7 Online Goldmines for Entrepreneurs Looking to Start on a Pauper’s Budget

Introducing Guest Poster Jelly Shah from Designhill.com

There are many rewards of starting your own freelance writing business or content marketing career; you get to work your own hours, at your own pace and be your own boss! But most freelance writing job seekers still do not wish to risk their 9 to 5 jobs over their dream business venture. Now, why is that? It’s because they believe that the marketplace for start-ups is too fragmented and highly confusing. In addition, a huge segment of people strongly believe that it demands a lot of effort, time, resources and money to give wings to their dream ventures.

But, on the contrary, today affordable content marketing tools, nominally-priced resources to help you make money writing online and the staggering list of crowdsourcing sites have made it possible for writing, Website designing and development startups to level the playing field.

So, do you have a laptop? A cell phone? A table and chair? Well, that’s more than enough to give wings to your dream venture quickly and cheaply.

And don’t worry; you do not necessarily need to have your resume dotted with years of experience and a staggering bank balance to get started. The Internet has opened a window of opportunities for you to be a successful entrepreneur and start earning big without running from pillar to post for employees or funds. 

So, if you know the tricks of the trade, read between the lines to learn about 10 businesses that you can run just with your laptop and your internet connection.

1. Search Engine Optimization

Popular news website, Mashable reveals that today the Internet swarms with around 634 million websites with 51 million being added to the web every year and every website, no matter how big or small, is trying its level best to make it to the top of the list on popular search engines such as Yahoo, Bing and Google. So, if you know the ins and outs of SEO and believe you can help both large and small enterprises save lots of money, time and efforts, do well to take a plunge and make money in the SEO business. But remember, it is a highly competitive industry with millions of players vying for attention of clients.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Echelon SEO states that an affiliate marketer is someone who promotes a product or service in exchange for some monetary compensation. Though a relatively newer phenomena, affiliate marketing is a sure-fire way of earning money without having to spend too much time on creation, conceptualization and marketing of a particular product or service. The affiliate marketer usually promotes a particular product or service through reference links, web banners, or other promotional content. But it makes sense to understand that affiliate marketing is a very competitive field and people keeping on devising new ways to beat their competition in the field. So, if you wish to unleash your mojo in this industry, do well to stay abreast with in-vogue market trends.

3. Web Development

Mashable reveals that there are around 2.4 billion users of the web. No wonder it has become all the more important for both large enterprises and small start-ups to have a strong online presence. A website is like an online identity for such businesses. Needless to say, the demand for web developers/designers is higher than ever before. The Internet today swarms with thousands of opportunities for web building making it an apt choice for those who wish to start their dream web development ventures. But remember, this field is highly competitive and it makes sense to try and give your best shot each time to achieve success in the field of web development.

4. Mobile App Development

As revealed by Mashable, there are around 1.3 billion smartphone users across the globe. Quite naturally, mobile app development is one industry that’s quickly changing the game for other industries. A staggering number of ecommerce companies, banks, large enterprises etc. are now coming up with their own mobile apps to make things easier for their users. And this surely represents a huge opportunity for mobile app development businesses. In fact, industry experts believe that now is the best time to take a plunge in the field of mobile app development and tap into the giant wallets of corporates, banks and ecommerce companies looking for mobile apps. 

5. Graphic Design

Industry insiders believe that nowadays customized graphic designs ranging from appealing logos to unique business cards have become integral for businesses to build their brand identity, garner media mileage and establish a loyal customer base. And if you thought that you’ll have to run behind freelance graphic designers or design agencies to start this business, it's time to think again. Crowdsourcing sites such as Designhill or design crowd make it easy for you to work with talented designers from across the globe and get great and affordable graphic designs including logo design, t-shirt design, business card designs and a whole lot of other designs for your clients without breaking your bank. And don’t worry crowdsourcing your clients’ design requirements with reliable sites will ensure risk-free and affordable proposition with the luxury of choosing from 100+ designs within 7 days.

6. Make Money Writing Online

With the upsurge in the number of websites and several recent updates rolled out by Google, quality content has now become king over the forgettable, run-of-the-mill variety. And with content suddenly becoming so important, there is a huge demand for freelance writers, bloggers, copywriters and copyeditors in the market. A privately held survey reveals that there are around 152,000,000 blogs on the web and every blog needs content. You can easily make money writing online by simply approaching the blog owners or website administrators for content solutions. You can start a company by developing a website and hiring a bunch of freelance writers. And if you don’t know where to find good writers, you may browse through popular freelance writing sites such as Elance or Odesk and tempt in some great talent for freelance writing for your company for monetary profits. You may also post freelance writing jobs or freelance writing gigs on such sites and rope in some great talent to help you cater the content needs of your clients.

7. Social Media Management

The social media wave is riding high these days for both large and small enterprises. A report released by mashable in 2013 reveals that there are 2.7 billion likes on Facebook every day, 175 million tweets were sent on Twitter every day, while Google's +1 button is used a whopping 5 billion times per day. No wonder businesses now run campaigns on social networking sites in order to connect with their target audience, prospects and clients. So, if you are familiar with the tenets of social media management and know how to measure ROI, expand the reach, and increase the bottom line through social media sites, you may be in great demand. You may simply approach websites, businesses and corporations and impress them with your knowledge, who knows, you might get your big break soon in your niche industry.

Well, there’s absolutely no dearth of opportunities for those who wish to give wings to their dream ventures on a pauper’s budget. All one needs to know is how to start without vast experience and huge investment and where to start in order to open those doors of success without running from pillar to posts. I am sure you are happy to know that now you can turn the table around and pocket in some serious cash with just a laptop, a cell phone and, a table and chair. 

Community Question: How do you make money online? Are you a writer, marketer, designer or a Jack-of-all-Trades? 

Answer in the comments or over on the F.C.C.O Forum. We're always happy to welcome new members to our freelance family. 

This was the first of many guest posts from our newest freelance designer/writer friend Jelly Shah. Please feel free to ask him anything about the freelance writing or design business. Let's make him feel welcomed here on the FWP Blog, folks!

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Guest Author Jelly Shah from Designhill.com:

Jelly Shah works as full-time graphic designer with Designhill,  a leading custom crowdsourcing platform, where he spends most of his time creating upbeat graphic designs. When not designing, he loves spending his time writing blogs, articles, case studies and tutorials about graphic designing, social media and market analysis.

Connect with Jelly on Google+