Are you looking to start a small business that can guarantee you stable income every month? This article will go over 20 business ideas that can make 5k fast in California.
20 Ways to Make $5,000 in California
1. Offer consultation services
There are many companies that would be willing to pay you a fortune for the skills you have gained through your past experiences. Consultants usually specialize in things such as marketing, finance, human resources, etc.
You can charge an hourly fee or a fixed amount per session. Make sure to get a professional website to help increase your credibility and make it easier for people to find you online.
2. Dropshipping
With dropshipping, although you’re selling different products through your online store, there is no inventory backlog. A third-party supplier stores the products and ships them on your behalf.
It’s so easy to set up and requires little capital. You can use platforms like Shopify to create your store and then advertise it on social media to help drive traffic. It’s one of the best ways to make $5,000 online in California.
3. Publish an e-book
Publishing e-books is one of the best ways to create passive income. To start writing one, you only need to choose a niche that you’re knowledgeable about, and people are also interested in reading. You can get some ideas by browsing through Amazon’s Best Sellers lists.
There are many platforms where you can sell your work if you intend to self-publish. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and Apple Books for Authors are some examples.
And if you think writing an e-book is just too much work, you can outsource it to ghostwriters and simply provide guidance on what to write about.
4. Create a coworking office space
With the growing popularity of remote working, you can start a coworking business. This solves problems many people are facing such as low productivity, high rent, and loneliness.
You can choose a convenient location and equip it with desirable features such as high-speed Internet, meeting rooms, and team-building tools.
5. Create an online course
If you are skilled at anything, whether that’s cooking, accounting, marketing, etc., you can easily make money by creating educational content in video or other formats. Use a platform such as Skillshare or Udemy to publish and sell your content.
6. Become a virtual assistant
Many entrepreneurs require assistance with their day-to-day tasks. Some common tasks for virtual assistants include managing social media accounts, scheduling and managing travel plans, processing documents and records, and maintaining calendars and schedules.
The great thing about this idea is that you can serve many clients at once, making it easy to make $5,000 in a month or less.
7. Chatbot development
A chatbot is a piece of software that can be installed on websites and social media pages to mimic human interaction. A lot of companies are using them because they are much more efficient than humans when it comes to responding to basic customer queries.
You can make a lot of money by offering chatbot development services to local businesses. Chatbot-building platform such as ManyChat is easy to build custom chatbots without having to code.
8. Web design/development
It’s possible to make a really good living by creating websites for small businesses. If you don’t have a coding background, you can use drag-and-drop builder platforms like Wix to build the websites. It’s another great way to make 5k in California.
9. Sell handmade crafts
Selling your own products is so great because the profit margins are a lot higher than reselling other people’s products. You can take up a course on how to make things such as organic soaps, scented candles, pottery, etc.
Once you’ve practiced enough and have mastered the craft, you can start selling your products internationally through platforms like Etsy and eBay.
10. Event planning
You can start an event planning company in your local area that specializes in certain types of events like corporate meetings or weddings. You will be more successful if you have a network of trusted vendors.
11. Proofreading and editing
You can offer proofreading and editing services to individuals and businesses if you are skilled at spotting typos, grammatical errors, and poor sentence structure in written content. It’s one of the higher paying jobs on freelancing websites.
12. Graphic designing
Graphic design is one of the most in-demand skills. If you’re a creative person and are good at using tools such as Photoshop, then you can start advertising your graphic design services online. The best place to find work is through freelancing sites like Fiverr and Upwork.
13. Start a blog
If you’re a good writer and don’t mind spending hours each day researching topics, then you should seriously consider starting a blog.
Blogs can be monetized in a number of ways, including through ads and affiliate marketing. The higher your traffic, the higher your earning potential. It’s another fantastic way to make 5k online in California.
14. Website flipping
This business entails purchasing an operational website, making some changes to increase its value (such as adding blog posts and doing some SEO work), and then reselling it for profit.
You can trade websites on a marketplace such as Flippa. If you’re lucky, you could even make $5,000 in a day with just a single website.
15. Create virtual reality experiences
VR is the future. Its projected value is $44.7 billion within the next 2 years. The possibilities are endless if you have the skills to create content or can partner up with someone who has, and have the funds to buy the necessary equipment.
Virtual reality could prove useful in a variety of industries, including entertainment, real estate, gaming, healthcare, and dating.
16. Interior Design
Most people want their homes to look beautiful, but just don’t have an eye for design. If you’re new to the interior design field, you can offer services at a low cost and target young homeowners. You don’t need any formal qualifications to get started.
17. Home staging
A Staged home gives potential buyers a glimpse of what their houses would look like while furnished and decorated. Many real estate developers work with staging companies to furnish their properties. You don’t need to own any of the furniture, you can simply lease them.
18. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing entails promoting another company’s products and services and getting paid a commission from the sales you generate through your link. It’s one of the best business ideas for people with a large audience on social media, a blog, or YouTube.
You can easily make more than $5,000 by promoting high ticket affiliate offers. For instance, Shopify pays up to $2,000 per sale for referrals to its Shopify Plus service.
19. Sell custom phone accessories
Although this field may seem saturated, the number of smartphone users continues to grow every day. It doesn’t take much imagination to create custom phone accessories such as cases. You can use a print-on-demand service so you don’t need to worry about keeping stock.
20. Fitness training
A lot of people are looking to get in shape, but just don’t know where to begin. If you’re into fitness, then you could become a trainer and help them by creating personalized workouts and diet plans.
A lot of trainers easily make $5,000 in a month doing what they love and helping other people achieve their goals. You can scale your business by focusing your marketing efforts on Instagram and YouTube.