If starting your own online business is something you’re interested in doing but you’re unsure of how to get started, you’re not alone.
Rather than working for a company that pays less than you want to bring in at longer hours than you want to work, an online business allows you to be your own boss. It’s something you can do all by yourself if you want to.
In today’s post you’ll uncover 9 online businesses that don’t require a degree or extensive experience to launch.
These business models are great for virtually anyone, especially stay-at-home moms or dads, and retirees on a tight budget. That’s because they cost very little money to start and operate, and you can do them all from the comfort of home
1. Become an Affiliate Marketer
If you’re looking for a way to make money online without having to come up with any original content, affiliate marketing could be the way to go.
Although free social media platforms are a good place to get started, many affiliate marketers find it worthwhile to invest in their own domain name and hosting account in order to set up WordPress and publish their own affiliate blog.
In order to earn steady commissions, you should immediately begin publishing content on your blog or social media accounts where you are reviewing products, using your affiliate link. Potential buyers like to see the product being used, so make sure you do hands-on reviews whenever possible.
2. Become an Digital Information Product Creator
A lot of people use the Internet to buy books and videos that teach them specific skills. Many people would rather have an instant download than wait for the physical book to arrive in the mail. This goes for information on how to lose weight, make money online, train their pet, reduce stress and more topics.
Your knowledge can be put up for sale in the form of digital eBooks, videos and membership products. Most successful solopreneurs develop a small series of products that the put into sales funnels. As your product offerings grow you’ll be able to leverage your library of information products as upsells and member content.
Making money as an information product creator is made much easier by enlisting the help of affiliates to spread the word and boost sales. You just need a website to host your sales letter and an affiliate program to sign up new members to spread the word about each new product launch.
3. Start a Freelancing Business
People who offer their services on a freelance basis, are doing things from ghostwriting and graphic design to acting as a client’s virtual assistant. It’s easy to get started now by creating an account on Fiverr or Upwork.
All you’ll do is offer jobs you’re confident you can complete, do the work in a timely manner, and hand it off to the client. As you gain experience with this business model, you can charge more and more for your services.
If you lack skills to offer, you can fill the gap using AI tools such as ChatGPT for writing and Dall-E or Midjourney for image creation. Remember, the average person has no idea these tools exist, so you can leverage them to your advantge.
4. Offer Private Label Rights Content to Other Businesses
Unlike ghostwriting, in which you only sell your work to one client, private label rights (PLR) allow you to sell your work to as many clients as you like. This gives small businesses much needed content that they can then edit and change to their liking.
You can use a tool like WooCommerce to sell PLR on your own store, or you can sell it on existing platforms such as WarriorPlus or JVZoo. You can also sell though affiliates on these platforms and increase sales further.
Virtually every small business needs content and PLR content sells well in many niches including health and fitness, make money online, self-help, and more. Plus, you can branch out from written content to video and expand your offerings further.
5. Begin an Online Coaching Program
As you may or may not know, coaching does not require a formal education. There is a growing trend of people offering coaching services online. These services can range from life coaching to financial and physical empowerment.
The best way to get the word out about your coaching program is through your own website or by using the reach of popular social media sites. You can offer your coaching using tools such as email, pre-made videos, membership sites and even live sessions on Zoom.
6: Become a Self-Published Fiction Writer
People often assume that in order to publish fiction, one must first find an agent and a traditional publisher willing to take a chance on them. However, with the help of Amazon and other platforms, authors can now self-publish with relative ease and find an eager audience.
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing doesn’t cost anything up front (they just take a cut of your sales), but you’ll need to do some editing and design work to make your book marketable. Or if you want to focus only on the writing, you can outsource the rest of the work to Fiverr.
7. Use Your People Skills to Become an Influencer
Are you the type of person who likes to be on camera? If so, you may have a future as an influencer.
Today’s social media influencers can amass sizable audiences simply by sharing their opinions and interacting with viewers on free platforms. TikTok, Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, and YouTube are just a few of the platforms where creators can monetize their work through both platform-specific creator funds and donations from their fans.
With the right personality you can grow a large following over time and take advantage of multiple ways to monetize.
8. Get Into E-commerce via Dropshipping
Being a middleman for products is another spin on reselling that differs slightly from affiliate marketing. Dropshipping entails advertising third-party products, collecting payment at a markup, and then passing the money along to the product’s manufacturer, who will then ship the product to the customer.
To start a dropshipping business, you must first decide on your niche and the items you wish to sell. Your niche should be narrow and targeted in order to differentiate yourself from rivals and appeal to a certain demographic.
You can easily set up a store using WooCommerce or Shopify, then all you’ll need is a dropshipping supplier that can offer the products you want to sell.
Oberlo is a dropshipping app that works with Shopify and provides a range of goods from global vendors. Wholesale2B is another dropshipping portal with more than one million products from more than 100 dropshipping vendors.
9. Launch a Printables Selling Business
At places like Etsy you’ll find countless vendors designing and selling templates for a variety of printable goods, including wall art, calendars, trackers, planners, journal pages, and more. This business model is similar to PLR, except the content caters more to personal users.
If you want to sell digital or printable products on Etsy, you should familiarize yourself with the platform’s listing and product creation tools. More work equals more potential earnings, and your efforts may continue to pay off for years after they’ve been put into production.
In closing…
You have some options at your disposal now that you have some inspiration. Take some time assessing your possibilities and picking a model that meets your aims and available resources.
Keep in mind that as an online entrepreneur, you are not constrained by your choices because you can create multiple businesses at once. You can combine more than one of these business models and create a hybrid business!
