I started my first business years before my first child was born and honestly, I wasn't expecting it to be a full-time business. I truly was passionate about it and was just having fun.
That was until I was fired from my full-time job with a newborn on the way! That changed my perspective on not only being an employee but also being a parent.
"Time is our greatest asset and I want to spend it with my kids"
Being a parent is hard enough, but trying to build a direct-to-consumer golf brand as a first-time dad wasn't what I had planned for.
It was the most challenging year of my life with the immense pressure of providing for my new family and trying to figure out how to scale my own business and provide an income at the same time.
Looking back, getting fired was the kick in the butt I needed to make it happen. I was able to grow my simple online business idea into an established brand doing multi-million dollars online.
The biggest lesson I learned, was to have multiple incomes that don't rely on each other. This way, if you do get fired...It's no big deal! Or if you are a working parent and want to become a stay-at-home mom or dad.
There are many online businesses that you can start as a new parent, but not all of them will be equally successful. Some may take longer to get off the ground, while others may be more quickly profitable.
These online business models can work for stay-at-home parents and also for those that are not new parents. Extra money makes most things in life a little bit easier. Not to say that any of these don't take hard work.
Don't let the online gurus who sell online courses fool you. No business is easy, but the internet has been a great way for me to build a business and family life I can enjoy.
So what is the best online business to start as a new parent or ideally before you become a new parent?
The best online business to start as a new parent is one that doesn't take too much time to set up and get going.
You don't want to be spending all your precious free time working on your business, so look for something that can be quickly and easily implemented.
First, I think is best to define a realistic goal (Do you want extra income, do you want to replace your day job?)
Make a super simple business plan before you choose one of the online business models below.
My goal with this new business (the blog):
Questions I ask myself when I am going to start a new online business:
What do I have experience in already?
I have had success in eCommerce and running an email marketing agency. I never built a content-based business like a blog, so for me, it is a new challenge. I hope I am up for the challenge. My main concern is my lack of patience! Time will tell.
What do I want my day to look like?
Work on my own schedule and when I want to, not have to. Low customer service and no service to fulfill.
How much am I willing to invest upfront and ongoing?
I am looking for low capital investment and low ongoing expenses. Once I have traction and some growth I can reinvest profits into content to grow.
How will I make money from my online business?
Affiliate marketing - Offering links to products I actually use in this business. Monetizing my organic traffic from blog articles through ads like Ezoic and Mediavine. Any agency referrals I send that are closed, I will receive a commission, Lastly, for anyone looking for coaching or consulting, I may work with them on monthly basis via a retainer.
This is just a really short "business plan" or really just an outline of what you like to do that will help you find the type of business that will work for you.
1 - Start a blog
⛳⛳⛳⛳🏌️♀️ (4.5/5)
Start Difficulty: Very Easy
Time to monetize: Very Long
How to make money (most common): Display ads, Affiliate offers, Sponsored posts
Minimum Software required: Website (Wix or WordPress are most common), Ads (Google Adsense, Ezoic, Mediavine, Adthrive), RankIQ (Keyword Research)
Challenges: Competition, easy barrier to entry, search engines can dictate your success or failure, and the time it takes to get real results.
Technical hurdles: Must be able to set up a website, and install ads to monetize.
Ease to sell the business (no exit is easy): Easy
Expertise needed to grow it: Keyword research, quality SEO-focused content, a clear niche or brand positioning
Why I like this business model: You aren't trading your time for dollars. If you put in the right work upfront you can scale it without needing inventory or employees.
Keep writing great blog posts and over time the internet will reward you with organic traffic that you can monetize in several ways.
2 - Consulting business
⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳ (5/5)
Start Difficulty: Very Easy
Time to monetize: Very quick
How to make money (most common): Exchanging your expertise for an hourly rate or monthly retainer
Minimum Software required: None (You can get clients without a website)
Challenges: Competition and easy barrier to entry. Hard to target ideal clients and must be willing to take phone calls. May be had to do with a full time job if clients want to talk with you directly.
Technical hurdles: Low - Setting up a payment method for clients.
Ease to sell the business (no exit is easy): Very difficult if you are the one doing the consulting.
Expertise needed to grow it: You need to be a true expert at one specific thing. Maybe it's writing as a freelance writer, managing social media accounts for an online store, SEO, email marketing, Facebook ads, or something that you do for your day job.
It is hard to try to become an expert and consult at the same time, do something you already are great at.
Why I like this business model: Speed to cash. Consulting is the easiest way to start making money now. The challenge is building a clear offer that your ideal client will pay money for and you are trading your time for dollars.
Running a consulting business is hard to scale and can turn into another job quickly.
3 - Ecommerce Store
⛳⛳⛳⛳🏌️♀️ (4.5/5)
"Not Dropshipping" - Your own online store
Start Difficulty: Very High
Time to monetize: Medium - But cashflow can be difficult
How to make money (most common): Selling physical products from your own website
Minimum Software required: Website (Shopify, Bigcommerce, Wix, WordPress), Email Service Provider (Klaviyo), Email capture tool (Privy), SMS Software (Klaviyo or Postcript), Reviews App (Judge.Me) and the list can be much longer, but this is to get started.
Challenges: Competition, Capital, and Expertise in Multiple Areas (Paid Traffic, Email Marketing, Fulfilment)
Technical hurdles: Medium-High - Launching a store is "easy", but setting up everything to work smoothly can be difficult for newbies
Ease to sell the business (no exit is easy): Medium - Scale can be amazing and exits can be large. I exited my own ecommerce brand in 2022 and it was life-changing, but it was 10 years in the making.
Expertise needed to grow it: You need to be a true expert at many things. Product design, website design, brand positioning, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Fulfilment, Customer Service, CRO, SEO, and Email Marketing.
Eventually you can delegate if you have enough cash flow.
Why I like this business model: Scale. Ecommerce has made more money than I ever thought possible. The ability to scale a physical products business is simply crazy. We sold over 1 million golf clubs!
The size of exits can be absolutely wild because of the sheer scale, but it can be very capital-intensive. I personally needed to use working capital loans for 3 years and constantly reinvested profits back into inventory to scale. Overall very hard to do well, but can make a lot of money.
4 - Information Products and Online Courses
⛳⛳⛳⛳ (4/5)
Start Difficulty: High
Time to monetize: Medium - Good cashflow but hard to scale with paid traffic
How to make money (most common): Selling an online course or e-book from your website
Minimum Software required: Kajabi or Teachable (Online Course Platforms), Email Marketing (Convert Kit, Drip or GetResponse)
Challenges: Selling a course is difficult and building a great course that creates transformation is very difficult. Must be able to market your course to drive revenue. Expertise in course creation paid traffic, email marketing, and offer creation is needed.
Technical hurdles: Medium-High - Getting the various software to work well together and create a great user experience can be a challenge for some. Updating your course material as things change can create ongoing work as well.
Ease to sell the business (no exit is easy): Low - Online courses in general are hard to scale to a large size and need to be updated by one expert typically. It is less common to see a course-based business for sale.
Expertise needed to grow it: You need to be a true expert at many things. Product design, website design, brand positioning, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Course Creation, Customer Service, Copywriting, and Email Marketing.
Why I like this business model: Cashflow and low service fulfillment. Courses can be a great business model because you are selling a product without inventory and you don't have to fulfill a service.
So its like e-commerce but with information. This makes it amazing, but I have seen many courses struggle to have a consistent scale.
5 - Print on Demand
⛳⛳⛳⛳ (4/5)
Start Difficulty: Medium
Time to monetize: Medium - Good for cash flow since you aren't stocking inventory.
How to make money (most common): Selling dropshipped print-on-demand products through your website.
Minimum Software required: Similar to Ecommerce - Print on Demand Partner (Printful, Printify), Website (Shopify, Bigcommerce, Wix, WordPress), Email Service Provider (Klaviyo), Email capture tool (Privy), SMS Software (Klaviyo or Postcript), Reviews App (Judge.Me), and the list can be much longer, but this is to get started.
Challenges: Competition, Low Margin, Long Ship Times, Expertise in Multiple Areas (Paid Traffic, Email Marketing, Fulfilment)
Technical hurdles: Medium-High - Launching a store is "easy", but setting up everything to work smoothly can be difficult for newbies
Ease to sell the business (no exit is easy): Medium - Scale can be amazing and exits can be large. The margins and lack of control of shipping may be a hurdle for selling the company.
Expertise needed to grow it: You need to be a true expert at many things. Product design, website design, brand positioning, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Fulfilment, Customer Service, CRO, SEO, and Email Marketing., Eventually you can delegate if you have enough cash flow.
Why I like this business model: Scale and cash flow. Print on demand is a great idea for those that want to learn e-commerce but don't want to risk capital to stock inventory or make their own brand of products in-house.
6 - Instagram Marketing
⛳⛳⛳🏌️♀️ (3.5/5) -Influencers
Start Difficulty: Hard
Time to monetize: Very Long - building up a following on Instagram that can earn an income is time-consuming, difficult, and very competitive.
How to make money (most common): Sponsored posts and affiliate offers
Minimum Software required: Instagram App and iPhone
Challenges: Extreme competition, brands have so many options and prices for sponsored Instagrammers are lower than previously. You are 100% reliant on Instagram and Algorithim updates.
Technical hurdles: Low - Just need to post photos and text
Ease to sell the business (no exit is easy): Very difficult if attached to yourself. Typically Instagram is just a piece of the puzzle for a sellable business, not the entire business.
Expertise needed to grow it: Must know what content goes viral and your target audience wants to consume.
Why I like this business model: I personally am not a fan of this business model. I think it's great for having an online presence or maybe just a side hustle, but I wouldn't consider this a lucrative business or scalable as a stand-alone business.
7 - Digital Marketing Agency
⛳⛳⛳⛳🏌️♀️ (4.5/5)
Start Difficulty: Very Easy
Time to monetize: Very quick - one client can generate thousands of dollars per month. You don't need hundreds of clients to be a profitable business. A handful of clients can drive significant revenue.
How to make money (most common): Typically a done-for-you service. Common types of digital marketing agencies include Facebook ads, Email Marketing, Website Design, Creative, CRO, and SEO.
As an agency, you will provide the service that drives a specific result (typically an increase in revenue) and you are paid a monthly retainer, percent of ad spend or per video or photo that was produced. It depends on the service.
Minimum Software required: None - You can get clients without a website. It becomes easier to have a branded website with a clear service offering.
Challenges: Competition and easy barrier to entry. Hard to target ideal clients. Great clients are bombarded with sales messages from competing agencies daily. Difficult to scale as you need more experts to sign on more clients.
Technical hurdles: Medium - Having a system to manage clients, manage employees, payroll, and also client invoicing can turn into a large operations demand.
The more clients the more need for people to run the back-end fulfillment of the service and overall operations.
Ease to sell the business (no exit is easy): Medium - A great agency with expert team members and clear systems and processes can be sold for a good multiple. Currently in demand as well.
Expertise needed to grow it: You need to be a true expert that can drive real results for clients. You will need to become an expert at also hiring employees that can provide those same results for your clients.
Must be able a true expert at direct sales and closing high-value retainers.
Why I like this business model: Speed to cash and scale. Operating an agency can be rewarding but can be difficult to scale and can turn into another job quickly.
Stick with one and go for it (remember you can start all these outside of your work schedule)
The biggest challenge with all of these business models is the ability to stick with one and put in the time, effort, and energy to make it successful. I like to focus on things I truly love, then it won't feel like work.
I once tried to sell a trending product, and I literally could not work on it. My only goal was money with that product and because of that, I quit.
Do something that will fulfill you, the last thing you want is to build another job for yourself that you don't love.
What type of online business will you start?
An online shop?
Consulting?
A blog?
Let me know what you think in the comments below.