I don't think it's too far fetched to say it is now possible( or just about ) for people with access to sufficient resources, to consider sending their projects into space.
( I know I couldn't )
Firstly, some time ago I saw on the internet how a large home-made rocket, it was basically just a very large over-sized home-made rocket in northern-europe, somewhere, had managed to get a mobile-phone into space to record images etc. I don't know how close it got to the height of satellites, or achieving an orbit etc.
But now, different types of balloons, and even a radically-designed propeller-driven-glider-like-aircraft have achieved altitudes where you can see the curvature of the earth .
My idea, is that by using either one of the different types of balloons, or, even something like the radically-designed propeller-driven glider-like-aircraft that have achieved altitudes where you can see the curvature of the earth, you could use these methods to carry a Suitable-Rocket up to a very high altitude, and then launch it to reach the desired altitude.
Government-Space-Agencies have all kinds of different agendas, which make them unsuitable for carrying out smaller projects, some of which could have unknown potential.
An example project, and the most difficult one I can think of, would be to send very-small robotic-craft or vehicles, to the moon, to either see how man-made materials left there, have fared, or to explore new areas of the moon, and all kinds of different things.
Of course, I assume it would not be possible for a private-project like the one I am describing, to carry enough thruster-fuel into space, to get to the moon, but I don't know much about alternative space-thruster technology that has been proven to work.
Obviously, by using unmanned and tiny robotic-craft and vehicles, you should be able to very significantly reduce the amount weight that has to be carried up into space, etc, especially with today's incredibly small technology .