10 Profitable Side Project Ideas That Don’t Require Coding

Everyone wants to build SaaS and enjoy recurring revenue.

But it's almost impossible to do it from the first attempt. Founders don't have enough audience or knowledge about customers' problems.

That's why building a profitable side project is a better way to start an Entrepreneurship journey. The chances of failing are low.

In this article, I will share 10 side project ideas that you can implement this year with no-code tools. You could run them for free or for less than $100 a month.

If you already have a side hustle, you are ready for the growth part. Check our battle-tested tactics to grow a side hustle for beginners.

Curated list

There is a lot of information on the Internet.

Some people are too busy to search for it. Make a curated product for them.

You can curate anything: tools, resources, tips, best practices, templates. The key is to perform in-depth research and structure your findings.

For example, we collected 600 tools with great free plans for Makers. We've understood people don't want to spend time searching for the right tool. That's how MakerBox Tools was born.

You can create your curated list in Airtable or Notion. Both are free for starters.

Sell it with Gumroad. A lot of Creators (including us) are using it.

Notion template

Notion is the ultimate productivity tool.

But most people only use basic templates. So delight them with unique templates.

Find the niche and create a template for the everyday use case. For example, CRM for ghostwriters or task manager for Indie Entrepreneurs.

Easlo is famous for pioneering selling Notion templates. You can learn a lot from his marketing approach.

Leverage Notion communities. Engage and share your progress with them. They could be your first customers.

Newsletter

It's still not too late to start a newsletter.

But you need to niche down. For example, collect last-minute Airbnb deals or share tips for Creators-Entrepreneurs.

After hitting 100 followers, you can start outreach to people to sponsor your issues. You can do it with direct payments or affiliate marketing.

Use Substack to run a newsletter for free. For example, I use it for my newsletter Weekly Dan.

Closed community

Communities are on the rise.

People want to feel supported and network without being cringe. Closed communities are here to help.

You can create a Slack / Discord channel for free. Your job would be to facilitate members and moderate the discussion.

My two favorite communities for Indie Entrepreneurs are Indie Worldwide and Wannabee Entrepreneur.

Yours could be the third.

30-day challenge

People lack the accountability to build new habits. They get distracted and quit.

Challenges solve this problem. You can easily create a new one.

Check Ship 30 for 30 and Build Sell 30 for inspiration.

Pick a niche you care about and create a 30-day challenge to build and develop new habits. Then, sell it to people who need to feel accountable.

Or make a free version and use it as a lead magnet. We've done it with our first freebie — MakerBox Marketing Week Challenge.

Use MailerLite as an email sender. It has a decent free plan.

1-person agency

Agencies used to require 100-member teams.

But not anymore. You can close high-ticket clients yourself.

The key is to find the right niche. Check this thread to learn more.

MakerBox Roasting is an example of the agency model. I review landing pages so Founders can get more paying customers.

I don't need five project managers to run this business. You can do the same.

Pre-recorded course

It has never been easier to record a short video course and sell it for $49.

This is the right fit for you if you have enough niche expertise and audience. People love to buy impulsively online-course from people they trust.

Take a look at Arvid Kahl and Justin Welsh. Their courses are a great inspiration.

Use Teachable, Kajabi, or Gumroad to create and sell your online course.  

Podcast

Podcasts are not going away anytime soon.

They are similar to newsletters. Niche down, create high-quality content, and outreach for sponsorship.

Podcasts take more time to take off. But once they do, it's unstoppable.

Check Indie Bites and Zero to (point) One. These are great fresh podcasts.

Cheatsheets

There are more effective formats than video courses.

Cheatsheets are practical and easy-to-use educational lessons. They can be skimmed at the moment and saved for the later.

My favorite cheatsheet example is Clarity Calls. Learn how this product solves online courses' problems but far more effectively.

Design your cheatsheets in Canva and sell them with Gumroad.

Blog

Create high-quality niche content with SEO in mind.

Like we do at MakerBox. We write step-by-step guides for Indie Entrepreneurs to grow faster.

You can either focus on affiliate marketing or display ads. There are plenty of ways to monetize traffic from Google.

Host your blog on Ghost or Medium. I use Ghost to control everything and have better SEO.

Running a blog is a long-term game, but it will pay off eventually.

Conclusion

Building a side project is an incredible journey. You can earn money, get new skills, and meet great creators.

But growing it is not a piece of cake. You need to sharpen your positioning and develop your marketing funnel. And most importantly — acquire users.