A family business is a great way to work together with parents, siblings, and other relatives. It’s a common practice in the United States and a more recent trend for families all over the world.
Family businesses have the advantage of being very cost-effective as members of your family will not only work together under the same roof but will also split some overhead costs as well as share income.
So if you’re ready to start a business with your family, here are low-budget family business ideas you should consider:
1. Cleaning Business
Due to the enormity of this business, it does require extra hands to undertake. These extra hands can be members of your family instead of engaging the services of outsiders.
Aside from getting your hands dirty, this business can help you to set your work time and rate. Your client base will be mostly made up of people who are too busy to clean their homes. Also, businesses that want to focus more on marketing can engage the services cleaners.
This is a type of family business that have repeat client opportunity. Therefore once a client is satisfied with your job, you’ll always get called for more jobs. Also, through word of mouth, your family business can be recommended to other clients by your current clients.
SEE: How to Make Money with Cleaning
2. Kids Care
This is one business you can start with your family if you love being around kids. It is a business that revolves around catering for kids while their parents are busy with their daily schedules.
If you have more than five kids then it is something that can’t be handled by one person, hence making it one of the best family business ideas. You will require a large space in your house before you can take to this business.
You’ll enjoy this business if you already have kids that are yet to start schooling. As a way of being unique in the business, try to add a little bit of academics to your service. You can go even further by incorporating some type of homeschooling for the children in your care.
Before commencing this business, carry out medical and criminal checks on every member of the family that will be involved in the business.
In addition, good hygiene and a serene environment will enable you to get more clients for the business. If you can pull through this business, it could turn into a full-time business for the family.
3. Lawn Care
If you are an outdoor person, you’ll surely find this business idea appealing. Since most Americans are obsessed with lawns, you’ll surely make money from this business.
Your children can help out in this business depending on their age. Since you’ll be dealing with sharp tools, it is best to provide protective wear for family members involved in this business.
In addition, even when there are younger ones in the family, they can be carried along just to have hands-on experience. This is because this business can easily be turned into a full-time long-term business.
4. Food Truck
Additional hands will almost certainly be required in businesses that are mobile and involve connecting with people. As a result, a food truck business is one of the best family business ideas to consider.
Someone will be needed to buy food, cook it, put it onto a truck, and sell it to consumers in a food truck business. You will agree with me that none of this can be accomplished by a single individual.
Furthermore, you will require assistance in the preparation of the meal to be presented when selling to consumers. Rather than hiring a third party, here is where enlisting the help of a family member will be required.
To market what you are selling, you’ll need to position your truck in a high-traffic area. Make sure your phone number is prominently printed on your truck, as well.
SEE: Food Business Ideas
5. Open a Restaurant
A restaurant business can never be managed by just one person. The cook, a waiter or waitress, a cleaner, etc., are part of those that are required to run a restaurant business.
Since lots of staff are involved, it is not uncommon to have family members as part of the team. However, do know that this business requires a significant amount of money to get started.
If you want to easily carve a niche for yourself, you can choose to focus on a particular type of food that your restaurant sells.
6. Livestock Farming
This is a type of farming whereby animals are bred for consumption. The meat we consume comes from animals that were reared on a farm somewhere.
Note that this business is labor-intensive and will not only require more hands, but it will stress you out. In addition, you’ll need lots of capital to get started and also run the business.
However, if you have enough space to commence this business and with the proper packaging of your product, you’ll be profitable. Finally, depending on the livestock you are farming, you can approach specialty food shops to patronize your business.
SEE: How to make money with your farm
7. Start a Brick-and-Mortar Store
If you want an all-inclusive business that’ll involve most members of the family, starting a physical store is an option to explore. This could be a grocery store or a store selling clothes
One thing to be aware of is the fact this business requires lots of money to set up. However, the huge benefit of the business is the fact that it has lots of roles that can be managed by family members. With family at the hem of affairs, it can help to reduce running costs.
Note that running a physical business comes with the responsibility of ensuring security for the store. You’ll also need to pay some bills incurred by the business at the end of the month.
SEE: Best shop ideas to make money
8. Tutorial Center
This involves sharing your knowledge with someone else or with a group of people. With a tutorial center, you’ll be helping students who need extra help with their studies.
Rather than going to the homes of your clients, they’ll be coming to a designated center where the lesson will be held by you. Since there will be many learners involved, you’ll surely need help in the teaching and learning process. This extra help can be from other family members.
You can work with schools to offer you the opportunity to meet with learners and talk about your business as a form of marketing and promotion for this business. Advertisements can be placed online as well as in your local newspaper.
Finally, you can offer a discount just to get your first few clients. Another method to adopt is the strategy of referral marketing. This way, students who can bring their friends will get a discount on their next payment.
9. Dog Walking
If you have a family of pet lovers, you’ll surely find this business idea appealing. The most common pets owned by people are cats and dogs, and they need care in the absence of their owners.
To get clients fast for this business, simply promote your service in areas dominated by retired citizens. These sets of people are majorly sedentary and lack the energy to walk their pets around.
As your client base grows, you can engage other members of your family members to help out. When people notice you and other family members walking dogs around, it will serve as a form of marketing.
SEE: Best apps to make money as a dog walker
10. Senior Care Business
There is virtually no generation that you won’t find aged people. This set of people will always want assistance to perform daily activities like house cleaning, bathing, and even cooking of meals.
As a senior care business owner, you’ll have to go to the homes of these people to perform house chores for them. Most times, this business will involve providing some form of health care services in the process.
As your client list grows, you’ll need to enlist the assistance of other family members to help operate the business. Keep in mind, however, that the running expenditures of the business are extremely high.
It’s also worth noting that you’ll need a mode of transportation since this family business idea requires visiting the elderly in their homes.
11. Baking Business
Baking is a skill that can be picked up and practiced in the comfort of one’s own home. As a result, you must achieve some level of perfection before turning it into a business. To hone your skills, start baking simple recipes like cupcakes and giving them to family members for feedback.
You can choose to specialize in baking just birthday or wedding cakes. However, the major challenge you’ll have is to have ongoing customers patronize your service. Another way to go about this business is to partner with grocery stores, cafes, and local supermarkets.
Since baking is a business that will always require extra hands, it is best to involve other family members in the business. This way, other family members can easily learn the business in the process.
In addition, you can add to your income by organizing baking classes for those who are looking to learn baking. However, before going this route, you must have proven yourself to be an experienced baker.
FAQs
What is a family business?
This is a sort of business in which the majority of the stock is owned by members of the same family. A minimum of two family members is normally involved in this type of business.
Family members who manage a family business are typically related through blood, adoption, or marriage.
What are the benefits of having a family-owned business?
The following are some of the reasons why some people opt to start a family business:
- Commitment
- Stability
- Operational costs are lower
- Skill transferability
- Sustainability
- Loyalty
What are the drawbacks of owning a family business?
While there are numerous advantages to owning and operating a family business, it is not without its inherent limitations. The following are some of the limitations:
- Inadequate succession planning
- Nepotism
- There is a lack of structure
- The proclivity towards family strife
- A lack of interest from the family
- Various levels of interest
Conclusion
Before starting a family business, you have to map out the role each family member will play. In addition, it is best not to soft-pedal on commitment from family members that will be involved in the business.
Among the top family business ideas given above, I propose starting a cleaning business. This is due to the fact it requires less startup cost and does not require much experience. Therefore, it will be much easier to engage other family members in the business irrespective of their skillset and experience.
You can check out this post on how to make money with cleaning. It has several lists of platforms from which you can easily find cleaning jobs.
Thanks for reading.
