Are you a stay at home mom in need of some extra $$$ to support your family? Or are you a student looking for flexible working hours in order to put yourself through college? Or perhaps you just feel so fed up with your 9-5 job? Whatever the circumstances- starting an online business from home can be a great opportunity for you & I’m here today to share some ideas with you all!

I’ve been running various online businesses for years now. The best thing about all of it is the fact that I get to do it from the comfort of my own home. I get to work with the love of my life and we get to take our dog for long walks even in the middle of the day. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Of course, running an online business takes time & effort, but the freedom it brings to your life is priceless. If you feel like online entrepreneurship might be for you- keep on reading.

In this post, I’m going to introduce 5 types of online businesses that can be started today & I highly encourage you- if you feel like any of the mentioned ideas might be for you- just go for it. Seriously, don’t wait any longer and start working towards your future right now!

Blogging Business

Becoming a blogger can open so many doors for you! Not only starting a blog can be the best career ever, it can also be a perfect way to earn some extra income! According to Payscale.com, a full-time blogger earns an average salary of $49,132 per year and with the industry growing continuously, you can expect this number to improve further as well.

I feel grateful every single day that I get to run a blog for a living. Here are just some of my favorite things I was able to do because of my blog and I really hope it will give you some inspiration to go for this:

• In the first year as a blogger, I was able to financially support myself fully while completing my bachelor degree. Even when I was crazy working on my dissertation, my online business brought me enough income to pay my bills and even to celebrate my graduation with some fancy bubbles! Read why I’m glad I’ve started a blog as a student over here.
• I’ve got my fiance to join me in this business venture and we’ve been working together for the last three years now. He’s the best co-worker I’ve ever had!
• We both got to travel to New Zealand and spend almost two months working from the back of a campervan & making a profit every step of our journey.
• We then got to spend some memorable blogging time in New York City where I’ve pretended to be Carrie Bradshaw and got to write some of my top blog posts in Manhattan’s coffee shops.
• Last year, we even got a chance to buy a land funded 100% from our blogging business.
• What I really appreciate the most is the fact that we get to live anywhere we want because of this blog. We just spent 6 months living in the tiniest fishing town, taking long walks in the forest every day and enjoying remote life to the fullest.
• Finally, I get to actually DREAM. This is the best part- the sky has no limits when you’re a blogger! Financially or creatively- having a career as a blogger gives you all the space in the world to grow, improve & reach your goals.

I think that gives you an idea!

I know…starting a blog might look like a hustle to you at this point, but in reality- it only takes 5 minutes if you follow this tutorial… Crazy right? Just 5 minutes and you can turn your life upside down. Blogging opened so many doors for me & I know it can do the same for you.

Service Based Business

If you already run a blog or have any kind of social media presence and you’ve noticed that your followers are commonly getting in touch with the same questions, you should consider offering paid online services. Whatever it is- successful blogging questions or style consultations- you might be able to create a service based business out of this. Perhaps someone needs you to put an outfit together for them or simply advice which dress might suit their body shape best? Your readers are inspired by your style/talent and they would be extremely happy to have you help them find theirs.

My first ever online business venture was writing speeches for younger students and submitting my work to them over e-mail. This happened almost 10 years ago. I’ve published a few ads online, delivered the work, got recommendations and this allowed me to make some extra cash and even sponsored a two week trip to Portugal! Of course, I didn’t take it very seriously at the time and didn’t plan to expand it any further, but this made me realize that making money online is possible and this is how I came back to building online businesses properly a few years after my first try.

I’m currently making regular income through my web design & blog consulting services as well as get to work with various brands in helping them promote the products.

And the thing is- I’m not that special! People all over the world are starting successful service-based online businesses every single day…

My 18-year-old sister is successfully making extra cash by offering her graphic design skills online.

My mom is working with multiple companies through her freelance accounting business.

My fiance often gets hired for custom programming projects.

These are just a few examples of the people around me & I’m not sharing their stories, because I’m so freakin proud of them. I’m telling you this because I want to inspire you. We’re a very ordinary family and if we can do it- so can you, my friend!

Think about your talents & brainstorm how your skills can be turned into services! Look, you can offer almost anything online these days! Whoever you are- a financial advisor, a dog trainer or simply have free time to help others- do it! If you’re already good at something- why not to share it with others? Be brave enough to put yourself out there & it will pay off, I promise!

Digital E-commerce Business

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you will know that I feel particularly excited about beautiful blog designs. For this reason, I created my shop where I sell Premade Blogger Templates + WordPress Themes.

Selling digital files proved to be one of the most profitable ways for me to monetize my online presence & here is why I think that selling digital products is a great way to make money online:

• It doesn’t require a huge start-up fund.
• You don’t need any storage space for digital products. Well, apart from some space on your server, of course.
• Starting an e-commerce shop is actually a fairly simple process. All you need to do is sign up for self-hosted WordPress, get a Woo-Commerce ready theme & start selling! You can follow this step-by-step tutorial which shows you exactly how you can launch your first online shop and start selling your own products/offering services today.
• The income that comes from selling digital files is mostly passive. Meaning, you will have to put some work in advance, but afterward- you can make the money even when you sleep.
• You can create something that would really benefit your community. This is the most rewarding part for me.

I understand that coming up with a profitable product idea can be a bit difficult, so just try to research what products your audience really needs. Begin with essential, low-priced items. Then carry out to develop more advanced products & continue to bring out more digital products to your audience as you go. Find more ideas for creating your own digital products over here.

Trust me, it will get easier once you discover the right product to sell, so don’t be afraid to introduce a few different options to your audience!

Affiliate Business

Affiliate marketing has been my second highest income source for the past year. I believe that it really is the best way to make passive income even while you sleep! For those new in the field, affiliate marketing is a way for a business to reward bloggers or online influencers for each sale brought by the blogger. Basically, once someone clicks on the affiliate link and buys something from your advertised website- you will get commisioned.

Check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course if you want to learn more about it! The course was created by Michelle who currently earns over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing. She shares all of her top tips in this course. You will find 6 modules, over 30 lessons, over 20 worksheets, bonuses, an extremely helpful exclusive Facebook group, and more! Michelle really goes through every piece of information you need to know in order to get into affiliate marketing. I was so happy to have found this course and learn from a real expert!

You can also make some decent cash collaborating with my own design shop! On kotrynabassdesign.com, we sell high-quality Blogger + WordPress themes as well as offer custom design services and we would absolutely love to have you on board as one of our affiliates!

Here are some key features of the program that should help you make up your mind:

• Earn 25% commission from every sale you refer if the customer buys within 30 days of first visiting our site through your link.
• Get unlimited affiliate support from our team.
• No minimal payout fees.
• Monthly payouts.
• All of our clients benefit from free installation services, so you can assure you’re recommending the most helpful team in the business.
• No products excluded, which means you can earn up to $200 + per single sale if you recommend our Custom Design Services.

If you’re a blogger that shares blogging tips or simply get questions about starting/managing/maintaining your online business- this program is for you! You can JOIN TODAY OVER HERE.

Our program is just one of many! You will be able to find quite a few affiliate programs, whatever the niche you’re in. It will take you time to create & promote your content, but if done right, starting an affiliate business can become extremely profitable way to make money online.

Dropshipping Business

Drop shipping is a retail method in which you don’t keep products in stock. Instead, you partner with a wholesale supplier that stocks its own inventory – you transfer customer orders and shipment details to them, and they ship the goods directly to the customer. The biggest benefit of drop shipping is you don’t have to worry about fulfillment or inventory issues as well as you don’t need to worry about investing in your inventory prior to making the sales.

This is the field I personally want to throw myself into this year and for now, I’m doing as much research as possible. From what I’ve discovered so far, I can already feel like this can be a great home based businesses to many of us, especially if you don’t have a lot of spare time.

According to Shopify, all businesses and entrepreneurs are unique, but it’s possible to generate a $1,000 – $2,000 monthly income stream within 12 months working approximately 10 to 15 hours per week building your business. Thus, even if you have a full-time job elsewhere at the moment or your personal life is a bit too busy at this moment- you can actually build a strong business framework with even a couple of hours a day.

What you should know straight away tho is the success of your drop shipping business comes down to your marketing skills. If you feel like you can be great with advertising & social media, you might wish to consider giving this business model a go. Just start doing your own research and read more about starting your first dropshipping shop over here.

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I know, coming up with the right idea for your online business can be hard & I highly encourage you to challenge yourself in a few different fields. Especially, if you feel like your initial ideas are failing. You never know what’s around the corner!

Let me know if you’re currently thinking of starting an online business! What are you struggling with the most? I’d love to help! Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments or contact me if you want to talk in person!