What Business Can I Start With 5 Lakhs in a Small Town?

Big cities, big markets, and therefore big money seems like a myth now. With the huge technology giant at your fingertips, a small town resident can reach the sky if he has the right vision, mission, and the brains for being a successful entrepreneur. However, it will do wonders if you have a talent or a hobby or passion that you could twist into a business and win the bread. The major concern for an emerging entrepreneur is always the monetary one. A person with some inherited luck does not have to worry, but another with zero investment has to brainstorm for some amazing business ideas under 5 lakhs. He, too, can turn lucky in a way, as nowadays for the banks or any other monetary source, a small business under 5 lakh is an easily fundable amount.

There could be immeasurable business ideas if you think it through. But the best way to begin would be to play your strengths. Think about what you are really good at, and is there a way you could turn it into a small-scale business venture. When your hobby becomes your business, you bring it up and nurture it like your own baby and see it flourish with your own eyes.

Here are some avenues for those desirous of starting a small-scale business below 5 lakhs in their own small town.

1. Food and Catering

The post-2019 period has seen a significant rise in the food, catering, and tiffin services. A homemaker with a culinary mastermind can cater to the thousands who need to be fed an afternoon meal but have no easy access to an eaterie within their limited means. Catering for a limited 50 to 60 people is an easily doable and affordable job in the current "no more than 50 people allowed for a function" scenario. Apart from delivering safe, healthy, and home-cooked food, one can also make their own brand of masalas and spices with a distinct flavour and monopolise it.

Renting a small place and transforming it into a bistro or a small cafe and snack corner, with a cosy ambience and soft playing music in the background, can attract foodies and other "just feel like munching" fans of a small town. You can add weightage to your joint with a good takeaway service too. Further branching out and providing recommended diet food to the ailing patients in the nearby hospitals or care centres would be a thinkable option too. People get used to the taste that they usually like, which results in hundreds of reorders as well as pre-orders. This definitely could be called one of those few good food manufacturing business ideas under 5 lakhs.

2. Fashion    

If you know your way around a sewing machine, then what could be a better business startup under 5 lakhs? The world is full of sophisticated fashionistas irrespective of the size of the town they live in. Buy fabrics of your choice and design fashionable clothes for the umpteen fashion crazy people and at the same time create employment for up to two to three more who have the skill and technique. If you sum up your sewing machine (even if you buy three to four), your helpers, your fabrics, accessories, bows, and buttons, the total of it gives you one of the few best business ideas with a 5 lakh investment.

You could also teach some of the enthusiastic local homemakers to knit and embroider. Build your reputation as an established seamstress by offering your potential customers an "all under one roof" advantage by designing and making accessories that match their outfits too. It makes them keep coming back for more.

Then, change that needle, change the thread, adjust the tension and give them their "more".

3. Yoga and Fitness

The huge propaganda of celebrating International Yoga Day on 21st June every year has seen a sudden surge in awareness about health and yoga. If you are an enthusiastic and trained fitness or yoga instructor, you can always consider this one of the few best business ideas under 5 lakhs. All you need is a rented studio and a bit of advertising through newspapers and social media. Clubbing yoga classes with Zumba and Aerobics sessions is a great way to attract the health-conscious population of every age, be it a homemaker, the working crowd, the teenagers, or even the senior citizens. Add a nutrition expert to your team, and you could do wonders if you have the passion and the ability for it. Conducting free sessions, camps, and casual, informal fitness dance sessions builds your image as a "know it all" about health and fitness. So grab your dancing shoes, turn up the volume, and rock the floor.

4. Art/Drawing/Handwriting/Creative Crafts

Being good at business is great art. But what if it's your art that gives you a good business? We would say that it is an intriguing idea. And what's more, if an artist is a good teacher too, it's the icing on the art cake. Being an artist gives you an edge as there are various sub-branches that you could teach or introduce in a small town. You could take an art class for kids, a handwriting session for students, some canvas, sketch, rangoli, and numerous other kinds of painting workshops for the young and the old too.

Corporate gift wrapping is another budding business idea these days, and you could master it too. You could team up with your local corporators and government officials and paint the town red. Almost literally. Art exhibits would greatly attract the town's attention and establish your art brand and take it to the next level. All art material and accessories that you need on a primary level should definitely sum up to an amount below 5 lakhs. So, go brush it up!

5. Preschool/Daycare

Teaching a 3-year-old needs a lot of patience, a tender heart, and a fun-loving soul. If you think you are a combination of these, a daycare centre and preschool would be fantastic small business ideas under 5 lakhs. A quality preschool or a daycare is always welcome where there are homemakers. And homemakers are everywhere. You could relieve them from their parenting duties for a while and bless them with a good "me time". Your patience and soft-hearted nature would do wonders when it comes to teaching singing, dancing, and drawing and craft to the small wonders. You could help these little stars twinkle. Teach them how a little teapot is short and stout, how to buckle their shoes, how not to sit alone on a wall, and how a sheep says BAA BAA.

When we look at the glorious list of great and successful businesses, we are likely to respond to their success stories in a variety of ways depending upon our perception. Some may have started because they were inspired by others. Some must have started from scratch, while others might say they were just lucky. However, of these different possible ways of looking at their success, only inspiration is welcome.

There could be a whole lot of potential businessmen and women amongst us. All it takes is a strong will, some basic talent, and a little bit of grit and perseverance. As the saying goes, "well begun is half done", we wish you to plan and play your business game well with the help of these ideas and attain success.  

Also read:

1) Online Business Ideas You Can Start Quickly
2) What online business can I do to make money? Here are the top-6 ideas for you.
3) Where Do the Best Business Ideas Come From?
4) Best Home Business Ideas in 2020
5) OkCredit: All you need to know about OkCredit & how it works.

FAQs

Q. What small business can I start with 5 lakhs?

Ans. You could start a small food and catering business or a bistro or an eatery. Fashion and tailoring is a good venture as well. Cleaning services, daycare centres, or art classes are also good businesses that can be started with just 5 lakhs.

Q. What businesses do well in small towns?

Ans. Art classes, Fashion and tailoring, food trucks, baking, preschools, bistros, cleaning services, yoga, Zumba, and aerobics get a good response in small towns.

Q. What is the cheapest small business to start?

Ans. Food and lunch tiffins, babysitting, home tuitions, private tuitions, cleaning, and gardening services are some of the cheapest small businesses to start with.

Q. What are the most successful small businesses?

Ans. Beauty salons, spas, fitness clubs, art and dance classes, home and personal tuitions, preschools, and daycare centres.