Starting a Small Business in California
The most successful people throughout history have always been the ones who were willing to take gambles and step outside their comfort zones. Entrepreneurship is a journey that could change the course of your life.
Yes, starting a business in California can be a risky endeavor, but if you want to live a remarkable life and give your family the comfort and security that they deserve, then it is a risk worth taking.
Don’t be frightened by the things that could go wrong; instead focus on the life that you could have if things go right.
If the worst were to happen and everything falls apart, you can easily just go back to what you were doing before, and life goes on.
Top 15 Best Business Ideas for Youth to Make Money in California
The ideas covered in this article include:
- Creating an online course based no something you’re good at
- Selling ‘Outsourced’ services online
- Selling niche products online/drop shipping
- Online consultation/coaching
- Airbnb arbitrage
- Homemade soaps and scented candles
- Cryptocurrency day trading
- Pallet furniture
- Becoming a virtual assistant
- Ghostwriting
- Editing, proof reading and beta reading
- Starting a podcast
- Starting an outsourcing agency
- Office sharing
- Investing in crowdfunded real estate projects
1. Create an Online Course Based on Something you’re good at
Platforms like Teachable have made online teaching a worthwhile business with a real potential of making money online from passive income each month.
You can create courses that teach almost anything you’re good at, including musical instruments, art, singing, cooking, mathematics, etc.
As of this writing, Teachable has over 18 million students. Can you imagine the number of people around the world that would be interested in learning something that you’ve got to offer?
You can present your course in the form of pre-recorded videos. Whenever a student enrolls and pays your fees, they instantly get access to your videos. You won’t need to spend any time actively teaching.
Teachable is a great place to start because the entire process has been streamlined. With just a few clicks, you can create a fully functioning online school with learning management, payment gateways and sales & marketing tools.
2. Sell Outsourced Services
Nowadays it is very easy to start almost any type of business even if you have little or no capital, skills or experience. It is even easier for virtual services such as writing, graphic designing, and web development due to the abundance of cheap freelancers available on platforms like Fiverr.
Outsourcing is simply use of outside resources to perform activities that would be traditionally handled by internal staff.
In this case, you can advertise yourself as an expert in a certain field, and whenever a client pays you for some work, all you have to do is find a freelancer willing to do the same job for a cheaper price and then outsource the work to them.
Many companies outsource contracts worth millions because clients only care about the final delivery and not necessarily how the job gets done. Check out this article to learn how to get outsourcing clients as a freelancer.
3. Sell Niche Products Online/ Drop Shipping
Selling niche products is one of the ultimate gateways into e-commerce. Niche products generally don’t have much competition and are fairly easy to start selling.
Here are some products that were very successful in the last 2 years:
- Smart watches
- Dash cams
- Wireless earphones
- Mirrorless cameras
- Vaporizers
- Shapewear
- Fitness supplements
Start by doing some research to uncover products which have demand in your area, and then get your stock inexpensively from Alibaba or any other cheap wholesale sources.
Once you have completed your research, go to Free Web Design to get professional developers to help build your entire online shop for free.
4. Online Consultation/Coaching
A lot of people have issues they need to resolve which require specialized expertise, and you may have the answers they are looking for.
Design your consultation or coaching service around an area that you have profound experience in, and then create a free website where clients can conveniently book appointments with you.
Depending on your experience, you can become a life coach, dating coach, business consultant, fitness coach, etc. Check out this comprehensive guide on how to get clients as a consultant.
5. Airbnb Rental Arbitrage
Arbitrage is the practice of buying something and then reselling it more expensively.
In Airbnb rental arbitrage, you simply rent a house, furnish it and then sublease it on Airbnb (an online marketplace for people who want to rent out their homes to short-term guests). You can either sublease the entire house or each room individually.
If well managed, rental arbitrage can be much more profitable than the traditional rental practices in California, and a lot less expensive to start.
6. Homemade Soaps and Scented Candles
Making organic soaps and scented candles can be a great side business to start in California. A lot of people are very specific about the products they use and your business can target them specifically.
The great thing about such products is that they get used up quickly, which creates room for repeat business. They are also fairly easy to make (you can find numerous tutorials online).
7. Cryptocurrency Day Trading
Crypto can be thought of as stocks or commodities, with Bitcoin being the most popular and valuable coin.
The volatility of the cryptocurrency market is what makes day trading possible. It is not uncommon for a coin to double in price and then drop to less than 50% of its original price within a very short time.
Day traders look for opportunities to buy coins at their lowest points, and then sell them as soon as their prices hike for a quick profit. The most popular exchange platform for trading is Binance.
You can get started by purchasing a small amount of bitcoin using your local currency from Local Bitcoin, and then transfer it to Binance to begin trading.
8. Make Pallet Furniture
Pallets are wooden structures often used for support when transporting goods. They are also incredibly versatile and can be used to create almost any type of furniture, including beds, chairs, and tables.
The use of pallets in furniture has been a growing trend in recent years, with lots of demand coming from stylish home owners and themed restaurants mostly in Nairobi and Mombasa.
You can learn how to create different designs by watching online tutorials and then taking some time to practice. Alternatively, you can outsource the work to a professional carpenter and only focus on marketing.
9. Become a Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants are self-employed people who offer technical and administrative assistance to busy individuals through the internet.
Many business owners prefer delegating work to them than hiring full-time employees because it relieves them from expenses like salaries and taxes.
Some common tasks that can be handled by virtual assistants include administration, accounting, social media marketing, and even simpler tasks like making travel arrangements.
You can find clients through online freelancing platforms like Upwork and Freelancer. The advantage of working as a virtual assistant is that you get to serve clients globally and decide how much to charge for your time.
10. Ghostwriting
A ghostwriter is a person who is hired to write a book, speech, song or any other form of creative content on behalf of somebody else, who then takes credit as the author.
Many CEOs use ghostwriters to write their speeches and reports, music artists to write their lyrics, authors to write their books, etc.
It is a booming industry with incredible earning potential. For example, a short book can cost upwards of $10,000. You can get started on Upwork.
11. Editing, Proofreading and Beta Reading
If writing isn’t really your thing, but you’re great at catching typos and grammatical errors, you can consider becoming an editor or proofreader.
Many professional writers hire editors and proofreaders to check their content before they can publish them.
Beta readers, on the other hand, are people who are assigned the task of reading and critiquing a piece of unreleased literature. Fiction authors often work with them to get unbiased comments before releasing their books to the public.
It is one of the easiest ways to make money online; all you have to do is read and give your thoughts. Upwork, Freelancer and Fiverr are great platforms to get started on.
12. Start a Podcast
If you are great at drawing people’s attention through stories, then you could make a great podcast host.
A podcast is an audio show with new episodes released regularly that can be downloaded or listened to online.
Podcasts can take many different formats, including interviews with successful people, discussions on social issues, entertainment and gossip, etc.
You can record your episodes from any convenient location (such as your house), and then distribute them on platforms like iTunes and SoundCloud.
Share every new episode with your friends, family, and social media followers. Having a co-host can make the podcast more interesting to listen to.
As your number of listeners grows, you will start making money through advertisements, affiliate marketing and sponsorships.
13. Start an “Outsourcing Agency”
Many businesses are constantly looking for ways to cut down their costs while increasing their efficiency.
Outsourcing is a solution that can help them overcome such challenges by eliminating the need for full-time employees.
An outsourcing agency is a company that offers professional services in areas such as IT, marketing and accounting to other companies.
You can start by gathering a group of freelancers with skills and experience in the fields that you wish to focus on. Once you organize your internal operations, create a free professional website that showcases your services, get some business cards and other branding materials, and then go present your agency to different organizations in your area.
Many companies are already looking for such services and won’t need much convincing.
14. Office Sharing
The internet has helped facilitate business growth across nearly every sector. Every year startups and small businesses emerge in droves, whereas many others expand their operations to different locations.
Offices are fundamental for growing businesses in California, but the problem is that they’re often too expensive. Office sharing enables entrepreneurs to lease offices at more affordable rates.
You can execute this new business idea by renting a large office space, dividing it into smaller work stations, and then subleasing each station individually for profit.
That makes it affordable to more people while giving you stable income from rent. You can also charge extra for services like WiFi, printing and photocopying, etc.
15. Invest in Crowd Funded Real Estate Projects
Real estate crowdfunding is an alternative way of investing in real estate projects whereby small amounts of money are pooled from many people to finance a property. Investors can either get equity or interest paid at a specific rate.
Crowdfunding enables ordinary people participate and make money from large-scale projects with very little capital. There are several platforms that offer such services, including Fundrise and RealtyMogul.
