Best Online Businesses To Make $10K/Month: Why Consulting Comes Out Ahead

You’ve spent years gaining expertise, but your income still doesn’t reflect what you know you’re worth.

If you’re asking yourself what’s the best online business to make $10K per month, here’s the answer: It depends on what you want your life to look like, and how fast you want results without burning out.

In this guide, I’ll break down five popular business models and show you exactly why consulting is the most sustainable path for professionals who want more income and more freedom.

Watch Me Walk Through the 5 Models I Recommend Most

Before we get into the details, if you’re a visual learner, or you just want to hear the pros and cons straight from me, watch this first:

I’ll share what I’ve seen work (and what to avoid) if your goal is consistent, meaningful income doing work you’re proud of.

1. Agency Services: Fast to Start, Tough to Sustain

Offering done-for-you services like marketing, design, or tech implementation can get you to $10K/month with a small client roster. But there’s a cost.

What It Involves

You deliver hands-on work for clients who need your skills.

Pros

• You can start with the skills you already have

• You don’t need a huge audience, just 4–6 solid clients

Cons

• Clients often expect 24/7 availability

• You’re selling your time, which caps your income

• Growth usually means hiring and managing others

What Works

1. Pick a specific niche, like med spas or nonprofits

2. Offer repeatable services

3. Limit your client roster to retain control over your time

If you’re an agency owner feeling stretched thin by client work, download my FREE guide on how to shift from DFY services to a high-impact consulting business, and start building a model that scales without burning you out.

2. Coaching: Transformational Work That Can Drain You

Coaching lets you guide others toward transformation. If you love working one-on-one and want a deep impact, it’s a strong option.

What It Involves

You help clients solve problems through guidance, support, and structured conversations.

Pros

• Low barrier to entry, you can start right away

• You can charge premium rates for clear results

Cons

• It can burn you out fast without boundaries

• Scaling requires a large, loyal audience

• You’re still selling your time

What Works

1. Solve one clear, urgent problem

2. Set firm boundaries around your calendar

3. Consider group models only once demand is high

Even experienced coaches turn to Fractional Freedom when they want to step away from back-to-back calls and shift into a more scalable model.

3. Course Creation: Passive Sales With a Massive Setup

Selling digital courses is one of the most popular models, but it comes with a major reality check.

What It Involves

You create pre-recorded lessons that people buy and consume on their own time.

Pros

• Revenue can come in without live delivery

• One course can generate income for months or years

Cons

• Requires heavy up-front effort and testing

• You need a lot of traffic or a large audience

• Conversion rates for low-ticket offers are very low

What Works

1. Give yourself 6–12 months to build, test, and market

2. Only build a course once your audience is asking for it

3. Use your 1:1 work to validate what people will pay to learn

Courses work best after you’ve validated your offer through real-world consulting clients.

4. Affiliate Marketing And MLMs: Easy to Start, Easy to Lose

Some say passive income is just a few links away. But affiliate marketing and MLMs are rarely the best online business to make $10K per month, especially for professionals who want stability and control.

What It Involves

You promote products made by others and earn a commission per sale.

Pros

• Easy to start, no need to build a product

• No fulfillment or customer service involved

Cons

• You’re competing with everyone else promoting the same thing

• Commissions are small and volume is hard to build

• The company can change their terms (or disappear) overnight

What Works

1. Only promote tools you actually use and love

2. Avoid anything that requires recruiting others to sell

3. Don’t rely on this model as your main income stream

Bottom line: You’re building someone else’s brand, not yours.

5. Consulting: High-Value Results Without Burnout

Let’s talk about the model that most professionals overlook, but shouldn’t.

Consulting isn’t about doing. It’s about advising. You’re not buried in someone else’s work, you’re guiding them to solve it faster.

This is how many of my clients hit their first $10K month, and keep going.

What It Involves

You offer expert advice and structure to help businesses grow, solve a problem, or improve operations, without doing the implementation.

Why It Stands Out

• You're paid for your knowledge, not your output

• You don’t need a big audience, just 2–4 great clients

• You don’t need to manage a team

• You use the skills you already have

What Works

1. Solve one problem you’re known for

2. Price your offer at $2,500/month or more

3. Work with organizations that align with your values

If that sounds like the model for you, the Consulting Offer Accelerator gives you the full blueprint to launch your offer, set your price, and start getting paid.

What Makes Consulting Work So Well?

Consulting works because it gives you control, margin, and meaning.

• No need to grow a team

• No burnout from endless client deliverables

• You build around your strengths, and charge for them

And because you’re delivering outcomes, not hours, you can serve fewer clients at higher rates and finally get your life back.

Check Out More Posts Like This…

I’m Laura, a growth strategist and mentor to consultants.

As a serial entrepreneur who has scaled multiple six-and seve-figure online and offline companies over the last twenty years, I can genuinely say that consulting is the best industry I’ve ever been in. Not only does it give me the freedom to spend time with my family and do the things I love (hello, tennis!), but working alongside world-changing entrepreneurs on their business strategies is one of the most rewarding roles I’ve had as an entrepreneur. This is a blog where I share my secrets of how to become an in-demand consultant.

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