SHOESTRING STARTUPS

20 businesses you can launch for $100 or less.

You don’t need a lot of money to start your own business. Here’s a roundup of 20 you can start quickly for $100 or less. Do a search online and visit our Business Opportunities listings for more possibilities.

GARAGE CLEANING AND ORGANIZING:
You are right. It doesn’t sound all that glamorous but in no time at all you could be working as the agent booking the jobs around town, while your staff of two, three or four workers handles the hard work.

Once you clean and organize a few garages around town, you will likely develop positive word-of-mouth that could be enough to skyrocket your venture. While you are waiting for that to happen, place a few ads in the local newspaper and make sure you keep your answering machine turned on while waiting for the gigs to come to you.
SOUVENIR AND MEMORY BOOKS:
People take trips, celebrate graduations, anniversaries and births, host office parties and retirement gatherings. They usually are stuck with photos, ticket stubs, programs, and other memorabilia from these events. You can start a business putting them all together in decorative scrapbooks. You can create actual scrapbooks or virtual scrapbooks by setting up a website for the individual so they can share the moment and the memories with everyone who has access to the Internet.
JUNK REMOVAL:
This is a great part-time, shoestring start-up. All you need is a truck or van and the will to haul goods to the local dump or recycling center. Maybe your customers have no way to haul goods away, or maybe it is too heavy for their car. You do the research and find out the best way to dispose of the goods or items and check it out. Make sure you can identify antiques. If you are picking up four Chinese antique chairs and a table bound for the dump, consider taking it to a local antique dealer instead. Charge by the hour or by the truck haul.
WATCHES FOR SALE:
You can purchase a wide variety of wristwatches from Deziner Wholesale L.L.C. and sell them for a very nice profit. Their website at: www.dezinerwholesale.com will show you the line and instruct you on how to order. Watches are very popular fashion accessories and Deziner has one to suit every style. Check it out.
ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES:
Kaeser & Blair Incorporated has been in business for 108 years and has a wide variety of products you can offer to your customers that will feature their name and/or logo. School teams, clubs and other organizations are all potential customers, in addition to businesses. The start-up is $85 and you can request a free information package. Visit the company website at www.kaeser-blair.com or call 800-642-9790 for new dealer information.
MEAL DELIVERY:
You can start your own meal delivery service right in your own community. An increasing number of consumers out there don’t have the time or the inclination to make their own meals or they want to celebrate a special occasion with a great meal from one of their favorite restaurants.

This is where you come in; you pick up the meal they request from the local eatery or restaurant and deliver it to your customers. You receive a service fee for your delivery and possibly can buy the meals at discounted prices from the restaurants. You charge your clients the price listed on the menu, however. For more on how to start this business, visit www.legacymarketing.net/ and check out their guide on How to Start And Operate A Meal Delivery Service. It’s $19.95, plus shipping costs. To call, dial 888-725-2639.
BUTTON & BADGE MAKING:
You can turn a fun pastime into a serious business with as little as $39.95 and help from Badge-A-Minit. They’ve been in business for years helping entrepreneurs start their own button and badge-making business. These buttons can be sold to clubs, organizations or schools or made exclusively for a specific holiday, parade, etc. There is a button design for every occasion. The company is based in LaSalle, Illinois. Visit the website at www.badgeaminit.com or call 800-223-4103.
MAKE BUNK BEDS:
Do you have tools and are you handy? Robert O’Reilly started making bunk beds ten years ago in his garage with $120 worth of tools and no woodworking experience. He now sells a program that can help you learn how to do it, too. The startup is low and the profits are high. Call 800-382-3180 for more information on how you can get started. Visit www.bunkbedspecialties.com.
SUNGLASS SHOP:
You can start your own business selling fashionable sunglasses from your home, to co-workers, at parties, the beach, flea markets, mall shows, etc. You purchase the sunglasses from Deziner Sunglasses at wholesale prices. Prices are as low as $6 a dozen. You sell them to your customers for a nice profit. Visit their website at www.dezinerwholesale.com to learn about their products and other merchandise. You can also call 888-420-8661. They also offer a Deziner Sunglass Cart. It’s very good looking and entrepreneurs report that in the right location, they are making profits of $800 a day.
LAWNS & LANDSCAPES:
Yard cleanups, lawn cutting, weed pulling are things that every homeowner and apartment manager must deal with but many are saying they just don’t have the time to do it all. Print up a flier or a business card and start promoting your service. Take out an ad in the local newspaper. Offer a discounted price for new customers.
SAFETY & SECURITY:
Start your own business or sideline selling safety and security products. You tie in with Safety Technology and purchase their products at wholesale rates. You then re-sell them at a profit to your customers. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida and has a wide variety of merchandise for you to consider. The best way to learn more about the business opportunity is to visit their website at www.safetytechnology.com. You can also call the company at 800-477-1739/904-720-2188.
MOVE-IN SERVICE:
Have you ever moved into a home or apartment and wished you had a few elves to help you with the cleaning, a new paint job and window washing? You can start a business helping other people with this problem. Your move-in service will get everything ready for the customer before they move into the “new” place. You might do the work, or pay someone else to do it for you. You can also hire floor sanders, wallpaper pros and plumbers to take care of some of the bigger jobs if that’s what your client wants. In addition to paying for the outside workers, your client will pay your hourly wage as well.

You could also offer a crash move-in service: $250-$500 for basic kitchen and bath cleaning. Determine what your market will bear and set your price appropriately.
HOLIDAY DECORATING:
This business is becoming bigger and bigger across the country and it is not only residential clients that will be your customers. Commercial clients will sign on once they see the portfolio you’ve created. This is not a service for winter holiday time only. You can expand it to include the four seasons. Decorate your own home and the home of a friend or two. Photograph them for a digital portfolio you can email to potential customers. Don’t forget to include commercial customers on your target list, too. Many small business owners would like to capitalize on the four season holidays with their window displays, store displays, etc. but don’t have someone on staff to handle the chore.
BIRTHDAY IN A BOX BIZ:
Birthday parties are popular and most parents today, especially single parents, don’t have the time to plan everything out to the child’s satisfaction. You can start a business offering a birthday party in a box. The parent purchases the party in a box based on how many children will be present at the party. You include the plates, napkins, party favors, decorations, plastic forks, balloons, themed goods and items and even the cake if you choose to get into cakemaking and decorating, too, to expand your business. You can also tie in with a local cakemaker and promote this business right along with your birthday in a box. Parents might like the “one stop shopping” offered by your fine service. Visit www.orientaltrader.com to take a look at their offerings. The prices are rock bottom and great for just about any type of party theme.
MAIL ORDER AND MORE:
You can start a mail order empire right from your kitchen table, but you need to find the right product or products to sell. Contact Specialty Merchandise Corp. (SMC) in Chatsworth, California to learn how you can order their products and sell them to your customers. The company can help you get started for less than $25. You’ll receive catalogs, sales tools and marketing help.

Make money via a mail order business or by selling at Home Parties, Flea Markets, Swap Meets, Fundraisers, Gift Shops, Kiosks, Mall Shows and more. They’ll even help you establish your own SMC website. Some of the SMC customers make $5000 a week and more. Call 800-242-8666 for more information.
CARVE A NICHE:
Is there a product or service need in your community that needs fulfilling? Is there a big interest in a particular item that people just can’t seem to find? Look at the rush for patriotic products that erupted after September 11. Americans couldn’t buy flags and other flag products quickly enough.
In fact, flag manufacturers here in the U.S. of A. were completely sold out of their flags and the products were on backorder. Twenty million flags are sold every year. Fifty million were sold last year. Examine your community and region and figure out what will be the next big need to be fulfilled. Determine a strategy on how you can cash in on this item and contact manufacturers to purchase the goods at wholesale rates.
ONLINE AUCTION SELLER:
We know of a senior citizen who regularly makes $600 a week selling items from her garage, attic, basement and shed by participating in eBay auctions. She learned how directly from the site and it cost her just a few dollars to get started.

If you haven’t experienced the fun of eBay yet—as a buyer or a seller—go to ebay.com and see what all the fun is about. You can even start your own store on eBay. If you have something to sell, you will find a buyer on eBay. More than 2 million auctions are closed each day. Shouldn’t they be for your old junk?
INFORMATION BROKER:
There are plenty of people out there who need information but don’t know where to turn to get it or don’t have the time to investigate what they require on their own. You come in as an information broker for private citizens, civic groups, organizations and commercial operations.

Say a neighbor wants to plant an evergreen hedge but doesn’t want to just accept what the local nursery is offering. You conduct the research—charging by the hour—and find out what would grow fastest, thickest and in that particular light or shade. Or, a small business in town wants to set up an outdoor café but the overworked owner doesn’t have time to navigate the zoning laws with the town board. You step in and handle it.
START A WEBSITE BIZ:
You can follow instructions from many Internet Service Providers that offer hosting services for your new website. They will help you get started with all of the elements—from design, naming your site, to tracking orders. Investigate this way of selling your goods or information. If you have an idea for an informative site, you might be able to make money by selling advertising. Pick up a copy of Jason Kelly’s book “The Neatest Little Guide To Making Money Online.” It contains hundreds of valuable tips on how to get started. The resources in the book are worth the cover price. It’s $12.95 from Plume/Penguin Putnam.
APARTMENT/HOUSE CLEANING:
Busy people don’t have time to clean up their apartments and homes and will gladly pay a reliable worker to take care of it. You can start your own service on a shoestring for less than $100. Figure out what you’ll need to get started and place some ads in local newspapers. Call competing services if they exist and find out how they charge. You can also order a start-up guide for $19.95 from Legacy Marketing, entitled “How To Start Your Own Home and Apartment Cleaning Service.” To order, visit the company’s website at www.legacymarketing.net or call their toll-free number at 888-725-2639.

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