There was a time when students in tertiary institutions have to wait until they were done with their studies before they do something worthwhile. Because of different constraints and a lack of opportunities, they weren’t able to engage in business.
But things have changed for good. Right now, we can see students all over the world on campuses making money legitimately as undergraduates.
Technology made things easier for them, as they can indulge in online businesses. It is easy because there’s flexibility.
Small online business ideas for students
You are likely reading this article right now because you are a student in need of online business ideas for students in which you can engage yourself to complement your pocket money.
This is exactly what we will do here. However, while there are several online business ideas out there, let’s explore the ones that undergraduates can easily do and that will still give them time to study appropriately.
Let’s get started:
Website Designing/Development
This is a skill you can learn, and which will be utilized to start a business that can keep fetching you money occasionally, even while in school. Emphasis is currently being placed on the need for organizations to go online.
The fact is, many people can’t create websites themselves, and will gladly pay those that can do it for them. This is business for you.
Know how websites are being created, and get paid to make nice websites as well as manage them for your clients.
There are different resources online that you can use to learn this skill. Once you are good with it, you can start advertising what you do, and you will be surprised at the level of success.
Professional Blogging
If you are reading this right now as an undergraduate, you most likely know what a blog is. But do you know you can create your blog and run it as a profitable business?
Perhaps, you may have heard people saying the blogging world is already saturated and that new bloggers will struggle or won’t be successful. But the fact is, the reason many are struggling is that they don’t know what it takes to run a blog as a serious business.
So, if you want to go into blogging as a student looking for online business ideas, you are not doing so just like any other blogger, but you have to be serious about this, hence becoming a professional blogger who will take this as a serious business.
That means you have to read extensively on how to operate a successful blog today. You should research lucrative niches, as well as splendid monetization options.
Youtuber
Now, blogging traditionally might not be your thing. Since blogging requires being good at writing, and you may not be an excellent writer (and you probably don’t have enough resources to pay writers for articles). Then, you can become a YouTuber and still do well.
As a student, you should be familiar with YouTube already. But do you know you can be making a huge amount of money with the platform every month?
How?
You only need to create a channel, make nice videos, and keep uploading it there. Make sure your videos are nice, and you can silently build your subscribers. When you have at least a thousand subs, you can apply for monetization. Ads will start showing on your videos, and you earn money doing this. It requires unique videos and content and consistency.
Affiliate Marketing
Being an affiliate marketer is one of the easiest ways to earn money online as a student. You don’t need to have products and inventories or anything like that. You only need to have a platform where you can promote other people’s products, and you earn a commission anytime you did that.
There are popular structures already that you can take advantage of, such as the Amazon Affiliate Program. Once you are accepted, you can start sharing links to products, and you earn money as people purchase the product with your unique affiliate link. Of course, to do well in this, you also have to read extensively on how it works.
Dropshipping
You can also be a dropshipper. You create an online store and place products you know people are interested in. Of course, you don’t have to even have products yourself.
When people order, you purchase the product for them at big online stores, and provide the customer’s address. So, they simply ship the product to the customer, while you make your profit from the transaction.
Content Writer
This is one of the ways you can start making money online as a student. If you know how to write good articles, you can start a business that entails supplying content for different people that are always in need of articles.
Online media firms for instance are usually in need of article writers. The internet runs on content, and new ones are always needed now and then.
One other beautiful thing about this is that, apart from the fact that you will most likely always get gigs if you are good at what you do, you can also look beyond local writing gigs and connect with foreign writing gigs, which pays better. There are several students offering writing services and are earning well doing so.
SEO Specialist
SEO means Search Engine Optimization. Here is a skill you can learn and translate into a business that revolves around offering SEO services to organizations who want to be visible on search engines like Google Search.
You know, one free way of getting visibility for one’s brand is on Google Search. But the thing is, there are lots of competing websites.
So, if you can master how to dominate Google Search first page, many website owners won’t mind paying you to help them do so for the keywords they are targeting.
Amazon Kindle Publishing
If you are good at writing, you can also make good money by turning your write-ups into books and publishing them on Amazon, via their platform – KDP.
They structured this for authors and publishers, and you can see your book being read all around the world, while you receive appropriate royalties for your work.
If you have a smartphone or a laptop, these are things you can take advantage of. While many students have laptops for instance, they only use them to watch movies and other things they don’t add much to their lives.
Mobile App Development
You can learn how to build apps for smartphones, and you will see how rewarding it is. You can start a business that revolves around creating mobile apps for clients according to their specifications, and you can also be creating your apps, which you can put on the Google Play store, and monetize with AdMob.
Today, you don’t have to be a guru in coding before you can get started with this. There are several platforms out there where you can easily get these things done without stress.
WordPress Specialist
As far as websites are concerned, WordPress is prominent. Hence, being a guru in using WordPress alone can translate into a business that offers services revolving around WordPress.
Graphic Designer
You most likely own a laptop right now (and if you don’t, you can buy a cheap used one for a start). If that is the case, you can learn the lucrative skill of graphics designing, and create a business that offers such services. You can always get clients if you are good with the stuff, and earn good money each week.
Whatsapp Seminars
This is something many students are not looking into yet. The things you know currently (or the skills you have), can be utilized to make money via seminars.
You can teach others these things and they will pay you to learn if it’s worthwhile. You don’t even have to bother yourself renting a place or something – you can take advantage of WhatsApp.
Social Media Management
Social media is a world of its own and can be utilized to give visibility to organizations and what they represent. However, not everyone is chanced to manage their social media platforms themselves. You can create a business that offers such services, and earn good money for doing so.
Cryptocurrency Trading
You should be aware of what cryptocurrencies are. You can start trading these digital coins for profit, and you can make money from it if the value appreciates.
Note that virtual currency comes with a lot of risks.
Selling Physical Products Online
If you have physical products, you can utilize the internet to sell them. It can be a craft you made (like shoes, drawings, bags, etc). Simply take advantage of your social media platforms, particularly WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
In conclusion, as a student, we know you are usually in need of money for several important things – buying books, buying personal stuff, and so on.
You don’t have to indulge in the negative stuff many students are embracing today just because they want to make money – such as internet fraud and prostitution.
Instead, you can focus on one or more of these online business ideas for students which we’ve highlighted here in this article, and start from somewhere. Pick the ones you are interested in, do more research on them, and proceed to get mentors that will help you.