Businesses You Can Start for Under $500, page 7

Empathetic people who can coach habits and accountability and are honest about what they cannot legally do

Startup cost

$500 – $8,000

Monthly earnings

$500 – $7,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Recipe-driven makers who enjoy small-batch production and the slow grind of building a packaged-food brand at farmers markets and online

Startup cost

$500 – $25,000

Monthly earnings

$200 – $5,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Organized, reliable people who want a low-cost service business with recurring customers and flexible hours

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$1,000 – $6,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 weeks

People comfortable with SEO, paid ads, or sales who want to build a recurring-revenue asset by feeding local service businesses qualified leads

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$500 – $12,000 / mo

First income

2 to 4 months

Strong communicators with real life or career experience who can market themselves and genuinely help people reach goals

Startup cost

$500 – $10,000

Monthly earnings

$0 – $8,000 / mo

First income

1 to 4 months

Experienced meditators with teaching ability who want to help people manage stress and build a practice across 1:1, classes, and corporate work

Startup cost

$500 – $8,000

Monthly earnings

$500 – $8,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Capable developers who can validate a narrow problem, ship a real product, and survive a long unpaid build-and-find-customers phase

Startup cost

$500 – $15,000

Monthly earnings

$0 – $10,000 / mo

First income

6 to 18 months

People with a genuine interest in health and habits who can market themselves and coach within clear, legal scope-of-practice limits

Startup cost

$500 – $8,000

Monthly earnings

$0 – $7,000 / mo

First income

1 to 4 months

People with online-business, M&A, or finance experience who can value businesses and tolerate lumpy, deal-driven income

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$0 – $20,000 / mo

First income

4 to 9 months

Knowledgeable, communicative coaches who can produce content consistently and keep clients accountable remotely

Startup cost

$500 – $5,000

Monthly earnings

$300 – $8,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

People with sales and writing ability who can build review-generation systems for local businesses and professionals and handle the occasional reputation crisis

Startup cost

$500 – $4,000

Monthly earnings

$1,500 – $12,000 / mo

First income

3 to 6 weeks

Strong writers with business judgment who can earn the trust of executives and turn their thinking into content that builds authority

Startup cost

$500 – $4,000

Monthly earnings

$3,000 – $18,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

People who want physical outdoor work, low startup cost, and a fast path to first income

Startup cost

$500 – $5,000

Monthly earnings

$1,500 – $8,000 / mo

First income

1 to 2 weeks

Confident communicators with real speaking, teaching, or theater experience who can give precise, kind feedback and sell their own credibility

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$1,500 – $12,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Operations-minded people who can hire, train, and retain remote agents and run a tight, reliable service on thin margins

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$1,500 – $14,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Proven sales leaders who can build process and coach teams, and can sell their own services credibly

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$3,000 – $20,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Experienced developers who understand e-commerce and can commit months of unpaid building before any recurring revenue appears

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$0 – $12,000 / mo

First income

3 to 9 months

People who can write persuasive short messages, manage compliance carefully, and tie their work directly to revenue for ecommerce and local brands

Startup cost

$500 – $4,000

Monthly earnings

$1,500 – $15,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

People who know sneaker culture, can stomach inventory risk, and treat it as data-driven trading rather than a guaranteed flip

Startup cost

$500 – $10,000

Monthly earnings

$300 – $6,000 / mo

First income

2 to 6 weeks

Detail-oriented people with QA or development experience who want remote, project-based tech work

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$1,500 – $12,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Skilled draftspeople who can draw fast, understand cinematic staging, and want freelance creative work for ad, film, and animation projects

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$800 – $9,000 / mo

First income

1 to 4 months

Skilled sewers with real garment-construction knowledge who enjoy precise, detail-oriented handwork

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$800 – $6,000 / mo

First income

2 to 6 weeks

Relationship-driven dealmakers with brand contacts who can grow creators' income and are patient enough to earn on commission

Startup cost

$500 – $4,000

Monthly earnings

$0 – $12,000 / mo

First income

2 to 6 months

People fluent in short-form content and creator culture who can sell, coordinate fulfillment, and stomach a platform whose rules can change overnight

Startup cost

$500 – $4,000

Monthly earnings

$1,000 – $12,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months