A lot of people dreamed at one point in their lives about starting a business of their own. The only two reasons why they never actually tried to pursue their dreams are A) lack of time and B) lack of finances. However, this is mostly because they never came to the idea of considering a home-based business as a viable option. But in this way, you could start your business as a side-project and avoid any major expenses. With this in mind, here are five ideas that might seem particularly compelling.

Tutoring online

If you possess a skill or knowledge you believe other people would be willing to pay for, you might want to try tutoring online. For those who aren’t comfortable with their ability to find clients on their own, there is a plethora of agencies and platforms which could help them connect with people in need of tutoring. Once you get the grip of the industry, you might want to set out on your own. By establishing a direct connection with clients, you will eliminate the middleman and in this way maximize your profits. Who knows, in time, you might even consider starting your own tutoring agency.

Personal trainer

Another thing you could try your hand at is being a personal trainer. For this, you will need to be in excellent shape and be knowledgeable in the fields of fitness and nutrition. Some people start their own small gyms or outfit one room in their home for this purpose. Still, for the time being, this doesn’t have to be anything expensive, seeing as how most exercises can be done with bodyweight, a pull-up bar and a mat. At the end of the day, it all comes down to your expertise and your social abilities.

Online trading

If you don’t have the patience or the commodity of time to wait for your stocks to rise in value, yet, you have money you want to invest, you might want to try your hand at online trading. Here, you have numerous options from forex through price action trading to momentum day trading. The difference between online trading and investing is that with online trading, you get to see your profits much sooner. Nonetheless, it all depends on your ability to find the right broker and a platform that is reliable enough.

Virtual assistant

Those looking to learn more about the business world might start working as virtual assistants. In this way, they will get a chance to help a businessperson halfway across the globe in their administrative tasks. This job includes a lot of support duties such as data entry, research, word processing and, of course, bookkeeping. In other words, the job is not nearly as monotonous as you might have assumed. Apart from the ability to earn a small fortune, provided you get good enough ratings, you might also learn a thing or two about the business world and start an enterprise of your own sometimes in the future.

Wedding planning

Finally, people who are great at organizing social events and have a passion for hosting parties might start their own wedding planning business. The most important three skills for this job are budgeting, negotiating and time management. However, in the long-run, you get to benefit the most from your networking skills. Once you establish your network of contacts, the complex job of wedding planning becomes much simpler.

Conclusion

What separates the above-listed five ideas from some other options you might have considered is the fact that they can be handled as side-projects until you’re confident enough that you can make a living by switching to full-time. Sure, other guides may suggest that you abandon your day-job and risk it all in order to live your dream, but in the real world, jumping head-first into the unknown is never the right thing to do. Therefore, going with one of the abovementioned ideas or something along those lines might be a fail-proof idea.