry and the flexibility to work at them for a limited amount of time per week.
Read through this list of startup ideas for instant inspiration for applicable business lessons from some of the most unconventional (yet successful) startup ideas. Some of these business ideas you can start right now, while you’re still working full-time.
Here is a list of the 21 best business ideas for Indians to start in 2020:
1. Start a Blog
Think blogging is no longer a viable source of income? Think again. Recent blogging statistics show that tens of thousands of bloggers are creating profitable content on topics as diverse as scrapbooking, home cooking, travel, film, lifestyle, business, personal finance and more.
You can grow your blog into a successful business, thanks email subscribers, affiliate marketing, blog sponsorships, and other revenue streams.
2. Organize Specialty Travel Tours
Make a specialized travel tour company to cater to individual lifestyle preferences. A tour startup made for solo travelers, a food-based tour geared towards certain diet preferences, or even an age-based tour company could gain traction across various demographics.
3. Make Local Guides
Whether or not you consider yourself a local expert, creating local guides can get you familiar with your surroundings and help tourists enjoy off-the-beaten path experiences in your area. Make themed guides, highlight attractions, and partner with local businesses for advertising opportunities.
4. Create a Food Waste Solution
Creating a startup focused on reducing food waste could not only earn you some serious funding but also positively change the food system and help save grocery stores and restaurants money.
5. Start Ghostwriting
Create content for busy professionals that don’t have the time or the skill to write themselves. If you don’t mind not attaching your name to your writing, ghostwriting is a great way to earn money with little to no startup costs attached.
6. Create Online Courses
Obscure hobbies can lead to lucrative business ideas if you make them easy for others to learn. If you’d like to teach others but aren’t interested in the coaching route, creating an online course could lead to reliable passive income.
7. Social Impact Investment Funds
Social impact is becoming a priority in India as consumers are intelligent and know what they consume influences them and the earth. This business idea involves fundraising money from various groups of investors to create a fund that will invest socially responsible and positive earth-impacting ventures.
There is a lot of demand in India for social impact, instead of just creating a business that makes money, due to the sophistication of people being quite high.
8. Cheap Home Solar Energy Setup Company
There is a large opportunity for residents in India to generate their own power and save money. For this idea, you would buy and setup solar equipment for people to install on their roofs or balconies, since apartment living is popular.
The solar could feed into the main battery for the individual or building to provide additional power. To execute, you could start by finding 10 people interested in this service that will pay you before the work is done, and then you have the money to buy to solar panels, creating a low initial investment for this business idea.
9. India Culture E-Commerce Niche Store
E-Commerce is growing at a substantial pace. This is mainly due to the access to cheap labor and goods, as well as the ability to ship internationally at a fraction of the cost it used to years ago. This business idea specifically relates to selling cultural items from India.
Given that many people around the world appreciate the culture in India, many would like to have authentic pieces of art in their homes. By setting up an e-commerce store to fulfill this, you can solve that problem. The company would be low-cost to start, and you could begin by partnering with your favourite street vendors.
10. Last-Mile Delivery Solution Company
In India, many shipping companies are facing the problem of having extreme difficulties providing delivery services to some rural areas. This is because the road infrastructure is not developed enough, or it is just very far from everything else. With this idea, you can provide the last mile delivery solutions by setting up a warehouse on the edge of the city limits.
Then, once the other shipping company gets there, you handle the final miles of the trip. This may involve buying a fleet of scooters or shipping trucks to deliver the shipments for the last couple miles. Places where regular shipping companies are not willing to do.
This company would need some investment to fund the warehouse at the outside city limits, as well as vehicles or drones for the last-mile delivery service.
11. Disaster Relief Location Finder Mobile App
The rise in mobile phone use also creates a lot of opportunities to help people in times of need. The Disaster Relief Location Finder would use sensors all over the highest buildings, along with ones along tectonic plates, and areas prone to hurricanes. This way, when signs of a disaster start to appear, the sensors would detect it and send messages to the users to take appropriate action.
Secondly, it would send out a location signal to everyone in your family so they know where you are in case disaster strikes. The app itself would not need that much investment to create, however, the setup of the sensors would be the costly part. To make money, you could charge a subscription service, as it provides piece of mind for people in disasters.
12. Graphic Designing
Companies are always on a lookout for graphic designers for branding purposes.
From designing marketing collaterals, including banners, posters, and logos to creating stunning designs of landing pages, the opportunities here are immense.
You can pitch your design skills to small business owners or individuals to start your gig. Graphic designers can also join freelance websites to find relevant work.
If you have prior knowledge of this field, then getting clients would be helpful. However, learning the basics of graphic design from scratch is pretty easy, with a vast number of online courses.
You can leverage graphic design software like Adobe InDesign to learn the foundation of graphic design. Alternatively, you can use other user-friendly tools like Visme and Stencil to hone your graphic design skills further.
13. Affiliate Marketing
It’s been a buzzword in the marketing arena for quite some time.
When someone asks how to make passive money online, a lot of people automatically envision affiliate marketing.
According to one blog income report study, bloggers making between $7500 — $25k per month make 38% of their income from affiliate marketing.
In simple terms, Affiliate marketing is a business model where bloggers and influencers recommend services or products they like or find useful, something that will be genuinely helpful for their followers, and earn a percentage of profit for each sale that follows.
14. Virtual Assistant
You can use your excellent organizational skills to create an extra stream of income. Virtual assistants are in high demand by corporations, freelancers, and every kind of business.
It is also an excellent opportunity to know successful and influential people from different fields of work to build a vast professional network. At the same time, it also provides you the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world while developing your professional skills.
People are always looking for efficient Virtual Assistants on freelance job websites.
15. Social Media Manager
Billions of people are on social media, and businesses are spending millions to reach their target audience through various social media platforms. If you are glued to social channels and understand how the eco-systems work, then you can put your knowledge to good use and start your own social media marketing business.
Small businesses, start-ups, and influencers with massive social media presence are always looking for capable social media managers to help them grow their social media presence. You can pitch for social media account management and help businesses run paid ad campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, and other channels.
Create pages on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp to promote your business and connect with people who want to leverage great deals. When you develop a solid follower base, you can also collaborate with travel agencies to cut exclusive deals for your customers.
16. Wedding photography
Wedding photography has become grander and fetches handsome pay per project. Professional wedding photographers can charge anything between $2500 – $10,000 and even more for each photoshoot.
At the start, you can build your clientele by searching online and registering on aggregators to find the business. You can also reach out to potential clients through Facebook and Instagram.
To hone your skills, you can either take online wedding photography classes or learn by reading this detailed guide. Here is the list of wedding photography gear you would need to start your wedding photography business.
17. Child Care
Singe parents and nuclear families are always short of time to take care of their children. Hence, there is always a demand for compassionate childcare professionals. It is a lucrative career option if you love being around kids.
But before taking the plunge, be sure about the age-group of the kids you are willing to look after. As you gain experience, you can also open your own day-care center to look after the kids and expand your business.
To increase your chances of finding success in this arena, you might want to earn formal certification in childcare.
18. Handmade Jewelry
Hand-made jewelry is the new fad. Teenage entrepreneurs have raked in vast amounts by selling handmade jewelry.
There are huge opportunities in the industry, with its growth projected at 5 to 6 percent per annum. With no big players in the field, the entry to this segment is also easy.
You can start selling online to earn a name, and if you end up becoming a household name, you can even open up a brick and mortar storefront.
Take a diploma or opt for online courses to understand the nuances of jewelry design and its making.
19. Wedding Planner
Weddings have become more opulent, organized, and resource-intensive. To manage all aspects of the wedding efficiently, couples these days look for credible wedding planners.
You can jump into the wedding planning business right away if you have contacts with professionals like good caterers, florists, performers, travel agents, photographer DJs, and more.
The process is time-intensive and capital intensive but can bring abundant rewards. An average wedding planner earns a good amount per hour for their services. You can also do a diploma in wedding planning to take your skills to the next level and prove your credibility in the industry.
20. Contract Customer Service (CSR)
Many organizations cut down their costs by outsourcing customer service to freelancers. If you are good at communicating and have sufficient management skills, then you can easily take customer service jobs.
Freelancing websites, including UpWork and Fiverr, offer a lot of contract-based customer service. If you already have the relevant experience, then you can also build a virtual team and start your own customer service agency.
21. Business Incubator
The job of a business incubator is to help new companies and startups plan and launch successfully. A typical business incubator will provide clients with management training, office space, high-speed internet connectivity, gym, food catering, and other necessities.
You don’t have to think too big – a small, local incubator can the perfect place where to start.
