Business Plans and Models for 6 Figures a Year Online
When it comes to income ideas to make 6 figures a year online, there’s nearly an unlimited number of options.
In this post, I’ll start by explaining the two main online business frameworks based on pricing and volume. Then I’ll move into a heck-ton of online business ideas that build on these frameworks.
Online Income Framework 1: Low Cost, High Volume
The first framework for scaling to six figures online is with low cost products. In order to make significant money with low cost products, you need to have high volume. This fact alone influences SO much of how you choose to scale online.
For example, with a business that needs volume, you first consider what niches support the demand you want. The niche needs to be narrow enough to be understandable by the market but broad enough to have volume.
For example, one volume based business could be a blog. Blogs have high-volume potential because of search engines. However, you need to make sure the blog is narrow enough to where people know if they want to come back, AND broad enough to where there is a lot of traffic potential. A lifestyle blog that also talks about travel, and recipes, and mental health, might be too broad for people to understand the value. But a lifestyle blog that focuses on travel and budget alone is narrow enough to where people can understand if they want to come back.
Online Income Framework 2: Higher Cost, Lower Volume
The second main framework for making money online that can grow to a six figure income is higher cost, lower volume businesses. One common example of this is business coaching or consulting.
Coaching and consulting usually cost – on the low end – several hundred dollars. On the high-end, several thousand dollars, and on the highest end could even cost over six figures.
With higher cost, lower volume offers, you aren’t necessarily as worried about volume potential. This is why you’ll notice a lot of coaches don’t blog, because there are traffic sources that are easier to become visible on and build trust on in a shorter period of time, and coaches are generally not looking for massive volume to make a massive income.
With higher cost offers, one challenge involves making sure that the offer is sophisticated enough to charge enough for it. For example, with the coaching example I mentioned, it’s difficult to charge a high price for coaching unless people see the coaching you offer as a necessity and not a luxury.
For this reason, when you’re charging higher prices, it’s imperative that you do market research to make sure that people see your offer as a necessity. Sometimes this can take trial and error, but I’ll get into that in detail and some of the examples below.
With these two main models out of the way, we can move into a bunch of ways you can apply these to frameworks to create and scale your online business to a six figure income.
Passive Income VS Not
One more thing before we get into the business ideas:
- is talking about a couple of other ways the money can come in
- and a couple of important factors for attracting the buyers
The two ways to make money online are with passive income, or with live sales. Passive income is probably the most attractive way to make money online. However, it’s not necessarily the easiest to get started with.
When most people talk about passive income, what they actually want is income that has leverage. What does “leverage” mean in this context?
Leverage is the ability to make more money without having to work more.
Courses are an example of a product that has leverage, because you can create it once and sell it over and over again.
Coaching is an example of a product that does not have leverage, because the more clients you have the more you have to work. However, if you CAN create leverage in coaching. Two examples of leverage in coaching include…
- Turning your 1:1 coaching into a group program
- Hiring support coaches for your coaching program
If your goal is truly passive income, just expect that it may take some time to refine how that money comes to you consistently.
Hunting Versus Gardening
Another thing that I want to mention here is a word on marketing: hunting versus gardening. Hunting versus gardening are first of the two ways that you’re going to make sales and get clients over time.
There’s phases of your business that are going to include more hunting. Hunting involves going after a sale proactively. This could involve messaging people, engaging on social media more often, prospecting buyers, etc. And once you’re more established, you’ll benefit from the results of gardening. Gardening in marketing are the seeds you plant to reap later. These are the marketing efforts that become passive over time.
If you start a coaching business or a consulting business, for example, early on in your business you’re probably going to be doing prospecting. However, eventually as a coach or consultant you want to build up traffic and visibility. Growing traffic and visibility makes your marketing more passive eventually, because you build equity on different platforms. But this takes some time. If I’m a coach that wants to start a blog, then I will initially get clients by prospecting. Then, I can use the blog over time to get more clients without having to prospect.
This is what I’m referring to is gardening – planting the seed for leads and sales to come in more passively over time.
Setting Expectations
Whatever business you decide to start, make sure to have clear and reasonable expectations in the beginning of your business. I have had multiple clients make 5 figures while working with me in their first month together, but that is often the exception and not the rule. Even though I have some crazy client success stories, most people tend to increase their income over time.
If you have a high-cost offer, it’s easier to make a significant amount of money in a shorter period of time because you’re charging higher prices. If you have a low-cost offer, the good news is that it might be easier for you to make passive income as opposed to being a coach. However, it’s going to take you a longer period of time to make a significant amount of money.
Another thing to note here is the importance of tuning in to your desires and your vision for your life. I have clients who don’t like to talk to people, who are very creative, who love to write, and who homeschool their kids. Coaching is probably not an ideal business for that type of person. Knowing your skill set and having a vision for your life can help you choose between some of the ideas below.
Tips for 6 Figures a Year
Below many of the options below, I noted some special tips after each section to scale.
If a section is missing tips, it’s because they’re likely repeated elsewhere or very similar to another section. Have questions on what you plan to scale for 6 figures a year and beyond? Let me know and I can add to the post.
18 Side Hustle Ideas to Make 6 Figures Online
1. Start a Blog
Starting a blog is an easy way to start presenting your thoughts and expertise online. Blogging can be a great way to build relationships with readers, increase website traffic, and even make money depending on the niche you choose. Before diving into blogging, it’s important to have a clear goal in mind. What type of content do you plan on sharing? You should also decide whether or not you would like to monetize your blog.
Once you have these goals in place, choosing the right platform and hosting service will help ensure your blog’s success. Additionally, make sure that your blog has a consistent branding and visual identity across all platforms.
To get to a six figure income with a blog, you’ll want to make sure to heavily focus on growing your traffic. You also need an email list. Want to sell products to accelerate your income? Decide if you’d rather sell affiliates or your own products in addition to collecting ad revenue.
2. Provide a Service
Providing services is one of the most popular ways of making money online. It’s an attractive option because it allows people to make money without capital or any special equipment. Services can range from virtual assistant work to web design and even freelance writing. Additionally, offering services can be a great way to explore different fields. (Before committing to something more long term like starting a business or launching an app.)
Generally speaking, it’s best for service providers to set up clear expectations with their clients and ensure that they provide quality work on time.
To get to 6 figures a year by providing a service, make sure you have a plan to hire or outsource eventually, so you can keep expanding when your own time books up.
3. Paid Ads Specialist
Paid Ads Specialists are responsible for managing digital advertising campaigns for their clients or employers through various platforms such as Google Adwords and Facebook Ads Manager. This type of job requires analysis skills as well as an understanding of how digital marketing works. A good Paid Ads Specialist should:
- have extensive knowledge about setting up campaigns from scratch
- creating targeted ads that get results
- monitoring results
- optimizing campaigns when needed
- and providing reports on the performance of ad campaigns over time.
To get to a six figure income as a paid ads specialist, make sure you have a plan to hire or outsource eventually, and make sure you charge enough for your time.
4. SEO and Content Creation
SEO & Content Creation is the process of creating content that helps potential customers find information. People often search for products and services related to their query using search engines like Google or Bing. SEO involves researching on keywords relevant to the industry or subject matter. Then generally, you’ll create content and include the keywords strategically. You need to utilize the keywords enough so that search engine algorithms consider them “relevant” for higher rankings in organic search results pages (SERPs).
Aside from researching and including keywords appropriately throughout the content piece, SEO & Content Creators must also keep up-to-date with new trends so they know which topics are currently trending among users online at any given moment – this helps ensure that content ranks better in SERPs over time due its relevancy factor among users searching for specific terms related to certain topics!
To get to 6 figures a year with SEO, you’ll probably start a blog or a YouTube channel. Refer to #1 for some tips there.
5. Social Media Manager
A social media manager is an individual who is responsible for managing the presence of a company or brand on social media platforms. This includes developing, curating, and scheduling content, as well as engaging with followers and responding to comments. They must be proficient in digital media tools such as analytics software and social listening platforms. In addition, they need to be creative and strategic in their work; they should be able to develop compelling content that resonates with their target audience. They also need to stay up-to-date on new trends so they can execute campaigns effectively.
To get to 6 figures a year as a social media manager, make sure you charge enough for your packages and create a plan to scale (similar to a service provider above, as a social media manager is a type of service provider).
6. Start Coaching
Starting a coaching business can be a great way to make money while helping others achieve their goals. As a coach, you will provide guidance and advice to help your clients succeed in achieving their desired outcomes. To start off, you need to decide what type of coaching you’ll offer (e.g., life coaching, business coaching, etc.) and then create a plan for how you’ll deliver your services. You’ll also need to assess your skills and gaps so you can create a curriculum that will ensure the best possible results for your clients. Additionally, you’ll need to understand the local regulations related to business licensing and marketing so you can set yourself up for success from the start.
To scale your only coaching business to six figures and beyond, you either need to charge enough to make 6 figures easily, OR, you can either hire support coaches or create a group program.
7. Start Consulting
For those looking for a way to make money without having employees or taking on too much risk, starting a consulting business may be the perfect option. Consultants typically provide expert advice on one particular subject area or provide insight into how an organization can better achieve its goals.
To start off as a consultant, it’s important that prospective clients know exactly what services they are offering and how they are uniquely positioned compared to other consultants in the same industry or niche market. This means creating an effective marketing plan with strategies such as networking at events or leveraging online marketing tactics like SEO and PPC campaigns in order to reach potential customers who may find value in working with them over another provider of similar services.
8. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is an increasingly popular ecommerce model that involves selling products without actually having inventory on hand – instead of stocking products yourself, you partner with suppliers who ship products directly from their warehouse straight to your customer’s doorstep.
To get started dropshipping successfully you’ll need to select reliable suppliers who have plenty of inventory available for sale; research pricing structures; consider various shipping options; explore automation solutions that make managing orders easier; familiarize yourself with taxes related to online sales; invest in secure payment methods; develop attractive product descriptions; and promote your products using marketing strategies such as email campaigns or affiliate programs. Here’s some more dropshipping tips.
To make a 6 figure income dropshipping, you’ll need a LOT of traffic and/or visibility.
9. Become an Influencer
Becoming an influencer is an amazing way to make a name for yourself, expand your reach and increase your income. It involves creating content that resonates with people and builds a loyal audience.
To become an influencer, you must first find what topics you could potentially specialize in or be passionate about by researching current trends and topics that are popular on social media. You must also choose a platform where you can establish yourself as an expert, such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or Twitter. Once you’ve established yourself on one or more platforms, you need to identify your target audience and build relationships with other influencers who may be interested in promoting your content.
Additionally, it is important to ensure that all of your content is creative, unique and visually appealing if you want to stand out from the crowd and gain followers.
To make 6 figures as an influencer, you need a large audience and great engagement to procure brand deals and sponsorships. Alternative, you could create your own courses, services, or digital products.
10. Graphic Design
If you have a creative flair and a love of visual design then graphic design could be the perfect avenue for you to pursue. Graphic designers create visual concepts using computer software or hand drawing tools to communicate ideas that inspire others.
This includes logos, typography, illustrations, infographics and website designs. In order to succeed at graphic design it requires someone who has excellent attention-to-detail and understands how colors work together in harmony.
To start in this field of work it’s important to understand the basics such as user interfaces (UI) design principles as well as learning how different layouts affect user experience (UX). Knowing which programs are the most useful for any given project will also come in handy when starting out – popular choices include Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator depending on what type of project it is.
11. Create a Course
Creating courses can be a great way to share knowledge with others while making money doing something you love! It starts by deciding what type of course it would be; this could range from teaching people how to cook delicious meals or giving advice on becoming successful online entrepreneurs – the choice is up to you!
Before beginning the process of designing a course curriculum decide exactly who the target audience will be so it can be tailored specifically toward them – this will help make sure that they get maximum value from the course material resulting in better feedback which should lead to more sales! Once outlined decide which format the course will take: whether it’s video tutorials over multiple weeks or downloadable PDFs with specific tasks – each one has its own advantages depending on what type of learning environment works best for students taking your course.
12. Create E-books or Printables
Creating e-books or printables is another way entrepreneurs can make money from their passion projects while also helping others learn valuable skills through education products they create themselves! It starts with thinking about what topic/skill would be best suited for these types of products based on market research. This could range from photography tips & tricks to how-to’s regarding business strategies.
Then developing outlines for each e-book/printable accordingly – making sure each product covers topics thoroughly enough so customers truly gain value out of buying them!
Writing these digital products up can easily take weeks but pays off when shared online – especially if customers ask questions related towards material covered within e-books/printables which shows great engagement! It’s important after launching these products that proper marketing strategies are implemented as well — like utilizing effective SEO tactics & Social Media Ads — so they reach their intended audiences easily & effectively leading towards more purchases overall!
13. Affiliate Marketing
Another way to make money online is by becoming an affiliate marketer.
As an affiliate marketer, you will promote other people’s products or services in exchange for a commission when someone makes a purchase through your link. It’s important to find good products or services that align with what you create so that your audience trusts in what they are buying through your link.
Once you have found something that works well with what you create, start promoting it on social media and other channels so that more people become aware of it.
14. Joint Ventures
Joint ventures are strategic partnerships between two or more companies that share resources, costs, profits and risks. They come in all shapes and sizes, from full mergers to collaborations on a single project.
By combining the expertise and resources of both companies, joint ventures have the potential to create value far beyond what either company could achieve alone. The partners benefit from access to a greater pool of resources, lower costs, increased efficiency and higher market penetration.
15. Promotional Partner
Promotional partners can be very beneficial for businesses looking to expand their reach into new markets. These agreements involve one partner offering goods or services that are promoted by the other partner, often using various forms of marketing and advertising.
This type of collaboration allows businesses to quickly increase their customer base without investing large amounts of capital into developing their own products or services. In addition, it also provides an opportunity for both businesses to learn from one another’s strategies and techniques as well as build valuable relationships with customers.
16. Create Physical Products
Creating physical products can be a great way for businesses to maximize their profit potential. With access to modern manufacturing technology, it is now easier than ever before for entrepreneurs and business owners alike to design and produce their own products at relatively low cost.
Additionally, creating a physical product can help boost brand recognition and foster loyalty among customers through its tangible nature which can open up opportunities for additional sales down the line.
To make 6 figures a year with physical products, you may eventually have to consider manufacturing and warehousing.
17. Become a Setter and/or Sales Person
Selling is an essential part of any successful business venture. Having the right salespeople on a team can make all the difference! This is where you can come in.
Those working in sales jobs need excellent communication skills. This is because they will be responsible for convincing potential buyers why they should purchase your products or services.
It is important that they are knowledgeable about the items they are selling. As a sales person or setter, you need to be able to answer questions from customers confidently. At the same time, you’re also responsible for closing deals quickly in order maximize conversions from leads into long-term customers.
18. Pinterest Manager
Pinterest managers play an important role in helping brands promote their products. Use this popular social platform which has grown significantly over recent years to help! The format is easy-to-use and allows users quickly browse photos related posts shared by others.
A Pinterest manager needs thorough knowledge of how the platform works. They’ll need to be able to make use of its features for traffic and visibility for brands. This includes features like trending hashtags, image optimization, promotion options, video etc. They must also have a good understanding of SEO principles so that content posted can have maximum visibility online. By leveraging Pinterest strategically, brands can gain high levels exposure with potential customers who may not otherwise find them online easily.
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