College is a time to figure things out for yourself—your finances included. If, like most college students, you are trying to make ends meet, consider starting your own business.
Starting your own business as a college student requires skill and time, and can be an overwhelming endeavor. But did you know that, despite the government’s efforts to redesign secondary education, high school graduates proceed with earning a college degree or become part of the workforce with minimal to zero knowledge of critical business skills?
The country’s rising unemployment rate is currently 14.7%. The need for innovative and independent small business entrepreneurs is greater than ever. Consider starting a business to finance college education and save up for current and future needs, or as a way to get through the pandemic. This list of business ideas may allow college students to reap big rewards for a minimum investment:
Tutor
Content Creator
Delivery and Errand Service
Instagram Blogger
Seller on Etsy
Writer
Virtual Assistant
Social Media Influencer
Professional Reviewer
Residential Cleaning Service
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if you are looking for ways to save money while attending college, check out these helpful hints:
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Tutor
It’s not uncommon for most students (in college and otherwise) to struggle academically. If you excel in specific courses and subjects, use the situation to your advantage with a tutoring business.
Universities and colleges generally have a high demand for tutors. Market your services to bring in more tutees! You can tutor through your college or university’s peer-tutoring center. Ask your professor to connect you to more clients. Make your tutoring services known through the school’s online community forum.
Your tutoring business can also extend to tutees other than your peers! Private tutoring younger students can make for lucrative work on the side too!
Content Creator
Are you a writer, a graphic designer, or an artist? Put your skill to good use and make money. Thanks to social media, promoting your work won’t have to require much from you. Content creators simply take their work to social media to eventually get the attention of their market, gain a massive following, and enjoy a stable influx of customers.
Reach more audiences and expand your services by continually improving your skills. Engage in online content creation for the experience and opportunities that college work typically does not offer.
To balance your work and academic life, keep posting schedules that work for you. Consider the demands of your college degree, but make the most out of your content creation business.
Delivery and Errand Service
Not everyone has time for errands. For this reason, running errands, picking, and delivering items for someone is a lucrative business on the side. You can do these tasks for others in areas where delivery services aren’t popular.
Start with a website with details of your delivery services. Because you can market your business through the Internet, word of mouth, fliers, and ads on social media, you do not need to invest a lot of money to promote it. What you need is a starting capital to finance the early stages of your delivery and errand service.
This low-cost business shouldn’t conflict with your college studies because you have control over the job you will accept in any given schedule.
Instagram Blogger
Social Media gives every creative person the golden opportunity to shine! Mainly an app featuring photos, Instagram is heaven for people who know how it is to take “Instagram-able” pictures. This term is used to describe breathtaking images taken and posted by amateurs and professional photographers. If your content involves a lot of photography, Instagram is the best platform for you.
You make money through viewer engagement or viewership on your profile. If you gain a solid following, you can be an affiliate or endorser of local and international brands. Like the previous low-cost business ideas mentioned, you do not have to spend money on this. Signing up on Instagram is free. Endorsing products shouldn’t interfere with your college studies. Endorsement contracts don’t demand a lot of your time. To earn money, you only need to hit the quota specified on the deal.
Seller on Etsy
If you are good with arts and crafts, you can sell your masterpieces on Etsy. Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade items and designs by independent artists. You can sell anything from paintings to sculptures, clothing, toys, and other handmade items. However, note that this is not like other social media websites. In other platforms, you are free to post your work, and when you gain enough following, you offer your services or create an artwork to earn your commission.
Your job as a seller is to sell your product. Any engagement with a customer is also possible through the website’s messaging tool. If you want to gain more traction, you can link your Etsy account on your other social media accounts. That way, you gain a larger following.
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Writer
Writing is a lucrative business! If you’re good at it, you can offer your services to those who need help. Start by applying to online essay writing companies or bid for projects on freelancing websites. You can also promote your writing service on social media.
You can always adjust your rate depending on the level of difficulty of the writing project. This low-cost business does not require any type of investment, except perhaps a laptop, which you probably already own and use in school.
Virtual Assistant
If your schedule allows it, and if you are good at managing and keeping track of many social media platforms at once, an online virtual assistant business is perfect for you. A virtual assistant’s job is to monitor the client’s email communication, manage social media accounts, draft official letters, track business activities, and perform other secretarial duties. Your clients are often busy business executives, celebrities, public figures, politicians, and even government officials.
One of the qualities that will make you thrive in this job is being methodological. If you have this quality and are diligent when it comes to keeping track of activities and to-dos, you’ll do well in this low-cost business! Because the job requires some level of trust and confidence, display professionalism and expertise in your work.
If you think you can maintain your academic and social life while fully engaged in the business of being a virtual assistant, feel free to be part of the growing industry. Make sure to strike a balance between the demands of academic life and your business.
Social Media Influencer
If you have been very active in social media platforms, you can earn as a social media influencer. Small and large businesses connect with social media influencers to promote their brand.
Being an influencer is a very profitable job. You can be a one with only 1,000 followers! Once you do, you will receive offers from both small enterprises and large corporations.
Professional Reviewer
Product reviews are essential for large and small companies. If you had been active in buying and reviewing products, various businesses would reach out to you for reviews. You can also make your reviewing services available by creating a website or blog.
If you think you can give critical but honest product reviews, manufacturers can pay you for each review you make, or you can agree on an hourly rate. You don’t only earn money with each review; you also get exclusive access to the newest products, mostly before they are officially launched! Product reviewing shouldn’t be a problem for a college student; you can do them in your spare time and cost virtually nothing!
Residential Cleaning Service
Because of demanding class schedules, college students like you typically do not have the luxury of time to clean their dorm or residence. Do you think you can handle it? A cleaning service is an ideal business for you!
Student cleaning services have become an unexpectedly lucrative part-time and full-time job for college students. You can earn by simply being part of the university partying scene—not by joining the wealthy kids who party but by cleaning up after them, such as in fraternity and sorority houses. Your residential cleaning business will thrive in prominent universities, and even in Ivy League schools.
You do not have to do anything other than posting your cleaning services ad online. Cleaning is a service that comes with trust, so be a professional! Remember that happy clients usually return the favor by telling a friend or colleague about the excellent work you do for them.
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