A lot has changed in the last few months. COVID-19 has had a huge effect on many businesses in many different industries, with lots of employees being placed on furlough and sadly even made redundant. I know that many people are looking to start a side hustle to bring in some extra money, or even to replace their previous income, so today I’m going to be talking about the best online businesses to start in 2021. Some of these ideas require little to no start-up cash, so you can get started now even if cash is a little tight at the moment!
4 Great Reasons to Start an Online Business
Before we get stuck in, let’s just take a look at why starting an online business is a good idea…
- Low Start-up Costs. Many online businesses have low start-up costs, due to the fact that they don’t always require office space, and have lower overheads in other areas too. For many of the businesses I have listed below, all you need is a website to advertise your services, which can cost as little as £3.14/month with Bluehost, and some of these ideas don’t even require you to have a website!
- Flexibility. Running your own online business gives you flexibility with your time that you just wouldn’t get working your 9-5 job. Want to start work at 11pm with a glass of wine in your hand? Go for it!
- No Commute. When you work from home, you will save hours of time each week that you would have spent commuting to your 9-5 job. Did you know that the average commute time in the UK is 58 minutes? And for train users, it’s closer to two hours a day when you count both journeys- that’s 14 hours a week, think what you could be doing with that time!
- You’re The Boss. That’s right, it’s your business so all the profits you make go in your pocket. No more slaving away to make someone else rich, you’re in control here.
Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links, which will provide me with a small commission (at no cost to you) if you make a purchase. I only recommend products I have personally used and trust.
Right. Let’s get started.
Virtual Assistant
Starting a Virtual Assistant business is one of the best ways to start making money online in 2020 and you will be pleased to know that the start up costs are low. You can take everything you have learned in your previous 9-5 job and use that knowledge to help out online businesses or small businesses who can’t afford to take on a full time employee.
What tasks can a Virtual Assistant help with?
The answer here is… pretty much anything! But let’s take a look at some popular tasks that virtual assistants typically help with.
- Inbox management and email correspondence
- Updating and posting to social media accounts
- Data entry
- Transcription
- Scheduling appointments
- Call answering
- Calendar Management
- Creating reports
- Creating documents and slideshows
- Proofreading and editing documents
- Blog Management
- Blog commenting
- Customer support
And much more!
If you’re confident in your skills, then all you will need to get started is a website, and social media accounts to start making connections and promoting your services. If you lack confidence and skills, don’t worry! There are some amazing courses out there that will teach you everything you need to know about becoming a Virtual Assistant.
If you don’t feel ready to start your own website yet, you can take advantage of Freelancer sites. My #1 recommendation for anyone looking to get started with freelance work is People Per Hour, where you can apply for one-off or regular online jobs. The only downside here is that they take a commission from your earnings, but let’s face it, they are doing all the hard work of finding the clients for you, so in my opinion, it’s worth it. I have found some of my best clients on People Per Hour, who I now have great long term relationships with!
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is one of my favourite ways to make money online. I don’t have any writing qualifications, and I didn’t have much experience when I got started, apart from the articles I had written for my own blog. I started out offering my writing services on People Per Hour, and that’s how I found some of my best clients! Once I had built up a decent portfolio I started pitching to companies looking for writers on LinkedIn, and landed a few more long term clients. These days I’m trying to cut back on the writing to focus on more passive streams of income, such as affiliate sales from my blogs (which we will discuss late in this article), however, freelance writing has been great for me, giving me the freedom and flexibility I always wanted.
How much money can freelance writers make?
The amount of money you make as a freelance writer depends on both your skills and experience. Freelance writers can earn anything from £0.03 to £1 per word, depending on the type of work they are doing, and who the clients are (for example writing blog posts or sales copy) and their expertise.
Online Personal Trainer
If you have a passion for health and fitness, then online personal training can be a great business to get into. If you don’t already have a level 3 personal trainer qualification, you can take either an online or in-person course, which will enable you to coach your clients confidently and safely.
Many people don’t have the time to go to a gym to work out, and would prefer to exercise at home. An online personal trainer can provide guidance to their clients, enabling them to exercise safely and effectively from the comfort of their own home. You can coach your clients through video calls and WhatsApp, and provide them with personalised exercise and meal plans. You can also monetise your social media with sponsorships, and create passive income by offering video courses that can be purchased online.
Social Media Manager
Most businesses in 2020 have an online presence, but many business owners struggle to keep on top of their social media and use it effectively to generate new business. A social media manager will create content and schedule social media posts, as well as create a social media strategy to help the business grow.
If you aren’t already experienced in social media, then you can take a course to learn everything you need to know about professional social media management. There are lots of great courses available on Udemy that will give you all the knowledge you need to start your social media management business.
How Much Do Social Media Managers Earn?
Most social media managers charge a monthly fee for their services rather than an hourly rate. This allows you to scale your business quickly and take on more clients as you get faster and put systems in place (such as using social media management software) to help automate and streamline your work. Social media managers generally charge between £100 and £300 per month for each social media platform. You can charge more if you experience or expertise in specific areas (such as Facebook Ads) and a portfolio of work you can show to clients to prove how amazing you are!
Ecommerce Store
More people are shopping online than ever, and with worldwide ecommerce set to grow to $6.54 trillion in 2022, there is no better time than now to start an ecommerce business. You will need to do some research to make sure there is a market for the product you want to sell, and then source your products. You can choose to source your products locally, or from factories abroad by using websites like alibaba.com to find the right products and order samples.
You can easily build your online store using Shopify. There is currently a free 90 day trial available so you can take advantage of this to experiment and build your website before you start paying.
Ebay Business
Many moons ago, Ebay was how I first started making money online. I did it alongside my 9-5 job, and at one point I was raking in around £1000/month selling second hand and vintage items on Ebay! I found my items at household and antique auctions, and sold them for a huge markup on Ebay to buyers around the world. One of the best things I bought was an old trumpet, which I paid £15 for, and sold for a massive £450!
It’s easy for anyone to get started selling on ebay. It’s free to set up an account, and you can start by selling things like old clothes and other stuff you no longer need. Once you get the hang of how it all works you can start to buy items with the intent to re-sell them online, such as:
- Items that are on sale in highstreet stores or supermarkets for a huge discount
- Second hand items from charity shops, car boot sales or auctions
- New items from wholesalers
The only downside to selling on Ebay is that you will need to make lots of trips to the post office, so it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Sell Your Crafts on Etsy
If you’re crafty then Etsy is the perfect marketplace to sell your handmade products. No matter what your craft is, whether it’s jewellery making, selling your art, clothing, and anything else you can make, you can start selling on Etsy right now. It’s free to create an account with an online store, you will just pay a small fee per listing. The great thing about Etsy is you will be showcasing your products to a huge audience of people who want to buy unique handmade products, and are ready to buy!
Sell Your Art Online
If you’re an artist, there are loads of ways you can make money from your art online. You can sell originals and prints of your work on Etsy, or on your own website, and you can also have your art printed onto products like mugs and T-shirts, and use print on demand sites to have them manufactured and sent straight to your customers so you never have to carry any stock.
Check out my article on ways artists can make a passive income online for more on this!
Matched Betting
This is a great option for anyone who needs some extra money but doesn’t actually want to start a full blown online business. You can dip in and out of this as much as you want or need to to suit your circumstances, and there’s no commitment.
Although the term ‘Matched Betting’ sounds a little sketchy, and you may even wonder if it’s a scam, but it’s actually a perfectly legal way to make money online by taking advantage of the free bets and welcome offers given away by bookmakers, for a risk free profit. Wondering how much money you can make matched betting? Newbie matched bettors can start making £300/month in just a couple of hours a week, and some people are even earning upwards of £1000/month.
You will need a small pool of money to get started with matched betting, so that you can actually place the bets, but you can get started with about £30, and let your profits build up from there.
You can find out more about exactly how it all works here in the Matched Betting tutorials by Profit Accumulator (My Affiliate Link). Profit Accumulator have a free trial where you can make over £45 with no obligation to sign up, and no need to hand over your card details.
Start a Blog
Starting a blog is my favourite option! I started my first Interior Design blog in 2013, and since then I have consistently earned money from sponsored posts as well as affiliate sales!
The main ways bloggers make money are:
- Working with brands on sponsored content
- Affiliate marketing
- Display ads
- Selling their own books or courses
If you want to start working with brands, check out this article on the three things brands are looking for from bloggers.
It’s really easy to start your own blog, but it’s wise to take guidance from more experienced bloggers if you want to start making money right away so you can make sure you are going about it all the right way.
One of the best blogging courses I have taken is Turn Your Dreams into Money by Emma Drew. I highly recommend this course if you are thinking about starting a blog to make money. Emma is a blogging pro, and her course will give you everything you need to start a successful blog, for a fraction of the price of other blogging courses. You can also find a whole world of information on how to make start your blog on My Blog My Business, also by Emma!
Publish an eBook
Publishing an ebook can be a great way to make passive income online. You only need to write the book once, and you can sell it an unlimited number of times. You can advertise your ebook on your blog or social media, and sell it using a tool like SendOwl, which can take payment for your ebook (or any other digital product) and deliver it to your customers automatically, so after you have done the hard work of creating the ebook, you can relax as everything else will be done on autopilot.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing goes hand in hand with blogging, although not every blogger chooses to monetise their blog through affiliate marketing.
What is affiliate marketing you say? It’s simply recommending a product to your followers. If someone buys the product you have recommended, you will receive a commission for the sale from the owner of the product/store. Commissions can start from 3%, but most retail stores offer commissions between 5-10%, and some digital products can offer upwards of 50% in commission per sale.
You can also promote your affiliate links on your social media, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, so if you have a large following on any of these platforms this could be a great option for you!
Membership Website
A membership site is a great option for anyone who wants to create a recurring monthly income. Members pay to be a part of your membership club, and in return they have access to a community or resources such as educational courses. Members pay their fees monthly so you would have recurring revenue every month from your active members. The other benefits of starting a membership site include building loyalty for your brand as you build long term relationships with your members, and high profit margins, since you are not selling a physical product.
Some ideas of types of membership sites you could create are:
- Business networking
- Coaching – Business or Life coaching
- Health and fitness – Workout and meal plans
- Weight Loss
- Learning new skills – Such as musical instruments, gardening, languages etc.
And more!
You can easily create your membership site using Podia. Podia gives you everything you need to run a successful membership website in one place, so there’s no need to stress about connecting different types of software together, it’s already included.
Create an Online Course
Much like an ebook, an online course is a digital product that you can create once, which will give you a passive income for many years to come. You can create courses on almost anything that you are knowledgeable about, for example; cooking, exercise, languages, design, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
You don’t even need to be an expert, you simply need more knowledge than the students you are teaching for your first course, and you can learn more as you go along.
You can create your first online course for free using Teachable. Teachable is in my opinion, the best online course software around, it’s easy to use for both teachers and students, and looks very professional. There are premium paid plans too but their free plan allows you to create and sell your first courses so you can see if there is a demand for them before moving up to one of the paid plans with all the features.
Start a YouTube Channel
People love watching videos online, and with over 2 billion users logged in each month, YouTube is without a doubt one of the most popular ways for users to consume video content online.
Anyone can start a YouTube channel, it’s completely free to sign up! You can create videos on anything you want, from vlogs (video diaries) to tutorials, music videos, news reports, comedy sketches, and more, to share with your audience.
But how do you make money on YouTube? Good question.
There are actually a couple of ways you can make money from your YouTube channel. Firstly from advertising, you can sign up for an Adsense account, which typically shows an advert before your video starts. The average pay works out at around $3-$5 per 1000 video views. Don’t expect to start making loads of money from ads straight away, but your income should grow steadily if you upload new content consistently – some YouTubers are making millions!
The other way people make money on YouTube is with affiliate marketing. Below your video you can include a description and links to any products you mention in the video, so it makes complete sense to use affiliate links here, so you earn a commission if anyone buys any of the products you are recommending!
Sell Stock Photos
If you have an eye for photography, then selling your photos could be a great money maker for you. You can either start your own stock photo website or membership site (if you have enough photos) or you can sell them through another stock photo site like Shutterstock.
A great example of some entrepreneurs who have created stock photo membership sites as businesses are Styled Stock Society, and Haute Stock.
Become an Instagram Influencer
If you already have a decent following on Instagram, then there could be a great opportunity for you to make money as an Instagram influencer. This is where you get paid to work with brands and showcase their products to your followers in their instagram posts.
Brands work with influencers who have both small and large followings, the main thing you need is a clear ‘Niche’ or topic for your instagram page, such as food, fitness, beauty or travel, so brands can clearly see who your audience is. Instagram influencers can get free products, as well as being paid for their content, and for instagrammers with large followings it can be very lucrative, paying around $700 per photo for followings of over 100,000, and increasing the larger the following is.
