How to start a side-hustle business with no money – Business Insider

2. User-generated content

Giselle González started focusing on user-generated content in March. As a mother, she wanted to find a way to work from home with flexible hours. She wasn’t an influencer and didn’t have a large online platform at the time, but she started creating more and more content about products she loved.

“When I realized that I could start creating content for brands without having a huge following, without being an influencer, I started digging,” she said.

She started filming reviews about hair-care products on her own page, and that turned into partnerships with brands she knew and loved. Now she earns $5,000 a month by creating content for other businesses.

User-generated content was a low-cost option for González because all she needed was her phone, the video-editing app InShot, and a social-media page to post on, she said. As a content-creation business grows, founders can also purchase tripods, lighting, backdrops, or other digital tools if needed.

Read more: I average $5,000 in revenue a month creating user generated content for small businesses. Here’s how I got my start and scaled my business.

4. Resale

As the vintage market continues to grow in popularity, side hustlers can turn lightly used or unworn clothes in their closets into income. 

Mona Mejia, a 44-year-old Poshmark seller, earned $735,000 last year reselling clothing, home goods, and toys. 

She initially didn’t invest any money in her business and used clothes in her closet, she previously told Insider. Her first sale, a dress that went for $36, sold in 11 hours.

Eventually, she started selling on livestreams through Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, which helped her business take off.

Read more: A 44-year-old mom of 3 made $735,000 last year from a reselling business she launched using just the clothes in her closet

5. E-books

Bri Bucks is a salon owner and business coach. When her husband died in 2018, she started thinking about ways to increase her income, she said. 

Her first side hustle was launching an e-book about business credit designed for other entrepreneurs.

“It was easy because it’s a digital product, so once you create it, you don’t have to do anything else outside of marketing,” she said. 

What’s more, it was also a very-low-cost experiment.

“It was free to create. I used a template in Canva, and I promoted it using social media,” she said.

E-books can generate passive, while acting as marketing material to find clients and business opportunities, founders told Insider.

Read more: A Gen Z founder used an e-book to promote one of her side hustles and net $19,000 in revenue