10 businesses people started from home with no or little monetary investment
Consulting
Founder: Stacy Blackman
Website: StacyBlackman.Com
Since 2001, Stacy Sukov Blackman has been assisting its clients to get admission at some of the best MBA colleges. While studying her MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Stacy developed a passion for assisting students to get through various MBA programs. After completing her studies, she worked in the fields of finance and marketing for several big companies. Finally she quit her job to turn her passion into a full-time career by establishing the premier MBA international consulting firm. She started her journey from her living room with literally no monetary investment.
Stacy has been featured in the cover of reputed publications including the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and Fortune. She also works on the Board of Directors of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants. She has also published a book named The MBA Application Roadmap.
Custom Men’s Shirts
Founders: Danny Wong, Fan Bi
Website: BlankLabel.Com
Blank Label, a Boston based company, was created by Danny Wong with co-founders Fan Bi and Danny Wong in 2009. They thought about the idea after realizing the fact that that men have no choice other than grabbing the same odd t-shirts from the shop rack. They sat together and envisioned an online shop that could provide custom t-shirts.
Shopping at Blank Label is unique experience: One can demonstrate every detail they exactly want to fit on their custom designed t-shirt including color, design, quality of fabric, pattern, buttons and size, stitching, lining as well as cuffs. There are approximately 82 various different measurements to take and the website gives its customers step-by-step options to create unique style on their own. They make their t-shirt between the range of $60 and $95 or cost can be extended depending on the customers’ demands and designs.
Sports Content Aggregator
Founder: Ann Gaffigan
Website: WomenTalkSports.com
Ann Gaffigan, with the aspiration of encouraging and empowering female athleticism, founded an online network to present best possible blogs on Women’s sports, WomenTalkSports.com. She felt that women athlete who excel did not get the attention like male athletes. She and teamed up two sports enthusiasts and created the website and started providing the information on women’s sports. Today, there are more than 100 websites that link to the WomenTalkSports and approximately 70 bloggers contributing to the website. The site has successfully grabbed the attention across the world by extensively covering women’s outstanding achievements, their courage and their personal stories. During the Vancouver Olympics, over a million visitors turned up to her website for the updates.
Curated E-mail Newsletter
Founder: Chris McCann
Website: StartupDigest.com
In 2009, Chris McCann with his roommate Brendan McManus co-founded a media company named StartupDigest.Com that publishes email newsletters on educational issues and current affairs across 81 cities of the United States. It is a resource for entrepreneurs to connect with other entrepreneurs’ and clients include some of the big names such as Inc Magazine and Hackers and Founders. After its inception, the site has experienced an exceptional growth and has over 250,000 subscribers
In 2009, on completion his graduation from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with an entrepreneurship degree, Chris McCann joined Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley. Here he compiled 22 email lists of his personal contacts and friends and sent email. Their list of 22 people grew to 12,000 within three months of launching the company. They somehow managed initial fund of $25,000 and their subscribers also grew from 100,000 to 250,000. In 2011, Kauffman Foundation funded them with $200,000.
Mommy Blogger
Founder: Michelle Mitton
Website: Scribbit.blogspot.com
Michelle Mitton started her blog Scribbit nearly six years ago in 2006. She writes on diverse range of issues ranging from Sunday recipes, household tips, to product reviews and any interesting events happen in Alaska. She has also written a book about blogging.
In 2008, The Wall Street Journal enlisted her blog as one of the top ten blogs about motherhood. At present, the blog has 2,300 daily subscribers and around 60,000 page views every month.
Social Media e-Commerce
Founder: Hakan Nizam
Website: NetFoliage.Com
NetFoliage, a web development company for assisting small businesses, entrepreneurs, and artists, was founded in 2007 by Hakan Nizam. Since its inception, it has grown for building ecommerce and social networking sites. Hakan Nizam is actually from Istanbul but after launching the company in 2007, he has been staying in his Brooklyn apartment.
Government Contracting
Founder: Jim Anderson
Website: LeadDog.Com
There are a few cartography industries responsible for creating the majority of the digital maps in use across the world, and LeadDog is one of them which was established by Jim Anderson in 2000. Jim Anderson lives in the hills of Anchorage, Alaska from where he has digitally mapped more than 100 countries; and list includes the countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, which he did for the U.S. military. NBC News commissioned LeadDog during the Iraq war to create a map of Basra that the network could display as part of their broadcasts. To develop digital maps, LeadDog also works with GPS tracking companies and private companies on projects like location investigation.
Building Better Communities
Founder: Kene Turner
Website: EpiLife.Com
Kene Turner, the Chief Engagement Officer of a New York City based company Epilife Consulting Inc., established Epilife to facilitate organizations accomplish social accountability by providing them with quality educational programs, various development services and online trainings. Prior to Epilife Consulting Inc. Kene was a trainer of youth entrepreneurial programs at the YMCA of New York. He has provided training and professional development for NFTE at colleges including Columbia University, Northwestern University, Duke University, New York University, and Johns Hopkins University.
Personal Fitness Trainer
Founder: Franklin Antoian
Website: IBodyFit.com
Franklin Antoian, a personal gym trainer for many years, founded Del Rey Beach, Florida based IBodyFit.com in 2006 to assist those who do not want to work out at public gym. IBodyFit.com provides complete personal training online where one can receive individualized training through fitness classes and exercise videos. Trainers also make customized workout lessons for customers and make them available through phone, e-mail, and IM.
Quirky Kid’s Clothing
Founder: Jenny Ford
Website:Monkey-Toes.Com
Jenny Ford founded the Colorado-based company Monkey Toes in 2002. To make something different, she created animal and insect-themed footwear for children and it became favorite among children. She prefers running business from home so that she spends adequate time for her children. Today, her brand has made its special place in people’s heart. She currently distributes her shoes across many stores around the world.
Info Source: Inc.Com