This is the most detailed list of the top 100 online business ideas that can help you make money online, ranked based on true statistics, extensive study, and trusted expert opinion.

Unlike most “list of business ideas” scattered all over the internet, this report tells you what’s working right now and will continue to work in the future.

If you’re looking for small business ideas that are both recession-proof and still effective in the post-COVID era, this is it.

Each business idea in this report comes with the following pointers to help you see if the idea is right for you.

• Earning potential: for showing the average monthly income the business idea can potentially generate.
• Capital requirement: for showing whether a business idea requires “High” or “Low” investment in terms of the starting capital.
• Suitable for: for showing the most likely persons best fit for operating the business, including “Kids & Teens” “College Students” “Gen Zs” “Millennials” and “Stay-at-home Parents”

We’ve also included “Key Data To Note” for each business idea, which gives more in-depth information that’ll help you understand the opportunity better.

What are the Top Online Business Ideas?

So, which online business should you start? Here’s the answer!

Affiliate marketing is a kind of performance-based marketing in which you promote products or services of other companies and earn a commission whenever someone makes a purchase through your link. It could be one-off purchases or recurring subscriptions.

It’s a great way to generate passive income, as you don’t need to create your own products or services. And it’s also relatively low risk, as you’re not investing any money upfront.

There are a few things to keep in mind when starting an affiliate marketing business, such as choosing the right products and services to promote and building an audience that is interested in what you’re promoting.

Blogging is one of the most brilliant online business ideas. It’s a great way to earn passive income and can be a fun way to share your thoughts, experiences, and knowledge with the world.

A blog requires regular useful content and can be monetized with affiliate marketing, ads, consulting and coaching, services, paid digital products such as online courses, premium content and membership, and what have you.

One great thing about starting a blog is that it’s relatively easy and inexpensive to get started.

With a modest investment in a domain name, web hosting from providers like Cloudways or Kinsta, and a WordPress theme and page builder such as Divi, your blog can go live in less than an hour.

Once your blog gains momentum and reaches a certain point, it has the potential to generate passive income on autopilot for years to come.

An online course is just like an in-classroom course except that you teach online via text, visual, video, and audio assets. People would have to pay to access your live classes or pre-created lessons.

You can create dozens of courses, stick to one flagship course, or even find an online course with Master Resell Rights (MRR) to resell for 100% of the profit. Your course could be on any topic, as long as you’ve mastered that topic, can provide value, and there are people who are willing to pay to learn it. 

Online courses can be created, marketed, sold, and delivered through MOOCs like SkillShare or using course platforms such as Podia.

Online course is such a cool business idea because once you’ve put the initial efforts into creating the course, you can keep selling it automatically to more and more learners without having to do any more work. Talk of scalability.

YouTube has over 2. 2 billion logged-in users who visit the platform each month, and every day people watch over a billion hours of video and generate billions of views.  You can leverage the opportunity to earn money via AdSense, sponsored videos, YouTube affiliate marketing, and even selling your services/products via your channel.

You can go a step further by joining the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) which can open up your channel for new income streams including advertising revenue, channel memberships, merch shelf, super chat & super stickers, and YouTube premium revenue.

There are several reasons why clients hire consultants. Seeking advice on how to overcome challenges and improve business performance are at the top of the list.

There are several segmentations in the consulting industry, so you’ll need to decide what area you want to specialize in, including management consulting, financial advisory, marketing consulting, strategy consulting, IT consulting, and so on.

In fact, no matter what industry you’re in, there’s likely a need for consultants, as long provide value and solve problems for clients. So if you have the skills and expertise to offer, this could be a great business idea for you.

Coaching involves hand-holding other people or businesses through a journey to attain a specific goal. It involves working closely with them and provisioning careful support or guidance while they’re taking action to improve their life or business in some way.

The great thing about becoming an online coach is that you can pretty much coach people on anything, just as with consulting. This can be in the form of business coaching, relationship coaching, leadership coaching, financial coaching, wellness coaching, life coaching, career coaching, spiritual coaching, and more.

The possibilities are endless. The bottom line is that you’re an expert who knows so much about a certain field and you are getting paid to dispense that knowledge to others with the goal of transforming their situation.

And since everything is done online, it’s possible for coaches to connect with clients from all over the world. Being a knowledge-based business, it’s relatively easy to get started.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the hottest topics in tech right now. In fact, online mentions of AI have increased by more than 700% year over year after the advent of ChatGPT.

Industry experts believe AI will change the way we live our lives, do business, and interact with the world around us. It’s predicted that AI will impact business and the work environment even greater than the Internet has done in the past decades.

The biggest tech companies are placing huge bets on AI, investing billions of dollars on things ranging from conversational AI and AI art generators to face-recognition technologies, automatic order-placing refrigerators, autonomous vehicles, and even computerized coffee tables.

You can start your business around AI software and apps, artificial intelligence development, AI-powered hardware products, AI-based B2B and B2C services, AI chatbots, and automated customer service, or you can become a robotic process automation (RPA) developer/engineer, amongst other ideas.

Termed the next evolution of the internet and social networks, this emerging digital universe lets people experience a parallel life to their real-world existence.

Online game makers, content creators, celebrities, digital designers, social networks and technology leaders are already capturing a slice of this historic opportunity.

You can join in by investing in virtual real estate (i.e buying “digital lands” in Decentraland, Sandbox, etc). You can do virtually anything with this land including developing your own property, renting it out, or just about any economic activity that’s usually associated with  real-world lands.

Other ways to make money in the metaverse are: investing in digital currencies used in the metaverse, designing and building properties as a metaverse architecture, investing in the stocks of metaverse-focused companies as these are growing rapidly, building advertisement centers, offering entertainment such as play-to-earn gaming, and so much more.

Whether you want to specialize in developing blockchain architectures, build a startup with a blockchain-powered solution or even to “HODL” promising new coins, there is a business model for you in blockchain.

You can build a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) solution for businesses to build and host their own blockchain apps, smart contracts, etc. Some other viable options include creating Blockchain-based software products, building a Blockchain platform/cryptocurrency exchange platform, and offering Blockchain professional services such as dApp development.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website or web page to rank higher in search engine results. This is done through a variety of techniques, including on-page optimization (such as keyword research and meta tags) and off-page optimization (such as link building and backlinking).

When a website ranks higher on search engines, it gets more and more visitors. These visitors might potentially convert into paying customers for the company that owns the website. Thus, businesses are willing to spend tons of money on SEO to improve their website’s ranking and get more traffic.

SEO is a complex and ever-evolving field, which means not everyone can do it. But it is in high demand. If you can help these businesses to organically rank higher than the competition, then you can make a lot of money as an SEO specialist.

An online store allows you to sell physical products online directly to consumers via an eCommerce solution like Shopify, WooCommerce, and others.

You have to find out the trending products that are selling online in your niche and source for suppliers who can provide you with those products at a good price. Then, set up your store, add your products, and start promoting them to drive traffic and sales.

It’s not a very difficult business to get into, but it does require some effort and planning. However, if done right, it can be a very lucrative business indeed.

Aging and growing populations, higher rates of chronic health conditions, and exponential but costly advances in digital technologies will continue to push global healthcare expenditures upward.

If you have a passion for health and wellness, then you can start a business around this trend. There are many different ways to do this. You could start a blog or podcast about health and wellness, provide virtual fitness training, create a line of health and wellness products, offer corporate wellbeing help to organizations, or even provide online medical services.

NFTs have suddenly grabbed everyone’s attention after the sale of the digital artwork called “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” by digital artist Beeple for a record-smashing $69.3 million at Christie’s auction house.

However, artists aren’t the only ones who can make money from NFT. Being the latest blockchain craze to hit it big, different NFT stores, websites, startups, and applications have cropped up. You can even buy and sell NFTs or tokenize a physical asset or any digital property of value.

The potential is limitless. And in fact, NFTs can be anything digital (such as drawings, videos, music, or writing), although a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art.

Data scientists harvest enterprise data, do some fancy magical math stuff to it, then spit out actionable insights in the form of trends, patterns and discrepancies/outliers. A data Scientist may also specialize in high-level data manipulation, including writing complex algorithms and computer programming. 

If you have what it takes to examine large and varied data sets to uncover information such as hidden patterns, customer preferences, unknown correlations, and market trends that can help organizations make informed business decisions; if you have what it takes to forecast the future based on past patterns of data and extract meaningful information from various data sources, then you can make money online providing this service to organizations.

It could be an eBook or a hard copy that uses print-on-demand (POD) technology. Self-published books come in many forms — fiction, informative books, cheat sheets, guidebooks, self-help, memoir, and so much more.

Selling ebooks is about being specific and having the right message targeted to the correct audience. If you do it well, you can go on holiday and still get paid. You could be lost at sea and still earn an income, and you can wake up every day with new sales made automatically. It isn’t easy, but it is certainly worth it.

There are a number of approaches you can follow — freelance writing, ghostwriting, or even freelance blogging. You might also choose to position yourself as an expert in a select niche either as a technical writer, business writer, health writer, food writer, finance writer, and so on.

Writers can charge anything between $150 – $1,000+ per article depending on factors such as experience, research requirements, topic difficulty, scope creep, content length, and SEO knowledge.

As a lead-gen business, your job will be to gather high-quality leads using different digital marketing strategies and put those leads at the disposal of your clients.

For instance, you may decide to target local businesses as your clients. In that case, simply set up a website targeting local buyers (example: home decor in Milan) using local SEO techniques. Set up a contact channel like phone number or email and automatically pass leads onto the client. You can use a tracking system to keep track of every phone call or email you generate for your clients.

This way, you’d simply build an automated system that includes a lead funnel and use local SEO to automatically drive leads to clients. And by targeting local leads, you eliminate competition.

What’s the point of this? If you have a great idea for a mobile app, you can turn it into recurring revenue by creating and monetizing the app on places like the Play Store and iOS App Store. Once you’ve created your app, coupled with an effective marketing strategy, you’ll be making money in your sleep.

Once your app is ready, you can monetize it by charging users a recurring subscription or a fixed fee to access the app or its premium components; or by placing third-party ads within it for users to interact with. You may otherwise choose to sell your services within the app.

Some hot selling app ideas include business/financial mobile apps such as payments, eCommerce, forex trading apps; lifestyle mobile apps such as fitness, music, dating, travel, food apps; productivity/utility apps; mobile games and entertainment apps; education/news/information/social apps.

A software company generates its revenue through project fees, maintenance and support services, and software licenses.

You can decide to specialize in any of the software development specialties including DevOps, enterprise architecture, full-stack, server-side, front-end, software architecture, or software engineering.

If you are ready to take your mobile  coding skills out there and start making money, then you can become a freelance mobile app developer.

You will either be working directly with businesses or partner with a mobile app development outsourcing agency, especially if you don’t have the time to find clients yourself.

Freelance app developers are typically hired by companies who wish to extend their business into new platforms but do not have enough resources to build a fully functional in-house mobile development team.

How about leveraging that skill to rake in some big bucks as a social media manager or social media marketer?

But you don’t necessarily have to have a history of heavy social media usage to get in the game. As long as you have extensive knowledge about various social media platforms and how they work, plus a firm grip over best practices and strategies that can be applied across platforms to achieve maximum impact, then you too could be making money as a social media manager.

A social media manager is a professional who builds, monitors, and guides the social media presence of a brand. She develops a company’s social media strategy, creates ad campaigns, and manages their social channels by engaging with followers and getting involved in the process of generating, curating, and posting content. She also tracks, analyzes, measures, and optimizes the results of the company’s social media efforts.

Yet, report reveals there is a hacker attack every 39 seconds and that 75 records are stolen every second. That’s too many too fast, and it’s creating havoc in people’s finances. For example, estimated global losses from cybercrime were projected to hit nearly $1 trillion for 2020. This shows the world has entered into an era of cyberespionage.

“Ethical hacking is the future. There will be lots of job and business opportunities for ethical hackers,”  says Mårten Mickos, CEO at HackerOne.

This increased cyber threat directly increases the demand for cybersecurity experts. In fact, projected growth rate for cybersecurity job roles over the next decade is 31%, the fastest rate among tech occupations.

Whether you want to begin as a cybersecurity startup or work as a solopreneur (freelance ethical hacker), you’d likely have enough opportunities in the market. You’d work with governments, civil organisations, and private firms to test their networks and servers for loopholes, bugs, and vulnerabilities to prevent the bad guys from encroaching. 

Think of it as digital policing, ranging from auditing and assessing the current state of information security to checking the effectiveness of the cybersecurity system by simulating hackers’ attacks, quickly recovering hacked systems, investigating security breach incidents, testing web penetration, monitoring network security, and even bug bounty hunting.

There are only a handful of major cloud computing providers — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Azure — and each one requires specialized knowledge to develop.

You can go general or choose one platform and become a master in it. You can even become an expert in emerging cloud computing technologies such as edge computing or fog computing.

But basically, you’d use these providers to deliver computing services — compute power, servers, storage, databases, content delivery, application development, networking, software, analytics, intelligence, and more — over the cloud to help businesses gain faster innovation, better growth, flexible resources, and economies of scale.

In the simplest of terms, you’re sort of the “middleman” between the customer and supplier. You take product photos from the supplier (wholesalers or manufacturers), add product descriptions and prices, and when a customer places an order, you simply get the supplier to ship the products directly to the customer’s door.

It requires a low capital outlay, low costs of start-up and operation, and offers a less risky way to test products as you never get to purchase a large inventory or even see the product. The item flows directly from the supplier to the buyer while you only handle the marketing and administration. Oh, and the money!

While this method saves you the trouble of having to hold stock and process and ship orders, it means you’d have less control over order fulfillment and lead time as well as heavy reliance on other people’s inventory.

The task is performed by a system administrator (SysAdmin) and support expert who monitors system health, allocates system resources like disk space, performs backups, provides user access, manages user accounts, and takes care of system security. They also install, configure, test, debug, administer, maintain, upgrade and document computer systems.

Businesses that’ll hire you are mostly remote organizations running a bunch of computer systems but are not big enough to recruit an entire in-house IT team.

Companies often need business systems (whether standalone or ERP) to manage their business processes, automate workflows, and streamline operations. For this to happen, they need an expert or a consultant who’s able to implement and support enterprise solutions such as NetSuite, SAP, or Sage.

An additional source of income could be in offering training to companies and their staff on using the systems you implement for them. You may also end up getting hired by channel partners on a contract basis.

This is ideal for people who enjoy spending time on social media and do not want to go through the process of building their own personal eCommerce store.

This involves selling physical products on social media, in particular, Facebook Marketplace, Instagram Shop, and Printerest Shopping.

Social commerce allows you to tap into a huge audience of 2.9 billion Facebook monthly active users and 2 billion Instagrammers, not to mention Pinterest’s 444-million user-base.

With social media offering embedded shopping tools that enable users to shop without ever having to leave the network, there’s so much potential for eCommerce growth. Also, these social platforms offer a set of marketing tools to help you reach a wider audience, improve your conversion rates, and boost sales.

When a customer places an order by selecting the product and their preferred design, the order is automatically sent to a print-on-demand service that will print, package, and ship the order for you.

This allows you to sell online without holding inventory or buying stocks upfront. For this model, you need to source products with interesting design opportunities for your customers.

You can design the graphics yourself, get them online, or get a professional designer to do it for you. There are even AI-powered tools for generating designs automatically. This lets you monetize your creative juices by selling your own branded products.

Websites are getting more and more sophisticated. It’s not just text and pictures anymore, but it’s video, audio, eCommerce, and a whole host of other media.

And as 94% of all first impressions on a website are design-related, businesses need their sites to look great.

This is why businesses will pay you thousands of dollars to design their websites.

A survey by Clutch.co found that around 30% of small businesses spend between $1K to $10K on website design. The average cost of designing a large business website with essential features stands at $32K.

Clients can pay a one-time project fee, but you may also want to keep your cash flow pumping by getting a flat monthly fee for managing their sites on a continuous basis.

Although WordPress has become very popular, about 35% of websites are developed from scratch without the need for content management systems. Additionally, you can become a developer for website builders such as Webflow, Joomla, Drupal, etc.

You may even choose to specialize in eCommerce solution development. An average eCommerce website or online store is expected to have customized features that are beyond the basic CMS functionality.

As an online store specialist, you can develop eCommerce websites using WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, Squarespace, OpenCart, PrestaShop, and so on.

You can also develop custom shopping cart functionality, online payments, and credit card gateways, address verification systems, and payment-related features for eCommerce sites.

In summary, if you’re a web freak and can unlock the secrets of JavaScript, Python, or any of the numerous web programming languages, then you can turn that skill into building beautiful, functional websites for modern-day businesses and get rewarded handsomely.

When you open a shop in a ready-made marketplace like this, you’re able to leverage their massive traffic to sell your stuff.

In some cases, you need not worry about customer service and logistics as some multi-vendor marketplaces do take care of those. For instance, with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you store your products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and the company picks, packs, ships, and provides customer service for these products.

In exchange for their hard work, multi-vendor marketplaces would usually take a cut from each sale you make and some might even charge a listing or registration fee.

As an open-source CMS and web platform, users can use WordPress to create and manage websites and blogs.

WordPress is used and loved by hundreds of millions of people and businesses, one reason being that, unlike some other website platforms, WordPress allows users to easily and quickly build and manage websites without the need to code, including customizing their sites using themes and plugins.

If you’ve gained some good WordPress expertise, then you can monetize your skills by becoming a WordPress theme and/or plugin developer.

Creating and selling WP themes and plugins allows you to earn passive income as you can keep selling a product again and again after creating it.

You can sell your themes and plugins anywhere including your own website, ThemeForest, CodeCanyon, iThemes, and a host of other marketplaces or even as a freemium tool on the WordPress repo.

Website support, maintenance, and fixes involves providing basic services such as site fixes, updates, security issue resolutions, speed optimization, malware removal, uptime monitoring, technical support, and just about any maintenance work needed to keep a website running smoothly.

It may also include providing web hosting, domain name services, and server setup and maintenance.

People in this field often choose to focus on one or a few key website platforms in which they have deep, vertical knowledge to be able to offer top-notch services.

For instance, you could choose to run a WordPress support services business in which you help WordPress site owners manage their websites, including monitoring and updating WordPress core, themes, and plugins, backups, performance optimization, and so on.

Others may be result tracking and measurement, content distribution, content promotion, editorial calendar development, content inventory/audits, competitive content analysis, and more.

As a content marketing agency, you can work with a wide range of business types in different industries. But you can also choose to focus on a particular niche or industry. Data shows that 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers.

You may need to work with expert writers, SEO specialists, qualified editors, graphic designers, videographers, animators, social media strategists, content strategists, and more.

Basically, you would be tracking, measuring, and interpreting certain key metrics to increase the number of people who perform a certain action on a website or an app. It also involves conducting changes that will create a more user-friendly experience based on a laser-guided analysis of the insight from users’ behavior.

Your services should help clients convert target users into sales or leads, maximize returns from marketing spend, and increase offer engagement.

Your list of services can include A/B testing, multivariate testing, heat maps, click maps, form analysis, page design auditing, journey mapping, funnel analysis, usability testing, shopping cart analysis, user behavior analysis, email marketing optimization, and landing page optimization.

You’d need to understand UX/UI optimization, mobile responsiveness, web analytics, behavioral segmentation, and even consumer psychology.

Your clientele will mostly comprise of businesses and organizations in need of professionally written sales copy, landing pages, product/service pages, sales emails, and what have you.

Copywriters charge higher rates than content writers — say $1,000 – $10,000+ per copy — as this form of writing requires greater skills. So if you’ve got what it takes to use words to drive actions, then this could be the right business idea for you.

Online publications and authors who need their work professionally edited with language clarity, consistent style, and unmistaken voice would make up the majority of your client base.

You may choose to charge on a per page, per word, or per hour basis, earning around $30-$70+ per hour. Some editors offer a range of services that includes developmental editing, editorial assessment, copyediting, and proofreading.

Aside from working hand-in-hand with your clients’ marketing teams to plan site content, style, and layout, you’d also oversee all marketing content initiatives to ensure content optimization, brand consistency, and reader engagement.

Your responsibility may also include sharing content to raise brand awareness and monitoring web traffic and metrics to identify best practices.

For instance, if a business needs a video translation but doesn’t have a written script ready for translating the video, it might first have to transcribe the video. Also, transcribed content is often used for legal purposes (like court cases), medical, language studies, and even staff training.

You can start a transcription agency or start out as a freelance transcriptionist. There’s the need to be attentive and focused in order to do your job well.

You’d need to be able to use different typography, composition, color, and visual identity design to create these marketing designs to promote a company’s business.

Some of the items you’d be producing include brand visuals, logos, brochures, infographics, postcards, flyers, digital ads, banners, email marketing templates, PowerPoint presentations, etc.

If you have what it takes to partner with businesses and visually communicate that brand, this is one of the most rewarding business ideas for designers.

This explains why UX and UI designers are in high demand. With focus on the graphical interfaces and user interaction, your work will involve designing mobile app interfaces, website themes, online tools, game interfaces, to name a few.

You will also be working with companies to optimize the overall experience that a user has with a product, from the initial onboarding process to ongoing engagement and features.

You need to be skilled in user research, information architecture, visual design, and interaction design.

A closely related career to this field is in product design. Product design is all about imagining, creating, and iterating products that solve users’ problems or address specific needs. In fact, a Product Designer, at its core, is a problem solver. 

When a company is building a new product, they need you to be part of their team, to take users’ problems and turn them into usable products and solutions.

Also, if you love the psychology and behavioral sides of design, then you can go into UX research.

While traditional illustrations are created using methods such as oil or watercolor on paper or canvas, digital illustrations are made using software such as Adobe Photoshop.

If you have a flair for painting or drawing, then you should think of turning your artistic talents into a business.

From vector illustrations and technical illustrations, to picture books, concept art, films, games, graphic novels, and other digital arts, digital illustration is an exciting, rewarding, and multi-faceted field with diverse job prospects.

You can also serve a particular niche such as helping real estate professionals provide virtual walk-throughs before a building goes up. Also, how about building VR apps such as one that lets users scan foreign languages and see the translation in real-time?

Starting a VR arcade is another viable option. The very first batch of VR arcades is just starting to pop up in some of the world’s largest cities. You might also want to consider contributing to customized AR/VR programs for companies on a freelance basis, whether as a coder, designer, or consultant.

ISVs typically build software on top of other software platforms such as those provided by hardware manufacturers and operating system developers.

This way, they offer products that the primary vendor does not offer, allowing clients of that vendor to round out their software needs.

Starting an ISV offers the chance to create and sell software to a ready-to-engage market, making it a worthwhile means of earning semi-passive income.

If you enjoy playing video games, then you could get paid to do what you love by livestreaming your gaming sessions on Twitch, Facebook Gaming, YouTube and other similar platforms. You can then earn virtual money (e.g. “Bits” on Twitch or “Stars” on Facebook Gaming) from your viewers which can be exchanged for real cash.

To get started, all you need is a strong internet connection, a gaming console or PC, and some good quality livestreaming equipment such as a headset, webcam, and microphone.

While most podcasts are free, entrepreneurs and creatives use them to promote their brands, products, or services.

However, you can also create a subscription-based podcast that offers more features and in-depth guidance. The subscription could involve direct payments and would work just like a traditional membership site except that the content is exclusively audio.

You could also take the freemium route. People can listen for free, but if they pay, they get bonus features, extra audio, and other incentives. For example, many creatives use services like Patreon to fund their podcasts and other works.

Other means through which you can earn money with podcasts include advertisements, affiliate marketing, crowdfunding, and brand sponsorships.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are the future of transportation. The market for EVs is growing rapidly. According to the International Energy Agency, sales of electric vehicles doubled in 2021 from the previous year to a new record of 6.6 million. Back in 2012, just 120,000 electric cars were sold worldwide. In 2022, more than that many were sold weekly.

And guess what else is growing rapidly? The demand for EV-related services.

Electric car charging — public electric car charging stations, home electric car charging station setup, electric car charging station management, etc. — is a great example.

EVs also need to be serviced and repaired. There are very few mechanics with the necessary training and experience to work on EVs, so there’s a big opportunity for those who are able to provide such services, even online.

To make money in this space, you could start a business selling e-bikes (manufacturers sell them very cheap in China). You could also provide e-bike rental services or e-bike maintenance and repair — there’s a big opportunity here for those who make the move.

Electric scooters and electric motorcycles are other popular options. You could start a business selling or renting these vehicles, or providing maintenance and repair services.

There are now a number of online platforms that make it easier than ever to buy, sell, or rent properties.

The sharing economy, for instance, has given rise to companies like Airbnb, which has made it possible for people to earn extra income by renting out their properties on a short-term basis. Property experts and investors are raking it in on places like Instagram.

Whether it’s short-let apartments, land banking, co-working spaces, co-living rentals, full-on property development, or something else entirely, there are plenty of opportunities for those who want a piece of the real estate pie.

People are always looking for ways to make their living spaces more comfortable and cozy. This has created opportunities to make money in the interior decoration and home improvement industry.

If you have a passion for design and a talent for creating beautiful living spaces, then you could start a business providing interior decoration and home improvement services. You could offer your services to individuals, families, businesses, or organizations.

You could also provide furniture and decor supplies — including for residential homes, offices, and commercial properties — or even home automation solutions such as automated doors, voice-controlled appliances, and AI-powered smart home assistants.

Kids all over the world are starting businesses, and mind you, they’re not kidding around. For some reason, this kind of business usually stands out beautifully and can sufficiently support the whole family.

For instance, the new biggest celebrity to a child today is not Justin Bieber, it’s Ryan Kaji from Ryan’s World. The kid started making videos on Youtube at the age of 4 and became the highest paid YouTube star, making $29.5 million from his YouTube channel in 2020 alone as well as a further estimated $200 million from Ryan’s World branded toys and clothing.

Another example is Alina Morse, who at the age of 7 started Zolli Candy —  tasty, healthy candy that delivers flavour, fun and oral health while reducing cavities. She has now made millions from her business and was even invited to the White House.

There are endless possibilities for kid businesses. If you have a child with an entrepreneurial spirit, why not encourage and support them to start their own business? It could be the beginning of a very successful journey for them — and for you as well!

In making money with 3D printing, one option is to sell 3D printing files and designs. Another is to create amazing, highly-demanded everyday products — such as flower phases, phone cases, pet collars, household items, toys — and sell them on places like Etsy or Amazon. This type of business holds infinite growth potential as long as you discover your niche and bring a lot of creativity to it.

If you’ve got the expertise, you can create sophisticated items like body parts for the medical industry, spare parts for the automotive sector, or even damaged parts of existing items for just any industry. You can as well offer bespoke manufacturing that follows a print-on-demand business model where prospects simply send you a ready-made 3D model, you quote your fee, print it, and send it over.

As an online bookkeeper or accountant, you’d be managing a business’s financial records — preparing and filing taxes, tracking expenses, invoicing customers, managing accounts receivable/payable, reconciling bank statements, analyzing cashflow, maintaining the general ledger, advising the business owner on financial matters, etc.

You could work with businesses of all sizes but especially solopreneurs or small businesses that are big enough to need your services but too small to have their own in-house accounting department.

And all of this can be done remotely, which means there’s a big opportunity here for lawyers who are looking to make money from home.

There are many online business owners who need legal help but don’t want to deal with the hassle and expense of hiring a traditional lawyer. They prefer to work with law experts that understand the online world.

If you’re a lawyer or paralegal with experience in these areas, then you could start a business offering legal help to businesses online.

As the IoT market is expanding at an incredibly high rate, households, individuals, businesses, and organizations of all sizes will need someone to provide them with the necessary infrastructure, hardware sensors, and continuous support.

You can build an IoT-based business around such niches as ubiquitous computing, automated retail, smart homes, device-to-human interactivity, smart personal devices, wearable technologies, and connected health including remote patient monitoring and e-medicine solutions, medical wearables like bracelets equipped with sensors (not RFID implants).

If you are proficient in more than one world language, you could be raking in crazy bucks. Translators are well-sought out on a global scale to translate written and audio materials, whether it’s legal contracts, faith-based content, books, news items, blog posts for global sites, etc. You normally wouldn’t need a language or linguistics degree to start this business but if you have one, then it’s a plus.

You could work as a freelance translator, providing your services to businesses on an as-needed basis. Or you could start a translation agency, managing a team of translators and handling all the administrative work.

Also, there are many online platforms that connect businesses with translators, such as Gengo and One Hour Translation. You could sign up with one of these platforms and start offering your services.

Localization is a big business because it’s often necessary for businesses that want to expand into new markets. It includes website localization, software localization, app localization, and marketing campaigns localization.

For example, you could help a business launch their website in a new country by translating the content and ensuring that it’s culturally relevant.

One of the most popular type of BPO business is virtual assistant (VA) services. Virtual assistants are independent contractors who provide administrative, technical, or creative support to businesses and entrepreneurs. They could handle tasks such as customer service, data entry, calendar management, and more.

Another popular BPO business is call center services, which is when businesses outsource their customer-facing call center operations such as tech support to third-party service providers.

There’s a big demand for BPO services because they can save businesses a lot of time and money. And with the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been an even greater demand for these services as businesses shift to remote work models.

As a video editor, you would be responsible for tasks like cutting and splicing footage, adding graphics and special effects, and ensuring that the final product is high quality and error-free.

These days online videos such as Instagram reels, TikTok videos, and YouTube shorts are all the rage. There is a lot of video content being created but not everyone has the time or skills to edit it. Explainers, video ads, corporate videos, product videos, social media videos, live events, and more — businesses need video editors for all kinds of content.

If you have experience with video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, then you could start offering your services to businesses and content creators.

As a motion graphic designer, you will be creating engaging animated content such as animated videos, animated ads, and animated logos for a variety of clients, including businesses and individuals.

In order to be successful in this field, it is important to be familiar with various design software programs so that you can create high-quality animations.

The field of motion graphics is constantly evolving, and there is always a demand for new and innovative designs.

Traditionally, software companies have charged users on a per-license basis, but more and more companies are now looking at alternative monetization strategies, particularly SaaS.

Software-as-a-Service is basically software that people use on an on-demand, pay-per-use basis. It typically lives on the web or cloud — where customers can access the software through the Internet for a recurring fee.

Some level of support is usually included in this fee. You can either directly market your SaaS product or you can work with an agency that has already created a big client base to whom they resell your product.

Online photography involves taking pictures and selling them on stock photography websites like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, iStock, Fotolia, 123RF, or Getty Images. This is a great way to make money passively — once you upload your photos, you can sit back and watch the royalties come in.

Another lucrative option is teaching people how to get the most out their camera, create stunning photos, and edit them to perfection. Photography workshops and classes are always in demand, especially among travel, beauty, fashion, and food businesses.

Websites can sell for 20X to 60X their average monthly net profit, with the average sale in today’s market happening at 30X to 42X monthly net profit

So if you buy a website that boasts an average revenue of $2,000 per month at 35X net profit, you’ll pay $70,000. If over 18 months you optimize the site and increase its revenue to $5,000 per month, you can potentially resell the site at 35X its monthly net profit for $175,000 — which equals a $105,000 profit on the sale. And don’t forget the monthly net profit from the site itself which adds another $63,000 of estimated profit.

This means in just 18 months, your $70,000 can turn into $308,000. Of course, you can always start small.

Some of the best places to buy and sell websites include Flippa, Empire Flippers, Motion Invest, and Investors Club.

Social entrepreneurship is about applying entrepreneurial principles to provide solutions to economic, social, cultural, or environmental problems.

You could create a solution that directly serves the people and give out the same for cheap prices or even for free or start an organization that gives the majority of the profit back to the society to achieve social change.

You can also choose to work directly with the people whom you’re looking to bless. For instance, I know of an organisation whose employees are made up of people who face social challenges, including survivors of human trafficking and people with learning disabilities.

Drop servicing is a business model where you sell services that are delivered by someone else. In other words, you act as the middleman between service providers and freelance clients.

There are a lot of freelancers on the Internet, and there are a lot of potential freelance clients as well. Obvious fact: they need each other.

It works by finding in-demand services offered by freelancers at a low price on freelancing websites like Fiverr and Upwork and marketing those services to businesses who need them.

Upon getting sales, you hire the freelancers to deliver the work for you. Your profit is in quoting a higher price to your clients than what your freelancers quote you.

You also need to carefully choose the right broker as there are many apps and websites offering this sort of brokering service.

Leveraged trading in foreign currency contracts or other off-exchange products on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for everyone. We advise you to carefully consider whether trading is appropriate for you in light of your personal circumstances.

You could start an online language school, teaching people from all over the world who want to learn a specific language for business, travel, or educational purposes.. You could use platforms like Zoom to conduct live classes or create video lessons Thinkific that students can watch on their own time.

Run your store both online and in physical locations. There’s always a demand for products that make life easier for parents and more fun for kids.

One of the keys to success with this business idea is to offer products that are unique and not easily found in big box stores.

You’d need to be passionate about kids and have a good understanding of what products are popular with kids and parents.

You’d be creating innovative solutions surrounding childcare and parental support for young families keen on using gadgets and software to solve a variety of family tasks.

A few examples are baby monitoring devices, body temperature thermometers, hands-free breast pumps, child education technologies, wearables, robotic toys, child transportation systems, augmented reality toys, fertility and pregnancy trackers, and infant nutrition solutions.

Startups working in the babytech sector usually target two main categories of users including expecting parents and families raising children—especially high standards of millennial parents who prefer frictionless, one-tap solutions.

You could start a business where you rent out products such as gadgets (drones, camera, etc.) equipment, scooters/bikes, party supplies, vacation supplies, household items, tools, music instruments, and more.

You can make it so that users place orders online and then either pick up the items from you or have them delivered to their doorstep. You need to find a way to secure the return of the items after use.

This allows you to be both creative and a business owner.

Back in the day, you had to put a lot of time into setting up your stall in craft markets and fairs, but now you can do it all online with ease.

For example, on Etsy — the largest online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods — creatives are selling oodles of craft items including leather wallets, knitted sweaters, wooden tools, homemade jewelry, scented candles, soaps,  fragrance oils, woven, knitted and crocheted goods including hand-printed clothing, hats, sweaters

unique hand-printed paintings, and countless other arty stuff.

You can sell on a marketplace like this and also expand beyond it to creating your own brand via a web store.

The process involves combining epoxy resin with pigments to create a range of colours, pouring the mixture into silicone moulds, and then waiting for it to harden. The result is a stunning piece of art that can be used as decoration, jewelry,  or even functional items.

The great thing about epoxy resin art is that it’s extremely versatile — you can use it to create all sorts of products such as coasters, cutting boards, trays, table tops, keychains, picture frames, wall art, and countless other items.

You can even offer customized products by incorporating people’s names, photos, initials, favourite quotes, wedding bouquets, and so on into the design.

This is a great business idea for those who are passionate about teaching and helping others learn. It’s also a flexible way to make money as you can set your own hours and rates.

There’s a growing demand for online tutors as more and more people are looking for flexible, convenient, and affordable ways to learn. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend as people are now even more reluctant to leave their homes for face-to-face tutoring sessions.

Body language professionals are hired in the business, relationships, security markets and more. For example, people who want to improve their non-verbal communication to get a promotion or meet that special someone may need to work with a body language expert; police departments or social workers who want to determine whether people are lying often invite body language experts to teach at their seminars.

As a side hustle, you can even put up your own paralanguage website and create sign language online classes for disable people who need to learn communication.

It’s typically a way to make money online as a teacher by selling teaching materials online — printable lesson plans, presentations, flashcards, worksheets, songs, videos, classroom-graded readers, games, crafts and more.

One place you can do this is TeachersPayTeachers, an online marketplace where teachers buy and sell original educational materials.

You can also sell on your own website or blog. This is a great option if you want to make passive income as a teacher or professor.

You can start a website where members can access exclusive content and tutorials for that particular exam. This is a great business idea for those who want to make money while helping others achieve their goals.

There are all sorts of professional exams that people need to take in order to further their careers — from medical and law exams to accounting, finance, and architecture exams.  And there’s always a demand for good quality exam tutorials that can help people pass these exams.

So if you have the expertise and the knowledge, why not start a professional exam tutorials site?

This type of business is perfect for those who love kids and have a passion for working with them. It can be very rewarding to see the smile on a child’s face when they accomplish something or receive a service that you provided.

To be successful in this business, you’ll need to be organized, creative, and patient. You’ll also need to have a good understanding of child development and what services are appropriate for which age group.

To succeed in this market, you need to offer products or services that make parenting easier, more fun, or more efficient.

For instance, you could get into parentech, which is all about bringing the benefits of digital technology to family life in the best possible way. 

Creating a line of eco-friendly parenting products, developing a new app for parents, writing a book about your parenting experience, or offering services to parents are all ways to serve the parenting market as long as you make parents’ lives easier and their children’s lives better.

An online marketplace platform matches people who need a service with service providers. For example, a babysitting marketplace would match families who need a babysitter with babysitters in their area. Or, a home-cleaning marketplace would match home-owners who need their house cleaned with house cleaners in their area.

The success of platforms like Airbnb, Uber, Booking.com, and Fiverr is proof that the marketplace model is viable and can be applied to almost any market.

You make money by charging a fee for every successful transaction that takes place on your platform.

The options are endless! And, best of all, you can work as much or as little as you want.

To be successful in this business, you need to be responsible, reliable, and have a can-do attitude. You also need to be comfortable working with different people.

In the past, aspiring fashion designers would move to New York City or other fashion capitals and apprentice for leading design houses. However, with the rise of the internet, it’s now possible to start your own fashion design business right from your bedroom.

While you’ll still need to be creative and have a good eye for color and style, you won’t need to spend years working your way up the ladder.

As an online apparel graphic designer, you would be responsible for creating designs that would be printed onto t-shirts, hoodies, and other clothing items.

Whether it’s personal services (such as shopping, housekeeping, and picking up or dropping off packages) or business services (such as making travel arrangements, scheduling appointments, and “standing in” for clients), concierge services are in high demand, especially amongst busy professionals and busy families.

If you operate in a metropolis, there’s a good chance that you can find clients who need errand help and concierge services. To scale this business, you will need to hire other people to help you with the errands and not run them yourself.

You’d be using the internet and social media to market your services or you could create a concierge app that allows people to request errand services with the tap of your finger.

It’s a speculative activity that can be high risk, but if done correctly it can offer rewards that are much higher than traditional investing.

To be a successful stock flipper, you need to have a solid understanding of the stock market and the ability to make quick, informed decisions. You also need to be comfortable with taking on some risk.

Internet researchers specialize in finding information that cannot be easily found by a simple Google search, not just through web search but even through other means like interviews. They extensively explore specific subject matter to gather data, uncover new concepts, develop ideas, and share their findings with clients.

You need to have a strong understanding of how to use search engines to access scholarly research, think tank documents, and industry publications to find information.

You could work with universities, non-profit organizations, large firms, SMEs, and even government agencies.

Subscription boxes come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and price ranges. They may be highly curated, offered at a discount, or both depending on the style.

While consumers love them for their specificity and convenience (who wouldn’t want all their favourite gourmet food and snacks sent to you each month automatically?), businesses love subscription boxes because they allow for making monthly sales consistent and generating recurring revenue.

If you have what it takes to curate an awesome subscription box experience, this could be the perfect business idea for you.

A membership site is a website that offers exclusive content or services to its members, who pay a monthly or annual fee to access the site.

This could be anything from premium articles and tutorials, to exclusive videos, podcasts, or even private online communities.

The key is to offer high-quality, valuable content that people are willing to pay for. If you’re an expert in your field and have something valuable to share, starting a membership site could be a great business idea for you.

Not only will you be able to monetize your expertise, but you’ll also be able to build a community of engaged, paying members who will value your content and what you have to say.

It is a rapidly growing industry that allows homeowners to control various aspects of their homes remotely. From automated home security systems, lighting, HVAC, and energy-saving devices to automated vacuums, smart controllers, and self-cleaning toilets, there’s no shortage of products and services to choose from.

Home automation makes everyday life more convenient and gives people more time to enjoy the things they love.

If you’re passionate about tech and helping people make their lives easier, starting a home automation business could be a great business idea for you. You’ll need to have a strong understanding of the various home automation products and solutions on the market, as well as the ability to install and troubleshoot them.

Your services can include automation setup and installation, custom solutions, support, and maintenance.

And while there are many large, general-interest sites out there, niche sites target a smaller, more engaged audience who is more likely to convert into customers or subscribers, or click through to buy the products or services you’re promoting.

Sites like these typically earn revenue through ads, affiliate marketing, or digital products such as online courses, private communities, or ebooks.

The thing is to build multiple niche sites that focus on different specific topics. This will give you a diversified portfolio of sites that generate passive income from multiple sources and can withstand changes in any one particular niche.

This business model is similar to that of a membership site, but instead of building a site from scratch, you’re using an existing social media platform to create and manage your group.

The key is to create a group that provides value and caters to a specific niche or group of people. For example, you could create a paid private group for digital nomads or web developers to share resources, discuss challenges, and give and receive feedback.

You’ll need to share super quality, unique content that is not easily found out there and also promote your group heavily to get it off the ground, but once you have a loyal following, you can start charging for access.

Online advertising agencies (or media buyers) help businesses and individuals promote their products, services, or brands through various forms of paid ads such as search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC), social ads, display ads, and so on.

Advertising agencies are experts in designing and executing effective campaigns that generate leads, conversions, and sales. And with more businesses shifting their marketing budgets to online advertising, there’s never been a better time to launch an agency of your own.

You’ll need to have a strong understanding of the various online advertising channels and platforms, as well as the ability to create effective ad campaigns that deliver results.

If you’re up for the challenge and have what it takes to succeed, this could be a great business idea for you.

Instagram has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms with over 1 billion monthly active users. And with TikTok having a rave party at the moment, an increasing number of users are flocking in their billions to the platform to consume short-form videos.

As a result, more and more businesses want to get in on the action by sponsoring influencers with large followings.

If you’re good at growing a following on either of these platforms, this could be a great business idea for you. You could be in high demand by businesses looking to sponsor your content.

Additionally, TikTok offers creators the opportunity to earn coins and gifts through livestreaming or even join the TikTok Creator program in which you can make money based on your content’s views and engagement.

If you’re good at growing social media accounts, then you’re looking at a potentially profitable money sack. You can grow the account organically and then sell it off to businesses or individuals who are looking to tap into a ready-made audience.

There are a number of places where you can go to sell your social accounts, such as Fameswap and Social Tradia.

You could choose to start a food blog or recipe site that offers recipes, cooking tips, and more. Or you could launch a YouTube channel and share your favourite recipes with the world. If you have a knack for meal planning, you could start an online meal planning service that helps people save time and money. And if you’re a talented cook, you could create and sell a cookbook with your best recipes.

No matter what your interests are, there’s a way to make money online in the food niche. So, if you’re passionate about food, then this could be the perfect business niche for you.

Micro-tasks are small, simple tasks that can be completed online in exchange for a small fee. They’re usually quick and easy to do, making them a great option for people looking for ways to earn a little extra cash in their spare time.

There are many different types of micro-tasks, from taking surveys and providing feedback to testing websites or apps, and even transcribing audio or video files. And there are a number of websites where you can go to find these tasks, such as Swagbucks, InboxDollars, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and even Fiverr.

However, when doing micro-tasks, it’s important to be aware of scams. There are many unscrupulous people and businesses out there who will try to take advantage of unsuspecting workers. So, only work with reputable companies and be sure to read the fine print before starting any task.

Also, keep in mind that you won’t make a lot of money doing micro-tasks. But if you’re looking for a way to earn a little extra cash, they can be a great option.

You could also start a blog or YouTube channel where you review and recommend beauty products. If you’re especially talented in the makeup department, you could even start offering makeup services.

No matter what your skills and interests are, there’s a way to make money in the beauty industry. So if you’re passionate about cosmetics, skincare, or hair care, why not start your own business in this booming industry?

Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool that makes designing beautiful creative assets easy for everyone. From social media images, videos and gifs to posters, website graphics, booklets, multimedia presentations, and heaps more, Canva is an invaluable tool for helping you level up your design skills, even if you’re just getting started.

If you have a flair for design and a good eye for aesthetics, creating and selling Canva templates as printables can be a profitable venture.

You could offer templates for planners, menu cards, resumes, invitations, low-content books, calendars, stickers, thank-you cards or artworks – the possibilities are endless.

You can sell them on your own website or through various print-on-demand platforms such as Etsy, Amazon and Society6.

The demand for IT knowledge is growing at an unprecedented rate. You could start an online software training school to cash in on this trend.

Your students will comprise business professionals, job seekers, and business owners seeking to improve their proficiency in a given software program. You could offer webinar lessons, video tutorials, or even small group training sessions.

New advancements in technologies ranging from robotics and drones to computer vision software have completely transformed modern agriculture. Internet of things (IoT) enables farmers to better monitor the needs of individual crops and animals, automation in areas such as irrigation and harvesting further ease farm operations while minimizing losses. 

If you’re passionate about farming, then you could get into contemporary agriculture. Whether it is precision farming, vertical farming, or organic farming, there’s vast potential in this sector.

While doing it, you could consider setting up a blog or YouTube channel to share your knowledge and expertise with the world.

You could start a travel blog and share your experiences with the world. Or you could launch a YouTube channel where you vlog your travels. If you’re more of a photographer, you could sell your travel photos online.

If you’re more interested in the business side of things, you could start an online travel agency or if you’re especially talented in the customer service department, you could start a virtual travel concierge service.

No matter what your skills and interests are, there’s a way to make money online in the travel and hospitality industry.

From business planning and branding services to business incubation and business brokerage, there are a number of business support services you could offer online to other businesses.

There are businesses that need help with setting up and configuring business accounts such as payment processors, CRMs and more. There are also those that need assistance with business taxes and incorporation.

In fact, the list could go on and on.

If you have experience in the business world, then starting a business support services company could be the perfect way to make money online for you.

There are many companies that offer full-time, remote positions across a variety of industries. And with the rise of flexible working arrangements, there’s never been a better time to get a remote job.

With a remote job, not only can you work from anywhere in the world, but you can be assured of a steady monthly income.

You can use platforms like LinkedIn Jobs, FlexJobs, Remote.co, and Indeed. Or you can search online and reach out to companies directly and inquire about remote job openings.

Just make sure to do your research and only apply for jobs that are legitimate and offer good pay and working conditions.

Conclusion:

Business Ideation 101: Solve a Problem!

When generating a business idea, the best place to start is to solve a problem.

Think about the problems you encounter in your daily life. Is there something that frustrates you? Is there a task that you dread doing? Is there something that you wish was more accessible, faster, or more convenient?

Chances are that if you can discover a problem, someone out there has the same problem and is willing to pay to resolve it.

And the bigger the problem, the better.

So when you’re thinking of a viable business idea, ask yourself this question:

“What problem can I solve? What human need can I meet?”

This is the 101 of business ideation.

It could be something as simple as providing a service that makes people’s lives easier or creating a product that solves a specific problem. It could be helping people achieve something or providing a much-needed resource.

The possibilities are endless.

This massive report gives you a list of 100 tried and tested money-making business ideas to choose from.

Pick an idea that best resonates with you and get to work.