Are you interested in starting your own home based business? Maybe you want to monetize your hobby or find a way to financially contribute to the family. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Check out these 35 home based business ideas for women.
Home Based Businesses Perfect for Women
Babysitting is a side business that can integrate nicely if you are already at stay at home mom. One of my husbands’s best friend’s wife did this.
She was a stay at home mama and she started a home day care. She collected $400 to $600 per child for the month and had about 6 kids she watched. That’s a cool $2,400 to $3,600 per month she was earning was virtually no overhead cost.
You can operate the daycare out of your home and slowly build up your space, outfitting with activity tables and other supplies, if you don’t have startup capital in the beginning. This is optional, by the way. Make sure you get all the right permits and licenses for your space, which will vary according to where you live.
Pet sitting is a fun side gig for pet lovers. If you own a pet, you know that there are times when you need a sitter. Going out of town, vacation, and work travel are all examples of times when a pet sitter would be needed.
This would be easy to start with pets in your neighborhood and expand from there. Putting flyers in community areas like the sports court or pool area, or asking if you can include one with your community newspaper, are ways to spread the word about your business. You can also print business cards cheaply and drop them off at local businesses.
Ecommerce is selling online. This can be products or services. Selling products involves sourcing products from a wholesaler, managing inventory and fulfilling customer orders, among other activities. Selling services means you are selling your expertise, like accounting for local businesses, designing logos and business cards for startups or consulting.
We recommend Shopify for your ecommerce platform. They are a one stop shop for all your business needs and can help you create a beautiful online storefront for your ecommerce business.
4. Network marketing
Network marketing involves working in a team setting (online usually) and selling products to consumers. The team and company you’re with usually provides you with all the marketing materials and training needed to run a thriving business. Some examples of network marketing businesses you might have heard of include:
5. Flipping domains
Domain flipping is starting to gain more traction in 2019. What exactly is domain flipping? You can domain names and sell them in the future for a profit. Think about if you would have bought a one word domain name 20 years ago and sold it today, how much of a killing you would have made! People are doing that and fetching six figures for domain names.
You can even do this in a much shorter turnaround time. Sometimes domain names expire. When you buy a domain, it is for a period of time, like 1 year, 3 years, etc. Then, you renew it to keep it or let it expire. You can collect on expired domains for cheap and turnaround to sell them same day.
I saw a recent domain name sell (it was expired by the way) for $69 and flipped for $1,200 a week later! Want more info? Head to YouTube and search domain name flipping to watch experienced flippers share their experience and success stories.
6. Flipping websites
Website flipping is something I do on the side. I’ve made over six figures doing it. You start by buying or building a site. Then you make improvements to it and flip it for a profit.
When you buy a site, you are looking for website that has an established presence ranking for keywords, with lots of content, with opportunities to be better. So maybe there is a lot of content but no keyword ranking. Maybe there is traffic to the site but it’s not being monetized. These are some examples. So, you come in, address the opportunity then flip it as a more valuable website thanks to your help, and make a profit.
When you build a site, you are starting from scratch, adding content, building an online presence, ranking for keywords, etc. Then, flipping it for a profit.
Buying is more expensive but faster. Building is cheaper but a slower process.
7. Flipping goods
Flipping goods works like flipping anything else, domains, websites, real estate, etc. You buy products low, sell them high and keep the difference as profit.
How does this work?
It can start with goods from your home. Go around the house and find extra goods you can sell for profit. Then, sell those items on eBay, Craigslist, local consignment stores, etc. There may even be some valuable goods you are sitting on unknowingly.
People also specifically buy items with the intention of flipping. Have you heard of flea market flipping? Folks head to flea markets, garage sales, and thrift stores to buy products to flip and sell online. The Selling Family makes 6 figures (or more) per year doing this!
If you look on YouTube, you’ll find sneaker flippers, apparel flippers and flippers in so many other categories. Here’s an example:
If you have expertise in any field, you can work from home as a consultant. Here are some fields you could work in:
Your audience is anybody who needs help in their job. You’ll be paid to listen to their problem and help them troubleshoot. It’s kind of like calling help desk when you have a tech problem, but much more involved. You could help them create a strategy, develop short term or long term plans, etc.
9. Designing logos
For creatives, logo design is a great home based business to start. Here are some places you can find clients:
- Job banks
This could also branch out to other work. You might start with a logo design and able to upgrade the client to business card design, web design or other design work you can do.
10. Creating social media graphics
This is another home based business in the design space. Creating graphics for social media is in high demand. YouTube thumbnails, Facebook banners, and Pinterest pins are examples of graphics you might be creating for your clients. You can pitch clients on freelance networks like Upwork or Freelancer. You can also find businses through networking and being active in social media.
11. Designing business cards
Business card design is in demand too! We mentioned it above. If you are a designer, this is a space you’ll want to work in.
12. Designing websites
Web design is one of the best home based business ideas for women. New and existing business owners want attractive, professional web design done and if you’re a designer, you can bring it to them.
Show off your work by creating a gorgeous website for your web design business. Then, attract customers and create web designs for businesses working from home.
There is so much opportunity for writing. It’s a great, flexible and lucrative career that you can do from anywhere. Write at home, write in Starbucks, write on the plane while you’re traveling, write at 3am when you can’t fall asleep, etc.
Clients can be found on:
- Freelance project sites like Guru or Upwork
- Social media
- Job banks like Problogger
14. Book author
Authoring books is a great way to work at home in your own business. You can actually become a millionaire without having one New York Times best seller!
Start with a niche. Pick a topic you are knowledgeable about (or not, you can always hire a writer) then aim to solve a problem. Write a book around that problem and publish. Then, rinse and repeat. The best writers don’t stop at one book. You can self-publish on Amazon and other places.
15. Online instructor
Teaching courses online is super lucrative. I can name half a dozen women course creators off the top of my head that are millionaires. Aside from making a lot of money, there are other cool perks that come along with publishing courses online including networking opportunities and potential client business.
You go about this the same way as you would with book authoring. Pick a niche, solve a problem and promote to your audience.
16. SEO specialist
SEO is a skill that a lot of people don’t have. SEO stands for search engine optimization and it involves ranking content on search engines like Google. For example, if you are a food blogger, you want your content to appear in search results when consumers are searching for food-related stuff on Google. You might write a chocolate tart recipe. When people search for “chocolate tart recipe” you want your article to appear in search, and hopefully on the first page of the results.
Getting your content ranked can be very difficult. So, SEO specialists exist to help business owners get found online.
My very first business was a hair extensions company. It failed. I literally created the site, sourced the product, and put everything online, then I sat and waited. I waited for customers to come and couldn’t understand why my site wasn’t getting traffic.
As a moderator you’ll be in charge of an online group or community. You will be coming up with discussion topics, ensuring members are following the rules, polling the audience, getting feedback, encouraging participating, etc.
Where to find moderator jobs working from home:
- Ignite Social Media
18. Social influencer
Social influencers are becoming the celebrities of online space. As an influencer, you are an ordinary person. Your popularity comes from being relatable and having an audience that is drawn to you and feels a connection to you and your content.
A social influencer usually has a strong following online, 5K to millions of followers on any one network or collection of social networks is what you will envision for a social influencer.
You start small, with zero influencers then, as you create awesome content, your following will grow and you can start making money. Here’s how…
- Brand deals, like partnering with Oreo or Mr. Clean or any brand under the sun. A video influencer I follow recently shared his success booking a $30K brand deal for shooting one video and publishing on his network of 1+ Million followers.
- Ads: This means that advertising partners show their ads on your space and you earn based on the number of views.
Don’t think you need hundreds of thousands of followers or more to be successful. Microinfluencers are what brands are looking for nowadays. They want influencers with smallish followings that have a close knit relationship with their fans. This could be you. It could take 3 months to a year or longer to start earning consistent income so if this is appealing to you, I recommend you do it on the side, unless you don’t care about stable income up front. If you do, try one of these other 34 home based business ideas for women, from the roundup!
This is similar to social influencer but the main focal point is your blog. So, you’ll create a website around a niche, like vegan eating, mom life, special needs parenting, military spouse, or any topic you want, and write blog posts around those topics.
As your blog popularity grows, you will start earning money through methods mentioned above: brand deals, ads, and affiliate marketing.
The same as a blogger but for video. So YouTube vloggers are becoming more popular. They take a video camera around with them and film their life. It doesn’t have to be exciting stuff, just normal day-to-day things and people are eating it up!
You will create a YouTube channel, then make sure you have a recording device like this camera or your cell phone, and start recording. Once you’re done, you’ll edit the video and put up on YouTube.
To build a following quickly, try these tips:
- Publish videos consistently
- Do keyword research and use keywords in your video title and description
- Create eye-catching, awesome thumbnails
- Partner with similar YouTube channels for cross-promotion
- Like, comment, support other channels (networking)
- Promote your YouTube channel anywhere you can (on your other social channels, on your blog, etc.)
- Share with family and friends
Are you a baker? Love baking goods. You can monetize this in your own home based business. I have been wanting to do this for years. Today, it’s easier than ever to do. You can open a shop in an online handmade marketplace like Etsy and offer your goodies for sale.
Promote them on visual social networks like Instagram and Pinterest and watch your sales and visitors grow.
22. Closet stylist
If you are an organization freak and love a clean and tidy closet, you can organize closets in a home business. You don’t even have to leave your house. You can book a client, ask for images, then create a blueprint for the styled closet. Selling blueprints like this can be big business. The hardest part about organization is the start. Actually how to organize everything and help every item in it’s place. Then maintenance is a lot easier.
Need inspiration? Search for closet stylists online and try to mirror their succses.
23. Interior designer
Designing spaces and having an eye for great home decor and style pays. Head to Pinterest and search for home decor and related queries. Those pins will take you to sites where you will find home decor blogs, websites and interior design businesses. Get inspired and start your own interior design business from home!
24. Home organization
This is like closet organizing but for the whole home. Blueprints for every space like kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, etc. could fetch a pretty penny. All from the comfort of your couch.
Linguist and translator jobs are in high demand. Find jobs like this in job banks ad freelancer sites like Upwork.
A transcriptionist is someone that listens to audio and writes down what is said. Medical transcription, podcast transcription and general transcription are some examples here.
You can test out and start getting work right away with companies like Rev. If you want to make more money and turn this into a full business for yourself, we recommend you take a course. Try Transcribe Anywhere’s free mini-course which will tell you if transcription is a good fit for you. Then, you can upgrade to one of their paid courses, based on your interest.
Proofreading is just what it sounds like, and yes you can make this a business and earn a lucrative living doing it. Check out Caitlin Pyle at Proofread Anywhere to learn more.
An editor is someone who edits copy. So you’ll be reviewing writers work and making edits. This means you will have to be a strong writer yourself with impeccable grammar and spelling.
Tons of editor positions are available online. Do a search in Google and head to the job banks.
29. Video editor
This is editing for video. People that need this include businesses that make video and YouTubers. Go to Upwork and search video editing and you’ll find a long list of projects from clients looking for editors for their video.
This is ecommerce where you work with a supplier to fulfill orders instead of you fulfilling them. In a traditional ecommerce setting, you would order supply in bulk from a wholesaler then as customers order, you are in charge of packaging and shipping orders to the customer.
With dropshipping, the dropshipper does all the fulfillment. So, you find a supplier that can also dropship and when a customer order comes in, you provide the order details and shipping info to the dropshipper so they can package and ship the order on your behalf.
This is a cost-effective ecommerce model. It has a low barrier to entry and you can make a lot of money fast doing this. I’ve done both models and they each have pros and cons. If you have little money for startup, try this out.
This is someone who sends marketing emails for businesses. They are in charge of managing the entire email campaign, from growing the subscriber list, to creating engaging content and monetizing the list best they can. If this sounds amazing to you, find jobs on Facebook, specifically in Facebook groups. Join business groups full of business owners and bloggers and advertise your skills. You can also respond to people posting about filling the job position. LinkedIn is another place ripe with jobs like this.
31. Virtual assistant
An online personal assistant. Some of your job duties may include:
- Email management
- Cold calling
- Note taking on conference calls
- Meeting scheduling
- Social media posting
- Accounting and bookkeeping
The duties assigned will really vary based on your client. I have had VA jobs where I was in charge of doing website tweaks, streamlining processes, posting to social media, and more.
Join VA groups on Facebook and keep your eyes open for job postings. You can also join virtual job groups and look on Upwork for projects.
32. Content curator
This can be a blend of a blogger and YouTuber. You create content online for the masses. So, you will be writing in a niche attracting an audience and you make money from brand deals, affiliate marketing, services, ads, and our own products.
33. Resume writer
This is huge. If you have a knack for writing amazing resumes, you can make a lot of money doing this. I read a story recently of a resume writer who made $200K her first year and she was a recent college grad.
The place to get these jobs are local service sites like Thumbtack, Bark, Home Advisor and the like.
34. Financial planning
If you are a bookkeeper or have a personal finance or accounting background, try financial planning or advising. Make sure you are following the laws in your area. Advisors and planners usually require a license to practice.
35. Life coach
This is a growing position, being a life coach. Helping people beat overwhelm, organizing their life, making them feel better about life, dealing with stress, managing home and work life, these are all examples of how life coaches can help. Life coaches make a lot of money. I saw a story of a life coach earning over $200K per year working from home.
If this is of interest to you, check out life coaches online, study their website, look at the requirements and start this business for yourself.