Recently, the idea of "working for yourself, not for an uncle" has become more and more popular, which causes some people to leave their stable place to develop their own business. Some of them succeed, others fail because developing a business is hard work, well, you can not give up a certain degree of happiness.
But you can start working for yourself without leaving your usual place of work. Perhaps this will allow you in the future to leave your main job and become "your own boss", or you will simply get a good and stable salary increase.
Unfortunately, there is no simple life Hack that allows you to radically change your life. But we have compiled 6 ways for you to work for yourself, and at the end of the article you will find tips for starting your own business.
1. Getting Started Dropshipping
The easiest way to start a business with little or no investment is Dropshipping. To do this, you do not need to buy equipment and rent a warehouse, but only choose the niche of products you are interested in, find suppliers (the best platform for this is AliExpress), open an online store and place goods with a surcharge of about 50%. When a buyer places an order, purchase the item from AliExpress and indicate the delivery address of the customer. The seller takes care of the rest.
We have already published a detailed article about Dropshipping with AliExpress, read it here .
What is the advantage?
- You risk virtually nothing, except the time and costs of Marketing and advertising.
- If suddenly it turns out that the products you selected are not in demand, you can simply replace them with others.
- You can do business anywhere: at home, in a cafe, at your main task during a break.
2. Start your own clothing line
If you have what it takes to become a Designer and a little free time, you can create your own clothing line. At the same time , it is not necessary to be able to sew yourself or open a sewing workshop , you can work with services such as VseMayki, Printdirect or Pink Bus that make the goods and send them to the customer for you, you just need to create a Design, launch an online store, connect it to the selected Service and receive a commission from each order. T-Shirts are especially popular, but you can experiment with other clothes and accessories made by your chosen Department.
What is the advantage?
- You can start selling clothes immediately after the store opens. At the same time, the production of goods begins only after the order, if your design turns out to be unsuccessful, you will not lose anything.
- It's fun to create products that people will use every day.
- You can direct your creativity in a profitable direction.
- Seeing how your ideas come to life is invaluable.
3. Earn money with your creativity
Another way to channel your creativity on a profitable track is to sell your work online.
If you are an artist or photographer, you can sell postcards and posters of your work, print them on T-Shirts, mugs and more. Here, the printdirect or Pink Bus services that we mentioned in the previous paragraph are useful .
If you already have a sufficient number of subscribers, you can take orders. For artists, it makes sense to learn English, because in most cases Western customers pay more and find fewer mistakes. Do not hesitate and do not put low prices. Check the prices of already deserved artists or photographers of your level and let them guide you.
If you are a musician, you can donate your Beats, songs , samples and other things for money or sell your music on storage services such as AudioJungle, Epidemiicsound or Shutterstock .
Another way to make money with your creativity is Patreon . This Service allows your Fans to support you financially and, in return, receive various treats - for example, the ability to upload your work in good quality, vote on the next work, etc., depending on what you want to do and you have enough time to do it.
What is the advantage?
- They can be part of a person's life, and their work can penetrate into the homes and apartments of their clients.
- For some people, Creativity is not just a hobby, but a way of life. And so you will have a Chance to earn money that you like.
4. Become A Freelancer
There is always a demand for talented authors, designers and developers. As a freelancer, you can use your skills and help people around the world in your projects making money, of course). You do not need to make big long-term projects that gobble up all your free time. Choose shorter and simpler tasks that fit your schedule.
The most popular independent stock exchanges in Russia fl.ru, freelance.ru and weblancer.net. if you speak English fluently, try Upwork or Fiverr .
It is worth noting that Fiverr is a bit different from traditional exchanges. All prices for work are a multiple of 5 5. to earn more, adjust your offers so that you can easily sell additional services to your customers.
For example, for $ 5 as a basic service, you can offer 150 words blog introduction in writing and charge $ 10 for each additional 150 words. See how others do it and adjust the prices for your services so that the final price is worth it. You can also read this article about working with Fiverr .
If you have chosen freelancing as your main source of income, read our tips for working from home .
What is the advantage?
- With Freelancing, you can choose the projects you like and work on a schedule that suits you and in a place that suits you.
- It's good to do what you do well and get paid for it
- If you are a beginner, freelancing is a great way to gain experience in a variety of industries and build your portfolio.
- You may discover talents you didn't even know about.
5. Take a series of training videos on
In this way, you can generate passive income from your knowledge. Record a video explaining a topic you know well and post it on your personal page. You can also become a teacher on the Skillshare platform or any other similar resource . Of course, recording instructional videos is exhausting, but if you manage to create a popular and valuable course, you will regularly receive passive income from students who enroll in the course.
To write your first online course, think of a topic you know well and study it enough to be able to explain it to a perfect teapot. The topic can be anything - web Development, music writing, Social Media Marketing, etc.Once you have chosen the topic and prepared all the necessary materials, download an application that allows you to record your actions on the screen and your voice and explain what is happening to students.
To get started, you can try the CamStudio shareware for Windows, Jing for Mac and Windows or ScreenFlow for Mac.
Well, it doesn't hurt to download a video editing app. It can be Adobe Premiere Pro Professional, Accessible for about 2, 000 rubles per month (1, 300 rubles if you subscribe for a year), or you can choose free or inexpensive applications like Shotcut or Lightworks .
Even if you have never recorded and edited videos before, you will find instructions on YouTube or simply on the Internet. Who knows, perhaps you will master these programs so well that then you can record training videos on their use yourself.
What is the advantage?
All you have to do is spend a few days (or weeks, depending on the complexity of the topic and how much you want to explain it) recording a series of videos and posting them on the right resources, then relaxing and enjoying your work.
You already have the knowledge, you just have to share it. Focus on teaching what you already know very well, and everything else will come to you naturally. It does not matter what it is: develop applications for Android, create accounting reports or use VKontakte ads.
Helping people is always nice, and when you get paid for it, it's doubly nice.
6. You a Guardian
You can also actively earn money from your knowledge. If you are good at a field and know people well, try taking courses. You can find students in your old-fashioned city and go to them (usually classes are more expensive) or receive them at home (then the price should be set lower). If you decide to host students at home, equip them with a separate place where you or your students will not be distracted. Ideally, allocate a separate room or at least a balcony.
Or you can sign up for the Preply service or another similar resource and teach online through Skype or another program that supports video calls. Here you only need a computer, internet access, a Webcam and headphones, but it is better to take care of what is visible behind your back so that students are not distracted and embarrassed by the mess in your room or going back and forth.
Tutors are sought not only in school subjects and foreign languages, but also in programming, painting, music and many other subjects. Preply even has tutors who teach the intricacies of the game Dota 2 !
Choose the subject you want to teach and the age of the students. Programs for children are usually simpler, but they often have to find an approach to the child and / or his parents. Adult students are more attentive and interested in learning, but may not have time to do homework due to the activity.
If you are seriously thinking about tutoring , read this article that informs you about the difficulties and potential pitfalls.
What is the advantage?
- You create your own calendar and schedule.
- Most students are quite motivated, and they do not need to hammer knowledge forcibly in the head, as ordinary teachers do.
- If your students progress because of you, it's always nice.
- Through tutoring, you can learn a lot of new things for yourself and better understand the topic.
The options presented above are some of the easiest ways to make money for yourself. They do not require much investment, and even if something goes wrong or you realize that it is not for you, you will lose practically nothing, except time and spending on Marketing and advertising. Unless, of course, you do not leave your job with a scandal after receiving the first order.
You may have other ideas on how to start your own business. If you want to start and grow an online business, you should follow the following five steps to get started:
1) search the market
Even if you have a great idea for a Startup, it is not a fact that this Startup brings you profits, your product simply cannot be claimed. Do not repeat our mistakes with Getwear, and before investing time and money in the company, first do some research and determine whether it will be interesting for potential buyers.
You can order marketing research from a specialist or agency. For independent searches, you need the Wordstat service from Yandex. And here are the instructions for use.
2) Start commodity production or product development
Once you have found that there is a demand for your future goods or services, it is time to translate them into reality. If you decide to sell goods, you need to find a manufacturer, if you decide to launch an application, you need to find a developer, and if you decide to provide services, register on the appropriate exchanges and place your service packages there.
If you choose Dropshipping, the goods production Phase can be skipped. You just need to select the products that interest you or meet the demand.
3) pay attention to the legal component
Of course, today not everyone works officially. For example, few tutors hire an individual entrepreneur and register with the Tax Office. However, if you work legally and do not want to be afraid of potential problems of tax authorities, you need to do everything legally: register as a legal entity, open a special bank account and provide the supervisory authorities with all the necessary reports. If you have never done this and are afraid of making mistakes, it is better to consult a lawyer.
Many banks offer special service packages for small businesses that will make your life easier: for example, Sberbank Business Online or Alfa-Bank for Business . Read the reviews and conditions and choose what suits you best.
By the way, recently swept a wave of panic in Runet due to the fact that banks supposedly report to the Tax Office for each transfer of accounts, and any transfer may be necessary to pay taxes. However, the reality is not so terrible. We recommend reading this article on the Tinkoff Bank blog.
4) suppliers
For an online store, it is important to find good and reliable suppliers. If you choose a Service that prints images of your design on T-Shirts and other clothes, first order something for yourself and check if you are satisfied with the quality and delivery time. If you choose Dropshipping, take the time to find reliable suppliers on AliExpress. If you find that the products of a particular supplier are ordered most often, you can establish a business relationship with him and thus get a discount, the opportunity to place your Logo on the product or packaging, or something else.
5) Create your website and set up a payment acceptance system
Some of the above services (e.g. Printdirect ) allow you to create your page with your builder, and they process payments, you only receive a commission. For Dropshipping or creating a business card website with resume and wallet, it makes sense to create a complete website. There are many platforms for creating websites, most of which have a trial period or a free Plan. For example: Tilda, Squarespace, Shopify, store script, etc.
To receive payments (if they are not built into the platform itself), you can use Yandex.Payment Service . There are alternative solutions: Robokassa, Wallet One,VsePlatezhi, etc.in extreme cases, you can simply post the numbers of your wallets (Yandex, WebMoney, Qiwi, etc.), but it looks unworthy and can scare your potential buyers.
Don't forget to add Chatra to the site to answer visitor questions :—)
That's all. We hope you find our Article useful. If you have long thought about developing your own business or just want to earn extra money, it's time to take the first step. You you you!
If you know of any tools or services that may be useful for aspiring entrepreneurs, share them in the comments.
