20 business ideas that can replace a $100k salary

Dear starters,

Pat Walls here, creator of Starter Story.

As you know, every Thursday I send you an email highlighting the best case studies that we've published on our platform. This is a bite-sized summary of the most interesting experiences that starters have shared with us.

I hope you enjoy it!

And remember that as a newsletter subscriber, you are eligible for a very special deal to enjoy unlimited access to our Ideas database. Join us now and get Starter Story Premium for $79/year, a 45% discount from our regular price. That’s just $1.71 per week, an absolute no brainer investment in your business.

20 business ideas that can replace a $100k salary

If you're just in the getting started phase, and want some inspiration - we put together a list of the most inspirational stories that are making at least $100k/year.

These businesses have grown because of their unique ideas and approach to launching and marketing - each story is worth a read to inspire you for your own business as they all talk about:

• How they came up with their idea
• Finding/sourcing/building the product
• Their approach to launching
• How they've grown the business

A CRM just for photographers makes $1.8M/Year?

Don’t be scared of making something that is not for everyone, serving a niche better than everybody else always pays off.

These guys have focused on photographers and that has helped them achieve crazy growth and profitability. And it's all centered around just two simple marketing strategies. Read to find out which ones.

Also, check these case studies of apps that do just one thing and they’re killing it:

• Organizing bachelorette parties ($6M/year)
• A timer to stay focused ($66K/year in profit)
• Read the Bible (1 million users)

💰 Start your own business today

Learn from real people sharing real stories. The struggles, the wins, the good and the bad. 

How do people get inspired and find great business opportunities? How do they get their 10 first clients? What challenges do they face at every stage and how to overcome them?

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From $500 in the bank to $720K/year

George and Dan started their business with just $500. That’s one of the main benefits of starting an agency, you can start with very little money in the bank and it’s easy to get paid quickly.

Why have these guys done so well? Niching down and doing just marketing for startups. One of the mistakes you can easily make when starting an agency is to offer everything because you’re afraid to lose a potential client. 

You can focus on SEO, growth, ecommerce, PPC, or Zapier. These stories will show you how it’s possible to succeed by picking a niche and dominating it:

• Local SEO for attorneys ($10M/month)
• Content for B2B companies ($360K/year)
• PPC agency ($30K/month)

This mom of 3 kids grew a side hustle to $588K/year

Gina was looking for a potential career change and started a Virtual Assistant business on the side of her full-time job to “test the waters”.

She did so well that she started to teach others and the business has taken off since. And that’s my main takeaway from this story. If you do something for some time, you probably can make more money teaching that to others than working on it. According to research, the global E-Learning Market is expected to reach $374.3 Billion by 2026.

We’ve featured many people with prosperous businesses in the space of online courses, check out some of my favorites, you can truly teach anything online:

• Construction inspectors certifications ($125K/month)
• Microsoft Excel ($10K/month)
• Audiobook publishing ($120K/month)
• Facebook marketing ($4K/month)
• Animal behavior ($1M/month)

Trending articles this week

1. Beyoncé recommended my $120K/year skincare brand

2. We grew to $480K/year through giveaways & brand collaborations

3. I built a $744K/year online cookbook creator

4. Reaching 100M visitors to my subscription service provider comparison website

5. I built a business around mental health & grew it to $1.8M/year

6. Helping people in 70 countries exercise and live a healthier life through our app

7. I've developed a tool to create ecommerce sites without writing a single line of code

8. We’re building a Square for India and reached 12M ARR

9. I make $8K/month with a tool to create better youtube ads campaigns

10. I created a tool to stop paying subscriptions after free trials end

Looking for a job, or some work on the side?

Get your feet wet before you take the plunge into founder life.

Many of the companies we interview are hiring in operations, design, marketing, engineering, and more...

Check out our jobs portal for all new opportunities - new jobs are added every day!

Thanks for reading!

Pat

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I really appreciate you sharing and spreading the word. It really means a lot!

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