Jul 06, 2018 27 'Easy to Start' Online Business Ideas 1. Start a Blog and Monetize it. Get Started With Affiliate Marketing. Set Up an E-commerce Site. Self-Publish a Book on Amazon. Create a Digital Product or Course. Become a YouTuber. Start App Development. Learn Facebook. Websites teaching full courses. A potential business idea would be to create a niche website teaching full courses so that visitors can get all the information they need in detail without the need to go elsewhere. You could monetize the site by offering a subscription fee or through affiliate marketing on the site.
What a good idea looks like
Now you know how to spot a bad business idea — but what does a GOOD idea look like?
I’ve taught over 30,000 students how to start successful online businesses through proven SYSTEMS. And below is the start of the system we use to find those six-figure business ideas.
What you’re about to read:
- Is a tested and proven system to generate a successful business
- Has helped thousands of my students find their perfect business idea
- Allows you to test your idea to see if people are actually willing to PAY for it — before you invest any of your money
It is designed to lead you right to a well of fantastic business ideas that people will pay you for TODAY.
Contents
Part 1
Online business rule #1: It’s about your customer…not you.
Part 2
Online business rule #2: Passion isn’t everything.
Part 3
The 6 options for starting an online business.
Part 5
50 successful business ideas you can mimic.
Part 6
The 4 questions you need to answer to find your business idea.
Just want to jump to a list of business ideas?
Click here for our business idea explorer!
Click here for our business idea explorer!
What’s the best online business to start?
Well, there are actually 6 main options for online business ideas to pursue — and I have systematically tried them ALL. I can tell you with no uncertainty that there is only one online business that I think is the best. By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly what’s the best online business to start.
Before I tell you, though, there are two rules to online businesses that you need to remember if you want to find success:
Online business rule #1: It’s about your customer…not you.
When I asked my readers “What excites you most about starting an online business?” 2000+ of you responded — which was awesome…
…until I realized how ME-focused a lot of your responses were.
“I want ___.”
“I need ___.”
“I’ll have more time for ___.”
Rarely do I hear things like:
- “I’m really good at helping my friends with their relationship problems. I don’t want to just help people 1-on-1… I want to help THOUSANDS of people.”
- “I love helping people get in shape. I want to help as many people get fit as possible.”
- “My friends are always coming to me for cooking advice — and I LOVE it. I want to share my delicious recipes with as many people as possible!”
Look, I get it — we all want to go into online businesses because it will give us flexibility, time to spend with family, more money, and a bunch of other great reasons…
…but those shouldn’t be the ONLY reasons. That can’t be where you start but it can be where you END.
If you really want all those things, you need learn to dig deep into what your customers really want and put their needs first.
Only by factoring your customers into your system can you turn your dream or passion into a real business that’ll make you money.
Which brings me to…
Online business rule #2: Passion isn’t everything.
This is a brutal and hard truth to swallow — but it’ll make you a better entrepreneur once you do.
Others will sell you dreams of a 100% automated “turnkey” business based on your passion that’ll make you millions while you nap on a beach in Hawaii.
That’s a lie.
Don’t get me wrong: your passion is important. You should create a business around something that interests you — but it won’t help you decide what idea to pursue, how much to charge, and how to SELL without coming off like a sleazeball.
The determining factor between successful online businesses and the ones doomed to fail are BUSINESS SYSTEMS.
So, which online business system will be the most profitable? How do you know if people will pay? How do you get traffic and buyers and repeat customers?
Today, I’m going to show you the different ways you can start your first successful online business — with my specific recommendation for the best.
The 6 best options for starting an online business
Here are the 6 options for online businesses you can start.
- Software (including apps)
- Physical products
- Advertising
- Affiliate marketing
- Coaching
- Online courses
Better yet — here’s an illustration that’ll show you where these businesses stand in terms of startup costs (low costs beats high cost) and profit margins (the higher the better).
A few takeaways:
- Using a simple framework lets you see instantly if a business model is attractive or unattractive (most people never do this).
- You don’t have to quit your job and raise millions in venture capital funding — which I’ve actually done and can safely say it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
- Online courses and coaching look like the best businesses to start. They’re both very attractive…so how do we decide?
Before we jump into that though, I want to explain each online business model — and how I’ve approached them in the past.
Software
Everyone wants to create the next Snapchat or Instagram — and it can be even more tempting if you’re a programmer.
I mean, we’re always hearing stories of sexy new Silicon Valley startups getting billions after their company goes public — why would you NOT start drooling?
The reality is that this simply isn’t a viable option for a lot of us, though.
For most, we can’t even code. And I think I’d rather go play in traffic than figure out the technical stuff that goes into it.
And even if you CAN code, chances are you don’t want to deal with the challenge of marketing, distributing, and constantly upgrading your app.
Software and apps require you to absolutely nail it right away. Otherwise, you spent all that time creating a product no one will buy.
Don’t believe me? The app store is a graveyard of apps no one ever downloads (check one developer’s story here about how he only made $36 in TWO months).
Later, I’ll describe some better options that allow you to adjust to the needs of your customers — options that’ll take less time and energy and help more people.
Physical products
You might think your idea to start selling steampunk cosplay outfits on Etsy is amazing — but the truth is, the profit margins are incredibly low.
For example, we have a notepad that our designers created internally for the IWT staff. We debated selling it to our readers — UNTIL we found out that we would have to price the notebook at around $50 just to break even.
And after we shipped it to people, our profit margins would have disappeared completely — all for a tiny notepad.
I know there’s some money to be made with physical products — but the profits are much better with online products.
Advertising
We’ve all seen (and been horribly annoyed by) this business model before — typically in the form of little advertisements a la Google Adsense on the sidebars of websites.
And they DO make money…kind of.
As you get traffic to your site, some people will click on the ads and when they do, you get a few cents — or maybe even a few dollars.
BUT they don’t really make that much money.
I tried this for IWT before — but quickly realized that I needed a HUGE amount of visitors (somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 million) per month in order to make good income on ads.
That’s a lot of traffic and a good way to fall prey to churning out pointless clickbait. No thanks.
Affiliate marketing
I used to dabble a lot in affiliate marketing back in the early days of IWT. The way it works is a blogger will write a review of something like “My favorite credit cards” and at the bottom they’ll say, “You can sign up for the card here — NOTE: this is an affiliate link.”
So if you click that link and sign up, the credit card company pays the blogger an affiliate commission ranging somewhere from $50 to $75.
There are affiliate programs for anything too — books, weight loss products, what have you.
And it’s great — at first.
When I used affiliates, I only promoted products that I used myself and knew that my readers would value and enjoy.
As soon as I put in an affiliate link on my site, I became ING Direct’s number one affiliate in the world — overnight.
I was making more than $10,000 a month just by putting a link on my site!
However, I soon learned that it wasn’t a great long-term plan. My click-through rates tailed off and I ended up having to spend all this time dealing with advertisers.
At the end, it just wasn’t worth the time so I stopped.
Coaching vs Online Courses: Which is the best for you?
Spoiler: Both business models are great — but the best one becomes clear once you weigh the benefits of each.
I love coaching. I actually believe it’s one of the best ways you can learn business skills. In fact, you’ll pick up skills you’d never learn with any MBA through coaching.
Some other benefits:
- It’s a fast way to get started with your online business
- You can charge premium prices for the work
- You’ll learn your clients’ deep fears, desires, and barriers — incredibly valuable nuggets of information you can use to grow your business
Coaching also has its limitations though — you can only take on a limited number of clients, constraints of travel as well as time to meet with clients, etc. — which is why I prefer online courses.
I’ve taught thousands of people how to start new businesses, become freelancers/consultants/coaches, scale their existing business, and adopt psychology mindsets on how to live a Rich Life through my courses.
This is my favorite business model by far. Online courses are low-risk, high-reward, and they scale incredibly well. All it takes is for you to sell an information product like a video or written course.
Some other benefits of online courses:
- You’ll be able to reach out to tens of thousands of people all over the WORLD
- You can create something ONCE and have it generate money for years to come
- You can scale your course LIMITLESSLY and watch your profits grow every time you do
It’s the cornerstone of IWT — we generate over 95% of our revenue through online courses.
This is revenue we generated just a few years ago — you can BET it’s much more now.
In the end, whichever one you choose will be good. BUT I would highly recommend doing both if you can.
Still not convinced? In this video I tackle getting over the mental hurdles we place on starting an online business around coaching or courses.
Which online courses could you create?
Now comes the fun part (as if you weren’t having fun already).
It’s also easy to get tripped up when coming up with a course idea.
“I don’t know, Ramit,” people say, “I’m not an expert in personal finance or salary negotiation. I don’t know anything that people would pay for!”
Oh really?
Just choose the skills you have from the list below, and I’ll show you a list of businesses that have turned those exact skills into a profitable online business.
Still not sure? At IWT we believe in SYSTEMS. And below is the start of the system we use to find six-figure businesses for thousands of students.
They’re designed to lead you right to a well of fantastic business ideas that people will pay you for TODAY.
Four questions to ask yourself:
Question #1: What do I already pay for?
It’s so obvious, it’s damn near brilliant. We already pay people to do a lot of different things and by asking this question, you open the floodgates to all the possible business ideas around you.
For example, you might pay someone to:
- Clean your home
- Train you at the gym
- Cook you dinner
- Train your pet (maybe to use the toilet?)
Whatever it is, take just a few seconds right now to jot down a list of things you ALREADY pay people to do.
Question #2: What skills do you have?
Now, what do you know — and know well? These are the skills you have that you’re great at — and people want to pay you to teach them.
Some examples include:
- Fluency in a foreign language
- Knowledge of a computer program like Excel or Photoshop
- Cooking ability
Write down a list of 10 of these skills. I don’t want you to hold back. Write down ANYTHING that comes to your mind and you’ll start seeing what people might want to pay you for.
Question #3: What do my friends say I’m great at?
I love this question.
Not only can it be a nice little ego boost — but it can also be incredibly revealing.
Are your friends always telling you that you cook the best meals? Maybe they’ve been asking you more for fitness advice and gym routines? Have they ever complimented you on how great your apartment looks or how well you dress?
All of those things can be turned into successful businesses.
Go ask your friends today what they think you’re great at. I assure you that they’ll give you a big list of things right away.
Add these things to your big list. Aim for around 3 – 5 new items.
Question #4: What do I do on a Saturday morning?
This question actually comes courtesy of my friend, Ben Casnocha.
He said, “When you’re trying to find a business idea, think about what you do on a Saturday morning before everyone else is awake.”
How do you spend that morning? Are you browsing fashion websites or fitness subreddits?
Which YouTube channels are you binge watching? Maybe there’s a project you’re devoting yourself to all day.
Alternatively, ask yourself: If you were stuck in a room with a person for 3 hours, what could you talk about with them the entire time?
This is a powerful method of discerning your passion if you’re unsure — things you’ll love to share with the world.
When you’re finished writing your 15-20 ideas down, you’re well on your way to finding a successful business idea. They don’t all have to be good — but try and get them all down so you have a good place to start.
Bonus: To find out more on finding the perfect online business idea, check out my Ultimate Guide to Starting an Online Business.
At this point, some of you already jumped 50 questions ahead:
- “But what if I’m not sure what I’m good at?”
- “An online course? But I don’t have a website/traffic.”
- “What kind of software should I use for…”
SLOW DOWN.
Part of trusting the system is focusing on ONE step at a time, not jumping ahead. I have a proprietary process to show you how to identify what you’re ALREADY great at… and what the market will pay for. You need to find a burning pain.
Am I going to teach you that right now? Not yet. You can join my course when I open it again — join the waitlist and I’ll let you know when it launches.
For now, I want you to know that YES — you have passions and experiences in you that people will pay for. Even if you’re not yet the world’s expert on them!
Let’s take a minute and celebrate. You already learned more in this post than in the last 3 months of reading blog after blog.
What I want you to do TODAY
I want to make it easy for you to learn the best online business to start — and how to grow it.
That’s why I’m revealing some of the real numbers and results from my business — along with case studies and other premium material — to my behind-the-scenes priority list for Zero to Launch.
Get ready to learn the exact beginning-to-end system I use to run a successful online business and make money online.
My 10-minute video on “How I went from a $4.95 eBook to a $12,000 Course.”
- The 4 crucial turning points that skyrocketed my online business success
- How pricing and positioning can be the ONLY difference between a colossal flop and a runaway success
- Mistakes that cost me millions of dollars — and how you can avoid them
- The exact steps that took me from a $4.95 eBook to a $12,000 course
Are you ready to go from no idea to a recurring revenue stream? Do you want to build an online business that PAYS YOU to live the life you’ve always wanted?
Enter your email below and I’ll send you this exclusive video.
These three industries could make you rich when you start your next business online.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If you're at all interested in starting your own online business, there's no time like the present. We live in a golden age of wealth. As much as the media tries to glorify the perils of our society, we actually live in a time that's ripe with opportunity and the potential for monumental business growth at a scale never before experienced. Thanks to the internet and smartphones, the amount of commerce being conducted online has experienced explosive growth.
If you're at all scarcity-minded, it's important to understand how much abundance exists today. Considering that virtually every brick-and-mortar store has made the transition to an online business, there's certainly no shortage of competition. But there's also plenty of so-called blue ocean. While most might make it out to seem like Amazon is the only company reaping the benefits of the ecommerce boom here, the growth is widespread and across every single sector in business.
Related: 10 Ways to Ditch Your Job and Work for Yourself
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), it's been estimated that retail business will stay on par with a 3.7 percent to 4.2 percent growth rate. However, the NRF expects non-store sales to be anywhere from three to four times that rate of growth. However, even though brick-and-mortar sales still comprise the majority of consumer's spending, it's only expected to grow at roughly 2.8%. Clearly, what's driving much of our present ecommerce growth is the smartphone market.
However, this only further illuminates the exponential rise of online business today. Considering that the internet is still largely in its infancy, as the modern conveniences give way to near-instant delivery of products via drones, 3D printing and other means, and as virtual and augmented reality help to improve the online shopping experience, nearly all our commerce will eventually be conducted through online channels rather than offline channels.
The question then becomes, how can you take advantage of this massive surge of spending happening every second of every single day online? The truth? Whether you're looking to start a simple online business as a side hustle, or you're quite literally looking to get rich and make an exorbitant amount of money online, there are 7 businesses that simply can't be overlooked.
Related: 4 Online Marketing Trends With Big Potential to Drive Sales
How to start a business online
Starting an online business takes some legwork. There are legal and financial hoops that you'll need to jump through. It's important that you consult with an attorney or your accountant before taking the plunge. But, once you're ready, starting a business online, even with little money, is not only a possibility, it's a stark reality.
The beauty of the internet is that you can quite literally launch a business and make money online with very little to no capital. If you understand the mechanics of online marketing, or if you're great at social media, you'll clearly find it easier. But you don't need to be a pro to start your business online.
Like anything else in this world, you'll either need a lot of time or a lot of money. If you have both, then clearly, you're ahead of the game. But most people have more of the former rather than the latter. But considering that time is finite and we only have a certain amount of it, using your time wisely and managing your time properly is crucial to ensure your success.
Related: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Online Business
1. Chatbot business
The rise of the chatbot has been extraordinary to witness. Thanks to the ubiquity afforded to us by chat on platforms like Facebook, we've grown quite used to chatting with friends and family across all our social media networks. That's why AI-powered chatbots present a new digital frontier for businesses looking to automate and relinquish much of the man-power it takes to have a chat with its customers.
This is abundantly clear when it comes to customer service. However, it's potent value in commerce has become quite obvious as well, and businesses across all spectrums are now taking advantage of this. Platforms like Manychat, ChattyPeople and several others have sprung up to take much of the confusion and complexities out of building a chatbot.
There's a proverbial gold rush happening today, of people trying to launch chatbots for their businesses to help automate some of their sales and marketing efforts that are needed to properly grow and scale in today's market. However, similar to California's Gold Rush, those that will likely get rich are the ones that sell the picks and shovels. For that reason, why not launch your own chatbot business? Sure, there's some effort involved here, but this is definitely worth the steep learning curve.
Related: Top 10 Best Chatbot Platform Tools to Build Chatbots for Your Business
2. Box subscription business
The box subscription business has exploded. While it's nothing new, and it's been around for ages now, the overwhelming rise of the internet has breathed newfound life into this online business idea. What is a box subscription exactly? If you think back for a moment to one of the most viral box subscriptions businesses, you'll clearly recall the Dollar Shave Club.
Founded by Michael Dubin in 2011, the concept was ingenious in its use of a video that quickly went viral. The company was sold for a billion dollars, and when you look at it from a sales funnel perspective, what Dubin did was brilliant. Like other box subscription businesses, there's a basic level of items that you can order.
Related: 9 Tips for Starting a Business in a Crowded Digital Marketplace
When you place your order, you're directed into a sales funnel with numerous upsells in the form of add-ons. Dubin's understanding of the market forces and his ability to have fun and create a business that was properly poised for explosive growth have made him an icon.
However, you don't need to go viral to enjoy the growth in box subscription businesses. You'll even discover websites like CrateJoy, which was created primarily to help connect potential subscribers with box subscription businesses, giving you a platform where you can get the proverbial word out about your business.
Companies like Graze, Blue Apron, FabFitFun, LeTote and many others are on the rise. In 2016, it was estimated by Shorr Packaging that there were 21.3 million box subscription websites, up from just 700,000 in 2013, a roughly 3,000 percent increase. What's most interesting here are the consumer demographics. The typical visitor to a box subscription websites makes roughly $78,436 a year and is in their early forties.
Related: 10 Subscription Companies to Start Now
3. Ad management business
In today's hotly-competitive marketplace, if you don't understand how to drive paid traffic and optimize your conversions, you need to turn to a company that does. The truth is that paid ads can get incredibly complex. Things like re-targeting and custom audience definitions, along with understanding the ebb and flow of everything with a sales funnel, is complex and confusing to most.
However, if you do understand the mechanics of paid advertising, then you could easily launch an ad management business. Considering that ads are fueling the growth of tech giants like Facebook, Instagram, Google and YouTube, with loads of others coming into the mix, understanding and navigating the murky waters of paid advertising could poise you to reap massive riches.
Why? Let's take a look at the numbers for a moment. Consider this: according to a report by eMarketer, digital ad spending in the U.S. will exceed traditional ad spending for the first time this year. By 2023, digital will surpass two-thirds of total media spending. Total digital ad spending in the U.S. will grow 19% to $129.34 billion this year -- 54.2% of estimated total U.S. ad spending.
The sheer facts point to continued explosive growth of online ads. And we're still in the infancy of the internet. The earlier you capitalize on this industry, the quicker you can build it into a formidable online business. Study and learn all the intricacies of advertising on platforms like Facebook and Google. Find courses, or use the free material available from a multitude of platforms to become a seasoned pro.
Related: The Death of Traditional Advertising and the Rise of Originality
4. SEO business
Search engine optimization is a topic that I've been writing about for years now. The truth is that, while paid ads are growing at an astounding rate, the ability to appear organically and relevantly on search engines like Google is not only becoming more competitive, but also more lucrative.
When it comes to organic search keywords, there is sheer value at the top. Considering that roughly 40 percent of people click on the first search results and that the first page accounts for some 91 percent of the search share, appear organically at the top of Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is something that is lusted and longed for by the world's foremost online marketers.
As the internet grows and expands, not only is SEO going to get more competitive, but it's also going to grow more lucrative. You could quite easily capitalize on this industry if you know what you're doing. This doesn't just go for doing work for clients, but also for yourself. You could launch any number of online businesses, niche websites, and blogs with the right amount of SEO skills.
Related: 5 SEO Techniques You're Doing All Wrong
5. Vacation rental business
The vacation rental business is booming. While the mere mention of it might make you think about billion-dollar titans like AirBnB or HomeAway, there are niche businesses like Michael Joseph's InvitedHome and Joe Poulin's Luxury Retreats and many others being carved out across a variety of markets. When it comes to vacation rental homes and vacation rental management, companies are earning anywhere between 10 percent and 40 percent on the gross rental rate depending on the location and the management level.
Launching and building a vacation rental business might require some sweat equity along with the right turnkey software solution to help you keep things organized as bookings ramp up, but if you have an acute attention to detail, then this is by far one of the best businesses you can start online. Of course, this does operate in the real world, but your web presence and marketing skills are really what define this business and helps it to succeed.
If you're at all interested in the hospitality industry, and you live in a tourist destination, this is a terrific business that can make money fast. Companies like Lodgix, Lodgify and 365 Villas offer terrific turnkey solutions for quickly building and managing your very own vacation rental management business.
Related: 10 Hosting Options Besides Airbnb #TravelHosting
6. Webinar business
I know what you're thinking. How do you start a webinar business? Well, webinars are quite possibly one of the best ways that you can sell anything online. The best part? You don't even need your own product. Webinar guru, Jason Fladlien, co-founder of Rapid Crush, has grossed well north of $100 million in sales via webinars, which goes to show you the sheer power of this medium for selling.
Webinar offer an engaged audience that are ready and willing to purchase whatever it is that you're offering. As a fervent student of this medium, I've found explosive results await within a properly structured webinar. People like Liz Benny, Neil Patel and Russ Ruffino have been absolutely crushing it with webinars.
![Online Business Ideas Online Business Ideas](/uploads/1/2/5/1/125192988/246403906.jpg)
The best way you can launch a webinar business is to find a product you can promote and get behind. Then, build an excellent webinar. The Perfect Webinar is a formula originally developed by Fladlien but later brought to the mass market by Russell Brunson. Brunson also created a software with Jim Edwards called Funnell Scripts, which is an incredible piece of software that helps you to build your entire webinar including copy for ads and swipes.
Either way you approach it -- whether you have an existing business or just want to sell as an affiliate -- some of the best webinar platforms that you could use in the world are GoToWebinar and Andy Jenkins' WebinarJam.
Related: 6 Steps to Creating the Ultimate Webinar #NoBSPresentation
7. Business coaching
Business coaching is a lucrative online business that can tap into the massive market of entrepreneurs and business owners trying to find their way in the world of commerce. If you're an expert in business or have a deep understanding of the market forces of what drive purchases, then becoming a business coach could mean financial freedom.
People like Frank Kern and Anthony Robbins absolutely dominate the business coaching world, while several others are leading the charge as well. The best approach you can take in this industry is to offer an incredible amount of value upfront, and then have people pay you for execution.
Oliver Talamayan, another very successful business coach, uses this approach as his primary strategy for gaining clients and customers. First, you analyze the business and understand where it is today, then discover where they want to be down the road, and then figure out an approach to get them there.
![Business Business](https://invoice.ng/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/online-businesses.jpg)
The understanding and successful execution of an effective strategy is key here. You want to instill confidence in yourself, and to do that, you often need a good deal of social proof. For that reason, if you do want to launch a successful business coaching business, first, grab some customers and help them succeed. Then, get their powerful testimonials, and only then can you actually position yourself to charge high-ticket rates.
Brunson also talks about doing this before he started his Inner Circle. He helped Drew Canole successful launch Organifi into a global powerhouse by helping to consult, coach and deploy powerful strategies that helped Canole's company draw in tens of millions of dollars from one single funnel. After that, he was easily able to charge the big bucks.