2.What would you like to do?

Choosing the right business will depend on your particular situation. You need to decide how much time you want to spend working, how much flexibility you need, how much money you are able to raise, how much you want to earn in the short and longer term, what you really want to spend your time doing and whether you can meet your financial objectives while doing it.

Generate extra money quickly

If you need to boost your income, there are countless ways to get started right away. The key is to leverage the resources you already have: your skills, your time, and even your home. Drawing inspiration from popular guides like Money Magpie's list of ideas, we've broken down some of the best ways to earn extra cash.

1. Monetise Your Skills and Experience
Your professional knowledge and life experience are valuable assets. Put them to work for you.

Become a Tutor: Share your knowledge in subjects like math, music, or a foreign language on platforms like TutorMe or Superprof.
Offer a Consulting Service: Are you an expert in your field? Offer your advice to businesses and individuals through freelance sites like Upwork.
Run a Local Service: Turn practical skills into a business, such as an ironing, home organisation, or handyman service.

2. Turn Your Hobbies into a Business
Do you have a passion you can share? Many hobbies can become a fantastic source of income.

Baking or Cooking: Sell your delicious creations at local markets or online.
Gardening: Sell homegrown plants, flowers, or fresh produce to neighbours or at a farmer's market.
Dog Walking & Pet Sitting: If you love animals, sign up for a service like Rover to get paid for walking dogs and watching pets.

3. Earn Flexible Cash with Simple Gigs
For quick cash without a long-term commitment, these flexible options are perfect.

Join a Focus Group: Get paid for your opinions on new products and services with companies like Respondent or User Interviews.
Become a Market Researcher: Participate in online surveys and studies through trusted sites like Prolific.
Try House Sitting: Look after someone's home (and often their pets) while they're away. Check out TrustedHousesitters.

4. Rent Out Your Spare Assets
Your property can be a powerful tool for generating passive or semi-passive income.

Rent Your Spare Room: List your extra room for short-term stays on Airbnb.
Rent Out Your Parking Space: If you have an empty driveway or garage, rent it out daily or monthly using apps like JustPark or YourParkingSpace.
Rent Your Garden: Have a patch of land you don't use? You can rent it out to aspiring gardeners through sites like Share My Garden.

Entrepreneur handbook lists 100 business ideas you can start today which you might find helpful.

Run a lifestyle business

A lifestyle business is set up and run by its founders primarily with the aim of sustaining a particular level of income and no more; or to provide a foundation from which to enjoy a particular lifestyle (Wikipedia). If you are considering a lifestyle business, then you may find What Is a Lifestyle Entrepreneur and How to Become One by The Balance Small Business helpful.

Run an equity business

What is your ultimate goal as an entrepreneur? If your vision extends beyond simply earning a living to creating a lasting, valuable asset, then you're thinking about building an equity business.

The core idea is to build a company whose tangible value grows over time. Think of it less as a job and more as an asset that can eventually be bought or sold. True success is measured by the increase in your company's worth.

Pursuing an equity-focused strategy demands total dedication and a powerful mix of resilience, resources, and resolve. You will need energy, capital, persistence, self-confidence, and the crucial support of your family to turn your vision into a valuable reality.

Do you need to be passionate about your business idea to Succeed?

YES – Passion Can Be a Launching Force

“Success in business comes when passion meets purpose. … When your business is driven by your passion and your devotion is reflected in it, that is when true success occurs.” Marlon De Cruz on LinkedIn

NO — Passion Alone Isn’t Enough

“Let’s face it, passion alone isn’t enough. Behind every successful business is hours of hard work, tough decisions and lots of discipline.” Andreas Adamides, Elite Business Magazine

SORT OF — Passion + Prudence = Success

“It’s the interplay between passion and prudence that leads to a successful business. Passion provides the driving force, while prudence acts as the guiding strategy.” Forbes Business Council

What if you don’t know what you want to do?

If you search online for ‘ideas for a business start-up’, you’ll find hundreds of possibilities. From those, you can shortlist the ideas that genuinely interest you. The next step is to evaluate them in terms of your preferred lifestyle and, of course, their business viability.

One practical approach is to assess each idea against a set of personal and business-related criteria. For example:

Lifestyle fit – Does the business match your interests, goals, motivation, work style, preferred location, and existing skills?
Market and financial potential – How many customers would you need? How long would it take to serve them? Can you realistically compete for their attention? Do you have access to the funding needed?

It’s a good idea to conduct a break-even analysis as part of this evaluation—calculating how much you would need to sell to cover your costs and start making a profit. For more details, see: “Will My Business Make Money?”.

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