21 Best Cash Flow Business Ideas

Are you looking for a business that’s convenient, profitable, and compatible with your lifestyle? Starting a business can be an intimidating process, but there are plenty of options out there that offer great potential for cash flow.

Let’s look at the best cash flow businesses. By the end of this article, you should have a better understanding of which type of business might be best suited to your needs.

What Makes a Business Good for Cash Flow?

While there are many great business ideas, unless you have unlimited resources, you’ll need a business plan that’s good for cash flow. You’ll have an enterprise with low overhead and high profit margins. Ideally, there will also be low inventory costs, so you won’t need lots of money tied up in stock. 

Another critical factor that makes a business good for cash flow is if the tasks involved in operating the business are straightforward. If they are, you won’t need to cover the cost of expensive, highly skilled workers. This type of operation is also easier to scale since you can easily and quickly hire and train employees, contractors, or freelancers. High cash flow businesses are ideal for investors because the owner/operator can be replaced.

High Cash Flow Business Ideas

1. SaaS (Software as a Service)

Saas, or software as a service, is a software delivery model allowing customers to access applications without installing programs on their devices. Essentially, they’re “renting” the software they need to run aspects of their business or enjoy hobbies and interests. With an internet connection, customers can access software on almost any device without installing an app or program. 

If you’re code-savvy, you can provide various software products or services to create a recurring, stable monthly income. You can build your own subscription service or create a one-off sales licensing business model. 

You can also make money via freemium plans, paid trials, or entry-level subscriptions. Alternatively, you could create a usage-based pricing model, which allows customers to pay varying costs depending on the amount of software they actually use.

And if you’re not a programmer or developer, you can hire one to bring your idea to life. Or you can partner with a developer.

SaaS businesses are ideal because of predictable recurring income (steady cash flow) and no expenses for inventory.

2. Membership Websites

Even if you’re not a web developer, you can benefit from the subscription business model with a membership website. There are many possibilities for this to generate monthly or yearly recurring payments with this potentially lucrative business model. Essentially, you’re creating an exclusive site such as a forum, job board, or paid content site that your customers will pay to access. 

For example, if you’re a keen fitness enthusiast, you could have a membership site providing workout plans, fitness challenges, and fitness advice, with a forum where users can discuss fitness topics and enjoy one-on-one interaction.

This means you can leverage your interests, skills, and expertise into a community where people pay for access.

Membership sites are also extremely attractive to buyers if you ever sell your online business. Thanks to the recurring income, membership websites often have higher valuations than other types of online businesses.

Many platforms make it easy to build a membership website, including Squarespace.

3. Retainer-Based Businesses

Any business where clients pay a recurring retainer fee for a service offers the potential for excellent cash flow. Like the two previous business ideas, the recurring income from a retainer-based business is excellent for cash flow management and predictability.

Essentially, your clients pay a recurring retainer fee (usually monthly) for your services. You can apply this model to industries like legal, accounting, PR, marketing, advertising, and more. Your clients will have access to your services as needed, but you’ll enjoy regular and predictable income, which isn’t offered by many other business models.

4. Rental Business

Many people shy away from the idea of a rental business, as traditional property rental businesses require a lot of capital. For example, you may need to purchase an apartment or office and then rent it out for income.

However, other rental businesses allow you to leverage your current property and existing assets to easily create a cash-generating business.

Storage Space

If you have space in your home or garage that could be used for storage, you can use this to create an income stream. Many people are looking for short-term or long-term storage in their local area. You could create a cash-flowing business using only the extra space in your home or garage.

Neighbor makes it easier to rent out space to store boxes, vehicles, or other items. It’s possible to make a decent additional income by renting out your basement, attic, shed, driveway or garage, but you can even rent out a spare room or a closet.

You can list your available space on Neighbor for free to earn extra cash. The platform will connect you with potential renters and handle all of the payments for you. All you need to do is ensure the renter can access the space.

Truck or Van

If you have a truck or van you don’t use regularly, you can rent it to local people on specific days or over the weekend.

The best platform for this rental service is Fetch. You can rent your vehicle by the day or even for hourly periods. Depending on your insurance package, you can earn 65% to 80% of the vehicle rental.

The rental prices are determined with dynamic pricing, high mileage packages, and discounts for long-term rentals. This means that you can maximize your earnings with good timing. You can also boost your earnings by offering your rental clients moving supplies and other ancillaries.

This is an easy way to turn your truck into an income-generating asset.

RV or Camper

If you have an RV or camper, you could use RVShare to generate passive income and easy cash flow. This platform is similar to Fetch, specializing in RV rentals but peer-to-peer based. This means that you can connect with potential renters interested in taking an RV break, but the purchase price of an RV is out of their reach.

It’s possible to make a decent income renting out your RV when you don’t have plans to use it. You can rent out your RV for a few months each year and make thousands of dollars.

The earning potential will be determined by the type of RV or camper you have. So, you can make a lot of money if you have an excellent model.

5. Online Courses

If you have solid knowledge in a niche and are keen to share it with others, you could start a business creating online courses. There’s no requirement for formal qualifications, and you may be able to work on something you truly enjoy. This may be the best cashflow business for those good at teaching and communicating.

You could offer your course on a platform like Skillshare, or create your own site and sell it on your own. Teachable makes it easy to create a professional website and online course business.

“How to” courses are the most popular, but you can adapt practically any knowledge or skill into an online course. If you team up with affiliate partners who will promote your courses, you can create a business that provides residual income.

Just remember that it takes time to create and promote courses, so you’ll not see immediate cash. However, this is an excellent online business model if you have a long-term focus.

6. Blogging

Another way to turn your interests into a business is via blogging. You’ll need to be confident in your writing skills and be prepared to commit considerable effort to the venture, but it’s a flexible gig and one of my favorite high cash flow businesses.

You’ll need to provide good content and consistently publish with an approachable, natural writing style. Remember that you need to pick a topic of interest to you, as many new bloggers quickly run out of inspiration after just a few months.

Running a blog around other businesses or commitments is possible, but you’ll need to research how you want to monetize your blog. Blogs can make money in many ways, including advertising, affiliate programs, publishing sponsored content, selling your own products, and offering a service.

The earning potential of blogging can vary greatly. The income potential is truly unlimited, but many bloggers don’t stick with it long enough to experience success. Your work ethic and the popularity of your blog will influence your blogging income.

Overall, blogging is a great way to make money online. If interested in this opportunity, read our step-by-step guide on how to start a blog.

7. YouTube Channel

If you like the idea of being on camera or have great animation skills, you could consider setting up a YouTube channel. Like blogging, this is not a guaranteed income overnight. You’ll need to work to build your audience, which can take significant time.

Producing video content regularly can be a challenge, but you have the potential to make money from ad revenue, affiliate programs, and sponsorships. Popular creators continue to make thousands of dollars each month, but you’ll need to establish your voice and brand.

Bear in mind that you’ll be working on a platform that you don’t actually own, as opposed to blogging on your own site. This means you must be careful to work around the YouTube rules to ensure you remain compliant. Still, it’s one of the top cash flow businesses thanks to the incredible popularity of online video.

8. Podcast

Podcasting is similar to blogging and YouTube, but it’s the audio variation (although many podcasts now offer video as well). However, podcasts have become increasingly popular, as many people like to listen when driving, exercising, or doing household chores.

You can start a podcast on almost any topic, but you’ll need to choose a topic that will attract listeners to be profitable.

You can combine your podcast with blogging or a YouTube channel to provide content in multiple formats. It’s a natural fit for affiliate marketing, and you can interview guests who want to promote their own products and services for cross promotion.

9. Freelancing

Freelancing is a catch-all term for various careers and service business opportunities. It’s the best business idea to leverage your existing skill set. For example, you could be a freelance writer or proofreader if you have good writing and language skills. If you’re good at coding, you could freelance as a web developer or web designer.

It’s possible to start freelancing on sites like Upwork and then expand to your own website, depending on your business goals.

In either case, you’ll need to be good at self-promotion, as you’ll need to stand apart from your competitors. However, once you establish your reputation, you can set your own rates and create your own schedule.

10. Social Media Marketing

This is similar to having a client on retainer, as customers can pay you a monthly fee for your services. Social media has become a vital part of modern business advertising strategies.

As a social media specialist, you can help small business owners raise their profile via Facebook ads, social media content, and employing other social media strategies.

If you’re already enjoying a large engagement on your social media platforms, this could be a great hobby to transition into a profitable business.

11. Virtual Assistant

You could create a business offering virtual assistant services if you’re organized and can manage various admin tasks.

As a virtual assistant, you’ll work for clients remotely on various tasks such as editing, invoicing, scheduling, and data entry to allow business owners to concentrate on their core responsibilities. Every business owner could use help, so there are endless potential clients.

You may be paid a set fee for a specific number of hours per month, or you can work hourly. You can work from home and enjoy varied tasks. If you’re well organized, you can work with several clients simultaneously, maximizing your earnings over the same number of working hours.

You can find virtual assistant clients on freelancing platforms and connect with potential clients on forums and job sites. Going out independently and specializing in a particular industry will give you the highest earning potential.

12. Consulting

The term “consultant” can often seem vague, but this can be a great home-based business opportunity to use your existing skills. Consultants provide valuable insight and services in almost any industry. This is an excellent opportunity if you have the appropriate experience and skill set.

Some examples of consulting roles include fitness consultants, IT consultants, financial consultants, and PR consultants. Of course, there are many other possibilities. You may have developed skills in your current job or previous roles that could be put to good use.

Depending on the industry, niche, and location, you can earn $100 or more per hour for providing your advice.

13. Dropshipping

If you like the idea of having an online store but don’t have the space to stash physical products or lack the processing power to ensure your items are shipped on time, you may want to consider dropshipping.

Dropshipping allows you to sell online and allow someone else to handle the logistics while benefitting from good cash flow. Your supplier will handle the order fulfillment and arrange deliveries, creating an inexpensive, solid business idea. Your customers likely won’t even realize they’re purchasing from a drop shipper.

Dropshipping minimizes hassle, and you can avoid spending money on storage or shipping. However, you’ll still need to deal with refunds and returns. However, it’s possible to turn dropshipping into a large and lucrative enterprise quickly.

14. Selling Digital Products

Selling digital products has never been easier, and it can inspire a superb business idea with positive cash flow. Whether you want to create books, audiobooks, or printables such as planners, checklists, and organizers, your imagination is the only limitation to selling digital products.

You can find a niche in a lucrative field, and you’ll need to create products that stand apart from your competition. You can even create a catalog of related items such as signs, banners, and stickers.

One of the best opportunities right now is to start an online business by creating and selling printables. Printables are popular in many niches, so you can probably build a business around your hobbies and interests.

If you’d like to make money with digital products, we highly recommend the E-Printables course from Gold City Ventures.

15. Dividend Investing

More and more people are considering investment platforms as a side hustle. You can use dividend investing and other investment opportunities to build a business. Investing platforms like Public, Webull, and Moomoo offer commission-free trades of stocks and ETFs.

These apps also provide educational resources to help you learn the basics and develop your investing skillset. Webull also offers paper trading, allowing you to practice different investing strategies without risking your money.

If you want to create a regular income, you can look for investments that pay dividends, building up your portfolio over time until it is a profitable enterprise.

Aside from the stock market, you could also invest in real estate. Fundrise is an incredibly popular platform that makes it simple to get started in real estate with as little as $10.

16. Car Wash

Most drivers enjoy having a clean car but lack the time or inclination to wash and detail their vehicle. While in the past, a car wash was a significant investment, these days, car owners tend to prefer handwashing techniques, so you don’t need to purchase or lease car washing machinery.

In fact, you can get started washing and detailing cars as a mobile business. You’ll simply need access to a vehicle and car cleaning supplies, as you can detail cars while the people are at home or work.

With a car wash business, you can set your own hours, but there will be times of the year when demand is higher. You can also set your own rates, but you’ll need to consider the cost of your cleaning supplies in your prices to ensure a healthy profit margin.

17. Laundromat

This small business idea may seem out of your financial reach initially, but it could be very profitable. You don’t necessarily need to purchase premises with a lot of machines.

Although you must invest money upfront for equipment, a laundromat can be a very low-overhead business. Many coin-operated laundromats operate with no employees on site. In fact, it’s one of the best low-maintenance businesses available.

This local business is also scalable. If you succeed with one location, you can add other locations and follow the same business model.

18. Food Truck

Street food continues to be a rapidly growing sector. Many people not only like to pop out of work for a tasty lunch but enjoy a variety of cuisines at festivals, street markets, and fairs. You’ll need to be interested in cooking great food and be prepared for some long shifts.

Your initial investment for a food truck business will include a van or trailer, kitchen equipment, and food preparation gear. You’ll also need to investigate what permits and certifications are needed in your local area.

If you’ve always dreamed of owning your own restaurant or cafe but don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars for start-up capital, a food truck could be a great option.

19. Pet Sitting and Dog Walking

If you’re good with animals, particularly dogs, you could establish a pet sitting and dog walking business.

You can start working with a platform like Rover, which can help you to find your feet. You can simply set up your profile and search for jobs in your local area, connecting with potential clients via the third-party platform.

You can tailor your services to your preferences, from walking dogs to staying with pets during the day or overnight if their owners are away. You’ll need to love animals, and you may need to pass a basic background check and opt for an insurance package.

However, once you have established a reputation, you can branch out on your own with social media advertising and some flyers in your local area.

20. Lawn Care

If you enjoy outdoor work, you can create a lawn care business. You don’t need lots of equipment initially, and you can set your own rates with flexible hours. As your business grows, you can invest in equipment that allows you to take bigger and more profitable jobs.

The key to a successful lawn care business is to provide solid, reliable service. You can get started canvassing your neighborhood with leaflets to find your first clients. You can also have social media accounts to promote your services locally.

You can also expand your services, offering seasonal-based landscaping services according to your client’s requirements.

21. Trash Cleanup

Trash cleanup may not be the most glamorous of businesses, but it can be very lucrative business with low overhead. Picking up trash around strip malls, retail stores, apartment complexes, and office buildings can not only keep your local area looking nice, but you can also turn a nice profit.

Brian Winch created Cleanlots, a manual that teaches you how to build your own trash cleanup business. Brian has been earning six figures with his own business for more than 40 years, and he refers to it as “America’s simplest business.”

You need very little equipment and no particular skills or experience to do the work. You’ll get to work outdoors, and there isn’t much competition in the industry compared to other businesses.

FAQ About the Best Cash Flow Businesses

Final Thoughts on Cash Flow Businesses

If you want to work for yourself, you don’t need to find massive amounts of money to establish your own business venture. As we’ve demonstrated with these cash flow business ideas, many options have low start-up costs, the potential to scale, and decent returns.

We’ve presented the best cash flow businesses on this list. You simply need to think about what interests you and where your existing experience and skills can be used. You can then potentially grow this idea into a successful and profitable business.