Top 10 Online Business Ideas in 2022 – How to Make 10k a Month
We come across many people who aren’t entirely satisfied with their so-called 9-5 job.
Not only does working 9-5 shackle your freedom in terms of where you live but also how you live. You can’t just wear 90s baggies to the office because you feel like it.
Over the years and especially during the pandemic, many people have made the switch from regular 9-5s to working independently.
Most people made the switch because they were tired of commuting two hours each day and not having enough time to spend with the family. Others quit because they weren’t happy with the terms of their employment.
The good news is that there are potentially dozens of ways for anyone, regardless of who they are, to make money online. The only thing you need is to figure out what works for you and build the required skillset.
Today, billions of people are on the internet, doing everything from playing games to looking for ways to lose weight. Not to mention that there are businesses looking for virtual assistants, writers, designers, marketers, ad specialists, and the list goes on.
Ideally, you will want to find a way to make money that is the best mix of your skills, experience, and personality. If one online business idea does not cut it for you, there is nothing stopping you from starting multiple ventures.
The first major step for everyone is to get started.
How Online Businesses Can Change Your Life?
Now, we’re not going to give you that rags to riches story; those are a dime a dozen. In fact, you probably already read a few. The fact is that the majority of people who work online make a pretty decent income, but they may not all become billionaires.
Becoming a billionaire shouldn’t be why you start an online business. You should have a passion for what you do.
The important thing is to lay the foundation for what could be financial success or at least independence.
• Automation – Experts foresee many jobs disappearing in the coming years. Truck drivers, servers, valets, etc., are just a few of potentially millions of jobs that are coming to an end sooner in some cases than later.
• Freedom – Sure, money is important, but money should be a tool you use to gain freedom. We aren’t talking about just paying off your credit card bills but the freedom to choose where you live. Once you break free from the shackles of conventional employment, nothing is holding you down.
When choosing an online business, you will want to ensure that it ticks a few boxes, such as:
• It gives you the freedom to live where you want to and travel when you want.
• It offers you the opportunity to work when you want, which means spending more time with the family or perhaps engaging in what you love doing.
• Taking advantage of high-income opportunities allows you to support everyone depending on you.
Many people we have spoken to started an online business because they wanted to retire early. That’s why they would roll out SOPs that would automate most if not all of their business, essentially meaning that they make money in their sleep or with as little input as possible.
Automation stretches to beyond starting an e-commerce store. You can automate just about every business we discuss in this article to a certain degree.
How to Start An Online Business?
The beauty of starting an online business is that you can do it from your basement or a coffee shop. You then dedicate weekends and nights to growing it.
It is possible to launch on a bootstrapped budget; in some cases, all you need is a few hundred dollars. Furthermore, anyone can do it, something we’ve alluded to many times in this article.
Most online businesses don’t require any specialized training or a degree in computer science. You can teach yourself to do just about everything then use what you have learned to help your online business to start growing.
However, online businesses take time to take off, which is why it is important to know why you want to start a business so that you don’t lose sight of that fact.
How exactly you start the business will primarily depend on the type of business you choose. Below we’ll go into the best most profitable online business ideas. We’ll also talk about what you’ll need to get started with each one of them.
1. Selling Information Products
Yes! Just about everyone is selling an information product or a membership to enjoy their product. However, not all of these products are good.
It is one of the most profitable online businesses because everyone wants to learn something fast, and from the comfort of their homes.
If you are an expert or have the experience that people can benefit from, it can be turned into an information product.
Take, for instance, if you have worked in Human Resources (HR) all your life. You know quite a bit about a business’s hiring process works. So, your product can be about how people can make themselves more presentable for jobs.
However, the product you come up with should be something that people desire to learn or have. Everyone wants to land that large six or seven-figure executive job; if your product can help them do it, it will sell.
Your product will need to be turned into an online course which can then be scaled.
The fact is that the self-education industry is currently booming, with just about everyone with a good product raking in thousands of dollars.
Today, people are turning to the internet to learn how to garden, play a six-string guitar, fly a drone, or speed run through games.
Selling information products requires that you establish yourself as an authority in the niche. Then grow your audience, and with it, the trust in what you do will grow.
It isn’t uncommon for people to recommend products that help them to friends and family.
The key is to choose a topic or niche that people will always want to learn.
The good thing about creating products like these is that the barrier to entry isn’t all that high. You can create a YouTube channel, website, write books and get active on social media to establish yourself as an expert.
If you are just toying with the idea of an information product, test that idea on social media. Run ads and see how many people sign up. It should only cost you a few hundred dollars but will give you a very good idea of if your product has potential before you put in the time to create it.
2. Affiliate Marketing
We will concede that many people may not have a skill that there is great demand for learning. Also, creating a course is a lot of unpaid work initially.
You need to create the course and write a sales letter, build the website, run ads, send emails, and market the product on social media.
If you are new to the world of creating and selling courses, the amount of work can feel overwhelming.
But there is an alternative!
You can make a pretty penny promoting products by other brands or sellers on your website. In exchange, you receive a commission for each sale.
Affiliate marketers don’t have a product, but they can potentially make thousands of dollars a month selling another business’s product. The product they sell can be digital, or it can be a physical product.
How much money you make is nearly unlimited. We know many affiliate marketers that walk off with 7-figures a month.
You can then evolve affiliate marketing into eventually selling your own courses using the same techniques.
Like selling anything else on the internet, you need to start building an audience of people who trust you to give them advice. The easiest way is to start a blog. Post articles, reviews, and other related information.
Add an opt-in form so that people can signup for your mailing list, which allows you to promote products that solve their problems.
The commission structure you are offered will vary depending on the product, the brand, and where you are located. Some may offer up to 75% of the product’s price, while others, like Amazon, can offer you a 5% commission for every product you sell.
Here are a few affiliate marketing stats to motivate you:
• Affiliate marketing gets 15% of digital media advertising revenue, according to (99Firms.com).
• Figures from Rakuten Marketing show that 80% of brands are using affiliate marketing programs to sell products
• Affiliate marketers generate up to 30% of all sales
Some of the most popular niches for affiliate marketers, which you can further research, include:
• Health and fitness
• Weight loss
• Pets
• Making money
• Gadgets
• Personal finance
While affiliate marketing is an excellent way to make money, you also need to find products that are worth recommending.
You don’t want to end up recommending bad or low-quality products which tarnish your reputation. Often it will mean that you use the products before reviewing and recommending them to your audience.
The other drawback of recommending a low-quality product is that you are ruining your chances of getting repeat sales. To run a successful online business you need repeat sales.
Winning in the affiliate marketing game requires offering value, not perceived value but authentic value. That will also mean developing a relationship with your audience which then translates to solid passive income as your audience grows.
The other key to becoming a successful affiliate marketer is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. You will need to invest and money, learning SEO if you don’t already know it. However, you can always hire someone to do it, but it will cost you money.
3. The Online Coaching and Consulting Business
You may probably not be aware of this, but people are buying courses and paying for professional help online all the time.
Hiring a professional for advice or to coach is the easiest and fastest way to succeed. That’s why whether you want to lose weight, learn how to balance your books, or need tax advice; there is always a professional online you can hire.
As you probably already figured out, coaching and consulting online is big business. However, the majority is centered around relationship counseling, health, life, and fitness.
We know of many coaches that are making some good money in obscure niches like teaching people to play Fortnite and Virtual Racing School services.
There is a market for sports, like teaching people to do Parkour, Bowling, Golf, etc. Golf, in particular, is a very lucrative niche but highly competitive. So, you need to be really good at it to be successful.
Others you can try your hand at are B2B consulting for marketing and advertising to supply chain management.
You just need to be someone that people can trust. If you have a service or training course, then consulting or coaching may be the way to go.
If you are looking for a lucrative niche, here are a few boxes you will need to tick:
• Your consulting or online courses should provide tangible results
• Ensure that your knowledge gaps are filled
• Provide results that make people talk about you
• Continue learning and updating your skills
Another thing you can do is to turn your coaching into a regular monthly income is to set up a membership program or something like a monthly program. So, as long as you have people who subscribe to your course, the business will surely grow. Not to mention that you will make more money.
4. Membership Programs
Membership programs or a membership site, as we stated above, can be a great way to generate regular monthly income. We recommend setting up a membership program because it allows you to do just one body of work each month and then automatically sell potentially thousands of times.
As a small business you are probably just one person or maybe joined by a friend or family, which is why this business model works perfectly.
You can have a base membership program, which can be followed up with higher-level tiers like intermediate and advanced.
The idea is to start a program that helps people, and it should deliver value. The more value you deliver, the faster your program will grow.
When setting up a membership program, you should first start with a base website to collect subscribers and build credibility.
While you can also run advertising to increase your subscriber base, you want to have a list that is laser-focused. What that means is if you are providing math coaching to students, you wouldn’t want someone interested in Golf signing up.
Though golf players may be interested in learning math, they probably aren’t interested enough to spend money on the course.
Similarly, if you are selling a course that helps improve a person’s Golf game, your ideal audience is someone that earns over $200,000 a year. So, the campaign will need to be set up accordingly.
Keep in mind that with some niches, you can charge a higher membership fee than with others. However, as your credibility increases, so can the membership fee.
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5. Best Online Business Ideas For Digital Marketing Services
The objective of digital marketing services is to allow businesses to market their products or servives online. Usually, they (the businesses) reach a much larger and broader audience than they would have without an online presence. That means businesses can sell online, often more than what would have otherwise been possible.
The services will, if not at the very least, include digital marketing across Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, amongst others.
Many people reading this are already familiar with what digital marketing is about. But the common misconception is that it is about putting ads online.
In reality, ads are just one part of the digital marketing gig. Your goal as someone who sells digital marketing services is to build a brand presence online for the business and then grow it.
So, you start with a small online business as your client and grow that business for them online.
The service will include building a local or national (whichever may be the case) marketing strategy.
It isn’t uncommon for a service provider to offer one aspect of a digital marketing service that they specialize in, like graphic design, or SEO writing, or social media marketing.
Before we get into how you can offer each type of service, we’ll start by going over the most common types below.
6. Graphic Design
Out of all the ideas, you can start with, graphic design at least to us is the most fun.
If you can use photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to design, becoming a graphic designer is an excellent idea. The better your design skills, the more money you can make
Graphic designers will get hired by businesses to design business cards, logos, icons, concept art, etc. Some may start doing some initial work for free or cheap to get their foot in the door.
Once you have a few happy clients, you can raise prices and focus on building a network for a steady stream of work.
Related – Digital Marketing Business
7. Writing and Content Services
A big part of digital marketing is having great content, with written content still being “King.” That’s why if you are a wordsmith and know your way around drafting search engine optimized content, then there is the potential to make a lot of money.
All businesses need a skilled person who can handle their content production needs. If you have the SEO skills and write well with content management experience, then this type of work is right up your alley.
Not only can you offer SEO writing as a service, but you can also build your own authority site on the side. This will mean that you have both a long-term source of business/money and short-term gigs that come your way.
If you are on the fence and still need some convincing, then here a few stats:
• According to HubSpot, 53% of internet marketers use blog writing as their no.1 inbound marketing strategy.
• The majority of eCommerce traffic is driven by SEO and email marketing, according to Marketing Sherpa.
The important thing is that you can create content that keeps the reader coming back for more while being search optimized. It is often a tight balance that requires experience.
We know of a great platform that can give you an excellent start when it comes to marketing your service, but we’ll talk about that at the end of this section.
8. Social Media Management
All businesses that are serious about connecting with their audience and growing need to have a significant social media presence. That’s where hiring a seasoned social media consultant comes in.
Shares, likes, and social media engagement are important for just about every company. You are responsible for helping a business gain followers and helping convert those followers to buying customers.
A social media business consultant helps businesses build the type of presence they can be proud of over time.
As a social media manager or consultant, it will be up to you to craft a social media marketing campaign that grows the business on leading platforms. It will require a knowledge of the audience and what attracts them to the business.
You also need to have a plan in place which pulls in new views, likes, and subscribers. The question is: is this something you can do? Well, honestly, most people with a bit of effort and learning the ropes can do it.
Here is why social media is important for businesses and why there is a lot of potential for someone starting even today:
• Around 30% of the time is spent on social media
• Facebook sees over 8 billion videos posted each day
• 96% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 watch a couple of videos a week
• The majority of people will decide to do business with a company if they have a social media presence
• 75% of millennials are on social media every day
What do all these stats mean for businesses?
• 80% of traffic to businesses is coming in from consumers watching videos on social media websites.
• Users are watching over a hundred million hours of video on social media platforms like Facebook each day, according to data from Mediakix.
You have probably already figured out that social media marketing and management hold a great deal of potential. The better you are at handling a business’s social media needs, the more opportunities will come your way and the more money you can expect to make.
Every business online needs to have a social media presence, and that can be used to your advantage.
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9. Website Design and Development
So, here is an interesting question: can you design and develop a website? i.e. are you a web developer? If you can, then this is another excellent way to make money while working from home.
Just about every business that wants to do anything online needs a website. It is an essential tool in the box, and it’s like having a store or an office if you’re offering a service in the real world.
If you can build WordPress websites or set one up in Bootstrap, there is more than enough work for you out there. However, you can make more money if you have the expertise needed to build more complex websites.
Website developers with knowledge of building search-optimized, fast-loading eCommerce sites with built-in payment processing and other bells and whistles make a lot of money. That’s why at present, if you can only build a WordPress site, it is worth working on upgrading your skills as you start easing into working from home.
We also love the website design and development business model because you can use it as a segue to upsell other digital marketing services. For instance, you can sell an SEO service and then a social media service as an add-on after the site is built.
If your service can make running an online business easier, with app development and SEO, there is unlimited potential to grow.
You don’t have to be an SEO expert; just outsource it to someone you trust does a great job. The same goes for if you offer a social media service.
The important thing is to make sure that you maintain a good reputation with new customers. Not only does that translate to lots of repeat business, but referrals too.
10. Virtual Assistant Work
If you have none of the skills above but still want to start freelancing and working from home, become a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants are given a whole list of tasks, from sending emails to invoicing clients and calling clients.
If you have good communication skills, are organized, and have no problem working long hours, becoming a virtual assistant is for you.
Virtual assistants get paid by the hour, and most of the work you’ll initially find is on online marketplaces, like the one we’ll get into next. Suffice to say that the more experience you gain, the more work you can get, and that’s always a good thing.
To get started as a virtual assistant, make sure that you have a good internet connection, a laptop, a microphone, and headphones.
Our Suggestion – Start Freelancing On Legiit
Yes! We’ve spelled it correctly. Legiit is an online marketplace where you can find loads of jobs. If you are looking to get your first taste of freelancing or want to transition over to a more serious platform, then Legiit is the place to be.
We’ve not said that we are the best because we work here. Unlike other marketplaces, Legiit isn’t just growing exponentially but values freelancers and the work they do.
You start by creating your profile on Legiit and then create the service you want to offer.
The important thing is to make sure that that your profile clearly shows what you can do. Your service should have a well-designed thumbnail that clearly describes your service.
In addition, make sure that you describe your service in detail. Take the opportunity to outline how your service can help buyers on Legiit. If you’re not the best writer in the world, you can find someone on Legiit to draft your sales copy.
Finally, join the Legiit Facebook Group, a community of buyers and sellers who love to share, learn and teach.
Whether you are new to freelancing or want to grow your existing freelancing business, Legiit gives you that opportunity with no strings attached.
However, as a marketplace, Legiit requests that people don’t circumvent the system because it could potentially mean that they end up working with someone who burns them.
Bonus: Selling Arts and Crafts Online
Sure, you can always paint if you have the talent and experience. Paintings sell for a fair amount of money once you’ve managed to establish yourself as a seasoned painter in the genre of your choosing.
Most people may find that getting into crafts, knitting, crocheting, and jewelry making is more their thing. Handmade goods can fetch a pretty good price online if you know how to market and sell them.
Unfortunately, many people overlook this line of work because it lacks any glamour. Nevertheless, many people make money doing it because there is a massive market for it.
If you can make something that’s organic and environmentally friendly, that is an added bonus. Fortunately, in today’s world, people are willing to pay extra for something that’s organic and eco-friendly.
In particular, there is a market for items that have a personal story associated with them. For instance, you had a baby with very sensitive skin with which regular sunscreen didn’t work.
You then came up with a sunscreen that worked without the baby breaking out in a rash or some other skin trouble. The sunscreen is non-toxic and free from harsh chemicals, made only from all-natural ingredients.
Associating a real story with the product can be a powerful way to sell it.
Many people overlook the power of storytelling marketing. Having a story is one of the most effective ways to market your products.
So, where can you sell handmade or homemade items online? you can start your own business selling them online.
Alternatively, you can also start with selling these items at local outlets. Depending on your product, it can sell well at Farmer’s markets. If anything, it can help you pull in feedback from customers in real-time, which then helps improve your product.
Face-to-face interactions will mean that you can get people to try on your product and get their opinion. The intimate level of communication can teach you a lot about creating a product and marketing it when it comes time to go online.
Some of the most popular items are jewelry, soaps, creams, and shampoos. You can sell these items via online stores like Etsy or set up your own Shopify store.
Handmade scented candles do particularly well, and so do microgreens; the possibilities are limitless if you think about it.
The key to being successful here is to work on honing your passion. If you love doing the work, there is no reason why it will not grow.
You can start with purchasing some of the top-selling soap on Etsy. Then break it down to see what they are doing and do something similar. Some people even cut and repackage them better.
Look out for opportunities that may require that you think outside the box because that’s where the money is at.
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Bonus: Influencer Marketing – Podcasting
Many people assume that becoming an influencer will require appearing on TV or having a large network of friends to start liking their work. However, that’s not the case.
The term influencer marketing is deceiving in some ways because it only requires that you have influence over your audience. If you are a history podcaster, for instance, you have influence over people who enjoy learning about history aka history buffs.
The beauty of podcasting and becoming an influencer is that there are more people listening to podcasts today than ever before. The number of people listening also grows each year exponentially.
The difference between a podcast and, let’s say, a radio talk show is that the podcaster is more real, uses everyday language, and may probably not be censored in the same manner. It is also now a highly-respected profession as it continues to grow.
Many people acknowledge that listening to a podcast is deeper and more personal than watching the nightly news. It also be more interesting than just scrolling through social media posts or watching funny clips.
Podcasts deliver in-depth information. It isn’t just a discussion on a particular topic, but more of a subject’s background, history, and context.
Many podcasters are also YouTube influencers and tend to be pretty active on Instagram.
Not only is becoming a podcaster more awesome at the moment, but it is also a great way to get started as an influencer.
So, how does an influencer make money?
Well, for starters, pursue your passion. Start a podcast about what you love doing or talking about.
You can talk about card collecting, sports, games, energy drinks, photography, business, economy, fitness, etc. It can be about anything you love and practice.
All you need is to keep working on it. Continue to put out good content, and keep learning and going deeper into the subject. As time passes, you will eventually become an authority.
It can also be used as a way to successfully get into self-publishing.
Once you have a growing number of followers, you will run into more opportunities to monetize your podcast. One possibility is to run ads, but there are other options like endorsing products you have used.
Getting a brand deal can be a pretty good source of income. In addition, if you have the budget, you can make and market your own brand of products for people who follow you.
Your audience figures can also be further leveraged by starting an email list and then marketing your products to that list. The products can be e-Books, memberships, or anything else.
While there are many ways to monetize this, the first step is to start creating valuable content.
Your investment will be in a good microphone, a microphone stand, audio editing software, and time.
Bonus: The Drop Shipping Business
At the very end, we’ve left with Drop Shipping. The common perception amongst many people is that if you want to sell a product, you need to maintain inventory. That’s how it has always worked, but that’s not how dropshipping works.
It is one of the online business idea for someone who aspires to run an online store but without the hassle associated with one.
What does an online drop shipping business do? You ask!
The business model, at least on the face of it, is straightforward. You start by selling an item in your online store. A customer comes in to buy that item by placing an order. The supplier will ship the product to the customer, and all you do is handle the customer service end of the transaction.
The benefit of getting into the drop shipping business is that you don’t need a storage facility. So, you don’t have to deal with thousands of pieces of ‘X’ product.
You can also sell various products on your online store, collect payments, and ensure your customers have a great experience. Later slowly remove products that don’t do well.
Think about the fact that many large brands like Way Fair, Zappos, Amazon, and Sears all started with drop shipping. In fact, you probably still see ads by these businesses.
Even if the product isn’t in stock, you can still feature and sell it on your website. You don’t have to worry about shipping, which is a major hassle, according to many business owners.
People who are buying the product from you are buying it from a third-party seller who will then send your item to the customer. That’s what makes the dropshipping business so appealing.
Drop shopping gives you the opportunity to manage your own online store, show photos of your item for sale, provide a detailed description, and provide customer service. When a customer purchases all you need is to process payment.
The only thing you might want to do is to choose a seller wisely. Do your market research not just to find who your target audience is but the right products. You never want to end up selling products for a scammer who not only takes your customers for a ride but also gets you into trouble.
Unfortunately, many scammers may come across as being legitimate. That’s why it is so important that you are careful of who you do business with.
Make sure to read independent reviews, speak to the seller, and then sell their products in limited quantities initially just to be safe.
Start Your Online Business with Zero! Investment
We are aware of the fact that many people reading this article may probably not have the investment needed to get started with many of the ideas we talk about here.
Many people may also want a risk-free way of getting into the online business world to earn money. However, it is important to emphasize that there is always risk involved.
Even if you have a full-time job, you are working for a business that may want to downsize or pivot to another industry which means you lose that job and are not prepared for it.
At least with an online business, you are in the driving seat. You know if the business is going belly up, and that means you can then work on a contingency plan.
If you have no money to start with, the best place for you would be to freelance. There are many freelance marketplaces that allow you to signup and don’t cost a dime.
You can list your service and then market that service on Facebook and other social media platforms to start bringing in orders.
Online marketplaces like Legiit are one of the best places for beginners to start. It isn’t as cluttered as some other marketplaces, and you can start with no investment.
As a freelancer, you can offer a myriad of services from content writing to link building and graphic design or even read people’s palms for a living.
You also have the opportunity to learn, grow and scale your business, that’s unlike what any other marketplace offers.
Final Word – What to Make of all These Online Business Ideas?
Getting into the world of online business and work holds a great deal of potential for financial and physical freedom. The prospect of astronomical profits, more freedom, and fun is why we strongly advise that people at the very least set up a part-time second source of income online.
Sure, there will be some issues when you start. It is typical for most start-ups to tumble a little bit as time passes; your business will stabilize.
Once you have the right formula, you will watch your business grow. That’s why we tell people to choose a line of work or online business that gets them up in the morning.
Loving what you’re doing will help keep you motivated, and that’s something you need to improve continually. It will also mean that you have a more secure footing.
Work on updating your skills and staying up to date with technology and your audience to help expand what you’re currently doing.
Excellent customer service and keeping your ear to the ground will set you apart. However, the first step is to start. Don’t be crippled by the fear of failure because everyone fails, but people who succeed are often those who don’t let failure phase them.
If that person is you, we can almost guarantee success both online and offline if that’s the route you want to take. The important thing is to start your business!
