Hook them, validate them, get straight to value.

Broke and want to start a business? Good. Some of the most profitable companies started with nothing but sweat equity and smart thinking.

Here's the truth: you don't need a trust fund or venture capital to become your own boss. You need a business idea that doesn't require inventory, overhead, or fancy equipment. The best part? These aren't sexy tech startups or trendy online stores. They're boring, reliable, and profitable.

Over 33 million small businesses operate in the United States right now, and most of them started with less capital than you think. The question isn't whether you can start a business broke, it's which one makes the most sense for your situation.

What Makes a Good Low-Cost Business?

Let's cut through the noise. A good business to start with little money has three things:

Low barrier to entry. You can start this week, not next year. You don't need licenses, certifications, or specialized equipment to get your first customer. Some cleaning supplies, a phone, or skills you already have—that's it.

Fast path to revenue. Forget building for six months before you see a dime. The best broke-entrepreneur businesses pay you within days or weeks of starting. You provide a service, you get paid. Simple.

Real scalability. Starting small is fine, but you want something that can grow. Maybe you're cutting lawns solo now, but in a year you've got three crews and you're managing the business instead of pushing the mower.

The businesses below check all three boxes. No fluff, no "passive income" fantasies, just real ways to make money starting now. However, no business is perfect. Let's take a look at the pros and cons.

12 Businesses You Can Start This Week

1. Cleaning Services

Startup cost: $50-200

Everyone's got a dirty house, and most people would rather pay someone else to clean it. Commercial cleaning hits different too—offices need regular service, which means recurring revenue.

Start with what you've got. Grab some quality cleaning supplies from the dollar store, print basic flyers, and knock on doors in your neighborhood. Your first clients? Neighbors, family, friends. Once you do good work, word spreads fast.

The money's legit. Residential cleaning runs $100-200 per job. Commercial contracts can pull $500-2,000 monthly per client. After a few months, you're not cleaning anymore—you're hiring people to clean while you book jobs and grow the business.

2. Lawn Care & Seasonal Services

Startup cost: $100-500

Got a mower and a truck? You're in business. Lawn care is the definition of unsexy, which is exactly why it works. People need their grass cut every week whether the economy's good or not.

Summer means mowing, fall means leaf removal, winter means snow shoveling. One client paying $40 per cut, four times a month, is $160 in recurring revenue. Get 20 clients and you're at $3,200 monthly before expenses.

Scale it by hiring help and adding services. Hedge trimming, mulching, pressure washing—each service is another revenue stream. Boring? Absolutely. Profitable? You bet.

3. Virtual Assistant Services

Startup cost: $0-100

Businesses need help but don't want full-time employees. That's where you come in. Answer emails, schedule appointments, manage social media, handle customer service—all from your couch.

The only requirement is being organized and reliable. Tools like Clean Email help you manage multiple client inboxes without losing your mind. Start at $25-35 per hour, and as you prove your value, raise your rates to $50-75.

Land three clients at 10 hours per week each, and you're making $3,000-6,000 monthly. Scale by specializing (real estate VAs, e-commerce VAs) or building a team.

4. Pressure Washing

Startup cost: $300-800

Buy a decent pressure washer, and you can charge $200-500 per job washing driveways, decks, and house siding. The equipment pays for itself in 2-4 jobs.

Homeowners associations love clean sidewalks and driveways. Commercial properties need their storefronts washed. Nobody wants to do it themselves, but everybody wants it done.

Marketing is dead simple—before and after photos on Facebook sell themselves. The transformation from grimy to clean is visual proof of value.

5. Pet Services (Walking, Sitting, Grooming)

Startup cost: $0-50

People treat their pets like family, which means they'll pay good money for pet care. Dog walking runs $20-30 per walk. Pet sitting gets $50-75 per day. Boarding can hit $100+ daily during holidays.

Apps like Rover and Wag help you find clients, but you keep more money going direct. Post in local Facebook groups, hang flyers at dog parks, and partner with vets.

The secret? Reliability. Show up on time, send photo updates, and treat pets well. You'll have clients begging you to take their business.

6. Errand Running & Delivery

Startup cost: $0-100

Busy people and elderly folks need groceries picked up, prescriptions filled, packages shipped, dry cleaning grabbed. They'll pay $25-50 per hour for someone dependable to handle it.

You can start on TaskRabbit or market yourself locally. All you need is a vehicle, a phone, and the ability to follow directions.

Build relationships with repeat clients. That weekly grocery run for Mrs. Johnson becomes guaranteed income. Add more clients, and you've got a solid business.

7. Handyman Services

Startup cost: $100-500

People always need stuff fixed. Leaky faucets, drywall holes, door repairs, furniture assembly, if you're handy, you can charge $50-100 per hour.

You don't need to be a licensed contractor for basic repairs. Start with what you know how to do, and learn new skills through YouTube as you go. Each new skill is another service you can charge for.

Market yourself on Nextdoor and local Facebook groups. Before long, you'll have more work than you can handle.

8. Junk Removal & Hauling

Startup cost: $200-1,000

People need to get rid of stuff: old furniture, construction debris, estate cleanouts, foreclosure trash-outs. They'll pay $200-800 per job for you to haul it away.

All you need is a truck or trailer. Load up the junk, dump it at the transfer station, collect your cash. The work isn't glamorous, but the money's real.

Estate sales and property managers become your bread and butter. One property management company can feed you steady work for months.

9. Mobile Car Washing & Detailing

Startup cost: $200-500

Busy professionals don't have time to wash their cars, but they want them clean. You go to them—their office parking lot, their driveway. Basic wash is $30-50, full detail is $150-300.

The overhead is minimal. Supplies, a water source (or waterless products), and transportation. Corporate accounts are gold—wash 10 cars every Monday at an office complex, and that's $300-500 weekly from one location.

10. Tutoring & Test Prep

Startup cost: $0-100

If you're good at math, science, English, or test prep, parents will pay you $40-100 per hour to help their kids. The standardized test prep market alone is massive—SAT, ACT, GRE tutors charge premium rates.

Start by posting on local parent Facebook groups and Nextdoor. Testimonials from happy parents bring more students. You can tutor in person or online, which means you can work in your pajamas.

11. Freelance Consulting

Startup cost: $0-100

You know something other people don't. Marketing, HR, operations, finance—whatever your background, businesses need that expertise but can't afford a full-time hire.

Consultants charge $100-300 per hour depending on the niche. Land one client at 10 hours per month, and you're making $1,000-3,000 from that relationship alone.

Build credibility by writing about your expertise on LinkedIn, offering free value upfront, and delivering results. Once you prove ROI, clients stick around and refer others.

12. House Sitting & Property Management

Startup cost: $0

People travel. Snowbirds head south for winter. Investors own properties they don't live in. All of them need someone to check on things, water plants, collect mail, handle minor issues.

House sitting pays $50-150 per day depending on responsibilities. Property management gets you a percentage of monthly rent—usually 8-12%.

The barrier to entry is trust, not money. Start with friends and family, build reviews, and expand. It's not flashy, but it's consistent income for minimal work.

Why Unsexy Businesses Win

Notice a pattern? None of these are "innovative" or "disruptive." They're boring. And that's exactly why they work.

• Everyone needs these services. Economic boom or recession, people still need their lawns mowed and houses cleaned. Demand doesn't disappear when times get tough, it just shifts. Maybe fewer luxury car details, but more basic maintenance.
• Low competition from serious operators. Most people chasing business ideas want something sexy. They want to be the next app unicorn or viral brand. That leaves unsexy businesses wide open. The cleaning company owner isn't fighting off hundreds of competitors—they're fighting off a few other people who actually show up and do good work.
• Cash flow comes fast. You're not building for a year before monetization. You clean a house on Tuesday, you get paid on Tuesday. That immediate feedback loop lets you know if you're on the right track within days, not months.
• Scale is real. Start solo, prove the model, then hire. Your role shifts from doing the work to managing people who do the work. That's how you go from $3,000 monthly to $30,000 monthly, not by working harder, but by building systems.

Getting Started Without Going Broke

Start today, not tomorrow. Pick one business from this list based on what you can do right now. Don't wait until conditions are perfect or you have more money saved. The best time to start was last year. The second best time is today.

Validate before you scale. Get one paying customer before you print 500 business cards. Make sure people actually want what you're selling. Once you know it works, then invest in growth.

Keep overhead low. Work from home. Use free tools. Don't buy equipment until you need it. Every dollar you save in overhead is a dollar in your pocket. Businesses fail because they spend money they don't have on things they don't need.

Focus on getting paid. Revenue solves most business problems. Not enough leads? Revenue lets you buy ads. Too much work? Revenue lets you hire help. Bad cash flow? Well, that's a revenue problem.

Start Your Unsexy Business Today

The best business to start with little money isn't the one with the best pitch deck or the coolest brand. It's the one you can start this week and get paid next week.

Pick something from this list. Start small. Do great work. Get paid. Repeat.

Most people never start because they're waiting for the perfect idea or the perfect moment. Meanwhile, someone else is out there cutting lawns and building a $100K business while everyone else is still "researching opportunities."

Ready to stop dreaming and start building? 

Unsexy Businessmen has the playbook for turning simple ideas into real income. Check out our resources on starting and scaling businesses that actually make money, no venture capital required.