UPDATED: October 26, 2022

You want to know what job or business will help you achieve a $10,000 monthly income, and you’ve probably even searched “how to make 10k a month” online before. However, you can’t tell which options suit you best.

Yes, technological advancements paved the way for thousands of new jobs and business opportunities, which have produced millions of self-made millionaires. Experts even believe it’s now easier than ever to make money.

However, not everyone has the technical knowledge and tenacity to navigate several industries. It takes insane mental fortitude to take on new opportunities after failing multiple times.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t worry. We got you covered.

To help jumpstart your journey toward a $10k income, we scoured various resources to make a comprehensive list of lucrative jobs and business ideas. You’ll learn the fastest way to reach your goal.

Stick with us until the end. Otherwise, you might waste your efforts working on impractical plans founded on a pipe dream.

Let’s look at some businesses and jobs that make $10k a month!

1. Dropship Products

Dropshipping is a modern retail fulfillment method wherein merchants move products from manufacturers straight to customers. Most drop shippers operate on a per-order basis.

The emergence of Chinese eCommerce platforms like AliExpress and Alibaba in 2010 popularized the concept of dropshipping. Retailers across the globe started rebranding products manufactured in China.

Dropshippers typically sacrifice a percentage of their profit margins for leaving order fulfillment duties to product manufacturers. They’ll just cover the losses with more sales. 

Since dropshipping stores don’t fulfill orders themselves, they can focus solely on branding and marketing.

Getting Started

Step 1: Draft Your Dropshipping Business Idea

Research the type of store you’ll build. Start by choosing your niche.

Remember: dropshipping serves as an order fulfillment method. Instead of treating dropshipping as your entire business, integrate the concept into your business model. 

Focus on building a shop that aligns with your interests. Again, dropshipping is a tool, so don’t blindly copy successful merchants and retailers, or else you wouldn’t see much result.

Step 2: Perform Product Research

Next, research potential products within your niche. Let’s say you want to focus on fitness. You can look into yoga mats, water bottles, dumbbells, and sauna suits, among other products that fitness buffs might like.

Don’t rush your research. The success of your shop heavily depends on the products you list.

Ideally, you’d want to sell products that are:

  • Trending
  • Evergreen or future-proof
  • Profitable
  • Low-competition

Step 3: Contact Dropshipping Suppliers

Dropshippers typically source their products from AliExpress. Admittedly, the market has become a bit saturated, but it still stands as the most reliable, widely trusted source of manufacturers that accommodate dropshipping.

Of course, you can look for suppliers outside the platform. However, you’ll have to vet them for authenticity yourself, so please exercise caution.

Step 4: Build Your Store

Once you have a feasible dropshipping business model, you can start working on your online shop. 

Some widely known site builders include Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy. However, most shop owners prefer Shopify for its extensive features focused on eCommerce.

Step 5: Run Digital Marketing Campaigns

Now it’s time to drive traffic to your online shop. Digital marketing strategies typically yield paid and organic traffic.

Paid traffic consists of the website visitors you generate through paid marketing efforts like Google Ads, sponsored posts, and social media ads. 

Meanwhile, organic traffic stems from your SEO marketing efforts. Launch SEO-driven blogs and videos with links leading to your shop.

Step 6: Analyze Traffic and Performance

Getting your dropshipping business up and running is only the first part of the process. You’ll have to reassess and adjust your shop accordingly from time to time, or else your sales will stagnate.

For this reason, perform sitewide audits every month. Analyze your ROI, total marketing expenses, conversion rates, website traffic, and, of course, profit. 

Don’t worry about overhauling listings. Most dropshippers had to switch niches altogether before turning a profit. 

10k a Month Earning Potential

So, what does $10,000 a month look like? How fast you reach a consistent monthly profit depends on your shop’s average sales performance. 

Calculate your profit margin versus the number of units you sell daily.

For instance, $10,000 divided by 30 days equals $333.33, meaning you’ll have to generate around $335 every day to achieve a five-digit income. 

Here are several ways to achieve that amount based on different profit margins:

Profit per UnitIdeal # of Units Sold Daily
$547
$2017
$507
$1004

2. Write a Book

With the emergence of e-book reading and selling platforms, you no longer need publishers to become an accomplished, profitable author. Nowadays, writers can make thousands without ever selling physical copies of their books. 

Publishing paperback cover books yourself could set you back by upward of $10,000, depending on the number of copies you want.

Alternatively, launching an e-book costs less than $1,000 to $2,000. You can further minimize your startup costs if you write, edit, and design the book yourself, although you’d do well to hire a professional editor and designer if you’re not experienced enough.

Getting Started

Step 1: Write Your E-Book

Research about topics that people want to read, then start writing your ebook. It will serve as your core offering, so make sure to write quality, engaging content that your readers will find helpful.

Create a solid presence on Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook, frequently engage with your followers and gather insights into what they might want to read in your book.

Step 2: Build an Audience

A common mistake among ebook writers is focusing solely on the writing process. Creating engaging, well-thought-out content wouldn’t mean anything if no one bothers reading it. 

To achieve $10k a month in sales, you’ll need to market your e-book and build an interested audience. Drive attention toward you and your book during the writing process.

Step 3: Hire Beta Readers

After working with your editor to finish the first few drafts, your e-book should start looking more refined. As such, you can move on to beta reading.

Hire beta readers to leave honest, objective opinions about your current draft. Have them pinpoint areas that your readers might find challenging, incomplete, unhelpful, or offensive. Cut out fluff and filler content.

Step 4: List Your EBook Online

When you have the final version of your ebook, you can finally list it online. Some of the most secure, widely known platforms for selling e-books include:

  • Amazon
  • Payhip
  • Selz
  • Blurb
  • Google Play Books

You can also create your own website. Between domain name fees and online advertising costs, your overhead will exponentially increase. However, you’ll have more control over your profit margins.

Step 4: Repeat

Treat e-book writing as a business. Instead of collecting your returns, use them to create multiple more ebooks while gradually building an audience.

Selling 100 copies of 100 different books is a relatively more achievable goal than selling 100,000 copies of one book right from the get-go.

10k a Month Earning Potential

Yes, you can make $10,000 a month in e-book sales. However, it will take time. You’ll have to sell 5,000 to 10,000 copies if your e-book costs $1 to $2, and you can’t achieve that in your first month or two.

3. Create a YouTube Channel

With widely known internet personalities like PewDiePie, Mr. Beast, and Logan Paul making millions on YouTube, almost every modern-day influencer wants to emulate their success.

Yes, you can make money on YouTube. However, you have to treat it more like a marketing business than some get-rich-quick scheme.

Before getting started, understand that your success depends on your branding. Think of YouTube as an eCommerce platform wherein your channel is the brand and your videos are the products.

Getting Started

Step 1: Find Your Niche

Most aspiring YouTubers fail because they post the same content. The market has grown saturated in the past decade, so creating the same travel vlogs, makeup tutorials, game walkthroughs, and prank videos likely wouldn’t attract viewers.

Instead of copying random creators, create videos on what you want. Find a niche that you can talk about endlessly for hours on end without getting tired.

Step 2: Plan Content Ahead of Time

Don’t skip content planning. Plan your content calendar weeks ahead of time to ensure that you’ll never run out of ideas.

Step 3: Shoot and Edit Videos

There are typically two videography styles on YouTube. You can either shoot vlog-style videos where you rely on minimal editing or create production-level videos with professional editing tools.

Of course, most newbies will find the first option more accessible. However, note that ignoring videography and editing altogether will lead to low-quality videos, which your viewers wouldn’t appreciate.

Step 4: Repeat

Don’t stop after just one or two videos. If you have a passion for your chosen niche and believe in the content you upload, you shouldn’t have trouble braving the first few months of your channel. 

Trust us—even PewDiePie only had a handful of viewers back then. It took them years to build their current audience base, so you can’t emulate their success overnight.

Step 6: Sign Up as a YouTube Partner 

Once your channel reaches 1,000 subscribers and accumulates 4,000 valid public watch hours, you can sign up for the YouTube Partner Program. Note that only partners can monetize their accounts.

10k a Month Earning Potential

Your YouTube channel will generate income through brand sponsorships and ad views. 

Most budding YouTubers get their own Google AdSense account as their viewership picks up. However, don’t expect to earn thousands right away.

As for sponsorships, brands will start contacting you once your videos get 1,000+ views.

Expect your first deals to be unpaid. You’ll probably get some free items or services, but most brands only pay for sponsored videos if the content creator already has upward of 10,000 followers.

4. Build Rental Properties

If you’re a homeowner, the fastest way to make $10k a month is to build rental properties.

Statistics show that 90% of millionaires invest in real estate. You can make millions in the industry by selling, purchasing, and leasing residential and commercial properties.

Now, you might find the idea of owning properties intimidating. However, it’s simpler than it sounds, and it has a much lower barrier of entry versus flipping and selling homes—much less commercial properties.

Getting Started

Step 1: Scout Properties

To find the best deals on the market, you’ll have to go beyond online listings. Drive around in high-value neighborhoods and look for rundown properties. 

List down the details of the properties you like. Once you get home, log on to trackers like True People Search and look up the properties you listed. You’ll likely see the property owner’s contact details.

Afterward, call the homeowners and pitch your offer. Note that most people you call will reject you, so don’t expect a successful transaction right off the bat.

Pro Tip: If you don’t want to reverse search listings yourself, hire a professional skip tracer on Upwork or Fiverr.

Step 2: Secure Funding

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need millions to build your first rental property. Utilize your available assets.

For instance, let’s say you own a home. You can use it as collateral to take out a low-interest business loan to secure the funds you need.

If you don’t feel comfortable taking out a loan against your primary residence, look for investors instead. 

Gather money from people who trust you. Although you wouldn’t worry about mortgage payments and interest rates, you’ll need to pay your investors fair dividends.

Step 3: Finalize the Deal

Inspect the property, estimate the renovation costs, and research rental fees in the same neighborhood. All these details will help you make an informed, profitable offer.

Step 4: Renovate the Property

Renovate the property to create an appealing, livable rental property. 

Hire building inspectors as well. Your rental property could get changed with hefty fines if it violates your state’s building codes and guides.

Step 5: Find Tenants and Collect Rent

Screen your tenants beforehand to ensure they have the financial capacity and stability to pay at least a year’s worth of rent. Otherwise, you might get delinquent renters.

Step 6: Repeat

You likely won’t make $10,000 a month from one rental property alone. Instead, keep taking out collateral loans and using the money to purchase rental properties. You can create a diverse portfolio.

However, between mortgage amortizations, maintenance fees, and utility bills, you’ll end up with steep monthly dues. You can only turn a profit if you maintain an 85% to 90% occupancy rate, so manage your tenants properly.

10k a Month Earning Potential

Real estate investors state that a rental property should generate 2% of its purchase price every month. Take a $100,000 home, for example. It needs a gross monthly rent of $2,000 to meet the 2% rule.

Going by this principle, you’ll make $10,000 a month once you’ve acquired $500,000 worth of rental properties.

5. Switch Between Multiple Jobs

Contrary to popular belief, you can still make six digits even if you’re not a doctor, entrepreneur, or lawyer. Many jobs make $10k a month.

Although some careers pay more, employees can utilize their skills and assets to convince employers to pay better wages. 

If your employer doesn’t bump your salary, switch jobs. Statistics show that switching jobs leads to an average salary bump of 5.3%, but staying with current employers only yields a 4% increase.

Getting Started

Step 1: Objectively Gauge Your Current State

Before anything else, work on yourself. Make sure you have the skills to back up your demands. 

If you spend most of your time doing low-level filing and assistant duties, your employer might not give you a significant increase.

Step 2: Assess Your Options

Explore your job options. Scour job postings regularly for openings that fit you, especially if the position’s higher than your current role.

Step 3: Make Yourself More Appealing

Update your resume, LinkedIn, and even social media accounts. Trust us—most HR officers and recruiters scrutinize their applicants’ online presence nowadays.

Step 4: Open Yourself to Opportunities

Don’t blindly dismiss job offers. Think about every opportunity thoroughly and weigh the advantages versus the disadvantages.

Also, don’t focus solely on the base pay. Look into the company’s compensation program, benefits, and bonuses.

Step 5: Negotiate

Don’t feel afraid to negotiate. You can ask for a higher salary if the current offer is lower than what you initially expected.

10k a Month Earning Potential

How fast you reach $10,000 a month depends on your current position. Senior managers and officers who already make around $80,000 to $90,000 annually can bump their salary to $120,000 in just a year or two. 

However, those earning less have to spend more time working. Expect to switch between multiple jobs and employers before finding a company that will pay your desired salary.

6. Flip Products from Flea Markets

If you love hunting for deals at flea markets and thrift shops, turn it into a business. 

Flipping flea market items isn’t the most exciting venture. However, you can make well over $10,000 with minimal capital if you can spot potentially profitable items hidden in piles of junk.

You’ll need strong negotiating skills too. Successful flippers not only spot the best deals, but they also have the courage to haggle with sellers—without coming off rude, of course.

Getting Started

Step 1: Research Your Niche

Although experienced flippers can turn a profit by selling all kinds of items, newbies should limit themselves to a specific niche first. 

Familiarize yourself with industry-specific trendy items and their market prices.

Step 2: Drive to Flea Markets

Visit flea markets, thrift stores, and garage sales every day. Remember that shops serve customers on a first-come, first-served basis, so do your rounds in the morning.

Step 3: Spot Solid Deals

Profitable flips are made in the buying process. Use the data you researched earlier as a reference in assessing the earning potential of any item. 

Step 4: Assess the Repairs Needed

Don’t get intimidated by flippers who boast about turning absolute junk into thousand-dollar pieces post-restoration. Otherwise, repairs will eat up your profit margins. 

Lucrative, grounded flippers know when to walk away from a deal.

Step 5: Haggle With the Seller

Haggle with the seller for a reasonable bargain. You can increase your chances of convincing the seller if you buy in bulk, respectfully point out defects, and pay in spot cash.

Step 6: Restore the Items

Another crucial step in flipping is restoration. Your ability to repair defects, wear and tear damages, dents, and imperfections, among other issues, efficiently will heavily affect your profits. 

Step 7: Post Online

Once you’re confident in the current state of your items, post them online. The most widely used platforms among flippers include eBay and Craigslist, but you can also look into Facebook Marketplace.

Step 8: Repeat

Get ahead of the competition by searching for good deals online and offline regularly. Visiting garage sales, flea markets, and thrift shops should become part of your everyday routine, especially with the tight competition nowadays.

10k a Month Earning Potential

Yes, you can make $10,000 flipping items from flea markets. However, you’ll need at least a few thousand dollars to purchase higher-value items like electronics, antiques, and collectibles.

Also, don’t expect to make thousands right off the bat. Considering the time it takes to drive around flea markets, research niches, restore items and post listings, a single sale will take a few days.

For this reason, strive to build an inventory first. You’ll start making thousands consistently once you have an inventory of various items you can sell regularly.

Working Toward a $10,000 Monthly Income

Can you make $10,000 per month consistently? Of course! However, set feasible expectations backed by realistic, logical ideas instead of blindly chasing the fastest way to make $10k.

As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Forcing yourself to accomplish overnight success only puts you, your health, and your investment at risk.

Set multiple plans of action. Focus on conquering achievements and milestones that will help you reach your desired $10k a month salary.

Also, don’t fear failure. Although tenacity and perseverance are admirable qualities, a wise business person knows when to quit and move on to new projects.