Businesses You Can Start for Under $500 — page 8

Organized, calm-under-pressure people who love logistics, vendors, and managing other people's biggest day

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$1,000 – $9,000 / mo

First income

2 to 4 months

Experienced engineers who have built and run production infrastructure and want to sell that expertise directly to companies

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$4,000 – $22,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Empathetic, organized people — often with lived ADHD experience or an education background — who want to help clients build systems, not diagnose or treat

Startup cost

$500 – $9,000

Monthly earnings

$1,000 – $8,000 / mo

First income

1 to 3 months

Highly skilled visual artists who can hit a professional portfolio bar and handle critique, deadlines, and feast-or-famine income

Startup cost

$500 – $6,000

Monthly earnings

$1,000 – $9,000 / mo

First income

3 to 12 months

People who are good with money habits and genuinely enjoy guiding others through budgeting and debt, without selling products

Startup cost

$500 – $8,000

Monthly earnings

$800 – $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

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