Tim Armoo mythbusts TikTok business ideas and reveals what will work (2024)

The internet is full of business advice. Some good, some bad, and some on TikTok.

The truth is, most of what is considered good advice online has had its heyday. The money has been made and that's why you're now being told about it.

There are some people who genuinely do love sharing money making tips that actually work and haven't become super saturated.

To help you navigate the minefield that is online business advice, I've myth-busted five business ideas being touted on TikTok, to help you understand what's real and what's rubbish.

1. Become an Amazon affiliate

This is an idea that has been touted as good for people who are 'broke and lazy', which is a red flag in itself.

The concept is pretty simple. You choose a product on Amazon and apply to become an affiliate. You'll go to Pinterest and post pictures of the product and attach the Amazon link.

Everyone who clicks on the post will be redirected to the Amazon listing and if they buy it, you'll receive a cut.

Good or bad?

This is TikTok level bad.

Doing this is actually against the terms of service for both Amazon and Pinterest and will result in you getting banned on both platforms.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money but it's not as simple as putting some product photos on social media and collecting a fat cheque every month. It takes a lot more nuance, so here's how.

The play

Choose a hyper-specific niche.

Spend time researching what content has already worked in that niche, what topics are trending, and what format of content works best.

For example if your focus is gardening, lawn care and spring flowers are popular trending topics at the minute. Short form 'how-to' videos and written guides are the best format.

Now choose a product that can fit in the niche, like gardening gloves or kneeling pads.

Now you have topics and a product in mind, create content that fits the research you've done - this could be a handbook, checklist or guidebook.

Take your report or guide to publications that are frequently read by your target market (in this case gardeners) and pay to have them promote it on their email list.

Collect the emails of the people who download your report and contact them to sell the affiliate product.

This is how you affiliate market.

2. Sell print on-demand products via Etsy

This is 2024's variation of dropshipping.

Here's how it (supposedly) works: Create a design on Canva, upload your design to Printify and put it on the product. Connect Printify with your Etsy account and list your products.

When people buy your products on Etsy, Printify will handle all the manufacturing and logistics, meaning you don't have to hold the stock yourself.

Good or bad?

This is somewhere between good and bad. In theory, this can work but it's not as simple as it sounds.

There's a load of competition and very little differentiation between sellers so you'll need to have a competitive edge.

Just putting a templated on a product won't work.

The play

Most people just upload their product listing to Etsy and then forget about it, looking for the myth that is passive income.

These people aren't making money, they're just taking up space.

The people that make money from doing this are finding a competitive edge through distribution channels.

This might be looking for influencers who are popular in your niche that have grown quickly, or looking for publications and companies that have similar products but aren't direct competitors.

Once you find these untapped distribution channels, you remove the need to rely on customers to find you organically through Etsy.

3. Start a social media marketing agency

Most businesses lack the knowledge to succeed on social media, so more people are launching their own agencies.

The idea is that you learn a skill like Facebook adverts, copywriting or content creation, and find clients on Upwork. Once you've worked with a couple of clients, hire people to do your job and earn passive income.

Good or bad?

This is a TikTok-level bad idea.

SMMA was a great business a few years ago but now it's far too competitive and nowhere near as simple as TikTok entrepreneurs make it sound.

Whatever 'angle' you think you've found, I promise you that there are a thousand other agencies just like you.

However, if you still really want to do it, here's how it should work.

The play

Learn a skill and choose a type of client you'd like to work with, the more specific the better.

Email companies in the industry and offer to work for them for free to build case studies, which you can take to other clients to show your credibility.

Once you've signed some clients, you can start to outsource tasks to remote freelancers and workers and repeat the process until you have a team in place to run the agency for you.

However, it's still not ideal. SMMA is incredibly competitive and everyone is at the same level.

Everyone is susceptible to the algorithm changes made by social media sites, and everyone is following the same TikTok trends and everyone has the same tools at their disposal.

It was a great idea 5-10 years ago but this ship has sailed.

4. Resell free furniture from Facebook marketplace

People list furniture for free on Facebook marketplace all the time so all you need to do is pikc it up and resell it on sites like eBay, Vinted, Depop or even Facebook again.

You'll need a car and a couple of friends but it's free to do.

Good or bad?

This is actually a good idea, especially if you have a lot of free time or some spare hours on the weekend.

There are a couple of ways you can make this even better than just simply spending hours scrolling Facebook.

The play

Go to Facebook and search for specific furniture items and in the filters section under the 'include keywords' section, add the following words: divorce, moving house, new baby, marriage.

People who list items with these keywords are typically time sensitive sellers, looking to get rid of their furniture before they have to move.

This means the quality of furniture is typically higher, the speed of the transaction is faster and there are more items available for free.

Super simple, high margins, free to start - the perfect side hustle.

5. Faceless Youtube videos

Youtubers are making thousands every month just from ad revenue and sponsorships without even showing their faces.

They use AI tools to create YouTube documentaries documentaries about topics they find interesting.

It's low-cost, a little technical but generally a well accepted idea.

Good or bad?

This is a good idea, but only if done correctly.

The profitability is a little low because the popularity of this method has increased, consequently reducing the amount of money made through ad revenue. But it can work well if you find a very popular topic.

That being said, it's not an easy task and the real talent is in choosing great ideas.

The play

You'll need to pick out something interesting and with not that many videos online already.

If you picked the 2008 recession for example, you could use ChatGPT to 'create a script that can be read by a voiceover artist to create an engaging and interesting YouTube video.'

You'll need to expand more on the topic by providing more detail like specific people or topics.

Take your ChatGPT script to ElevenLabs, a voiceover AI tool, and save the voiceover as an mp3 file. Now using the voiceover, find images and short video clips that are relevant, on MidJourney or any other image/video generation software.

Post your video to Youtube and turn monetisation on.

The trick is to choose trending topics that are relevant right now. Search Youtube or use Google Trends or AnswerThePublic to find commonly searched terms.