By Dan — May 7, 2027

I Tried 5 Different Online Business Models — Here's What Actually Worked

Over about four years of trying to build an online income, I've seriously attempted five different business models. Not dabbled — actually tried, put real time into, and either made money or lost time on.

Here's the honest breakdown of each one: what it actually involves, what I learned, and why I did or didn't stick with it.

Model #1: Dropshipping

What it is: You list physical products for sale without holding inventory. When someone buys, you order from a supplier who ships directly to the customer.

What the promise was: Low-effort, passive income from a scalable e-commerce store. Big margins, automated fulfillment, minimal work once set up.

What it was actually like: The margins were real but the work to capture them was not what I expected. Setting up Facebook ads that actually convert took months to learn. Supplier quality and shipping times were genuinely unpredictable — I had customers waiting three to four weeks for products, which drove a customer service burden I hadn't planned for. When ads worked, the business made money. When ads broke (algorithm changes, policy updates, rising CPCs), it was a scramble to fix.

My honest verdict: Dropshipping works for people who are good at paid advertising and comfortable with thin margins and high volatility. I'm neither of those people. I made some money but the mental overhead was high and the business felt fragile. I moved on after about eight months.

Model #2: Freelancing

What it is: Selling a skill — writing, design, development, video editing, whatever — directly to clients on a project or retainer basis.

What the promise was: Fast income, clear value exchange, no need to build an audience.

What it was actually like: This is actually the most honest of the five models — what you put in, you get out. I made real money freelancing. Within three months I had clients and a consistent income. The problem: it scales to the limit of my available hours, and then it stops. I couldn't work more hours, so I couldn't make more money without raising rates, which I eventually did, which helped — but the ceiling was still me.

My honest verdict: If you need money now and have a marketable skill, freelancing is the fastest path. But it's not the business model I wanted long-term because it doesn't compound. An hour of work today is worth one hour of income today and nothing next year. I still do some freelance work but it's not my primary focus.

Model #3: Online Courses

What it is: Creating a comprehensive course on a topic and selling it, usually at a higher price point ($200–$2,000+).

What the promise was: High-margin products with recurring sales from a single creation effort. Teach once, sell forever.

What it was actually like: I made one course. I learned that making a course is a significant undertaking — real courses take weeks to produce properly, and they require either an existing audience to sell to or serious marketing effort (and usually budget) to find a cold audience. My first course sold to about twenty people over three months at $97. Not bad, but not worth the six weeks of production relative to smaller products I was making in a weekend.

My honest verdict: Courses work very well if you have an existing audience. Without one, the marketing challenge is steep. I still sell one course but it's not my core business model.

Model #4: Affiliate Marketing

What it is: Promoting other people's products and earning a commission when your audience buys through your links.

What the promise was: Completely passive — write content, include links, get paid.

What it was actually like: Affiliate marketing does work, and I do make affiliate income. But it takes a long time to build. You need traffic, which means months of SEO work. You need an audience that trusts your recommendations. And you're at the mercy of the affiliate program — commission rates can drop, programs can close, and products can change. My affiliate income is real but it's supplementary, not primary.

My honest verdict: Affiliate marketing is excellent as a revenue stream but not as a standalone business for most people in the early stages. Add it to your revenue mix later, once you have traffic.

Model #5: Digital Products

What it is: Creating and selling downloadable products — ebooks, templates, guides, toolkits, presets, planners — directly to customers.

What the promise was: Create once, sell repeatedly. High margins. No inventory. No shipping.

What it was actually like: This is what I stuck with. The creation process is manageable — I can make a solid digital product in a weekend. The margins are excellent, typically 90%+ after platform fees. The sales are repeatable without me actively working each one. Building the traffic and audience still takes time, but once it's built, the business runs on a foundation that compounds rather than depleting.

The key insight: digital products have a much better fit for solo entrepreneurs than most other models because the creation effort is proportionate to a one-person operation and the product quality can genuinely compete with larger companies.

My honest verdict: This is the model. Not because it's the easiest — it requires patience and consistency — but because the long-term economics are the best fit for how I want to work.

The Platform That Made Digital Products Work

After bouncing between a couple of different platforms, I landed on MadeThis for hosting and selling my digital products. It handles checkout, delivery, and analytics in one place, which matters a lot when you're a solo operator without a team to manage tech.

If you're deciding which model to try, my honest recommendation is to start with digital products and use a platform that makes the mechanics easy. The model is sound, the timeline is manageable, and the compounding is real. Everything else I tried was either too fragile, too ceiling-constrained, or too audience-dependent to build on.