Wouldn’t you love to have your own lifestyle business or side hustle that you can run from anywhere in the world?
As someone who’s been building online lifestyle business and travelling for the last 14 years, I can highly recommend it!
You may, however, be stuck for ideas and that’s why I decided to put together a mega list of 190 lifestyle business ideas you can use for inspiration!
The world is changing fast as I’m sure you’re more than aware. Once upon a time, you would finish your education, pick a career, and in many cases, work for the same business for twenty years or more.
Nowadays opportunities to do anything you want to are abundant! The internet has leveled the playing field as the economy transitions online, (a move that was significantly accelerated by the Covid-19 Pandemic). And now with the advent of AI and the speed with which it’s developing, it’s going to be easier than ever for anyone from any walk of life to generate an income online doing something they love.
This post aims to equip you with a comprehensive list of solopreneur lifestyle business ideas. Ideas you can use for inspiration to set up your own lifestyle business or side hustle, and become master of your own destiny. Its time to become part of the new digital economy and create the lifestyle of your dreams.
Without further ado, let’s jump right into my mega-list of online business ideas.
I’ve split all the ideas into three main categories so you can quickly navigate to the section that interests you the most;
- Online Service Based Businesses – This is where you offer a service in exchange for money. A bit like a job, except rather than working for one company, you probably work for a variety of clients on a contractual basis.
- Online Information Based Businesses – Here you’ll exchange knowledge for payment. Selling ebooks, digital courses, coaching, becoming an influencer etc.
- Ecommerce Businesses – Here I’m talking about selling physical products, either on your own online store or via an online marketplace such as Amazon or Etsy.
Online Service Based Businesses
One of the fastest routes to an independent location lifestyle is to sell your services to others as a freelancer. Our online world makes it simple to fire up a laptop and earn money fast from anywhere – even in your pyjamas.
There are hundreds of roles to choose from. Roles that countless businesses worldwide use every day for short-term and project work. From writers, designers, marketers, and more. If the work can be done on a computer, you can do it as a freelancer.
You might already have skills from previous employment you can freelance with immediately, so you can hit the ground running. But, If you don’t think you have a marketable skill, you can learn one.
There are plenty of places to learn new skills online. Browse sites like Udemy and Skillshare. These sites have low priced courses to learn a range of skills at your own pace.
Once you have chosen your skill or developed a new one, you can start a new career on the freelancing sites like Upwork or Fiverr. As you build your freelance business, you may want to set up a personal website to market your services further.
The best freelancers can earn six-figures a year selling their services directly to businesses hungry for their skills.
For an in depth guide on starting your freelancing career check out my post ‘How to Start Freelancing and Create Ultimate Freedom‘
For now, let’s look at the first batch of lifestyle business ideas packed with all the different types of service businesses you could start.
Freelance Writing
The demand for freelance writers is growing steadily. Part of the growth is due to how businesses have to play the game of digital marketing. Ranking websites in the search engines requires site-owners to publish a constant stream of quality content.
Blog posts, social media messaging, web copy, and other well-written texts all need publishing regularly. Most businesses don’t have a stable of in-house writers, so they outsource content creation to freelancers.
Freelance writing is an excellent serviced-based lifestyle business idea. It only requires a laptop and an internet connection to get started, and you won’t need an English degree to be a writer either. Writing is like any other skill – you can make a start and get better with practice.
There are lots of free resources on YouTube and plenty of books to help you become a better writer. Join Facebook Groups and subreddits too, where you can network and learn from other writers.
There are lots of different kinds of writing roles to choose from. If you discover that you like to write long pieces, then you would be suited to writing blog posts. If you are more interested in influencing behaviour with words, then you might consider copywriting or UX writing.
If you have experience in a profession, then you could earn a living as a Medical or Legal Writer.
But when you start freelancing, be prepared to write about anything and everything. If you have not previously earned money as a writer, then you need to learn the craft. This can mean writing blog posts about dog food one day and home insurance, the next.
In fact, years ago I had a writer working with me who was also writing content for an adult site. For us, she was writing about kitchen products. I was amazed at how she made a kitchen spatula sound so sexy! 😂
As you become exposed to a variety of niches, you eventually land on a topic you have a passion for, or at least enjoy writing about. That is how you enhance your freelance writing career and broaden your horizon with more lifestyle business ideas that are right for you!
To get started I’d recommend checking out elnacain.com. Elna established a full-time income from writing in just six months. Her blog has lots of articles, tips, training courses, inspiring lifestyle business ideas, and case studies to get up and running as a Freelance Writer.
Once you have started your writing career, there are lots of specialisms you can choose. Here are some of the different types of writing disciplines you might consider as great lifestyle business ideas;
Freelance Writing Lifestyle Business Ideas
Ghostwriting – A Ghostwriter writes content, speeches, and other thought-pieces on behalf of another person who takes credit for the work as if they wrote it themselves. You won’t find fame as a Ghostwriter, but, if you’re good, will be able to charge high rates for your services.
Copywriter – Any time you read words that aim to sell something, a copywriter has written them. It’s nothing to do with intellectual property protection; it’s the art of selling with words. From full-page sales letters to a handful of words on a cereal box; these are the bread and butter of the copywriter. If you’re good, the skies the limit.
Grant Writer – Governments and organisations award money to fund services that fall outside of their usual duties. Those applying for grants often use the services of a Grant Writer to help them with the application process. Grants can involve large sums of money, so good Grant Writers can charge decent rates.
Copy Editor – A copy editor takes a piece of writing (referred to as copy) and edits the material for readability.
UX Writer – A UX writer is a more recent occupation. The UX stands for user experience. The UX writer’s job is to make website instructions and similar pieces of writing useful and easy to understand.
More freelance writing roles include:
Blog Writer
Ebook Writer
Podcast Show Note Writer
Resume Writer
Proofreader
College Admissions Essay Writer and Editor
Transcriptionist
White Paper Writer
LinkedIn Profile writer
Case Studies
Product Description Writer
Medical Writer
Legal Writer
Business Plan Writer
Social Media Manager / Marketer
Today, most companies understand that they need to have a carefully managed social media presence. From the burger-chain Wendy’s and their snippy tweets:
To the fruit smoothie maker, Innocent, announcing a dry business report:
Practically every company needs someone to help them stay on message on social media.
And the role of Social Media Manager/Marketer is one often contracted out to a specialist rather than handled in-house. So, if you have an in-depth knowledge of social media, and a knack for writing updates that engage, you could create a lifestyle business managing other business’s social media accounts.
To enter the social media management field, you’ll need to demonstrate the following:
- Intimate knowledge of all the popular platforms (or your specialist platform of choice).
- A track record of growing social media accounts organically.
- The skills to create all different content types from writing captions to creating images, video & audio clips, memes, etc.
When starting from scratch, having no track record is always a problem. So landing your first client will be the hardest. Start your work portfolio by creating a social media account about a topic you find interesting.
Learn the tricks and techniques of the pros who have built their lifestyle business in social media field, and apply them to your account. Also, take one of the many online courses to build up your knowledge.
You may choose to master a single social media platform or specialise in cross-campaigning on all. Be aware, though, that social media platforms come and go. Myspace once seemed an unstoppable force, but today is a punchline to a joke.
Social media is still in its infancy, and there aren’t many rules. Be prepared for the platform you specialise in to slowly fizzle out, as new ones develop and become the one to be seen on.
Social Media Manager Lifestyle Business Ideas
YouTube Channel Manager – YouTube is a social network. Large channels need social media specialists for content planning, comment curation, and established accounts also have a community page which works a bit like Twitter.
TikTok Influencer Marketer -TikTok has had such a meteoric rise over the years, it even appeals to the older demographic these days. To compete however, brands need to be publishing quality content often. That’s where you come in.
Instagram Marketer – I’m fascinated by Instagram. If you love to take and share photos and video clips, add emoji’s and comments and talk about your life every five minutes then managing an Instagram account for someone who doesn’t might just be your dream career!