What if I told you that a 17-year-old is making $20,000 a month from his bedroom, a stay-at-home mom earned £20,000 in just 3 months, and a college student built a six-figure business with $25. And these aren't just any businesses. These are real blueprints that people use to go from broke to thriving.
And I'm going to give you a bunch of different examples with stories of people who are actually able to make these businesses successful. And if you stick till the end, I'll even share the number one that I would personally start today if I had to begin from zero. Which, by the way, I did.
I grew up homeless at times. I lived in section 8 housing. I lived in trailer parks.
I lived in dingy basement apartments that probably shouldn't have even been legal. There were literally cockroaches and spiders crawling around on the floor. So, I know what it's like to start from zero and get your way out of poverty.
And so, that's why I decided to make this video. So, if you appreciate this, all I need in return is for you to gently tap that like button and let's jump into it right now. All right.
First one is handmade crafts. And you can do this very easily on a website like Etsy. So there's a lot of things you can make on Etsy, but in this particular case, we're going to talk about wall art.
And this is something that anyone with an iPad or even a phone can do. Selling wall art on Etsy. And before you roll your eyes thinking, "Ah, everyone's doing this.
" Hear me out because the numbers don't lie. Here's how simple this actually is. You create digital prints on your iPad or your phone and then you print them at home with a basic printer and you sell them through Etsy.
That's it. No storefront rent, no employees, no massive overhead, and you can even rent the printer out or get it printed at a local business. And Etsy already has millions of people browsing for exactly what you're making.
The point here is that it's not mass- prodduced. That's why people shop on Etsy is because they want stuff that's custom. And that's really where the art industry is headed.
People don't want mass-produced works. They want something that they feel is unique. So, an example here is Kelly Burns.
She's a stay-at-home mom who started this exact business using just her iPad and a printer that she already had in her garage. And in her very first month, she made $2,000. And that's well over $2,000 to the US audience.
And in the first quarter of 2023, she earned over £20,000. Think about that for a second. A mom with basic equipment made £20,000 in 3 months selling digital art.
This isn't some get-rich quick scheme. This is a real business model that works because it solves a real problem. And by the way, obligatory disclaimer for all of the ones on this list.
All of these do work, but that doesn't mean they're going to work for you and your situation. You're going to have different strengths and weaknesses or things that you like doing or things that you're naturally good at. And so look at these and try to figure out which one is best for you because although making money online is simple, certainly is not easy.
It's going to take a lot of work and it's probably going to take a lot of failures before you find your first success. So yeah, just obligatory disclaimer there. Anyone telling you making money online is fast and easy is probably trying to scam you.
It can be fast, right? I've had clients, for instance, make a bunch of money within one month, but that's the exception to the rule. Usually, it's going to take months and months of effort before you start to see the fruits of your labors.
All right, quick break. This week, I'm doing a one-time only workshop where I talk about how to finally make money from YouTube. com in 2026.
And you can check it out down in the description and the pin comment below. At this workshop, I'm going to be giving away the Niche Validator Pro completely free. This is a GPT powered by a piece of software that I've been working on for a long time now, and it's been trained on thousands of hours of my teaching, coaching sessions, and more.
So, you don't have to spend years to pick a profitable niche. You can do it in a matter of minutes. Heck, it's even possible to do it in seconds sometimes.
And I'm going to be giving this away at the workshop. So, make sure you click the link in the description and then show up to the workshop. And the best way to do that is to make sure you add it to your calendar once you've signed up for it.
So you basically just click add this to your calendar once you're on the thank you page after you've registered and it'll show up as either Google Apple or Outlook calendar, whatever calendar you have. So you can make sure you won't miss the chance to grab the Niche Validator Pro completely free. And you'll also be able to ask me questions live.
So I look forward to meeting you. Can't wait to see you there. I'm going to be showing you this new opportunity.
It's completely free and it's amazing. Whether you basically want to use it to get a better job, use it to network, use it to make some passive income, start a side hustle, make a full-time income, or even start a fullon business. It works incredibly well with all of those.
And it's completely free. So, make sure you click the link in the description and then show up to the workshop. And now, back to your regularly scheduled content.
Okay, next one is going to be drop shipping. And drop shipping is a big opportunity. And basically the difference between drop shipping and what we just talked about is with drop shipping, you're basically just the middleman.
Someone else already created the product and they're taking care of the shipment and all you have to do is sell it. Once you sell it, the factory will either create the product or they already have products created and they will ship them to the client. So you're basically just the middleman and all you have to take care of is the marketing.
Now, there's a ton of different things you can drop ship. I mean, obviously you can drop ship basically any physical item, but in this particular example, we're going to be talking about candles. So, specifically, this type of drop shipping is called print ondemand.
And in the case of candles, people like to have specific designs on their candles and they can choose those designs and then the factory will actually make it. They'll put the design on the candle and then send it to them, right? Cuz you can have generic candles, but in this particular case, it's custom candles.
And you can do this using services like Printify. And you literally need zero inventory, right? You create the designs, customers order them, and Printify handles everything else.
The printing, the shipping, everything. Your job is just to create designs that people want and market them on Tik Tok or Shopify. So, the barrier to entry here is incredibly low.
You need a laptop, some creative ideas, and the consistency to keep posting content. That's it. No warehouse, no inventory risk, and definitely no upfront cost for thousands of candles that you might not sell, aka you taking a massive risk.
Don't have to do that. So, an [clears throat] example of someone who did this is Francisco Rivera. And he figured this out and turned it into something incredible.
He focused on custom candles with funny messages. The kind that people buy as gifts or for themselves when they want something unique. And working just 4 hours a day, Francisco made $400,000 in 12 months.
And this works because customized gifts are absolutely thriving right now. People don't want mass-produced generic stuff anymore. They want something special, something unique, and they want something that feels personal, something that makes them laugh or reflects their personality.
And by the way, there's a lot of people selling physical products on YouTube now. For instance, the lockpicking lawyer, which is a pretty famous channel on YouTube, sells various different lockpicking devices on his website. And he's probably making an absolute killing from that.
And he gets a lot of his traffic from YouTube itself. And on top of that, he's literally getting paid to market, right? On YouTube alone, he's making tens of thousands of dollars a month.
For instance, this video alone, he made tens of thousands of dollars from. Now, another one you can do is personalize stickers. This will be the next one on the list.
Kaylin McDonald, for instance, proves that this works. He's only 17 years old and he started with $191 and now he's making $19,000 a month. Not bad.
All right, number four is customized wreath making. So, this is another one that's customized, but it's actually an athome business because you can likely sell it to people in your local community. Now, you could sell it online as well, but it would likely be a bit easier for you to start off by selling to your local community.
And also keep in mind this is a seasonal business as well. So that means there's going to be a lot less competition because you can't do it all year round. So you can start with about $25 in material, some wire, some ribbons, some decorations, and you can sell the finished wreaths for up to $400.
Think about the profit margin on that for a second. Even if you sell them for $100, which is pretty standard, you're looking at 75% profit margins. And again, this taps into the fact that people love buying handmade customized pieces.
And Max Ber figured this out while he was still in college. He started making wreaths and turned it into a six-figure business. In 2024 alone, he sold over 2,000 wreaths.
All right, next one is going to be one that absolutely exploded because of social media platforms like YouTube shorts, Tik Tok, and Instagram reels, and that is rug tuing. So, rug tufting is creating custom rugs using tufting guns. And it's something that most people had never heard of 5 years ago.
And now it's a legitimate business opportunity that people are learning entirely through Tik Tok tutorials as well as other short form platforms. And the barrier to entry is surprisingly low. You need a tuing gun, some yarn, and a frame.
And the learning curve exists, but people are literally teaching themselves by watching Tik Tok videos. So it's not that hard. And the crazy part is the content creation aspect of showing your process can actually become part of your marketing.
When people see rugs being made, it's mesmerizing. the videos go viral which drives sales. So you're creating content that entertains people getting paid for the content and then people are buying even more of your stuff because of the content.
So it's a brilliant and virtuous marketing cycle that doesn't really feel like marketing. And Maline Ronzison started exactly like this. Her first rug she sold for just $30, but then she kept going.
She kept improving. She kept posting. And now she runs Happy Rugs, a six-f figureure custom rug business.
Now if you thought that one was weird, the next one is on a different level. And that is 3D printed Crocs. And this is a business that perfectly demonstrates how you can take a trending product and create a profitable niche around it.
We're talking about 3D printed Crocs attachments. Yes, Crocs are back. They're a bit cringe, but you know, some people really like them.
And what makes this work is that you're not competing with massive manufacturers. You're creating customized personalized pieces that people can't get anywhere else. Maybe it's their dog's face or their favorite anime character or their school logo, stuff that only they would want.
And Michael Sadderly figured this out when he was just 17 years old. and he's now making over $20,000 per month selling custom Croc accessories. $20,000 a month.
That's more than most adults make at their full-time jobs. In fact, that's more than most households make. And if a 17-year-old can do it, you can as well.
All right, next one is Eco Crayons. And this business caught my attention because it shows how you can take something incredibly simple and turn it into a serious income stream. And you do this by focusing on a very specific market need.
We're talking about eco-friendly crayons, and these are made from natural ingredients. Now, parents today are incredibly conscious about what they're giving their kids. They want products that are safe, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly.
And regular crayons are made with petroleum based wax and artificial colors. And eco crayons use natural wax and ingredients like spices for the coloring. So, the startup cost is minimal, and you need some natural wax, some safe coloring ingredients, and molds for shaping the crayons.
And then just some basic packaging. And Naomi Parsons proves this works. She started with just $50 worth of wax and materials, and now she's making over $120,000 per year selling these crayons.
And the profit margins are incredible because your material costs are so low. But the parents are willing to pay premium prices for products that they know are safe for their kids, good for the environment, and allowed them to virtue signal to their friends at cocktail dinners. And what I love about this business is it has built-in repeat customers.
Kids go through crayons constantly. They break them, lose them, use them up. So once you build a customer base of parents who trust your products, they keep coming back.
All right, so I realized I was covering a lot of physical products here and I didn't do that on purpose. I think that physical products kind of just appeal to a lot more people, but the truth is there are tons of digital products out there that sell really well, too. Just as an example, this creator, Miss Excel, at one point made over $100,000 in a single day selling her Excel courses.
And she was just teaching people how to do cool stuff on Excel. That's it. And a bunch of my clients do career coaching, for instance.
Nicole, just as an example, teaches women how to get into cyber security roles. And these are usually very high-paying cyber security jobs as well. And when she started working with me, she only had 85 subscribers on YouTube.
She used YouTube to market her business, and now she has a 7figure business. And by the way, I'm actually doing an exclusive live training where I show you exactly how we grew her business from absolutely nothing to seven figures a year. So check that out down in the description and the pin comment below.
You'll be able to talk to me live, you'll be able to ask me questions, and I can't wait to meet you. So definitely sign up for it. So, yeah, there's tons of ways to make money with digital products as well.
Additionally, there's online services, but there's also in-person services where you could make money. And generally speaking, in-person services make money faster. So, an example of that would be solar panel cleaning.
And this is a business that's riding a massive wave. Now, as more homes and businesses install solar panels, there's a growing need for regular maintenance and cleaning to keep them operating efficiently. And this business works because it's recurring.
Solar panels don't need to be cleaned once. They need regular maintenance to work at peak efficiency. So dust, bird droppings, and debris can significantly reduce their output.
And most people don't want to climb on the roof to clean them. So they hire professionals. And the startup costs here are incredibly low.
You need basic cleaning equipment, maybe a ladder or extension tools, and transportation, right? You're not buying inventory or expensive equipment. And your main investment is in learning proper cleaning techniques and basic safety procedures.
And Juan Peda Sanchez turned his knowledge about solar panels into a certified cleaning company. And he understood as solar adoption increases, the demand for cleaning services would grow right along with it. And what makes this business particularly attractive right now is the timing.
Solar installation is accelerating across the country. And every new installation is a potential recurring customer. So you're building a service business in a market that's expanding rapidly, and you might even be able to tack on solar services on top of it if you find that one of the solar panels broke, for instance.
All right, the next way of making money is honestly, in my opinion, the ultimate way, which is called the hybrid personal brand. And this is where you basically create content online. You build your personal brand.
Now, this can be either showing your face or you could even do faceless content. I've had a couple clients do this. For instance, Whiz of Ecom has an agency and he started off completely faceless.
Then eventually he did a face reveal and now he has a personal brand where he actually shows his face, but he started off faceless. I started off faceless myself as well. And the reason why this business is the most powerful is because you can pair it with almost any other business on the list.
And in fact, most of the people that I mentioned in this video are actually using social media and specifically YouTube to promote their business. Now, what you want to do is create content specifically for YouTube. Then you can syndicate all the content out to the other platforms.
And you can do this almost completely automated. So, it's all about creating a system where YouTube becomes your traffic engine and automation becomes your monetization engine. So, the way this works is you create content in a specific niche.
You build trust with your audience and then you send them into automated systems like sales funnels, lead magnets, and offers that generate income on autopilot. And it's brilliant because it combines the power of personal connection with the scalability of automation. So you get all the benefits of a personal brand and also all the benefits of something like a YouTube automation channel allin-one.
And by the way, you can use this to get better jobs like my client Josh Mator did. He got his dream job at a fang company and got another offer from a different fang company that he turned down. or he can use it to start a side hustle.
A little bit after he got his job, he was making a couple thousand dollar a month and then 5,000, then 10,000. Then he scaled his business all the way up to over $100,000 a month. And again, I'm going to go over his story in that live training.
Check it out down in the description in the pin comment below. Completely free to attend. And if you attend the live training, we will be giving away a one-time bonus.
And you're not going to want to miss out on it. The only people that will get it are the ones who attend that live training. And it's basically going to be a piece of AI software that does a lot of the work for you.
And it's completely free. So yeah, this is the ultimate business model because it pairs with any other business model you do. And if for whatever reason one business model doesn't work out, you still have a big following and you can just pivot to something else, right?
If physical products don't work out, you can pivot to online coaching or selling an online product or a service. And that's what makes it the ultimate business model is it basically evolves with you. You're a growing and changing human being.
Lots of things are happening in the world. The world is growing and changing. Things that might work right now may not work 5 years from now, right?
So, your business model needs to be adaptable to the changing world and yourself changing as well. So, yeah, definitely check that out. It's a onetime event.
Hope to see you there. Also, if you see this in the future, we'll have some free training down there or we might have another live event. So, you can sign up for the next one if you're seeing this in the future.
And also, check out this video where we did a case study breakdown on how we helped Josh grow by clicking right here.
