Almost everyone has a particular set of skills that they could share with others, and the internet gives them the perfect medium to do it. Online training courses are big business.

So what talent or skill do you have that other people might like to know about? You might be surprised by  the amount of knowledge you’ve acquired in certain areas when you stop to think about it. No matter what it might be, there is probably a market for it.

Some sites where you can sell courses include Lynda.com, Academy of Mine, and Digital Chalk. You might also consider delivering your course via Youtube, or on video from your own personal site.

The only caveat is that you  need to know the subject and field well. People want to take courses from someone who can provide them with information and tips they can’t find elsewhere.

Hardly a week goes by without the publication of a new report identifying the fact that we’re all getting fatter and more unhealthy, and the projections suggest that it’s all set to get a whole lot worse. This comes at a time when the health and fitness industry is booming, and despite the apparent lack of success, the boom looks certain to continue.

If you’re interested in fitness, you have the opportunity to turn that interest into a lucrative business when you become a personal trainer. It’s a flexible opportunity, in that you can choose where, when and with whom you work. You also get to choose  the type of training to specialise in, and there are many types.

While the bulk of your income might come from providing training to your clients, there are a number of other options for making money as well, including books, blogs, training videos, nutritional supplement sales and public speaking.

This isn’t for everyone, but is probably more accessible to people of all ages, than you might think. With an ageing population, I can see opportunities for trainers  to specialise in fitness in later years. And if you’re 70, do you really want a 20 year old trainer telling you what to do?

Do you have expensive pieces of  equipment which get used rarely? Of course you do, everyone does and that’s the premise behind  Peerby, a Dutch app that helps people engage with the sharing economy and live a little greener and cheaper.

To begin, users download the app and list all under-utilised items they would be happy to lend out. It can be anything from a lawnmower to a disco ball. Then borrowers can search the database for a particular item they need or browse categories for nearby offers. When they find what they are looking for they can negotiate with the owner within the app and arrange to meet and borrow the item. Borrowers can also create posts with requests for items that they haven’t been able to find.

This definitely sounds like something that could work here in the UK.

Some of the best business ideas combine money making with a social purpose, and an idea I just read out from Panama City  seems to do just that.

The Fortaleza Tour of the Old City was conceived by former members of the Ciudad de Dios gang, after they completed a 10 week rehabilitation programme. The tour begins at the American Trade Hotel in Casco Viejo, an area which has been central to gang culture. The tour guides tell the history of the area and their personal stories, as they show the visitors around the district. Tours last 80 minutes and cost $15.

Many major cities have a history of gang culture, so might this work elsewhere? I’m sure that it would.

Website: www.esperanzasvc.org/fortaleza-tours

Every day, we seem to see something new that dooms personal privacy to history. We’ve already seen a number of companies using fitness trackers to encourage their employees to live a healthy lifestyle and minimise health insurance premiums. Now, Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma is adopting the tactic with its students. – but with a stick rather than a carrot.

Students are each be required to buy a FitBit wearable watch, and track their aerobic points and fitness with it. Daily steps and heart rate are automatically recorded using Brightspace, a learning management system, which earns them points for their course. Students don’t earn the course credits unless they walk 10,000 steps each day.

Now you could argue that it’s ‘big brother gone mad’, or that it’s for the students own good. But either way,  it shows again what can be done with the technology. Is there some way you could use activity tracking software to motivate, reward or help your customers or employees. And if there is, can you do it  without making them feel uncomfortable about the invasion on privacy.