Even if you have a million $ idea. You still need to have the skills to execute them.
These skills are usually not taught in any business schools but only acquired through experience and practice.
When I started building my first product, I thought I had a great idea and it would be the next facebook.
Hoping for an overnight success. Thinking people would find my product and share it with everyone.
I was wrong. I failed miserably.
The reason, I didn’t have the skills to execute the idea as a business.
At that point, I realized the truth that there are more pieces to the business than just building a product.
Later, I started trying out various business ideas. Learned a bunch of stuff about marketing, product validation, and all other things.
Some worked and some didn’t, and some were profitable but didn’t fit my style.
Although nothing grew to become the next facebook.
One interesting thing happened.
Passive income with no effort.
Many such businesses even though they failed to scale and grow big, they started generating some revenue on the side. And all that happened without me putting a lot of effort to it.
This idea got my attention. Any mainstream big business idea I was looking for, required a ton of work. Furthermore, I am hooked fully in that business and lose all the flexibility.
However, with passive income business model. You automate everything and it fetches money automatically.
It might not be in tens and thousand of dollars but not insignificant to ignore either.
Starting this year, I am planning to take this model to the next level. Find more passive income streams and invest resources in it.
This strategy also helps diversifies my investments as well. So if one business falls apart the other streams can help balance that.
Here are some of the ideas I am thinking about for this year.
You can copy these ideas or if you have a better one don’t be afraid to send it to me.
Invest in real estate
Not talking about spending a huge amount of investment to buy properties. I am thinking about REIT’s. I keep hearing that these have better returns than stocks and bonds.
I also see some services like reality shares promise real good returns on the investment.
The best part is, these services let you invest in small amounts, rather than spending 100’s of thousands of dollars.
Invest in more blogs
Among all the business I have done so far, I think blogging is one of the best business models.
- It is easy and takes less investment to start.
- Consumes less time to maintain compared to other traditional business
- Lucrative as it has less operational cost
- Build assets online and generate passive income
- It is also fun to express yourself through content and engage with other people.
- Even though this is easy, it is not straightforward enough for people to compete with you.
- In order to own a blog, it is not always the case to build a blog from scratch.
You can also buy them.
Depending on your interest and goals, you can buy blogs from sites like flippa.com
After you buy, you can either make it better and keep it for yourself or flip it for a better price by providing some additional value.
My plan is to find a blog in a popular niche and sell related products and services through it.
Content marketing is one of the best marketing strategies out there. (We will talk about it later)
Invest in small business
It is hard to spot a good business at the bootstrapping stage. Many such tiny business ideas have grown to something huge in a short time.
Once again, I am not talking about the business that is making millions, something in thousands.
If we find such business as soon as we can, it is a good idea to put in some money that will yield super high returns.
Before you look for a good business idea, you should look at the quality and drive of the person who is owning the business.
You could find these small business owners in local meetups, networking event or even one of your friends might be interested in building something.
You might be thinking, it all sounds good but what about the risk? Any investment carries risk, but if you spend some time to pick the right business model and the owner.
According to me, the risk is pretty low.
Some criteria I use to pick a business.
- It should make money on day 1 or should be already making money. Not the kind of business that claims that it will make money in the future.
- Do a math and calculate the operating cost. Determine, if there are no sales how soon the business would die.
If it can operate for few months then you might have some time to fix any issues. If the conclusion is that the business would die immediately then the business is too fragile to invest. - I also look for a business that is dependent on technology. It gives a ton of option to move around if it is technology based.
If you have any such idea and looking for investment. Hit me up and we can talk more.
Write eBooks and guides
Does it sound complex? The truth is it is not.
If you are into writing, then you can spin up a book in few weeks. If not you can hire people to ghostwrite it for you.
The only catch is you need to know the outline of the content including all the details. Without your guidance, the writer might not be able to do research and produce a high-quality content on the topic you are interested in.
I would even give the draft of the content to write about. This would ensure that the book or guide is high in quality and is absolutely useful for others.
Online Course
Another option is an online course. Courses online are growing in demand. People realize it is cheaper and easier to consume content and grow their skills than going to college.
People can learn any specific stuff at their own convenience through courses.
This is one my top goal for this year, to write at least one course and help people.
The major benefit in this digital products model is, it is distributed across the world.
For me, it also turns into an asset and brings in revenue for a long time, with very little maintenance effort.
Invest more on eCommerce
Have you heard that many retail stores are closing down this year? It is been happening for last few years now.
Do you the reason for this?
It is all because of the growth in e-commerce. Most of the people now are preferring to buy stuff online.
Shopping online is quite convenient and saves a lot of time for shoppers.
Fortunately, this e-commerce is growing popular and there is still a lot of opportunities left.
Buy inventory
I am going to buy more inventory and sell more products this year.
Most the inventory we bought last year were quickly sold out. I am confident that we will be able to sell more this year as well.
Outsource
Selling more products also will result in more work for us. I am planning to outsource most of these work outside, And keep only the product research part to us.
Box subscription service
The new trend to e-commerce is box subscription service.
If you are not aware of this model, this is a subscription based business. It would send out a collection of related items to the subscriber every month.
You can read more about it here.
I am brainstorming ideas for this business model. This model requires little higher commitment compared to the original e-commerce.
The product choice and on time delivery is important to keep the customers subscribed. Without enough subscriber, the inventory cost would be high.
I would do this only if I can find some real good value to the customer. They should be excited to receive the product every month.
Technology apps
I am not sure if I will have the time to do this, but if I could then I would build some apps this year.
I spotted two trends this year.
- Virtual reality
- Social media management.
Building apps in these areas would definitely bring a lot of interest and revenue.
I have build apps in the past and I found that these are one of the total hands-off passive income opportunities. If done right.
Pay off the Mortgage
I am still debating on this and not sure if this is a right thing to do.
There are pros and cons to paying off your debt. Especially if you are in a low-interest range.
Experts say you could invest that money on a high return investment and make more money than paying off a low-interest loan.
For me, it is just a good feel that I can get rid of the debt payment and attain financial freedom.
I might do it this year or may invest in something else. Not fully sure yet, and open for ideas here.
Join Sharing economy
This is an extended goal for this year. I am interested in this sharing economy and crowdsourcing.
Airbnb is one of such shared accommodation that is very popular. You can literally rent out a full house or just one room to anyone.
I might not do that in my current residence, but I may get an apartment and rent it out. Still need to figure out the details. However, if I find good opportunities I might jump into it quickly.
Research and Invest in Bitcoin
I am only listing this because I read it somewhere that it is a good idea. Not sure how good it is.
Betting anything on currency or stock market now seems like a lot of work to me.
I am not a person who gambles money and prays for luck. I find low-risk opportunities and take advantage of it.
I heard they are growing in value and will continue for some more time. I might take a look at it and invest only if it makes total sense. For now, it is optional.
Conclusion
The investment ideas I listed are something I found interesting and felt worth to look in this year.
I would be interested to know your take on it.
Especially if you find something is not right, I would appreciate your feedback.
If you have any other good ideas, feel free to share that as well.
Excellent, great ideas and research.