Are you ready to start an online business that will allow you to make money online in 2024? You’ve stumbled on the right place! In this article, we’ll discuss 15 lucrative online business ideas that will help you make money from anywhere.
Most of these business ideas don’t require a lot of capital. You can even start some of them absolutely free. With dedication and drive, you can make serious money with any of these business ideas.
Ready? Let’s dive in to the best ways to make money online this year. And unlike other lists - this one focuses exclusively on online ways to earn money!
1. Freelance Writing
If you enjoy writing at all, you could give freelance writing a shot.
The costs to start are very low. You will need a computer and an Internet connection, and that’s about it.
With freelance writing, it’s helpful if you can pick a niche. Picking a niche will allow you to advertise yourself to a specific industry which, in a counterintuitive way, will get you more clients.
Healthcare, personal finance, e-commerce, and writing for real estate firms are just a few of the niches you can look into.
Watch the video below on how to start a freelance writing business from scratch.
2. Proofreading Or Editing
Maybe you're not the fastest writer, but you know what's right and wrong grammatically? Or maybe you are a whiz at fixing sentences so they make sense? That's where proofreading and editing come in.
There are a lot of options to become a proofreader, and you've probably never even heard about it until now. But websites, small business, and authors all need proofreaders. And this job can be done from anywhere - as long as you can read and reply!
If you're looking to get started, check out this course: Proofreading Launchpad. It will teach you everything you need to know, and help you try to land your first clients!
3. Website Designer
Even though we have a plethora of online tools that help even the least savvy of us to create great-looking websites, there is still a need for website designers.
But more than ever, website designers are needed who do more than just create WordPress or Squarespace websites for people.
For instance, Tiffany Tolliver of The EmmaRose Agency has positioned her web design business as a luxury experience that delivers high-converting websites for women who are experts in their fields and want to make more sales with stunning visuals and excellent web design.
She goes as far as planning professional photo shoots for her clients so they have pictures that immediately draw people into their brand.
Do you see how specific she got?
So you will be a highly profitable web designer who works from anywhere if you define your services for a specific niche and deliver more than just a website.
4. Online Ad Management
Are you a social media or marketing wiz? Do you know how to write short sentences that can garner attention? Maybe you can help small businesses (especially local businesses) create Facebook ads to promote their businesses. It sounds like it might be hard or confusing, but it really isn't.
Plus, you can easily learn how to do it. For example, you can join the Facebook Side Hustle Course, which is specifically designed for beginners to learn how to get started running Facebook Ads a side hustle.
With the rules you learn on Facebook, you can easily apply it to other social media platforms like Instagram.
Check out the Facebook Side Hustle Course here >>
5. UX Designer
Companies need user experience (UX) designers so they can create products that connect with the human side of people who will eventually buy and use a product.
Once you become a UX designer, you can offer your services to companies and get paid well.
6. Selling E-Books Online
If you love writing but you don’t necessarily want to become a freelance writer, you could write your own books and sell those over and over again online.
Platforms like Amazon and Kobo have now made it easy for people to self-publish their own books.
You will have to write the books and build a fan base for your books but once you have a system in place for those two things, you could have a very profitable business.
If you want to a bit "smaller scale", you could start by creating online printables that you can sell online. Our friend Julie Berninger sells Etsy printables to the tune of $1,000s of dollars per month - and she created an E-Printables course to show you how to do it as well!
The E-Printables Selling Course - Learn how to create online items to sell on Fiverr and Etsy in your first day of this online course that's proven to work.
7. Freelance Project Management
Have a project management certification? You could contract with companies to manage projects for them.
In some cases, a freelance project will go for months and so you’ll be able to enjoy a stable income while the project is ongoing.
And because you’re not tied to one company as a freelancer, you can have multiple clients.
8. Social Media Management/Marketing
Several businesses rely on social media marketing to get the word out about their business. The reality, however, is that business owners want to spend more time working on their business and not on doing all the social media marketing they need to do for their business.
This is where you come in.
A social media manager’s role includes a variety of tasks, including creating social content, scheduling that content, and shooting videos that will be used on social media channels.
As more social media platforms crop up and the older ones get better, the role and importance of social media managers will only grow.
9. SEO
Another profitable business idea that you can do from anywhere is to become a search engine optimization (SEO) expert.
Even though SEO is older than social media marketing, it’s still a powerful marketing tool for businesses.
If you can master the basics of SEO and help local businesses in your area get positive results, it can be very lucrative.
Check out the SEO Audit Course to get started on learning how you can start a profitable SEO side business.
10.Photography
If you love getting to know people and are good with a camera, photography could become your moneymaker.
Your biggest investment here would be to get the camera — typically a DSLR camera.
You will most likely also have to travel to your clients. You also have to factor time into editing the pictures you take.
Just like many of the business ideas on this list, you can get a niche as a certain type of photographer. You can become the go-to photographer for any of the niches below.
- Weddings
- Newborns
- Family photography
- Food photography
- Merchandise photography — for people who have e-commerce businesses
If you build up enough samples of your work and get rave reviews, you can get profitable with a photography business quickly.
11. Videography
Videographers create high-quality videos for their clients and they follow the same concept as photography.
Just like photography, you can create videos for various purposes in different niches.
Plus, things like B-roll film are becoming increasingly valuable as YouTube creators continue to need content!
12. Résumé or Cover Letter Consultant
Becoming a résumé or cover letter consultant is an excellent business idea if you have a background in human resources.
At any given time in this country alone, there are millions of people looking for high-level jobs.
Usually, those high-level jobs are tricky for candidates to navigate and their résumé is usually the hang-up.
You can provide résumé appraisal or consulting services and make a good living.
13. Create and Sell Courses Online
Creating and selling online courses is another great way to make good money from anywhere.
The biggest drawback when it comes to online courses is that you need to have an audience to promote it to.
If you are an influencer or already have a following online, course creation is a powerful way to monetize your online presence.
I’ve also seen people who have no audience at all create online courses and then use Facebook or Instagram ads to promote their course.
This implies you need a lot of money to get people to become familiar with you enough to buy the course. This can be a good strategy, but you have to know what you’re doing.
Alternatively, you could create a bunch of courses on online marketplaces like Udemy and Skillshare. These platforms already have students who are interested in buying your course, so you don’t need to go find or create an audience.
The downside of online learning marketplaces like Udemy and Skillshare, however, is that the platforms sell your courses for very cheap — sometimes for as little as $2.
The only way to break even on those platforms is to create multiple courses (as many as 20 or more).
Regardless of the path, however, if you have all the right pieces, online courses are a great source of income.
14. Copywriting
I separated this from freelance writing because while a lot of copywriters are freelancers, not every freelance writer is a copywriter.
A copywriter is someone who writes content that makes people buy things.
Copywriters, therefore, are hired by other business owners to write ads for social media or TV advertising. Copywriters are hired to write the sales pages you see when you go to buy a digital product online.
Your copywriting skills can make your client millions of dollars; if this is the case, you will get paid very well.
You can train yourself to become a copywriter by reading books like The Adweek Copywriting Handbook or by taking a course on Udemy.
15. Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
Starting a business around data science and artificial intelligence will require that you know data analysis programs like R and Python.
If you can master these programs, you can easily become a consultant for companies and charge good money.
Did any of these business ideas spark your curiosity? Let us know which one in the comments below.
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared toward anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Today, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Claire Tak Reviewed by: Chris Muller