need help thinking of a $10 business idea for college class

**gerard143** · 03-17-2010 12:06 AM

I have a friend who needs help thinking of ideas on a business you can start with $10 for her college class.

I need something much more real then a lemonade stand. This is a full semester course where a business plan and a sustainable business must be ran throughout the semester on this week budget. very tough on $10.

I need ideas! help!

**noob** · 03-17-2010 01:47 AM

Since your friend's budget is only $10, hiring is out of the question and there really isn't much she can do with $10 either.

I'm going to say that it is safe to assume that they want the project due with only $10. If that is the case, it would be extremely help to know what his/her skill sets are. The more details you provide on this, the more helpful it'd be to help come up with some basic business idea.

The only thing I can think of at the moment that they can do that doesn't require an extensive knowledge is start a blog. But that really isn't a real business in my personal opinion but it can generate income and can be done throughout the semester.

What school is this for?

**faisallatif** · 03-17-2010 04:24 AM

sound really funny that start a business with $10 in this period of recession.

**StephenG** · 03-17-2010 02:56 PM

This sounds like a very good excersize. Very little risk! Might be a dumb question on my part but does the $10.00 assume you have no telephone or gasoline in your car? I had a period in my life where I was virtualy homeless and totaly broke. I chose to spend my money going to the goodwill and buying some decent clothes that I could wear pitching a consulting business.
My first thought would be to use the $10.00 to print up some cards or possibly just some stationary to post an add on bullitin boards for whatever skill you might offer however humble it might be. Pretty tough without knowing you as your own skills would be the only asset you would really have to work with. Steve

**gerard143** · 03-17-2010 03:30 PM

Rit. Rochester institute of technology in ny

**noob** · 03-17-2010 05:38 PM

Is this for an engineering class or some business class? Can you list specific skill sets you have?

**Southern_Lenders** · 03-17-2010 05:45 PM

LOL, $10.00?! . Here is my only idea, and that is to go to the dollar tree store, dollar general, or the 99cent store if you have one, and buy School supplies, and resell it at a marked up price. Colleges, like mine anyway have a bookstore w/ School supplies, but they are more expensive than what you could find else where.

Offer good deals like buy 2, get 1 free, or other creative ideas to bring buyers. Re-invest the revenue into more supplies and offer better and better discounts.

**JMediaConsulting** · 03-18-2010 02:48 PM

Your friend should charge $10 per classmate to join a mini Angel pool. Best $10 idea gets seed funding to scale....I think that was an episode of Saved By The Bell...

**gYQue** · 03-18-2010 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by StephenG

This sounds like a very good excersize. Very little risk! Might be a dumb question on my part but does the $10.00 assume you have no telephone or gasoline in your car? I had a period in my life where I was virtualy homeless and totaly broke. I chose to spend my money going to the goodwill and buying some decent clothes that I could wear pitching a consulting business.
My first thought would be to use the $10.00 to print up some cards or possibly just some stationary to post an add on bullitin boards for whatever skill you might offer however humble it might be. Pretty tough without knowing you as your own skills would be the only asset you would really have to work with. Steve

I say go with that and tell your friend to start a note-taking business for her classmates. I'm not sure how profitable it would be but if you're planning to take notes for a class anyway, might as well try to make money off it.

**darwin905** · 03-18-2010 09:09 PM

Wow, you guys are pretty lame ... this person is looking for ideas ...

There are a ton of things you could do for $10.

1) rent webspace for 1 month with godaddy and get a domain name for $1.99. Thats about $7 ish, then sign up for affiliate programs though clickbank or one of the many others that are free to sign up for and post a bunch of ads and start writing content. Write articles and post to ezine etc ... in a month off of $10 you could easily make 10 times your money... you could even search for some open source website script to setup like a forum, or create an OS commerce site and post amazon affiliate links... No product needed to buy, you earn a commission on sales. Throw in some adsense and you are off and running.

2) You could post a ton of ads on sites like kijiji and craigslist for free and offer a service...

3) you could simply trade up ... a great example is the guy with the red paper clip... google it, "guy with red paper clip" and you should find him. He started with a red paper clip and traded for something worth more in value ... he ended up trading for his house he now lives in. Great story.

4) doughnuts ... yes I said it .. doughnuts ... For $10, you can make about 10 dozen doughnuts. Find a local store, variety store, grocery, even a supermarket ... or a bakery ... and you can offer your home made doughnuts for like 20 cents ...spend $10 make 100 doughnuts and if you can sell 50 of them, you break even and sell all 100 and you have just doubled your money... here are some recipes at (free doughnut recipes dot com).

There is tons you can do with $10. Just have to be creative. And there is nothing wrong with a lemon-aid stand ... find a hot day in a public place and you can charge $2 a glass...

Cheers