Every successful business today started somewhere. And most of them out there have been founded by a group of people or friends who used to spend time together.
Airbnb was founded by roommates and friends Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia. AllyO was co-founded by Sahil Sahni and Ankit Somani who met during their freshman year of college. Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Andrew Hunt and Jeffrey Raider who became friends at school in Wharton in Philadelphia are the founders of Warby Parker.
So here are some ideas of small business that you and your friends can start with some tips on how you can grow it.
Photography
As a group of friends you may want to gather money and buy a high resolution camera. A good one might start from 300 Euro. Go on YouTube, take your time and watch as much as possible of video related to photography tips and practice a lot among friends.
Get organized as a team and assign everyone a specific task. Go on Instagram and other social media and look for people living in your community, around you who are easy to access and who have started a life of influencer or modeling on those platforms. Propose them shooting with your high resolution camera for a very low price. And by “very low” I mean really cheap, even better if you can do it for free.
Keep looking for new people while still working with the previous with low price till you create a good looking portfolio on social media. From then you can start raising the price slowly. Later on, upgrade in techniques and materials, and here you go!
Personal computer training
How many people do you know around you who always have difficulties when using Microsoft Office especially Excel and PowerPoint or any basic other software in their computers?
If you and your friends have enough knowledge about basic software applications you can start teaching other people how to use them, and set up your own computer-training operation.
You will just need to get organized, find a place where the learners will come for sessions or if you will go to the learners etc. But remember, always go low price at the very beginning, ⅓ of what a professional in the domain would cost.
Language teaching
If you and your friend(s) are proficient in English, German or French which happen not being the language of your community, that is a great opportunity for you guys.
Get organized and initiate language classes. The language-learning market is growing everyday and sure in your community many people like everywhere in the world are looking to learn foreign languages.
You will just need to get organized, create a perfect schedule for the classes; find a place where the learners will come for sessions, or if you will go to the learners. You can also open a YouTube channel in which you and your friends can post language lessons daily or weekly to reach a wider audience.
House/office cleaning
There are many cleaning service companies out there. But as a group of friends you can initiate your own cleaning service company.
Just get organized and start making advertisement in the neighborhood. You can set up the price of your services depending on the size of the house and the type of cleaning the client requires. Standard cleaning, deep cleaning, or move out/in cleaning. It will be up to you to find the perfect form.
But remember the golden rule to win clients for such business. As just a group of friends always go low price at the very beginning, ⅓ of what a professional in the domain would cost.
