February 21, 2020
Top 8 Online Businesses To Start in 2020 & Why
Anyone can start a money-making online business—anyone with a computer, that is. And here’s the catch: essentially no business or marketing experience is needed and best of all, you don’t need a lot of startup capital.
In today’s world, there are plenty of tools and resources you can use to build an online business that makes the technical work a lot easier than it was in the past. In fact, you can get many internet businesses up and running with zero to little costs because so many free services simplify the process.
Do you have the urge to start a business but not sure as to what business to start? You have a million ideas and you’re having a hard time getting them out of your head and implementing them. What I have found is that coming up with a good business idea is often one of the hardest hurdles for most women.
Women are increasingly seeing entrepreneurship as a compelling alternative if a career path appears stunted and every single day more and more women are wanting to start online businesses and be their own boss. According to the Harvard Business Review, there are 126 million women entrepreneurs impacting the global economy and that number is expected to grow exponentially in the years to come. Women are looking to leave their daily grinds for something that’s exciting and feeds their passion. I often times speak with women who talk about their hopes and dreams of creating a business but not sure as to where to begin.
If you’re looking to start a business and need some ideas, here I’m sharing the Top 8 Online Businesses that women are killing the game in and how you should get started in 2020.
1. Start a Blog and Monetize It
Blogging is one of the fastest growing business trends on the internet. I personally believe that anyone can create a successful, inspiring, and profitable blog if they’re willing to put in the work, remain dedicated and consistent, and always keep learning how to do things better. Starting a blog isn’t as difficult as it may seem. However, there are still a lot of people that do not know how to get started. Most of them end up spending a lot of money without achieving the desired result they need.
My decision to starting my online business and learning how to blog and begin making money from it (on the side of my full-time job), is what led me to building this platform and eventually helping others do the same. Here on my website, I walk you through my easy to follow step-by-step instructions to starting an attractive and professional looking blog and getting readers to love your content. It will require a little work on your part and a very small amount of money, but if you dedicate the time and effort now, you will be set on a path that can lead you in the direction you never thought was possible.
There are thousands of bloggers out there who make six figures and sometimes seven by writing about their passion, experience, and/or expertise.
Here are a few popular blogs that I like to read often: xoNecole, The Huffington Post, Ruth Soukup’s Living Well Spending Less.
2. Affiliate Marketing in 2020: What It Is and How You Can Get Started
At its core, affiliate marketing has been around for ages. In the grand scheme of things, it is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make.
Affiliate marketing is a wonderful business opportunity. Besides, the list of reasons to do affiliate marketing and the benefits of it are nearly endless and here are three:
1. THERE’S NO FULFILLMENT
When you make an affiliate sale, you don’t have to do anything. The product owner handles all the fulfillment. That means there are NO emails to send, NO refunds to process, NO logins to reset, and NO customer service. You get to serve your tribe without all the hassle. Easy right?
2. THERE’S NO RISK
If you set out to create a physical product, there is an inherent risk. Most of your expenses are front-end expenses, meaning you pay them whether you make any money or not. With affiliate marketing, on the other hand, you typically have little front end expenses (or none at all). How awesome is that?
3. YOU DON’T HAVE TO WAIT TO MONETIZE
Selling your own products takes a LOT of time. Time to learn what people want. Time to package the product (physically or digitally). Time to create marketing materials. It takes time, more time, and time after that. Unlike your products, however, you can start monetizing your platform from day one with affiliate marketing.
3. Start an Ecommerce Business
Over the past several years, Ecommerce has transformed how people buy and sell online. The Internet provides a fast and easy way for people to purchase things without having to visit an actual store. An online store can reach customers anywhere in the world. In fact, online shopping has become so popular that many vendors sell only online with no physical location.
If you are quite the fashionista that loves prints and color pallets and you want to be your own boss all while working from home, consider starting an online clothing boutique. If you don’t want to deal with managing inventory or owning a warehouse to store products, you can even consider Dropshipping.
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping allows a business to operate without maintaining inventory, owning a warehouse to store their products, or even having to ship their products to their customers themselves. How it works is that the retailer partners up with a dropship supplier that manufactures and/or warehouses products, packages the products, and ships them directly to the retailer’s customer, on the retailer’s behalf.
In simpler terms:
- The customer places an order for a product on the retailer’s online store.
- The retailer automatically or manually forwards the order and customer details to the drop-ship supplier.
- The drop-ship supplier packages and ships the order directly to the customer in the retailer’s name.
With this route, less capital is required and the biggest advantage to drop-shipping is that it’s possible to launch an eCommerce store without having to invest thousands of dollars in inventory up front.
Platforms such as Printify, Oberlo, Printful, and Shopify makes starting an online boutique super easy.
4. Professional Coaching and Consultations
Professional Coaching and/or Consulting has been getting a lot of attention recently. It has the opportunity to create wealth, and it’s very easy to get off the ground. With coaching and consulting businesses, I’ve seen people make plenty of money without a ton of experience.
Coaching and consulting are both extremely fun business models that allow entrepreneurs to help others to grow something and/or make massive changes in their lives. It can be for individuals, teams, and organizations in the workplace. There’s evidence that shows that it’s a powerful development approach that leads to positive change, results and excellent source of income. There’s no greater feeling than knowing a client of yours succeeded.
However, in order to be a successful coach, you must have a concrete personal brand, vision, and message that captures your clientele and that speaks to their biggest wants, needs, and desires. So if you consider yourself an expert or are passionate about something, you can certainly convert your expertise into some serious cash.
You can offer 1:1 private coaching or consulting services, and exchange dollars for hours. Or, to leverage your time, increase your hourly income, and reach more people, you can offer services in a group format. You can also build online products such as e-books or courses. With those, the work is ‘front-loaded,’ meaning you do a lot of work up front, but can then collect income for a long period of time.
Below I have listed several types of coaching/consulting businesses.
- Business Coaching & Consulting
- Career & Professional Development
- Corporate/Organizational Coaching & Consulting
- Life/Success Coaching
- Productivity Consulting
- Coaching & Training for Professional Organizers
The time has never been better to start an online business as a coach or consultant. When you bring your expertise online, you can reach people around the world and influence many more people than you could in a traditional business.
5. Freelancer Virtual Assistant
Want to put your organization and communication skills to work from the comfort of your own home? The good news is that busy professionals need your help — and are willing to pay for it. As a virtual assistant, you could make a successful career out of helping people and businesses with data entry, social media management, website maintenance, research, customer service and more. Websites like Fiverr, Upwork, and FreeUp are great for finding freelance virtual assistants in various locations and are great for project-based tasks.
As a freelance virtual assistant, you can make as little as $400 and as high as $1500 per month. Because there are differences in costs of living, virtual assistants located in the US or in the UK will cost more.
My Personal Experience with Freelance Virtual Assistants
Some of my best virtual hires have been freelancers that I have used on Fiverr. I’ve worked with quite a few just within the past year on a variety of projects including graphics, content writing and editing, and web development and have been thoroughly pleased with the services rendered and customer satisfaction.
If interested in starting your own freelance Virtual Assistant business, below are a list of go-to services for connecting freelancers with business opportunities:
6. How to Start a Podcast for Fun & for Profit
Given podcasts’ ability to attract and keep an audience, it’s no surprise that business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers are looking to capitalize on the popularity of this platform. More people are listening to podcasts than ever before, and it keeps growing every year. As a podcaster, you can position yourself as an expert on a particular topic, which will help you influence clients and customers in ways that encourage them to purchase your products and services, invest in your business, or promote you to their peers. A podcast generates money for the creator via advertisements, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, donations, premium content, as well as selling your own products. Listeners can also pay to get access to ongoing podcasts, bonus material, and extra episodes.
Podcasting is a fun way to connect with your audience, promote your business, and showcase your expertise. Below I list out 8 simple steps you need to take in order to start a successful podcast.
If you have a business or brand and you’re trying to build, it’s important to look at all of the different ways you can communicate to your audience and podcasting happens to be a great avenue to do so.
7. Motivational Speaking
Is being a motivational speaker your next career opportunity? When you think about your life’s journey, have you considered what you’ve done? Have you defied the odds? If so, motivational speaking is a great way to tell your story and actually get paid to for it.
Motivational speakers are communication professionals who speak about their life experiences. Their messages are meant to inspire, motivate, inform, advise, and benefit listeners. As a part of my platform, I offer motivational speaking as a service to tell my story as a scientist, as a black woman in STEM, and how I started The Nerdy CEO.
In order to become a great motivational speaker, you should brainstorm about experiences and events that will grasp the attention of a large or small audience. The idea is to have a message that is valuable to the listeners. Ask, why do people want to hear what I have to say? Make sure that the audience can relate to and appreciate the message. If the message is unique and motivating, people will happily pay money to hear what you have to say.
Motivational speakers speak at corporate events, professional meetings, government functions, schools, resorts, and conventions. I personally have spoken at a variety of different venues, from K-12 schools to colleges and universities, and community organizations.
Public speaking is not for everyone. Some people have a fear of public speaking while others get severe butterflies. Some people can only speak to an audience if they imagine the crowd totally naked. Being a motivational speaker is challenging work that demands a confident, honest, educated, and articulate individual with a warm personality.
8. Selling Handmade Goods
It is not uncommon to turn a hobby into a business. In fact, more and more people are considering this as another stream of income. Selling handmade items online is a great way to be both creative and run your own business. The craft and handmade items community has grown from a relatively small niche to a full-grown online industry in the past several years from selling clothing and other fabrics, fragrance items (i.e. soaps, oils, and candles), jewelry, pastries, and wood products.
If you have ever thought about selling your crafts or turning your crafting passion into a part-time or full-time business, there are things to consider in how to start a craft business. You will have to research the most profitable crafts to make and sell. You want to make sure that your product is marketable, in demand, and cost-effective to make.
Typically no special permits are needed for you to make your goods or crafts at home as long as you do not disrupt your neighbors. However, if you live in a residential area, and suppliers, delivery services, and buyers regularly come and go from your home, you might need a special license.
If you decide to sell your items online, you will need a website and a host. To sell physical goods, you will need a service that can securely handle e-commerce transactions and credit card or PayPal processing.
Alternatively and/or additionally, you can sell your crafts on sites like Etsy, Amazon, eBay, and many others. At these sites, you register as a merchant and pay some combination of a participation fee to list a product and a “closing” fee when you actually sell something.
A clear plan is essential for success as an entrepreneur. It will help you map out the specifics of your business and discover some unknowns. The overall objective is to start a business that fills a need and a few important topics to consider are:
- What are the startup and ongoing costs?
- Who is your target market?
- How long it will take you to break even?
- What will you name your business?
Most people who are just starting out make the mistake of looking for a product first, and a market second. To boost your chances of success, start with a market. The trick is to find a group of people who are searching for a solution to a problem, but not finding many results.
The internet makes this kind of market research easy:
- Visit online forums to see what questions people ask and what problems they’re trying to solve.
- Do keyword research to find keywords that a lot of people are searching, but don’t have a ton of competition with other sites.
- Check out your potential competitors by visiting their sites and taking note of what they’re doing to fill the demand. Then you can use what you’ve learned and create a product for a market that already exists — and do it better than the competition.
I really hope you’ve found this blog post extremely helpful. Most importantly, I hope that it has sparked a fire in you to consider exploring the many options out there. The possibilities are endless.
Like what you have read?
Click here to purchase our Think Like a Boss: Ultimate Guide to Starting a Business eBook.
Loading...
