Starting a business can be a long and arduous process that can even take years. Some types of businesses can require as long as a full year just to do the feasibility study alone. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be like that for everyone especially now when people are after making a quick buck. In this article, I’ll discuss some simple businesses that you can start in a week or less. The underlying assumptions will be that you already (or can have in less than a week) have what’s central to running the business. So not all of these businesses will be for everyone but if you’re enterprising enough you can start any of them.
Retailing
This is by far the easiest one and is very broad and diversified. All you have to do is to figure out what sells fast and has a readily available market. Bear in mind that I’m not necessarily saying you must use brick and mortar structures like a shop or the like. You can successfully retail anything without the need for all that. A friend of mine specializes in the retailing of ladies footwear. She simply orders say, 50 pairs of ladies shoes from SA and can have them sold out (either by upfront payments or upon credit with stipulated payment deadlines) in no time. She does that from home without needing to set up shop anywhere. This is just one example of the many retailing businesses one can embark on. The idea is to focus on fast-moving goods such as basic food, cosmetics, clothing, just to mention a few. You don’t even need to source your stock from outside the country; some goods can be easily and cheaply sourced locally and resold elsewhere locally. Having a pre-order framework can even make your stock move faster.
Car Wash
Apparently, the number of cars in Zimbabwe is ever-rising since more and more people are bringing in more cars. This means there are a lot of car-related services that are now sought-after. One of such services is car washing and is one business that’s quite simple and easy to setup. Depending on the location you’ll simply need space where you can set up say, a simple tent. Then you can start off with simple low-cost materials e.g. detergents, buckets, rags, brushes, wipers and the like. Funds-permitting you can even purchase hoovers and other related hardware (with funds available you can easily get these in way less than a week). Once you setup your car wash spot you can start getting clients before the day even ends. Think of it this way, as a group of people (e.g. a civic society group) with just detergents, necessary consumables and buckets you get into town you can make money from cleaning cars at car parks. This shows you how easily it can be to start a car wash business.
Tutoring Services
There are lots of people with expertise in many different academic fields. This spans from primary level to tertiary levels and there are many students looking for extra classes or exam preparatory classes. This can be easy to set up in a community where you’re well known so usually reputable teachers can easily start this. With a proper and simple advertising framework e.g. through just a simple notice put up around neighbourhoods or social media, you can have substantial classes in less than a week. You can even choose to offer one-on-one classes – the discretion is up to you. Most teachers are actually making a living through this since their basic salaries aren’t cutting it. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be teachers only; just anyone with a proven academic track record in any academic subject and the ability to teach it can effectively start this business.
Mass Transportation
This is a broad field and will depend on your location and target market. The underlying assumption will be that it can be started within a week from the point you acquire a vehicle or vehicles. Most people are making money from this through public service vehicles such as taxis, delivery services or servicing of routes amongst others. Often time people already in this business can have fall-outs with drivers or other circumstances such as reclaiming vehicles for personal use. So you’ll always have drivers ready to get working agreements that get them back on the road. Due to their usual understanding of the operating environment, you can actually start getting returns daily from the onset.
Repairs And Maintenance
So many things we use are mechanical; not just that, most things we use require some form of repair and maintenance. There are many people gifted in various fields e.g. electricians, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics and so on. These people often have the necessary tools required to work on any related task. So instead of using their skills (on a job as most people do), one can start offering their services to clients as a business. Simple and low-cost advertising needed for this business approach. Services can be offered on-call and be executed onsite so it’s quite easy to get the ball rolling in a week’s time or less.
Mobile Food Services
The crux here is to sell already-made food or to sell cooked foods. The market to target can be anybody but there’s one strategic one I have noticed for quite a while now. For most tertiary institutions students aren’t keen on eating at the available school canteens. Quick examples that come to mind are at Great Zimbabwe University (Mashava campus) and NUST campus. If you go there you’ll find small-scale mobile food services providers during designated meal times. They either come with food that’s just been cooked at home or they prepare it on site.
These are just 6 of the many types of businesses one can start in a week or less. Despite the fact that you can start earning in a week or less, it’s still important to do your homework prior.
