Let’s be honest — most “low-cost business” lists floating online are copy-paste clickbait. Nobody’s getting rich drop-shipping trinkets or starting a “side hustle” that needs $10K in ads to work.
So this week, we went granular. These are ten business models that have been statistically profitable from 2020–2025, that you can realistically start in 2026 with little to no capital. They’ve been validated by actual data — not influencers. For each one, you’ll get startup costs, expenses to expect, and real first steps to get traction.
