10 Ideas to Start an Online Business or Earn a Fixed Salary

Well yes: online jobs are a real opportunity for those who want to start their own business (as a freelancer or entrepreneur) or find a fixed salary. But you need a winning idea to be successful.

As you know, many famous people have already taken charge of their lives and started an online businesses, turning an idea into reality starting with little starting money.

Just search a little on Google or social networks to find:

• employees who have changed their lives behind the keyboard of a Mac;
• visionary entrepreneurs who bet on the net;
• young people and housewives who have set up an online business from home, to supplement their salary.

Starting an online business or finding a fixed-salary job thanks to the web is not that difficult.

The point, though, is to make the business highly profitable. It takes little to start a home business, but a long time to be able to make real money.

However, with a little effort, passion to sell, some economic resources, and a pinch of luck, the results can come. The web is democratic, it offers opportunities to everyone.

TIPS :

1. register for Learn (7-day free trial) and follow the course Launching your Product or Business Online with the CEO & Founder Luca Mastella.
2. Read to the end NOT to forget the very delicate (and complex) issue of taxation and taxes on online businesses.

You have to know how to grasp them, but first of all, find them. So here are 10 online business ideas that you can start with little money and within a few months.

What are the best online businesses to start from scratch?

Hundreds of people ask themselves these questions every day: Can I work on the internet from home? What is the best online business to launch with little money? How do I find a job with a fixed salary, or to supplement?

Often it is the young or very young (even minors) who are interested, but the number of mothers, housewives, unemployed, and even retired people is also growing (do you find yourself too?).

In short, categories that would enter the world of online business from scratch, without experience. Is there room for them? Yes, if they are willing to learn.

The online business ideas that you find below could be for you:

1. whether you are looking to start your own business, but have little capital to back it up ;
2. or if you don’t want to be an entrepreneur, but dream of working with the web and earning a decent fixed salary.

Each of these activities will clearly require you to put yourself to the test and above all to learn new skills . It’s difficult, but not impossible: there are online courses (at affordable prices) that can teach you a digital job, or how to start your own business, in a few weeks or a few months.

Here are the 9 best businesses, professional or fixed salary businesses to start on a shoestring:

1. Social Media Manager;
2. Web Designers;
3. SEO specialist;
4. Copywriters;
5. Bloggers;
6. Open an online store;
7. affiliate marketing;
8. Selling courses;
9. Open a Podcast;
10. Create a subscription box.

1. Social media managers

The social media manager is the job, or the business, of those who know how to work on social networks in a professional way.

It’s one of the hottest topics in today’s business world: companies have realized the value of having a quality social media presence.

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, but also LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok are increasingly used and are mines of potential customers.

If you learn the job of social media manager well, then create quality content, grow social accounts, and channel the traffic of these accounts towards monetization, you will have a truly profitable business (or job).

Real pro tip: Focus on how one particular social platform works. The “social media expert” is less effective than the Facebook Specialist, the LinkedIn Special, or the Instagram Specialist.

Clearly, in addition to the branding work, images and text content, the marketing strategy you want to set up will take on much importance. It’s the one that will ultimately make the difference (and profit) if you start your online business as an entrepreneur (or freelance).

Recommended: 7 Profitable Business Ideas in 2023 that You Must Try

If, on the other hand, you plan to find paid work in some company or web agency, you can focus more on the copy, graphics, or trend analysis of your platform. Ultimately there will be someone else in the team (e.g. web marketing specialist) to give you direction.

This is an entrepreneurial activity or a job opportunity, that can be learned in a reasonably short time.

Start taking some social media marketing courses: online training schools offer dozens of paths to becoming a social media manager, and develop entrepreneurial and marketing skills.

2. Web design and graphic design

Web designers and graphic designers are other online businesses that have a large customer base and good profit margins. In the first case, you’ll be working on website design, while in the second you’ll find yourself creating images, infographics, landing pages, and anything else that requires a touch of style.

Learning the job, or setting out on your own as a web designer, will require some training, but there are a large number of web design courses online, as well as free tutorials on YouTube.

This business is interesting if you want to start your own business. You can find your own website-building agency, or you can freelance on various sites like Fiverr or Upwork, where companies are looking for skilled developers, programmers, and designers.

The average salary of a web designer is around €1,500 net per month: an intern receives €600 a month, and a senior web designer can even exceed €2,000.

If you are in nigeria and you want to learn web design with your smart phone you can check out my course

3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Another online job par excellence is that of the SEO Specialist, the expert in Search Engine Optimization (optimization for search engines). Knowing the rules for indexing and positioning a site for strategic search terms means having the access key to online business.

Who manages to be successful and earn on the net? Who knows how to be found by many people, at the right time, with the right answer. When millions of people search for a product or service online (like right now), those who rank high on Google searches make money.

Advertising, affiliate marketing, and online shopping: it all starts with an effective SEO positioning strategy.

How do you make money if no one can find you?

Therefore, SEO expert work is highly sought after, whether as a salaried employee or as a freelance online business.

But above all, it is easy to start. Take a good SEO course, then start practicing with some personal blogging or look for an internship to help you grow.

The Digital Coach training school periodically collects job offers on this page: take a look and apply, you may find your online job with a fixed salary that you are looking for. Otherwise, if you are looking for freelance jobs, you can sign up on the Fiverr platform.

Instead, to launch a business from scratch, you can open a website positioning company, or take advantage of the skills acquired with online courses to set up your own project: a niche blog, for example, and start monetizing with content creation.

Also Read: SEO WordPress: Plugins, Techniques, and Tips for Optimizing your site

It takes very little money, but it all starts with good training. There is nothing easy, but determination always pays off.

4. Copywriters

How important is knowing how to write online nowadays? Half of the marketing, search engine positioning, social campaigns, and website usability activities are based on good, clear, and persuasive copy.

The copywriter does exactly this job: he writes for blogs, websites, social profiles, companies, and advertising agencies, working the words to create a message. A mix of emotion, empathy, and persuasion that must induce the reader to act:

• request information;
• become loyal;
• to sign up;
• acquire.

Many businesses are in dire need of online writers. For this reason, being a copywriter can be a valid online business idea to start with very little money.

To become a copywriter or a web writer, all you need is a good writing foundation and attend one of the courses to become a copywriter, so as to acquire the basics of SEO, SEM, and digital marketing in the broadest sense.

5. Start a profitable blog

If you think of online business, the experience of influencers, fashion bloggers, travel bloggers, or food bloggers who have become successful and rich entrepreneurs thanks to the web immediately comes to mind.

Becoming a blogger is an online business idea that anyone can try. The first thing to do is open a blog, that is:

1. Find a topic for the blog; Click here
2. Choose the name and structure; Click here
3. Purchase hosting and domain ( this is one of the best worldwide);
4. Install WordPress; Click here
5. Choose a professional theme and blog plugins; Click here
6. Writing captivating, Xanderblog, monetizable content.

Making success and important earnings is not easy at all. A blogger must devote time and money to his website if he wants to achieve important results, like any business.

You need to find a strategy to monetize your content, for example by exploiting:

• the Ezoic advertising circuit (a free platform that allows you to increase revenue by 85% compared to the classic Google Adsense);
• working with affiliate programs.

The advantage is being able to work from home, with flexible hours and without huge investments.

It may be helpful to acquire some initial skills, and for this, there are courses for bloggers that teach every aspect of this holistic activity.

If, on the other hand, you aim to receive a fixed salary as a blogger, many web agencies are looking for writers who take care of their client’s corporate blogs in their online marketing and positioning campaigns.

6. Open an online store

Everyone buys online nowadays, you know that. What if you too opened an online store to sell your product (or someone else’s)?

Selling on the internet means launching e-commerce from scratch, working on SEO positioning and marketing (also spending some money), and setting up a potentially very profitable online business.

Caution. Starting and maintaining a shop is not easy, especially on the web. It’s a little simpler, sure:

• fixed costs are lower;
• you can help yourself with platforms like Shopify to launch your point of sale
• you have no employees or closing hours (your shop is open 24/7, including holidays).

However, you cannot expect easy earnings right away, much less fixed income. You need precise skills, communication skills, marketing, work with social networks, programming knowledge, and some healthy SEO for e-commerce.

Is opening an online store a profitable online business? No doubt, on paper it’s a solid “Yes” (ask Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon).

What makes the difference in a winning online shop? The quality of the product, the market niche you will choose to penetrate, and the ability to position yourself on the market.

7. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a potentially very lucrative business. It involves promoting third-party products or services to an interested audience, helping companies drive sales.

The affiliate can make use of web channels such as blogs, social channels, or other digital tools to suggest the purchase of products/services to their audience.

If a customer buys through an affiliate link, the company pays a percentage or flat commission to the marketer for the activity.

Amazon offers one of the most famous, simple, and general affiliate programs to start affiliate marketing.

There are industries that pay handsomely for affiliate marketing. It all consists in:

• open a blog, a social profile, or any digital channel that can reach many interested people;
• look for companies that offer affiliate programs;
• close the agreement and obtain the affiliate links (for the correct tracking of the customer journey);
• create content by suggesting affiliate products/services.

To make affiliate marketing a profitable online business, you need to train, and acquiring the basics of marketing, copywriting, SEO, and more. Why not check out some affiliate marketing courses to get you off to a good start?

8. Sell courses or become a Coach online

Online courses and coaching are becoming increasingly popular in Italy as well. There is a growing demand for quality training courses, especially among entrepreneurs and young talents eager to improve their skills, create content or grow their online businesses.

An online coach is a professional who helps people master new skills or make better decisions or both. If you have the right kind of knowledge and skills, you could start a good profitable business as an online coach.

From coaching, you can generate a good monthly salary, set up an online home-based business even with only one client at a time, and have the time to dedicate to your personal life.

If you have excellent skills in a specific sector or a niche, you can combine your consultant/coach activity with the sale of online courses.

Creating courses and selling them goes well with a consulting business or freelance work. In fact, once you set up your business, you don’t have to do much anymore.

The steps to create an online course are as follows:

• find a profitable niche, in which you are particularly expert;
• choose the platform to create courses. You can choose a customized solution (a little more expensive, but more profitable), or put your work on a course marketplace (cheap, but dispersive);
• carry out the course: drafting of the contents, video shooting, and final editing. You can also decide to create a written info product if you prefer;
• put it up for sale (always through the online platform).

Best platforms to sell online courses

Whether you want to start a full-time online job or just set up a part-time business and make some extra cash from home, becoming an online coach or selling courses can be a win-win.

9. Open a Podcast

Opening your own podcast is among the most sought-after online businesses of the moment, and probably will be throughout 2024. Radio and streaming platforms are pushing this new format of audio entertainment, which can prove to be a profitable opportunity for those who put it on. feet.

The podcast market is estimated to be worth $153.07 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 31.2%. This is thanks to the growing penetration of smartphones and the web.Acumen Research and Consulting Report

Building a business around your podcast isn’t easy. You need a good idea, professional equipment, and lots and lots of passion for slowly growing your fame and the community around you.

Don’t expect superfans to rain from the sky at first. However, if you can provide valuable, entertaining, or unique content in your niche, you could build a good community of loyal listeners. And that’s where the real business comes in.

Indeed, podcasting allows you to:

• work in affiliation with some brands;
• sell courses, ebooks, or info products you create;
• create promotional content for partner companies;
• offer coaching and counseling sessions.

Isn’t that enough for you? You can create exclusive content only for your most loyal fans, sell your podcast merchandising, and open a Patreon or crowdfunding channel to get financial support from your community.

How do you start? First, choose a platform like Spreaker or Rss.com, which give you the infrastructure to set up your podcast.

Think, write, record, edit and upload your work. You can get help from some professionals on Fiverr to streamline processes and improve the quality of the final product.

To grow your podcast quickly, you can consider opening a dedicated website, a YouTube or Instagram channel with related content, or a newsletter where you can collect contacts from your listeners.

Sendinblue is a great email marketing platform optimized for influencers, podcasters, and other freelancers creating online content.

10. Create a Subscription Box

Subscription boxes are a new online business idea. Companies and freelancers create thematic packages of various products and send them to subscribers on a recurring basis.

Subscription boxes are springing up abroad in practically every sector, from food to fitness products, from crafts to make-up. In Italy the market is still in its infancy and entering now could mean pioneering a profitable niche.

Online business: taxes and duties

When considering starting a freelance online business or a real business, such as dropshipping or e-commerce, the tax issue is often overlooked.

An online business is not exempt from taxes and tax obligations, which are often overlooked by the enthusiasm to work from home, make money while you sleep, or other such ambitions.

All are legitimate, but in order not to incur heavy penalties, you must be informed about the taxation of online businesses in Nigeria.

I’m not an accountant, however, I would like to give you some basic notions. It will be up to you to talk to an expert and verify your position before starting your online business.

Online Business: Freelancer or Entrepreneur?

Being VAT registered may not be the only tax obligation when starting a digital business. In fact, a distinction must be made between:

• professional online activity, i.e. as a freelancer;
• entrepreneurial activity, which is traced back to that of a merchant.

In the table you will find some examples:

If you work as a professional, that is, as a person who offers services, you don’t have to think of anything else.

However, if you carry out activities related to the sale of products, or intermediation (including advertising), you will need to configure your online business as a sole proprietorship.

To start a sole proprietorship you need to enroll in the register of companies in the chamber of commerce and in the INPS Merchant Management. The cost is €200 + VAT, in addition to the out-of-pocket expenses of the chamber of commerce rights. This is a cost that you will bear exclusively during the opening phase.

In some cases, the municipality where you work may require additional documents to open the business (SCIA), the cost of which can vary from €15 to €150.

The difference between the two configurations is especially important in the payment of contributions (read below).

Online business and taxation (flat rate scheme)

By opening a new business from scratch, in Italy you can choose to operate on a flat-rate basis (ex minima), which is quite advantageous since it allows you to:

• reduce bureaucracy;
• not be subject to the payment of VAT;
• pay a flat rate tax of 5% for the first 3 years and 15% thereafter, on a taxable portion of your income.

The annual turnover limit for a flat-rate online business is €65,000. Check with an expert if you are eligible to operate under this regime.

However, you can manage your online business on a flat-rate basis both as a freelancer and as a sole proprietorship.

Online business and INPS contributions

In addition to taxation, to carry out an online business it is also necessary to pay the INPS social security contributions.

This is where the distinction made earlier comes into play:

• as long as you are self-employed, the INPS contributions due are 26% and vary according to turnover;
• if you are a sole proprietor there are fixed contributions (about €200/300 per month) and they cover up to a certain gross income, after which they can become variable.

Again, the percentages and figures are determined by your ATECO code and other factors. For this reason, it is good to rely on expert accountants in the digital sector.

Finding work online without experience: 5 questions

When you have a business idea or the desire to work online, but little money, ask yourself these questions before starting work.

1. Is this a service-based job? If you don’t necessarily have to produce then you can start more quickly and without large initial investments.
2. Is this a business you can start cheaply? The less money you need to start, the lower the business risks will be (in this case, an online course is really enough to start).
3. Are there many people who need this service? Look for niches that are in high demand, as are all of the digital jobs we’ve listed.
4. Are the profit margins acceptable? Here you can generate a fixed salary or open your own online business and multiply your earnings if things go well.
5. Does this job offer me skills that will benefit me in the long run? If unfortunately, your online business goes wrong, you will still have acquired skills that can be used for the rest of your life.

If you were able to answer these questions in the affirmative, then the business idea is viable and can get off the ground with little initial capital.

When you want and if you wish.

Take a class. Open your PC. Get to work hard today.

Tomorrow the fruits will come.

Online Business Ideas – FAQ