What’s the best time to start a business? Different entrepreneurs will have varying answers to the question. A few entrepreneurs who understand discipline may advise you to learn before building a business. And that isn’t necessarily a bad idea.
Knowledge and experience combined can benefit your business a lot. Then others who value discipline and understand the importance of innovations will tell you to start early.
In relevance, “Age is just a number. It carries no weight. The real weight is in impacts. The truth is that you can do it at any age. Get up and be willing to leave a mark.”
― Israelmore Ayivor, Leaders’ Frontpage: Leadership Insights from 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Thoughts
We will share a few profitable business ideas for students along with resources for each business idea. Apart from these resources, you can also find video guidance through YouTube videos made by experts in the respective fields.
One of the things that you need to check is the comment sections to know the effectiveness of the strategies shared by the expert. And let’s not forget Google. It can also help you find niche-specific resources to help you upscale your skills.
What are some of the best business ideas for students?
Starting a blog or website, social media management, and designing & selling graphics, icons and illustrations are some of the top online business ideas for students. Making and selling arts & crafts, growing and selling vegetables & fruits are a few offline business ideas for students that they can market online. Apart from these, you could be a freelance writer, editor, SEO consultant, web designer, and web developer, among others. You could also self-publish a book or be a virtual assistant.
1. Social Media Management
Social Media Management is one of the best student business ideas as it fits the majority of boxes for the job. First, it offers a flexible working environment, which fits a student’s lifestyle. An ideal job would allow you to manage your workload alongside your classes, making your life simpler.
No matter how talented a social media influencer may seem, they cannot do all the work themselves. Social media is not as simple as posting a picture or video on social media sites and going viral. Often it takes a lot of research on the latest trends, quality pictures and videos shot by professionals, and engaging with the audience. So, that’s where a social media manager comes in.
He/she/they can handle and delegate the work to appropriate personnel and help take off a little burden from the influencers’ shoulders. If that’s something you might want to do or have an interest in, then here are a few resources that can help you become a social media manager.
Helpful Resources
- What’s a Social Media Manager? And How to Become One [Coursera]
- How to Become a Social Media Manager (Complete Guide for Beginners) [Reliable Soft Net]
- What Skills Do I Need to Be a Social Media Manager? [Digital Marketing Institute]
2. Grow and Sell Vegetables or Fresh Fruits
In India, growing and selling vegetables is one of the best business ideas for students. The initial investment is also pretty low, and a person can immediately start growing these plants, provided that there’s ample space to nourish these.
Also, focus on finding decent-sized fertile land to grow these vegetables and fruits. You can do it in your backyard, or if the budget permits, you can rent a piece of fertile land.
If you are going to rent out or purchase a garden space, research the land. Find how fertile the land is and if it is suitable for the kind of vegetables and fruits you plan to grow. These are some factors that you need to consider and plan accordingly.
Helpful Resources
- 5 Easy Vegetable Garden Hacks [Fine Gardening]
- 6 Essential Steps for Starting Your First Vegetable Garden Off Right [BHG]
- How to Start a Fruit Garden [Kello Garden]
3. Making and Selling Crafts
Making crafts and selling them is an excellent business idea for students with creative talents. You can find craft videos on YouTube or sign up for crafts courses and learn how to make them. Once you have the knowledge and gained the expertise in making professional crafts, you can start selling them.
Ideally, there are three ways to start selling.
- The first way involves selling your crafts to the local community or your friends and relatives.
- Secondly, you could immediately put your products on a crafts selling platform like Etsy and start earning.
- Lastly, you can build personalised crafts for the local community and offer the same (customised) services to online customers too.
So, what are the most profitable crafts to make and sell? Enamel pins, jewellery, door signs, wall art and decals, candles, wax, bath bombs, and handmade soaps are a few things that you can make and sell.
Helpful Resources
- 50 Most Profitable Crafts to Sell In 2022 ($10K Per Month)[Hear Me Folks]
- 13 Tips for Setting up a Craft Room [The Spruce Crafts]
- 25 Places to Sell Handmade Crafts Online [Small Biz Trendz]
4. Freelancing
Flexibility and the vast number of niches are two reasons why freelancing is considered the best business for students. Ideally, a student would have to choose a field of work.
For example, if you have a good understanding of computer hardware and the skill to fix things, it is a marketable skill. A lot of Indians buy affordable computer systems. These devices are not great for long term use and often break down. This is your market.
Initially, you might have to offer to fix things at an affordable rate, but be sure to mention that it’s a first-fix discount. Otherwise, most of them will expect you to fix things at the same cost. It is natural to want quality services at affordable prices, but not always feasible for the seller.
This was just one example. You could choose from a large pool of job roles, such as writing, editing, marketing, consultancy, designing, social media management, SEO, etc.
We are sharing Freelancer in’s job category guide to help you find the right freelancing category to match your skills. We are also sharing some resources to help you become a freelancer.
Helpful Resources
- What are freelance jobs? A guide to freelancing [RazorPay]
- Want a freelancing job? Here are 5 ways to become a freelancer [India Today]
- How to Become a Freelancer in 2022: The Complete Guide [Upwork]
- 22 best freelance websites to find work in 2022 [Webflow]
5. Designing and Selling Graphics, Icons, and Illustrations
Social media has been a boon in terms of advertising. It allows us to reach a wider audience, allowing creators to share their work with millions. The demand for visual content such as illustration and graphics is very high, which makes designing one of the most profitable online business ideas for students. And you don’t always need the creative gene to earn through this business idea.
As a student, you’ll come across people from various backgrounds. Some might be highly creative with little to no marketing or selling skills. This is where you can help them sell things for a commission.
In contrast, the designers who can create and have decent marketing skills can do well by creating illustrations, icons, and graphics on demand. Some websites allow you to sell a design to numerous people.
For example, printing hubs need new design ideas for wallpapers, stickers, and other print media. You can refer to Design Hill’s top 21 places to sell your design work online guide to find more selling opportunities.
Helpful Resources
- How to Become a Graphic Designer [Brain Station]
- Designer’s Guide: How To Create Illustrations Step By Step [Design Hill]
- Here’s How To Design An Icon From Scratch: A Step-By-Step Guide [Careerfoundry]
6. Self-Publish a Book
While not one of the traditional startup ideas for students, it is ideal for people who have a talent for spinning stories. These days it is much easier to get your book published, but remember that skipping a few steps might also lead to your own downfall.
Writers usually choose to tell a story on their own terms, no matter how much criticism they receive. For them, a story has to be written a certain way. And that’s how it is. It is one of the reasons why Editors are a writer’s best friend. They are essential to the survival of books.
Readers are used to consuming classic literature with higher language and grammar accuracy. If you don’t have the book professionally edited, you’ll be swamped with negative reviews.
So, while self-publishing may get rid of a lot of steps and the hassle of publishing, you still need to procure the services of an editor. We are going to share a few resources that should help you understand the process of writing a book. We’ll also share platforms for self-publishing.
Helpful Resources
- How To Start Writing A Novel [Curtis Brown Creative]
- How to Write a Book: Complete Step-by-Step Guide [Masterclass]
- The 17 BEST Self-Publishing Companies of 2022 [Reedsy]
7. Start a Blog or Website
Starting a blog or creating a fully-fledged website can be excellent business ideas for students. First and foremost, you have to decide on a niche for the website or blog you want to create. A niche centric blog is easier to rank on search engines.
So, focus on a single niche. It is easier for a search engine’s algorithm to understand the website niche’s when you post relevant content. For example, a fitness-centric blog should post content about health and fitness.
Now, once you have settled on a niche, you can either separately purchase a domain or hosting. Or purchase it directly from website builders like WordPress, Wix, or Blogger.
If you want to purchase hosting and domain names from a reliable hosting provider, HostGator is an excellent option. Also, you can make use of HostGator coupons to get discounts.
After that, you’ll need some guidance to set up a website. Here are a few setup guides for popular website builders:
- Setting up a WordPress Website
- Setting up a Wix Website
- Setting up a Blogger Website
Once you have published a blog, you start posting content on it. Once you have published a few quality blog posts, you can sign up for Google Adsense. It is one of the quicker ways of earning money through blogging. You can refer to Google’s Official Adsense guide to learn more about it.
Affiliate Marketing is another way to make money from blogging. Refer to Ahrefs’ Affiliate marketing guide to learn how you can excel at it.
Helpful Resources
- 10 Most Popular Types of Blogs: Your Blogging Inspiration for 2022 [Theme Isle]
- 10 Popular Types of Websites [Wix]
- How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2022 [WPbeginner]
- 20 Awesome Platforms For Building Your Own Website & Mobile App [Web Hosting Secret Revealed]
Additional Business Ideas For Students
- Freelancing
- YouTuber
- Develop applications
- Create and sell online courses
- Babysitting
- Pet Sitting
- Reselling
- Upcycling and selling
- Online coaching/tutoring service
- Build an authentic dating program
- Travel agent
- Stock photography
All online businesses would need a website, and all websites need hosting, domain and other essential add-ons like SSL certificate or CodeGaurd. Thus, if you want to start a website, get hefty discounts on hosting, domain, and other essentials with HostGator hosting coupons and HostGator domain coupons.
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