Now, not only in USA, but throughout the world, difficult times have been established. The economic crisis, recession, reduced effective demand, unemployment, and even a phenomenal drop in oil prices – all this is intertwined in a single tangle of problems tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nevertheless, this is the time when you can not only survive but even start new business activity, because it is precisely such a negative background that can be very favorable for some profitable types of business. Well, let’s try to compile our own list of promising types of entrepreneurial activity and answer the question: what kind of business to open during the crisis in 2020.
1. Buying a franchise
It is now that a unique time has come in the country (and in Moscow in particular). Firstly, the value of the national currency has fallen significantly – it makes no sense to sit and wait until the ruble finally “gets stiff”. On the other hand, one of the news of recent days is information that franchise projects are massively reducing prices and making the conditions for starting cooperation more liberal.
Well, it seems reasonable to use it. Pick a topic that’s seeing the biggest drop in prices right now—like a hookah bar—and start building your business:
- Firstly , now you can find extremely cheap rent even in trendy places in the city center.
- Secondly , you have a whole month to repair and equip.
- Thirdly , by the time the country emerges from self-isolation, you will even have time to conduct an aggressive stimulating advertising campaign!
Now the cost of acquiring a franchise is so low that it would be correct to say that it is literally being given away for free. It would be foolish not to use this idea.
2. Internet trading: own store
As a last resort during the epidemic, authorities in many cities in the country (including Moscow) impose bans on the operation of large retail chains. The only exceptions are food hypermarkets. However, human needs for consumer electronics and repair materials do not go away. Why don’t you try to capitalize on this and open the simplest virtual store specializing in home improvement goods (with a couple of dozen items) and home appliances.
The big suppliers of both are definitely overstocked right now (demand is down), which means you have a bargaining chip in price negotiations. Simply put, you will be able to achieve significant discounts even on small quantities of purchased goods. In addition, all you need to set up a business is:
- a simple landing page (no bells and whistles);
- an effective CRM system that allows you to administer sales;
- a room for storing purchases (a simple garage that can be rented is suitable).
Do not spare money on advertising, analyze demand and develop the range in the most popular areas. And if the regime of self-isolation is extended by the authorities for another month, you will no longer want to go back to your usual job, because your income from Internet commerce will exceed your potential earnings at your last place of employment.
3. Online trading: shop on the international trading platform
But if you don’t want to get involved with garages and other offline communication, you can always start setting up online trading on Amazon, eBay, and other international platforms. The work here will come down mainly to building relationships with suppliers and promoting your store using advertising tools in the TOP of the built-in search engine. Increase, thus, sales volumes. All this can be done without parting with your assets – you simply transfer them from a monetary state to a marketable one. But how liquid your investment will be is up to you to determine.
Regarding investments: some theorists say that the minimum amount for promotion on AMAZON is $6,000. However, practitioners tend to believe that everything depends on the product chosen, and if you stop at highly liquid positions (for starters), then you can unwind with the amount several hundred US dollars. Most likely, everyone will find such money even during a crisis.
4. Courier service
Finding a job even in a major city in the country during the coronavirus is extremely difficult. But what if you change the doctrine: let not you look for a job, but work will look for you. In the capital (and in general, in Russia) there are a lot of food delivery services. It is impossible to go online without being offered to order something tasty at a discount or even with free shipping. But there are no diverse (that is, universal) couriers at all. It is hereby proposed to create a courier service department, whose employees would provide corporate clients with diverse services, such as:
- submission of documents to various state bodies;
- standing in queues if it is not possible to submit documents for another person;
- responsible acceptance or delivery of goods with the signing of primary documents (waybills);
- office duty.
The epidemic freezes work activity, mainly because it makes it impossible for people to communicate regularly. Employees, at the request of the authorities, cannot be present at their workplaces. So maybe it makes sense to transfer some operations to outsourcing ?
The peculiarity of this business is that it is most likely not marginalized and will remain relevant even when the spread of the infection stops and the quarantine is lifted. And this will definitely lead to the optimization of many business processes in general. There will be a general recovery of the situation in the economy.
It is the development of the epidemic with the extension of the self-isolation regime that is the most convenient moment to start such a business: you do not have to put a lot of effort into hiring couriers – most likely, they will find you themselves (after all, now everyone is sitting without work), moreover, during the isolation period you you can choose the most intelligent. You also do not need to fear for the dishonorable behavior of your employees, because they do not deal with values directly, which means that the likelihood of conflict situations is minimized. In general, this is a very promising small business with a minimum of start-up costs.
5. Private kitchen
This business format began to spread in the United States even before the advent of the coronavirus. The idea here is that traditional catering is beginning to change its format: now traditional cafes and eateries no longer need halls for visitors. They get rid of them as atavistic elements (thus, costs are saved significantly), – only kitchens remain, and sales are carried out online, through the involvement of numerous couriers.
The main “chip” in this transformation is the fact that it becomes possible to arrange such a “dinner” even in your own kitchen, putting the process of cooking on stream. Of course, it will be necessary to obtain the appropriate certification of the kitchen premises, issue technological cards for the dishes offered for sale, and in addition, comply with other formalities. However, in order to start such an activity, it requires much less capital investment than opening a classic diner.
But what the ever-increasing need will definitely manifest itself in is the promotion of the Internet resource of your project. It will need to be promoted to the top of search engine results much more actively than even expanding production. It is on the degree of promotion of the portal in the future that the prospects for most entrepreneurial projects will depend.
Is it necessary to say at the same time that in the context of the epidemic, this particular format of public catering is the only possible and most in demand?
6. Production of designer interior items
If you have a soul for creativity, then you should try to start making money on it. Start designing and making various designer decorations for the interior from improvised materials. Why designer? For two reasons:
- you do not need to put the production of these products on stream – they must also be in a single (or close to a single) copy;
- “designer” means “expensive” – this is logical, because a thing made by hand, and even on an individual project, simply cannot be cheap.
What could it be?
- lamps with original lampshades (made from familiar, everyday items);
- concrete paperweight with original fillers;
- woven from PVC tape flower pots;
- original wicker draperies for heating radiators;
- molding elements.
Of course, this is not all (this also includes tailoring for pets, and even the manufacture of boxes, aquariums and other decorative objects with backlight from a luminous tape) – you can make and sell everything that will be interesting to you and what your fantasy.
You can use for this both promoted commodity platforms (like Avito or even AMAZON), as well as social networks and your own Internet resource (the latter, of course, is preferable).
7. Making designer clothes
This topic for entrepreneurial activity should be singled out in a separate category in connection with a more responsible business process. Schematically, it looks like this:
- Purchase at junk value (by weight) of used clothing. You can also buy products from second-hand stores, however, the main criterion here should be a meager price.
- Mandatory delivery of purchased products to dry cleaning.
- The making of cleaned (and largely defective) garments into original designer pieces.
We are talking about the decorative decoration of products, the correction of defective moments, giving things a different, unusual, and most importantly, unrecognizable appearance. Of course, only those people whose soul lies in “cutting and sewing” can engage in this type of business.
You must distribute finished products exclusively through your own online store or through an AMAZON store. The latter is even more preferable, since this marketplace is aimed at American consumers who tend to overpay for unique items.
This business is characterized by high marginality: the cost of one piece of designer clothes can reach several thousand US dollars, which will give you a net profit of at least $1 thousand. Initially, you will most likely need to perform all iterations yourself, but then some functions can be will be outsourced (for example, creating embroidery according to your sketches). As a result, you will gradually form a network structure of many performers who will work on your orders.
8. Intercity transportation
Taking into account the restrictions associated with the epidemiological situation in the country, it is impossible not to dwell on such a segment of public logistics as private intercity transportation. The authorities of all regions in Russia are gradually “tightening the screws” – they are introducing more and more new restrictions on the movement of citizens. And if it is physically possible to travel anywhere else inside the settlements, since there are a large number of alternatives, then international transportation is increasingly turning into one big problem: airlines stop flights; the number of trains is reduced; intercity buses are cancelled.
Of course, against this background, the cost of private travel is growing. Using well-known aggregator sites, as well as its own gradually promoted Internet resource, the owner of his own or rented vehicles can start earning on long-distance cabs. Such activities are professional and beyond any epidemics for many, but right now, during the coronavirus and related restrictions, private intercity transportation is the most profitable.
9. Electronics repair
The poorer the citizens of a country become, the more they need repair services. In general, everything, but in this case, it seems interesting to talk about high-tech electronic goods (be it kitchen appliances or TVs).
If you have the relevant theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the field of microelectronics, then you can build a good business in the repair of these products to order.
To start, you can even do without any specialized premises where people could bring their broken electronic equipment – just get one or two couriers, and all the work can be done while sitting at home (and without violating the rules of self-isolation). However, you will definitely need your own website on the Internet and its consistent promotion. Over time, you will even be able to start giving execution orders to third-party craftsmen (just like you), thus expanding your own business.
10. Dropshipping
Speaking of earning money with minimal investment, one cannot help but dwell on dropshipping. To engage in this trading format, you will also need a web page on which you will place an offer to sell a limited range of products (on any topic you choose, however, it is desirable that this is not a “perishable”).
After the client buys something on your site and, most importantly, makes the payment, the supplier of the goods sends the goods to your buyer, and you get the difference between wholesale and retail. The difference between dropshipping and classical commerce is that you do not need to have any stock balances: your task is to find a client and sell, and the rest is handled directly by the manufacturer or supplier.
This makes drop shipping a business with minimal start-up costs. However, it should be remembered that not every product can be sold according to this scheme (but their list is long).
11. Breeding poultry
For those who have a country house and households. buildings that are not used for their intended purpose, it is possible to start receiving real money from them by adapting them to a poultry yard. We are talking about breeding poultry in order to obtain eggs and meat. The main thing that is required here in the first place is the heating of your facility.
Here it is recommended to acquire a pyrolysis furnace, which has an efficiency of up to 90%. With its help, it is possible to gasify not only classic coal, firewood, or even household waste, but subsequently also bird waste. This will reduce to zero one of the main items of your expenses.
On 2 acres allocated for such an impromptu poultry yard, you can keep up to 2 hundred heads of adults (for example, turkeys and guinea fowl). On average, in practice, it will be possible to score 1 carcass per day, which will give approximately 2 thousand rubles in revenue from meat alone. In addition, each bird will bring about the same amount over its life cycle in the form of proceeds from the sale of eggs.
This business is characterized by high liquidity due to the fact that dietary poultry meat, as well as eggs, have no sales problems. And taking into account the fact that you will need to spend money on compound feed and mandatory certification, your net profit with a given production volume will be 2-3 thousand rubles per day.
12. Promotion of accounts in social networks
Needless to say, the explosive interest of society in social networks exposed people’s craving for personal fame, their desire for pseudo-popularity (and, moreover, like a safety valve, gave vent to banal boasting). Nevertheless, at the moment social networks aggregate more than half of the population on the planet, so it would be extremely unwise to ignore this trend. You can and should make money on it!
Popularity is quantified by the number of followers. After all, a greater number of followers means that a greater number of other users visit this account, which means that they can be more efficient … to show ads (moreover, contextual). Thus, popularity is elegantly monetized, which means it acquires the features of a full-fledged business process that simply needs competent managers.
The activity of an account manager is that he stimulates public interest in his customer’s account, increasing the number of subscriptions to it, through absolutely legal software robots.
The time of the worldwide epidemic (from the point of view of this type of activity) is a “fertile” period, from which, with the right arrangement of the case, you can squeeze the maximum and achieve a rise in popularity by an order of magnitude.
For example, society is extremely approving of various kinds of volunteering. If you do PR on this topic by convincing your customers to participate in several organized promotions, and subsequently uploading video reports to your account, you can achieve an explosive growth in the number of followers. Of course, the epidemic is just one of the topics on which you can PR, and not the whole business. But it is precisely such topics that allow this type of entrepreneurial activity to generate income during this period that is significantly above average.
13. Virtual Real Estate Rental Agency
Even without the epidemic factor, simple mediation in the real estate rental market, including in such a large city as Moscow, has not brought a solid income for a long time. A modern realtor is obliged not only to rent out the proposed object, but to preliminarily change it, “pulling it up” to modern requirements for the quality of housing provided. The new format of the work of such an agency is a full-fledged business, which, relying on promotion through the Internet, can develop in an epidemic and crisis. What does the activity of a modern virtual real estate agency look like?
- Inspection of objects and identification of the list of required adjustments.
- Finding contractors for repairs.
- Providing financing for repairs (since the owners of real estate, of course, do not have money). We are talking about bank lending, which the owner of the apartment must take over in order to bring his object in line with the required standards.
- Promotion of the object through advertising.
Surprisingly, all these options can now be performed without any personal contact (the Internet will help you).
However, it should be noted that such a business will have the potential for growth and development, mainly in large cities. This is mainly due to the level of solvency of the population.
14. Professional product photography
Photo studios, it would seem, have gone down in history. Indeed, who needs to be photographed “on a card” if literally everyone now has smartphones with 3-4 lenses that are able to shoot with a resolution of up to 50 megapixels. In some cases, however, professional photography has found unexpected market value.
We are talking about services for shooting goods for displaying them on organized Internet sites. The requirements for the quality of images for posting them on AVITO or on AMAZON are increasing all the time. As a result, those who want to sell something on them have to either acquire their own photo studio … Or order these services from those who managed to stake out this market niche.
The volume of Internet trading, including through organized platforms, is constantly growing. This means that those who decide to organize this business will only get more work, even if oil prices return to the level of the 90s. And, of course, the coronavirus will not be able to harm this type of activity.
15. 3D printing
With the help of a 3D printer, it is possible to put into practice very complex and, at the same time, highly demanded parts created using additive technology. Now such devices are in demand in all areas: from mechanical engineering to confectionery and house building.
There are 3D printers that work with plastic; there are those that form steel parts from powdered metal, etc. All of them are currently overwhelmed with work. It is even difficult to imagine the entire range of parts that can be manufactured using such devices (costing up to $5,000).
When fully loaded, a new plastic printer pays for itself in 3-4 months of continuous operation.
Gradually increasing the fleet of such devices, as well as taking orders via the Internet, you can create a business for the in-line production of complex metal and plastic parts, in fact, replacing the entire tool production (small plant) with your modest business. And all this can be done without leaving home, that is, even in the face of a rampant coronavirus.
Summary
So, what kind of business to open during the crisis in 2020 (that is, under quarantine and after it)? As can be seen from the above examples, there are a fairly large number of entrepreneurial activities that can be carried out at minimal cost, even in the face of restrictions on interpersonal communication. And the second obvious conclusion is that all modern business areas are tightly tied to the Internet. Without promoting your own Internet resource, most likely, you will not be able to control and develop sales. Well, it looks like a ready-made recipe for success – it’s worth a try.