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Ten internet business ideas to help you make money on the side

With rising prices and the continued squeeze on wages, many people are looking for an extra source of cash.

And the good news is that starting up a business on the side is easier than ever before. It's not always true that it takes money to make money. In today's connected world, there are dozens of possibilities for online businesses that can be set up on a shoestring and run part-time. Indeed, recent research from Direct Line for Business has found that eight million of us are already doing so.

And more such 'bedroom businesses' are appearing every day, according to jobs marketplaceFreelancer.co.uk. Earlier this year, it carried out a research study which concluded that the number of new spare-time start-ups rose by a third over the previous year.

And, the study found, the average start-up cost of such a venture was just £325. Respondents gave a number of reasons for the low cost, but the main two are obvious: the lack of need for office space, or for retail space when selling online.

"Starting a microbusiness online is easier than ever, and is less risky with small start up costs," saysFreelancer.co.uk European director Bill Little. "Many of the people in this study set up businesses alongside their own jobs, hiring in freelancers for short projects to help get the business off the ground, before leaving their job to run the business full time."

Some such businesses are essentially online versions of traditional companies - selling home-made goods, for example - while others are new to the digital age. We look at some of the options.

1. Sell something home-made

There's been an explosion in the quantity and quality of hand-made goods available in recent years, and all thanks to the internet. It's no longer necessary to open a shop or secure deals with retailers: just create a website and start selling. Making it even easier are sites such as Etsy or Not On The High Street, which act as a marketplace for your wares. Costs vary from site to site, but can involve a joining fee, a charge for each listing and/or a percentage of sales.

2. Online trading

You don't need to make something yourself to sell it online. So many people now make an income buying and selling on eBay that they have their own independent trade organisation, the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA), whose members are turning over more than $400 million a year. Some make their money by cutting out the middleman, buying goods from wholesalers and selling them direct to the public. Others use their expertise to source, say, vintage clothes or antiques cheaply and sell them on at a profit.

3. Become a freelancer

Many specialist jobs are now routinely put out to freelancers working from home. Particularly in demand are technical skills such as website design, programming and software development, along with graphic design and marketing. Numerous agencies exist to match freelancers with jobs, including Freelancer.co.uk, Freelancers.net and People Per Hour.

4. Teaching

The advent of video calling services such as Skype has made it far more practical for teachers to offer lessons online. There's a rapidly-growing market for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, who can sit at home and tutor children halfway round the world - it's particularly popular in China, Korea and Japan. Some of the bigger players are Englishtown, Telelangue and Global English. Teachers can set their own hours, and many go on to set up their own small online schools.

5. Become a virtual PA

These days, there's really no need for a PA to be in the same town as his or her boss, let alone in the same room. There's also an increasing demand for part-time secretarial or admin support. As with teaching, there are several agencies that offer such virtual PA services, but many people simply start up by themselves with one or two small clients. Unlike teaching, though, it can be hard to find work that fits round an existing job.

6. App development

Had a brilliant idea for an app, but lack the technical skills? If your idea's good enough, you won't need them. It's now possible to hire top-notch Indian programmers to design an app for you at a fraction of the cost in the UK.

7. Write an e-book

With the advent of ebooks, writers stopped needing to win agents and editors over - and self-publishing stopped meaning vanity publishing. Many people have a rejected novel under the bed, or a store of specialist knowledge just waiting to be written down. Publishing options include Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Smashwords and iBooks.

8. Start a blog

This isn't one for a quick return - very few blogs ever make any serious money, and those that do generally take years. But if you have something you're passionate about, it can be worth a try. Drive traffic to your blog using social media, search engine optimisation and internet marketing and eventually - with a bit of luck - it becomes possible to make money from advertising and affiliate links.

9. Start a membership site

If you're an expert in your field, you can charge a monthly fee for access to an information-based website. Successful sites offer articles, seminars and member forums and can become highly profitable.

10. Data entry

Not one for the faint-hearted, as the work can be repetitive and low-paid. It's important, too, to do your research before taking on work, as it's an area associated with a number of scams. But start-up costs are low, timing is completely flexible, and the only skill required is fast and accurate typing.

http://money.aol.co.uk/2013/10/08/ten-internet-business-ideas-to-help-you-make-money-on-the-side/

A Little Home Business Anyone Can Start. I'll Show You How. Real Income.

Hobby Turned Home Business

Man Profits from His Love for Photography and Video

Dan Weiniger isn't afraid of heights. He has worked in high finance at the American Stock Exchange in Manhattan, in high calories as the owner of two ice cream shops in Florida, in high selling of life insurance, and now in high tech as the owner/operator of Home Video Studio in Westfield, NJ. For nearly three years now, Weiniger has been building his home-based business skyward by providing video services — from simple tape/DVD transfers to complex editing — to a host of clients, both personal and corporate.

So how did Weiniger end up working on a quiet street in his two-story colonial after the bustling environs of Wall Street? Like many franchisees (or studio owners, as they're called), he found his way to Home Video Studio by way of his love for photography and video as a hobby and by his vision of making an impact in his customers’ lives. Weiniger, who grew up in New Jersey, obtained his degree in finance from Arizona State University. After working those “high” jobs, Weiniger met his wife Jan, moved back to New Jersey, adopted a daughter, and was fortunate to settle in as a stay-at-home dad. As life sometimes goes, however, there was a curve in the plan. Weiniger had congestive heart failure and suffered a heart attack. Upon recovery, he decided to make a few changes in his life. Remembering his abiding love of video and photography, Weiniger enrolled in a class in visual communications. It was in this class that Weiniger met Pete Gallo, who was in the video services business, was enjoying it, and was making good money at home. Pete told Weiniger about Home Video Studio.

Weiniger immediately attended a Home Video Studio webinar hosted by the Founder and President Robert Hanley. It became apparent to Weiniger that he could work from home while bringing joy and laughter to his customers with tape to DVD transfers, old home movie transfers, photo and video montages, and duplications. He knew he'd found what he was looking for.

Soon Weiniger was on the road to studio ownership. His daily diligence, creativity, his customer service skills, drive, and sales skills all make for a good Home Video Studio owner. "I like running a successful business, and I like being home with my family," says Weiniger. “That's why this is a perfect fit for me!” HBM

 

http://www.homebusinessmag.com/business-start/success-stories/hobby-turned-home-business

Peter Jones's ten rules for entrepreneurial success

Will Smith's Wisdom: Success Secrets For Young Entrepreneurs

Richard Branson: Advice for Entrepreneurs

10 Self-Made Kid Millionaires

Say what you will about the entitled group of teen millionaires in Hollywood or music, but there are a few things you can’t help but admire about kids who achieve similar success the old-fashioned way: through hard work. Most of them aren’t famous, weren’t born into money or privilege, and didn’t have endorsement deals lined up around the block. What they did have, though, was an idea, and a determination to see it become a reality.

10 Fraser Doherty: Grammy’s Jam

Fraser Doherty began at the age of 14, using his grandmother’s recipes to make homemade jam, which he then sold to his neighbors in Edinburgh, Scotland. By 16, he’d created a huge demand for the stuff by tweaking the recipes on his own and calling it “SuperJam.” Business picked up so well that he dropped out of school to work full time, and he was soon after approached by a reputable supermarket chain in the UK in 2007, who offered to stock his product in all 184 of its stores. Taking out a loan worth around $9,000 from a local bank, Doherty used the money to cover expenses, including more factory time to increase production. And in 2009, with the help of his supermarket chain connection and the addition of Asda Wal-Mart as a stocking client, Fraser hit $1.2 million in sales. He also published a book called “The Superjam Cookbook,” available for sale through Amazon.

“I can’t be preoccupied with the money,” he says. “I make jam because it’s what I love to do. Success is pretty sweet too.”

9 Ashley Qualls: Layout Loot

In 2004, 14-year-old Ashley Qualls launched WhateverLife.com as a means to show off her design work after a few years of studying HTML. Her site had virtually no traffic until she began offering free custom Myspace layouts to fellow classmates. By 2005, with only word of mouth for advertising, her site began to explode with visitors seeking cool designs to personalize their social network page. That was when she joined Google’s Adsense program, which supplied ads to her site and paid her a share of the click revenue.

With site traffic now buzzing, she began accepting offers from various companies to advertise their products or services on her site in exchange for payment. An undisclosed bidder even offered to buy out her site in 2005, for a reported $1.5 million and the car of her choice (not to exceed $100,000). She turned it down, opting instead to continue running the site she had started on a total expenditure of $8 for the domain name.

WhateverLife.com now plays host to an estimated seven million visitors per month and continues to earn Ashley millions in advertising loot. She bought her own $250,000 home in Southgate, Michigan in 2006.

8 Cameron Johnson: Greeting Card Green

When Cameron Johnson’s parents asked him to design invitations for an upcoming holiday party they were having, he probably had no idea just how far it would take him. Impressed with the results of his work, people around the neighborhood began offering him money for other designing jobs. By age 11, he had banked several thousand dollars in revenue with “Cheers And Tears,” his own custom line of greeting cards.

Determined to keep the ball rolling on a good business sense, he took the money he made from the greeting cards and formed his first online business, SurfingPrizes.com. The site, a pay-per-ad toolbar service, paid off big to the tune of $300,000–400,000 per month. Before he even graduated from high school, Cameron had amassed a net worth in combined assets estimated at $1 million. Cameron went on to sell the company name and software at age 19, but held onto the customer database he’d built up, leaving business options open to himself for the future.

7 Julieth Brindak: ‘Miss O’ Dough

When she was only 10, Julieth Brindak began drawing a group of made-up characters she called “cool girls,” including a primary character named “Miss O.” At 16, she launched a social networking site for tweens, called “Miss O & Friends,” inspired by her earlier drawings, and enlisted her mother and father to help put the site together with their combined graphic and business skills. It became an instant hit with fellow tweens who began visiting the website by the hundreds of thousands.

“Miss O & Friends” earns Julieth money through advertising revenue, and was ranked the third largest girls-only website in 2011 by Inc. Magazine. The site now generates 10 million unique visitors per month, is worth an estimated $15 million, and continues to rely on word-of-mouth and very little advertising for success. In an effort to give back, Brindak also created a co-sponsorship with Simon & Schuster that offers teens the chance to win tickets to popular concerts, such as Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift.

6 David and Catherine Cook: Yearbook Yen

Brother and sister duo David and Catherine Cook became teen millionaires by creating an online version of the traditional high school yearbook with MyYearbook.com. After moving to Skillman, New Jersey when she was 14, Catherine says she and her brother began flipping through the local yearbook to see if they recognized any of the students at their new school.

“We were shocked at how useless the information was. That’s when we thought, what if we put the whole thing online? I’d always looked up to my brother Geoff. He’s 11 years older than me and had already launched a successful start-up. I thought if he started a company, I could, too,” she said.

Impressed by the idea, their brother Geoff invested $250,000 in start-up money to his younger siblings, who then launched the site. Pitching it as the “Myspace for high school,” they succeeded in getting an estimated 950,000 members to join within the first year alone. Since then, their site has grown into a business with a net worth of somewhere around $100 million, with older brother Geoff working as CEO. The siblings are now looking at options for moving their brand into the global market.

5 Sean Belnick: Chair Change

Sean Belnick was intrigued at the idea of selling things online—so much so that, at the age of 14, he designed his own website to serve that very purpose. Having a startup budget of only $500 for advertising funds and $100 for web hosting fees, he began selling small items like Pokemon cards to get himself familiar with the process. Before long, he’d switched to selling office furniture on his new site, Bizchair.com—a move that ended up earning him an estimated $24 million by the age of 20.

Asked if he felt he had the makings of an entrepreneur by way of blood, Sean said, “You have to have a desire to succeed and take risks to get there—it’s not for everyone. I love the excitement and the future growth prospects, as well as watching the company grow and prosper. You have to have ambitious goals.”

He now has over 75 employees who work for him, and is setting his sights on the $50 million mark.

4 Nick D’Aloisio: Smartphone Smackaroos

Seventeen-year-old Nick D’Aloisio set the Internet wires abuzz when it was announced that a smartphone app he created in his spare time had been bought by Yahoo at the purchase price of a whopping $30 million. The Wimbledon school student taught himself how to code at the age of 12—a skill that paid off when he finally created the news app that grabbed Yahoo’s attention. Nicks says he has plans to invest the money he earned from the sale and offers the following advice for other aspiring developers: “If you have a good idea, or you think there’s a gap in the market, just go out and launch it because there are investors across the world right now looking for companies to invest in.”

3 Adam Horwitz: Mobile Monopolizer

Having a goal to create a million-dollar company by the age of 21, Adam Horwitz began launching various start-up websites at 15. He created several that flopped before finally hitting on his first successful venture with Mobile Monopoly, an app that teaches users how to turn a buck with mobile market leads. Sales of the app earned him a six-figure profit, which he used to fund his next idea, YepText, a text advertising service for businesses.

He offers the following advice for others looking to tap into the app-making market: “If someone says, ‘There’s no way, you’ll never make money online, everything’s a scam online, blah blah blah,’ they’re lying. You don’t have to listen to what other people say—trust me, I went through that day-in and day-out with my friends and stuff. They did not believe that I could make money online, and then as soon as I did, I think their jaws dropped to the ground. So just go for it!”

2 Tyler Dikman: Technology Tycoon

Tyler Dikman started out earning money like most other kids, by mowing lawns, running lemonade stands, and babysitting. He even did magic shows for birthday parties, charging around $25 for a 30-minute presentation. At age 10, he got his first computer, a Gateway, which he proceeded to take apart and study from the inside out. As he learned more about computers, he began repairing them for his teachers in the eighth grade, which led him to the revelation that he could charge others for repairs on their rigs. It wasn’t long before he was charging $15 per hour.

He ended up landing a babysitting job some time later for the Vice President of Merrill Lynch, Malcolm Taaffe. He was offered an internship by Taaffe, which led to a full-time job around two weeks later. Tyler was put in charge of computer acquisition, setup, training, and troubleshooting. At age 15, he started Cooltronics, a business that repaired computers, as a hobby. By hiring a few friends as employees and working long hours, he nurtured it into a one-stop company that sells, delivers, and sets up PCs for customers. He was named by Businessweek as one of the top 25 entrepreneurs under the age of 25, and continues to grow his business, which now does millions of dollars insales each year.

1 John Koon: Fashion Financier

John Koon is the quintessential American entrepreneur. Opening the first-ever auto parts businesses in New York City, he began making millions in profit at the age of 16 with Extreme Performance Motorsports, a company that became one of the main suppliers for MTV’s hit reality show Pimp My Ride. Not wanting to limit himself to the auto circuit, he decided to give fashion a try and soon launched a clothing company alongside rapper Young Jeezy. Koon earned himself an astounding $40 million in the process and is reportedly on the fast track to becoming a billionaire.

His latest expansion involves the first-ever Asian streetwear couture, a company that specializes in Japanese denim, rare indigo dyes, and cutting-edge secret wash formulas for clothing.

http://listverse.com/2013/08/22/revised-10-self-made-kid-millionaires/

How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30

Getting rich and becoming a millionaire is a taboo topic. Saying it can be done by the age of 30 seems like a fantasy.

It shouldn’t be taboo and it is possible. At the age of 21, I got out of college, broke and in debt, and by the time I was 30, I was a millionaire.

Here are the 10 steps that will guarantee you will become a millionaire by 30.

1. Follow the money. In today’s economic environment you cannot save your way to millionaire status. The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.

2. Don’t show off -- show up! I didn’t buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple secure flows of income. I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I had become a millionaire. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.

3. Save to invest, don’t save to save. The only reason to save money is to invest it. Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income). To this day, at least twice a year, I am broke because I always invest my surpluses into ventures I cannot access.

4. Avoid debt that doesn’t pay you. Make it a rule that you never use debt that won’t make you money. I borrowed money for a car only because I knew it could increase my income. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make rich people richer.

5. Treat money like a jealous lover. Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who makes it a priority.

6. Money doesn’t sleep. Money doesn’t know about clocks, schedules or holidays, and you shouldn’t either. Money loves people that have a great work ethic. When I was 26 years old, I was in retail and the store I worked at closed at 7 p.m. Most times you could find me there at 11 p.m. making an extra sale. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person -- just make sure you outwork everyone.

7. Poor makes no sense. I have been poor, and it sucks. I have had just enough and that sucks almost as bad. Eliminate any and all ideas that being poor is somehow OK. Bill Gates has said, "If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake."

8. Get a millionaire mentor. Most of us were brought up middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group. I have been studying millionaires to duplicate what they did. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources.

9. Get your money to do the heavy lifting. Investing is the Holy Grail in becoming a millionaire and you should make more money off your investments than your work. If you don’t have surplus money you won’t make investments. The second company I started required a $50,000 investment. That company has paid me back that $50,000 every month for the last 10 years. My third investment was in real estate, where I started with $350,000, a large part of my net worth at the time. I still own that property today and it continues to provide me with income. Investing is the only reason to do the other steps, and your money must work for you and do your heavy lifting.

10. Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million. The single biggest financial mistake I’ve made was not thinking big enough. I encourage you to go for more than a million. There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people thinking big enough.

Apply these 10 steps and they will make you rich. Steer clear of people that suggest your financial dreams are born of greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes, be ethical, never give up, and once you make it, be willing to help others get there too.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234454

Home business owners: can you achieve a good work-life balance?

Are you juggling a work and home life? 

Working from home may seem almost like an impossible ideal for some of us who long for a lie-in and a work life where the only authoritarian orders to answer to are those from your inner voice demanding an increased caffeine intake.

Basing your business at home offers more benefits beyond being your own boss. For example, those with family responsibilities can reap the rewards of being home before bedtime and remove some of the burdens of paying for childcare. Those who don't have children can revel in their newly defined rush hour, which now describes a short walk from their bedroom to their desk, rather than a clammy commute from Clapham to Kings Cross.

However, the dream of operating an enterprise from your dining table raises a series of dilemmas. For example, how to do you define where the office ends and home begins?

Although working from home does mean a work life free from office politics and interruptions, this idyllic environment can also become isolated. With nobody around to keep an eye out (or even laugh at your jokes), it could be tough to stay focused enough to stay on track and steer clear of Twitter.

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/mar/31/home-business-owners-strike-work-life-balance

Seven Ways Solopreneurs Can Grow a Home Business

Home-based businesses with a sole owner can only grow so much, right? Wrong.

With a little creativity you can keep expanding your home business, without hiring employees or renting an office. Here are seven tips for increasing revenue at your home business while keeping it a one-person show:

1. Use technology. From scheduling newsletters and social-media dispatches to issuing blog-post notifications via email, automate as much as possible. Collaboration tools such as Citrix Systems software can also help you readily pass off or work in the same document with colleagues and consultants without having to send giant email attachments or deal with a courier service. Additionally, video conferencing or call forwarding technology can do wonders for helping your little company appear much bigger -- and more professional.

2. Outsource. These days, freelance marketplaces such as Elance and vWorker.com make it easy -- and relatively inexpensive -- to find contractors for a wide variety of roles, from accountants to virtual secretaries. There's no law that says you have to make official, full-time hires to grow. Increasingly, I'm encountering high-revenue, fast-growing companies that have few, if any, official staffers and are driving growth entirely through contract labor.

3. Watch for opportunities. Entrepreneurs' prime advantage over big companies is the ability to be nimble and shift gears quickly if a new opportunity emerges that might lead to more business. That's what home-based franchisor Patricia Beckman did when she saw a need for a standardized virtual-assistant chain. Now her VA business, Cybertary, has 25 franchisees and is growing.

4. Treat your business like a business. Don't neglect the back-office end of your business. For instance, consider using an online invoice system such as FreshBooks or Intuit's Bill Manager. Being able to systematically track your payments and expenses will not only save you time, it's also more professional in the eyes of customers or clients. Keep regular business hours so clients can rely on you.

5. Invest for growth. Yes, being home based can help reduce overhead, but you still need to put money into the business to keep it thriving. After all, you've got to spend money to make money, remember? And that's true no matter where your business is based.

6. Don't forget your plan. Know your goals for the business and keep your focus on the steps you need to take to achieve those goals. Beckman recommends keeping your business plan nearby and referring to it often. And as plans change, update it.

7. Get out there. Some solopreneurs use being home-based as an excuse to never meet with clients in person. That's a mistake. Get out of that home-office cave -- you can build stronger bonds with clients in face-to-face meetings. Attend networking events to keep growing your rolodex and gain exposure to new ideas.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/219433