Quit Your 9-5! Top Business Ideas To Replace Your Salary
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I want to show you how it’s possible to quit your 9-5 and replace your salary by earning online from home. I know it’s possible for you, because I did it, without any special qualifications, savings or safety net.
Quitting the workforce to earn online changed my life for the better in more ways than I could have ever dreamed.
Picture this: the relentless buzz of the alarm clock, the monotonous commute, the endless pile of tasks. Ugh, people crunching food at their desks making you want to scream. Having to wear scratchy office attire?!!
Now, imagine a different scene. You’re setting your own schedule, chasing your passions, and watching your bank account grow — all on your own terms.
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If the latter scenario sounds like a distant dream, it’s time to bring it into focus. In this very special guide “How To Quit Your 9-5 This Year: Top Business Ideas To Replace Your Salary” you’re getting a blueprint to a new way of living.
Quit Your 9-5! Top Online Business Ideas To Replace Your Salary
Gone are the days when job security and satisfaction were synonymous with clocking in and out of an office. The world has pivoted, and with it, the possibilities for carving out your own professional path have exploded like a supernova of opportunity.
You might be thinking, “Sure, but where do I even start?” That’s the exhilarating part. I’m not just going to throw a list of trendy business ideas at you.
Instead, I’ll guide you through a process of discovery and planning that aligns with who you are and what you truly want out of life.
This is about escaping the workforce, but it isn’t about escaping work. More so, it’s about reshaping work into something that brings you not just a paycheck, but genuine joy and fulfillment.
Here are some top business concepts that could very well be your ticket to a 9-5 escape:
The Hottest Business Ideas and Income Streams to Quit Your 9-5
1. Buy An Established Website And Hold It For Passive Revenue, Or Flip It For Profit
Website investing (aka website flipping) is when you buy an established website, and sell it for a profit. It’s my #1 favorite way to earn money online, and one of the best business ideas to get into, in my opinion.
You can buy websites that earn from ad revenue, digital products, affiliate marketing, SAAS, and ecommerce. Niche Investor is a marketplace for buying and selling websites, where you can find quality sites for all budgets.
You can even buy and sell starter sites that are pre-revenue. Pay a little more to get a site that is already earning or a little less for a starter site. But you’ll stand to make a bigger profit with established ones.
Buying an established website at Niche Investor gives you a way in where all the work building the site, researching profitable keywords, creating content and even ranking the site has already been done or started.
Your sales abilities will determine how much you make flipping your chosen site.
Learn more about website investing here <– includes a list of the best places to find websites to buy!
2. Monetize Your Social Media
Social media – especially TikTok has become a powerful tool for creators to build massive communities, launch products and generate income.
If you are a US citizen with an engaged following, you may be eligible to participate in TikTok’s Creator Fund, where you can earn revenue from the videos you post.
But even if you aren’t eligible for the in-app creator program, you can still monetize your TikTok and other socials! I’m Canadian, so I’m not able to participate in the creator fund, yet I have been earning from my social media for many years, simply by recommending my own products, affiliate products and brand sponsor deals.
Learn more about becoming a TikTok creator.
3. Affiliate Marketing
If you’re looking to quit your 9-5 and replace your salary, affiliate marketing is definitely the business idea to start.
Affiliate marketing is a simple business model to set up, with or without a website.
It’s what I focused on first when I quit my job, and within 2 months I had replaced my salary via affiliate income. A year later I had some $40k months, which was more than I was making per YEAR at my old job.
However, affiliate income will be variable. Some months you will have higher conversions than others. You never really know exactly how many sales you will have!
To illustrate this, here’s a screenshot of some of my affiliate income from one of the platforms I use:
As you can see, my conversions with this product are up and down. Some months last year I saw over $3,000 in affiliate commission from it, while other months had little sales.
But this was only one platform, I am partnered with many brands on different platforms, promoting all sorts of products. So there is always income coming in from somewhere. It pays to diversify!
While affiliate commissions may take a while to come in, once you gain the right audience you can make a lucrative income.
Many successful affiliate marketers make 5-6 figures monthly, just from affiliate earnings! I know it’s hard to believe when you haven’t done it yourself yet, so I don’t blame you if it sounds weird. But it’s a very practical model.
- You partner with a brand that gives you an affiliate link
- You recommend the brand’s product to your audience
- When someone uses your affiliate link to buy the product you get a commission from the sale
Commissions can range from a few percent right up to 100% of the sale!
You can find affiliate products to promote on these established and trustworthy platforms.
You can start affiliate marketing with a blog or even without a blog. Pinterest now allows you to add affiliate links directly onto your pins. Learn how to start affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a blog.
4. Sell Online Courses
There are many avenues you can take to create and sell your own online course. Platforms like Podia and Thrivecart are fantastic course-selling tools.
If you want to sell your course on a marketplace, Udemy is a great way to go. It’s an established learning platform with millions of online courses for sale.
Many of these courses were made by ordinary people, with no formal education as a teacher. This is the beauty of Udemy – anyone can share their unique skills with the world and make money.
Some popular and trending course topics on Udemy are;
- Guitar
- Watercolor painting
- Blockchain
- Language progression
- Algorithms
- Making money online
- De-cluttering
- Public speaking
So you can see, there’s something for everyone on Udemy. Whatever random skill you have, you could create a course on Udemy to share with the world. Check here how to become an instructor with Udemy.
You’ll need this class: Sales Funnel Solved to learn how to package your course so it can sell on autopilot. You’ll learn how to gain freedom with your offers, validate ideas, launch your course and promote it.
5. Start a Niche YouTube Channel
Video content is increasing in popularity every year. And, YouTube is a giant in the video world and ranks as the second-largest search engine on the internet.
Anyone can start a YouTube channel for free, build up an audience and make income.
If you want to quit your 9-5 this year, starting a YouTube channel is a great option. But, you might be thinking it’s only people with huge social followings that do well, or maybe people who are great speakers on camera?
This is simply not true. You can even create videos without showing your face! Starting a “faceless Youtube channel” is a hot business idea this year.
So go start yourself a niche channel and work on getting subscribers and views. Once you get enough, you can qualify for YouTube’s ad revenue. But you can make money before that too, simply promote relevant products in your videos and in the description.
Related reading: How To Make Money Affiliate Marketing on YouTube.
6. Sell Products in an Etsy Store
This business idea is perfect for selling just about anything. Whether it be physical products or digital products!
Products that sell well on Etsy are t-shirts, jewelry, digital downloads, home décor, vintage clothing, prints and crafts.
If you are creative, sell your own products or you can source products from marketplaces like Aliexpress. It’s also pretty simple to create digital downloads for free in Canva.
Once you’ve created your products, set up your store and promote them across social media. Once you get those first few sales, you’ll see which products are popular and which aren’t working.
If you need more help making passive income with an Etsy store, check out these recommended courses.
- Etsy 101: Set Up a Shop and Promote it on Social Media. Taught by Course Envy, here you’ll learn how to quit your 9-5 and get financial freedom with an Etsy store.
- Learn How to Build a Successful Etsy Shop. This course is ideal for beginners breaking down every aspect of starting and running an Etsy store.
7. Write and Publish an EBook
With the rise in self-publishing, anyone can become a successful author and make passive income from their own eBook.
No need to go through the agony of rejection with publishers and spending lots of money getting your book published.
Now it’s possible to write a niche eBook in 30 days and sell it on platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing, PayHip Publisher, Lulu, Smashwords, BookTango and many more.
It’s important to do your research to see what kinds of eBooks are selling. If you have a blog already, you could even put the information from your most popular blog posts into an eBook.
Tom Corson-Knowles is a bestselling author, blogger and entrepreneur who makes passive income every month from selling his books. He’s created his own course How to Become a Bestselling Author on Amazon Kindle which explains exactly how to write, format, publish and make money from your first EBook.
If you want the best chance to make passive income with eBooks, I highly recommend this course.
8. Start and Monetize A Blog
Starting a blog is not a fast way to income but it’s entirely possible to quit your 9-5 when your blog gets enough traffic.
A blog can be set up quickly for a few dollars a month, but you will need you to spend at least a few hours every day building it.
It takes time, effort and continued determination to get your blog seen in the crowded space of the internet. (I prefer to buy established blogs instead and skip that whole startup phase altogether!)
Once your blog is set up and getting some traffic, you can monetize it with various methods;
- Promoting products as an affiliate and making money when someone buys through your link
- Sell your own eBooks, printables and digital courses
- Displaying ads
- Sponsored posts. This is more of an active income as you have to put effort into writing the article, but still, a great way to leverage your blog to make money
- Learn more about how to start a blog in my free training!
9. Acquire An Established Business
If you have spare cash saved, you could side-step a whole lot of work and stress by purchasing an already-established business.
Founders make the decision to sell their companies for many reasons, and their exit can be your opportunity. If you keep your eye on the market and have a downpayment handy, you can become an acquisition entrepreneur.
Real Talk: It Can Be Scary Taking The Leap To Quit Your Job
Venturing into the unknown is as terrifying as it is thrilling.
There will be moments of doubt, hurdles that seem too high to jump, and days when your cozy, predictable 9-5 life seems like a haven. That’s all part of the process.
The key is not just to dream, but to act. It’s about making informed, strategic moves that turn the “what ifs” into “what is.”
“How To Quit Your 9-5 This Year” is a gateway to a life where you’re the architect of your own destiny. Let’s turn the page and start this exciting chapter.
Quick Tips To Get Started When Online Business Ideas
The internet world today has brought many more money-making opportunities to us. We can reach customers across the world, without physically having to be in their country.
Smart platforms have popped up allowing even ordinary people, with no tech skills to set up their own shops, start blogs and build online businesses.
As you can see, there are multiple ways to set up multiple income streams and eventually quit your 9-5. Some require investment up-front, some need zero startup, some are online and some are in the physical world.
- Market Research: Understand your audience, niche and competitors. Knowledge is power.
- Financial Planning: Save a runway fund to cover expenses in the early stages.
- Networking: Connect with other entrepreneurs. Their insights are invaluable.
- Skill Up: Take courses and attend workshops to hone your business skills.
- Mindset Shift: Believe in yourself. You’re capable of more than you know! Read this guide for help with believing in yourself.
What Exactly Is Passive Income?
You’ve heard me mention passive income a few times here. Before you rush off to quit your 9-5, it’s a good idea to get a handle on what exactly passive income is.
Passive income is where you continually get paid for work, long after it is done. It generally needs little or no work at all to maintain.
Some examples of passive income streams are; royalties from songs, movies or books, rentals, stock market investments and affiliate marketing.
Passive income is about working smarter, not harder. We’ve all been taught from a young age to work longer hours, get a higher paid, more stressful job.
But, with passive income, you do the work up-front and potentially get paid forever, without having to do anything else!
Check out this big list of passive income ideas.
How to Quit Your 9-5, Conclusion: Which Business Idea Will You Choose?
Countless others have navigated this path before you, armed with nothing but a vision and the determination to make it a reality. They’ve faced the same fears, asked the same questions, and now they’re living proof that your current job doesn’t have to be your career’s final destination.
Earning enough income online to quit your 9-5 is hard work, but it is totally worth the effort.
Choose a business idea that aligns with your personality, free time and funds available. And always keep moving forward even in the rough times.
Making money online at first may not come easily, but those who stick to it will be successful.
Remember, the idea isn’t to replace your 9-5 with another job you’re not passionate about. It’s about creating a life that gives you joy, fulfillment, and yes, the financial freedom you deserve.
So, as you sit there, perhaps in your cubicle, on your break, or during your daily commute, let this be the moment your transformation begins.
As you ponder over these passive online business ideas, know that you’re not alone. I’m here, cheering you on, every step of the way! Now, Come and join our creator community!
Drop a comment below and let me know what online business ideas you will try.
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