Online Business Ideas That New Zealanders Can Start From Home
Starting your own business is not easy, especially if you don’t have a good business idea and plan of action. But it possible to get your side hustle set up and increase your income! Your idea doesn’t need to be innovative or original, you just need to be good at what you do, be able to market your business well so people can find you and know how to get the work through the door.
In this ever growing list of online home business ideas, we have briefly outlined some concepts that you could develop into a viable, work from home business! This post will get you thinking about potential sources of income and help you focus on what you can realistically do.
1. Become A Virtual Assistant (VA)
A virtual assistant basically means that you’re a self-employed, remote working assistant to a person or company. They perform tasks that normally a secretary, admin or marketing assistant would do. They can also provide technical, creative or social media assistance to a company or individual.
The upside for small businesses employing VAs are that they get all their day-to-day administrative, social media and marketing tasks completed by someone who isn’t on the payroll as a full-timer. The upside for you as the VA is you get to work from home, have flexible working hours and you’re able to work with multiple clients.
Virtual assistants will communicate with clients by phone, email, or Skype, as nearly most of the time are located in a different country to the company they are working for.
How much you earn all depends on your level of expertise, experience and performance.
Check this site out for all you need to know about becoming a VA
First things first, how much do you have to spend? It is important to be realistic and set a hard budget. There are many templates online and apps available to help track your spending. Be sure to set your budget and stick to it.
2. Become A Blogger
Starting up your own blog takes very little time to do and it doesn’t require you to have an technical computing or programming skills. Although to be a successful blogger you must have a passion for writing and a strong interest in the subject. Whether it’s about F1 racing or making cakes, the main thing is that your passion and enthusiasim for that subject must come across in your writing. If you have this special ingredient in your blog then you will build up an engaging, loyal audience in no time. People will start to trust what you say and eventually you’ll become an authority in that niche.
When you do start to get a lot of targeted traffic to your blog, you’ll then become a lot more attractive in the eyes of potential advertisers. You could also start to introduce affiliate offers to your site, which is where you can start to make your money. Check out this guide on the Google Adsense service, which allows you to place adverts on your site and earn money from people clicking on them.
3. Become An Affiliate
An incredibly simple way of setting up an online business is to become an affiliate.
Being an affiliate means that you’ll be getting a commission for helping to sell a product or service of another website, company or individual. The upside to being an affiliate is that you don’t have to develop or invest your own money in any of the products. All you have to do is get people to your site and for them to click on your links to the affiliate scheme you are signed up to.
The most popular affiliate program is Amazon affiliates. You can potentially make thousands of dollars in commission, if you create a site that works well at promoting a specific niche of products that are sold on amazon.
Sign up as an affiliate to sell a company’s products using your special referral link, and you can get a commission for each product sold without lifting a finger.
Being an online affiliate can be a great way to create a passive income for you and your family. Check out some of these sites to help you become an affiliate marketer.
4. Start An E-commerce Store
Setting up an online store is easier than you think. Anyone can set up their own e-commerce store. You can get up and running for less than $200!
All you need is a domain name, some web hosting and a site with e-commerce functionality. Sites like shopify and woocommerce can help you construct your own online shop and take payments for a monthly fee. Even the hassle of delivery and warehousing can be taken care of via the use of dropshipping.
All you then have to do is get people to your site through whatever marketing activity you feel comfortable doing and one that is most effective.
These can include:
Facebook advertising
Twitter advertising
Social Media publishing
SEO
Offline Marketing (print leaflets, newspaper, magazine ads)
Networking
Interacting with people in relevant online forums.
To help you find products to sell on your site, check out salehoo.com or alibaba.com or you may want to sell your own products that you make yourself.
5. Use your imagination for food
Not having a three course sit down dinner could save a lot of dollar. Consider alternatives such as a roast hog, BBQ, baked potatoes bar, food vendors, and chocolate fountain. If you do go for sit down, think about using your own caterer separate to the venue, be sure to shop around to find the best options.
6. Fake the cake
Wedding cakes can be insanely expensive! There are ways around this hefty price tag… avoid using the ‘W’ word and you will already see a lower price tag, have the larger sections as cardboard decorated for the masterpiece, then serve sheet cake from the back (no one will know!).
7. Don’t mention the ‘W’ Wedding word!
Venues, caterers, florists, bakers… all have big price lists for weddings. Try shopping without letting on that it is for a wedding and see if the price reduces.
8. Call in favours
If guests want to help… let them! Maybe a friend has the eye for flowers or can bake an amazing cake, ask for this rather than a wedding gift and save yourself some serious money.
9. Sell as much as you can after the wedding
Will you ever need to use those table clothes again, or any of the decorations? If not consider selling them on. Same with the dress… you still have the photos so consider letting someone else save money on their magical day.
10. Create your own photobooth
Photobooths are a fun and interactive way to remember your day, but they can cost over $500 to rent… so create your own! All you need is a plain backdrop, flowers and props. Guests can use their phone for photos!
