Despite the current economic recession—or maybe because of it—this is a time of great opportunities for anyone thinking of starting a home-based business. The way people work and do business has changed incredibly in the last few years. The Internet and the Worldwide Web have created a new kind of marketplace. From your kitchen, den, or home office, you can reach out to potential buyers and clients not just in your neighborhood or city or state, but on the other side of the world.
As the world of e-commerce has taken off, traditional businesses have been changing too. Many of them are transitioning to new models of employment and moving much of their sales and marketing online. Almost every company is developing a web presence—it’s indispensable these days.
What this all means is that a lot of work that used to be done in offices and storefronts can now be done anywhere there is a computer with a decent internet connection—like your kitchen table. So how do you get started?
There are two major directions you can pursue to earn money online—you can sell something people want, or you can provide a service people need.
Personal services
Many e-commerce operations don’t maintain large offices, and even bricks-and-mortar businesses are streamlining by outsourcing some of their activities. Instead relying on salaried secretaries, administrative assistants, or in-house writing staff, with the associated cost of offices, equipment, supplies, etc., these companies rely instead on freelance, temporary, and contract employees for functions like making appointments and travel plans, keeping calendars, managing correspondence, performing data entry, graphic design, research, writing marketing plans–you name it.
Freelance employment bulletin boards and services make it possible for you to connect your skills in these areas with the people who need them. Some places to start include:
- Virtual assistant services: Alpine Access, Team Double Click, Virtual Office Temps, Elance, ODesk
- Writing, editing, research and design services: Elance, ODesk, GetaFreelancer
Many other sorts of services are available virtually as well. When people need help, information or advice, the first place they turn these days is likely to be not the library or the newspaper but the Internet. And the sites that provide these services need qualified people to provide answers. If you have professional training, educational credentials, or demonstrable technical expertise you can work as an expert advisor or even a teacher or tutor, paid by the minute, the hour, or the project:
- Advice services: LivePerson.com, JustAnswer.com
- Tutoring services: Tutor.com, TransWebTutors.com
Another interesting opportunity crosses the line between online and bricks-and-mortar business: “mystery shopper” assignments. Many large companies keep an eye on how their individual outlets are performing by paying people to be critical customers—you visit the store or restaurant and report back with detailed information about the service, the products, and other aspects of your experience. These opportunities are scattered all over the place geographically, but some centralized services can help you find the ones available in your area:
- Secret shopper services: Service Intelligence, Shoppers’ View, and Service Excellence Group.
Products
You may not realize how much stuff you own or can easily create that you could be selling for profit online. You’ve heard of eBay and Craigslist as places to buy and sell used items. There are actually quite a few online emporiums that will help you find buyers for those lightly- or never-used wedding presents, children’s clothes and toys, the shoes that never quite fit right, etc. Other marketplaces specialize in handmade goods and collectibles. Some of these services are free, and for others the membership fees and commissions are quite reasonable.
- Secondhand stuff: eBay, efleaa, Hoobly, or your local Craigslist
- Crafts and collectibles: Etsy, eBay, Silkfair
And there are new kinds of products and markets that exist only online. For many people photographs and books hardly exist on paper or in print anymore—both are increasingly digital. You can make money by buying eBooks for re-sale online (or writing your own) through your own free website builder such as WordPress. You can upload your own camera-work for sale through central photo warehouses to be used as stock images by all sorts of websites and businesses.
- Photographs: ShutterStock, Fotolia, and BigStockPhoto
- Ebooks: just google “ebook rights for sale.”
Put It All Together
One other pure Internet enterprise can offer you a chance to put many of these other earning opportunities together, and also develop additional income through ad revenue and affiliate marketing:
- Your own website: yournamehere.com
You don’t need any technical or web design experience to create a virtual storefront of your own. All you need is an easy website builder that will provide you with software, support, training, and step-by-step instructions. Your own website can point to all the services and products you are marketing elsewhere, as well as giving you a creative outlet for new ideas and products you may come up with. The possibilities for self-expression and earning are only limited by your imagination and ambition.
The more of these ideas you explore, the more ideas and opportunities you will discover.
Depending on how much time you want to devote and how much income you are seeking to build, some or even all of these projects could start you on your way to greater financial independence.
About the Author
Melanie Citron is a freelance author who wants the web to be open to everyone. She regularly researches and writes about great free or low cost resources to help all have a great presence on the web. See more of her writing at BuildMySiteforFree.com.
