Starting your own small business can come with its rewards. For one, you get the opportunity to work and live on your one’s terms by being independent of bosses, managers, or supervisors. Starting your own business can also help in finding true meaning and purpose in life while at the same time helping you to build a community, create jobs and contribute to your local economy.
There are a variety of potential small business ideas to explore that could be a right fit for you. A lot of small business ideas will require small funds to start up but will also depend largely on what skills you have as well as your previous knowledge of the business.
Small businesses are the backbone of the US, with over 30 million small businesses fueling the American economy. The options for you to open your own small business are endless. All you need is a great small business idea, some thorough reflection, funding, and the required expertise to run the business. If you are looking for small business ideas to start your own enterprise, below is our exhaustive list of the best small business ideas to consider.
What Makes a Good Small Business Idea?
A successful business idea should look to provide a gap in the market. This means you should provide customers with products or services that help to address an ongoing need for an identifiable customer base.
It should be scalable, meaning you can expand production or serve more customers without negatively impacting your quality or revenue stream. Equally important is that your business should be cheap to start, requiring little financial capital to get going. Additional characteristics of a good small business idea include:
Your offering should have enough demand in the market: to have a viable product and service there needs to be sufficient demand for it in the market otherwise it will not generate any profit. Equally important, the market must also be sustainable enough it sees recurrent sales or it might potentially leave your business with no customers.
Be able to generate profits: your small business idea needs to be commercially viable and generate profits. Operating at a loss or breakeven point will impede the growth of your business or its survival. You will need to know how much it would cost to make your product including labor costs, manufacturing costs, inputs, and how much you’ll sell it ultimately.
You should make sure that you turn a healthy profit to not only help in returning your initial investment but for your business to grow as well. The best businesses don’t only turn a profit but also show potential for further growth. If you want to know more about seasonal business ideas check out our article 32 Winter Business Ideas.
The Ultimate Small Business Ideas List
Are you thinking of making a leap into entrepreneurship in 2023? Do you want to start a business but don’t know how to start a business? If Yes, here are 40 small business ideas to start in 2023.
1. Dog Walking Business
If you like dogs and the outdoors dog walking can be a lucrative small business idea. There are plenty of pet owners that can’t walk their dogs and don’t want their pets cooped up indoors. By starting a dog walking business you get to offer your furry friends some workout while making some extra cash in the process.
You can charge a small fee for daily or weekly walks with a dog walking business. Not only is the demand for dog walking high, but the business also has a relatively low barrier to enter. All you need is the right training, some gear, and be an animal lover.
If you are really good at what you do you can capitalize on good referrals from your clientele to take on more clients and add more services like a mobile pet grooming business. You can market your services through social media, and local advertising flyers, and partner with pet shops, veterinarians, and pet groomers.
2. Consulting Business
If you have business expertise, then you can offer your services as a consultant where you help others by offering insights and guidance. To start running your consulting business you will however need to assess your skills and strengths to choose your niche.
As a consultant, you stand to offer a diverse range of services, from HR to strategy development, technology, accounting, and more while helping other businesses to improve and grow.For you to succeed you will need to analyze your market needs and pain points that your customers experience to better succeed in your consulting endeavor.
To get started on this business idea, you’ll need to create a website and social media presence to promote your services. You can also reach out to local businesses and offer your consulting services directly. considered among the best small business ideas you can start your consulting practice during your free time and gradually grow into a full-fledged consulting firm.
3. Catering Business
A catering business offers lower startup costs compared to opening a restaurant or a diner. With a home-based catering business, you can set your own hours and dishes your prepare from the comfort of your home.
You can do the prep work at home, and bring everything to the event location for the final cooking and plating. Or you could do all the cooking from your home kitchen, and deliver the completed dishes to the venue. Besides letting you cut costs compared to your brick-and-mortar, you have the option between offering on-site and off-site catering services.
With on-site catering, the food is cooked and completed at the event location while with off-site catering, the food is cooked somewhere else and then brought to the event location. Always remember this small business idea is built heavily upon great referrals that come from great quality and customer satisfaction. Being a food-based business you will need to make sure that you have all the required licenses and are also insured.
4. Food Truck Business
A food truck business can be a rewarding venture if you like making meals on the go. With a food truck business, you don’t have to spend the time and money to set up a dedicated location. You can start with just a vehicle, cooking equipment, and some great ingredients.
Not only can you make some good cash from your own food truck business but you can take your business to different locations based on demand during different periods of the day or week giving you more options to capture customers.
This business idea costs less than a third of what it costs to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant offering you some savings in terms of the initial investment. This can be a great option if you are a food-minded entrepreneur and can be run in your free time without the risk of completely committing to the business as a full-time gig.However, you will need to check and comply with your state’s ordinances, business licenses, and safety standards.
5. Online Courses Business
With the advent of technology and the internet, you can offer online courses with little startup capital. In today’s busy world people are looking for opportunities to acquire new skills and training online as it allows them more flexibility to learn new things.
If you have a specific skill set or knowledge that people might be interested in why not earn some extra cash by offering an online course? All you need is to design a great course topic and a platform to build and launch your online course.
Offering online courses can be a great way to make some extra cash on the side provided that you have prior teaching experience. When it comes to what you can teach the sky is the limit, you can offer courses on business skills, art, graphic design, music, and more!
Because online courses are not limited to your specific area you can generate a global clientele. You can also spruce up your courses by offering tutorials, video content, ebook, and other resources.
6. Digital Marketing Services
In today’s competitive world businesses are in bad need of digital marketing to help their brands reach audiences and promote their products or services.
If you have skills in digital marketing then you can offer your services to help businesses reach target audiences by promoting them and connecting with potential customers using the internet and social media. The perks of digital marketing are evident as they are more cost effective than traditional marketing. In addition, they help users to measure success and make marketing changes as they see fit.
There is a huge demand for digital marketing services as more and more businesses are moving towards online operations in a bid to capture more markets and bolster their brands. Your job will involve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), creating and managing social media accounts, email marketing, media buying, and managing your client’s online reputation.
One of the best ways to start your digital marketing business idea is to start your own blog to showcase your skills and portfolio to attract potential clients. As your business grows you can fulfill your staffing needs by setting up remote teams and looking for virtual assistants.
7. Cleaning Service
Starting a cleaning business offers some good financial incentives thanks to the high demand for cleaning services. This kind of business is less expensive to set up and requires some basic supplies and transportation.
A smart cleaning service business will look towards attracting both homeowners and businesses and hopefully build some recurring clients. you can increase your chances of succeeding in a small business idea by opening mobile cleaning services. With the right equipment, you can offer additional services with minimal additional capital investments.
Small business ideas like a cleaning service will allow you to work on your own schedule and grow your business at your own pace. However, despite this type of business being easy to start and scale, competition among cleaning services can be intense. To stand out you will need to make sure that your branding is on point and that your pricing points are competitive for your local area.
What makes cleaning services a good business idea is that you get repeat business from private homes and commercial establishments to fuel your growth and profits.
8. Landscaping Business
If you are passionate about gardening then you might want to consider embarking on a landscaping business. Depending on your skill set your landscaping work could entail a simple mow-and-go service, or it could be one that creates beautiful landscapes, complete with water features, wildlife areas, and even golf holes.
when it comes to equipment you will need standard gardening equipment that includes shovels, trowels, pruners, and wheelbarrows. Once you have invested in these you are practically set for years.
Starting a home-based landscaping service comes with many perks. for one, you can commit as much or as little time to the business as you want and let your small business ideas grow organically. In addition, because you work within your community you get to have a short commute and be able to sprout additional small business ideas such as a plant nursery, lawn care service, floral business, and more.
This line of business offers you a client base from small households to resorts, hotels, and even corporations. given the nature of your business being visual don’t forget to include some great snaps of your previous work in all your marketing materials. You can start building relations with potential clients through traditional direct marketing via brochures and flyers by going door-to-door distributing them.
9. Ice cream shop
Opening and running an ice cream shop business can be a fun way to start your own business. You can spin several great business ideas for your business based on flavors and toppings to create specialties like gelato, popsicles, smoothies, ice cream tacos, doggy cones, and more. you can even offer alternatives like low-calorie, sugar-free, lactose-free, and plant-based.
While your business may boom in the summer you may be surprised that craving for ice cream is year-round. Your earnings will however vary depending on your location, size, and other market factors in your area.
To start with you don’t need a lot of flavors or specialty products to succeed you will need to focus on two things– making customers happy and making a profit. An ice cream business comes with a simple business structure which makes launching and building the business relatively easy.
Starting and owning an ice cream shop requires little experience and no specific certifications or qualifications what you need is hard work, determination, and the desire to achieve success. You can tweak your business structure by offering deliveries, offering promotions, and special offers, participating in food and music festivals and hosting fun events to draw in the crowds during lean seasons.
10. Property Management
By starting your property management business, you help property owners by overseeing and managing the daily operations of their property or properties. As a property manager, your business will be responsible for collecting rent, handling inquiries, handling maintenance requests, setting the budget for the property, processing rental applications, and more.
Before opening your property management business you need to consider capital and operating expenses to start your property management business on average this type of business comes with a price tag of $19,267.
Busy property owners see the advantage to hiring a property manager as it removes the need for them to be nearby and actively manage the property and focus on other aspects of their business. if you are a natural problem solver then being a property manager can be a profitable business idea to explore.
Your services will be much appreciated as property owners will in return focus on investing in quality properties rather than managing the portfolio of properties they currently owned.
11. Personal Trainer
There are many clients people out there looking for personal trainers, wellness advice, tips on nutrition, and reducing stress. If you are passionate about fitness and like working with people?
You could be a great personal trainer, helping people get fit and feel good about themselves. To start your personal training business, you will need to get certified. You have the option to work with gyms to offer your services, train people in their homes, or perhaps offer training at a facility of your own. Reputation and personal referrals can help boost your clientele you can also offer virtual training through skype and other platforms to reach out to broader customer bases.
The key word in personal training is to offer a personalized training program taking into account your client’s specific needs as well as any health conditions. You should also be able to monitor clients’ medical conditions as they perform their workouts as well. To see your market potential you will need to canvas available health clubs, gyms, and community centers in your area. Look for ways to present custom programs that are
12. Graphic Designing
If you have some mad graphic design skills it could come in handy to start your own graphic design business. An increasing number of businesses are looking for graphic design services for marketing materials like logos, brochures, business cards, leaflets, banners, and more.
Essentially your business task is to help translate your clients’ corporate identity to be recognizable and to help create order and logic in printed marketing materials. Your responsibilities will also include working with professional printers to specify colors, paper, and other processes. To promote your skills you can send your portfolio to businesses in your area and even ask friends and family to recommend your services.
In addition, you can help businesses in designing and develop their social media pages for promoting and advertising their business. To get started with this business idea, you will need to fine-tune your design skills, luckily there are plenty of online courses that you can take to learn them. With this business idea, you literally have no overhead costs and can help small-business owners create great marketing collateral.
13. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is one of the easiest ways to break into eCommerce and is one of the fastest-growing small business ideas in the world. With this business model, you as a retailer do not keep goods in stock. Instead, you transfer customers’ orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer or a third party that ships to the customer.
Not only is it a very lucrative business it also offers lower risks compared to the traditional retail business model, where retailers are responsible for the order fulfillment process from start to finish.
Dropshipping eases the pressure on you and lets you not worry about keeping items in stock, packing, and fulfillment. You can also dropship products out of your own home or garage and set your own working hours. Platforms like Amazon and eBay offer robust support for you to easily start up your own dropshipping business.
To succeed in dropshipping business, you should have a knack for selecting the right products at the right margin from reliable suppliers. You will need to also focus on a specific niche or look for trends you can capitalize on to make a profit. There are plenty of home-based business ideas that you can try based on your skills and budget.
14. Photographer
Both businesses and private individuals need some professional photography services. Whether it’s for weddings, parties, websites, billboards, printed materials, or social media professional photography services are in high demand. Besides taking some great snaps you can enhance your editing skills as well to offer a complete package for your services.
You should also consider becoming a stock photographer where you create stock pictures of popular themes such as finance, productivity, landscapes, and more and cash in from royalties and licensing fees.
15. Event Planner
Event planners serve an essential business need where they can put their party experience to good use by planning, designing, and throwing events for both private and corporate clients. As an event planner, you will need to be well-organized, detail-oriented, and have great interpersonal skills.
As an event planner, you are required to wear several hats and include handling each and every aspect of the event including selecting locations, catering, security, and all other facets to create a memorable event. An important aspect of event planning entails having a great relationship with suppliers, talent, and a growing number of satisfied customers. On the latter point encourage customers to share their testimonials of your business and engage in marknadsföring i sociala medier.
16. Food Delivery Service
If starting your own restaurant seems a daunting task you should perhaps consider entering into the food delivery business. With a food delivery service, you can start your business with little rent, labor, and startup capital. As a business delivering food to people can help expand your customer base and increases your revenue while at the same time giving your customers a variety of options in terms of the food they want to be delivered to their homes and businesses.
You can get started with this business idea by first contacting local restaurants and seeing if they are willing to partner with you. You can also sign up for a food delivery service like DoorDash or uber eats.
17. Daycare Service
There are lots of working parents who need the support of childcare providers. if you are passionate about looking after kids, whether part-time or full time your daycare solution can help you earn plenty of side income by looking after children while their parents are away.
To succeed you will need to identify the particular age group you’re comfortable caring for, have a passion for children, childproof your establishment, and have all the necessary certifications. Besides offering financial rewards childcare can be extremely gratifying as you get to be a part of a community that helps children learn, grow, and develop.
This can be a great home-based business idea where you can expand and offer a day nursery for children of different ages. You’ll, however, be expected to provide a basic educational program, refreshments and fun activities for the children.
18. Affiliate Marketing
If you are a website owner, writer, blogger, or social media influencer you can create a side hustle through affiliate marknadsföring. Affiliate marketers help to drive traffic to a business’s website and then earn a commission on any sales that they help generate.
Through affiliate marketing, you can literally earn money with little effort by simply adding tracked affiliate links into the text of your blog or website. To start all you have to do is have a captive audience and join an affiliate program and get paid commissions for new leads or sales you bring when readers click on the links.
Businesses love affiliate marketing because they only pay if a defined action occurs leading to an increase in sales. As a marketing affiliate, you can make some quick cash by providing your readers with great suggestions for products and services. To get started you will however find businesses that offer affiliate programs such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, Clickbank, and eBay.
19. Freelance Copywriting
If you have a diverse knowledge of subjects and have a natural talent for churning out compelling content then you should consider offering your services by writing copy for businesses and publications. There is an abundance of demand for content for blogs, websites, press releases, social media, and publications with companies willing to pay for your services.
You can also increase your value by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) skills to help your clients craft a strategy around specific keywords that their target audiences are already using in their online searches. With a freelance writing business, you have the luxury to work from the comfort of your own home without investing in office space.
20. Real Estate
If you have a sharp eye for apartment buildings, commercial properties, or single-family homes and know how to flip them, then you should consider entering the real estate industry. Despite fluctuations in the market, historically the real estate sector remains among the best investment options available.
A real estate business affords you a flexible schedule, and a steady income provided that you know how to navigate the legal, financial, and commercial aspects of the business. What is important is that you will need to research your purchases thoroughly and be willing to hold on to properties for an extended period of time for them to appreciate in price.
21. Interior Designing
There are more and more people looking for guidance in creating functional and aesthetically pleasing homes and workspaces. Choosing the right fixtures, desks, chairs, and lighting can be a challenge for many.
Does decorating excite you? does hunting for interior decoration items sound like something you would like to do for a living? Then why not offer your keen eye for function and aesthetics to help boost productivity and create some great ambiance? You can start by taking courses on interior design at community colleges and major universities.
You could also gain a lot of insight and information about interior design through books and websites. You can even consult catalogs to learn more about current trends and practices.
22. Specialty Cake Baker
By starting your specialty cake bakery, you can create custom cakes for celebrations and special occasions. To start you will need some expertise in regards to baking, and cake making and have all the kitchen equipment needed to produce your cakes and cookies.
You can start your unique bakery from the comfort of your kitchen and if business booms you can opt for starting a commercial kitchen complete with commercial mixers and ovens. When it comes to customers you can start by taking orders from family and friends and selling your produce at local farmers’ markets, online, and at fares. If you are great with your hands and are good at crafts perhaps you can also consider some craft business ideas.
23. Laundromat Business
Let’s face it not everyone has the time or the energy to do their laundry. There is a growing number of people looking for simple and reliable laundry services. To start however you will need to invest in low-cost and large-capacity laundry machines. Typically a laundromat business comes with simple operations and low labor costs as your customers provide much of the labor themselves.
With this business model, your customers pay you upfront for your service, making for a healthy cash flow. And because you require little inventory you won’t have money tied up in unused stock.
You will also need to learn the basics about detergents, fabric softeners, and how to correctly wash clothes without damaging them. Through time you can add on to your services such as folding clothes, full laundry services, and pickup and delivery to generate additional revenues.
24. Translation Service
If you are fluent in more than one language then you can start a translation business where you can translate from one language to another. By providing translation services you help provide a valuable service to businesses needing translation services.
However, to effectively start a translation business you will need to decide on a niche that you are proficient at by specializing in a specific genre of translation, this could be legal, medical, or financial depending on the demand.
25. Transcription Services
A transcription business offers its services by converting audio-recorded memos, notes, and manuscripts into a written or electronic text document. The business helps to serve a wide range of businesses in fields such as journalism, law, medicine, research, and corporate executives.
Equipped with some copyediting and proofreading skills this line of business can be a great way to start generating some steady income by provided that you can deliver the service within a limited period of time. You can start this kind of business with basic equipment such as an earphone and a laptop and test it out as a part-time job before undertaking it as a full-time project.
26. Virtual Assistant
If you have strong organizational skills and can offer administrative, technical, and creative solutions then you should consider being a virtual assistant. As a virtual assistant, you can offer a range of services to businesses acting as remote workers and helping businesses with correspondence, managing schedules, acting as a social media manager, administrative services, business development, social media, marketing, or other tasks.
As a virtual assistant, you can offer these services to both individuals and businesses. This kind of business gives you more flexibility in your day-to-day life, more control over your future and freedom, and earn a supplemental income.
27. Website Hosting Services
In an ever-connected world, many businesses are seeking online solutions to capture more markets and remain competitive. If you have website hosting experience and can write code then you can use your expertise to help them manage and host their website. What is required is that you are good with computers and have an eye for design and web development to start the business.
In today’s digital world, nearly every business needs a website this is where you can help other businesses create the perfect website for their needs. Web hosting offers a great business model and can generate some good profits in the long term. It comes with a recurring payment system as your customers will pay you monthly. Looking for a guide on how to start a website? Check out our article website startup guide.
28. Bed and Breakfast Business
If you happen to live in a popular tourist area and have extra room to let out why not consider a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) business? Typically, a bed and breakfast business offers accommodation, typically owned and operated by a family or small team who also live on site.
The draw of B&Bs is that guests usually expect a homely atmosphere, a sense of individuality, and authentic food and beverage experiences. They are especially popular for weekends away, romantic trips, or special occasions such as traveling for a wedding. To succeed you will need to consider what guests will be traveling to your area and create special packages and themed stays that coincide with their interests in your area.
To further reach out to potential clients you will need to be available in local listings including platforms like Airbnb, and Booking.com.
29. Franchisee
If you are not confident about managing and starting your own business perhaps you could consider entering a franchise business. By being a franchisee, you don’t necessarily need business experience to run a franchise and you are already buying into a successful business model with a clear plan to grow.
Franchisors will usually provide the training, resources, and support you need to operate their business model. As a franchisee, you will, however, need to pay an initial franchise fee to the franchisor for the rights to use their brand in addition to ongoing franchise fees for marketing, royalties, and more.
To begin you will have to do your own due diligence such as seeing if your franchise of choice is available in your area and whether the franchise model would do well in your area. Also, make sure to check for existing versions of any franchise in your area as many franchisees are unlikely to allow multiple franchises in the same market location.
30. Clothing Store
If you have an eye for fashion and love helping people coordinate outfits, you may have considered starting a clothing store. What is important is that you should find a niche that will help you stand out from the competition.
Besides gauging the pulse of the latest fashion trends you will succeed if you also focus on better service and developing a competitive advantage. In addition, having some retail experience could come in handy
31. Bookstore
If you are passionate about books and want to help customers find love in reading books why not be a literary entrepreneur? As a bookstore owner passion and knowledge combined with business acumen are the ingredients to success.
Once you have decided on your location, inventory, and startup capital focus on bringing in the crowds. You will need to attract customers with events, special promotions, and advertising that can feed into your success.
32. Florist
Flower shops are a popular business as they serve a variety of needs, from decorating weddings and funerals to selling arrangements on major holidays and special events. If you have a passion for flowers and plants and know how to serve your target market consider opening a florist business.
You will need to first develop an understanding of the floral industry, and how it works, and capitalize on floral market trends. The floral business comes with various services that include flower care, flower arranging, floral design, merchandising, and flower delivery. Business ideas like these can also go on the road allowing you to generate great revenues by selling them at fairs, online, or farmers’ markets.
Running a flower business can be an excellent business idea once you wrap your head around your pricing, put costs down, and manage your customers. The key to your success is how you package your offerings and bring joy to people’s lives and expand touch points online as well as open side businesses such as floral design and event decoration.
33. Gift store
A gift store can be a lucrative business venture provided that it offers unique items, and personalization and comes with a variety of price points. The market is abundantly clear millions of people buy gifts for friends every year whether for holidays, functions, anniversaries, or special occasions.
Gift shops have no shortage of items to sell and cover an endless range of items including toys, memorabilia, arts and crafts, greeting cards, home décor, and jewelry.
To successfully run your very own gift shop you will need to fine-tune your business against your local competition in addition to online retailers. You must be ready to distinguish yourself and think differently while properly planning and researching your business model. For more insights check out our article on 30 unique business ideas.
34. Tax Return Preparer
Tax preparation isn’t an easy task for everyone. In fact, many businesses every year grapple with their tax returns. If you are a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and have a foundational tax knowledge of taxes perhaps you should consider offering your services and helping others.
Tax preparation is a profitable business and comes with minimal expenses. You can start by first obtaining a Preparer Tax Identification Number with the IRS and completing the registration requirements in your state.
Practically all businesses are required to not only pay taxes but also record their financial dealings, conduct audits, pay bills and manage their finances you can also increase your revenue services by offering bookkeeping and accounting services as well.
35. Videographer
Video content is a much sought-after service for both private and business purposes. Besides being a lucrative business, it allows you to express your creativity and tell stories through the medium of film.
The application for videography not only helps capture memories and important life events but is also a marketing tool for brands to raise their profile.
By starting your own video production company, you can produce the films you want while working flexible hours. If you have storytelling and filmmaking skills, you might be able to start a video production company with the right equipment with limited startup capital. Besides helping businesses with their video projects you can curate your own stock videos and license them out to others.
36. Social Media Influencer
a social media influencer is someone who earns money by influencing the buying habits of others through social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Tiktok. Social media influencers communicate with people who follow them and partner with brands and businesses to help them connect their brands with customers.
Unlike celebrities who gain followers because of their music or movies, social influencers gain followers based on their ability to create specific niche content based on the interests of their followers. They achieve this through a myriad of ways that include sponsored social media posts, offering webinars, becoming brand ambassadors, making appearances in corporate events, affiliate marketing, podcasts, and more.
Social media influencers can have a following of few thousand to millions of followers. the amount of revenue social media influencers earn varies based on their niche, the particular social media platform they use, and their ability to create compelling content. For example, the average minimum price per post of Instagram influencers with 100,000 to one million followers was $185, while the average maximum price was $2,500 in 2022. In fact, the influencer market has grown significantly in recent years rivaling traditional advertising with global brands spending millions on hiring top influencers.
There is no requirement to be an influencer besides being able to create compelling content and having a huge following. Influencers today can be anyone from celebrities to bloggers, fitness trainers, and more. To start on your path to being a social media influencer you will first need to choose a particular network to focus on building your following. once you have achieved this you will need to build a theme around your content, it would be best if choose a theme that you are knowledgeable about so that you can build yourself as an expert. once you are set up make sure to churn out a continuous body of regular content to get your followers engaged and anticipate your posts.
37. Podcasting
Podcasting can be a great way to market yourself and connect with potential customers who are interested in what you have to say. Essentially it combines the instant information exchange of blogging with audio files that can be played on a computer or mobile device. Podcasts are relatively easy to produce and allow people to show off their craft to anyone with an Internet connection. you can easily start generating revenues through ads, sponsored content, and even as an influencer.
In recent times podcasting has garnered immense popularity with podcasts have become the new talk radio on mobile devices. it has become so popular that close to 180 million Americans listen to podcasts, this amounts to a whopping 62% of Americans with most Americans averaging eight podcasts a week.
The value of podcasts is not lost on businesses as it allows them to build their authority, repurpose high-performing content, make deeper connections, and reach new audiences. they are ever more using podcasts for calls to action, use podcast reviews as testimonials, improve conversion rates, and more.
38. Coffee Shop Owner
Coffee is considered one of the most popular drinks in the world with millions of people consuming it daily. People are ever more interested in getting their daily fix in trendy places and socializing over coffee. Besides your love for coffee java, you’ll want to create a community and boost your local coffee culture.
You can continue to grow the business by expanding beyond the standard coffee drinks by offering other drinks and pastries. The success of your coffee shop is hinged on the experience you want to offer, how you market yourself, your interior design, and the quality of your service, and is located in a heavy foot traffic area.
Make sure your offering goes beyond the staple offering of a coffee shop think about gifts, seasonal menus, and an interactive experience. To succeed in this business idea, you’ll need the basic equipment and Barista knowledge.
39. Moving Service
A moving service helps businesses, individuals, or families transport physical goods from an existing location to a new one. It comes with services for packing, loading, moving, unloading, and unpacking helping people and businesses relocate. For your moving business to be successful you will need to have good organizational skills while making sure that cargo is handled without injury or damage to the contents.
To start your moving small business you don’t necessarily need direct experience in the moving business. What is important is that you will need to be a great leader, and have the experience and skill set to oversee and manage fast-paced, service-oriented operations which focuses on excellent customer service. Equally important make sure to treat each one of your customers well as there is no substitute that helps a business grow more than happy customers leaving amazing reviews and telling friends and family.
To get your moving small business idea up and running you will need good insurance, the right permits, manpower, and a moving van. When on the right track you can further grow your moving business by adding complementary services as well. s you can see, there are plenty of ways to capitalize on your interests, skills, and income goals within the moving industry.
There are also plenty of ways that you can specialize by starting a moving company that offers niche services and support to new and existing customers. you can opt to offer packing materials for purchase; offer packing and unboxing services; offer specialized services such as moving large, fragile, or antique cargo; offer temporary storage options; and provide a self-service option that includes trucks, materials, and equipment. This business idea might not generate as many customers as people on average businesses move every four to seven years you can increase your chances of getting clients by putting your business in directories, local listing, networking, and partnering with real estate agents.
40. T-shirt Printing
A T-shirt printing business can start as a side hustle and grow into a full-fledged business. T-shirts are ubiquitous besides being a staple of casual wear they also help to reflect individual personalities, interests, and identities. They also serve various corporate goals such as branding, uniforms, promoting team spirit, marketing, and promotions
You don’t necessarily need any artistic or graphic design skills but having one will increase the chances for your success. This type of business comes with low costs and risks and you can offer T-Shirts to multiple kinds of audiences, from tourists, mom and pop shops to corporations. You can get ahead of the competition by marketing online and start getting printing work done by third-party print service providers.
Like any other printing business t-shirt printing apart from the initial investment is very cheap to run, with costs coming down with proper maintenance of machines- the only recurring cost being ink and other printing material costs. You can start building your client ist by reaching out to your local businesses, charities, sports teams, hospitals, and more. You don’t need to stretch the capacity of your operation by focusing on distributions. you can opt to be solely a t-shirt manufacturer by producing your t-shirts en masse and then selling them to wholesalers. There are plenty of low-cost business ideas with high-profit potential.
How to Choose the Perfect Small Business Idea
If you have your heart set on starting your own business then you probably have got some lucrative business ideas circling in your head. Choosing the right small business idea to start can be challenging. There are many small business ideas that can be profitable. When working on your business idea, you must weigh various factors during the decision-making process, among these include:
Focus on your skills, experience, and passion: It is best that you choose a business that you already are passionate about and know about. Leveraging the skills and experience you already have can help increase your chances of success.
Research Your Small Business: After narrowing down the business ideas you’re passionate about, comes the research stage. At this stage, you will need to research different types of small businesses and get a feel for the effort and dedication they require.
Test your business idea: it is important before launching your business to first test it out. you should be asking questions like: Is there enough demand for the product or service in your market? Can you afford the startup costs? How will you stand out from competitors, and more? Testing your business idea gives you an understanding of whether you are really prepared to execute the business idea.
Identify what you will need to start the business: ask yourself if you have the necessary funds to start a business. Whether you will be doing all or most of the work yourself to keep costs down? Are your personal and business finances in order? Can you outsource some components of your business, do you have enough of a market to sustain your business, is your supply chain strong, etc?
Evaluate business-life fit: one of the reasons to start a small business is to be your own boss and pursue your passion. You will need to make sure that you have a balance between work and family life or risk getting burnt out or succumbing to stress.
Write your business plan: Before investing a significant amount of money and effort in your business idea you will need to craft your business plan. Learning how to write a business plan will help you identify, describe and analyze the business opportunity by probing through technical, economic, and financial feasibility. It not only brings clarity to your entrepreneurial endeavor but also helps to identify your future financial needs and acts as a guide to deciding courses of action.
Find the right financing: finding the seed money to finance your small business ideas can be stressful. This is because some traditional business loans will often require multiple years of business history for loans to get approval. You can source funds from microloans, grants, crowdfunding, or asking friends or family to invest in your business idea. For example, the Small Business Administration (SBA) offers grants for small businesses and advice as well. Equally important is that you keep your business finances separate from your private savings.
Weigh profitability: the financial health and longevity of your business lie in how profitable it is. When selecting a business idea it is important that you factor in profitability. Costs related to your product or service offering should include its necessity, market size, marketing costs, manufacturing costs, retail value, and scale of production. Before going all in you will need to understand your earning potential of your business.
How to Protect an Idea for a Small Business
Very often startups overlook the need to protect their business idea and guarantee ownership of their products and services. A mark of a successful business comes from its uniqueness and the ability to distinguish itself from the competition. Your business idea besides having distinct Unique Selling Points (USPs) and being commercially viable should have legal protection. Depending on your business line, make sure you are legally protected in terms of patents, trademarks, copyright, and intellectual property rights.
Time to Start a Business
The best small business ideas are those that can be started quickly and easily. The best time to start a business is when you know you have clearly identified your target audience, are financially prepared, and you’ve developed a business plan. Testing your product or service will help you identify areas for improvement. In most cases starting a business can take between six months to a year.
What Is the Most Profitable Small Business?
Most profitable business ideas are products of a solid business model, hard work, and determination. Whether you enter a high-growth industry o a niche market there are several online tools and solutions that can help give your business that extra edge in terms of marketing, project management, accounting, and more. when it comes to profitable business ideas focus on a business where there is high demand and unmet supply. For example, food truck businesses are all the craze not only do they allow you more mobility but afford you the ability to tweak your offering for special events, around heavy foot traffic areas, or even during rush hours. if you play your cards right you will be able to grow a healthy client base by offering convenience, great customer service, and competitive pricing.
What Are the Easiest Online Business Ideas to Start?
Virtual assistant jobs and online e-commerce stores are considered some of the easiest online businesses to start. They not only offer easy start-up investments but also let you work on your own hours. Starting an online business is quick, easy, and cost-effective all you need is a laptop and an internet connection. For more insights check out our article business startup checklist.
What Small Business Idea Has the Lowest Startup Costs?
Small business ideas are the best way to start your own business. Despite many people aspiring to become entrepreneurs, many find it difficult to pursue their dream because of the significant costs associated with starting a business. However, there are many low-cost business ideas that one can launch with little or no cash required. Some excellent small business ideas can be straightforward to execute and they help you build an enduring brand. A great business idea can come with little or no startup capital and can include copywriting, virtual assistants, offering online courses, and digital marketing services.
Which business is most profitable for beginners?
In an ever more connected world, people are looking for products that they can get with minimal hassles. For savvy entrepreneurs dropshipping can be an easy, low-cost, business to start. Simply put dropshipping follows a fulfillment model where third-party supplies, stores, and ships the products to customers on your behalf. The perks of running a dropshipping operation are that it comes with low overhead, reduces your risk in terms of handling and storage, and is scalable where you can source products from one or more suppliers into your own online store.
What Businesses Will Grow in 2023?
If you’re looking for small business ideas for 2023, there are many businesses that you can get up and running with a shoestring budget. You might want to explore a business that is online based as it offers little investments and opens you to markets beyond your local area all you need is a special set of skills that you can market, a laptop, and the Internet. Businesses like content marketing, virtual assistants, and digital marketing are highly sought after as business look to expand their markets and engage more with their target audiences.
Elysia Cartlidge is living proof that success will come if you work hard and don’t give up.
As a registered dietician with a full-time corporate job and two small kids, Elysia had a full plate and not much time. But she started her website, Haute & Healthy Living, originally as a hobby. A few years later, when she realized she could monetize it, she shifted her focus to healthy recipes, doubled down on SEO, and worked extremely hard on the weekends and when her kids were napping or sleeping.
Today she has a thriving website earning up to $15k per month.
Keep reading to find out:
Why she started her blog
What happened after she took her first blogging course
How long it took her to join Mediavine
Where her income comes from
How much she works on her site
Her marketing strategies
Her thoughts on SEO and social media
How she approaches keyword research and link building
How she creates content
Her favorite resources and tools
Her biggest challenge
Her greatest accomplishment
Her main mistake
Her advice for other entrepreneurs
Meet Elysia Cartlidge
My name is Elysia, and I’m a wife and mother to two little boys, Leo and Max, who are 5 and 2 ½ years old. I have a Master’s in applied nutrition and have been a registered dietitian for 11 years. I was a retail dietitian for 8 years before making the decision to quit and run my online business full-time in January 2022.
Why She Created Haute and Healthy Living
I decided to create my website Haute & Healthy Living, back in 2015 strictly as a hobby. I had just started my first corporate job as a dietitian and was looking for a creative outlet to work on outside of my day job.
When I first launched my website, it was intended to be a lifestyle blog. I posted about recipes, fitness, home decor, DIY projects, and beauty – pretty much all the things that I loved. I never had any plan to turn my website into a business.
I posted about random topics for about 8 months and then I completely stopped posting on my blog during 2016 and 2017 because I got engaged and was busy with wedding planning. Then shortly after the wedding, I got pregnant and had no energy or desire to blog.
During my maternity leave in 2018 with my first son, I decided to start dipping my toes in the world of blogging again. My mom sent me a link to a course called Elite Blog Academy, and I decided to take the course since I had some time while my baby was sleeping. Through the course, I learned that you could monetize a blog and turn it into a business, which to me was completely mind-blowing!
From that point on, I made it a goal of mine that I would monetize my blog and one day quit my job and blog full-time. My husband, family, and friends were supportive, but I think everyone questioned if you can actually make money from a blog. I made it my personal mission to prove that I could do it.
I niched down to just posting healthier recipes and started implementing some of the strategies from the course. I managed to grow my blog traffic to a point where I qualified for Mediavine a year later, in March 2019.
That was the game changer. Since being with Mediavine, my monthly revenue has continued to grow to the point where I was able to quit my full-time job after my second maternity leave in January 2022.
Although I started out covering a wide range of topics, I now focus on posting easy and healthy recipes for busy families.
How Much Money She’s Making
As I mentioned, every month my blog revenue continues to grow, but it’s currently bringing in about 10-15K per month, depending on the month. I’m on track to make around $130-150k this year.
The majority of my revenue comes from ads, but I do make some money from selling my ebooks (a few hundred dollars per month) and from affiliate marknadsföring as well (around $100/per month).
I will also launch another website in the next couple of months, which I hope to monetize in the next couple of years to help further diversify my income.
Although I launched my website in 2015, I started truly taking it seriously and treating it more like a business in 2018, so it’s taken me about 5 years to reach this revenue level.
I had to work on it very much part-time during this time period since I was also working full-time at my corporate job and tending to two young children.
I pretty much built my business at night when my kids were sleeping, on weekends when I wasn’t working my other job, and during my maternity leaves while my kids were napping or sleeping.
On average, I probably work on my business 35 hours per week, though it varies weekly depending on how much my kids are home with me.
Elysia’s Marketing Strategy
I don’t really have any unique marketing strategy that I’m using. My goal is always to produce high-quality content and to use keyword research to help people find my content. That’s my primary marketing strategy.
I’m always trying to improve my food photography as well, which can help with marketing since people will be more likely to want to try a recipe if it looks good.
Finally, I use Pinterest to help share my content, which also brings in some traffic.
Her Thoughts on SEO and Social Media
SEO is incredibly important for my business since most of my traffic comes from search engines.
Aside from Pinterest (which I outsource), I currently don’t use much social media to grow my website. If you saw my number of followers, you probably would think that my website isn’t very successful since I have less than 5000 followers on Instagram and Facebook combined and don’t even have a TikTok account.
I decided to stop posting on Instagram a little over a year ago and only post on FB when I think of it. I found that social media was a major time suck, the algorithms kept changing, and the ROI wasn’t there. So I switched gears and focused the majority of my time on SEO and developing blog content, and that’s when I started seeing the most growth.
If you compare this January and February to the same time last year, my traffic is up about 80%. The moral of the story is you can still be successful and see growth without having a massive following, so don’t get caught up in the vanity metrics.
Keyword Research
I search for my initial ideas using sökordsforskning to determine which recipes to develop. I implement strategies from Stupid Simple SEO and Cooking with Keywords, two courses I took to help me better understand keyword research.
I try to target lower competition keywords so that people can find my content, rather than going for super competitive keywords, which can be difficult to rank for.
Länkbyggnad
Link building is very important, although I probably haven’t devoted as much time to it as I should, as there aren’t enough hours in the day. I hope that focusing on SEO and getting content to rank in top positions on Google will help organically generate backlinks.
I also provide links to my content in roundup groups that other bloggers can use on their sites if they choose to help with backlinks. Additionally, I use my expertise as an RD to sometimes contribute to publications like Insider, Livestrong, Women’s Health, Eat This, Health, etc., when the opportunity presents itself to help build up authority since these sites have a high DA.
Her Content Creation Process
Currently, I try to post about 2 new recipes and update one old recipe per week. I’d love to do more, but at this point, quality is more important to me than quantity. This amount is what I find to be the most manageable during this busy phase of life with young children.
When it comes to my process, first, I’ll come up with initial recipe ideas by conducting keyword research. Then I’ll select a recipe idea from my list and test it (usually multiple times) and make any necessary tweaks before photographing it, editing the photos, conducting additional keyword research, coming up with a post outline, drafting up the post, and inputting the images.
A lot of work goes into creating each post, so it’s definitely more than just coming up with a recipe and posting it on the blog.
Her Email List
I do have an email list that I email weekly. I mostly grow it by using opt-ins on my site. People who choose to subscribe will be added to my email list.
Elysia’s Favorite Resources
Some of my favorite podcasts are EatBlogTalk, the Blogging Millionaire, and Food Blogger Pro. I also like the TopHatRank webinars for learning about best practices for SEO.
Her Top Tools
I use KeySearch for keyword research and find that it’s affordable without being overly complicated like some of the other tools out there.
I also like Asana for building my content calendar since I can easily move things around.
Finally, I use Excel spreadsheets. I find tracking my content in spreadsheets is the best way to keep track of content ideas and keywords since I’m constantly adding new ideas.
Her Biggest Challenge
The biggest challenge I’ve faced is staying up to date on the latest best practices, the constant fluctuations with algorithms, and the never-ending Google updates.
In the blogging world, things are constantly evolving, so you have to be prepared for a bit of a roller coaster ride.
Her Most Impressive Accomplishment
My most important accomplishment thus far has been building up my business to the point where I could quit my corporate job after my maternity leave and pursue my online business full-time.
This not only allowed more flexibility and time to spend with my children, but it also proved to myself and those around me that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Growing my business to this point was all done while having a full-time job and a very demanding newborn and a toddler. It was not an easy journey, but I feel incredibly blessed knowing that the hard work has paid off and that I now get to wake up every morning and work on something that I’m truly excited about.
What She Wishes She Knew When She Started
I wish I had known that you have to post content that people are searching for. If you fail to do this, chances are people won’t be able to find you, which can definitely slow your growth.
I probably would have been much further ahead if I had known this from the start. But learning and mistakes are all part of the journey!
Her Biggest Mistake
Speaking of mistakes, mine is not focusing on SEO sooner. In the beginning, I posted random recipes that had catchy titles, rather than focusing on what people were actually searching for.
When I started focusing on SEO and meeting my readers’ needs, my business began to grow. I’m still going back now and fixing the mistakes that I made.
Her Advice for Other Entrepreneurs
You can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
The key is showing up consistently and putting the work in.
The difference between those who succeed and those who fail, is the ones who succeed are the people who continue to put the work in even when the odds are against them.
Do more of what’s working and less of what’s not. Through consistency and regularly assessing and refining your strategy, you will eventually find success.
When you work hard on your podcast, it shows. Hours of dedication put into creating well-crafted, interesting content pays off with a fine-tuned product— your very own podcast. A show that listeners discover and keep coming back to week after week. And while having a great show and a growing audience is rewarding, you may want to get the full benefit from your work. We’re talking about a payday.
Whether you’re a bedroom podcaster or a seasoned pro, Acast believes that everyone deserves to find their audience and make money from their craft. So if you’re looking for tools to turn your passion into a side hustle or even a career, we’ve got you covered.
Getting podcasters paid is our business at Acast. We provide creators with the best monetization tools that enable them to find a model that works for both them and their audience. From ads and sponsorship to subscriptions and one-time payments, Acast makes it easy to get paid for doing what you love. We’ve already paid out over $240 million to creators, and they’re all earning in different ways — we put the creator in control.
In this article, we will talk about how to make money podcasting and the different monetization methods available on Acast and beyond. We’ll cover how to get started with ads, sponsorships, and subscriptions, and how you can track your earnings and growth with clear and transparent metrics. As well as touching on additional revenue streams such as merch, live events, and affiliate marknadsföring.
Why and when should I monetize my podcast?
Look, we know that not everyone gets into podcasting to make money. In fact, we don’t encourage people to start a podcast specifically to make a quick buck — it doesn’t work like that, but more on this later. But the beauty of podcasting is that it allows you to turn a passion project into a side hustle that burk earn you money and, if you’re lucky, even develop into a career. If you’re in it for the long haul, you’ll want a strategy when it comes to monetizing your show.
Getting paid will allow you to sustain making episodes. For example, if you have an interview podcast, you can attract more guests by offering a fee for their time. If your podcast involves traveling, you can fund your next trip to produce future episodes. You may decide to hire specialists such as sound designers, social media managers, or a producer, to take your show to the next level and improve the quality of the show going forward.
Having a little extra money in your pocket can pay for essential podcasting equipment and recording gear. Maybe there’s a snazzy new microphone you’ve been coveting, or you want to upgrade your editing software. If you don’t record at home, monetizing can also help pay for regular studio time in a professional podcast studio.
As for when to start monetizing, it’s down to the individual. You can start straight away with ads on platforms like Acast to open up an income stream, and there’s no risk in launching a subscription early on to start developing your offering. Keep in mind there are some limitations on how much revenue you can generate while your audience is limited, but there’s nothing wrong with starting early.
What do I need to start monetizing my podcast?
As we said, we don’t encourage people to start a podcast to make money fast. Podcasting is a medium that takes planning, managing, and a fair bit of hard work to start seeing success—don’t rush to the bank after starting a podcast with one episode.
While there’s no definitive list of things you need to start making money from podcasting, as it can differ from podcast to podcast. Here are the foundations that you should have in place before exploring monetization:
Quality content
When you’re starting out with a new podcast, it’s important to focus on creating the best possible content you can. This all starts with your idea, concept, and format for the podcast. Something that plays to your strengths as a creator, and offers listeners something different that they can’t hear on any other podcast. We love the phrase “Build it, and they will come” because it is so true in podcasting. We’ve got a great guide for how to start a podcast called Aclass Essentials with tons of helpful insights into how to create quality content, which is a great place to start.
Building an audience
Building and sustaining a podcast audience is crucial for monetizing — it’s your audience that advertisers are paying you to reach, or the listeners themselves who will support you financially. Ultimately, it’s a case of steadily growing your podcast and building your audience — keeping listeners tuning in, episode after episode. It’s about making sure that they don’t “dip in”, but rather hit the follow button and keep coming back for future episodes.
It’s all about consistency, which is the fuel for podcast growth. Keep a regular release schedule, and use seasons to give yourself a break. Your listeners are creatures of habit, and podcast listening is habitual behavior, so they’ll appreciate knowing exactly when new episodes are out.
The best and most obvious way of getting an audience to return is simply to ask them. Make sure you always tell listeners their support matters and tell them to follow wherever they get their podcasts — as well as leave a positive review. Point out you’ve got social media accounts they can follow, and that you’d love to hear from them. The relationship between the podcast host and the listener is an unusually close one, so make the most of this bond.
Some podcasters take advantage of other marketing channels to entice returning listeners. This could take the shape of an email newsletter, dropping a reminder of the next episode into listeners’ inboxes. Your podcast should feel like a club, where your most valuable listeners are the ones who keep coming back – the ones who reach out to let you know they’re listening. Let them know you’re listening, too.
Choosing the best podcast monetization platforms
If you’re serious about developing a successful podcast monetization strategy, your best bet is to work with specialized partners in generating revenue for your podcast. These platforms offer tools that do all the heavy lifting for you, so you can focus on doing what you do best — making podcasts. Platforms and tools vary in what they provide; from podcast advertising networks, membership subscriptions, one-off payments, donations, merch, and more.
There are a lot of choices out there, which can leave podcasters feeling overwhelmed about which platforms to choose. That’s why Acast developed its podcast hosting platform to be a one-stop shop for the most effective podcast monetization. Podcasters can access our podcaster advertising network, the ‘Acast Marketplace’, where they can monetize with ads and, once they’re big enough, sponsorships. We also have our industry-leading subscriptions and one-time payments tool ‘Acast+’, which allows podcasters to get paid directly by listeners in return for premium content, ad-free episodes, and much more. You can find out more about these monetization tools below.
How do podcasts make money?
Here we go, your complete guide to the various podcast monetization methods, along with helpful explainers and tips on how to get started.
Podcast advertising och sponsorships
Podcast ads and sponsorships are the bread and butter of podcast monetization. If you’ve ever listened to a podcast, chances are you’ve heard what these sound like. These commercial messages from brands and businesses are what put the most money in podcasters’ pockets and keep podcasts free for listeners.
First, let’s define a few important terms:
Annonser are shorter commercial messages in podcasts, usually, 30-60 seconds in length, that are typically created by the advertiser, brand, or business themselves. These will often feature their own signature voice, tone, or music associated with that brand.
Sponsorships are commercial messages that are direct endorsements of a brand, often read by the podcast creator themself — also known as host-read sponsorship. These are typically longer, around 1-3 minutes in length. As sponsorships are personally created and read by podcasters, this ad format is suitable for podcasts with bigger listenerships.
Dynamic Ad Insertion is a technology that inserts ads and sponsorships into your podcast, which Acast invented all the way back in 2014. Dynamically inserted ads and sponsorships are heard on your podcast episodes at the right time, targeting the right audience, across all of your shows’ episodes. This means that your podcast, no matter how far back in your catalog your listens are taking place, will generate passive income even from episodes published years ago. Neat!
In the majority of cases, it’s recommended that you sign up for a podcast host that’s got a built-in podcast advertising network, like Acast. On Acast’s platform, you have everything you need for podcast creation, publishing, and monetizing — including access to the Acast Marketplace where you can start making money through ads and sponsorship that uses dynamic ad insertion, and manage and track your revenue all from the same place.
Monetizing with Acast means you can make money from advertising no matter what app is used by your podcast listeners, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and any other app that catches your RSS feed.
Acast works with the world’s biggest and best brands, so you don’t have to worry about any dodgy ads. On top of this, we ensure that ads sound right at home on your show by putting you in control of setting criteria for any brands or categories that you don’t feel are right for your listeners. It’s our job to make sure your audience hears the right ad that won’t interfere with their experience.
You also have control of showing us exactly where you want ads to be heard in your episodes, using what is known as ‘Ad Markers’.
Pre-roll markers usually play at the very start of your episode
Post-roll markers usually play toward the end of your episode
Mid-roll markers can be placed in the middle of any episode that is at least 10 minutes long. And want to know a secret? – this tends to be the most lucrative ad spot.
Before an ad plays in your episode, we play our iconic audio logo (the Acast North Star) to let your listeners know the difference between your show and the ads.
Once ads are in your episodes, it’s time to get paid. The amount of money you earn depends on the number of listens, your show category, how brand-safe your content is, and a few other factors. Crucially, ad revenue is dependent on CPM (Cost Per Mille), which is a fancy way to say the cost-per-thousand impressions (listens) from your listeners. This can range between advertisers, but typically falls between $5-50 per CPM. Once you’ve reached a certain monthly threshold (for example, $50 in the US), you’ll receive simple steps to tell us where to send your money. You can also track your earnings through the dashboard with our transparent metrics.
As your podcast grows and you get bigger, you may find that advertisers want to hear from you directly, in your voice. These are podcast sponsorships, and Acast can help connect you with sponsors. Sponsorships are podcast host recorded endorsements of a product or brand read aloud by the podcast creator. Podcasts allow you to fully take control of advertising in your own style. In fact, it’s that personal connection between you and the listener that our advertisers want to tap into. Eligibility for the sponsorship on Acast starts at 500 listens per week, but sponsorship campaigns are managed on a case-by-case basis through our dedicated podcast sales team.
Of course, there’s the option of going it alone and pitching potential sponsors yourself for your podcast. Before you reach out, you’ll need to have some numbers ready. Advertisers will want to know how many downloads or listens your podcast gets, and therefore how many impressions their ad is likely to get. In other words, how many people are likely to hear it. You should also be prepared to talk in detail about who your listeners are, and why they’d be interested in the sponsor. For most podcasters, this is very time-consuming and difficult to manage whilst doing everything else it takes to create a podcast. And keep in mind, if you have your own baked-in ads you are not eligible for sponsorship opportunities from Acast.
Podcastsubscriptions, memberships, och premium content
Working with brands isn’t the only route for making money in podcasting, increasingly a lot of creators are supported directly by their listeners through subscriptions or memberships, as well as one-off payments for premium content. And you may not need masses of listeners to make this work – you just need them to be really into what you’re doing.
It’s a bit of a different approach to advertising – one that relies on building a loyal audience base before it can be truly sustainable. But when it works it can be so effective in creating revenue that grows alongside your show’s popularity and helps you build a strong, two-way relationship with the people who are investing in you.
There are a few platforms out there for podcast subscriptions, such as Supercast and Patreon—which Acast has integration with. Acast also has its own supercharged subscription tool called Acast+, which is included in its hosting platform. Think of Acast+ as the ultimate podcast membership club, all available through the same platform you host and publicera your podcast.
Podcast subscriptions and premium content are a way to offer listeners all sorts of benefits or perks in return for a monthly fee, or one-time payment. Essentially you’re creating a paywall for exclusive content. Acast+ subscriptions work across pretty much every listening app including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, and many others. This means a super seamless experience for your listeners. No changing apps or even feeds to access their Acast+ benefits.
Let’s look first at monthly subscribers—that is, listeners who pay a monthly subscription fee, set by you to access benefits. On average, we’ve seen that around 2-5% of audiences could become paying subscribers using Acast+. Shows that promote frequently and persistently can see upwards of 7-10%. This process can take a while – podcasts are slow-burning experiences built on trust and faith so don’t be disheartened if things take a while to ramp up. Persevere, focus on your show, and the subscribers will come in time.
You’ll need to work out what you can offer your listeners in return for their subscription. You can set up a range of tiers for different amounts of money and assign perks to each. Benefits that you can offer through Acast+ include:
Ad-free episodes: Acast can automatically remove ads from episodes for paying listeners.
Bonus episodes: Exclusive podcast content for the people who love it most.
Early access: Get episodes to your superfans before anyone else can listen.
Access to archive: Holding back your archive is a great way of turning new listeners into paying subscribers
You can also customize these tiers to fit with the themes and stories of your show. Take a look at some of Acast’s popular podcasts that are using Acast+, including WTF With Marc Maron, Sh**ged, Married, Annoyed, och Owning It.
Acast+ brings all the tools you need to convert your audience to membership, including a dynamically-inserted intro message added to your regular episodes, explaining what your subscription is and how to subscribe. And cleverly, you can make sure these messages aren’t served to any existing subscribers. You can also put a custom call-to-action in your show notes so people can easily click straight through to your subscription offering.
You can also test your listeners’ appetite for subscriptions with one-time payments for special episodes, bonus content, or bundles of episodes in one go. This can be a really great, low-stakes way of bringing them closer to your show without the pressure of ongoing payments. You’re also not limited to podcasts. Audio content like audiobooks, stand-up sets, live recordings, and more can all be delivered to your audience through Acast+.
You don’t just make money with Podcast subscriptions, they’re also a great way of building an email list—which you can use to build a closer relationship with your biggest fans.
Podcast subscriptions work because they are a great example of what makes podcasts so special. It’s about you, it’s about what you love and connecting you with the people who love what you do.
Affiliate programs
Affiliate programs allow you to earn commission by promoting a business’s products or services. When your listeners use your affiliate link to make a purchase, you earn a percentage of the sale. Here are some steps to help you make money in podcasting using affiliate programs:
Choose a niche: Identify a specific niche that your podcast caters to. For example, if you host a podcast about personal finance, you can promote affiliate products related to finance and investments.
Find affiliate programs: Research and find affiliate programs that align with your niche. There are several affiliate networks available, such as Amazon Associates, ShareASale, and Commission Junction. Acast also has its own affiliate program.
Select products: Choose products or services that you genuinely believe in or have used yourself. It is crucial to promote high-quality products that will provide value to your listeners.
Promote products on your podcast: Once you have selected the products, you can promote them on your podcast by creating engaging ad spots. You can also add links to the show notes or your podcast website.
Track your earnings: Keep track of your earnings from affiliate marketing to determine the effectiveness of your efforts. This will help you make adjustments to your strategy and optimize your earnings.
Acast has its very own affiliate program, which can earn you a 30% recurring commission every month for each podcast customer you refer to Acast who signs up for one of our paid-for plans. This is perfect for podcasters as you’re already speaking to people interested in the medium, and can talk from experience about the joys of podcasting.
Additional ways to monetize your podcast
Donations and crowdfunding
Similar to one-time payments, there are tools to request one-off donations from your listeners to support the podcast. People often phrase this to their listeners as helping them buy a cup of coffee, a beer, or an in-joke related to their podcast. You can do this through Acast+ easily by creating a one-time payment tier and customizing the message.
Crowdfunding is a slightly different approach than a donation, but still involves your fans contributing to support the podcast. Usually, creators will launch a crowdfunding campaign to launch a new podcast or series, using platforms like Kickstarter—which has a whole section dedicated to funding podcast projects. For example, James Acaster, co-host of Off Menu, funded a new podcast using Kickstarter.
Merch
Another way to earn money directly from your diehard fans is by selling merchandise. This is a great way to put money in the bank but also to build a community with your audience around your podcast — like a real fan club. Using e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Everpress or specialist merch platforms like Spring, you can create branded t-shirts, mugs, hats, or even books or an online course that ties in with the topic of your show.
Live events, live streams, and gigs
In-person live events and live streams offer podcasters the opportunity to connect with their audience in a more intimate way. The relationship between podcasters and listeners is unlike any other medium, so many fans want to be able to interact with their favorite podcasters. You can run events such as live Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes looks at your show, and even exclusive interviews with your guests. And the best part? You can charge your audience to access these events.
To get started, you’ll need to choose a platform to host your live events and live streams. There are plenty of options out there, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and Zoom. You’ll also want to promote your event through your podcast, social media, and email list to get as many people to attend as possible.
And here’s an idea, why not try using one-time payments on Acast+ to sell tickets to your live events?
Sammanfattning
There you have it, a comprehensive look at all the different ways to earn money through podcasting. Monetizing is just one aspect of podcasting, but an important one if you’re looking to turn your passion into a profitable venture. From ads and sponsorships to merchandise and subscriptions, there is a monetization strategy that can work for you and your audience. At Acast, we offer a variety of tools and features to help you monetize your podcast on your own terms. Get started by signing up or switching to Acast today.
Hearst Newspapers medverkar i olika affiliate marknadsföring programs, which means we may earn a commission when you purchase products featured in this content or purchase from vendors featured here. Our professional curators independently research and recommend products and services, with no newsroom involvement. Merchants can pay for a sponsored listing and may choose to rewrite their summary. When that happens, we label the listing as “Sponsored” and highlight it in grey to differentiate the merchant-provided content from our writing.
If you are one of the countless people out there that have trouble sleeping at night, then you are not alone. Sleeplessness and insomnia are very common problems that keep so many of us up at night.
Sure, expensive and potentially dangerous sleeping pills are one option. However, another much more natural and cost-effective way to help you sleep at night is CBD, particularly a good CBD tincture.
In case you don’t know what a CBD tincture is, no worries, because this is just one of the things we will explain today. We will also talk about how CBD tincture can help you sleep, what some of the other potential benefits are, the pros and cons, and more.
However, the main point of today is to provide you with a top ten list of the best CBD tinctures for sleep that the market has to offer. Let’s get to it and help you finally get that good night’s sleep you need.
Nyckel takeaways
CBD tincture and CBD oil are two different things.
CBD tincture can help you sleep through a variety of means.
Anywhere between 25 and 160 mg of CBD is recommended for sleep.
When choosing a CBD tincture, pay attention to the brand, potency, possible additional cannabinoids, the brand, third-party testing, and purity.
A Quick Look at the Best Broad Spectrum CBD Brands
Here’s a quick look at the top ten best CBD tinctures for sleep.
ACBD tincture is a very special type of extract based on CBD or cannabidiol. This is an alcohol-based extract where extremely high-proof alcohol functions as a solvent to extract the natural compounds from the hemp plant, which in this case is CBD.
This method of extracting CBD from the plant matter is ideal because it helps to protect against oxidization and also preserves cannabinoids and terpenes. This results in a very potent concentrate or extract, but it can often have a bitter flavor.
To help mask some of this bitter flavor, these tinctures are often mixed with various additional ingredients, such as flavoring, sweeteners, herbal extracts, and more. Do not confuse a CBD tincture with CBD oil, as these are two different things, as we will cover below. Check out this guide if you want to make your own CBD tincture.
How CBD Tincture Works for Sleep
CBD tincture can help you get a good night’s sleep in more ways than one. Here are some of the potential benefits of a CBD tincture in direct relation to sleep.
Many people believe CBD affects the human body’s production of cortisol. Cortisol is created when you are stressed out, and this actually keeps you in that stressful state for longer. Cortisol keeps you alert. However, it is thought that CBD may have the ability to reduce cortisol production, therefore helping to reduce stress. This may make it easier for you to sleep because you aren’t as stressed out and alert.
CBD may also help you get a good night’s sleep by acting as a potential mood regulator. CBD may be able to increase the brain’s production of dopamine and serotonin, so-called feel-good chemicals. These chemicals help to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression, plus they just make you feel a lot better, happier, and calmer. In other words, CBD may be able to help balance your mental state, so you feel calmer and therefore better able to sleep.
Another way in which CBD may be able to help you sleep at night is by potentially relieving pain and inflammation. Many people believe CBD to be both an anti-inflammatory and an analgesic, which could therefore help you sleep better at night by relieving some of your chronic pains.
Potential Benefits of CBD Tincture
What is interesting to note is that all of the potential benefits of CBD tincture, or at least most of them, are in some way related to how it can help you sleep.
Three of the biggest potential benefits are the exact ones that we mentioned above, which are the ability to help regulate your mood and reduce anxious thoughts, to help relieve pain and inflammation, and to help reduce stress levels.
These potential benefits of CBD are freestanding and beneficial in their own rights, not just in relation to helping you sleep better at night.
It is also believed that CBD may be able to help regulate insulin-related hormone levels and blood sugar levels, it may be able to help protect against neurological diseases, it may assist with the treatment of opioid addictions, and more.
However, by far the three biggest benefits that people can reap from it in their everyday lives are those three that we discussed in the above section, which is particularly true in relation to sleep.
Pros & Cons of CBD Tincture
Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons of CBD tinctures, particularly in relation to assisting you in your quest to get a good night’s sleep.
Pros
With a CBD tincture, you are ingesting something as opposed to inhaling it. This means that, unlike smoking or vaping, there are no risks posed to your lungs.
A good CBD tincture will be accurately labeled, which means that dosing is made easy, so you know exactly how much CBD you are getting.
Ingesting CBD makes sure that you get the most bang for your buck, unlike smoking or vaping, where a lot of it may be wasted if improperly used.
CBD tincture does of course have many potential benefits, including helping you sleep better at night and much more.
CBD, when ingested, may also be able to help regulate your gastrointestinal or digestive system.
Taking a CBD tincture is extremely fast and easy.
Cons
Many CBD tinctures are known to be quite bitter and to not taste very good.
Some people may be sensitive to the CBD tincture and various ingredients contained in it, which may at times result in an upset stomach.
When ingested, your body doesn’t absorb all of the CBD. To make sure that your body absorbs as much CBD as possible, you should first eat a fatty meal.
CBD tinctures and edibles of all sorts can take anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes to kick in, so there is a bit of a waiting period. Furthermore, technically speaking, this is the kind of thing that is more like a multivitamin than a one-shot dose. If you expect to get the best sleep aid results from a CBD tincture, you should take it regularly on a daily basis, not just once.
How Much CBD Tincture Should You Take For Sleep?
How much CBD tincture you take for sleep depends on a variety of factors. First and foremost, your size, weight, and metabolism play a big role. The bigger you are and the faster your metabolism is, the more you will need. Furthermore, it also depends on how severe your sleeplessness is.
For basic or mild cases, anywhere between 25 milligrams and 40 milligrams of CBD tincture should be fine. However, for more severe cases, between 40 milligrams and 100 milligrams is recommended. If you have severe problems sleeping and have somewhat of a tolerance to CBD, you could take up to 160 milligrams of CBD per serving.
CBD Tincture vs Oil
As mentioned above, CBD tincture and CBD oil are not the same things. A CBD tincture is made by extracting the CBD from the plant matter using high-proof alcohol. The CBD tincture itself may then also contain high-proof alcohol, glycerin or vegetable oil, flavorings, CBD, and more.
On the other hand, CBD oil is exactly that, only CBD and oil, and usually nothing else. CBD is usually a mixture of ACDC extract with an inert carrier oil. CBD tinctures tend to be better for ingestion than CBD oils, whereas the oils are usually better for topical application.
Furthermore, the oils and the tinctures generally don’t taste very good, but tinctures are often mixed with added flavors to help cut down on the bitterness. However, both are still made with CBD, which is of course the most important part. Here’s a guide onhow to use CBD oil.
Bästa CBD-tinkturen för sömn
Let’s now take a look at the top ten options for the best CBD tincture for sleep.
The Otter Space Tincture is made with 1000 milligrams of full-spectrum CBD. Here, you also get a dropper for easy dosage, with each dropper containing 33 milligrams of CBD, as well as other minor cannabinoids.
This product is made with high-quality ingredients, mainly just with purified hemp extracts and some carrier oils. We do like this tincture because it is totally vegan.
Furthermore, it is also free of pesticides, all of the ingredients are natural, the hemp is grown in the USA, and this tincture has been third-party tested for reliability, accuracy, and compliance with the farm bill.
Here we have a CBD tincture made out of live resin, and it also contains a little bit of THC. Here, you get a total of 1500 milligrams of CBD or 50 milligrams per serving. There is a dropper included, so dosing is made easy.
Each serving does also contain 2 milligrams of THC, so this product may be very slightly psychoactive. As for the flavor, here you should taste earthiness, lemon, and sour apple. This product has been third-party tested to ensure that it complies with the 2018 Farm Bill and to ensure that it is pure and reliable.
Pros
Ideal dosage for most people
Flavor is pretty good
Third-party tested
Quality ingredients
Ideal for people who want something slightly psychoactive
Here we have a CBD tincture made with high-quality ingredients, just a few carrier oils and the CBD extract. You can choose from a 1000-milligram and a 3000-milligram option. It comes with a dropper for easy dosing, with each dropper containing either 33 or 100 mg of CBD, respectively.
This product does not contain any genetically modified organisms, the hemp is 100% organic and grown in Wisconsin, and the tincture has been third-party tested for purity and reliability. It is also infused with a terpene blend to give it a bit of a taste. It’s quite potent, so you don’t need a lot of it.
This brand actually has a variety of CBD oils, with the main difference between them being the flavor. There are five different flavors to choose from, including natural, citrus, mint, berry, and vanilla.
You can also choose from four different potencies, including 300, 600, 1200, and 2400 milligrams. Each bottle also comes with a dropper for accurate and easy dosing.
The hemp used here is totally organic and farmed in Colorado, plus it is free of pesticides and GMOs. Yes, this product has also been third-party tested for reliability.
This Dragon Hemp Tincture comes complete with 1200 milligrams of high-quality full-spectrum CBD hemp extract. You get a dropper for easy dosing, with each dropper containing 40 milligrams of CBD. 40 milligrams might not seem like much but it is rather ideal for beginners.
What stands out about this tincture is that the hemp is organically grown, the tincture is 100% vegan, and it has been subjected to third-party lab testing.
This is absolutely one of the purest and most natural CBD tinctures out there at this time. What is interesting to note is that it also contains myrrh, frankincense, turmeric, and corydalis. Together, these ingredients can shave anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and sleep-promoting benefits.
Pros
Third-party tested
Ideal dosage for beginners
Trustworthy and natural
Very high-quality ingredients
Great for sleep, pain, and more
Cons
Contains additional ingredients that some may not like (myrrh, turmeric, and others)
This CBD FX Sleep Tincture comes in three different options, including a 1000, 2000, and a 4000-milligram bottle. Yes, it comes complete with a dropper so you can easily dose yourself.
Exactly how much CBD each dropper contains will depend on the option you choose as mentioned above. What is important to note is that this product also contains CBN, not just CBD.
Together, CBN and CBD should provide you with increased sleep aid benefits. Keep in mind that this product has been third-party tested to ensure that it is totally legal and reliable. It also features a terpene complex, so the taste is rather enjoyable too.
Pros
Three potency options to choose from
Taste is pretty decent
Third-party tested
Kostnadseffektiv
Contains CBD for added benefits
Cons
Ingredient list is a bit longer than we usually like
TheraOne CBD Tincture contains 1000 milligrams of full-spectrum CBD, so it should help you sleep. It also comes with chamomile oil, lemon balm oil, and valerian root, all of which are also known to aid in sleep.
Furthermore, this product is certified USDA organic, it is non-GMO, it is cruelty-free, vegan, and made in Colorado. This product has also been third-party tested for reliability and complies with the 2018 Farm Bill.
This tincture does come complete with a dropper, so dosing is made easy. As far as quality is concerned, this is by far one of the best products on the list, but it’s not going to come cheap.
The Limitless CBD Tincture comes in a variety of flavors including natural, lemon, orange, and peppermint. It also comes in varying potencies ranging from 500 to 2500 milligrams. You might like how this tincture is infused with terpenes to provide you with some extra benefits and flavor.
The bottle comes complete with a labeled dropper, so you can easily determine dosage for yourself. This tincture has been third-party tested to ensure that it is both legal and reliable. All of these tinctures are made with natural and organic refined hemp seed oil.
Something you might like here is that this product comes in a variety of flavors including peppermint, strawberry, natural, and more. Each bottle comes infused with 2500 milligrams of high-quality CBD. There is also a 1000-milligram option available.
Each bottle comes with a dropper for easy dosage. What is important to note is that this is actually one of the most cost-effective products on our list today.
All products from this brand name are third-party tested for reliability and purity. Furthermore, all products from this brand are made in the USA in an FDA-approved facility. We like how the ingredient list on these tinctures is very short, just three!
This CBD tincture also features CBN, both of which work together to provide you with great sleep benefits. Each bottle contains 150 milligrams of CBN and 450 milligrams of CBD, with each serving having 5 milligrams of CBN and 15 milligrams of CBD.
As far as potency goes, this is one of the least potent products on our list today. We do like how it contains CBN, as it should help you get a good night’s sleep.
Furthermore, all of the ingredients here are natural, the product has been third-party tested, and made in the USA. We do have to say that this tincture is very high-quality, but based on the potency, it is rather expensive.
Pros
High-quality ingredients
Third-party tested
Contains CBD – added sleep benefits
Non-GMO
Easy to dose
Cons
Comparatively expensive
How We Made Our Top Choices for the Best CBD Tincture for Sleep
Before we call it a day, we do just want to inform you exactly how we made our top choices for the best CBD tinctures. There are a few important factors that we always pay attention to whenever recommending such products.
Ingredients
One of the main considerations here is what ingredients the product in question contains. We always look for products that contain minimal ingredients. We really just want to see CBD extract, carrier oils, and maybe some terpenes.
Potency
The next most important consideration is how potent the product in question is. Some may only contain 100 or 200 milligrams of CBD, whereas others may contain thousands. We did our best today to choose products with varying potencies, in order to find something for everyone. Some people may need a lot, whereas others may just need a little, so having CBD tinctures of varying strengths is important.
Additional Cannabinoids
Our main focus for today was to show you tinctures that have just CBD. However, there are plenty of tinctures out there that contain many other cannabinoids, not just CBD. So, if you are looking for a combination of effects, this is something to pay attention to. However, for today’s purposes, we focused specifically on CBD.
Third-Party Testing for Reliability and Purity
One of the most important considerations that we always keep in mind when recommending any sort of product is third-party testing. We always want to know that the product has been third-party tested to ensure that it is compliant with the 2018 Farm Bill in the terms of Delta-9 THC contents. We also want to know that the products we recommend are free of toxins and chemicals of all kinds.
The Brand
The brand name in question is also something that we always look at. Simply put, some brands are better than others. We always look for brand names that are extremely reputable and transparent. We always look for brands that have good reviews from customers. We also try to ensure that the products themselves have good reviews too.
Flavor
Although CBD tinctures generally just don’t taste good, we tried our best to find ones that are enjoyable for your tastebuds.
Cost and Shipping
Although the quality of the product is always our main focus, we don’t want to recommend products to you that are going to empty your bank. Therefore, we do try to choose products that are fairly cost-effective. While there might be more expensive ones on our list, we always try to review at least a couple of products that are very budget-friendly.
Conclusions & Final Thoughts
The bottom line here is that a good CBD tincture may help you get the rest that you need and deserve. The only thing for you to do now is to choose the CBD tincture that sounds ideal to you. Furthermore, if you are going to venture out on your own, remember to keep the above points in mind. Pay attention to things like third-party testing, purity, ingredients, cost, and more.
Hearst Newspapers participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may earn a commission when you click links in this content. Our professional curators independently research and recommend products and services, with no newsroom involvement. Merchants can pay for a sponsored listing and may choose to rewrite their summary. When that happens, we label the listing as “Sponsored” and highlight it in grey to differentiate the merchant-provided content from our writing.
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