If you have an entrepreneurial itch – but you feel overwhelmed with which business idea to pursue – then looking at the potential options in front of you may be the missing puzzle piece you need to take your next step forward.
According to recent research by the Pew Research Center, low pay and lack of opportunities for career advancement were the leading reasons employees quit in 2021. Many professionals are looking for alternative career options; If you are one of them, you may have realized that to enable you the freedom and flexibility you need in your career, your best next step is to invest in starting a business for yourself.
Pro Tip
Some businesses require a lot of time or money to get off the ground. These 10 options enable quick testing and low startup costs.
Working towards financial independence can be a sustainable way. But which business idea is right for you? If you’re ready to take the next step in your entrepreneurial journey, here are 10 tried-and-true business ideas that will get your wheels turning.
#1: Create Online Courses
E-learning was a $250 billion industry in 2020 and is projected to become a $1 trillion industry by 2027. If you have a computer and something to say that can help people, online courses tend to have lower startup costs and higher profit margins. Nail on the head.
However, for an online course to be successful, you need an audience of people who want to buy it, and it can take years to build an audience. Online course marketplaces like Skillshare can be a great way to work around the “no audience yet” puzzle. According to Liana M. Douillet Guzman, Chief Marketing Officer, Skillshare, your online course doesn’t have to be as long as you might think to be engaging.
“The best way to succeed as a Skillshare instructor is to create engaging content that is digestible, project-based, and personal,” she says. “Most of our classes consist of an hour or more of pre-recorded video material divided into a series of short videos of 2-5 minutes. Instead of teaching a broad, broad skill set, the most successful classes focus on a specific concept or skill. are based on.”
“Once you create and upload your content, you can continue to make passive income without any extra work,” Guzman says. “We find that most teachers love the community on our platform and engage with students long after the class has been posted. As a teacher, you will receive information based on the number of minutes members view your class. But as the number of classes a teacher posts increases, members have the opportunity to view your content, encouraging teachers to continue building theirs. Build a presence on Skillshare and become a successful online creator.”
Guzman notes that the residual income generated from just one class or workshop may be sufficient.
“Our top teachers on the platform earn an average of $2,000 per month, with few of our teachers able to pay their rent with earnings from a single class.”
#2: Rent or lease existing properties
When Airbnb came on the scene in 2008, the idea of renting out a stranger’s house for the weekend seemed foreign and bizarre. Nearly 15 years later, the “sublet economy” is now everywhere, and a whole crop of “Airbnb for X” startups exist that help people turn existing assets into money-making opportunities. Among the recent “sublet economy” options:
- RVnGO, a platform for renting your RV (or booking for an upcoming road trip)
- Turo, the world’s largest car sharing marketplace
- Marketplace for spacers, garages and parking spaces
- Swimly, a subletting platform for renting one’s pool
Sitting on an under-utilized yacht or a private jet? call me. Kidding – but you can use Boatsetter or Jetly respectively to get some extra residual income flowing.
#3: White Label a Beauty or Health Product
Creating wellness or skincare products from scratch can be a huge and costly undertaking. If your next great idea falls into this category, have you heeded all the FDA regulations? Multi-year timeframes are not uncommon for new products in these industries.
White labeling a product can be a smart compromise if you are just starting out. JBK Wellness Labs, Inc. The 5000 Company, notes that White Labeling is a great supplement for salon or spa owners, hairdressers, and beauty influencers who want to apply their own branding to proven formulations.
“Choosing white label high quality formulas provides an opportunity to capture increased revenue in retailing with products that drive higher profit margins,” says Dr. Janelle Kim, Founder and Key Facilitator, JBK Wellness Labs. “Additionally, the products you sell to your customers cannot be repurchased on e-commerce sites, thereby increasing visits to your location.”
#4: Start Freelancing
Online job marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr have helped millions of freelancers to increase their income or even make a living by working remotely. LinkedIn also recently launched its services marketplace, another sign of a dramatic shift in employment opportunities.
can you write Are you good with social media, or video, or coding? Present your skills online where people want to get hired and you might be surprised at the results. Doesn’t work as well to keep an eye on detail and no specific area of expertise; Virtual assistant work is in high demand, and your customers will tell you exactly what they want you to do.
Freelance work is also a great compromise if you want to increase your income but aren’t ready or willing to quit your 9 to 5 job just yet. Contrary to popular belief, many successful entrepreneurs first test their idea as a favor and validate their value proposition before jumping in.
#5: Enter the Maker Economy
Several online platforms have recently set aside funds to donate to creators, including Facebook, Instagram and Snap. If you love creating content online and have something to say, the big tech platforms want to pay you to do it well.
Most platforms require a certain amount of traction before you can monetize. On YouTube, for example, partner program requirements state that channel owners must “be in good standing with YouTube, have 4,000 valid public hours and at least 1,000 subscribers in the past 12 months.” These constraints help to ensure that new accounts do not come in and try to sabotage the system from day one.
Adam Erhardt, a marketing strategist with more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, notes that the time it takes to hit these benchmarks varies from industry to industry and platform to platform. However, the content production piece is completely under your control.
“Where you have a choice on platforms like YouTube, how quickly you want to create and publish your videos,” he says. “For simple math, let’s say you need to publish 30 videos on your channel to get some subscriber hits and watch time benchmarks. You have control over how fast you want to reach that limit; It can take a year, six months or even 30 days if you want to go crazy with it.”
“Those first few dollars are incredibly inspiring and powerful because they provide proof that you’re doing something right.”
Erhart also notes that a common mistake new creators make is that they focus too much on creating content that people really want to see, rather than it being about themselves.
“If you’ve done your research into what types of videos other people in your niche are making, you’ll go through the filming process with a clear idea of what video you’re making and why,” he says. “Most producers skip this step, and that’s why their videos tank when they publish.”
#6: Host a Group Event
Want to work together with clients or a community of clients? Consider offering a live group event that has a different beginning and end.
Virtual group events have exploded since the start of the pandemic, with online book clubs, social clubs and fitness challenges quickly becoming viable business models. When marketing a group event, talk about more camaraderie (and often more cost-effective) in a group environment than working face-to-face with someone.
Pro Tip: If your online course idea isn’t fully baked in yet, try it out as a group program or live workshop series first. This helps you spot discrepancies and see what customers really want and need and how they implement the tools and ideas you offer. It also saves you from having to create and start an online course that no one wants (which I’ve done before – trust me, it’s not fun).
#7: Be an affiliate for your favorite brands
If designing your own service, program, or product sounds intimidating, consider backing away from someone else’s proven proposition instead. Affiliate marketing gets a bad rap due to multi-level marketing scams and pyramid schemes, but many products and software rely on referral links to build their customer base ethically.
When exploring an affiliate marketing approach, think about how you can differentiate your promotional efforts. In this situation everyone is selling the same product; Brainstorm ways to stand out from the crowd.
#8: Launch a paid newsletter or subscription
Some are opting to go the professional creator route and start their own paid subscriptions. If you can quickly create content that is valuable or exciting to others, then you need an internet connection to launch your own niche media company.
Platforms like Patreon and Substack follow a similar model, allowing content creators to sell directly to their fans and cut back on transactions. The business model in Silicon Valley is buzzing; Last year Information Published its Creator Economy Database, noting that US-based creator startups raised several billion dollars in funding in 2021.
#9: Provide Home Delivery Services
The last two years have left many of us having to stay at home and get the goods delivered to our doorsteps. Subsequently, a whole new world of home delivery services has opened up.
Do you see a need for some people in your community to bring goods or services into their home on a regular basis? If the answer is yes, then you may already have your next lucrative business idea.
The sky is the limit here. I live in a fifth floor apartment in Los Angeles; Our dog refuses to take the elevator or stairs, so we have a sod delivery service and leave fresh hay on our balcony every two weeks. Yes, it’s real – and it’s worth every penny. There is a saying in pricing psychology: “The premium you charge is the value you create.” Don’t be afraid to get creative here.
#10: Get into e-commerce
E-commerce has become a wildly popular industry, and tools like Shopify and Fulfillment By Amazon make it easier than ever to get your visionary product to market in weeks or months instead of years. In fact, e-commerce companies are in such demand that venture-funded aggregators like Thresio and Perch have come onto the scene with the sole intention of getting your product-based business. Creating a product yourself also gives you the opportunity to build a brand identity along the way.
A word of caution here: E-commerce relies heavily on ever-smooth global supply chains, and the past two years have been a logistics nightmare. If you choose this approach, educate yourself about the manufacturing and shipping requirements for which your company will be responsible.
It takes time to sync up with any physical product, but once you dial in your marketing and shipping efforts, the revenue and profit will begin to roll in. And when you think about it, the same is true for all the examples listed. Above. This year put yourself out there and try something new; You may find yourself in the CEO seat sooner than you think.
