5 Ways How to Start an Online Business With No Money

Featured article by Jennifer Livingston, Independent Technology Author

There’s an old axiom in business parlance that says “it takes money to make money”.

While it may be true that you can make money by investing money, it does not in mean that it is the only way to make money. Millions of people across the world have given up their day jobs and are earning a full-time income online through businesses. They did not have to spend a single penny in order to get started. Getting started is easy. With a little bit of focused time, effort, energy, and discipline, you too can be well on your way to building a successful online business.

The Internet: Purveyor Of Egalitarian Economics

The Internet has leveled the playing field for anyone who aspires to make money online. The lure of being able to make money while sitting at home in your pajamas, in front of your computer, is compelling. Anybody can start an online business for free, without having to spend a single dime.

Here are 5 online businesses you can start with no money:

1. Online blog

If you have a particular hobby, passion, or topic you are interested in, you can make money just for writing about it, sharing news about it, giving people advice about it, keeping people informed about it. You can set up your own free blog on blogger.com, wordpress.com, or hubpages.com.

But how do you make money doing this? Through advertisements. Google Adsense is an advertising network that places contextually relevant advertisements on people’s websites. Whenever a visitor comes and clicks on the advertisement, you will earn a specific amount of money, which could be anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars.

2. Merchandise Seller

If you have junk sitting around at home that you want to get rid of, you can sell it online. You know the old saying, “one man’s cash is another man’s treasure”? Just set up an eBay or Amazon account, take some pictures of your merchandise, and list online. Or, if you don’t have your own used merchandise to sell, you can peruse the Craigslist ads for free stuff that people want to give a way in your local area. Pick up and bring it home, and then you can relist those same items for profit.

3. Affiliate Marketing

Did you know that you can earn a commission for referring people to buy other companies’ products? This practice is known as affiliate marketing. For example, you could sign up for a free Amazon Associates account, and then set up your own blogs or product review websites that include links to various products on Amazon’s website. If someone visits your website, and then clicks on one of these links that take them to the Amazon website, and then they complete a purchase, you will earn a percentage of the total sale.

4. Article Writer

An easy way to make business income online is to become a freelance writer. The Internet is all about content. Every blog post, every commentary, every product review, and every news item had to be written by somebody. There is an increasing demand for writers. You can sign up for free as a writer on article brokerage websites, such as TextBroker.com and start writing articles for profit.

5. Freelance Web Designer Or Information Technology Professional

If you have any IT skills, such as web design, programming, database administration, or graphic design (just to name a few), you can put your skills to work with your own online information technology freelancing business. There are absolutely no start-up costs required.

All you have to do is sign up with a freelancing website such as Upwork and start bidding on projects that are of interest to you. With some patience, persistence, and discipline, you can develop a steady stream of income online.

Video editing is another example of a freelance online business. For example, subtitle services (editing a video to include subtitles), is very much in demand, if you have access to free video editing software.