by Niall Doherty- Updated: April 4, 2025
by This is the definitive article about how to make money online.
On this page you’ll see ideas and examples for earning a few dollars 💵 to millions per month 🤑 on the internet. At the end I’ll also tell you the best way to get started (click here to find out now).
The info you’ll find here is based on…
- My experience earning a living online since 2010 (including $1M+ from my latest business)
- 1000’s of hours researching ways to make money online
- Input from 1000’s of entrepreneurs we’ve worked or corresponded with over the years
We’ve structured this article according to the 6 levels and 19 types of online business.
The framework laid out here will give you a solid overview of the online business landscape.
Think of it like a map 🗺 showing you the key features of each territory.
Use the map to cut through confusion and overwhelm, and decide which type of online business is the best fit for your goals and abilities.
Keep in mind…
- To see the big picture, don’t focus too much on the details.
I’ve zoomed out here to show you the lay of the land. Later we’ll zoom in to see specifics, exceptions, and nuance. - I use a loose definition of “business” for this framework.
For example, if you have a remote job, you’re an employee; you don’t run your own business. Still, I’ve included Remote Job as a type of business, with the reasoning that it deserves recognition and discussion as a way to earn a living online. (Same with everything in Level X.) - Not every online business fits neatly into one of the 19 types listed below.
Bigger businesses especially tend to operate as more than one type. You’ll find some examples of this at the bottom of the page.
19 Types Of Online Business
We can break those down into 6 Levels
Generally speaking…
Level 1 = Novice
Okay for side income or beer money, but hard to earn a living.
Level 2 = Intermediate
Best for earning a living online when you’re starting out, but hard to scale.
Level 3 = Advanced
Easier to scale and higher income potential, but you usually need significant investment of time and/or money upfront.
Level 4 = Superior
Even more scalable and even higher income potential, but also more complex / difficult / expensive.
Level 5 = Distinguished
Most complex / difficult / expensive, but the rewards here can be massive.
Level X = Wildcard
These are the misfits. Many aren’t even considered businesses in the traditional sense, but they are all ways to make money online. You typically need a lot of time, money, or luck to succeed with anything here.
👆 Again, those are generalizations 👆
It’s entirely possible for, say, an exceptional L2 business to out-perform an average L5 business. And some exceptional people might find it easier to build a L5 business than a L2 business.
But we’re more concerned with the big picture here, about what’s generally true.
You’ll see the quick and easy opportunities listed first. As you scroll down, the earning potential tends to increase, along with the level of difficulty.
⚠️ None of the real-world examples on this page represent how much money you would earn with a similar business; their purpose is simply to show you what’s possible.
🗂 GetPaidTo – Level 1 / Novice
Often abbreviated to GPT, this is the type of work pretty much anyone can do online. You rarely need specific skills or qualifications.
Popular GPT tasks include completing surveys, watching videos, or participating in research studies. The offers tend to be small and frequent or big and rare. Each offer gives you the chance to earn or save money.
Complete Online Surveys
Swagbucks is the best site we’ve found for earning money with online surveys…
Tom Blake
- YouTuber
- $2 – 6 per hour via Swagbucks
There are also many other ways to earn there (eg. playing games, scanning receipts, etc.)
Watch Ads
You can earn a little money watching ads via the Freecash website or app.
It’s a popular app that’s well reviewed by YouTubers like Mikael here…
Mikael
- Founder of PaidFromSurveys
- $18 – 36 daily earnings via Freecash
After signing up for Freecash – it’s free – go to Earn > Offer Partners > TimeWall
That’s where you can get paid for watching ads 👍
Participate in Online Research Studies
Respondent is a popular site for finding the occasional paid research study…
Consistent-Notice192
- Respondent.io User
- $10,000+ earnings from Respondent
Provide Feedback on Social Media
You can earn a side income working for Appen as a social media evaluator, or doing other microtasks…
TEZR
- YouTuber
- $22 approx hourly earnings on Appen
Become a Mock Online Juror
Sign up to OnlineVerdict and they’ll notify you when attorneys in your area need people for a focus group or mock trial…
Ahmed
- Online Juror
- $150 via OnlineVerdict
Earn Cash Back Rewards
This is basically “getting paid to spend money” but it can be worthwhile if you use cash back offers for things you planned to buy anyway, like gas or groceries.
For example, the Chase Freedom Unlimited card offers a $200 bonus if you spend $500 in the first three months, plus 1.5% cash back on purchases.
Rob Berger has accumulated a hefty balance just from saving and investing his credit card rewards…
Rob Berger
- Finance YouTuber
- $30,767 credit card rewards balance
You can also earn rewards from shopping platforms like Rakuten, which offers up to 40% cash back at over 2,500 stores like Macy’s, Old Navy, Apple and Nike…
Kerry Kuten
- Online Shopper via Rakuten
- $30 welcome bonus on first purchase
🗂 Contests – Level 1 / Novice
With these opportunities you’ll be competing with others online to win cash prizes, typically by providing a service to clients who pick the winners.
You do the work upfront and get paid if your performance is deemed good enough.
Enter Naming Contests
Come up with a great name for a business on Atom and you’ll get paid…
Artie Atom
- Naming Creative on Atom
- $195 average prize money
Enter Branding Contests
Atom also hosts branding and identity contests. The prize money for these is also pretty good…
Annie Atom
- Branding & Identity Creative on Atom
- $202 per contest won
Enter Design Contests
If you have some web or graphic design skills, a design contest might be right up your alley.
99designs is the most famous site for design contests…
Albert Annan
- Design Contest Participant at 99designs
- $488 estimated earnings per contest won
DesignCrowd is similar but the prize money’s a little less…
Danny DC
- Contest Participant at DesignCrowd
- $187 average per contest won
🗂 Remote Job – Level 2 / Intermediate
A remote job is like having a regular office job, but you can do it from anywhere (usually at home).
You would be a full- or part-time employee of a company, working from your computer. Some remote jobs allow you a flexible schedule and freedom to travel, while others have strict work hours and/or require you to live in a specific country or time zone.
You’d typically get paid a salary.
Some examples of people with remote jobs…
Chloe Na
- Remote Engineer
- $130,000 annual salary
Chris Nolan
- Remote Accountant
- $40k – $71k estimated annual salary
Alex
- Remote Implementation Consultant
- $85,000 annual salary
Turn Your Current Job into a Remote Job
If you work a regular office job, you may be able to negotiate a remote work agreement.
Jake was able to do just that and now works from home instead of a cubicle…
Jake Bartlett
- Remote Customer Success Manager
- $41k – $104k estimated annual salary
For tips on negotiating a remote work agreement with your current employer, see chapter 12 of The 4-Hour Workweek.
Failing that…
Find a Remote Job
Pretty much any job that can be done from an office can be done remotely these days, and you’ll find plenty of remote job openings posted online.
Here are the best remote job boards to find a remote job fast…
🏆 Best Remote Job Boards 🏆
| Website | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Indeed | 4.36/5 |
| 2. | Monster | 4.25/5 |
| 3. | LinkedIn Jobs | 4.03/5 |
| 4. | FlexJobs | 4.01/5 |
| 5. | ZipRecruiter | 4.01/5 |
| See the full list » | ||
🗂 Freelance – Level 2 / Intermediate
As a freelancer (or contractor) you’d be building and running your own business.
You would use specific skills or training to provide an online service. Clients or agencies would pay you for your time and/or output.
You might hire other people to help you out occasionally, but you’d be doing most of the work yourself.
If you don’t want to get a remote job, freelancing is my #1 recommendation to get started earning a living online.
Freelance Your Existing Skills
You probably already have skills you can freelance online.
For example, if you’re a good writer, you could try publishing articles on Medium (they pay by read time)…
Thomas Smith
- Writer on Medium
- $5000 monthly revenue
Or if you have decent social skills and enjoy teaching, you could help people learn a language on iTalki…
Zee Chew
- iTalki Community Tutor
- $40 per hour
You can earn even more on iTalki if you have a language teaching certification (like TEFL)…
Esther
- Language Teacher
- $5000+ estimated monthly income
Or you could start freelancing the same skills you used at your 9-to-5 job.
For example, this lady picked up social media + graphic design + video editing skills in previous jobs, then earned good money with those same skills as a freelancer…
Naailah Dawood
- Upwork Freelancer
- $40 per hour
To be clear: you will have to learn additional skills to become a successful freelancer – the skill of “getting clients” being the most crucial – but leveraging your existing skills can get you earning good money fast.
Learn New Skills You Can Freelance
This can be done faster than you might think, given how easy it is nowadays to learn new skills via inexpensive or even free online courses.
A great example is Ibrahim Zafar, who taught himself video production on YouTube, then built and sold a 7-figure agency in 4 years…
Ibrahim Zafar
- Founder of Lens End Media
- $1 Million annual revenue
Kristi DaSilva taught herself the ins and outs of 2 popular software tools and now earns good money as a freelance consultant…
Kristi DaSilva
- Consultant
- $300 per hour
Speaking of consulting, I reckon one of the best opportunities nowadays is to become an automation consultant, like these guys…
Mike Cardona
- Automation Expert
- $200,000 annual revenue
Sami Abid
- Freelance Automation Manager
- $6,000 monthly revenue
Becoming a virtual assistant (VA) is one of the most common ways people start freelancing.
Kate Christine confesses to being mostly self-taught as a VA and now earns a good income helping influencers…
Kate Christine
- Virtual Assistant
- $9,544 revenue in 1 month
To give a more extreme example of a self-taught freelancer, this hacker from Canada earns big money helping major companies improve their cybersecurity…
Eric Head
- Ethical Hacker
- $35,000 average monthly revenue
Offer a Productized Service
A popular way to boost your freelance earnings is to offer a productized service.
For example, Ahsan Sohail sells his business plan writing services as several “products” on Fiverr…
Ahsan Sohail
- Fiverr Seller
- $110,000+ estimated revenue
When you sell a productized service like Ahsan, each project you work on is quite similar, making it easier to optimize your workflow and thereby earn more money in less time.
You can do similar on Etsy.
This lady has productized her psychic reading service and has racked up 300,000+ sales over the years…
Psychic Amanda
- Etsy Seller
- $20,000 estimated monthly revenue
Work with Groups
Another way to scale a freelance business is to offer the same service to a group of clients rather than working with each of them individually.
For example, Sarah Stewart started offering group coaching in addition to one-on-one coaching and was able to work with lots more clients.
Sarah Stewart
- Time Management Coach
- $4500 average monthly revenue
Or how about this lady, who hosts online video game parties for groups of kids…
Devyn Ricks
- Founder of Miss Devyn's Video Game Universe
- $22,000 estimated monthly revenue
🗂 Agency – Level 3 / Advanced
Think of this as the evolution of a freelance business.
As an agency you would still have clients, but instead of doing all the work yourself you’d build and manage a team to do the work.
Grow a Freelance Business into an Agency
This is how most agencies begin.
Felix Norton started off building a website for his dad and then one of his friends. His business gradually evolved into a digital marketing agency…
Felix Norton
- Co-founder of Woww
- $110,000 average monthly revenue
Similar story with Joel Young, who went from freelance to agency with his animated explainer videos…
Joel Young
- Founder of JumpStart Video
- $75,000 approximate monthly revenue
Dive straight into the Agency model
This is likely a less viable path – freelance first seems to be the norm – but it is doable.
James Sowers started out this way with his podcast repurposing agency, finding paying clients for the service then outsourcing the work to contractors…
James Sowers
- Founder of Castaway.fm
- $20,000 monthly revenue
🗂 Referral – Level 3 / Advanced
With this kind of business you’re the middleman (or woman) connecting buyers and sellers. You are not the customer, nor do you ever own or provide the end product; you are the bridge between the two sides.
You usually get paid a commission or finder’s fee.
Start a Niche Website
Niche websites focus on a specific topic and mainly generate income by referring visitors to third-party products and services via affiliate marketing and/or display ads.
For example, Hasib Alic drives traffic from a Facebook page to a niche website and monetizes with display ads…
Hasib Alic
- Founder of Strevio
- $60,000 revenue in 30 days
And here’s a website that shows solutions to a popular newspaper word puzzle…
LetterBoxedAnswers.com
- Website
- $5000+ estimated monthly revenue
Instead of starting from scratch, another option is to buy and grow an existing niche site…
Buy a Niche Website
For example, Toni Manolache bought a tiny niche site that now earns him a nice monthly income with little ongoing work…
Toni Manolache
- Owner of Jimpl.com
- €1000 monthly revenue
Try Affiliate Marketing Without a Website
Instead of building out a full niche website, some people find success promoting affiliate offers via paid ads or social media.
This lady on TikTok is a prime example…
Brooke
- TikTok Influencer
- $50,000+ estimated monthly revenue
She shows off various products that you can buy via TikTok Shop, earning a nice commission for every sale 🤑
Generate Leads for Local Businesses
This is sometimes known as Rank and Rent SEO. You would create a website that generates leads for local businesses, and get paid per lead.
For example, Ian Hecht’s website generates leads for dumpster rental companies…
Ian Hecht
- Founder of Dumpster Rental Enterprises
- $2.1 million annual revenue
🗂 Resale – Level 3 / Advanced
This is another “middleman” business but here the customer sees you as the owner of the product and they deal directly with you.
You still don’t create the products yourself; you buy and resell, or you order from the creator/manufacturer on behalf of the customer.
You make money by selling at a higher price than you buy.
Start a Dropshipping Business
Dropshipping is probably the most famous type of resale business.
⚠️ Looks like it’s harder to succeed with dropshipping nowadays, but people like Ben are still finding success with it…
Ben
- Dropshipper
- $100,000 monthly revenue
Resell with Amazon FBA
Luu Nguyen had great success with this, starting his business while still a medical student and building one store to $150k in monthly revenue in only 3 years…
Luu Nguyen
- Ecom Entrepreneur
- $150,000 monthly revenue
Luu uses a combination of Amazon FBA strategies: retail arbitrage, online arbitrage, and wholesale.
Resell on eBay
Dave Pelayo has done this with clothing and electronics, sourcing items at local flea markets and garage sales…
David Pelayo
- eBay Reseller
- $12,464 gross profit in 100 days
Of course, there is a significant offline component to Dave’s business – he stores his items in a warehouse and ships to customers himself.
Resell a Digital Product
Jason Hamilton finds classic literature with expired copyright, creates an original translation or annotations with AI tools, then sells his version of the work on Amazon…
Jason Hamilton
- Author
- $9000 revenue
Flip Domains
The glory days of domain flipping seem to be long gone.
Unless you have a time machine, you’re not going to replicate the success of someone like Glenn Stokes. He bought the domain plants.com for dirt cheap in 1995 and sold it for a bundle 23 years later…
Glenn Stokes
- Domain Flipper
- $450,000 sale of one domain
However, domain flippers like Reza Taheri show that it’s still possible to flip domains for a respectable profit in a few months…
Reza Taheri
- Domain Flipper
- $4514 revenue in 9 months
Flip Websites
This is more complex than flipping domains but it can be a solid way to make money online if you have the right skills.
Like Georgi here, who started his website in 2021, grew it to 300,000 visitors per month, then sold it two years later for 6 figures…
Georgi Todorov
- Founder of Thrive My Way
- $102,000 sale price
Georgi started his website from scratch, but it’s also possible to buy and flip an existing website.
For example, Jake Ward bought a site for $18K and grew it to an $88K valuation within a year…
Jake Ward
- Serial Entrepreneur
- $2,250 average monthly profit from sports website
🗂 Authority – Level 4 / Superior
An authority business draws and holds attention online, and they can monetize that attention in various ways.
It’s basically any business with a significant number of followers or subscribers. Think of influencers or experts providing entertainment, information, or inspiration, to the point where people keep coming back for more.
In an authority business, the owner or brand is usually better known than any particular product or service they provide.
Start a Podcast
You might think you need millions of listeners to earn good money from a podcast.
But Harry Duran’s super-niche podcast earns $727 per episode with only ~2000 listeners…
Harry Duran
- Founder of the Vertical Farming Podcast
- $80,000+ revenue
Start a YouTube Channel
The trick here: focus on educational content.
Mary Spender
- Musician
- $9491 from one YouTube video
Mary Spender earned almost $10K from this one guitar review video on her channel…
Compare that to only $6000 earned from 66 videos of her original music 😱
And you don’t need a big channel to make good money on YouTube.
Conor Martin earned $1000 from one deal despite having only 25 subscribers…
Conor Martin
- YouTuber
- $1000 from one sponsorship deal
That said, pure entertainment content can also work on YouTube.
For example, Kat Fogler filmed herself reacting to horror movies and was earning about $2000/month within a couple of years…
Katherine Fogler
- YouTuber
- $2000 estimated monthly revenue
One such video…
Start a Faceless YouTube Channel
Prefer not to show your face on camera?
You can still earn good money on YouTube with faceless videos.
For example, all the videos on this channel are uploads of public record police bodycam footage…
PoliceActivity
- YouTube Channel
- $10,000 estimated monthly revenue
A typical video…
Amazingly, that channel has actually been demonetized on YouTube.
Instead of earning money via the usual ads, they earn via a Patreon community and Amazon affiliate links 😎
Another example of a faceless YouTube channel…
Football Creator
- YouTuber
- $2000 monthly revenue
That video creator revealed that he earned $5500 from this one video alone…
Become a Social Media Influencer
If you can build up a big following on social media, you can probably earn a good income.
This couple started asking people on the street how much money they make and posted the responses on TikTok…
Hannah & James
- Founders of Salary Transparent Street
- $1 Million annual revenue
Their audience grew rapidly and within a couple of years they we pulling in $1 million in revenue, mainly from partnerships with companies like Indeed and Capital One 😳
Building up an audience also allows you to jump on and monetize hot trends.
Another couple leveraged their 350k combined followers on Instagram and TikTok to sell $45,000 of unofficial Hawk Tuah merch within a week…
Blaine and Courtney Toler
- Influencers
- $45,000 estimated revenue in 6 days
Create an AI-Generated Social Media Influencer
Like this person on Reddit who created two AI influencers / models and monetized them via Patreon and Fanvue (an OnlyFans alternative)…
u/heyoslea
- Entrepreneur
- $12,402 revenue in 1 month
Build an Authority Website
An authority website = a website that is recognized as the authority on a certain topic.
For example, JetPunk is a well-established quiz site that earns a ton of money…
JetPunk
- Quiz Website
- $1.1 Million estimated annual revenue
Start a Telegram Channel
Maria has several Telegram channels, in Russian and English.
Her first and most profitable is about data analysis. She shares her experience and useful resources, and monetizes with sponsored posts.
Maria
- Data Analyst
- $5000 monthly revenue
Build a Comparison Website
keeb-finder.com is a relatively new website that’s off to a hot start…
Patrick Hallek
- Founder of KeebFinder
- $2000+ estimated monthly revenue
Patrick’s site lets you compare and buy mechanical keyboards, and has become a go-to destination for people who are into that sort of thing.
Build a Database Website
One example…
Trademarkia
- Website
- $5 million annual revenue
That site basically provides a much better user-interface for all the publicly available data on the USPTO website, then sells a bunch of products and services related to that.
Another example is Oasis, an app/website that reports on water quality 💦
Cormac Hayden
- Founder of Oasis
- $20,000+ monthly revenue
Start an Email Newsletter
Email newsletters are an add-on for many websites but they can also be the main event.
Jess Campbell’s newsletter helps nonprofits make more money via email…
Jess Campbell
- Founder of Out in the Boons
- $400,000 annual revenue
She’s earning a great income despite having only 4000 subscribers.
Meanwhile, Andrew Curtain started a newsletter about the UK construction industry and got a $13K sponsorship right out of the gate…
Andrew Curtin
- Founder of Construction Wave
- $13,000 from one sponsorship
🗂 Digital Product – Level 4 / Superior
With this kind of online business you’d be creating and offering a digital product, not a service. Think information products or self-hosted software.
You’d sell the product directly to the customer, usually for a one-time fee, or make money via ads, donations, that kind of thing.
Write and Sell an eBook
Yes, it’s still possible to make money online this way.
Josef Strzibny is a good example, earning most of his income from ebooks related to software development…
Josef Strzibny
- Software Engineer
- $9849 revenue in 1 month
Amazingly, people are also having success selling AI-generated ebooks…
ArtificialCreativity
- Etsy Store
- $45,000 estimated revenue
Create and Sell Printables
This lady earns a nice income by selling private label rights templates and printables on Etsy and her website…
Mallaury Agyei
- Founder of Premium PLR for Bloggers
- $5000 monthly revenue
Create and Sell an Online Course
Emily Reagan started off freelancing her marketing skills, evolved her business into an agency, and then into an online course for digital marketing assistants…
Emily Reagan
- Course Creator
- $275,000 annual revenue
Similar story for Eli Jones, who started off running a real estate media business, spending several years taking photos and videos of real estate properties for estate agents.
Then he started teaching others how to do the same thing, and has since earned millions from his online courses…
Eli Jones
- Serial Entrepreneur
- $6+ Million revenue
Create and Sell a Game
This guy from France proves that you can make a decent living as an independent game developer…
Drazglb
- Indie Game Developer
- $18,766 revenue in 3 weeks
While Jonas from Germany has taken indie game development to the next level…
Jonas Tyroller
- Indie Game Developer
- $1.5 Million revenue in 2 months
Create and Sell Templates
Lots of ways you can do this.
This guy sells Notion templates with a service upgrade…
Xavier Coiffard
- Founder of UserBooster
- $52,000 estimated revenue
This website makes a killing with Excel templates…
Spreadsheets Crafter
- Website
- $190,000 estimated monthly revenue
And recently I’ve seen several people doing well by creating and selling Framer templates…
Tibor Bregman
- Web Designer
- $20,000 revenue
Build a Mobile App
This gamified productivity app has more than 2 million paying users…
Forest
- Productivity App
- $100,000+ estimated monthly revenue
There are even profitable mobile apps for pets, like this iPad game for dogs…
Jolly Dog
- Tablet Game For Pets
- $7000 estimated monthly revenue
Build a Niche App
Paperback is a comic reading app for iOS created by a kid in Pakistan and monetized via Patreon…
Faizan Durrani
- Founder of Paperback
- $4,675 monthly revenue
Goes to show that even super-niche apps can earn a decent income.
Build an Extension or Plugin
The idea here is to piggyback on an already-popular software, like Google’s Chrome browser or WordPress.
For example, this chap earns some nice passive income from 2 simple Chrome extensions…
Glen Chiacchieri
- Browser Extension Developer
- $1000 monthly revenue
And this guy has made 21,000+ sales of his WordPress plugin at $30 a pop…
Nishant Agrawal
- Creator of FormCraft
- $400,000+ approximate lifetime revenue
Create and Sell Music or Audio
Ant Chamberlain went from $0 to $20k/month creating and selling his beats online…
Ant Chamberlain
- Music Producer
- $20,000 monthly revenue selling beats
⚠️ But those days may be coming to an end.
AI-generated music is taking over the industry, but people are still finding ways to monetize…
Beats By AI
- AI Music Channel
- $518 estimated monthly streaming royalties
Create and Sell Photos or Videos
You can do this on stock photo and video websites.
However, it seems to be a tough way to earn money nowadays.
As Alexandre can attest to…
Alexandre Rotenberg
- Photographer
- $750 average monthly revenue
🗂 Physical Product – Level 5 / Distinguished
With this kind of business you would produce physical goods – or get them produced to spec – then sell them via an online store or marketplace.
Of course, most physical product businesses are not 100% online, but the ideas and examples listed in this section all have a significant online component.
Start a Print On Demand Business
This is something of a hybrid of digital and physical products. You would create the design or artwork that would be printed onto physical goods – t-shirts, mugs, whatever – before being shipped to the customer.
A third-party service like Printful or Merch by Amazon would handle the printing, packing and shipping.
Here’s an Etsy store earning good money by selling prints of old art pieces with expired copyright…
VintageWallGraphics
- Etsy Store
- $17,000 estimated monthly revenue
Create and Sell a Private Label Product
To create a private label product you would find a manufacturer who already produces something similar, and have them produce a slight variation for you.
Add some good branding and marketing to the mix, and you’re off to the races.
For example, Spencer Haws loved thin pillows but couldn’t find any he liked.
So he found a manufacturer on Alibaba, got a bunch of samples, and ended up earning $1 million overall…
Spencer Haws
- Serial Entrepreneur
- $15,000 monthly profit
Sell Your Arts and Crafts Online
This is often done as a side hustle.
For example, this Slovenian programmer creates and sells “handmade busts of influential people” via an Etsy store…
Matic Jurglic
- Software Developer, Entrepreneur, Artist
- $4000 average monthly revenue from Etsy store
Mass Produce Your Own Physical Product
Cathryn Lavery from Ireland 🇮🇪 is the creator of the Self Journal, a physical notebook that sold a ton of units before Cathryn eventually sold the business itself…
Cathryn Lavery
- Founder of BestSelf Co.
- $45 Million company sale
Create and Sell Customized Physical Products
Karen here proves that this can be big business…
Karen Frederick
- Founder of Kole Jax Designs
- $1+ Million annual revenue
Her business sells personalized jewelry.
Another example is this stone carver who creates gravestones for pets…
Rodney Melton
- Founder of Melton Memorials
- $200,000+ annual revenue
Crowdfund Your Physical Product
You can do this via sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
You’ll see some big success stories on those sites – ie. companies doing slick campaigns and raising millions – but small creators like Becca are also doing well…
Becca Jones
- Founder of RebelJones
- $15,731 revenue via Kickstarter
Becca has run several campaigns to fund the initial production of products like pins, journals and even a plush toy.
She’s raised about 2x her target amount over the years, giving her confidence that there’s demand for her products before she invests much time and money.
Start a Subscription Box Business
Subscription boxes come in all shapes and sizes.
Alex Brittingham and his partner loved cats, so they created a subscription box service for that niche…
Alex Brittingham
- Co-founder of CatBox
- $30,000 monthly recurring revenue
Each delivery contains toys and treats for your feline friend.
Think about a subscription box service you wish existed.
How about creating it yourself? 🤔
🗂 Cloud Service – Level 5 / Distinguished
With this kind of online business you would own some software, infrastructure or platform and give people continuous access to it via the cloud.
You’d monetize by charging an access fee, selling ad space, selling user data, that kind of thing.
Software as a Service (SaaS) seems to be the most popular and, I’d argue, by far the most accessible kind of Cloud Service business, so I’ll mainly share SaaS examples in this section.
Build AI-Powered Software
Seems every software business worth its salt has some kind of AI built into it nowadays.
AnimeGenius is one example, an AI-powered anime generator that allows users to create anime-style artwork in minutes…
AnimeGenius
- AI-Powered Anime Generator
- $12,000 monthly revenue
Even more impressive: it reached $12K MRR within a year of launching 🚀
Build Productivity Software
Software that helps people be more productive or efficient = a good recipe for success.
Jason Chan built a flashcard app to help students study…
Jason Chan
- Founder of memo.cards
- $27,000 monthly revenue
Build Software Without Coding
You no longer need to be a programmer to build software.
Ambar Shrivastava built his app with no-code tools…
Ambar Shrivastava
- Founder of CoverDoc
- $10,000+ revenue
As did Ken Savage…
Ken Savage
- Founder of JobMate
- $4000 monthly revenue
Build a Hosting Business
Traditional web hosting companies fit here, but a more relatable example would be Tiiny.host, a service that lets you upload static files and quickly turns them into a live website…
Philip Baretto
- Founder of Tiiny Host
- $5000 monthly revenue
Build Collaboration Software
Cecilia Razak’s software helps teams come together.
Cecilia Razak
- Founder of Slides With Friends
- $40,000 monthly recurring revenue
Think slide-style quiz and trivia games but you can join in like it’s a Zoom call.
Build Sports Software
Live Tourney is an app that lets golf courses ⛳️ organize tournaments and track scores…
Matt Robinson
- Co-founder or Live Tourney
- $36,000 annual revenue
Meanwhile, Elite Hoops lets players and coaches share plays and drills…
Jordan Morgan
- Founder of Elite Hoops
- $3000 monthly revenue
Build Freemium Software
Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, a form builder app that she launched with her partner. You can use a free version or pay a subscription for premium features.
Marie Martens
- Co-founder of Tally
- $100,000 monthly recurring revenue
Build Embeddable Software
FAQWidget is a tool that can be embedded in any website.
It leverages AI to create FAQ sections in a few clicks, and started earning a decent income right out of the gate…
FAQWidget
- Embeddable AI Tool
- $1000+ revenue in 7 days
Build Piggyback Software
That’s software built on existing popular software or an existing popular platform.
For example, AI2sql adds a specialized layer to ChatGPT and earns a nice income…
Mustafa Ergisi
- Founder of AI2sql
- $6000 monthly revenue
Another example is Uplisting, software that plugs into sites like AirBnB and Booking.com to keep all your bookings and availability in sync…
Vinny Breslin
- Founder of Uplisting
- $3 million annual recurring revenue
Build Niche Software
How’s this for niche: Buena is property management software for the German-speaking market…
Din Bisevac
- CEO of Buena
- €1 Million ARR every 12 days
Another example is ClinicSense, a software platform that helps health and wellness practitioners run their businesses…
Daniel Ruscigno
- Co-founder of ClinicSense
- $5 Million annual revenue
Buy and Flip a Software Business
This guy did that a couple of times…
Deepak Mehta
- Serial Entrepreneur
- $35,000 estimated profit
One software business wasn’t monetized when Deepak acquired it, but he got it to $500 MRR pretty quick and sold within 6 months for 3x the original purchase price 🤑
The other business was making $300 when acquired, Deepak got it to $30K ARR before selling for “almost 2x” what he paid.
🗂 Marketplace – Level 5 / Distinguished
Think of a marketplace business as the evolution of a referral business. You’d own an app or website that makes it easy for “buyers” and “sellers” to meet each other.
Many marketplaces monetize by taking a cut of each transaction or by charging for membership or listings.
Start a Job Board
This might be the most common type of marketplace business, and we’ve seen lots of people having success here by focusing on specific niches.
One of Nithur’s job boards focuses on jobs related to AI…
Nithur Mahendran
- Founder of Mo AI Jobs
- $5000 monthly revenue
Peter Askew is the guy behind a ranching job board that earns thousands of dollars each month…
Peter Askew
- Founder of RanchWork
- $399,109+ revenue
RailsDev is a “reverse job board”…
RailsDevs
- Reverse Job Board
- $4000 monthly revenue
Reverse job boards shift the focus by showcasing candidates’ profiles and interests rather than job listings.
So instead of candidates actively seeking jobs, companies browse a carefully curated database to find potential hires.
Start a Physical Products Marketplace
Some big physical products marketplaces that have been around for years…
- Amazon
- Ebay
- Etsy
Then there’s Boom & Bucket, a marketplace for heavy equipment like cranes and bulldozers that launched in 2020 and has grown rapidly…
Adam Lawrence
- CEO of Boom & Bucket
- $188 Million annual revenue
Build a Digital Products Marketplace
Famous marketplaces that mainly sell digital items…
- CodeCanyon (scripts, plugins, code snippets)
- Gumroad (ebooks, software, etc.)
- Udemy (online courses)
Paul Edelman was a NYC public school teacher when he had the idea for Teachers Pay Teachers, a site that lets teachers buy and sell educational resources like lessons plans, worksheets, printables, etc…
Paul Edelman
- Founder of Teachers Pay Teachers
- $10+ Million annual revenue
Start a Services Marketplace
Similar to a job board, but “services marketplace” is another way to think of it.
A good example is Simply Eloped, a site that connects couples with venues and vendors for elopements or small weddings…
Janessa White
- Co-founder of Simply Eloped
- $1.4 Million bookings in year 3
Build a Directory Website
Hive Index is a directory of online communities. So basically a marketplace that connects communities and potential members.
Fed
- Founder of Hive Index
- $1500 estimated monthly revenue
It’s monetized in a few different ways, including site sponsorships.
Build a Dating Website or App
The trick here is to go niche.
Like this Muslim dating app that has done well in Somalia…
Guurdoon
- Dating App
- $10,000+ estimated monthly revenue
🗂 Social Network – Level 5 / Distinguished
With this kind of business you’d provide an online platform that people would use to build social connections with others who share similar interests, goals, backgrounds, whatever.
Usually several monetization options for a social network business.
Most of the well-known social networks – eg. Facebook, Reddit, X – are essentially big message boards monetized with ads.
Create a Free Online Forum
Once upon a time, there were thousands of independent forums and message boards populating the internet.
There seemed to be one for every possible niche, operated and moderated by people passionate about their chosen topic.
I’m sure many of those people made a decent living from such forums as well.
But big social media sites like Reddit have since replaced them all 😔
Reddit
- Discussion Platform
- $348 Million quarterly revenue
And unfortunately, there’s currently no reliable way to monetize your own subreddit.
⚠️ So while it might still be possible to eke out a living nowadays by starting a free online forum, I wouldn’t recommend trying it.
Start a Facebook Group
While monetizing a subreddit is almost unheard of, monetizing a Facebook Group is not.
Dave Smith grew his own social network (this Facebook Group) within an existing social network (Facebook) and monetized by eventually directing people to his paid training…
Dave Smith
- Founder of YunaPRO
- $1.9 Million revenue
Start a Paid Community
Skool is a popular platform for this nowadays.
Alberto here has a paid community on Skool that helps insurance agents increase their revenue…
Alberto Riehl
- Founder of Predictable Premium 100%
- $397,803 monthly revenue
Last I checked, that community had 399 members paying $997/month = $397,803 per month 💰
⚠️ Take extra caution with the opportunities below ⚠️
You typically need a lot of time, money, or luck to succeed with any of them – and many aren’t even considered businesses in the traditional sense – but I’m including them to be thorough.
🗂 Trading – Level X / Wildcard
With trading you’d be trying to profit from financial markets using short-term strategies.
Day Trading / Swing Trading
Day trading = buying and selling stocks within a few minutes or hours.
You’ll find the occasional success story here, like this guy…
Ross Cameron
- Day Trader
- $15,000+ profit in 20 days
Then there’s swing trading, where you buy and sell stocks over the course of a few days.
Some people have success with this as well…
Ryan Hildreth
- Swing Trader
- $9192 weekly profit
However, the largest studies done on short-term trading show that you’re unlikely to earn any money this way.
Poor Donnie here is representative of the typical trader…
Tommy Trader
- Day Trader
- $0 or even less
Forex Trading
Here you’d be buying and selling currencies online (eg. US Dollars or Euros), aiming to sell for more than you buy so you can earn a profit.
Anthony Alvarenga has had exceptional results with this…
Anthony Alvarenga
- Forex Trader
- $12 Million revenue
Crypto Trading
This is like forex except you’d be trading cryptocurrencies (eg. Bitcoin or Ethereum) instead of traditional currencies.
Craig Percoco is one of the few regular crypto traders I’ve seen doing well…
Craig Percoco
- Crypto Trader
- $1.7 Million revenue
🗂 Investing – Level X / Wildcard
Here we’re talking about investing money in digital assets or financial markets for the long term. Think months, years, or even decades.
You can profit if the value of your investment increases enough over time, or if you invest in successful companies that pay dividends.
Buy and Hold
A classic example of someone buying and holding investments for a long time…
Ronald Read
- Investor
- $8 Million portfolio
Read never earned much money – he worked as a gas station attendant and janitor – but regularly invested in stocks and lived frugally.
When he died at age 92, people were shocked to discover he’d amassed an $8 million portfolio!
Robo-Advisors
Robo-advisors are automated investment services. You set your investment goals and risk tolerance and let the algorithms do the rest.
Popular robo-advisors include Betterment and Wealthfront.
This guy invested $64,525 over eight years and earned a nice return…
Jongho
- YouTuber
- $28,160 earnings via Betterment
Dividend Income
Lanny below has bought shares in scores of businesses over the years.
Thanks to the regular dividends earned from those investments, he and his wife earn a nice passive income each year…
Lanny
- Investor
- $45,000 annual dividend income
Alternative Investments
Online platforms like Fundrise let you invest small amounts in real estate projects and earn returns.
Another alternative investment platform is Kickfurther, where you can finance inventory for ecommerce startups.
This guy put in $20,000 and has a balance of $27,000 three years later.
Danny Rusteen
- Investor
- $7000 profit
That’s a return of 11.67% per year.
🗂 Esports – Level X / Wildcard
Esports is playing electronic games for money. You would usually compete with other people in organized tournaments.
For the purposes of this article, we’re only interested in esports that are played online (ie. not in big arenas packed with spectators).
Online Video Game Tournaments
17-year-old Peter Kata has earned quite a bit of money playing Fortnite…
Peter "PeterBot" Kata
- Fortnite Gamer
- $455,000+ tournament winnings in 1 year
And almost half of his earnings come from online tournaments.
Playing Poker Online
Poker pros like João Vieira seem well capable of winning big in online tournaments…
João Vieira
- Professional Poker Player
- $54,358 winnings from 1 online poker tournament
Playing Chess Online
Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has done nicely, earning almost $1 million from online chess tournaments alone…
Hikaru Nakamura
- Chess Grandmaster
- $35,000+ estimated monthly revenue
🗂 Betting – Level X / Wildcard
By betting I mean placing a wager on a certain outcome and winning money if your prediction proves correct. This is similar to gambling (see below) but not purely based on luck. Your skill, knowledge or ability can influence whether you win or lose, sometimes significantly.
Sports Betting
Frank Civittolo is one of the rare few who earns a significant and consistent income betting on sports…
Frank Civittolo
- Professional Sports Bettor
- $100,000+ annual profit
Bet On Yourself
With HealthyWage you can bet money that you’ll reach your weight loss goal. Win the bet and they’ll pay you a cash prize.
Mariana A
- HealthyWage User
- $10,899 prize money
Other sites and apps where you can bet on yourself:
🗂 Gambling – Level X / Wildcard
Gambling is playing games of chance for money. You can’t influence the results; they’re totally random. You pay to play and get paid if you win.
Gambling problem? See our guide about how to stop gambling.
Online Lottery
Apparently you’re more likely to get struck by lightning ⚡️ than you are to win the lottery.
But rare stories like this from theLotter – a website that lets you buy lottery tickets online – keep people playing their lucky numbers…
Aura Dominguez Canto
- Online Lottery Winner
- $21 million jackpot winnings
Online Casino Games
Here we’re talking about playing games like slots and roulette online.
Most likely you’ll lose money playing these kinds of games.
This lady is one of the few believable examples I’ve found of someone winning big playing online slots…
Deborah S
- Online Slots Winner
- $150,180 online slots winnings
🗂 Multi-Level Marketing – Level X / Wildcard
With this type of online business you’d be a salesperson for an MLM company that sells physical or digital products.
You’d make money by selling the company’s products, but the big earnings come from recruiting other salespeople and getting a percentage of their sales, then a percentage of sales from the people your recruits recruit, and so on down the line.
Become a Multi-Level Marketer
⚠️ Actually, best not do that.
You can find occasional MLM success stories, like this one…
Erik Johnson
- Multi-Level Marketer
- $16,000+ monthly income
But Erik notes that he has 200,000 people on his team, all of whom must be earning less than him.
Plus, every study I’ve seen on MLMs – and I’ve seen quite a few – shows that the average participant earns very little money.
Masha here shows what kind of earnings you can expect if you join an MLM…
Marsha MLM
- Multi-Level Marketer
- $0.67 average hourly earnings
The best way to make money online?
Let me wrap this up by clearly mapping out the most reliable path for you to build a successful online business.
This comes not only from my own experience, but also from the experience of 1000’s of people I’ve worked or corresponded with over the years.
This is the path of least resistance, the path I’ve seen work best for most people, so it’s likely to work well for you.
Step 1
Get your income flowing consistently with a Level 2 online business…
That means becoming a freelancer or getting a remote job.
Those are the quickest and easiest ways to earn a living online, and you can even do a bit of both at the same time.
Step 2
As you gain experience, increase your rate 📈 and reduce your hours 📉
You want to get to the point where you only have to work 15-20 hours per week, at most, and earn enough in that time to cover all your expenses and have some money left over.
Step 3
Once you get to that point, you’re free 🥳
Now you’re earning a comfortable living working part-time hours, and you can spend all your free time off traveling the world and having loads of mad adventures (that’s what I did initially).
Or… you can spend your free time building a Level 3-5 business.
Because those ARE businesses worth building.
Yes, they are more challenging, and yes, they take more time to get off the ground – which is why I don’t recommend trying any of them right out of the gate – but, if you’re anything like me, you won’t want to play the entrepreneurial video game on easy mode forever.
So think of remote work and freelancing as stepping stones – albeit very important stepping stones, but stepping stones nonetheless – to bigger and better online business models.
You start small, make things easy on yourself, get some money flowing, free up your time, gain some experience, and then move on to the big leagues 💪
