Job markets around the world are changing. Entire industries are drying up as automation and artificial intelligence cut costs increase efficiencies.
Brands that have always been made in one country are being shipped offshore as globalization and cheap labor prove to be too attractive for profit-driven corporations.
And that means a lot of people who have always done one job are looking for new ways to make money to support their families. And one of the big places people are looking is online:
In this post I’m going to talk about a few online business models that are looking to be massive this decade. Hopefully it helps a few people out there who are looking for something new.
Predicting the future present
It’s quite interesting to note that a lot of the predictions that people make about the future are already well underway.
For example, we can already see huge examples of how artificial intelligence has impacted entire industries like car manufacturing, call centers, etc.
And if you are in an industry that you think is under threat, it’s important that you start thinking about what you are going to do next while the opportunities are still available.
This isn’t meant to scare anyone and, while no one knows what the economy is going to look like tomorrow, it is always wise to think about the situation you’re in and make preparations for your financial future.
That might mean learning a new skill, investing in a new business, or just experimenting with something new in order to get information that might cause a change of career.
5 online business models that are growing fast
While I am no expert on these matters, I have spent almost a decade running online businesses and blogs. In that time I’ve seen some really huge changes and trends, and there are a few jobs that I really think are going to boom in the next few years.
1. Personal brand niches
Spend five minutes using instagram and you’ll notice how many fitness and diet experts there are posting photos of their legs and dinners.
While a lot of traditional media commentators are quick to dismiss them as hacks, many of these bloggers have qualifications and, in my opinion, are just tapping in to a new medium that allows them to get new and different clients.
Some of these fitness bloggers, for example, are making millions of dollars per year by growing an audience and selling workout plans, recipe books and running training camps.
If you have a qualification and an industry that can translate to an online format through video or photography then it would be a massive mistake to miss out on these opportunities over the next few years.
Check out Chris Ducker’s new book called Rise of the Youpreneur for more details about how to make the most of this business model.
2. Video and motion graphics
As more and more of the world gets access to smartphones that are connected to high-speed broadband we’ll continue to see the explosion of video. Just take a look at this consistent trend line since 2004:
It’s very important to think of YouTube and Vimeo as search engines, just like Google. A lot of bloggers, for example, think that they are just other social networking sites, but these platforms host their own content and can grow careers just like a website.
Recently YouTube updated its algorithm to emphasize new videos which means that we’re seeing a lot more low-quality productions on the homepage. This is a bad thing in the sense that the quality of information, research and scripts are usually quite a lot lower than they used to be.
On the flip side, it presents an opportunity for two groups of people:
- People who can edit videos
If you know how to film or edit videos then there is a quickly growing market for people who can sell their services. All you need to do is create a few demos and start contacting YouTube channels who might need some help keeping up with production. - People who want to star in videos
The next opportunity is for people who want to either be in videos or make their own videos for YouTube. As the quality is dropping, it’s going to be a lot easier to make some meaningful impacts in terms of traffic if you can produce something good every now and then.
Both of these opportunities are especially powerful when they are combined with something like your own WordPress blog because you can talk about why you do your videos a certain way, display feedback, attract new clients through Google and social media, and so on.
Have a look at someone like Tom Thum who is one of the world’s best beat boxers and also a brilliant video editor. He combines these skills in his latest video which will undoubtedly get him more work:
Video is absolutely not going away, and if you can jump on the news trends like VR and 360 early it’s possible that you might just find yourself pioneering in a niche that has boomed but is going to continue to boom as it reaches more developing nations, etc.
3. Content writing and editing
As more businesses around the world shift to producing online content, the demand for skilled writers and editors is going to increase and those that are good at their craft will be able to build entire businesses around this model.
It’s important to think about this somewhat laterally though. If you look at how the digital book market is growing, you’ll notice that there is a big demand for things like audio books on sites like Audible. These require voice actors and voice editors, so it’s not just the written side of content production that will grow.
If you’re a blogger with an established blog it can be a good idea to consider offering paid content writing services as a side gig. Over time you can build up some excellent client relationships and, perhaps more importantly, these often open the door to more exclusive guest posts or collaborations which can be hard to come by these days.
This leads neatly on to the next point.
4. Local digital management and outsourcing services
This is one of those areas that a lot of bloggers may not realize that they could be making an income with.
As traditional businesses transition to online sales portals, marketing and customer service, there is a huge role that bloggers can play in helping them craft these processes.
Think about all the things that you do as a blogger – web design, content writing, backups, site speed, social media, networking, email marketing, etc. – and think about a mom-and-pop business who doesn’t even know what a domain name is, let alone how to set it up.
So how do you tap in to this opportunity?
Start by making sure that your blog is as professional and beautiful as possible because we want to make sure that any prospective clients that look at your website have a good first impression.
You then might want to build a short landing page that specifically addresses what services you offer, what the costs are, any past case studies and how the process works. The team over at Kick Point have a really nice example of this:
Next you simply jump on Google and start looking at the local businesses in your area and drill them down by the issues they’re having (site speed, no website at all, no blog content, etc.) and approach them offering your services. You can start by offering one freebie and then proceed based on that if you need an icebreaker.
Some professionals and web design firms/agencies will not like me suggesting that just “anyone” can do this work, but when it comes to smaller jobs that help people get started for a cheaper rate I really don’t see anything wrong with it, especially if your blogging is already pretty successful and you need some new methods to make a bit of money indirectly.
5. The ‘to be determined’
If the last few months of bitcoin madness have taught us anything it’s that the Internet can spawn new crazes that make people very rich, very quickly.
I know a couple of people who made $50,000+ from cryptocurrency in just a few weeks and, like all successful online business people, they spent a lot of time experimenting.
This is something we’ve talked about a lot here in Blog Tyrant because it is a theme that comes up again and again. All of the most brilliant innovators online are people who spend hours and days and weeks playing around with ideas, breaking things, and getting data.
If you want to be successful in the next decade you’ll need to do that too.
Don’t be afraid of new technologies and really try to embrace the changes that occur because if you can adopt them early enough it’s just possible that you might ride a trend at the front instead of the back of the curve.
A site like Gaps will give you plenty of inspiration to work from online, but the rest of the time you can study biographies and dig in to your competitors websites and businesses to see what you could do differently or better.
That’s where a lot of new careers start.
What do you think will explode this decade?
I’d really love to know your thoughts about the niches and industries that will grow over the next 10 years. Do you have any predictions or do you think that it’s just going to be too hard to tell because the technology is changing so fast?
Please leave a comment below and let me know.
© Daniel Villeneuve at Dreamstime