You do not have to reach adult age before starting your own business at 20. Also, don’t think that your education will not let you be an entrepreneur. If it is about getting funds, you should not worry about it. The article will discuss various business ideas for 20-year-olds that will not hinder your education or require huge investment.
Introduction To Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
There are a lot of individuals who picked up their careers in their 20s.
Also, there are a lot of individuals under 20 years old that are already established.
The good thing is not all of these people quit their education or started with huge capital.
They all start from small and build up their business to the top.
However, you should know that starting a business at 20 years will not only earn you income.
It will also prepare and give you more insight into the business industry.
Benefit Of Business For 20-Year-Olds
Easy To Restart
Starting a business in your 20s allows you to start over if you fail.
You get to change your business strategy and plan a better one for the business’s success.
Full Commitment To Your Business
You have fewer commitments like marriage and family holding you back at such a young age.
This means you can give your business all your time and attention.
As such, you can focus on growing and expanding your business.
Flexibility
You also get to have time to do other things.
This is because the business does not require full-time to function.
The business is more or less like a side hustle for you.
Opportunity to Build Financial Security At An Early Age
Not everyone got the opportunity to start working for their financial security early.
So, starting a business this early means you get to start building your financial future on time.
Consequently, helping you achieve a greater level of financial security.
Future Of Business For 20-Year-Olds
There has been no research to back up the future of business for 20 years olds.
However, many young entrepreneurs started in their 20s and are still in business.
Whether you drop out of school or still studying, you can start a business.
Furthermore, the internet has made it easy for everyone in the business.
You can easily get your business moving with the help of the internet.
Here are some examples to back up the claim that starting a business as a 20-year-old is adorable and profitable
- Kylie Jenner was 18 years old when she started her Kylie Lip Kits, later renamed Kylie Cosmetics.
- Daniel Ek is the owner of Spotify, popularly known in the music industry. He started the business at the age of 23.
- Richard Branson was 20 years old when he started his record label career. At 23 years old, he named his record label Virgin Records.
- The founder of Tumblr, David Karp, was just 21 years old when he started his career. Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking site.
- Steve Jobs was 21 years, and Steve Wozniak was 26 when they started working on their business. These two founded Apple Computer Inc.
- Emily Weiss was just 25 years old when she founded Glossier- a skincare and beauty brand.
Above all, each of these businesses generates up to seven figures in profits.
Thereby making these entrepreneurs multi-millionaires in their time.
Afraid that you can’t start and run a successful business in your 20?
Well, let the above case studies cause you to have a rethink.
Business Ideas For 20-year-olds
1. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is a good business idea for 20-year-olds.
This business idea has gained popularity with the help of social media since television and news outlets are losing their grip on marketing.
It deals with marketing on the internet and online-based technologies such as mobile phones, desktop computers, and platforms that promote products and services.
Digital marketing covers 7 areas of marketing;
They are;
- Affiliate Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Marketing Analytics
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Pay-per-Click (PPC).
So, you can niche down by picking any of these areas to focus on.
It will also require the right skill set and creativity to succeed in this business.
Likewise, having good spoken and written English competency will prove helpful here.
There are some basic steps to follow when starting a digital marketing business.
Pick Your Niche
Digital marketing is a wide field.
So, you should find a niche that fits your interests and focus on it to stand out in the business.
Learn More About The Business
Having a proper understanding of the industry is essential for success.
So, strive to understand the business by learning more about it and acquiring the relevant skills related to the business.
Research Your Competitors
Every business has one or two competitors.
However, when starting your business, you should research your competitors.
This will give you a better understanding of what’s working and how to stand out from the crowd.
Research Your Customers
You also need to identify and understand your potential customers.
This will help you know who you’re selling to and how to better sell to them.
Establish An Online Presence
Virtually every business is online today, and so should yours.
So, consider taking your business online via a website or social media account.
2. Tutoring – Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
Being an academic tutor is also a good business idea for 20-year-olds.
It is ideal for 20-year-olds with good teaching skills.
Your target customer will be students that find it hard to understand one or two subjects.
You can pick up any course you’re incredibly competent at and tutor others.
The location for this business could be your home, library, school, or any agreed location.
3. Babysitting
Babysitting is another business idea for 20-year-olds.
You can start this business by caring for your neighbors and family friends’ children, especially on holidays when most children are home and their parents need to go to work.
Even more, you don’t necessarily need any funds to start this business.
However, you need to be tolerant and genuinely care for children to qualify for this business.
Besides that, you also need to;
Be Certified
To become a popular babysitter and get more customers, you need to be a certified babysitter.
You will need to be certified in giving CPR and how to apply first aid to infants and children.
You will also need to attend a babysitting class.
This will help you handle various situations to build your competency in caring for children.
Flexibility With Time
You will need to know how to be flexible with time.
This will help you manage your time when you have different clients to attend to.
3. Candle Making – Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
Candle making is a good business idea for 20-year-olds.
This business requires your artistic skills to keep growing.
It is common to see candles with the same design.
However, if you want to make good sales, you should get creative with your candle-making business.
You can do this by making beautiful designs with the candles before they reach their final stage.
Also, you could add fragrances to your candles to make them unique.
Start by chosing a niche in the candle-making business.
It can be aromatherapy candles, colored candles, scented candles, or beeswax candles.
You should choose where to sell your candles.
It can be by supplying stores or selling it online.
4. Graphic Designing
Being tech-savvy, you can succeed in this business with your artistic skills.
Graphic designing is another excellent business idea for 20-year-olds.
More so, any willing 20 years old can easily learn this skill in their spare time.
Although this is a saturated field, you can stand out by being proactive in promoting yourself.
Furthermore, you need your creativity, design skills, laptop, and an internet connection to get started.
You can use your room as your graphic design workplace, especially at the initial stage of the business.
5. Blogging – Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
This is another lucrative business idea you could start.
It is about sharing valuable and engaging content online with an end goal in mind.
However, blogging as a business is usually done to make money.
You need to pick a niche, get a laptop, and have an internet connection to get started.
When choosing your niche, you also need to have your audience in mind for better delivery.
There are different types of blogging.
Such as;
- Travel blogs
- Food blogs
- Lifestyle blogs
- Personal blogs
- Do it yourself blogs
- Fashion and beauty blogs
- Health and fitness blogs
- Political blogs
- Religious blogs and so on.
Also, you should pick a name for your blog business.
This name should describe your blog, e.g., foodbyalex.com, watchlindahike.com, or seanhistorical.com.
You can earn money from your blog by allowing ads to be displayed on your site or selling your products/other people’s products.
6. Cleaning service
Cleaning service is an example of business ideas for 20-year-olds.
This business does not literarily require you to open a big company to get it moving.
You also do not need to compete with big companies that are already in the business.
You can simply start this business in your neighborhood.
Although as time goes on, you can decide to expand your business beyond your neighborhood.
You could make some steady income from this business.
However, you’ll need to run it like a business and market your services effectively.
7. Pet Walking – Business Ides For 20 Years Olds
Pet walking is another business idea for 20-year-olds.
This business idea is good for people that love animals.
Even more, the client provides everything you’ll need to render your service, such as treats, leashes, and so on.
All you need to do is make yourself available at the scheduled time to walk the pet.
Finally, you’ll need to advertise your service within your locality to gain patronage.
8. Baking
Baking is another profitable business idea for 20-year-olds.
You can do this business if you love baking and have the skills.
You can use your mom’s kitchen and baking equipment to start your business.
Decide what you want to bake.
It could be cookies, cupcakes, zucchini bread, pound cakes, and so on.
Also, the packaging is important in this business.
You should be able to package your baked product to attract more customers to patronize you.
Your packing does not need to be expensive.
It can be hand-made packaging.
Overall, your potential clients will be people in your community, family friends, family, and students in your school.
9. App Developer – Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
This is an ideal business idea for tech-savvy 20 year-olds
It deals with developing, designing, and creating applications for computers, android phones, iOS, and so on.
If you are good at computer programming and can build software programs, this is for you.
Developing apps can fetch you a good income.
You can also perfect your skills by taking some professional courses in this field.
You’ll also need to promote your skills to your ideal clients online (Business owners & entrepreneurs).
10. Vlogging
Vlogging is an example of business ideas for 20-year-olds.
This business idea is more like blogging, but it has to do with video.
It can be called a video blog or vlog.
However, all the contents in this business are in video format.
This business also requires you to choose a niche you want to focus on.
It could be on lifestyle, historical items, fashion, health, playing pranks, and so on.
Your content should be creative, entertaining, and educative.
You will also need to discover your target audience to deliver content they’ll like and cherish.
Furthermore, it has to be high-quality and well-edited videos.
You can start generating income from your blog once you have a certain number of visitors.
Finally, you might become a brand ambassador/influencer when your vlog gains more popularity.
11. Photography – Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
This is yet another profitable business idea for 20-year-olds.
If you possess photography skills and have the necessary equipment, you are ready for the business.
Although there are many niches in the photography business, such as;
- Wildlife photography
- Sport photography
- Landscape photography
- Portrait photography
- Pet photography
- Event photography
- Architectural photography
- Baby / Family photography
- Fashion photography and so on.
You can specialize in the one that interests you the most.
However, you will need to open social media page to reach a wider audience and prospective clients that might want to buy your images.
You can set up an online account with photo-sharing platforms, such as; Getty Images, Flickr, Google Photos, and so on.
Furthermore, you can print out pictures and use them on posters, note cards with written words to express the thought of the image.
The words can be short stories, poems, or prose accompanying the image.
12. Recycling Business
The recycling business industry is quite lucrative, and it is one of the business ideas for 20-year-olds.
As a 20-year-old, you necessarily do not need to go deep into the business as a starter.
You could stick to the basis of the business as a beginner, like collecting recyclable items and giving them to bigger recycling companies.
Afterward, as you begin to make more money, you can expand.
The recycling business is a large business on its own, and it covers several areas like;
- Aluminum recycling
- Plastic recycling
- Paper recycling
- Cartridge refilling
- Bookbinding and repairing
- Historical collection
- Computer repair
Depending on your niche, there is always a market to sell it to.
There are recycling companies you can sell to, and you can make your money from the business.
13. Social Networking Site – Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
This is another business idea for a tech-savvy individual.
Mark Zuckerberg was 19 years old when he founded Facebook in 2004.
You can also set up your social networking site for people to meet new people.
It can be for people of your age to connect for friendship and more.
Also, it can be for widows and widowers or divorced people to meet new people.
You might not start to make money immediately.
However, with time and the right marketing strategies, you could start raking in some profits.
14. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is an example of business ideas for 20-year-olds.
It is about having an online store that generates a profitable return.
Also, it does not require storing the product in a warehouse or shop.
Instead, you act as the middle man of the business.
This requires you to get customers to place orders from you through your post.
Then the seller ships the goods directly to the consumer.
However, you get your share from the money paid for the goods depending on the price at which you advertise the product.
This business is easy to start and does not require much capital to start.
However, you need to put more effort into selecting winning products and marketing to succeed in this business.
15. Print-On-Demand
Print-on-demand is another example of business ideas for 20-year-olds.
This is similar to graphics design.
However, just as the name implies, the designs are only printed when a customer places a demand for them.
There are different things you can print on.
It could be;
- Clothes
- Shoes
- Bags
- Caps
- Books and so on.
Furthermore, if you want to get the business going, you need to sign up on online platforms to get wider customers.
You could sign up on platforms like Shopify, Society6, Zazzle, Spreadshirt, Printful, and so on to promote your designs.
Conclusion On Business Ideas For 20-Year-Olds
Wherever you are in this part of the world, you can start your business or career as a 20-year-olds.
Do not let anything limit or hinder you from achieving your dreams.
This article has discussed every business you can start with or without capital.
Take a step, start a business, and join the young entrepreneur world today.
Furthermore, the business will not grow on its own without you dedicating time to it.
So, your commitment and sacrifice will go a long to helping you succeed in whatever business you decide to embark on.
Wishing you the best in your entrepreneurial journey.
Make it work!
