So, you have the entrepreneurial spirit but not a lot of tech know-how? Despite all of the high-tech startups that have popped up in recent years, there are still plenty of small business options out there that don’t require you to know the difference between CSS and QR codes. Below are low tech business ideas you can start this year.
Editor’s note: watch a video featuring 10 of these non tech startup ideas.
Low Tech Business Ideas
Cleaning Business
All you need to start your own cleaning business is a stockpile of cleaning supplies and access to clients, which you can gain through word of mouth, flyers or classified ads if you don’t want to set up your own website.
Flea Market Vending
Flea markets are filled with a huge variety of different vendors. You can sell basically anything from vintage housewares to jewelry that you made yourself.
Day Care
Running a child care service out of your home just requires you to have some experience working with kids and a safe home environment to care for them throughout the day.
Lawn Mowing
You can start a business providing lawn care services to people in your area. You just need a lawnmower and a vehicle to get you from place to place.
Errand Service
Busy people could often use some help with their day-to-day tasks. Starting an errand service means you can charge people to take care of things like grocery shopping, dry cleaning and other odd jobs.
Wedding Consulting
If you enjoy planning and organizing events, you might consider starting a wedding consulting business. This mainly requires you to plan and facilitate with various vendors and service providers.
Wholesale Bakery
You could start a baking business where you create dessert items at home and sell them wholesale to local bakeries or restaurants. You’ll need to learn first about regulations in your community for commercial food preparation, however
Dog Walking Service
If you love being outside and hanging out with animals, you can put up some flyers around your community offering your services as a dog walker.
Estate Sale Service
Those who have lost loved ones or need to move and sell many of their possessions often need help setting up estate sales. If you have some knowledge about antiques and selling used items, you may be able to offer your services in this capacity.
Personal Chef Service
If you enjoy cooking but don’t necessarily want to start a whole restaurant, you could become a personal chef and prepare meals for a client or clients in their home or yours.
Food Kiosk
Whether you want to start a roadside pretzel stand or operate a taco or other food truck, there are plenty of opportunities to sell food items on a small, sometimes even mobile scale.
Pool Cleaning
Pool owners often hire professionals to keep their pools clean and ready for use throughout the summer. This requires some experience or know-how, but not much in the way of technology.
Clothing Alterations
If you have some sewing skills, you could offer your services to people who need repairs or alterations to their garments.
Car Wash
Whether you want to set up an entire car washing business or just raise some extra money on occasion, car washing can be a great money making opportunity that requires little to no tech knowledge.
Packing Service
For people who are planning to move but don’t want to go through the trouble of packing their belongings, you can offer that service to them for a fee.
House Sitting
For travelers, hiring a house sitter can offer peace of mind. And offering those services doesn’t require you to do anything tech-related, though there are some websites that let you advertise your availability.
Custom Embroidery Service
If you enjoy embroidering and have the supplies to do so, you can offer your services to people who want to add their business logo, initials, or any other details to their clothing or accessories.
Interior Decorating Service
Helping clients design and decorate their homes can be a fun business opportunity for design-oriented entrepreneurs. And though there are some online tools that can help with those processes, it isn’t as necessary as a keen eye for design.
Personal Training
If you love getting in shape and helping others do the same, you can offer your services out of your home or a local gym.
Tutoring
You can start a tutoring business that helps local students with a particular subject, test or area of study.
Personal Shopping
Clients who need some help picking out outfits or creating a budget for their purchases may be interested in the services of a personal shopper. Starting this type of service mainly just requires an interest in shopping and some fashion sense.
Recycling Service
A lot of people don’t know how or don’t want to go through the trouble of recycling large items like computers. So you could offer the service of picking up those items for a fee and taking them to the proper recycling outlets.
Pet Sitting
Travelers with pets are particularly likely to want someone to come to their home or look after their dogs or cats. You can offer this service to people you know and let your client base grow out from there.
Handyman Service
If you’re good with tools and home repairs, you can offer general handyman services to people in your area who need help with various home projects.
Home Care
Elderly people often need help with basic functions like laundry, grocery shopping and getting to and from appointments. You can offer your services as a home care provider to help them take care of some of those tasks on a regular basis.
Tour Guide Service
If you have a lot of knowledge about your local community and love sharing that knowledge with others, you can consider starting a tour guide service to show people around.
Yoga Instruction
Teaching yoga can be a rewarding career that requires little to no technology. You can teach out of a studio or even set one up in your own home.
Translation Service
Businesses, individuals and even government entities often hire translators to communicate with people in various other languages. If you are fluent in any other languages, you may be able to offer your services to different clients.
Antique Sales
You can sell various antique items at antique fairs, antique mall booths or even in your own store.
Aquarium Maintenance
People who own fish, lizards, snakes or any other animals that live in tanks or aquariums are likely to need some maintenance services at some point. If that’s the type of work you enjoy, you can provide those services in people’s homes or place of business.
Window Washing
If you enjoy being outside and cleaning, a window washing business might be the right fit for you. You just need some cleaning supplies and outdoor equipment if you plan to work on multi-story buildings.
Gardening
Another great fit for anyone who loves working outside, working as a gardener would allow you to work for residential or business clients to improve their outdoor plant life.
Event Planning
Similar to wedding coordinators, event planners work with clients to plan and organize the various aspects of their events. You can work with an even bigger array of clients by being open to the types of events you’ll work on.
Craft Fair Vending
If you can make anything from clothing to candles, you can work on creating those items in your home or workshop and then travel to different craft fairs in your community or around the world to sell them.
Childproofing Service
When people have children or even just welcome child visitors into their homes, it can help to have an expert come over to make sure that everything is safe and childproof.
Car Detailing
Car owners will pay a premium price for someone who’s able to not only wash the outside of their cars, but also clean out the entire inside from top to bottom.
Florist
Being a florist allows you to work with different flowers and plants to make arrangements that your customers will love.
Hair Stylist
If you have a cosmetology certification, you can start your own business as a hairstylist, offering cut, color and various other styling services.
Makeup Artist
Or you can work as a makeup artist, welcoming clients to your own space or even traveling to work with them.
House Painting
You can offer house painting services to clients who need interior and/or exterior work done one their homes or businesses.
Greenhouse
Love plants? You can start your own greenhouse where you care for various outdoor and houseplants and sell them to customers.
Moving Service
If you have a large vehicle and a strong team, you can offer full moving services to customers in your area.
Woodworking Service
From furniture to birdhouses, you can build a huge variety of items out of wood. Then you can sell those items to local businesses or at craft fairs or flea markets.
Canning Business
Canning allows you to preserve different types of food items so that you can ship them to customers or even sell them wholesale to local businesses.
Photo Restoration
Old photos tend to fade and show other signs of ware and tear over time. It takes some specialized expertise, but you can work to restore certain types of photos without going fully digital.
Laundry Service
For students, elderly people or even busy families, you can offer a service that helps with their regular laundry so they don’t have to worry about it.
Resume Writing
Young professionals or people who haven’t job hunted in years often look for assistance when compiling their resumes. You can offer some assistance and feedback to clients working on things like resumes and cover letters.
Soap Making
With just a few ingredients and supplies, you can make your own soap with various scents and specialties and sell them to local beauty or home stores, or even at craft events.
Nutritionist
If you have some knowledge about food and dieting, you can work with clients to give them some input on their nutrition.
Proofreading Service
You can also offer your services as a proofreader for things like articles, grants, resumes or even school assignments.
Flea Market Vinyl, Mop, Wedding, Dessert Kiosk, Man in House, Shopper, Tour Guide, Window Washer, Auto Detailing, Greenhouse, Laundry Photos via Shutterstock
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