Here are online businesses that are easy to start:
Local lead generation
Blogging
Niche site
Affiliate marketing
Dropshipping
Print-on-demand business
Amazon FBA business
Handmade products on Etsy
Subscription box business
Flip products on Facebook Marketplace
Starting an online business is much easier than starting a traditional business. There are many reasons why this is so, including less costs, more profit margins, and flexibility. However, not all online businesses are easy to start. In this article, we’ll dive deep into the 33 easiest and most profitable online business models out there. For example, local lead generation, which targets the more than 33 million small businesses in the U.S. Or blogging, which has earned people like Jon Morrow $100 thousand a month. We’ll also look at 4 reasons why online business is easier to start than traditional business.
To begin, here are the easiest online businesses to start:
1. Local Lead Generation Business
Local lead generation is simple. Its main goal is to connect local businesses with potential customers through websites. To start one, you’ll need to build a website with good local SEO. Once the site starts ranking on Google, you’ll get in touch with local businesses and ask them if they’d like to rent the site. Local businesses that don’t have websites and need leads will be willing to pay thousands of dollars to rent a high-ranking site.
The earning potential of a local lead generation business is exciting. That’s because there are 33,185,550 small businesses in the U.S. alone. Of this number 29% don’t have a website. That means over 9.5 million small businesses don’t have their own website. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want a website. In fact, the demand for them is high. According to Zippia, around 99% of people use the internet to find local businesses:
And with 8.5 billion daily searches on Google, small businesses are frantic to have their own sites. That’s why the income potential of a local lead generation business is incredibly high. For example, I make $52,000 a month from this business model. It’s the only business model I recommend for those who want a quick, low-risk, high-return online business.
Local lead generation is the easiest business to start. All you need is time and a $100-$500 investment to build your first website. The local SEO skills required aren’t as demanding as SEO for national sites. And once the site ranks and you start earning $500-$3,000 a month from it, you can scale and create your next site. There is no limit to how many sites you can build, meaning there is no limit to your income.
2. Blogging
Blogging is a business that’s multi-faceted. Starting a blog gives you the chance to earn revenue in so many different ways. That’s because helpful content that ranks highly on the SERPs opens windows for limitless opportunities. Once your blog has an audience, you can monetize it through ads, affiliate marketing, selling digital products, and so on.
As with local lead generation, the income potential of a successful blog is unlimited. For example, blogger Jon Morrow earns $100k+ a month from Smart Blogger. Melyssa Griffin, one of the first successful bloggers of all time, makes $200k+ a month. And while these are the top success stories, there’s no reason you can’t earn a decent income from a blog. In fact, the average blogger makes $64,846 a year. That’s $5,403 a month, almost 5x the national minimum wage in the U.S.
Starting a blog is relatively easy, as it doesn’t require you to earn a degree or be a guru in a certain subject. All you need are basic website-building, writing, and SEO skills. The most important thing is to know your audience’s pain. A beautifully-made site that speaks to no one won’t get any traction. On the other hand, helping real people with real problems will take you a long way towards a loyal readership. This in turn will make it easy to monetize your blog.
3. Niche Site
A niche site is one that caters to a certain topic. Usually, this topic will be specific instead of broad or generic. For instance, instead of “travel,” a niche site would focus on “travel in Indonesia.” A smaller niche site would focus on “travel in Bali.” Because niche sites narrow a topic down, they hit a small niche audience perfectly. For example, a tourist who wants to experience Bali wouldn't enjoy a broad site on general world travel. Instead, she'd love a niche site listing all Bali tourist destinations and activities.
The earning potential for niche sites is high. For example, Jenny Abouobaia says her niche sites hit the $1,000/month mark after only 12 months. And that’s only the beginning. According to Income School, a single niche site can make you up to $5,000 a month. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says that number is $10,000 a month. Of course, the number of niche sites you create depends on you. If you’re earning $5,000 or $10,000 a month from several sites, you could easily be making 6 figures a year.
Starting a niche site isn’t hard. All you need is basic WordPress, blogging, and SEO skills. With niche sites, industry expertise will greatly help you succeed. That’s because readers expect you to have in-depth rather than shallow knowledge of your topic. So if you’re good at something like hydroponic gardening or inline ice fishing, starting a niche site is a great way to make extra money from it.
4. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a huge industry that’s worth $17 billion. It’s a business model that’s highly profitable without being too complex. To understand it, think of third-party salespeople. These people sell a certain company’s goods for commission. Affiliate marketing is similar in that you’ll sell a companies’ products on your website. When your readers buy through your site, you’ll earn a commission for each sale. Here’s how Engaio Digital maps it out:
So far, affiliate marketers report high earnings from their sites. PayScale says they earn an average of $56,141 per year. And that’s just the average. Successful affiliate marketers like Pat Flynn earn millions of dollars from their sites.
To start an affiliate marketing site, you’ll need to build a website and generate traffic. Useful, high-quality content is essential, as it’ll bring readers in and make them love your site. Once you build a loyal following, the next step is to recommend products and services you trust. You’ll write listicles and reviews, helping your audience make good buying decisions. In return, once they buy from your site, you’ll get commissions from the sale.
5. Dropshipping
The dropshipping business is one that’s rising in popularity because it’s simple and low-risk. It involves third-party sellers who advertise a company’s goods in their store. When someone orders, all they do is send the order to the company. The company then ships this order to the buyer. Dropshippers simply act as middlemen, making it a fairly easy business model to get into.
The good news is that dropshipping is promising as well as simple. The number of online shoppers has reached 2.7 billion. This means you have a huge market of potential customers in front of you. In fact, there are lots of exciting dropshipping success stories out there. For example, take Cole Turner. Cole was only 18 when he heard about dropshipping. He built his own ecommerce store which rose to quick success. From March 2019 to May 2020, his store made a total of $2 million. That’s less than a year’s time to make millions of dollars!
Dropshipping is relatively also easy to get into. What you need most of all is a well-rounded understanding of your target market and the products they’ll likely consume. Because there are ecommerce platforms like Shopify, it’s easy for you to create an online store. You don’t need the time and know-how to set up your own ecommerce website to start selling.
6. Print-on-Demand Business
Print-on-demand is an easy online business that’s great if you’re an artist or creative. It allows you to monetize your creative work by printing it on sellable items like clothing, mugs, journals, stickers, bags, and so on. What makes it low-risk is that you’ll only print items once an order comes in. This eliminates the problem of having a large inventory that doesn’t get sold.
Surprisingly, print-on-demand isn’t just a fun hobby for extra cash. A number of people have actually made substantial earnings from the business model. That’s because the demand for personalized products is growing. More and more buyers want items that have a customized stamp on them. In fact, 36% of customers say they expect personalization to be by default. With so many people desiring customization, you’ll find thousands of customers for your store.
Fortunately, you don’t have to be the most tech-savvy entrepreneur to start a print-on-demand business. All you need is an eye for design and an idea of what your target market enjoys. From there, you can print your designs onto merchandise and create a store on Etsy or Shopify. This simple process makes it quick and low-risk for creatives wanting to go into print-on-demand.
7. Amazon FBA Business
Amazon has over 300 million users. It’s the biggest ecommerce platform in the U.S., dominating the scene with a 37.6% market share. (Statista)
Selling on Amazon is profitable. This is why the platform has 9.5 million sellers. Of this number 73% use the FBA business model. That’s because Amazon FBA is simple and low-risk. FBA stands for “Fulfillment by Amazon.” Sellers ship their products directly to Amazon’s warehouse, and Amazon in turn ships these products to buyers. What makes it even better is that Amazon deals with everything from packaging to complaints and returns.
There’s a huge number of exciting success stories of entrepreneurs who have succeeded with the Amazon FBA business model. For instance, Dan Rogers. In 2015, Dan started selling on Amazon using FBA. With excellent product listing skills, he was able to take products from $0 to $20,000 in sales. His mentor, Seth Kniep, has a similar inspiring story. He bounced back from a $24,000 debt and became the CEO of Just One Dime through selling on Amazon.
One easy way to start your Amazon FBA business is through retail arbitrage. This involves buying items at a discount and selling them on the platform. Because of the FBA model, you don’t have to worry about shipping these products individually. All you’ll do is ship them in bulk to Amazon, which will do the sorting, packing, shipping, and returns for you.
8. Handmade Products on Etsy
As a creative, finding a market for your handmade products can be hard. After your friends and relatives, it’s difficult to reach a wide audience without spending money on marketing. Luckily, there’s Etsy. Etsy is a global marketplace where people can buy and sell unique handcrafted products. All you need is to create an account, set up your store, and start selling.
Anyone can achieve success on Etsy. This is true even if you aren’t a savvy business person. For instance, here’s what a Redditor has to say on her Etsy success story:
Starting a business through Etsy is easy. You don’t have to build your own website to set up your store. All you need to do is sign up for a free account on the platform. You’ll only pay fees once you start listing and selling products. As long as you’re selling handcrafted, curated, vintage, or collected items, you’re good to go on the platform.
9. Subscription Box Business
The subscription box business model is all about creating collections. It involves filling boxes with diverse products and sending them to subscribers. These products are from different brands, but follow a general theme. An example is a beauty subscription box. Customers curate these boxes based on their needs. Inside, they might find an assortment of cleansers, lipstick, eyeshadow, nail polish, and hair care items. Of course, beauty isn’t the only category subscription boxes come in. There are others like coffee, tech, recipes, food, games, clothing, and more.
One successful subscription box story is Ipsy’s. The company was started by beauty vlogger Michelle Phan, who had a large following on YouTube because of her makeup tutorials. Michelle then joined forces with Marcelo Camberos. Together, they built the popular beauty subscription box company. The company is centered around a monthly “Glam Bag,” which allows customers to sample a wide variety of beauty products. Today, Ipsy is worth over a billion dollars.
Starting a subscription box business is super simple. You’ll begin by researching the market to see what types of subscription boxes are popular. You’ll then create the box with different products in that category or theme. You can sell your boxes on your own website or on ecommerce platforms like Shopify or Etsy.
10. Flip Products on Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is just like any other marketplace. People can buy discounted products elsewhere, and then sell them on the platform for profit. You don’t need a lot of experience to start a business on Marketplace. All you need is a Facebook account and a knack for buying and selling items people need or love.
Like many businesses on social media, a Facebook Marketplace flipping business is promising. That’s because there are 3.05 billion monthly users on the platform. And Facebook isn’t only a platform for posting photos and chatting with friends. It’s also a huge ecommerce platform. In fact, 1.2 billion shoppers buy things on Facebook Marketplace every single month. Almost half of that number, 491 million shoppers log in to Facebook solely for Marketplace. That’s 16% of the total number of Facebook users in the world.
As mentioned, starting a flipping business on Facebook Marketplace is fast and simple. Of course, there are startup costs as you will need to build an inventory before you start selling. However, if you do have the investment, this is a viable and profitable online business you can dive into.
11. Freelancing
Freelancing has grown exponentially in the last few years. In the U.S. alone, there are 76.4 million freelancers. And according to World Bank, 46.6% of the total global workforce is self-employed.
Freelancing is a business model that involves you working directly for clients. The company, the middleman, is eliminated. Work is usually done and paid per project or per hour instead of monthly. Altogether, freelancing allows people to enjoy higher pay and more flexible working hours.
As a freelancer, you can make a comfortable income while sitting at home working in your pajamas. According to Upwork, the average hourly pay of a freelancer is $20. The same study says that 60% of freelancers say they make more than they did with their regular jobs. And that’s only the average. Some freelance writers like Jason McBride make up to $500 an hour with freelancing.
Beginning a freelancing business doesn’t require large overhead. The easiest way to begin is to sign up for a freelance platform like Upwork. Once you have your first client, impress them with your work. They’ll be happy to leave a review, which you can add to your portfolio. From there, build your portfolio with more samples and reviews. Soon enough, you'll have the proof and confidence to market yourself to bigger clients.
12. Content Marketing Agency
That’s why businesses badly need content marketing agencies. They need to build a trustworthy online presence so potential customers choose them over their competitors. Because content marketing is all about building trust. It’s about creating authoritative content (mostly blogs) that set a business up as an expert in the industry.
Starting a content marketing agency is opening doors of opportunity for huge success. That’s because online businesses are hungry for experts to help them with their content. In fact, 82% of marketers are already investing in content marketing. Content marketing today is a $412 billion industry, and it’s set to grow even bigger in the following years.
What makes content marketing special is that it doesn’t make potential customers feel sold. It’s different from ads, in which people immediately know they’re being convinced to buy something. Content marketing is more organic. Readers come to a company’s blog from search and find it helpful. They then build trust with the site. When the time comes to buy, they’ll choose this company’s product instead of the next one. Content marketing is so effective because 70% of people say they’d rather get information from a blog than an ad.
Building a content marketing agency isn’t as easy as the previous business models. You’ll need to learn the skills needed to create quality content that ranks on the top pages of Google. You’ll also need to have website building skills and know how to hire the right people. But if you can get one started successfully, you’re no doubt on your way to one of the most profitable businesses of our day.
13. SEO Agency
Organic marketing is on the rise. With 53.3% of traffic coming from organic search, it’s clear to see that many people don’t like ads. In fact, 33.6% of internet users in the U.S. use ad blockers. That’s why ranking on the SERPs is so important. And because most businesses don’t know how to rank their sites, they look to SEO agencies to do it for them.
SEO agency owners and freelancers have the potential to make a lot of money. For example, there’s the story of Nick Leroy. Nick lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to go freelance. He was an expert at SEO and he simply reached out to people he knew and asked if they needed help with work. In the first month after leaving his job, he made $10,559. In the month after that, he made $13,945. By December, he made a $48,396-month.
You only need one thing to start as an SEO freelancer: SEO know-how. From there, you can reach out to businesses and offer to rank them on Google. By the time you’ve collected too many clients to handle, you can hire other SEO experts and start an agency.
14. Social Media Marketing Agency
There are over 5.04 billion social media accounts globally. That’s more than half of the population of the world. With so many people on social media platforms, they’re a great place for businesses to attract new potential customers. And since companies are usually busy with bigger tasks, they hire agencies to do the social media management for them.
The work of a social media manager includes optimizing social accounts, creating content, and engaging with users. You can either go into it as a freelancer or start a small agency. Rates for social media management are attractive. In fact, New York based social media agencies charge anywhere from $60-$190 an hour.
Starting a social media agency takes work, but you can always begin small. Many agency owners have started as freelancers and then scaled when they had enough clients. The key is to offer quality strategy and results. In time, you’ll get referrals, more clients, and the chance to grow into a bigger agency.
15. PPC Agency
A PPC agency is a business model that helps clients with their ads. These days, creating ads that are accepted by Google is complex. There are different types of formats for text and video ads, and each one is designed to generate a certain kind of lead. Gone are the days of DIY ads, when all that needed to be done was create simple text and post it. Today, ads need to be carefully planned so they generate instead of waste revenue.
If you have expertise with PPC ads, starting a PPC agency is a good idea. Certainly, it has a lot of potential. In fact, the average PPC agency charges $9,000-$10,000 a month from a single client. The bigger your agency grows, the more clients you can accommodate and the more earnings you’ll make.
Starting a PPC agency requires careful planning, but it’s not as hard as starting a brick-and-mortar agency. You will still have to register the business, but you’ll no longer have to worry about renting a location and paying utility bills. You can run your whole agency online, with the help of your website and collaboration tools like Monday.com.
16. Web Design Agency
With 1.15 billion websites online today, businesses need exceptional web design to stand out. Surprisingly, tiny tweaks done to a site can spark massive improvements on reach and impact. As a web design agency, it’ll be your job to overhaul, change, or tweak sites so they attract more leads, customers, and revenue.
Great web design has the potential to turn a business around. Let’s take the case of Swiss Gear, for instance. Swiss Gear decided to hire The Good to do an audit on their website. The results were amazing. Time on site increased by 84%. YoY revenue grew by 132%. In today’s world, website design can spell the difference between success and failure. So as a web design agency, your services will be in-demand.
According to a web design survey by Good Firms, people leave websites for many reasons. Here are the most common ones:
As a web design agency, it’ll be your job to tweak and fix these issues so a site performs efficiently and successfully.
Like other agencies, starting a web design agency isn’t overly complicated. You can always begin small, as a freelancer. Once you’ve gathered testimonials and references, you can add to your client list and start hiring web design experts to join your team. Quality always precedes quantity in this industry, so make sure to deliver proven results before scaling.
17. YouTube Channel
To date, there are 2.9 billion people on YouTube. Of that number 368 million use the platform daily. This means that as a content creator on YouTube, you have many potential viewers. The business model of YouTube creators involves creating and monetizing content. This can be done through affiliates, paid sponsorships, paid channel subscriptions, and more. YouTube also offers a partnership program that allows creators to make money from ads.
Over the years, there have been a large number of success stories from YouTubers. For instance, there’s Mark Rober. Mark was an engineer with NASA before he transitioned to becoming a full-time YouTuber. As a creator, he didn’t stray far from his passion. He made science-themed videos that resonated with a large viewership. His creativity and talent to captivate an audience earned him his 32.9 million followers.
You don’t have to be a NASA engineer to start your own YouTube channel. All you need is an in-depth knowledge of the kind of content your potential audience would like to consume. With all the tools available for digital creators today, a YouTube channel is one of the easiest online businesses to run.
18. TikTok Influencer
TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform to date. Since its launch in 2016, it has accumulated 1 billion users. It has been downloaded 4.1 billion times. EMarketer data shows that the social platform is set to surpass Facebook usage by 2025. With TikTok being as big as it is and still growing, it’s one of the best platforms to set yourself for influencer marketing.
As a TikTok influencer, you can gain quick success as long as you know what kind of content your potential audience enjoys. One example of a fast rise to success on TikTok is Khabane Lame. Originally from Senegal, 20-year-old Khabane was working in a factory in Italy when the 2020 pandemic hit. He lost his job, and not soon afterwards started creating TikTok videos. Viewers loved his humorous TikTok reactions and his unique style. Soon enough, he had garnered millions of followers. Today, he is the most-followed TikToker, with over 161 million fans.
Becoming a TikTok influencer is one of the easy businesses to start. You don’t have to set up a company and register it with your local government. All you have to do is some in-depth audience and competitor research. Find out what people love to watch and what other creators are doing to engage them. Then, put a personalized spin to your own videos. In 2023, TikTok generated $14.3 billion. This number increased 52% year-on-year. If you make it as a TikTok influencer, there’s no limit to how much you can earn.
19. Instagram Influencer
As an Instagram influencer, there are a large number of ways you can earn money. You can do it through paid sponsorships, ads, and affiliate marketing. Of course, you can also sell your own products or offer coaching on your Instagram profile. As long as you get a large following, you can find ways to monetize your work.
Instagram is similar to other social media platforms in that it promises a wide audience to creators who have what it takes to stand out. There are currently 1.35 billion users on the platform, so you’ll never be short of potential viewers.
Not surprisingly, there are a great number of Instagram success stories. One of these is Anish Bhatt. At 29, Anish lost his fashion-industry job and retreated back to his London hometown. He was defeated, but decided not to give up. With his photography skills, he created an Instagram account featuring luxury watches. It was an online-only subscription, but it took off and he garnered 1.6 million followers. Not long afterwards, he was hired as a consultant by Rolex and other luxury watch brands. He now travels the world, posting photos from Dubai, Monaco, and other exotic destinations.
Starting a business as an Instagram influencer is relatively easy because you can get started with nothing but a free account. It’s a good idea to begin with a business account, which will allow you to monetize, set appointments and pricing, and so on. Unlike traditional businesses, it takes almost no investment to start up.
20. Podcast
Podcasts are becoming extremely popular these days, as they go well with the modern lifestyle. Almost anyone can pop in a pair of earbuds and listen to their favorite channel on the daily commute or while shopping at the local grocery. Because of this, the podcast industry is exploding. There are over 460 million podcast listeners worldwide. The average podcast listener spends 7 hours a week on their favorite channels. Plus, the podcast industry is set to grow even bigger in the coming years. According to Backlinko, here’s the growth experts predict:
Once your podcast garners a large following, there are unlimited ways to monetize it. You can sell products and services, get sponsorships, join affiliate programs, and more. You can promote your other pre-existing businesses. The potential is huge. A number of podcasters have made it big in the industry, earning millions of dollars in revenue from their content. For instance, there’s Joe Rogan, who runs a popular podcast where he gives his humorous opinions on sports, politics, pop culture, and more. Joe has 11 million followers and makes $20 million a year from his podcast.
To start a podcast, you will need to invest in some equipment. This includes a high-quality microphone and headset. You’ll also need a good recording device and editing software. The cost, however, is still much lower than starting a traditional business. And with the opportunity for making it big so high, it’s definitely worth the try.
21. Video Editing Agency
Video stats these days are impressive. 52% of people report that they watch instructional videos at least twice a week. 83% of people say they prefer videos to reading text. But editing videos to create engaging content takes a lot of work. As a video editing agency, it’ll be your job to do this work for your clients.
The hourly rate for video editing services can go up to $80. This depends on the type of videos you're doing and your client’s budget. In the past 3 years, 86% of businesses have been using video marketing. This means there are many potential clients out there who need the services of expert video editors.
A video editing agency is not hard to start, but you will need basic video editing skills to attract clients. As with the other business models, you can begin as a freelancer and then scale into a business once you have enough clients to support it.
22. Premium Voice Over Work
The demand for video content is certainly growing. With it comes the demand for premium voice over work. This is especially so for animated videos, which make up 33% of advertising. As a voice over specialist, you’ll find a wide array of clients who need your services. This is without counting the clients who need your work for audiobooks, explainer videos, and voice acting.
Since voice over work is becoming popular, going into this industry exposes you to many opportunities. For example, audiobooks will become a $19.4 billion industry by 2027. The voice assistant industry is set to reach $10 billion by 2026. By offering voice over services, you set yourself up to a wide range of different clients across industries.
Just like with video editing, you’ll need an initial investment to set up your voice over agency. Some items you’ll need to buy are a good microphone and editing software. Once the initial investment is done, however, you can scale and get as many clients as you can handle.
23. Script Writing Business
With YouTube and video marketing growing every year, the need for script writers is high. A script writer’s job is diverse, including creating scripts for new videos, writing subtitles, and even creating descriptive text for videos. At times, script writers are also responsible for turning other types of media into video scripts.
If you start a script writing business, you’ll find the demand for your services is high. 86% of businesses are using video for marketing, publishing an average of 18 videos per month. Since video script writing is so in demand, you can be paid $30 an hour or more for the job.
Starting a script writing business requires almost no investment. All you’ll need is a good computer and internet connection. If you're a creative with a feel for words and content, this is the type of online business you may enjoy.
24. Virtual Assistant
There are around 333.34 million companies worldwide. Many of them operate completely online, while some of them are brick-and-mortar with an online presence. To add to that, there are solopreneurs and freelancers who also run businesses in the online world. Because of this, there’s a high need for assistants to help with daily tasks like responding to emails, bookkeeping, and data entry. This is what virtual assistants are hired to do.
Depending on what skills you have, you can earn a lot as a virtual assistant. The job is diverse and depends on what your employer or client needs. You’ll be doing anything from bookkeeping to writing and sending marketing emails. Angelique Rewers, founder of BoldHaus, reports that virtual assistants with more specialized roles can earn up to $100 an hour.
Setting up a virtual assistant service isn’t as hard as you think. Chances are, you already have some of the skills you need to help clients run their companies. First, you’ll need to decide what services you’ll offer. Then, go and learn or enhance those skills. The final step is building a portfolio and approaching potential clients. Once you have a strong portfolio and many reviews, you’ll be able to go after larger clients.
25. Consulting Business
There’s an almost unlimited number of different kinds of industries that need a consultant. Every company or individual out there wants to improve and could use the help and expertise of a consultant. Here are a few examples of in-demand consulting services:
Marketing consulting
Strategy consulting
HR consulting
Compliance consulting
Legal consulting
Financial consulting
Social media consulting
Wellness consulting
SEO consulting
Sales consulting
Career consulting
If you have years of extensive experience on a particular subject, you can become a consultant. The goal is to help others get to the success you have by lending them your expertise.
As a consultant, you have great potential for success. A good example of consulting success is Amy Porterfield. Amy is a marketing consultant who helps businesses acquire and retain clients. She has a system for gaining leads and selling with ease, and teaches this happily in her marketing courses. She has earned over $100 million in revenue from her consulting business.
Starting a consulting business is not hard, as long as you have considerable experience in a certain field. You can consult businesses, professionals, and freelancers. You can even consult people who need advice on their personal life. Because there are so many people who want help and guidance, consulting is a service that’s rapidly growing.
26. Coaching Business
Coaching is similar to consulting. Both have the goal of helping a business or individual get better at something. But coaching is slightly different in that it focuses more on the personal aspect. Consulting is about gathering data and giving recommendations based on it. Meanwhile, coaching focuses more on nurture and growth. While consulting is more of a one-time thing, coaching is a long-term relationship. In some cases, coaches become close to their clients and work with them for months, even years.
An example of a successful coach is Tony Robbins. Tony offers coaching in many fields like business coaching, life coaching, and health coaching. His life’s mission is to help individuals and businesses succeed. And while working on his mission, he has also garnered considerable success for himself. Today, the Tony Robbins brand is worth $600 million.
If you have experience in a certain field and a passion for helping others, a coaching business may be something you enjoy. To set one up, you’ll need to identify your passion and expertise. Then, find your potential audience. To reach out to them, you’ll need to build a portfolio and powerful website. Slowly improve your client base and collect reviews, and your online coaching business will be on its way to success.
27. Online Courses
People love online courses. In fact, 70% of learners say they prefer online to traditional learning. By 2030, the online learning industry in America is expected to become a $687 billion industry. It’s poised to grow by 200% by 2025. With so many people looking for online courses, you have a huge opportunity to start a business with premium digital products.
The internet is full of stories of successful entrepreneurs who have made it in the online course industry. For instance, there’s Courtney Foster-Donahue. Courtney entered the online course industry with nothing but a tiny digital product called SEO in a Weekend. She sold it for $47 and was surprised to make $10,000 during the few days of its launch. Today, she owns a multimillion dollar brand making six figures per month.
Creating an online course is easier than most businesses because it doesn’t require you to be an expert with extensive experience in your field. All you need is knowledge on something that other people want to do. That can be as simple as making goat cheese or as complex as starting a digital marketing consulting business. The key is to identify your niche audience, know what they want, and find a way to reach them through effective marketing strategies.
28. Translation Business
The need for interpreters and translators is growing. In fact, between the years 2020 and 2030, that need is expected to grow by 24%. Within this decade, experts predict there will be more than 10,000 openings for translators. With a translation business, it will be your job to fill in these openings. You'll make it easier for businesses to communicate across language barriers.
As a translation business, you’ll find yourself exposed to a wide range of different clients. There are companies out there that desperately need translators. This is so especially in the following languages:
Mandarin Chinese
Spanish
Arabic
German
Russian
French
Japanese
Korean
Italian
If you’re bilingual, starting a translation service will be easy. You no longer need to spend excessive time learning, as you can get straight to work once you’ve found the clients who need your business’ services. To increase your reach, investing in a website and building and portfolio are a great step to begin with.
29. Transcription Business
Transcripts are in-demand in many fields. For example, businesses need transcripts to improve communication and operations. In the legal field, transcripts are required for preparing and documenting cases. In the medical field, transcripts help bolster medical data and records. As a transcription business, you will offer high-quality accurate transcripts to these entities.
There is no doubt that a transcription business can be one that’s lucrative and successful. That’s because the demand for transcription services is only growing. In fact, in 2024, the global transcription business is worth $3.01 billion. And it’s not slowing down. Experts predict that in the next 10 years, this market will grow to be worth $9.51 billion.
Starting a transcription business is not hard. One of the skills you’ll need is a quick ear and good listening comprehension skills. Expertise in the field you’ll be transcribing in is a plus. That’s because there are various medical, legal, and business jargon that might be difficult to understand. That said, setting up a transcription business is much easier than starting a traditional business.
30. Develop Mobile Apps
“There’s an app for everything.” This was a saying that was popular over a decade ago, when the first mobile apps became popular. Today, the app market is even bigger than it ever was. The average American picks up their phone every 5.5 minutes, a total of 262 times a day. Not surprisingly, 88% of the time they spend on their phones is on apps. This huge demand for apps is the reason why the app industry is worth $935 billion in 2024. As a mobile app developer, you’ll be plunging into a market with huge potential.
A great app development success story is Chad Mureta’s. Chad, a real estate agent, was returning home one day from a basketball game when he got into an accident. At the hospital, he noticed the doctors looking at their phones and came up with the idea of a fingerprint security app. He sketched his plans for the app and sent it to a developer. Just three months after the idea for the app was born, it brought in $12,000 in sales. Not long afterwards, the app was bringing in $120,000 per month. Chad started his own company, then another, then another. This shows the huge potential anyone in the app industry can achieve.
Luckily, you don’t have to be an app developer to start an app development business. Chad Mureta was a real estate agent with no background in technology. All he had was an idea for a popular app, and this led him to becoming a serial entrepreneur. According to him, business is 80% psychology and 20% skills. Plus, code software and AI make the development of apps much easier than it used to be.
31. Remote Customer Service
Businesses are flexible these days. With the world moving online, it’s not unusual for a company to hire remote customer services. That’s because they’re more cost-friendly and scalable. As an online business that offers these services, you’ll be in charge of the communications between your clients and their customers. You’ll answer questions through either call or chat, making sure these customers are satisfied.
There are currently millions of companies across the world. As a remote customer service business, your reach and potential are enormous. This is because you can serve companies in any country, as long as you speak their language.
Starting a remote customer service business is easier than most because you don’t need special skills or experience. All you need is to learn what the company you’re serving does and how to interact and satisfy their customers.
32. Remote Setter Business
A remote setter is someone who makes appointments between a business and potential customers by cold calling. The goal is to bring in as much business for a certain company as possible. Payment is done through a monthly retainer plus commissions. As a remote setter business, your job will be to locate leads, cold call them, and create appointments for the companies you serve.
The promise of a remote setter business depends on your skill in finding and converting leads. According to ZipRecruiter, the average remote setter makes around $50,000 a year. But since the work is mostly commission-based, there’s no real limit to how much you can earn.
It takes a bit of work to start a remote setter business. First, you’ll need to learn or polish your customer service skills. You’ll then create a resume and post it on platforms like ZipRecruiter or Facebook groups. Once you can find clients and get results for them, the rest will be easier. You can scale your business as big as you want it to be, hiring more setters once you have enough clients.
33. Amazon KDP
Amazon started out as a book selling platform, before it shifted and became one of the world’s largest ecommerce stores. However, this doesn’t mean it stopped selling books. In fact, Amazon sells more than 300 million printed books every single year. It sells 487 million books on Kindle.
It’s in charge of 50-80% of book distribution in the U.S. With so many people buying books on Amazon, it’s a great place to publish yours.
Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is a great way you can make money as an author. Because of this program, you no longer need to hire an agent and editor. Amazon allows you to self-publish books, journals, and other material by yourself straight on their platform. For printed books you get 40% royalties. For ebooks, you can earn as much as 70%.
One example of a successful self-published Amazon KDP author is Andy Weir. Andy wrote and self-published his book “The Martian,” which sold 5 million copies in the U.S. alone. The book was later adapted to a movie that grossed $630 million.
Starting an Amazon KDP business is relatively easy. If you’re an author and you’re having a hard time finding an agent and publisher, KDP allows you to publish your book for free. Even if you aren’t an author, there are ways to do business and earn money with KDP. You can hire writers to create a diverse array of books, from children’s fact books to coloring books. These sell well on the platform, and you could soon see yourself making substantial earnings each month.
4 Reasons Online Business Is Easier than Brick and Mortar
1. Lower Startup and Overhead Costs
Starting a brick-and-mortar business is expensive. You'll need to cover expenses like registration, licensing fees, and rental space. To safely cover all bills, you'll need around $50,000-$100,000. Furthermore, maintaining overhead costs will eat up your profit margin. On average, a traditional business only gets a profit margin of 0.5%.
Compared with traditional businesses, online businesses are much cheaper to start. There are a few models that only require you to invest $100-$500 for a simple website. Rental space, utility bills, and transportation costs are not expenses you need to worry about. Because of these savings, online businesses earn much higher profit margins. For example, retailers on Amazon make up to 25% in profit margins.
2. Global Reach and Targeted Marketing
Having a traditional business puts you in front of a local market, but having an online business puts you in front of a global one. Since there are more than 5 billion people online today, your reach is potentially unlimited. What’s more, with all the data out there you can easily access, targeting potential customers who are right for your business becomes easy. Instead of a handful of local people visiting your downtown store, you can have millions of highly-targeted buyers.
3. Automation Tools for Online Businesses
The numerous apps and tools available today make running an online business easy. For example, the tool Zapier. Zapier is an integration tool that works as a glue to streamline over 5,000 apps and services. It makes automation so much easier. All you need to do is set a “trigger,” or an event that happens in one app. Once a signal goes off, your automated processes follow.
For example, let’s say you write a blog. You want to post all your blogs on your social media account. Zapier helps you do this, sending WordPress posts straight to your social media scheduling app. This is only one of the thousands of integrations possible with the tool. And Zapier is only one of the many automation tools you can choose from. With this wide array of technology at your fingertips, running an online business has become convenient and easy.
4. Higher Flexibility and Work Mobility
With an online business, you’re not tied down to one location. No matter where you are, if you have a computer and internet connection, you can work on your business. The same is true with your employees. You can give employees flexibility, making them happier. In fact, 77% of employees say they are more productive working remotely. The flexibility and freedom are beneficial for both you and everyone who works with you.
How Can You Make Starting an Online Business Easier?
You can make starting an online business easier by:
- Taking online courses
- Leveraging tools
- Employing freelancer support
As an online business owner, you have a plethora of tools and support at your fingertips. No matter what kind of business model you plan to start, you can find a course teaching you how to do it. For instance, if you want to learn affiliate marketing, you can take a course like Matt Diggity’s Affiliate Lab. If you want to learn Amazon FBA, you can take a course like Kevin King’s Freedom Ticket.
Another thing you can do to make online business easier is to invest in the right tools. There are both free and paid tools that help you with SEO, scheduling, automation, and so on. Here are examples of the best tools at your disposal:
Hiring freelancers can make it easier to run your online business at the outset. Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr have thousands of experts who offer services like web design, writing, VA services, and tech. Hiring freelancers makes it easy for you to start small. You can pay an hourly or per-project rate instead of going all in and paying for monthly salaries, holiday pay, and benefits.
Of course, you don't have to hire anyone at the beginning. Starting an online business for free is possible. It'll require some learning curve for you, especially if you don't have skills related to website creation, writing, and SEO. But with a little time and hard work, you can set up your business with little or no money involved.
Conclusion: What Is the Easiest Online Business to Start?
Local lead generation is one of the easiest online businesses to start. There are many profitable online business ideas that require less monetary investment. Some of these are blogging, affiliate marketing, and online courses. However, these types of businesses require you to work hard without pay for up to months. For example, you may need to wait 2 years to start earning sustainable income from an affiliate marketing business. It takes time to build enough trust with an audience to recommend things they’ll buy.
It’s different with a local lead generation business as it offers quick results since ranking local sites can happen in as fast as a few weeks. Once a site is ranking, local businesses will gladly pay $500-$3,000 for the leads it generates. Because of this, it's so easy to scale up, leading to unlimited earning potential.
