Online Businesses You Can Start Quickly And Earn Well!

Staying at home has caused many of us to explore the inner Creative Gurus in ourselves.  Personally, I find myself doing things I otherwise couldn’t imagine indulging such as baking a cake, trying out a FAD diet just for the fun of it, counting my steps (Not to brag, but I’m way past the 10K a day mark, *cue applause*), taking new courses on recycling, brush lettering and novel writing and my favourite: trying a new steak sauce recipe. Can you imagine the kind of proactiveness it takes to want to try out a new steak sauce recipe? (For the record, balsamic barbeque For. The. Win.) 

It’s not uncommon to look at your social media feed and feel discouraged about not doing enough. Change can be mighty frightening for some people and takes them a whole lot of courage to ride the wave of change. You might look at monetizing some of your various talents but shy away because “a million people already seem to be doing the same”. Layoffs and paycheck cuts can increase this pressure of wanting or worse: needing to make some quick money to make ends meet. 

Take a deep breath in before you read this article and remind yourself that you’re not alone in this.

While it may first seem overwhelming of setting up an online business out of the blue, especially when your career so far has been more non-virtual and hands-on and you seem to have very little knowledge on the subject, it’s important to note that rapidity is what sets these businesses apart. Most online businesses are almost worth the risk, simply because the investment that goes into building one is almost nothing as opposed to the massive amount of learning that comes with it. (even without a clear success at first attempt). Girls Buzz has taken this subject as one that’s close to our heart, and more so now, to guide you through some online businesses you can start TODAY from the comfort of your home and the mini-steps you can take for each of them that will lead you to success: gradually, but surely. 

11 Online Business Ideas that you can start quickly and earn well:  

1. Practice Affiliate Marketing

You’ve probably already heard of the term affiliate marketing before and associate it with a complex growth marketing tactic. But it’s a rather simple concept to grasp if you learn about it. Affiliate marketing is essentially the process of earning a commission by means of promoting someone else’s (or another company’s) product. For instance, if you own a website of your own, and promote products of another brand by providing links to their catalogue, and a sale is made through this link, then you’re entitled to earn a commission for the same. 

But how do you get started with affiliate marketing? 

1. Amazon: If you’re new to the world of affiliate marketing, you can be lost. A lot of affiliate marketers find success with amazon. Not only are there a million products to choose from, but amazon also kind of makes it simpler for a beginner with its Amazon Associates Program.
2. Informative Products: Promoting video series, ebooks, membership sites, new releases, etc can earn you over 50% or more in commission and even has lesser barriers to entry. These products are also easy to find and promote if you know where to find them. 

In fact, a lot of great marketers, including Neil Patel, have spoken of how to find a niche for affiliate marketing and earn profits quickly - so learning how to get started should be the least of your worries. Although, in addition to affiliate marketing, it might also be really helpful to know (at least the basics) of SEO and copywriting. Some great books on the subject are SEO for beginners 2020 and The art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine optimization.

You’re wondering if the last bit was affiliate marketing, aren’t you? 

2. Set Up An eCommerce Site

Before you start scrolling down assuming that “building a site” is only for the techies - hear me out. If you have an idea and possess basic knowledge of how an online store works, there aren’t a lot of barriers to overcome before setting up your very own e-commerce store. Sustainable products, local products, handcrafted goods, sanitization products - these are some markets that people are currently exploring vastly - and if you have the means to bring these products online, then the technology of it shouldn’t stop you from doing so. In fact, there are several websites ( such as Airtable and Bubble ) you can use today with possessing no knowledge of coding whatsoever. Shopify is built for e-commerce and you can use it to build your very own virtual shop with low investment, no coding skills and a free 30-day trial to experiment with too!

Things to remember before setting up an E-commerce site: 

• Study about the internet market experience. What are customers drawn to, what is it that they seem to interact well with, resonate with 
• Find a market that’s profitable. Do some keyword research and try and find an untargeted niche. There might be a hundred online stores selling furniture, but you could pick dressers (for example) as your niche and ace that space. 
• Do a profit analysis. If you're selling a product whose manufacturing & distribution costs are almost as much as your selling price, there’s no point dealing with such minimal margins and putting in all that effort for nothing.
• Assess if the product you aim to sell is part of a growing market. Something that's already reached its peak in the market is not very easy to scale and sustain (like VCRs for example). You need a product with solid growth potential. 

3. Start That Blog You’ve Always Wanted To! - And Monetize It

Starting a blog is not just a fantastic way to voice out your thoughts and opinions on different subjects, it can also earn you quite a bit of money if you’re consistent and adept with all the available tools you can utilize to grow your audience. It’s easier than ever to start a blog in 2020 and make it a potential source of income. But you’ve to be willing, patient and consistent to reap profits from your writing. You also need to generate valuable content that is engaging and educating to capture the interest of your audience. 

Eventually, you can aim at monetizing your blog by selling relevant digital products or ads, sponsored posts, ebooks, etc once you have a good number of readers who come on to your page. 

4. Become a Facebook Ad Expert 

Many companies struggle with running successful ad campaigns. Read that again. Facebook and Instagram give you a seamless journey as a user who’s trying to display ads for their brands - it almost feels like following these steps are enough. But there are few businesses who run successful ads and this is only after some serious studying of the Facebook ad metrics. If it were so easy to run ads that worked, do you think people would be selling their “How to create successful ads” courses for thousands of rupees? The answer is, of course, no. 

A lot of companies are in need of Facebook advertising experts and if this interests you, you can take the time to learn the ins and outs of Facebook, how to get the most return on an ad investment and reach out to businesses to assist them with your expertise on the subject. 

5. Become a Skype (or Zoom) Coach

If you truly consider yourself to be an expert on a subject matter - be it yoga, knitting, nutrition, meditation, business & strategy consultation - or anything else that people might be interested to learn too - you can start by building a client base and coaching these clients online either daily, weekly or monthly. 

There are coaches available for everything today - dating, health, life and even things like palmistry, astrology and tarot card reading. These are areas people seem to be getting interested in of late and could use some guidance from an expert. 

Furthermore, you can always aim to increase your client base by appearing credible - enlist yourself on curated websites, set up your own website and but up blog articles to educate people and market yourself well, get certified if you must - all this makes people feel like you know your stuff and sign-ups become a cakewalk once you appear credible. 

6. Dropshipping

Dropshipping essentially means creating an online store but to sell other people’s products. One of the main reasons people opt for dropshipping is because they don’t have to do any of the manufacturing or shipping and still get a commission on every sale made. The main benefit is that you’re not at risk of stocking up on a product and losing money if it doesn’t sell. The barrier to entry is low and so is the investment. It is, of course, easier for an already established e-commerce brand such as amazon (who also sells their own products) to practice dropshipping, and the competition is massive - but the key is to figure out a product niche that has an audience but not many competitors selling within this niche.  

There are apps like Shopify and Oberlo that also help connect you with suppliers to import products to your store.

Ways to make dropshipping a successful business: 

• Gather the same products from different suppliers, to create a store that serves variety within a specific niche.
• Offer a superior value proposition through quality content and top-notch customer service that creates value way beyond selling products
• Target an untapped region on the world map (but be sure to pay attention to shipping costs).
• Target different set of audiences with the same product (for example, target music festival stalls with led gear) 

The Truth About Dropshipping: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

7. Technical Writing

While Creative writing may require a whole other process and headspace, there’s something about technical writing that people seem to have a grasp on even without any prior experience. Do you see the instruction manuals on a new remote control car? Or safety compliances of the various products displayed online? - That's essentially the job of a technical writer. 

How to Become a Technical Writer: A Beginner’s Guide

Even writing resumes, cover letters and press releases are options you could explore, besides technical writing. People are always on the lookout for jobs - and they’re always looking to prettify their resumes and cover letters. If you think you could be good at this stuff - you can always give it a shot and find interesting work online. (Freelancer and Upwork are popular sites) 

8. Start a Print-on-Demand Service 

If you’re good at designing, or even have a fairly good hand with design software - this is something you can explore. Again, you would have to cater to a specific niche - like doctors or gamers or cat lovers, for example, and create customized digitals to get them printed on various merchandise including mugs, t-shirts, posters and stickers. A lot of people are making tangible products out of their beautiful yet quirky designs today and in the process - turning their Instagram accounts into virtual gift shops! 

What's more, is that if you have a printer at home, all you need to do is buy heat transfer sheets and you can start printing at home using just an iron box!  

9. Convert Your Service Into a Product

One of the obvious downsides to running a service-based business is that you only get paid strictly for your time and skills. It’s not flexible. If you “Productize” your service i.e, you create a physical/digital product that sells your expertise as a package, you can add additional revenue streams to your business as well. 

Examples of “productising” a service include: 

• Courses
• Downloadable reports
• Digital templates
• Merchandise
• eBooks

Most of these ideas involve digital media that has been packaged as a product, which means there’s no inventory to keep around. If you’re running your home business on Shopify, you can also sell digital products effortlessly using the Digital Downloads or SendOwl app.

10. SEO and PPC Consulting 

If building your website from scratch isn’t for you - you can always guide others’ websites to rank high on google search results. When a website ranks higher, it gets more and more relevant traffic and in turn, naturally makes more revenue.

This is a highly valued skill in the world of internet marketing - but not an easy one since google is always changing algorithms. You have to be committed to being on the leading edge, learning as well as testing new strategies. If you manage to master SEO, companies tend to pay quite a lot for it. 

Similar to SEO (but not quite), Pay per click advertising helps rank your ad at the top of google search as “sponsored”. It’s a type of internet marketing where advertisers pay a fee every time their ad gets clicked. Unlike SEO, PPC is buying visits to your site (which is a short-cut, but equally effective nonetheless) 

If you master these basic digital marketing techniques, you’d be of high value for any business trying to scale online. 

11. Start Your Own Clothing Line

Have you ever thought of owning your own clothing line but were not quite sure about how to take off with just designs on your hand? We’ve got good news. Oberlo, Printify, Printful, or similar product sourcing apps automatically link your Shopify store to apparel printers and manufacturers. They also take care of the retail fulfilment process giving a whole lot of freedom to design and ship a range of clothing pieces. 

So all you really need to kickstart your very own clothing line is the skill to design creative/trendy clothing and a Shopify store to sell the same. Amazing, isn’t it? 

It is indeed a satisfying process to create products that people will use every day. Plus, as soon as your Shopify store is built, you’ll be able to start selling your clothes almost instantly. Besides, the feeling of seeing one’s own designs come to life by transforming all the creativity into something real and profitable is truly unmatched.