Summer is lurking just over the horizon, almost ready to make parasol sellers very happy. With every seasonal shift comes a reminder of the possibilities of life. If you feel stuck in a rut, you must not get too downcast, because reinvention is closer than you think. You can feed off the energy and vibrancy of summer and parlay it into great success — and what avenue could be more satisfying than starting your own small business?
Of course, I can’t really avoid touching upon the other big change to the outside world: that being the relative dearth of people due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping them indoors in an effort to slow the rate of infection and save lives. It does not look likely that things will be back to normal by the time summer arrives, so I can hardly recommend ideas that will not work then.
Consequently, I am going to set out 10 business ideas that you can consider for summer this year even if the pandemic refuses to relinquish its grip on the structure of our lives. Here we go:
Copywriting
Businesses need copy now more than ever before. Aware that people across the world are looking to the online world for entertainment and education, they are all hard at work putting out blog content, website updates, and new product descriptions. The more attention they can get, the better they can do in these trying circumstances.
Many of the businesses are used to being quite casual about content production, though, and are not sure how to meet demand. That is where you can enter the picture if you have copywriting skills. You can respond to freelance placements or just reach out to brands you think you could help, offering up suggestions for how you would get their content seen.
If you have a laptop (or a desktop, of course), then you have what you need to try: And rates vary wildly, so you can either power through some easy work (500-word posts, etc.) or focus on taking tougher assignments and really impressing with your work.
Podcasting
Have you ever been told you have a voice for radio, and filed that notion in the back of your mind with a label of “Hmm, one day”? If so, this might be the day for you to turn it into a reality… except not exactly, because it is not radio that I am recommending: It is podcasting. Podcasting has turned into a huge industry, with top podcasts getting massive numbers of listens every week.
The reason why it’s become such a viable business (and considered one of the top side hustles) is that it’s cheap, accessible, creatively flexible, and an excellent fit for monetization methods. Regarding cost, consider that a microphone that is good enough for recording podcasts is not expensive, and — again — a decent laptop can do everything else when it comes to production.
Plenty of businesses advertise through podcasts because podcast ads are harder to skip. The ads are less irritating, for the most part, making it less likely that people will try to skip them.
Streaming
You are presumably aware that people often run live streams through YouTube, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Twitch streaming has seen explosive growth in recent years, and current events are making it even bigger. People throughout the world while away the hours watching their favorite streamers — and you could be one of those streamers.
Yes, it’s dominated by esports, particularly now that most regular sports leagues have shut down, but you don’t have to take that route. If you lack gaming skills, you can just do something else. Talk to people, draw, comment on the news: Pretty much anything can be viable if you can make it entertaining, and that is about your personality in the end.
Money can be made through channel advertising and sponsorships, but you can also just accept subscriptions and donations. If you have a webcam, a good microphone, and a decent computer that can handle streaming HD video, then you can do streaming.
Blogging
This is distinct from copywriting because you are not writing for another brand or website: You are writing for your personal brand. You are building up your website through targeting an audience fitting your interests and areas of expertise. Right now people are eager to exchange stories so they can feel less alone, and reading blogs can be extremely comforting.
It is also ridiculously easy to host a blog. Just cover the meagre cost of the domain and hosting, and that is it. You do not even need a microphone. Just talk about what you care about, get active on social media to share your posts, and try to attract some followers. (If your blogs are good, and you write about timely issues, then you should be able to get somewhere.)
Monetization comes down to allowing ads, taking sponsorships, and/or accepting donations, so blogging is the same general idea as with podcasting or streaming.
Hosting Events
Physical events are out of the question, so people are turning to virtual events working through video conferencing: everything from pub quizzes to cocktail evenings. Why not turn your hand at hosting such events? It is a new concept, so you could take it in whichever direction you wanted: Plan activities, have refreshments delivered to the participants, give speeches, etc.
What would you charge? How would you sell it? You would need to treat it like a relative frivolity, accepting that you would not make huge amounts. Put on some excellent events, though, and the resulting recommendations would help you raise your rates, so there’s real potential.
Making Games
I am talking about regular games such as board games, quiz games, and card games — games that families stuck in lockdown together can play to pass the time.
If you can make your games playable online, of course, then so much the better. You could come up with a great concept and partner with a developer to get it made. Alternatively, you could create a version that people could play with things they are likely to already have standard playing cards, for instance.
How would you make money there? Well, you could produce a printed version that you could sell online. (If you kept the game relatively simple then it wouldn’t be too hard to find a print-on-demand service like The Game Crafter to do it.) You could also just sell a booklet (printed or digital) with all the instructions and some additional gameplay ideas.
Graphic Design
Art really helps people get through stressful circumstances, and there are a lot of artists sharing their work (through social media in particular). If you have some artistic talent, you could get involved by taking commissions to do artwork. Other people starting small businesses might want logos, site mockups, or even artistic headshots done.
You probably will not make a lot of money this way, but you might end up working on art to pass the time anyway, so why not profit from it if you can?
Selling Food
The food industry is under a lot of strain now. Supply chains have encountered problems, and the panic buying that accompanied the early hysteria has yet to go away entirely. Some people are doing alright, while others have lost their jobs, but they all need to eat. If you have ever thought about selling your cooking, now’s your chance.
The simplest approach would be to sell baked goods: brownies, cakes, pastries, and other delicious snack foods. You might wonder how you would get the ingredients (flour shelves are stripped bare everywhere), but the problem is not a lack of supply: It is an inability to package the flour quickly enough.
By going directly to a wholesale supplier, you can get the necessary supplies in bulk: Then it is just a matter of taking orders, baking the goods, and shipping them out in sterilized containers for safety.
Helping with IT
Think about all the people now stuck at home who lack basic IT skills. There are not as many as there used to be, certainly, but it is still true that plenty of people do not know much about tech outside of their smartphones and TVs. You could help with that by providing a support service.
You could run it through email, social media, telephone, VoIP, or text messaging, depending on what people wanted. You could end up helping someone get their email account configured, plug in a new gaming console, or even order online shopping.
Carpentry
As the weather gets even better, people fortunate enough to have outdoor space will want to make the most of it, but many of them do not have suitable furniture. Even if you do not have outdoor space, you only need wood, nails, and tools to start building furniture to sell. Plenty of people who like to have fun with carpentry in their spare time could now do well by going professional.
You can also sell indoor furniture to those who are taking the opportunity to work on their homes. Ebay is a good platform to use: Find a suitable shipping service, wrap everything up securely, and it should work out fine.
There you have it: 10 ideas for starting a small business this summer, even amid a pandemic. Business has changed in recent weeks, but there are still opportunities out there, so why not be optimistic and take advantage of them?
