Ideas for businesses you can launch for cheap or free (Part I)

Entrepreneur Today, many people are looking to leave the daily grind for something that feeds their passion. People do not want to retire at the age of 60 (or older) to look back on life and feel they have wasted it.

Luckily, it is now increasingly easy to start a business from scratch without spending a for-tune. Some of the business ideas listed require nothing more than an internet connection, while others demand a level of licensing or a specific set of vocational skills...the choice is yours!1. Bookkeeping servicesAre you great with numbers and want to work from the comforts of home? To become a freelance bookkeeper, you do not need to be a Certified Public Accountant, but you do need to be good with numbers. There are lots of free to use online invoicing tools such as Sighted.com. Some services you could offer include creating balance sheets, providing income statements and creating various monthly, quarterly, or annual financial reports.2. Affiliate marketingAffiliate marketing is extremely easy to get into and involves you earning a commis-sion by promoting other com-panies’ products and services. Basically, you choose a product you like, promote it, and make a profit on each sale that stems from your marketing efforts. An affiliate marketing busi-ness is especially easy to start if you have a blog or website of your own, you can prove your success through visitor statis-tics, you have already success-fully undertaken affiliate mar-keting and can show this to your potential clients.3. Tester or reviewerIndividuals or startups often look for people to review their products to encourage others to buy them. You can either get started with a profile on freelancing websites or approach companies direct-ly, offering them a review in exchange for a monetary reward by becoming an influencer. Even better, if you have your own website or blog, you could write entire posts about their products, thus allowing you to charge more money in the long run and build a portfolio with tangible results to show future clients.4. Secretarial servicesSimilar to virtual assisting, remote secretarial services require little to no experience. All you need is strong organiza-tional skills, good communica-tion skills, good time manage-ment, a high level of autonomy and your day-to-day tasks as a freelancing secretary will typi-cally include booking meetings, organizing calendars, replying to emails, putting together pres-entations and answering phone calls.5. Resume writerNo matter the experience, there are very few people that enjoy or are good at writing their own resume. Individuals pay very good money to have their personal statements put on paper for them. It will cost you nothing to get setup and once you get the hang of it, you should be able to average a good hourly or daily pay rate.6. TranslatorTranslating is one of the easi-est and most profitable indus-tries to delve into if you are proficient in more than one lan-guage. Sought out on a global scale, translators do not need any capital to get started and can earn a salary of $40,000 (over Sh80 million) a year depending on the size of the company you are hired by and the length of the contract they offer.7. Online photo sellingIf you are a professional pho-tographer or just have a deep-rooted passion for it, you can make money from your pic-tures on photo selling websites. All you need to get started is a camera, preferably a digital SLR with a minimum of 8 megapix-els, and a computer. Once you have established yourself on websites such as GettyImages.com and Flickr.com, you can setup your own website with a list of your watermarked images and their price per unit.8. Event and project planningEvent and project planning can be done remotely, but hav-ing a hands-on approach and offering your services in your local area will be more beneficial to you from both a quality con-trol and monetary point of view. You can start this business from the comforts of your home and meet with clients in restaurants, cafes, or at their office or home.9. Property managerAs a property manager, you will be responsible for ensur-ing your clients’ properties are running smoothly. You will also be the primary contact for ten-ants and will be responsible for making sure the properties you manage are safe and well-main-tained.10. Cleaning ServicesCleaning services are easy to offer and require no training. You can either: Offer discount-ed services, provided they have the necessary cleaning products onsite; Offer a more expensive service that includes you bring-ing your own products; Also, you can take your business in various directions by target-ing different clients. Possibili-ties include cleaning offices or shops in the evenings, cleaning restaurants or people’s homes during the day and providing morning housekeeping services for hotels.EntrepreneurCompany