If your anything like me, you absolutely hate the job industry.
I hate it so much in fact, that I actually do not believe in working. Not work in the conventional sense at least.
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in making money. I just don’t want to grind my life away at some job, 40+ hours a week to get it.
Did you know that the average person spends 30% of their life working?
If your one of the MANY (70% of people!!) who hate their current job, or your someone without a job, looking to make money, you may be seeking ways on how to start a business at home.
Its funny, there are so many people that think you have to work your life away, day in and day out, until its time to retire.
Why do they think that?
A lot of people have that mindset because that is the way its always been. They are unaware of the countless ways you can make money using the internet, and still have time to enjoy life.
I used the internet to start a business at home, and in my opinion working for yourself from home is the best job you can have. Period.
Okay, How to Start a Business at Home
With the ever increasing rise of the internet, starting a business at home has never been more achievable. There really are hundreds of ways to leverage the internet for your financial gain. I will go over a couple home based businesses I myself have started using the internet, including my #1 recommended way to start a business at home.
Retail Arbitrage
Buy low, sell high. Thats all there is to retail arbitrage. Okay, maybe there is a bit more to it.
The goal with RA is to find something cheap locally and sell online for profit. If getting involved with RA be prepared to do your research.
Some good tools to have:
- Amazon price check app – Check to see how much that clearance find is selling for on Amazon.
- Ebay app – Same here, check to see how much the item is being sold for on ebay.com.
Most of your arbitraging will be done scouting the clearance or sale item racks. Keep an eye out for ‘last season’ sale items. Most of your buyers won’t know or care if a name brand item is from last season.
Stores to check out:
- TJ Maxx/ Marshalls / Home Goods – These stores specialize in ‘last season’ name brand items. I once bought a bunch of Calvin Klein leather wallets for $15/each and sold them on ebay for $30/each.
- Gamestop – Gamestop always has games on sale. Browse their selection while checking prices on your phone.
- Toy stores – Toys are always popular. Most Toys R Us stores have entire sections dedicated to sale items. Take a look around and check prices online.
- Going out of business – This is an easy one. You’ll find huge discounts at going out of business sales.
- Walgreens – Pharmacy stores regularly put items on sale to clear out inventory. Things like makeup, toiletries, and personal items are always in demand.
- Macy’s/ JCPenny / Sears – You will find some great deals on name brand items at retail stores.
- Malls – Popular teen stores like A&F, American Eagle etc.. always have clothes on sale.
Another thing to keep in mind. Some of your local stores aren’t available to people in other areas. Ikea for example is a very popular store, but is not in a lot of cities. If you can find sale items at these types of stores, demand and profit margins can be higher.
Drop shipping
Drop shipping is a business you can start at home with no start up money and no inventory. Drop shipping is a system in which you advertise products that are offered by a distributor of your choice and sell them for more than the distributors price. The price difference is the profit.
There are many distributors to choose from, and many places to advertise the products. A popular distributor that I myself have used is amazon.com. My business involved browsing Amazon products that i felt I could turn a profit on, and listing them on ebay at a slightly increased price, about $5-$10 on average.
When someone on ebay made a purchase, I would head over to the Amazon page, place the order, have it shipped to the ebay buyers address, and make a few dollars profit. Repeat this process 1000 times, and you can see how it would be profitable.
Although drop shipping can prove to be a profitable home business, there are a few things to keep in mind.
- Significant profits are achieved only when you hit consistent high volume, which can take some time to reach for new sellers.
- There is lots of competition with many items. Take your time and try to find products that don’t have a lot of competing sellers advertising the same product.
- Some distributors charge fees for using their services. If drop shipping is a business you are interested in trying out I recommend Amazon as a distributor to start because its completely free to use.
- If you intend to use ebay as your platform for selling products, remember ebay and paypal charge fees for anything you sell. Use THIS fee calculator or one similar before pricing your items to offset these fees.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is my current source of income, and the home based business model I recommend. Affiliate marketing is where you promote other people’s products or services, and earn a commission if a sale is made through your marketing efforts. The concept is pretty simple.
What do you need to get started?
All you need to get into affiliate marketing is a website to promote your selected product or service. Don’t worry, websites are easy to create. Siterubix.com has a website creator that is easy to use, and best of all its FREE! If you dont go with the free website from Siterubix.com, most websites cost around $15/yearly. Pretty cheap.
The first step to affiliate marketing is choosing a product or service that you want to promote. This is the fun part of affiliate marketing, because your product or service can be anything you want it to be. You can choose a product or service that you are passionate about, or you can choose something that you think has good money making potential.
My first affiliate website promoted mattresses. I thought this was a good product to promote because I’m passionate about sleep, and the profit potential seemed good because everyone needs a mattress, right?
Amazon has an affiliate program. They will pay you commission for any sales that result from your websites marketing efforts. Amazon is a good website to promote products for because they have anything you can think of. I sometimes just browse amazon looking for ideas to build an affiliate website around. There are a lot of companies that have affiliate programs. Amazon is just one of them.
When I was getting started with affiliate marketing I had lots of questions. Naturally when your new to something your going to need help from time to time. Lucky for me I found Wealthy Affiliate. Its an online community, sort of like Facebook, but all the members are affiliate marketers. Its great because any questions you ask, will be answered by people who know what they are talking about and have been there before. There are also training videos where you will learn how to create and set up your website. Best of all membership is FREE.
I highly recommend Wealthy Affiliate if your interested in starting a business at home with affiliate marketing.
Learn more with my Wealthy Affiliate review
I’ve been hearing about drop shipping before, but it is only now that I finally understand what it is. Based on your explanation, it’s a super legit kind of business and far from being scam. I think I can try this too because, I am also a registered affiliate of Amazon online store.
With the other one that you have mentioned, I am also an affiliate marketer. It’s my main business online, and seeing good results now. In your opinion, do you think affiliate marketing will still be around in the next 10 years?
Absolutely affiliate marketing will be around in 10 years, because marketing will always be around. The affiliate marketing landscape might make some changes in the next 10 years. Thats why its important to have a solid support group and information resource like Wealthy Affiliate. You’ll be able to adjust with the changing tides…
I have been looking for another source of income. which one do you think would provide a better, stable income?
drop shipping or affiliate marketing?
In my opinion, affiliate marketing is the better business to start at home. It is easier to get started with, and has more earning potential.
These are two great ways to start a business at home. I myself having been using Wealthy Affiliate to start my affiliate marketing business.
However, I have read tidbits here and there about drop shipping. After I start making some more money with the website I might have to give drop shipping a solid look.
Thanks Jeremy. Drop shipping is a great option for starting a business at home.
Affiliate marketing has been around for a long time and drop shipping really makes life easier for business owners and affiliate marketers.
Wealthy affiliate teaches advanced and beginners on how to build a website and implement drop shipping with an Amazon associate account.
I found your article very helpful in explaining the detail on how to start a business at home. Thanks for this great information.
Thanks Anthony, Im glad you found it helpful. I hope everyone trying to learn how to start a business at home does! Thanks again
I really can’t stand my job – I’ve been stuck in it for years now and I would love a self employment route out!
I really like this internet marketing option – could you maybe tell me a bit more about it?
For starters – how easy is it to learn the jargon? Did you struggle with this?
Starting a business at home is a great option for people who hate their job and feel stuck.
There is some learning to do at first, but with the help of a community like Wealthy Affiliate it really reduces the learning curve.
Thanks Chris
It is so amazing of the amount of persons that don’t like the job that they are on and if you were to ask most of them they would tell you something like I here to pay the bills or feed my family or this is all that I could find and so on but I believe first of all we should be thankful for the jobs that we have, but don’t complain but rather find ways to promote yourself like online business or some other business that you are passionate about. Starting a home business can be a lot of work but in the end if you do you home work right and don’t give up you will reap the rewards.
I agree Norman. There is no job more satisfying then the one you are passionate about.
I have been hearing about drop shipping for a while now. It seems like a good business to start at home. I sure hope I can get in this line of business.
Hi Carlton, drop shipping is a great business to start at home. Thanks for commenting
I am currently making my own online business at wealthy affiliate. Probably the best decision I’ve made so far! Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money.
Joining Wealthy Affiliate was a great decision for me as well. Affiliate marketing is a great place to start a business at home. Thanks Joshua
After working retail for the past 20+ years I feel the same as you do. I am tired of the 9-5, 40hrs a week job! I like to work but now I want to be my own boss and relax a little, enjoy life more. That’s why I joined Wealthy Affiliate and I think it was the right decision for me.
I had heard of drop shipping before but wasn’t too sure about it. I don’t think that is something I’d be interested in. Thank you for the informative article, it has helped me in my decision to stay with affiliate marketing.
Your welcome Robin, thanks for taking the time to read. Affiliate marketing is a great way to start a business at home, so stick with it!
Thanks for these tips. I am in a similar situation where I hate my current job. I have been looking at ways to start a business at home. Thanks again
Hi Brent. I know the feeling of hating your job. I’ve def been there. If your looking for ways on how to start a business at home I def recommend trying out affiliate marketing. Thanks for stopping by
I hate my job!! I have always wanted to start a business at home. Affiliate marketing sounds like it offers you a lot of free time and still make money. Thats what I’m looking for. More time to spend doing what I love. Thanks. Chris H
Hi Chris. Yes, you and millions of others hate their jobs. Thats whats great about affiliate marketing. The freedom to actually enjoy life instead of working it away. Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Derek
Yep, I hate jobs, and in fact, working, full stop. Unfortunately, we’ve all been brainwashed by society into thinking that working a job is the normal thing to do and the only way to make money. In reality, a job sucks the life out of you and makes you broke.
It’s kinda sad how we spend a big percentage of our lives working. But the good news is that some of us are now forming different mindsets and want to escape the “status quo!”
I appreciate some of the methods you’ve highlighted for running a home based business, and Affiliate Marketing definitely sounds like it’s right up my street. 🙂
I’ll certainly be looking into your SiteRubix recommendation to get my first ever online business started.
Cheers, Neil.
Thanks for commenting Neil
More and more persons are looking for ways to beat the nine to five or to become their boss because of the many benefits that you can experience. It is good when you can be a business owner doing what your are passionate about instead of dragging unto the office only to watch the clock so that you can clock out and head home. These tips that have pointed is great, I am sure that your readers will love what you are suggesting.
Thanks Norman!
Hey there,
This is some really good stuff you’re talking about here. There are different opportunities to start a business online and it’s incredible how times advance fast. We have at our disposal so many new tools that help us succeed. I hope more people realize how easy could be reach financial independence. Thanks for sharing this post partner!
No problem Carlos, thank you for commenting.
I tried drop shipping before but it was very complex partly because I was doing everything on my own. Since I am also working full-time, I can’t be monitoring my sales activity all the time. Once, I even discovered the blouse that I was selling could be found at 3 other online marketplaces. It seems to take the uniqueness away from me.
I’ve since switched to doing affiliate marketing and it works better with my current schedule. I’ve also learned a lot about my niche through writing content.
Hey there pal,
This is some great and valuable information provided in this post. Reading this helped me understand how many possibilities are out there. And, honestly, the internet is such an useful tool nowadays that we all can market worldwide. There are no excuses to not try to start a business a the commodity of one’s home. Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for commenting Carlos
Hi Derek, you recommend three different online business models that sound really interesting. I was between affiliate marketing and drop shipping, I have read some guided and made some research.
With your experience as an affiliate marketer, do you think that a beginner can start any of them and have success or are there more chances to be successful with affiliate marketing?