7 Small Business Ideas for you....from Me.

Often times, I come across people who want to start a small business and do something to help them earn a little extra money. They are driven and ready to work but have no idea what sort of business to go into, especially as it sometimes feels like all the small businesses are already being done by 1 million other people.

Off the top of my head, from research and conversation with a few friends and colleagues, I have 7 small business Ideas for you.

1. Dog Care/Dog Walking: 

A lot of upwardly mobile individuals own dogs these days...and a good number of these people do not have the time to give the dogs full on attention. If you have a love for dogs and do not mind going on short walks daily and maybe, bathing dogs, dog care and dog walking could be a quick way yo earn a little extra change. Imagine getting 500 Naira per dog walk and being able to walk 5 - 6 dogs at a time...presto!

2. Event Planning:

A lot of people limit themselves when it comes to event planning. Event planning must not be as big and grand as state-wide events. Sometimes, planning an event could be as small as planning a birthday party for a friend and making it a lot more than just drinking and dancing. Take an online course in event planning and learn tricks and methods to make small events memorable and fun. As you start small, you will eventually get bigger.

3. Shopping/Errand services:

Who said being the 'shopper' means you have to be the 'consumer'. There are loads of people out there (the one writing this is one) who do not have the time to shop for stuff--food, cloths, house hold items, sundry items -- and wish they could get someone to help them buy all these things without breaking a bank. You can start to help people buy the things they need as they order them and charge a fee for your service, the good thing is that this kind of work also makes you a favorite with the store owners so you get some crazy discounts, gifts and earth-shaking favors. If you love to shop, why not get paid to shop for someone else?

4. Laundry Services:

well, we might as well call it 'wash-a-man services'. A proper laundromat does cost some money to start up, however, on a small scale, you can make good money from washing,ironing and folding the cloths of people around you. With all the detergent promos running in Nigeria, it is even cheaper to do. A variation to this would be going to a peoples houses to do the laundry...use their own water supply, their own detergent, their own electricity and your hands, feet, eyes and mind. At the end of the day, all it costs you is daytime hours, some energy and the cost of transportation there. All you can earn from it include money, trust and in some cases, freebies from your client. If you ask me, I say it's a win-win.

5. Baby Sitting:

Did you ever read the children novel series called "The Baby Sitters' Club"...writing this bit makes me think about it...lol.

Seriously though, I understand that retail baby sitting is not very popular in this part of the world, but it is gradually seeping in...imagine what it would feel like being one of forerunners in the baby sitting industry when it eventually takes off *big grin*

Working mothers (who are increasing daily) always need someone to help them care for their babies and with the number of 'the-husband-slept-with-the-maid' cases, fewer women want to have live-in maids. Take advantage of this and offer to baby-sit for someone, but first, learn the tricks of baby care from books, websites and the number one source of baby information, your mother.

6. Document Development:

This is for the smart alecs. Have you got good skill in document development? Are you proficient in the use of MS Office? Can you turn a boring word document into a mentally stimulating color chart, power point presentation or card board visual? Then you need to start a business as a document developer. Finding clients may be tough and you may end up doing a lot of jobs for miserly change, but keep at it. The skill of document development (I think it is a unique art) only gets better as you do it more...keep at it and work on promoting yourself and your service as well.

7. Car Wash:

This is something that really does not go into the category of small and non-cash intensive but that is only if you need to pay for space. Imagine if you had a plot of land that was given to you by an uncle or perhaps, one that you inherited...you could then turn this into a car wash. Naturally, you would have to consider the location and the vehicle movement frequency around it but when all that plays out, starting a car wash can really be as little as getting a bucket, water, car sponge and rag, car washing liquid and car polish. Start small and then grow into a big car wash...and perhaps have a bunch of sexy girls in shorts washing the cars for your clients (trust me, that will definitely increase the number of clients per day...lol)