How to Start a Business and Make Money Online in 2019

The first thing you need to know is it is possible to make money online. It isn’t easy and it takes work, but I have done it for 20 years and I know a lot of other entrepreneurs who do the same thing.

That I think is my big mental advantage over people just starting out. I know it’s possible. I don’t believe in any get rich quick stuff, but I know it’s possible.

Once you start making some money online in a business, there may be no better high than to realize your future, your potential is unlimited.

No job or boss can limit you.

You can build your own business, at night even while you still have a day job, and take it as far as you are willing to go.

So WHAT are people doing to start a business and make money online in 2019?

While there really are an infinite number of ways to make money online, and every entrepreneur I meet is doing something a little different, there are 3 main buckets of ways to make money online I see:

1. Sell products on platforms like Amazon FBA, eBay, Shopify or Etsy
2. Make money selling your skill or knowledge
3. Grow an Audience

Let’s talk a little about each one:

1) Sell products on platforms like Amazon FBA, eBay, Shopify or Etsy
When I am helping coach people new to Entrepreneurship, I find they often know they WANT to start a business, but they don’t know what they want to do. And not only is that OK, its very common.

I think you need to try a few different things, get your feet wet, and then the experience you gain trying a few things will help you decide what you actually enjoy and where you are starting to see success.

Just dabbling for fun, I’ve sold over six figures worth of product on Amazon FBA and eBay. In fact if you are just starting out looking to become an entrepreneur I recommend finding some of your old stuff and trying to sell it on eBay.

You will learn about pricing, market trends, customer service, and probably even make some money to invest in your business. Getting your first sale will give you the confidence to stick with becoming an entrepreneur.

After getting some experience on eBay, you will likely run out of things you own that you can sell. That’s where buying products from Alibaba or AliExpress and selling them on Amazon FBA (called private labeling) comes in.

It takes a little market research (ok a fair amount of market research – which is why I built a course to help) to find products that can work. But once you do – you can sell them over and over again.

After getting some experience on Amazon, you can open your own Shopify store and control the platform you sell on. I have found this to be tougher to do than expected. I find everyone likes buying on Amazon over your own store, but I know people who can make this work.

Also there are other platforms like Etsy where you can sell your hand made crafts etc.

2) Make money online selling your skill or knowledge
This might seem like a weird category at first but actually it is one where I find a number of Night Entrepreneurs have found their own way to leave the day job behind.

If you have a skill or some knowledge that other people want, you can make money online. Here are some examples.

If you know how to use social media, there are companies looking for you to manage their Instagram or facebook accounts.

If you know how to get six pack abs, there are people looking to learn what your exercises and meal plans look like.

If you know how to find and sell products on Amazon – people will pay you for giving them a roadmap to follow or a shortcut based on your experience.

If you know magic tricks, people will pay you to teach them.

This category is where you see people making money online as online coaches, consultants, running interest groups and meet ups, paid online forums, or selling eBooks and Online courses.

While this is sometimes a hard category to start in because you need experience and skills, often you know something others don’t because it was your passion. Are you good at DIY home projects, meal planning, couponing, etc? Then you could start a business.

3) Grow and Audience
This category also might sound vague but this is where bloggers, social media influencers, and people with hobbies fit in.

If you start a blog or an instagram account and truly provide value on your passion area or topic, you will grow a following. And over time, you can turn this into a business. Think of YouTube channels or blog resources for specific topics.

This is generally not an area many people start with when looking to start a business online. It can be a labor of love for a long time before you see any results.

I generally find people in this area just have a passion for their topic, and initially would do it even if they didn’t make money. And then eventually they realize they can make money

So HOW are people growing their new businesses across these 3 categories?

I see this happening in a few general ways

• Sell on a platform
  • Amazon FBA, Etsy, eBay, Craigslist
• Direct Advertising
• Build an Audience with tools

When you leverage a platform like Amazon FBA to sell our products, you are tapping into 200 million existing customers in the US and 90 million households with Amazon Prime accounts.

They make finding customers easy, but you have to compete with all the other sellers. It took me over a year to figure it all out, but then I taught what I had learned about selling on Amazon to a few other friends and they too started to see results and sales.

If finding products to sell on Amazon interests you I have a course that walks you through the steps so you can follow a proven path to start an online business.

I also see entrepreneurs leveraging Direct Advertising such as Google Adwords (which includes running ads on YouTube), Facebook ads, or PPC ads on Amazon itself.

I know a few entrepreneurs who have mastered direct advertising and basically print money by buying ads and making 4-10x in sales on the other side.

I haven’t found this space to be very easy but I know it is possible in the right niches.

Lastly, growing an audience might seem daunting, but there are tools to help you automate growing your audience. In fact I have used it to gain over 100,000 instagram followers in the past year. You can preview the course and see where I was at the ~ 6month mark with over 40,000 new followers.

Still not sure where to start?

It’s better to take action and learn and make progress than to always be wondering what if, but If you still don’t know how to start your own online business, you can join my discussion forum and ask questions and get one on one answers.

The whole goal of this NightEntrepreneurs blog is to help you start your own online business even while you still have a day job.

Wishing you success making money online in 2019!