45+ ways to make money in 2018

There is lots of work to do if you want to reach your goals or at least get a little closer in 2018.

The best way to change your financial situation is to take matters into your own hands and start working for yourself. Build a business you can start and run out of your home or from anywhere in the world.

There are so many different business opportunities where you can make more money.

Here are 45 business ideas that I hope can spark your journey into entrepreneurship.

1) Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing is partnering with brands that offer a commission as a reward for your endorsement and referral. Affiliate marketers or resellers generally act as middlemen between customers and products. As an affiliate marketer, you can earn commissions by referring web traffic and sales through their own promotional efforts using a coded URL or web address to track each referral.

There are thousands of products you can resell for a profit. Many of the bloggers you read online are probably affiliate marketers. I use affiliate marketing on this website to help generate a passive income and you can too.

Here a few more posts on the subject.

SaaS affiliate programs

Why you should join the ClickFunnels Affiliate Marketing Program

Affiliate Marketing terms you need to know

How I’ve made over $1000 with one blog post

Getting to $3000 a month with the ClickFunnels Affiliate Bootcamp

2) Amazon affiliate business

The Amazon Associates program offers many ways to make money on the largest selection of books, music, DVDs, toys, electronics, kitchen, apparel, jewelry, tools that you can find on the Amazon website. As an Amazon Associate, you can earn commissions on products and services that you refer customers to. There are thousands of people earning a living doing this and you can do it too.

The trick is finding a niche and focusing on that. Do your research and learn the best way to profit as an Amazon Associate.

If you’re interested in this business idea, check out these posts.

• How to set up an Amazon Associates eCommerce store
• How to reopen or reactivate your Amazon Associates account

3) Teach a specialized skill

Everyone has a specialized skill they can share with the world. You can take your specialized skill and turn it into a blog, a course, an ebook or Youtube channel.

Let’s say you are a sailboat repair technician. You know all about fixing sailboats. You could create a simple online course for on “How to maintaining your sailboat” or “Getting your boat ready for winter”. Your specialized skill could be an underserved niche in the marketplace.

Here is a great course at Udemy that can teach you “How To Turn Your Passion Into Profit Online“

4) App Designer

There are almost 5 million apps in both the Apple App store and the Google Play App store. If you have a great problem to solve for a specific niche, building a mobile app can be very profitable. With over 5 million apps, you need to do your research and really understand both your target audience and the specific problem you are solving for them. Right now the most downloaded paid apps include Games, Health apps, Productivity tools and other entertainment apps.

5) Become a YouTube Video star

Some of the highest paid Youtube stars are earning over $10 million dollars a year. Felix Kjellberg(PewDiePie) makes over $12 million a year playing video games and making jokes, Rosanna Pansino making $5 million as the Cupcake Wizard and Michelle Phan makes over $3 million a year with Makeup tutorials. If you have a knack for being in front of the camera becoming a youtube star can be very profitable.

These people are at the top of the game but there is always room for new talent. There are many people making a good living in smaller niche areas doing things as simple as teaching people how to draw.

If you have the talent for this, you don’t need to much.

A good fast computer, a quality camera & microphone and video editing software.

6) Being a Gigwalker

Gigwalk is a crowd-sourced service that helps businesses with various types of tasks that help them learn how they’re doing. It’s an app that pays people to do these task for them. Anyone can apply to be a Gigwalker. You download the app, view a map full of tasks in the neighborhood immediately around you and get to work. Tasks can include things like:

• Write a review of on something
• Take a picture of a menu or product on a shelf
• Take a picture of an specific intersection or roadblock
• Review and enter an establishment’s hours of operation
• and even answer simple quick questions like: is this place still in business?

When you complete a gig, Gigwalk reviews your work and deposits money straight into your PayPal account. Learn more and start earning.

7) Being a Task Rabbit

Similar to being a Gigwalker, people that sign up for Task rabbit are looking for someone to do tasks like cleaning, fixing and even furniture building. When you sign up as a Tasker, you can apply for these tasks around where you live.

TaskRabbit notifies you of potential jobs nearby, you select the one you want to complete, confirm the details with your Client, complete the work and submit your invoice.

Taskers can earn good money. Some of the elite taskers are earning over 6 figures doing all kinds of interesting jobs.

8) Blogging

The process to make money as a blogger is simple. You set up your blog, start creating useful content attract and nurture your readers, build engagement with them and make money from the readership through one or more of a variety of income streams like digital goods, affiliate products, sponsorships and more.

The process sounds simple but there is a lot that goes into each of these steps. You can start right now with my Tutorial on How to get WordPress setup on Bluehost. You can also check out ProBlogger. He has one of the best blogging startup guides if you want to become a blogger.

9) Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, generally into an accounting system. It’s part of the process of accounting in business. A bookkeeper is tasked with adding transactions like purchases, sales, receipts, and payments by an individual person or business. Because all you need is a computer with an internet connection, being a bookkeeper is a low stress job you can do from anywhere.

If you are good with numbers, it doesn’t take much to start a bookkeeping business. You can find jobs on Upwork and sites like Freelancer and start today.

10) Buy an Existing Website

If you are short on time and have some money to invest, there are plenty of existing websites for sale. Empire Flippers for example has all kinds of websites for sale from Amazon affiliate sites, to Adwords & eCommerce sites.

Sedo also sells profitable websites that are already profitable. They can cost a bit but they can save you lots of time.

Here’s a post that lists a whole bunch of places to buy and sell websites and online businesses.

• Where to Buy and Sell Established Websites

11) Buy and Sell Domain Names

Buying and selling domain names can be profitable when done right. There are stories abound of people buying domains $10 dollars 15 years ago and then selling today for millions of dollars.

The chances of this happening to most is low but there is still opportunities to make money buying and selling domains. especially since there are new Top level domain extentions like .travel, .legal and hundreds more.

The key to buying and selling domains today is about knowing your niche and what domains may be worth more than others.

Joe Styler over on the Goddady Blog wrote a great article on 5 tried-and-true tips for buying and selling domain names for profit.

12) Buy Used Electronics and Refurbish Them

Gary V was quoted answering the following question.

“If I was starting again and I had to make $2,000 as quickly as possible, what would I do? Without all the brand equity I have, obviously right? It’s funny usually I say go to a garage sale.”

Also called garage-saleing, if you know a lot about electronics and their value, you can hunt at garage sales and flea markets for undervalued electronics, clean them up and then sell them on Amazon, ebay or even craigslist for a profit.

It’s a quick way to create cashflow.

13) Car stereo installer

I did this when I was a kid.

Of course back then it was tape decks and eventually CD players but as a 16 year old I made some good money. If you have a passion for mobile audio and video being a mobile car stereo installer could be a great side hustle.

14) Car Washing and Detailing

Starting a mobile auto washing and detailing business eliminates the need for a physical business location, therefore start-up costs considerably less. You can start with inexpensive supplies and tools and grow as your needs arise. As a mobile detailer, you can work in shopping mall parking lots, people ‘s home driveways and garages.

You can start on your own and build a brand or you can buy an existing business or franchise.

Here is a good article on How to Start a Mobile Car-Detailing Business.

15) Clothing Designer

Attention to detail and a creative mind are all what it takes to create some world-class designs desired by any fashion house. As soon as you come up with authentic, eye soothing designs, rest assured that fashion houses will be willing to spend big to entertain your works. This might be the perfect seasonal gig you have been looking for.

16) Commission-Only Sales

A commission-only job will take you to prove your patience, diligence, and integrity. With the right motivation and the mentality to work hard, you could be the one of the best in this field and see your bank account soaring with cash.

Though commission-only sales offer a flexible timeframe to work in, be sure, you are being involved with legit job providers. This is similar to affiliate marketing.

17) Computer Repair

Some of us have the ability to repair personal computers with knowledge gathered through intense curiosity.

This is time to turn your computer mastery into something profitable. Do some local digital advertising in your neighborhood and wait for calls.

There is still millions of people that need help with technology. Find your niche and start selling.

18) Consulting

As the future of work evolves more and more people are turning to consulting work to be in more control of their lives. Provide your knowledge and experience for a fee and help others at the same time.

If your expertise revolves around a specialized field like engineering, planning, business, or financial handling, you can expect some lucrative offers for your opinions and capabilities.

19) Develop an App

In this era of smartphones, mobile apps are high on demand. There is an app for almost everything.

Every day we see new apps springing up to claim a share of the $31 billion market. Just one super hit app can make you filthy rich.

Focus on solving specific problems that big groups of people experience and you might find yourself with a hit on your hands.

20) Drone Pilot or Trainer

There are many ways to make money for drone operators. Mapping, aerial inspection, and delivery are a few of them. It is a fun way to earn without getting yourself bored. Check out Dronebase to learn how you can profit as a pilot.

If you have mastered being a drone pilot, why not teach others. Possessing a drone is just the beginning of a long journey. Without knowing how to navigate, it would not make a difference.

If you are a skilled operator, you can cash on this by teaching people how to fly like a pro.

21) eBay Sales

eBay is the place where you can sell almost everything and anything. You can dropship products or sell stuff you find on Craigslist, at garage sales or you can source a particular product on Alibaba for cheap and sell it on eBay, with a handsome profit.

22) eBooks

Today readers prefer to read everything on the screen. It’s cheap, convenient, and accessible from anywhere. eBook readers like Kindle are revolutionizing this online reading trend. What do you know that others want to know.

Everyone has something they can teach. Start writing on any hot topics, and turn it into an ebook. You can sell it on Amazon, or on your own website and earn money from your book.

With Amazon’s self publishing services you can reach millions of readers worldwide and keep control of your work. It’s fast and easy to independently publish your print book with CreateSpace and create an audiobook with ACX.

23) Freelance Content Marketing

In digital marketing, content creation and promotion are integral. If you have the right knowledge and experience, you can take this as a career opportunity.

Experienced content marketers are paid very well by big companies.

24) Freelance copywriter

Copywriters give voice to a brand or product. It is an art of playing with consumers’ wit to persuade them to incline to particular products or services.

Necessarily, businesses hire skilled copywriters with a higher wage, to ensure smooth promotion.

25) Freelance Data Analysis

Data scientists are nowadays a part and parcel of any business strategy. For their service, which includes logical and analytical reasoning to reach a conclusion, they charge higher than any other freelance professional.

Top data analysts even make $50,000 a year.

26) Freelance Proofreading and Editing

You can simply work as a freelance proofreader and editor on major freelancing marketplaces like Freelancer, Upwork, and Guru.

Based on your expertise and profile feedback, you can make about $10-$30 per hour.

27) Furniture Upcycler

Investing in small furniture could be a good and stable source of income for you. Alert your neighbours about your intention to buy their furniture whenever they want to get rid of them.

The armchair that cost you $6.5 can be sold for almost twice the price the very next day.

28) Ghostwriter

Working as a ghostwrite you write an academic paper, books, and other contents for people who would pay for your service.

Ghostwriting is a nice way to maintain a steady income flow.

29) Google Paid Ad Specialist

Once you set up an ad campaign that works, it generates income against every click. But to make a campaign fruitful, you need to know every dos and don’ts. Also you have to come up with new strategies to add momentum.

A Google ad specialist gets about $60k every year in pay checks.

30) Graphic designer

The role of a graphic designer is widening with the expansion of different sections. On average, graphic designers charge about $25-$50 per hour for their service.

If you want to work from home, there are many freelance websites where you will get suitable jobs.

31) Inbound Marketing Specialist

Inbound marketing is a blend of all available content marketing strategies. So, an inbound marketer has a big responsibility to coordinate between all the phases. The average annual income of an inbound marketer is roughly $76,000.

32) Instagram Marketing

Photo sharing site Instagram gives a much-required boost to aspiring celebrities and brands. To get effective promotion on Instagram, hiring specialists is nothing new.

Check out my post on 22+ Instagress Alternatives, Clones & Instagram automation tools

33) Landing Page Specialist

Landing page is the lifeblood of any website. It creates the first impression for any business. If you can help a brand develop a killer landing page that sells, this job is for you.

34) Language tutor

You are a polyglot who speaks French, German, Italian, and many other European languages. In this world of globalisation people are interested in speaking more than one language. Offer language learning sessions on an hourly basis.

35) Life Coach

The duty of a life coach revolves around consulting people on matters related to life or coaching. There are many ways to be trained as a life coach. The income of renowned life coaches’ often hit the million dollar ceiling.

36) Private Labeling and Selling Products on Amazon

Find products you can resell for profit on Amazon. Jungle Scout can help you get started with this.

37) Sell stuff on Etsy

Etsy is a great place for selling and buying handmade or vintage products. Build your reputation as a seller on the platform and see your income hit a peak.

38) Social Media Manager

The task of handling different social media in the most efficient way is challenging. No wonder companies spend thousands of dollars in paying their social media managers.

39) Start a Popup Shop

Popup shops are a brilliant way to generate income without having to commit permanently. It also takes barely any investment.

40) Stock Photographer

There are many websites today that buy stock photos. Shutterstock and iStock are two of them.

41) User Testing

You can make money testing websites and apps using User Test. It’s quite simple. You get $10 via PayPal for every 20-minute video you complete. UserTesting pays you to visit websites or apps, complete a set of tasks, and speak your thoughts aloud.

42) Vintage Clothing Reseller

The fascination for vintage clothing is never dull. They also sell for more than regular clothing items. Join Esty, a creative marketplace where 24 million buyers around the world shop for unique items including Vintage clothing and much more. If you have an eye for vintage, buy from the local shops, mark them up and sell them online.

43) Virtual Assistant

Made popular by the 4 hour workweek, VA’s or virtual assistants are exploding. You can work for a busy persons located in a different city, or in a different country or right in your backyard.

A virtual assistant has to carry on with different tasks like appointment settling, online research, scheduling, or anything that can be done online. With more people starting online businesses, they are going to need help. If you have the skills, check out Upwork for freelancing VA gigs.

44) Web developer

It’s never been a better time to be a web developer. If you have competency in any of the major programming languages, like PHP, you can secure a higher hourly pay. Either start a web development shop, freelance your skills or build an app that people love. If you have the skills, there is so much opportunity for web developers.

45) WordPress Website Consultant

WordPress is the first choice in the world of blogging when it comes to content management systems. 74,652,825 sites out there are depending on good ol’ WordPress for their personal and business websites.

Business owners & bloggers hire professional consultants to take their blog to the next level, support it on an ongoing basis and even develop custom plugins and themes.

If you are a WordPress pro or know enough about it to help others, this can be a lucrative area for you.

That’s it but, that’s not all…

If you really looking to make a dent in the world, check out my post on How to find your Million Dollar business idea.

Hope you found this list of 45 ways to make money in 2018 the spark you needed to start your own side gig. Opportunity is there for the taking, you just have to take the first step.

Happy New Year!