17+ Best Business Opportunities For 2022 [#4 Is Amazing]

In this in-depth article, I’ll show you proven business opportunities you can choose from. If you’re looking to earn extra income without having to trade your time and invest a ton of money, this article will be helpful to you.

Here’s why: The cost of setting up a business today can be quite low. Especially for online businesses.

Technology has simplified the entire process; thus making it easy, affordable, and possible for anyone to start a business from home or on the side.

Oftentimes, all you’ll ever need to start a business online is a mobile phone, a desktop or laptop computer, and an internet connection.

The challenge is coming up with an idea that potential customers will like. But that’s why I wrote this article with you in mind.

Here are 17+ business opportunities for 2022 — in a variety of different industries you can start and scale into a profitable business:

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is my #1 business opportunity. It became popular when Amazon launched its Amazon Associates program to reward anyone who sends customers to their online store who completes a purchase.

And that’s exactly what affiliate marketing is about. It’s a business opportunity whereby you’re paid a commission (3% – 80%) for every successful sale you drive to the website or eCommerce store.

There are so many brands that have affiliate programs, including the companies you buy from all the time. So why not promote their products and earn commissions in the process?

So how much can you possibly make from affiliate marketing? Well, there’s no limit or benchmark. 

According to this report, so many bloggers are making between $7,500 – $25,000 each month from affiliate marketing and earn 38% of their annual income from this business model.

That’s a lot of extra income? As you can see, affiliate marketing can completely replace your paycheck if you treat it as a business.

Did you notice the statistics above and how it relates to “bloggers”? Well, to succeed as an affiliate, you need to create a platform where you share useful and interesting content based on what people are searching for on Google.

That’s why bloggers make the bulk of the commissions because they all have active blogs with thousands of readers (and customers).

But if you’re not a blogger or don’t own a blog, you can promote affiliate programs using social media. Therefore, bloggers, writers, social media users, influencers, gamers, and virtually anyone can make money with affiliate programs. 

It’s a perfect passive income model. At first, though, it’d be difficult to start making a decent income. 

This is expected when you’re just getting started in any type of business. Over time, you’ll start getting more traffic, driving more customers to your affiliate links, and earning a percentage of profit from each sale. 

To find affiliate programs in any niche/industry, head to Clickbank, Amazon, ShareASale, Rakuten, Awin, or just do a quick search in Google with this query:

My topic + affiliate program (e.g., Learn English + affiliate program).

Stay consistent and creative. If you want to build a lucrative affiliate marketing business, you’ve got to be patient and work hard. In the end, the rewards will be well worth it.

Affiliate marketing is the easiest business you can start with little or no upfront investment. To make more commissions, it’s best to try or use the product before recommending it to your audience. That way, you can share the firsthand experience with the product, and buyers will appreciate it.

Burkhard Berger

2. Start a Podcast

In recent years, podcasting has received a lot of attention. Back in 2006, podcasting wasn’t for everyone, because only 22% of adults in the U.S. listened to podcasts. 

But just last year, more than 75% of adults in the U.S. listen to podcasts regularly. 

Here’s what Seth Godin, a prolific author says about podcasting.

While videos and blog posts might be the prominent content formats online, podcasts are enjoyable — especially when you’re not ready to watch videos or read (you can even listen to them while driving).

You can start a podcast and make big money. Joe Rogan, for example, has built a business empire (The Joe Rogan Experience) through podcasting. Joe was paid $100 million to move his podcast exclusively to Spotify.

Millions of other podcasters are succeeding as well. To get started, you need to first plan your podcast episodes. This is similar to planning out your editorial content calendar for your blog. 

Next, you need to get your software and equipment ready. Then you can register with a podcast hosting service such as Buzzsprout, Podbean, Anchor.fm, etc.

This podcast host will enable you to store your audio files and easily distribute them to the major networks such as Stitcher, TuneIn, iTunes, and Spotify that we mentioned earlier.

3. Sell Custom Printed Products

You can start an eCommerce business without manufacturing the products yourself. Selling custom-printed products like T-shirts, stickers, mugs, bags, shoes, and more can help you make additional income from home.

The beauty of this business opportunity is that you don’t have to take care of customer service or logistics. 

Websites like Printful, Printify, Printy6, etc. can help you to handle every aspect of this business.

Here’s exactly how the process works with Printify:

• Pick a product or choose from 200 products to sell.
• Use the mockup generator to design creative artwork.
• Order samples to confirm that the products are high quality and worth buying.
• Quickly publish your custom printed products and sync them with Shopify or Wix automatically.
• When a sale is made, your product will be custom-made. It’s hassle-free. Printify will handle the manufacturing and shipping to your customer. You just keep the rewards.

The way to succeed in this business is to be creative and come up with beautiful and inspiring designs. Have a strong brand and get the word out about your business. 

Print on Demand is a proven business model. Whether you’re a graphic designer or a professional in your field, you can generate consistent income from selling high-quality custom-printed items. 

4. Dropshipping

Dropshipping, just like Print On Demand, is another type of eCommerce business you can start from home or anywhere in the world. 

If you don’t have the money to buy and store inventory, this is the perfect business model for you. Here’s how it works:

With dropshipping, you never have to worry about attending to customers or managing physical products. 

Simply set up an online store, then partner with suppliers who are experienced and ready to store, package, and ship orders to your customers anywhere in the world.

You can find profitable product ideas to drop-ship using tools like Oberlo or Lemonstand app. 

Dropshipping is an easy online business to pursue. While it’s important to start small, you can scale and build a profitable business around it. 

People love dropshipping because they don’t have to hold inventory. 

But if you do want to hold inventory and make even more money, you can source products wholesale, package them in another form, price them, and sell them for a higher margin.

You can head to marketplaces like Handshake to find unique and useful products to dropship or buy wholesale. It’s important to build a relationship with suppliers if you want to do this business long-term. 

5. Niche Staffing Agency

How can you make money with a niche staffing agency seeing it’s growing at a 3.4% rate?

Well, you have a large pool of industries with open jobs already, and employers are always searching for the right people to hire. The best employees can transform a mediocre company into a thriving business within a short time. 

If you have experience with human resource management or related disciplines, you can help companies to match employees to employers in a particular sector (e.g., Tech, Finance, Marketing).

The first step is to determine what roles you’ll be staffing:

• Junior
• Mid-level
• C-level

It’s best to stick to a particular or two roles at most when you’re just getting started and don’t want to be overwhelmed. You’ll be able to niche down and identify the right candidates for the position. 

If you have some free time, you can do this business temporarily, temporary-to-permanent, or simply build a long-term staffing service in a particular market. 

You’ll not only help companies to find the right candidates, but you’ll also make extra cash for the family.

6. Stock Photographer

Did you know you can make money by taking great photographs?

If you have a smartphone, then you don’t even need to be a professional photographer or spend hundreds of dollars to buy a digital camera. 

You can get started today. Just use your phone and capture great moments, then register with stock photo websites to become a stock photographer. You’ll have the rights as a sole proprietorship to sell your photos.

There are so many stock photo websites out there. 

The common ones you can register with include Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, and GettyImages. These websites are always in search of great images for their ever-increasing audience of YouTube creators, Filmmakers, Online marketers, etc.

If you have some beautiful photos already on your phone, you can get started right away. People will find your photos and choose to download them — you’ll earn a royalty for every download your photos get.

When you’re ready to scale, you can start your own photography website and sell the images directly to the target audience. 

This approach will only work if you’re a great marketer and ready to invest your time and money into marketing. 

But even experienced marketers use stock photo platforms to reach millions of users monthly. So stick with those sites and you’ll make a good amount of money from royalty.

7. Personal Shopper

Do you have an eye for fashion trends? If you love fashion and your friends and family have come to you to ask for fashion advice, this might be the ideal business opportunity for you.

Personal shopping can help you build a business based on your interest and passion. Knowing how to pick the right clothing is a soft skill, so utilize it to make some money.

As a personal shopper, you have to help clients who are struggling to identify their personal style. You’ll find the perfect style that will suit them. 

You’ll start by evaluating the client’s wardrobe, then you’ll head to clothing websites and pick items that will fit their lifestyle and personal style. 

Personal shoppers are lifestyle individuals and some of them have become celebrities with successful TV shows. No special certification or degree is required to become a personal shopper.

To brand yourself as a business and become a respected personal shopper, it’s advisable to start a website, get your brand logo and colors, and you can even register your LLC to make it more admirable — especially if you’re going to be targeting high-income clients.

8. Online Tutoring

Online tutoring is fast becoming one of the best ways to make a side income. The only downside is that you’re required to be an expert in a particular subject or field that students want to learn. 

Yes, they’re also ready to pay for your expertise if you can help out with class assignments, school projects, etc.

Can you teach Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, or another subject? This might be the perfect business to start today. Online tutoring gives you the chance to help students and individuals from all walks of life.

Most of the online tutoring platforms such as Skooli and Tutor.com will require a bachelor’s degree in your chosen subject. 

To make the most money from online tutoring, focus on subjects that relate to your area of specialty. This will enable you to share your experiences, skills, and knowledge to support your students.

The opportunities are enormous when you become an online tutor. 

You can earn extra money by delivering lectures to your students over Skype. This makes online tutoring one of the sustainable business opportunities to embrace this year.

9. Content Writing

I have made more money as a content writer than I did from stocks.

Content is in high demand online. Because every business is always in need of high-quality content for their websites, blogs, eCommerce platforms, social media accounts, and compelling content is also needed for running ads and driving email marketing campaigns.

If you love to write articles, eBooks, and even video scripts, you can build a content writing business or copywriting business. 

There are online job boards where you can find your first clients. Problogger Jobs, BloggingPro, Remote.co, Upwork, and even Fiverr can be explored for high-paying clients.

To reach more potential businesses and clients who might be interested in outsourcing content writing, it’s important to join content writing groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. 

If you can create engaging and unique content that drives results, your clients will be happy and stay. They will also refer other businesses and entrepreneurs to your content writing service. That means more money for your hard work.

10. Selling on Amazon 

There are plenty of ways to make money without being on Amazon’s payroll. You might earn more money just by selling products on the platform. 

One of the effective ways to get started with making money in eCommerce is via Amazon Fulfillment. This is a surefire way to leverage the #1 global retailer to build your own business.

With Amazon Fulfillment (FBA), Amazon will pick, pack, and deliver your orders for you. If you want to sell to a global audience, FBA makes it easy to import and export outside your country. 

Here’s how FBA works:

Self-publishing is also going strong on Amazon. 

Yes, you can self-publish eBooks and make money from buyers who want to read on e-readers and other smart devices. 

11. Software Education

If you’re skilled in the use of computer software, this might be the ideal time to monetize it. 

Can you use Microsoft Excel very well? What about graphics design software such as Adobe After Effects, Illustrator, CorelDraw, and several of the commonly-used software applications?

I can assure you that so many people need someone to teach them. You can set up your own software education program and build a business around it. 

Simply enroll students every month, then teach for a few hours each week, and you’ll be making a decent amount of money from this. 

Your audience might include small business owners looking to improve their IT skills or business managers who might be interested in mastering Excel and PowerPoint. 

To grow this software education business, you need to hire freelance software experts and teachers to help you. They can teach based on their area of expertise, while you lead by teaching the core courses. 

The beauty of this business is that you can host virtual classes to keep the cost low and make more money — without renting out a space for classroom lectures. 

Leveraging the internet also means you’ll be reaching an international audience who needs some help in learning a particular software.

12. Start an SEO Service Business

Website owners want to rank their sites on Google. It’s a tough journey, which can be very slow. 

If you have experience with finding low-competition and high-volume keywords, and you can build quality backlinks to pages, then starting an SEO business can help you make a lot of money.

The common challenge that most SEO experts encounter is getting businesses and clients. But it’s not as difficult as you might think — you just have to focus on a niche audience, for example, real estate or eCommerce.

If you do SEO for real estate, restaurants, software, and every business under the sun, then you’ll struggle to convince potential clients that you have the needed skills to get the results. 

The best way to succeed in SEO business is to rank your own websites. So start 1 – 2 websites, then manage them as though you’re paid to do so. Share the journey, and use it to onboard new clients.

Monthly retainers range from $500 – $2,000/month. So you only need a handful of clients to make $10,000 each month on the side.

13. Web Development

Front-end web development is a great skill. If you’re skilled in web development, why not turn it into a business this year? According to this study, 6 out of 10 small businesses have a website. 

Almost every business needs a website. A website is one of the proven ways to get found online. While social media presence is recommended, a website is best for branding.

If you need to polish your web development skills, then you can start building your portfolio by developing it for your friends and family members.

You might not even have the required web development skills yet. In this case, you can learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other lessons from Treehouse, Codecademy, and the Web Developer Bootcamp on Udemy.

14. Phone Case Business

With more than 2.5 billion smartphone users in the world, you can make a lot of money selling phone cases. 

Smartphone cases sell like hotcakes. As a result, you can build a business selling these cases and rake in 5, 6, or even 7-figure income annually.

While the competition is strong, the opportunities are enormous. You can even test out your phone case ideas with Amazon FBA before starting your own eCommerce store.

Niching down is the best way to make it big as a phone case seller. Focus on a specific audience. You can also sell handmade phone cases on Etsy.

Burkhard Berger

15. Virtual Dance Studio

Are you a great dancer? If you know enough to teach others, then you can build a virtual dance studio to make some money.

You can dance and share your Choreography online via YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to attract an audience. There’s no need to rent a big space for your dance classes. 

You can even use a parking lot, or simply turn your room into a dance studio.

The internet has made it easy to give dance classes from home. You can enroll as many students in your class — since there’s no limit when you’re teaching via YouTube, Skype, or Zoom.

Another important consideration is high-speed internet to prevent lags or buffering during the live stream. 

16. Instagram Consulting

Growing an Instagram account to thousands and even millions is a rare skill that you can monetize

Aside from making money promoting products from brands, you can become an Instagram consultant. Hey Awesome Girl is a good example you can learn from.

You already have insights on how to engage users on this platform or get an account verified.

Did you know that wannabe Instagram celebrities will pay you to help them create captions, respond to comments, create attractive bios, and more?

The quickest way to monetize these services is by charging per project. I have also seen Instagram consultants who charge per hour. With just your smartphone, you can run this entire business and make a boatload of money while traveling the world.

To get your first set of clients, market your skills on Upwork and other social media networks. 

17. Video Production

Videos are powerful types of content that businesses use to engage their customers. According to this data, “85% of internet users in the US watched the online video on their devices.” 

That’s a lot. And now you have the opportunity to make money when you help businesses to produce their videos.

Video creators need help with recording, editing, cutting, and publishing videos on YouTube and other video platforms. 

So what are you waiting for? You can start a video production company. This might turn out to be a profitable business opportunity if you treat it as one.

This business idea requires some upfront investment in lighting sets, wireless microphones, cameras, and editing software like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere.

If you can specialize in a particular niche or industry, you’ll stand out and attract clients who will trust and respect you.

Conclusion

There you have it, a list of proven business opportunities you can select from and make money in 2022. 

To increase your chances of achieving success, it’s important to focus on one idea at a time, give it your full attention, and scale it. Then you can come back to pick another idea. 

Trust me, there are thousands of successful entrepreneurs in each of these business opportunities. 

So you’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here. You’ll make more money if you don’t give up too soon or ever.