COVID-19 has led to a severe economic crisis around the world, and businesses, small or big, are suffering from the after-effects. The virus has affected more has 185 countries and left major businesses in a questionable state. More than 30 million people in the US have been unemployed due to coronavirus economic impacts.
Businesses around the globe are looking for ways to sustain their operations. Most industries have been adversely affected by the virus, but some are blooming amidst the crisis.
These are mostly the businesses that focus on providing essential need-based items and not the luxury ones. To understand how things work under crisis, you must understand the fact that during tough times, people will always go to buy the essentials and never the luxury items.
Some of the businesses that are still thriving include:
- Health and medical services
- Food and beverages
- Information Technology
- Security
- Maintenance and repair
- Grocery and hygiene
If you are someone looking for ideas to start making money during the crisis, continue reading this article. Following are some of the business ideas that you can start in times of crisis:
1. Online Errand Runner Business
Although there are several apps available online to do grocery runs and deliveries, there is more need than ever for errand runners. People, such as senior citizens, single parents, and people suffering from health issues, are trying to avoid going out at all costs during the pandemic.
This creates an opportunity for an online errand-runner. At a local level, you can start a business through an app that offers a clean and contact-free delivery system which can have a diverse range of items available to get delivered to people’s doorstep.
A service like this is not only convenient for people but is an essential requirement for people these days. In no time, your services can bloom if marketed and developed in the right way. You may also add modifications to the app adding categories such as food delivery, grocery delivery, drugs and medicine delivery, and so on.
Although restaurants and other businesses are offering their own deliveries, there are some jobs that one has to do themselves. For instance, a restaurant’s sushi delivery service cannot take your dog for a walk. Amazon prime’s delivery service cannot take your car for tuning. On the other hand, an online errand service can take care of these and more!
But you must make sure to provide contact-less safe personal assistant services to people who need them. When starting this business, keep the following points in mind:
- Categories containing the most commonly used items
- Help people get stuff without having to step out
- Making sure deliveries are safe and contact-free
2. Online Tuitions
The educational sector has been severely affected by COVID19. Students around the globe are staying at home, taking online classes, or not studying at all. This creates an opportunity for people to start an online academy or tuition center to help the students study and have a routine during the crisis.
You may start with any online platform such as Zoom, Skype, or any other video/audio conferencing tool where you can connect with the students and teach them online. Assigning homework and assignments can also help you form a structure in your online classes.
- Educational training online
- Help students learn while staying at home
- Easy to access platform
- Online subscription to educational material
- Flexible timings
If you are willing to do it at a larger scale, you may develop an app for online education and provide a portal for students to download the study material and upload the assignments. You may also provide the app for other online teachers and coaches to collectively teach through a shared platform.
3. Online Consultancy Business
The world is facing an unprecedented time, and most of the people are clueless about what to expect. Several online consultancy firms are emerging to help and guide people.
If you have expertise in any specific field or have a talent that can be taught online, you may start an online consultancy business. Few examples of online consultancy are the following:
- Accountancy: Businesses need consultations more than ever, this is the perfect opportunity to start an online accountancy firm.
- Financial Advisory: You may start an online financial advisory for businesses that are affected by the coronavirus.
- E-commerce consultation: Trends in E-commerce are also shifting, now is the time to properly guide the people about emerging and dynamic trends of E-commerce and sales.
- Skill-based: You can also start a skill-based online startup to teach people skill-based education online.
4. Start Working as a Freelancer
Another opportunity to start working during the crisis is to start giving freelancing services. This way, you can offer your expertise to the people who need while staying indoors with minimum to no interaction.
Connect with the clients online and help them with the services that you can offer. You can start working through any online platform such as Fiverr, Upwork, etc. These platforms can help you find your targeted customers. Initially, you start with lesser charges and gradually increase based on your experience.
The services you can offer as a freelancer depends on your expertise; however, we have collected a few common services. Following are a few examples:
- Web designer/ developer
- Graphics designer
- Product designer
- Content marketer
- Digital marketer
- Social Media manager
You can start working as a freelancer depending upon the expertise you have and can gain clients online.
5. Sales and Marketing
Now that most of the businesses have shifted online amidst the Coronavirus crisis, a lot of businesses need trained marketing professionals. You can start a service where you provide training to individuals for online sales and marketing.
The course outline may include backend as well as front end training. This way, you can connect with companies who need employees and train individuals to work for such companies anywhere in the globe.
Multiple companies are focused on delivering commodities to the doorstep of people. Some of the common industries being:
- Health and medicine
- Daily household items
- Food industry
Training individuals for carrying out orders and training for sales and marketing of products can help you thrive in your business during this time of crisis because of the increased growth in demand. You must train the individuals for marketing tactics and practices:
- Demonstrating the business
- Guidelines about the business
- Customer care services
Conclusion
There are several ways that you can make money during times of crisis; however, you must do complete research on your expertise as well as the demand in the market. As mentioned above, focusing on need-based items rather than luxury items is the key to success in your business during a time of crisis.
The ideas mentioned above give you a hint of ways in which you can utilize your skills and online spaces to start a new business during a pandemic. Best of luck!
Author Bio:
Shaheryar provides ghostwriting and copywriting services. His educational background in the technical field and business studies helps him in tackling topics ranging from career and business productivity to web development and digital marketing. He occasionally writes articles for My Sushi.
