People are losing jobs.
Unemployment is on the rise.
AI is taking over the world.
Even Bill Gates has said, “If your business is not online, it will be out of business.“
So, what are the top 3 online businesses with low failure rate but can withstand these challenges?
Keep reading as we uncover these three ventures. But first, let’s understand why 90% of online businesses fail after about four months.
Reasons for high failure
It’s important to understand why many businesses fail as it allows you to avoid the same pitfalls.
There are three key reasons:
Dying sector

One of the biggest reasons businesses fail is that they start in a dying market.
Take blogging, for example. Even though I earn $14,000 per month from my blog, BloggingX.com, I wouldn’t recommend beginners start a blog today.
Why?
Today, with blogging:
If you’re passionate about a topic like smartphones and start a blog about it, you’ll be competing with major news websites and media giants that dominate the top spots on Google.
Moreover, people’s attention spans are shrinking. They’re after quick answers directly from Google, leading to less traffic for smaller blogs.
Huge team

Another stumbling block is having a large team.
Imaging your online business relies on hundreds of employees. It can be challenging to adapt to technological changes like AI.
You may need to lay off some employees and hire others who are skilled in AI, which can be disruptive and expensive.

When you’re starting out, it’s better to run a one-person business.
Scale it, prove its viability, and then hire people strategically.

Take Justin Welsh, for example. He’s earning $5 million per year with a one-person coaching business.
💡 Remember, every piece of content you create online is like an employee working for you 24/7, driving sales and growth.
High investment

The third reason for the higher business failure rate is high initial investment.
Picture this: You hire multiple experts and build a digital agency without yourself having any experience in digital marketing.
Relying solely on your team of experts to run the show? That’s bound to fail.
Three online businesses with low failure rate
Don’t worry; there are several online businesses that require low initial investment and have a higher likelihood of succeeding.
Freelancing
Let’s talk about a promising online business with a surprisingly low failure rate: freelancing.
Here’s the deal: freelancing involves mastering a skill, finding clients who need your expertise, and serving them for a fee.

Naval Ravikant, a well-known entrepreneur, believes freelancing is the future of the job market.

Think about it—big names like Twitter, under Elon Musk, have laid off large portions of their workforce.
The same has happened at Facebook, Amazon, and other companies as they restructure to adopt AI for increased productivity.
In the future, companies will hire more cautiously, preferring individuals with a proven track record who are already skilled to save on training costs.
But here’s the kicker: If you’re a freelancer who specializes in just one area, AI might just edge you out.
For example, many content writers, copywriters, and web designers are being replaced by AI tools like ChatGPT and AI-powered website builders.
So, how do you stay ahead?

You need to be a generalist with a broad range of skills yet specialize in one area—what’s known as a T-shaped personality.
Imagine, instead of just being a web designer, you should be a designer who understands business needs and can create websites that drive sales. You’ll not only focus on design but also on achieving the desired business outcomes.

Now, you might be wondering about the freelance market’s potential.
It’s projected to reach $9 billion by 2027 and is growing at a robust 15%. By 2025, 73% of all teams will include remote workers, and 36% of the global workforce will be freelancing.
Want to know the best part?
The trend opens up endless opportunities for those ready to embrace the freelance lifestyle.
YouTube
The second online business with a low failure rate is YouTube.
Here’s the deal: video content is the future, and YouTube is here to stay.
You might think that YouTubers with a million subscribers are earning a fortune. Well, some are.
But, the reality is more complex.

There are two types of YouTubers:
- Entertainers: These YouTubers chase views, subscribers, fame, and fortune. They play to their audience’s dopamine, earning revenue from YouTube ads based on views. However, when it comes to selling digital products or services, they often fall short.
- Experts: These YouTubers are experts in a specific topic and add real value to their audience. They earn trust, build a community, and focus on helping their audience by solving real problems. This is about creating digital products and monetizing their expertise. This approach represents the future of YouTube.
Now, want to know the best part?
If you want to succeed on YouTube, you need to pick a niche where you’re an expert, create content around it, build an audience, and monetize that audience by solving their biggest problems.
Selling digital products

The third successful online business with a low failure rate is selling digital products.
Whether your business is online or offline, selling products is crucial.
🛒 However, physical products can be resource-intensive. Think about manufacturing, marketing, inventory management, and shipping – it’s a lot to handle!
Here’s the game-changer: digital products.
Create once, sell infinitely.
It’s infinitely scalable.
For marketing you can use content.
When you create a single piece of content, like a YouTube video, it can work 24/7, attracting potential customers.
The best part?
Instant delivery.
No shipping required.

One of my favorite digital products is coaching and online courses.
Think about it: you don’t need to spend a lot of time creating them. Just record a training course, attract people to your community through content creation, and deliver value by engaging with the community and solving their problems.
This is the future of e-learning.
Still with me?
If you have expertise in a particular skill, it’s your responsibility to create content online, attract like-minded individuals, and train them.
When you add value to their lives, you’ll earn money. This is one of the best ways to claim a small piece of the growing online education industry.
Closing thoughts
In conclusion, the top three online businesses with shockingly low failure rates are freelancing, YouTube content creation, and selling digital products.
Each of these business models leverages the power of the internet to scale without requiring massive teams or high investments, making them resilient against technological disruptions.
If you’re interested in the business of content creation and educating your audience, consider joining our community, where like-minded individuals meet and share insights on creating meaningful content online.