15 Online Business Ideas for 2025 With Zero Or Minimal Investment

Are you looking for online business ideas for 2025 without investment?

There are a plethora of businesses you can start online and make profits. Thanks to the Internet that has given us so many opportunities.

Unlike a brick-and-mortar business, you don’t need a lot of investment upfront to start an online business. In fact, there are so many online business ideas that require zero investment.

So if you’re someone who is looking to start an online business with zero or less investment, this post is exclusively for you.

Here’s what you’ll learn;

• 15 of the most practical business ideas that you can implement online
• Tips and strategies to make profits from those businesses and
• Some practical examples along the way

So are you ready to find out the zero investment business ideas? Let’s get started.

Top 15 Online Business Ideas to Try in 2025 Without Investment

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1. Start A Blog

There’s a reason why we put starting a blog #1 in the list of best online business ideas for 2025. The reason is this: it’s the BEST way to create a brand and make profits online.

Although you can start a blog for free, we don’t recommend that. If you’re starting a blog as a business, you need to invest in the essential things like;

• Domain name
• Web hosting
• Few tools such as email marketing, SEO tools, etc.

Basically, you just need around $100 a year to start a blog. It’s not a big deal if you know the true potential of blogging.

In fact, I’m a live example as I’m a full-time blogger who is earning more than $13K per month from this blog BloggersPassion. You can read more about BloggersPassion income reports from here.

Within 14 years of my blogging journey, I went from $0 to earning $13,000+ each month.

Thanks to blogging. Even you can do the same if you are consistent enough and looking to build a successful blog in the long run.

Here’s one of our blog’s earning reports;

Why Consider This Idea?

• You can work from anywhere in the world and be your own boss
• The ability to earn passive income from multiple sources, including selling ads, affiliate products, own courses, etc.
• You can build an online reputation in a specific niche

Steps to Get Started

• Niche: Choose a specific, profitable, and evergreen topic like “weight loss” or “digital marketing for small businesses.”
• Monetization: Combine affiliate marketing with selling your own digital products (e.g., ebooks, online courses) for passive income.
• Content: Create high-quality, informative content that solves problems for your target audience, such as “10 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Belly Fat” or “How to Start a Successful Blog in 5 Steps.”
• SEO: Learn keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building to improve your blog’s visibility in Google.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need?	Cost Range
Domain	$10 to $15 a year
Web Hosting	Starts at $1/mo
Tools, Themes & Plugins (Optional)	$50 to $500

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2. Create A YouTube Channel

Are you looking for a profitable online business idea without investment? Start a YouTube channel.

All you need is a free Gmail account to get started. There are millions of people launching new YouTube channels and killing it with their subscribers, views, and profits.

Did you know that an 8-year-old kid Ryan Kaji was last year’s top YouTube earner with $26 million? He’s one of the highest YouTube earners according to Forbes.

That’s a ton of money, right? Do you know what he does on YouTube to earn such an insane amount of money? He reviews toys and does experiments with them.

Sounds crazy, right?

Not just Ryan Kaji but there are so many other YouTubers who are earning huge money with YouTube. You can read our detailed post on how much top YouTubers earn to find a lot more interesting details.

The key here is to find the RIGHT monetization strategy if you want to make more profits with YouTube in 2025 and beyond.

Why Consider This Idea?

• It’s free and probably the best way to gain more followers worldwide
• Ability to make money in so many ways, including brand partnerships, YouTube ads, affiliate ads, etc
• Best platform to share knowledge and expertise
• YouTube is the best online business from home without investment

Steps to Get Started

• Content Creation: Choose a niche, plan content, and produce high-quality videos regularly.
• Channel Setup: Create a channel, optimize it for relevant keywords and customize its appearance to match your brand.
• Grow Your Audience: Promote your channel and engage with subscribers and viewers.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Equipment (camera, audio, etc)	$100 to $1000+
Video editing software	$0 to $100+
Graphic design	$0 (Canva free) to $50+

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3. Start Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a booming online business. If done right, it can be the most profitable online business idea that needs minimal investment upfront with high profit margins.

Dropshipping is all about selling products to your customers without actually storing the inventory of items by yourself.

That means, when a dropshipping store sells any product, it purchases the item from a 3rd party and ships the item directly to the customer.

To put it simply, dropshipping is all about “buy a product, store it, pack it and ship it”.

The good thing about dropshipping is when you find a product to buy from a third party vendor, you don’t even need to store, pack and ship it as the third party supplier does all those things.

The reason to start dropshipping as an online business is because it involves less risk as you’re not creating any product by yourself.

That way, you can not only make money selling useful products but you can also validate ideas to sell profitable items for more profits in the long run.

There are a ton of people using marketplaces like AliExpress to start dropshipping as a profitable online business.

If you’re looking to start dropshipping as a business, you should definitely check out AliExpress as it makes it easy to find products to sell on your store without having to worry about inventory or shipping.

Did you know that you can earn up to 2000% profit with AliExpress dropshipping business?

In fact, they offer an exclusive market platform called AliDropship to sell products.

Why Consider This Idea?

• You don’t need to buy inventory – low investment costs.
• You can run a dropshipping business from anywhere at the comfort of your laptop.
• You don’t need to worry about offering customer support or logistics

Steps to Get Started

• Find a supplier: Find a platform where you can work with reliable suppliers who sell quality products in your niche. Consider platforms like AliExpress, Sprocket, CJ Dropshipping, etc.
• Consider free shopping products: Products with free shipping can significantly boost sales, especially for international customers.
• High-demand: Look for products with at least 500 orders. Ensure the product has positive feedback and a high average customer rating.
• High-profit margin products: Identify products with low supplier costs with high demand. For instance, you can find trendy sneakers with a wholesale cost of $15 and sell them for a retail price of $40, with a profit margin of over 60%!

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
E-commerce Platform	$10 – $300/mo
Domain Name	$10 – $20/year
Website Hosting	$5 – $20/month

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4. Sell eBooks

Did you know that we generated over 250 sales within the first 20 days after launching our first ever premium eBook?

Here’s an earning screenshot which is taken from Instamojo (payment gateway) where you can see the transactions.

If you’re looking to create a passive income source online, selling eBooks can be a great idea. Are people still paying for premium eBooks?

Of course, yes. In fact, 38% of daily sales of ebooks on Amazon go to self-published titles. People are spending millions of dollars every year on purchasing eBooks.

So yes, if you’ve some expertise in any field, you can start creating useful eBooks to sell.

Why Consider This Idea?

• It is one of the best online business ideas with the potential for ongoing revenue.
• It usually requires minimal investment costs compared to other ideas.
• Higher profit margins, as you can charge any price you like 

Steps to Get Started

• Identify Popular Topics: Analyze website traffic data or conduct surveys to find trending topics in your niche. Use Google search console to find top-performing content on your blog.
• Create or Outsource: Write the eBook yourself or hire a professional writer to ensure quality content.
• Direct Sales: Sell eBooks directly from your website using platforms like Gumroad or Shopify for better control and profit.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
eBook Creation Tools	Free (Google Docs) to $100 (Professional Software)
eBook Cover Design	Free (Canva) to $100+ (Professional Designer)
Self-Publishing Platform	Free (Amazon KDP, Smashwords) to $100+ (Professional Platform)

Useful resources: We’ve published two in-depth guides around eBook publishing.

• How to Write an eBook from Scratch: Step by Step Tutorial for Beginners
• How to Sell And Promote eBooks [Including Our eBook Case Study]

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5. Create And Sell Online Courses

Did you know that Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income earned over 1 million dollars in revenue from online courses alone (in 2017)? Ever since his earnings are only grown year after year.

If you want to build an online business that grows every year, creating and selling online courses is the best thing to do.

The best part about creating online courses is that they give you an opportunity to teach what you know and make profits at the same time.

But here’s the thing: you need to make a solid investment in time and effort upfront. Your premium courses should be worth every single penny. Only then, you’ll be able to build a solid passive income stream.

Why Consider This Idea?

• It is a scalable business with minimal upfront investment
• You can turn your skills into profits by helping people with your knowledge
• The ability to upsell/downsell or cross-promote your products to boost your income

Steps to Get Started

• Sell the Outcome, Not Features: Focus on the benefits your course provides, such as career advancement or skill acquisition. Highlight the end result, not just the content.
• Validate Your Idea: Ensure market demand by using surveys, Facebook ads, or blog posts to gauge audience interest. Launch your course when there’s clear demand.
• Take Action, Don’t Wait: Avoid procrastination. Start with a simple idea, test it, and launch your course without overthinking.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Course Creation Tools	Free (Google Slides, Screen Recording Software) to $100+ (Professional Video Editing Software)
Course Hosting Platform	Free (Teachable, Udemy) to $100+/month (Premium Platform)
Marketing and Promotion	Free (Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Advertising)

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6. Offer SEO Consulting

Offering SEO consulting and building an online business around it can be profitable.

Did you know that SEO is an 80 billion-dollar industry? The whole Internet world revolves around search engine optimization as everyone wants more traffic, leads, and sales.

An SEO consultant job is to analyze, review, and improve websites in order to improve their search engine rankings. Their job also includes several things such as;

• Building relevant backlink
• Improve overall search traffic
• Remove toxic or bad backlinks
• Provide expert advice and recommendations to improve search rankings and so on

Why Consider This Idea?

• SEO is a billion-dollar industry, so there’s a huge earning potential for expert SEO consultants
• Offer services remotely
• Manage multiple clients and help businesses reach more people online 

Steps to Get Started

• Network Effectively: Attend local events, webinars and offline conferences to connect with industry professionals and potential clients.
• Leverage Blogging: Create a blog to share your expertise and attract organic traffic. You can use your blog as a practical way to showcase your SEO skills. Try to rank for high-competition keywords.
• Build Your Portfolio: Offer free services to build experience and credibility. As your portfolio grows, start charging for your SEO skills.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
SEO Tools	Free (Google Analytics, Search Console) to $100+/month (Ahrefs, Semrush)
Outsourcing (content, design, etc)	$500 to $5000+ a month
Marketing and Networking	Free (Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Advertising, Conferences)

Useful resources around SEO: Here are some highly useful SEO resources that you can go through to hone your SEO consulting skills.

• Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO (highly recommended resource for every SEO enthusiast)
• Ahrefs Academy (if you want to know how to grow your blog past 100K monthly visitors, this free resource is a great choice for you)
• Backlinko’s How to Learn SEO (if you’re a beginner and looking to learn SEO fast, you should definitely check this out)

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7. Make Money Through Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is probably the best online business idea to make passive income online.

It might take some time to build a solid foundation but once you lay a foundation, you’ll make a ton of money.

Starting an online business around affiliate marketing can be cheap too. All you need is to pay for web hosting, some SEO tools and you’re good to go!

Did you know that we made over $650,000 selling one affiliate product?

That’s a solid number, right? Affiliate marketing works like a charm.

Why Consider This Idea?

• Requires minimal investment
• It is one of the best passive income sources, and you can use a blog, YouTube channel or social media to earn commissions.
• You can work from anywhere.

Steps to Get Started

• Build Trust: Build strong relationships with your audience to build trust, which is crucial to affiliate marketing success.
• Establish Expertise: Position yourself as an authority in your niche to attract and convert potential customers.
• Master the Art of Selling: Learn effective sales techniques that are subtle and avoid being too pushy.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Website or Blog	Free (Blogger) to $10+/month (WordPress Hosting)
Marketing and Promotion	Free (Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Advertising, Influencer Marketing)
Email Lists	Free (Mailchimp) to $50+ a month

Useful resources:

• The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing to Make More Money for Beginners
• Why No One Is Buying Your Affiliate Products And How to Fix It

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8. Start A Digital Marketing Agency

Starting a digital marketing agency looks similar to starting a website on your own. Yes, a marketing agency also needs a website but it offers various services.

So the investment needed to start your own online marketing agency depends on various factors including;

• Website setup cost (such as a domain, hosting, email marketing etc)
• SEO tools (you need all in one SEO tools like Semrush to grow your business)
• A team (which typically consists of writers, designers etc who can take care of your projects)

Why Consider This Idea?

• There’s a steady stream of clients – as there’s a huge demand for digital marketing.
• High earning potential, as you can offer plenty of services like SEO, social media, and PPC
• You can set your hours and build a team as your agency grows.

Steps to Get Started

• Start Small: Begin with a simple website and offer a few core services. Outsource tasks to freelancers to deliver high-quality work.
• Scale Your Business: As your client base grows, hire a team to handle more projects and increase your revenue.
• Offer Multiple Services: Provide a wide range of digital marketing services, such as SEO, SMO, content marketing, and PPC, to attract more clients.
• Charge Premium Rates: Aim for high-value clients by charging competitive rates, such as $5,000 per month, based on the ROI you deliver.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Marketing Tools	$100 – $1000+/month (SEO, PPC, Social Media, Email Marketing tools)
Website and Branding	$500 to $5000+
Legal and Accounting	$1000+ (Networking, Content Marketing, Sales and Account Management)

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9. Become A Udemy Instructor

Teaching online is always a great way to make money. If you’re looking to start an online business with zero investment, you should try selling courses on Udemy.

Udemy is an online learning platform that has more than 30 million students and 42,000 instructors teaching courses in over 65 languages.

Did you know that there are currently over 100,000 courses and 30 million students with over 190 million course enrollments?

Yes, Udemy is such a huge online learning platform which can be used as a great platform to earn money by becoming an instructor. Udemy is definitely one of the best zero investment business ideas you can try in 2025.

Why Consider This Idea?

• One of the best online business ideas to earn passive income by selling your expertise
• You can teach your skills and help other students on topics you’re passionate about
• It is flexible, as you can set your own prices.

Steps to Get Started

• Topic Selection and Validation: Choose a profitable topic with low competition. Analyze successful courses in your niche. Conduct polls and surveys to validate your idea.
• Master Course Creation: Learn video editing, screen recording, and course structure. Analyze top-selling courses to identify effective strategies.
• Create Engaging Video Tutorials: Produce high-quality videos that offer huge value to your target audience. Use lots of practical examples.
• Build a Sales Funnel: Use email marketing, freebies, and social media to attract potential students and drive traffic to your Udemy courses.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Course Creation Tools	Free (Screen Recording Software, PowerPoint) to $100+ (Professional Video Editing Software)
Marketing and Promotion	Free (Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Advertising)
Tools (Content, SEO, Email Marketing)	$100 to $1000+

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10. Become a Social Media Manager

Did you know that many social media managers who are new to the field charge around $20 to $30 an hour to start, typically between 10 or 20 hours per month per client.

So even if you’re spending 2 hours a day per client, you can easily earn around $600 to $1000 a month. That’s just from one client!

If you’re planning to start an online business that deals with social media management, you can hire more people to do the work for you. Your job is to find prospects who are interested in your social media services.

What are the things to do as a social media manager?

Here are some of the regular tasks you will handle;

• Managing social media profiles of brands or companies that you’re working with (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc)
• Responding to the comments
• Managing content and posting something regularly on social profiles

In a nutshell, a social media manager is responsible for managing all the social media profiles, creating regular content and growing presence on social platforms.

Why Consider This Idea?

• There is huge demand, as almost all online businesses need help managing and growing their social media presence.
• You can be creative in content creation
• You can work with multiple clients to boost your income

Steps to Get Started

• Learn and understand major social network work 
• Find your initial clients (use blogger outreach or send cold emails)
• Showcase your social media skills on social networks 

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Social Media Management Tools	Free (Buffer, Hootsuite) to $100+/month (Professional Tools)
Graphic Design Tools	Free (Canva) to $100+/month (Adobe Creative Cloud)
Marketing and Networking	Free (Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Ads)

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11. Become a VA (Virtual Assistant)

Did you know that you can set up your own VA business online by just starting a website?

Yes, it just costs you the hosting fee and domain costs to create a website and you can start offering VA (virtual assistant) related stuff to your customers.

The fun part is, you don’t have to be an expert to become a virtual assistant. You can offer a wide range of services ranging from;

• Posting frequently on social media sites (like Twitter, Facebook etc)
• Uploading videos on YouTube
• Optimizing images
• Setting up WordPress sites
• Managing emails
• Uploading new blog posts on WordPress sites
• Commenting on other sites
• And the list goes on

All the above tasks can be done by almost anyone who knows how to operate a laptop, so you don’t need any special skills.

You just need to find a team of 3 to 5 (more or less depending on the tasks) people who can take care of your virtual assistance business.

You’ll have to reach out to agencies, brands and full-time bloggers (or marketers) who are looking to outsource small tasks like blog post publishing, editing, managing emails, social media etc.

Why Consider This Idea?

• You don’t have to be an expert; it requires basic skills.
• There are many opportunities to offer VA services, starting from email management, social media, or content uploading.
• It is ideal as a side hustle or full-time job opportunity 

Steps to Get Started

• Build a portfolio so you can showcase it to attract clients
• Decide what services you want to offer (writing, design, SEO, etc) and specialize in them
• Market yourself. Use platforms like Upwork to find gigs. 

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Productivity Tools	Free (Google Workspace) to $100+/month (Microsoft 365)
Project Management Tools	Free (Trello, Asana) to $100+/month (Professional Tools)
Communication Tools	Free (GMail, WhatsApp, Telegram)

Where to find work for your VA (virtual assistance) agency?

If you want to find work as a VA, you can use the following platforms online.

• Upwork (UpWork is a huge platform with millions of jobs posted annually and freelancers are earning money by offering over 5,000 skills)
• PeoplePerHour (PeoplePerHour is another popular platform for freelancers which was started in 2007 and they have huge network access as around 1 million businesses are using their platform)
• Remote.co (Another fantastic platform where you can find remote jobs including the best virtual assistant jobs)

If you’re interested in genuine online jobs to start earning from home today, then check out this post.

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12. HR Consulting 

HR consultants are like expert advisors for people-related issues in a company. They can be generalists, knowing a bit about everything, or specialists, focusing on one area like hiring or employee benefits. 

HR consultants are in high demand. The Human Resource Consulting Market is expected to reach $73.75 billion in 2024. 

Why Consider This Idea?

• There’s a high demand for expert HR consultants across most industries.
• The ability to offer services remotely
• You can expect bigger payouts if you’ve enough experience and skills

Steps to Get Started

• Choose a specific HR area like recruitment, training, or employee relations.
• Build your presence online (social media or website)
• Connect with other potential clients using platforms like LinkedIn and Quora

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
HR Software and Tools	Free (Google Sheets) to $100+/month (Workday, BambooHR)
Marketing and Networking	Free (Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Advertising, Conferences)
Professional Certifications	$100 – $1000+ (HRCI, SHRM)

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13. Language Translator

Translation services convert a message from one language to another. Language translators can translate documents, websites, videos, and more, making it easier for people to communicate across different languages.

Translation services are essential for global businesses. The market for language translation is expected to grow by over 25% between 2024 and 2030, reaching a value of over $27 billion (Statista).

Why Consider This Idea?

• It has a global demand.
• You can work in various industries, from business to entertainment, travel to fitness.
• Work from anywhere and set your own hours 

Steps to Get Started

• Select the languages you want to translate between. Become an expert in a second language. 
• Use a translation app, website, or software like Google Translate.
• Use platforms like Fiverr or Upwork to find relevant gigs.

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Language Learning Tools	Free (Duolingo, Memrise) to $100+/year (Professional Language Learning Software)
Translation Tools	Free (Google Translate)
Marketing and Networking	Free (Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Advertising, Freelance Platforms)

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14. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing helps brands connect with a target audience to boost engagement and drive more sales. The global influencer marketing platform market size reached $ 4.2 Billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $50 Billion by 2028!

Why Consider This Idea?

• It is one of the best successful online businesses that can have a higher return on investment (ROI) than other marketing channels. 
• It offers flexibility in content creation and can be turned into a full-time career with consistent efforts.
• High earning potential with sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and brand partnerships.

Steps to Get Started

• Identify your niche and pick a platform to build an audience (website, social media, etc)
• Engage with your target audience 
• Connect with other influencers and collaborate with other brands

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Social Media Platforms	Free (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube)
Content Creation Tools	Free (Mobile Phone Camera, Basic Editing Apps) to $100+/month (Professional Cameras, Editing Software)
Marketing and Promotion	Free (SEO, Social Media) to $1000+ (Paid Advertising, Influencer Collaborations)

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15. Become a Podcaster

If you want to break down complex topics into easy-to-understand bites, podcasting is a great business idea. Podcasting helps you share ideas, build an audience, and generate revenue.

The global podcasting market is booming, estimated at $25.62 billion in 2024. It’s projected to grow significantly, reaching a whopping $135.13 billion by 2031.

Why Consider This Idea?

• Requires minimal startup costs
• It can help you position yourself as an expert in your niche
• Connect with influencers and experts in your industry
• Earn through sponsorships, ads, and promoting your own products/services.

Steps to Get Started

• Choose a podcast topic. Consider your skills, expertise and interests.
• Research your target audience to find what they need. Analyze your competitors.
• Choose your podcasting format (videos for YouTube, audio for Spotify)
• Leverage your network to get started!

Estimate Your Costs

What You Need	Cost Range
Recording Equipment	Free (Smartphone) to $1000+ (Professional Microphone, Audio, Headphones)
Editing Software	Free (Audacity) to $100+/year (Adobe Audition)
Hosting Platform	Free (Buzzsprout, SoundCloud) to $100+/month (Podbean)

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Read: Best Website Ideas for Beginners to Start in 2025
Read: What Niche Makes The Most Money

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Final thoughts on best online business ideas without investment

From starting a blog to teaching online, there are plenty of online business ideas for 2025 that require zero or minimal investment.

You just need to find one idea and start working on it. Don’t wait for the perfect time, start today!

So what do you think about the online business models that are listed on this page? Which one are you going to pick? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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FAQs