Small Business Ideas Where No Inventory Is Required

An inventory-free business is a good low-risk business to start to get your feet wet in the business world and frequently coordinates well as a side gig if you aren’t quite ready to quit your day job. Let’s take a closer look at some of the best small business ideas that you can start with no inventory cost.

What Are the Benefits of Not Having Inventory?

No inventory means no inventory costs, no inventory hassles and no time required to manage the details of your inventory. But beyond the cost and time savings, there are a variety of less obvious perks to starting a small business where no inventory is required:

• Inventory requires a place to store it. With a no-inventory small business, you won’t need to maintain warehouse space for your inventory. You’ll save money not having to lease space, as well as not needing to insure the contents of the warehouse.
• If you don’t have inventory, you won’t need to monitor your inventory levels . This means you won’t need to invest in a tracking system, nor will you need to maintain a minimum level of inventory since there isn’t any.
• No need to worry about shipping. No inventory means no shipping to customers, which saves you the worry of keeping track of packages, dealing with lost packages and maintaining an inventory of shipping materials.

Low Inventory Business Ideas

When it comes to the most successful small business ideas, you don't have to take on a lot of financial risk . Not every business requires you to invest a lot of upfront money on inventory or pay the overhead costs of a brick-and-mortar business model.

Here are a few options for good low-risk businesses that you can start with little or no inventory costs:

Print-on-Demand

This is a popular new ecommerce business model where you can sell customized printed products without having to maintain an inventory or printing press. A great option for beginning graphic designers and artists, all you have to do is create the custom art designs and find a printing vendor. Options range from mugs and T-shirts to cards, invitations and posters.

Source

The print-on-demand process looks like this:

1. Create a design.
2. Provide an image to the printing vendor.
3. Advertise products with the image on your site.
4. When an order comes in, the supplier will print your provided image on the selected product and ship it out directly to your customer.

Freelance Writer/Designer/Developer

If you have professional skills in copywriting, editing, graphic design, web development or any other digital skills, you can make money and start your own business as a freelancer. With nearly all gigs being done online, you won't need any inventory on hand as your work will be completed with a computer.

Business Consultant

Starting a consulting business is a great way to take your career in a new direction by building upon your previous career experiences. What problems can you help companies solve? Businesses need creative problem-solvers more than ever; your consulting business could help deliver massive value for your clients.

Ecommerce

There are several options for getting involved with ecommerce. Since you will be focusing on low-risk business models with no inventory, the most important first step will be to find a reputable supplier that can accommodate your business model. Once you have the supplier set up, you can get your website up and running and be selling in no time!

Before creating a website, make sure to research your business name and make sure it's available in your state. Use our Business Name Search Tool to get started: