Let’s not beat around the bush: the pandemic hit the world hard. It caused a massive economic shift, causing many businesses to transform their own company into an online business, while others didn’t quite make it.
If you’re looking at this article for a business idea, you might be one of those people who weren’t so lucky. Or, more positively, you might be a house spouse who wants to earn money in your free time in the comfort of your own home or some who wants a profitable business to run at the same time as their regular work.
Thankfully, there are still a few profitable business ideas and business models we can turn to for making much-needed money.
16 Business Ideas for the Aspiring Business Owner
As is the case of starting any money-making venture, a new business takes time. You will have to put much effort into any small business idea for you to reap the benefits.
And indeed, the benefits can be quite enjoyable once your business has taken off. For instance, you’d be your own boss, and ditching your 9 to 5 altogether is completely a viable option. And on the chance that you really like what you do, you’d be making money doing what you love.
So without further ado, here are some of the most viable business ideas to start your own business in Singapore:
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Baking
If you’ve already got the baking skills, then why not make a profit out of it? Baked goods, especially homemade ones, enjoy high demand year-round, and they can get even higher during particular seasons.
The versatility and the constant demand makes a running bakery one of the ideal businesses you can do. It also is not very capital-intensive (especially if you already bake) when it comes to ingredients and delivery costs, making it an accessible business model.
Product Ideas:
The standard fare of cookies, cakes, and brownies are strong choices already. Those goods overall make great gifts, and as such, they can be popular in any season. You can run promotions during significant seasons like Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and any other holiday that sweets can play a role in.
You also have the option of delving into custom cakes. Customization is a very lucrative venture which a higher profit margin. Personalized cakes as gifts during birthdays and events are trendy.
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E-Commerce
Another small business idea is to open up your own online store. eCommerce businesses are a tried and true way of earning. You can sell just about anything, such as food, indoor plants, vegetable growing kits, urban garden tools that are becoming popular amid COVID-19.
One important thing to consider as an aspiring business person is whether you want to join an online marketplace or make your own website/online store.
An online marketplace will sell you products in their store but, you wouldn’t have control over the setup, design, listing process, or customer service. But with this lack of control, you benefit from immediate access to an established customer base since most established online marketplaces already have a captive audience looking to purchase.
However, it is more ideal to sell products on your own website eventually. Then, not only will you have full control, but you also have complete access to the profits.
ECommerce Platforms:
- Shopify
- Shopee
- Lazada
- Amazon
- Woocommerce
- Bigcommerce
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Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a business model not unlike an eCommerce business. The difference is your business will sell items, but you’ll never be holding inventory.
When a customer orders a product, your business will place that order with a supplier, earning money as a middle man.
Dropshipping heavily relies on the quality of the products, speed of delivery, and the supplier reputation, but a big part of it is how much you can pull customers. If you are confident in your marketing skills, this small business might be for you.
Dropshipping Platforms:
You can do dropshipping on platforms where you can do online selling, such as Woocommerce, Shopify, Carousel, Shopee, or Lazada.
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Consulting
Among many lucrative small business ideas is being a consultant. If you have considerable expertise in a given field like business, design, marketing, finances, child-care, and more, you can provide your services as a consultant.
To try out this business, you must first determine your expertise and your niche. Then you need to make sure that you are properly equipped with all the tools and information you need to provide your services to your customers. Finally, like with any business venture, you need to learn to market your services.
The best part about being a consultant as a small business is that you’re using your knowledge, which you might likely be able to do. It’s also a business you can easily kickstart with little to no capital.
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Tutoring
If you are looking for small business ideas that similarly use your knowledge, you can try tutoring. Just like starting a consulting business, Tutoring is something you can do with your own expertise.
You can start your tutoring by first discerning your expertise. And similar to consulting, you must then market yourself to find students that you can work with. Alternatively, you may use freelancing platforms to find clients or use websites that specifically serve as places where people can find tutors.
Your classes may vary depending on the arrangement with your student. Formerly, a tutor will go to the house of their students while under parental supervision. In the era of COVID-19, video sessions are the more common way to go.
With the video setup, you may even be able to tutor multiple students simultaneously in the growing trend of the webinar.
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Health, Wellness, Lifestyle Coaching
Another common online business comes in the form of coaching. Like the other businesses that may use your expertise in coaching, you will have people come to you to help them with their specific situations.
Commonly, being a health and wellness or lifestyle coach focuses on self-care, spirituality, health, diet, confidence, and generally more internal matters. Many who are in the coaching business usually start as bloggers who eventually write books, hold online courses regarding their chosen field, and many more.
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Online Marketing (Blogging)
Online marketing is a common money-making method that you can do on the internet. As long as you have a specific platform that pulls in an audience, online marketing is a great business model to make a profit.
One of the many platforms you can use is a blogging platform, but you can very much do some of this via social media sites like Facebook and Instagram and Youtube.
There are many ways that you can do online marketing, such as:
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing that requires you to generate content as a referral for a specific product. You usually earn through commissions or whenever someone clicks redirects to your client’s page through a URL you posted, called an affiliate link.
Advertising
Another thing you can do is allow businesses to post ads on your website. If your site is popular enough, companies relevant to your niche may offer to post ads on your website for a monthly sum. You can also use Google AdSense and let the program determine the ads displayed depending on the target audience info, and in this case, you may charge per impressions or clicks.
Sponsorships
Lastly, you may be contacted by a business that wants to sponsor your content with enough popularity. This is especially common with sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.
There is a great demand for content these days. While platform blogging can still be a consistent means of money-making, social media and video content greatly rise into prominence, becoming the medium most people prefer. Whichever you choose, earning through marketing and ads is a good small business to run.
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Laundry Services
Washing clothes is an activity that people have to do regularly. But some people end up too busy with work, child-care, and other things to clean their clothes, beddings, curtains, cushions, and more, despite it being essential.
Because it is essential, starting a laundry business in Singapore makes sense that there is a high demand for some people who would rather spend the time doing something else. By using this popular business opportunity to your advantage, your finances can benefit positively.
However, compared to other small business ideas, kickstarting a laundry business can be capital intensive due to needing high-grade laundry equipment to maintain good business.
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DIY Craft-Making
If you have the knack for making trinkets and other crafts, why not evolve the hobby into a small business?
There are many different products that you can do, like stickers, crocheted clothing, soaps, candles, figurines, and more.
If you have no specific craft, you can find one that you’re interested in learning and passionate about and do your own research on the internet. Not only will you be doing something you love, but you can also earn money from it as well.
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Taking Online Surveys
You might be surprised to find this in a list of small business ideas, but taking online surveys is another viable option for earning a profit.
You can earn by simply giving your opinion on various products and services by filling out online surveys.
Quantity is a kicker here. The more surveys you complete, the more points you get. You can use these points to redeem cash, vouchers, and more.
Online Survey Websites
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Web Design
If you have the skills for web design and use programs like Javascript, HTML, and CSS, you have the option of starting a small business as a freelance web designer.
Web design will be much like other design work, wherein you must tailor your services to your client’s requests while balancing out providing your expert opinions and decisions. You can get a hefty payment upfront in this line of work, considering the amount of effort it takes.
What’s more, because of the current migration into the digital medium, there is currently a great demand for web designers and their expertise to get a business into the internet era.
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Social Media Management
Another common job that is popping up is the management of social media pages. For example, an online business may choose to outsource the management of their profiles/pages to other people who are more versed in marketing.
Some things you might do include the constant creation of content, including copies, visuals, videos, and the like on the social media platform, to generate more likes, follows, and engagement. But, more so, you might have to interact with the customers who respond to the page.
Considering the rise of digitized business, these are one of the most available small business ideas in the job world today.
Common Platforms
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Graphic Design
If you have artistic talent in design, you may choose to offer your skills as a graphic designer to different companies.
Some things you might do include creating logos, drafting menus, content graphics on online pages, ads, and many more.
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Cryptocurrency Trading
Cryptocurrency has slowly become one of the biggest trading platforms. Similar to stock trading, you purchase a form of cryptocurrency at a low price and sell when the price is higher.
Since their inception, the value of some forms of cryptocurrency has risen in recent years, with more and more types popping up.
Different Cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin
- Dogecoin
- Cardano
- Ethereum
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Content Writing
Another prominent line of work is content writing. As a content writer, your services will tend to fall in a similar vein as blogging. You may be asked to write articles as an outsourced individual to attract an audience to the site.
Your writings may vary from knowledgeable, research-heavy content to reviews and many more. You can offer your services as a freelancer and even expand into a team if you get enough clients.
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Virtual Assistant
The last among some popular options for small business ideas is working as a virtual assistant.
In this line of work, you usually only have to work in your home, and you can do this full-time, part-time, or as a student and still maintain your income.
The type of work you may do will depend on your client. For example, you may fulfil data entry roles, schedule management, contact people for your client, manage documents, and more.
As the pandemic continues, there will be demand for these remote services.
You also have the option of working for multiple clients simultaneously. As long as you can manage your time, it is a great opportunity to earn more.
What Is the Best Business Idea?
Any business opportunity can be great based on your own resources. This includes your own effort, skills, luck in some cases, and monetary resources.
The fact is, you need to have money to make more of it. Most business ventures will require some amount of capital, but not everybody will secure funds as soon as they like.
So if you are looking for capital and in the middle of choosing the best business loan, you can request free quotes from Instant Loan. We are a reliable loan comparison site dedicated to finding the best solution to alleviate the financial needs of your business from a curated selection of the top-rated financial institutions in Singapore.
