What do Facebook, Reddit, Dropbox, The Onion, and Def Jam Records all have in common? They were all started by entrepreneurs who couldn’t wait to graduate from college to start their own business.
Even if you lack the coding skills of Mark Zuckerberg you can start your very own business easily and cheaply while still waking-up for that dreaded 9am Psych 101 class. Don’t believe me? Consider these 16 business ideas that you can start in college.
1. Tutoring
This should be a no-brainer. After all, you are in college and plenty of your fellow students could use help in their studies. However, since you’re probably not an expert in multiple subjects, you can weigh-in with some of your friends or classmates who possess knowledge in certain subjects that you don’t. For example, if you’re a biology major, you could ask your roommate who majors in history to join your business venture.
In addition, if you live in an area where there are high schools or colleges in proximity, you could provide your tutoring services beyond your campus.
Depending on how much competition you have and the demand for your services, tutors can charge anywhere between $10 to $100 per hour.
2. Consulting
Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean that every Millennial is a whiz with tech or social media. Believe it or not, not everyone is obsessed with the latest social media trend. You can consult with these students who need to learn how to troubleshoot their tablet or how to set-up a LinkedIn account.
You can also look outside of your campus and tap into older generations, like your parents, aunts/uncles, or neighbors who aren’t familiar with the latest tech or social media trends. (Think about grandma in the neighborhood who needs computer help and her grandkids won’t help anymore.) It’s an easy way to make some quick cash whenever you’re home for a break or when mom needs to do your laundry.
3. Delivery Service
A delivery service, more specifically a ‘you want it, I’ll get it’ delivery service, could thrive on your college campus since there are lots of students without transportation or may not be in the best condition to leave their room. In that case, you could pick-up anything from food to toilet paper when they need it.
You could even become a Uber or Lyft driver if you don’t want to create your own service. It’s more strenuous work but with hustle it can do very well.
4. Travel Agent
With around half of all college students planning to go on vacation during spring break, and money is becoming a major concern, you could launch your own travel agency to find the best possible deals for your classmates. While they could easily find the best deals themselves, you’d be saving them a lot of time by hunting down the deals for them.
Besides spring break, you could also plan trips whenever your football team hits the road. That’s what David Wachtel did while at USC. He figured out that if he got a group of students together it was more affordable to go to away games and his business, “The College Weekenders,” was born.
5. Blogger/Writer
If you’re a bit of an expert and have some knowledge that you want to share, or are passionate about certain topics, you could start your own blog or start freelance writing.
If you decide to start blogging, all you have to do is purchase a domain, find a host like GoDaddy, and start blogging through WordPress. You can monetize your blog through affiliate links or selling ad space.
Freelance writing is in a space where it is a bit easier to start making money. Join a freelance marketplace, like Upwork, and have clients hire you for your service. You could also search for niche sites that hire writers. If you’re a sports fanatic, for example, you could write for Bleacher Report.
6. Website Design/Mobile App Creation
As mentioned earlier, it’s incredibly easy to start blogging. Yet somehow, in 2016, there are still a ton of businesses and people who don’t have their own website. If you have some basic coding skills and experience with a platform like WordPress then you can start charging people or organizations to build their websites.
This is arguably one of the most lucrative businesses you can start in College. Some of my classmates in my computer science class were charging $100/hour for their services. These students were obviously the more experienced coders but you get the idea. You can even conceive some ideas of your own and build prototypes, who knows, maybe you’ll build the next Snapchat!
These are just a few ideas to get the juices flowing. Try a few and see how they work for your schedule. Remember, the opportunities are endless you just got to get out and do it!
