Podcast: Download (Duration: 12:19 — 14.4MB)
The five most profitable side hustles you can start today with little or no money are affiliate marketing (100% margin), blogging (~90% margin), online courses (~99% margin), e-commerce (30-40% margin, fastest to real revenue), and service arbitrage (varies). I run all five of these businesses personally and this episode of Family First Friday ranks them by margin, upfront cost, and how quickly they generate real income.
For context on why margins matter so much: across all US small businesses, a 10% net profit margin is average, anything below 5% is a warning sign, and anything above 15% is excellent. The five business models below all sit well above 15%, and several sit above 90%, because online businesses do not carry the overhead of restaurants, brick-and-mortar retail, or physical services.
Here is the ranking, the exact margin math on each, the time-to-real-money for each, and how to pick the one that fits your situation.
Get My Free Mini Course On How To Start A Successful Ecommerce Store
If you are interested in starting an ecommerce business, I put together a comprehensive package of resources that will help you launch your own online store from complete scratch. Be sure to grab it before you leave!
Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- Affiliate marketing has the highest margin of any business model on this list: literally 100%, because there are no product costs, no inventory, and no fulfillment.
- Blogging runs at roughly 90% profit margin, but it takes two to three years to make real money. My blog earns $80K-$160K/month with $50/month in hosting and about $3,500/month in writer and software costs.
- Online courses run at 99%+ margin once you have expertise, because you create the product once and sell it to many. My two courses (Profitable Online Store and Profitable Audience) run on the same $50/month WordPress stack as my blog.
- E-commerce has the lowest margin at 30-40%, but it is the fastest to real revenue. My store made $100K in profit its first year selling handkerchiefs.
- Service arbitrage (selling services you outsource to freelancers) is a real business model that works for content creation, SEO, virtual assistant work, and web design.
- You do not need world-class expertise to teach a course. You need to know more than the person you are teaching.
Why online side hustles beat average small-business margins
Online side hustles beat average small-business margins because they carry almost no overhead. The 10% average net margin across US small businesses is dragged down by restaurants, brick-and-mortar retail, and businesses with rent, staff, and physical inventory.
Strip out rent, employees, and physical goods and margins climb fast. A blog costs about $3/month to start on shared hosting. An affiliate site has no product costs at all. A course you already know how to teach costs pennies per delivery.
The five business models below all clear the 15% “excellent” benchmark by a wide margin, and three of them run at 90% or better. That is why online is where the profitability really lives.
1. Affiliate marketing (100% margin, start today with no money)
Affiliate marketing is the single most profitable side hustle on this list because it runs at literally 100% margin with zero overhead. You recommend other companies’ products, they give you a special link, you earn a commission every time someone buys through that link.
Amazon Associates is the biggest and best-known program, but there are hundreds. You do not need a large audience to make it work. Most of us have friends on Facebook and Instagram, and posting genuine reviews of things you already buy is enough to start.
The economics: no product to make, no inventory to stock, no fulfillment to handle, and no upfront money required. I have friends in the personal finance space who make millions of dollars a year recommending financial services to their audience.
2. Blogging (~90% margin, $3/month startup, 2-3 years to real money)
Blogging runs at roughly 90% profit margin but takes two to three years to reach meaningful revenue. My blog at mywifequitherjob.com gets roughly 250,000 visitors a month, where 80% of that traffic comes from Google and other search engines, and generates over $1M/year with about 90% profit.
The cost structure is why the margins are so high. Hosting costs $50/month today (I paid $7/month when I started in 2009, and you can now start for less than $3/month on Bluehost). My biggest expense is my email service provider at ~$500/month. Writers and editors run about $3,000/month, and SEO tools like Ahrefs add another few hundred.
Blogging is words on a page. Words do not cost anything to make, and once the content ranks in Google it keeps earning without additional labor.
Here is my actual revenue trajectory for context on how slow the first three years are and how fast it compounds after that:
- 2009: started the blog
- 2012: broke six figures for the first time (3 years in)
- 2013: $171,000
- 2014: $350,000
- 2015: $712,000
- 2016: over $1M
- 2017: over $1.4M
Blogging is a cash cow once it gets going. The catch is that most people quit before the cash starts flowing. If you want the shortcut, my free six-day blogging mini-course lives at profitableaudience.com/free.
3. Online courses (99%+ margin, sell your expertise)
Online courses run at 99%+ margin because you create the product once and sell it to unlimited people with almost no marginal cost. I run Profitable Online Store (teaches e-commerce, ~$2,000 lifetime access) and Profitable Audience (teaches blog, podcast, and YouTube monetization, ~$1,000), and between them I have more than 5,000 students.
My hosting stack is embarrassingly cheap. Both courses run on the same WordPress install as my blog using a free plugin called s2Member, so the same $50/month covers everything. Course videos live on Amazon S3 for another $20/month.
You do not need to be world-class at what you teach. You need to know more than the person you are teaching. I am not the most successful e-commerce operator on the planet, but I do run a seven-figure store, and that is plenty of expertise to teach students launching their first store to seven or eight figures.
Named student results back this up. Amanda Wittenborn makes over seven figures selling party supplies at Amanda Creation. JK from my course makes over seven figures selling home supplies at SaratogaHomeOnline.com. Abby Walker makes millions selling high-heel inserts at VivianLou.com.
If you want the easiest cheap way to launch an online course today, Teachable is the platform to start on.
4. E-commerce (30-40% margin, fastest side hustle to real income)
E-commerce runs at 30-40% margin, which is the lowest on this list, but selling physical products online is the fastest way to make significant money. Where a blog takes two to three years to earn, an e-commerce store can generate meaningful revenue within a year or less.
My online store selling handkerchiefs made over $100K in profit in its first year. One of my students made over $100K/month within six months of launching her jewelry brand.
You do not have to store your own inventory or ship your own orders. Most stores today use a 3PL (third-party logistics company) that receives your goods, holds them, and ships to customers when orders come in. Amazon FBA is one of the largest 3PLs in the world.
Dropshipping is a further step: you take orders online and only pay your supplier when a customer buys. Zero upfront inventory cost, zero warehouse. Margins are thinner than holding inventory yourself, but the barrier to entry is close to zero.
If you want the fastest path from zero to meaningful side-hustle income, e-commerce is probably your best bet. My free six-day e-commerce mini-course is at mywifequitherjob.com/free.
5. Service arbitrage (drop servicing, sell what you don’t personally deliver)
Service arbitrage (also called drop servicing) is a business model where you sell services to clients and outsource the actual work to freelancers or agencies. Think of it as dropshipping for services.
The math is straightforward. Sell a website for $5,000, hire a freelancer to build it for $3,000, keep $2,000 in profit. Repeat with SEO consulting, content creation, graphic design, virtual assistant services, or copywriting.
The easiest lane right now is content creation. My colleague Katrina McKinnon runs a service-arbitrage business writing blog posts for e-commerce stores. She employs writers based in lower-cost-of-labor countries like Kenya and the Philippines, and she charges US prices to her clients.
Service arbitrage works if you can do two things: land clients, and manage the freelance production side. If either of those is a weak spot, one of the other four models on this list will fit you better.
Side hustle profitability comparison table
| Side hustle | Profit margin | Startup cost | Time to real income | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affiliate marketing | 100% | $0 | Immediate to months | Anyone with an audience or willingness to build one |
| Blogging | ~90% | ~$3/month | 2-3 years | Patient writers who compound |
| Online courses | 99%+ | ~$50/month | Weeks to months | People with teachable expertise |
| E-commerce | 30-40% | Product-dependent | Under 1 year | Fastest path to real income |
| Service arbitrage | Varies (often 40%+) | ~$0 | Weeks | Good at sales and freelancer management |
How to pick which side hustle to start today
Pick your side hustle based on three variables: how much money you have to start, how fast you need income, and what you are actually good at. Zero money and no urgency means blogging or affiliate marketing. Zero money and need income this quarter means service arbitrage or affiliate marketing.
Some money and need income within a year means e-commerce. Existing expertise you can teach means an online course, because it monetizes what you already know without a two-year runway.
You can also stack these. My own portfolio is all five: I blog, run affiliate links on the blog, sell two online courses off the blog audience, own an e-commerce store (Bumblebee Linens), and have historically done service work. The stacking is what turns a side hustle into a $1M+ business.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most profitable side hustle to start with no money?
Affiliate marketing is the most profitable side hustle to start with zero money because it runs at 100% margin and has no product costs, no inventory, and no fulfillment. Blogging is a close second at ~90% margin with about $3/month in hosting.
How long does it take to make money blogging?
Blogging typically takes two to three years to generate meaningful income. My blog broke six figures three years after I started it in 2009, then compounded from there ($171K in year 4, $350K in year 5, over $1M by year 7).
How much does it cost to start a blog?
You can start a blog today for less than $3/month on Bluehost shared hosting. I started my blog for $7/month in 2009 and currently pay $50/month at much larger traffic. My biggest ongoing costs are the email service provider (~$500/month) and content writers (~$3,000/month).
What is the fastest side hustle to make real income?
E-commerce is the fastest side hustle to real income. My store made over $100K in profit in its first year selling handkerchiefs, and one of my students made $100K/month within six months of launching her jewelry brand. Margins are lower than digital businesses (30-40%) but the revenue arrives much faster.
Do I need to hold inventory to run an e-commerce store?
You do not need to hold inventory. Most online stores today use a 3PL (third-party logistics company) that receives your goods, stores them, and ships to your customers when orders come in. Amazon FBA is one of the largest 3PLs. Dropshipping goes further: you take orders and only pay your supplier when a customer buys.
What is service arbitrage or drop servicing?
Service arbitrage (drop servicing) is a business model where you sell services to clients and outsource the actual work to freelancers or agencies. Common examples: web design, SEO consulting, content creation, graphic design, and virtual assistant services. The margin is the difference between what you charge and what you pay the freelancer.
Do I need to be an expert to sell an online course?
You do not need to be world-class. You need to know more than the person you are teaching. I teach students how to launch e-commerce stores to seven or eight figures because I run a seven-figure store myself, even though I am not the most successful operator in the industry.
Which side hustle should I start first?
Match the side hustle to your situation. No money and no urgency: start a blog or do affiliate marketing. No money but need income this quarter: service arbitrage or affiliate marketing. Some money and want real income within a year: e-commerce. Existing teachable expertise: launch an online course.
I Need Your Help
If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, then please support me with a review on Apple Podcasts. It's easy and takes 1 minute! Just click here to head to Apple Podcasts and leave an honest rating and review of the podcast. Every review helps!
Ready To Get Serious About Starting An Online Business?
If you are really considering starting your own online business, then you have to check out my free mini course on How To Create A Niche Online Store In 5 Easy Steps.
In this 6 day mini course, I reveal the steps that my wife and I took to earn 100 thousand dollars in the span of just a year. Best of all, it's absolutely free!
