Businesses with Low Overhead

A low-overhead business has minimal recurring monthly costs — typically under $5,000/month at the budget tier. These businesses avoid expensive commercial leases, large inventory commitments, and salaried staff. They tend to be service-based, home-based, or digital, where the owner's time and skills are the primary asset rather than physical infrastructure.

Not always in absolute terms, but they're often more profitable as a percentage of revenue. Low overhead means you keep more of every dollar earned, reach break-even faster, and face less financial risk. A consulting business with $1,000/month overhead and $10,000/month revenue is more profitable (90% margin) than a restaurant doing $50,000/month with $45,000 in costs (10% margin).

Yes, many of the most scalable businesses have low overhead. Digital businesses like e-commerce, app development, and consulting can grow revenue without proportionally growing costs. The key is choosing a model where additional revenue doesn't require equivalent additional space, staff, or equipment.

Startup cost is the one-time investment to launch. Overhead is the ongoing monthly expense to operate. A business can have high startup costs but low overhead (like a vending machine route — expensive equipment, cheap to run) or low startup costs but high overhead (like a restaurant run from a food hall — cheap to open, expensive monthly rent and staff).