Are you looking to get started with your first side hustle or small business but don’t know where to start? That’s alright! There are so many ways to start earning money on the side. Here are some popular and very lucrative business ideas for any beginner entrepreneur.
1. Print on Demand
If you are creative and want an outlet you can use to make some money, print on demand may be a great option for you. Print on demand allows you to create a unique design, upload it to a print on demand website and then place it on the products you want to sell. You then upload these products to your website, and when customers purchase the item the print on demand company will print your design onto the products and ship it off to the customer. Print on Demand is great for an inspiring entrepreneur because it is a low cost startup with great potential.
There are multiple ways you can start your print on demand business. You can start with a third party selling website such as RedBubble, Amazon, or Etsy. These are great because they don’t require any marketing, millions of people visit these websites each year looking to purchase something and these websites will recommend your products to customers. If you want to scale your designs and make a long term business out of Print on Demand you can create a Shopify store and market your own store with all your designs.
2. Writing Services
With everything going digital, writing has become very important in the marketplace. There are multiple avenues an entrepreneur can take when it comes to writing. You can start out doing freelance writing by finding clients who need writing services. This can include either content writing or copywriting content. You can start out on freelance platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr that allow you to create a profile or projects to write content for other people who hire you.
You can also try and create your own content writing business through your own website. This route is a bit more difficult, but it is scalable. As you grow you can hire writers and market your business online to grow your website’s traffic to gain more customers.
Blogging is another great opportunity to use your writing skills to create a business. Blogs can make a lot of money once you get enough page views to monetize your audience. You can make money through affiliate marketing and display ads. There are many bloggers out there making six figure incomes. Just be sure to start off on the right foot with your topic and website builder platform.
3. Social Media
There are multiple routes you can take if you’re social media savvy. You can start off by becoming a freelance social media manager for some businesses. Or sell social media templates online for businesses to use.
If you know how to grow Instagram followers, you can make money multiple ways. Many times, other people will reach out and ask if you can make a post about their business for a price. You can also do affiliate marketing on Instagram by promoting products or other brands. Growing some followers on Instagram may inspire you to create your own products and then promote them to your already existing audience.
If you have a good eye for potential, you can also try flipping Instagram pages. If you see an Instagram page with a healthy amount of content and followers but maybe it’s missing some elements that would grow it exponentially, you can purchase the page, grow the followers and then sell it for a profit. Some Instagram pages go for tens of thousands of dollars, so there is money to be made in the space.
4. Online Courses
Everyone is turning to the internet to learn how to do something. If you have any kind of skill or special knowledge in a niche area there is a way to monetize that knowledge. Online courses are a great avenue, once you get them set up, they are almost completely passive going forward.
There are many ways you can monetize your online courses. You can start out on a platform such as Skillshare, which acts like the Netflix of online courses. You upload your course to the platform and get paid based on how many minutes your course gets watched. If you have an online audience already, you can link them to your course on skillshare or better yet, sell it directly to them.
YouTube is also an amazing way to make some money off of your special knowledge. You can monetize your YouTube channel through AdSense. The great thing about how-to videos is that they don’t require you to be the best videographer or editor because people are normally just coming to you for the information and not the quality of the video production.
5. Flipping Items
There are many online marketplaces that you can use to purchase items and then turn around and sell them for profit. If you have a good eye for undervalued items, then you may want to consider flipping them for a profit. Some entrepreneurs make good money by flipping things such as bikes or furniture that you can make some small inexpensive improvements to, and then sell for a healthy profit.
6. Videographer
With content being one of the most important products businesses are looking to produce, videographers are in high demand. There are many different avenues you can take with being a videographer. You can choose to shoot YouTube videos or ads for local businesses. Businesses also have a lot of internal videos that they use for training their employees or showing to clients who walk in.
There are also other videographer opportunities out there. You can consider doing wedding videography, this is great for a part time side hustle because they tend to always be on weekends. You can also look out for someone doing small movie or tv production in your town, small productions tend to have a small budget so they may hire someone with less experience. You may also find some local people wanting to start a YouTube channel or creating an online course and need help getting started. If you need help with the formation process, check out companies such as ZenBusiness.
