Hello Ladies and Gents
Good Day and welcome to another blog here at Wealthy Affiliates.
Today I will share to you some of the best home based business opportunities that I discovered and/or trying out. I need to be honest with everyone because you deserve it. I am in the online business for just a couple of months so I humbly admit that I am not an expert on any field (probably except stock market trading), but I give you my word that I either did my research and tried all the things that I will share here. Of course, as I gain more experience and knowledge, then I will update this blog to reflect those.
Hey, on the bright side, especially if you are also new in this business, then we can journey together. I hope that you will share your journey in the comment section down below or email me! If you are an expert to this area, please continue reading and I hope you will offer your feedback down below on the ideas that I share. It will sure help me and our community!
So! Let us be done with an introduction and let us go into my list of Home Based Business Opportunities. Note that the rankings below are based on how much experience and how much knowledge I have on the particular online business.
Stock Investing
Probably the most recognized and accepted form of online business. Stock investing is very lucrative but at the same time the very risky online business you can do.
I have started investing in the stock market when I was 17 years old or as soon as I started working part-time at McDonald’s. I first only invested in conservative investment vehicles to get the feel of trading. I remember buying Certificates of Deposits and low-risk mutual funds in my rookie years.
My journey did not stop there. I am determined to profit from the stock market so I kept reading on different investment strategies. Books that helped me develop my trading systems include “How to Make Money in Stocks” by William J O Neil, “The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing” by Jason Kelly, and “Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School” by Andrew Hallam.
Today, I am still learning and growing how to trade the stock market but I am blessed since I never had a negative or losing year ever since I started trading the stock market.
Stock Trading Now and Then
Our generation today is blessed to have the internet. In the old times, a person who wants to buy or sell a stock needs to phone their broker and the broker will have to execute the orders for them. The worse part for traders back in the days is they needed to go to a public library if they want to research the financial health of a company.
Today, anyone can buy or sell stocks and other securities without leaving their bed. Banks and brokers offer an online trading platform that enables traders to open or close a position no matter where they are as long as they have an internet connection. Traders today can also learn everything about a company that they are interested in the comfort of their home as well.
Pros and Cons of Trading Stocks
As mentioned earlier, stock market trading is very lucrative. If done right, a meager $5000 can be turned into $1000000 or more by using the right strategy plus letting time do its magic.
Another good thing about trading stock market is it is highly regulated. This means that there are a lot of professionals who are offering legitimate courses, governing bodies that protect investors from scam and other unlawful practices, etc.
The bad side of stock market trading is a lot of people do not succeed in their quest. They use a get-rich-quick trading strategy, they risk more than they should, and they let their emotions run their trading career. Fortunately, these errors are due to emotions thus can be fixed with proper behavioral discipline.
Forex Trading
Forex trading is like trading stock market but on steroids. The reward is much greater, the profit comes much faster, but of 
course, the risk is significantly higher.
I honestly tried forex trading first before stock market trading. There are two ways to trade forex like the stock market: technical trading and fundamental trading.
Technical trading is trading through reading a chart/ price action of a currency pair. This strategy requires you to learn different candlestick patterns, know how to draw support and resistance level, be able to interpret moving average signals, etc.
This trading method takes less time since you just need to open your forex trading platform and start reading the charts. You can visit babypips.com to learn more about forex trading.
Fundamental trading can become overwhelming and confusing since forex trading is trading the currency of one country against another. If you will use this strategy, then you will have to know how to interpret the geopolitical news and the economy of a country. You can use the internet to gather information, but Forex Factory is my go-to source for collecting forex related news.
Blogging
Can I really Blog?
For the longest time, I promised myself that I will not go into blogging business because I am not good at writing and I was bullied on my teenage years because I am an ESL. However, I recently realized the potential income blogging can generate. After battling my insecurities, I dive head on to this new business venture and to my surprise, I actually love writing. Pardon my grammar, for now, I can improve on that later, but I hope the ideas that I am sharing is adding value to your life.
Blogging as a Source of Passive Income
One of the best thing about blogging is it can become a passive income after a year or two of creating contents. You also have an option to compile your blog post into an e-book then sell it to your readers. Your blog post and your e-book will be forever on the internet once you have written it and people will keep reading it as long as they find it relevant to their lives. Likewise, the ads, affiliates, etc. that generates income that is supposed to be in each of your blog posts will also be there as long as your website is up thus, will create a passive income stream for you.
Blogging to Lead and Create Change
Another good thing about blogging is you influence people. Blogging is a powerful tool that can change or destroy people’s lives. If you love adding value to others or love influencing them, then I recommend trying this out.
Blogging Requires Work
Unfortunately, no online business is perfect. One of the downsides of blogging is you need to put a lot of initial work to your site. Google nor people will not automatically read your blog and if your blog is not getting traffic, then you will not earn anything since no one is clicking and buying your ads.
To learn how to blog, please visit my review on Wealthy Affiliate. Wealthy Affiliate offers hundreds of hours of lessons on how to becomes a successful blogger. They offer web hosting services and they are also a domain registrar.
Buying at Auction, Selling on Other Platforms
Oldest Form of Business
Buying and selling is probably one of the oldest ways to make money. However, our modern technology changes how we do these things. Today, we are able to buy or sell things without having to negotiate.
Buying and selling continues to evolve. Just a couple of years ago, the way people trade their goods is through a physical retail store. Nowadays, it is done through the internet and sellers can ship their products to their customers.
My Experience on Buying and Selling
The best way to take advantage of this business model is to buy merchandises at a discounted price then sell it at a higher price. However, this is not all to it. It is also important to know if there are buyers and who are they. Once the buyers are identified, the next step is to advertise the products to them.
From my own experience, I buy items from auction houses then sell it on platforms like eBay. I look for computer and electronics, and I prefer to buy brand named products. I also try to make sure that I have room for profit.
For example, I bought a Razer mechanical keyboard originally priced at $225 CAD. I bid of it for $105 CAD and I won. Now, I am trying to sell it for $139-$170 CAD thus giving me a profit of $45-$65.
The lesson from the example above is first, Razer is a known premium brand and people love it. Second, an $86-$55 CAD discount for a manufacturer refurbished item is not bad at all. Third, A $45-$65 earnings is a reasonable profit to cover my time spent on purchasing, picking up, selling, and shipping the item.
Always Do Your Research
It is important to remember that not all item sells even if they are branded items. There will also be times when an item is a hit. Everyone you know seems they have one and enjoy using it, but as soon as you start selling it, it becomes a desert. No one is buying it even if you sell it for a reasonable price!
To avoid these, always make sure to do your research. Find out what is trending on eBay or on other e-market platforms. Know how much the item you will sell typically sells for and figure out your profit margin before buying it and determine who buys that product then target them.
Future Business Endeavors
Here are some other online business ideas that I believe to be profitable, but I haven’t had the chance to try it yet.
Creating an Online Course
This is online business is especially good for people who have a high degree of knowledge or expertise on a particular subject. Your main objective for this online business is to share your knowledge or expertise to your viewers. In other words, you get paid for adding value to other people’s lives. That being said, it also helps if you are a mentor, a leader, a teacher, a pastor or a coach since you have an experience of packaging your knowledge and wisdom into a course that others can benefit.
However, I want to make it clear that you can still go into online course business even if you do not have the qualifications that I mentioned! Do not be afraid to take risks and do something new. Aim for personal growth and development.
Dropshipping
This is another online business that I want to figure out since it can have the potential to provide a tremendous amount of income.
The basic of dropshipping is as follows:
- You create a business account at Amazon.
- Determine what products you want to specialize in.
- Find a manufacturer or company that will sell your product in bulk/cheaper price.
- Advertise/ sell the product at a higher price.
- Contact your manufacturer or company when someone buys your product at Amazon and let them shipped your product to Amazon.
- Take home the difference in prize.
So yes droppshipping is another form of online buy/sell but on steroids! You buy and sell products on a much larger scale. The main difference is you do not buy then sell the product, but you only act as a middleman!
Conclusion
There you go. Those are the 5 online businesses that I have done or planning to do. Note that each area has different risk and different skills required so feel free to choose the one that suits your personality the best.
One important advice that I want you to remember. There will always be “stepping-out of-your-comfort-zone” events that you will experience no matter which business you will choose. There will be a learning curve that you need to overcome. You must put a lot of work before your online business starts to flourish. Do not be fooled by a quick-rich strategy – you need to build your online business on a strong foundation.
In order to be successful in your business, you need to extensively invest in yourself first! Learn to ask and answer the “why’s of life” – why do you do what you do. Know how to vision cast – visualizing a life that you want to have based on your why’s. Develop good resource gathering skills or ability to solve problems to reach your vision. Practice good management skills so you can use the limited resource for your own advantage.
In the end, the way you think will determine your success. If you focus on negative thoughts and problems, then you cannot go far. However, if you focused on finding solutions, growing, and developing, then I can guarantee you that you will live a fulfilled life.