Looking for work-from-home business ideas? Good idea.
Renting commercial real estate, warehousing, or office space can put a massive financial strain on a new business. In contrast, many home business opportunities are quick and easy to start.
But there are so many home-based business ideas out there — which one should you consider?
Some work-from-home business ideas require an upfront investment to get the ball rolling — and some require just $39. Also, some home-based businesses are easier to start if you can turn a spare bedroom into an office or workshop — others are easy to run from your dining table.
So, what’s the best work-from-home business idea for you? In this article, we’ll explore 10 of the best home business ideas that you can start quickly and easily.
10 PROFITABLE HOME BUSINESS IDEAS TO DO FROM HOME
While there are countless ways to start a home-based business, here are 10 of the most approachable home business ideas to consider:
Sell handmade products
Purchase products in bulk and sell them online
Start a dropshipping business
Start a print-on-demand business
Purchase an existing e-commerce business
Start a subscription box business
Teach online classes
Start a service-based business
Sell digital products online
Build an online following that you can monetize
1. Sell Handmade Products
Do you love to create things at home? If you love crafts or art, why not sell your handcrafted products online? For example, you could:
Make candles
Create jewelry
Create pieces of art
Make homemade food
Design and sew clothing
Knit clothes and blankets
Craft wooden furniture
Whatever you like to create, selling handmade products is a great way to turn a passion into a work-from-home business opportunity.
There are two main ways to start selling handmade products online:
Create your online store using a platform like Shopify
If this home business idea has caught your eye, start by writing a list of everything you could create. Then, do some online research to see what other people are selling.
2. Start a Dropshipping Business From Home
Dropshipping is a type of e-commerce in which sellers don’t need to purchase or store the products they sell. Instead, sellers partner with dropshipping suppliers who manage the inventory and ship products directly to customers on the seller’s behalf.
If you like the idea of running an online store, but you’re not sure what to sell, consider starting a dropshipping business from home. Plus, this is a home business idea with low startup costs.
Check out the image below to see the dropshipping business model in action:
The best part is that starting a dropshipping business from home is as easy as 1-2-3 thanks to dropshipping many available apps.
3. Start a Print-on-Demand Business From Home
Similarly, if you like to create art and eye-catching designs but don’t want to make products yourself, you could start a print-on-demand business from home.
Print-on-demand is a type of dropshipping in which you can sell products that are customized with your designs, such as:
Apparel: T-shirts, hoodies, leggings, yoga pants, etc.
Footwear: Sneakers, boots, flip flops, etc.
Accessories: Jewelry, watches, phone covers, bags, bottles, face masks, notebooks, stationery, etc.
Homeware: Mugs, towels, bedsheets, cushions, blankets, throws, etc.
Art: posters, wall hangings, stickers, magnets, etc.
Electronics: Headphones, speakers, etc.
Check out some common print-on-demand products in the image below from Printful:
To start this work-from-home business idea, choose a print-on-demand app to install, such as:
Printful
Printify
CustomCat
SPOD
T-Pop
JetPrint
teelaunch
Gelato
Gooten
Printy6
4. Purchase Products in Bulk and Sell Them Online
Another way to sell products online is to buy products in bulk — also known as ‘wholesale’ — and sell them individually.
When you purchase products in bulk, you can get a lower cost per unit than if you buy them individually. Then, when selling the products one by one, you’re able to increase the prices to create a profit margin.
So, where can you buy fantastic goods in bulk?
Start by researching products on business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplaces like Alibaba and Handshake.
Instead of selling products individually to consumers, you could also purchase products in bulk and sell them to retailers in smaller quantities — this is called wholesaling.
5. Purchase An Existing E-commerce Business
If you don’t have the time — or the inclination — to set up a home-based business from scratch, you could always buy an existing home business opportunity via the Exchange marketplace.
This website facilitates the sale of e-commerce businesses in a range of niches. Plus, you can buy an established business or a relatively new business.
This may sound pretty complicated at first, but in practice, it’s pretty straightforward.
Start by browsing the home business opportunities listed on Exchange. When you find a business you like, consider reaching out to the buyer to find out more information. Then, if you decide to purchase the business, Exchange will facilitate the… well, exchange.
On the other hand, if you want to start businesses but you’re not interested in growing them to their full potential, you could create and sell e-commerce businesses on Exchange.
It’s also possible to ‘flip’ businesses — or to put it another way, buy a business, improve it, and then sell it for a profit.
6. Start a Subscription Box Business From Home
Why sell one product at a time when you can sell a bundle of products every month to the same person? This is what subscription box businesses like Birchbox do.
Plus, Google Trends shows how interest in subscription boxes has boomed in recent years:
This home business idea is a fantastic way to grow a sustainable income, thanks to the recurring revenue generated by ongoing purchases.
You can sell almost anything as a subscription box, too, such as:
Makeup
Clothes
Fashion accessories
Indie records
Books
Homeware and kitchen gadgets
Information products (such as up-to-date industry reports)
Food, such as snacks or sauces
What’s more, you don’t necessarily have to sell products — you could also rent them. For example, Haverdash rents clothes.
7. Teach Online
If you have in-demand skills or knowledge and a talent for teaching, consider sharing your knowledge via online video calls
Popular subjects taught online include languages, maths, science, and business. But there are no limits to what you can teach, so you could also teach things like music, sewing, or even DIY!
According to PayScale, most online teachers earn between $10.18 and $39.87 per hour, depending on their level of experience.
Countless online teaching marketplaces will help you to connect with students and manage your classes, such as:
The need for digital services is rampant — from designers and developers to digital marketers and doodlers, there’s a need for virtually every talent.
If you’re wondering what service you can offer, here are 20 service-based home business opportunities to consider:
Graphic designer
Web designer
Developer
Transcriber
Translator
Marketing writer
Resume writer
Photo or video editor
Social media manager
Digital advertising manager
Data entry clerk
Virtual assistant
Bookkeeper
Accountant
Career coach
Life coach
Marketing Consultant
Management consultant
Finance consultant
Calligrapher
Some of these home business ideas offer more income potential than others. So, make sure to do your research to choose the right service-based home business idea for you.
9. Sell Digital Products Online
If you have mastered a specific skill or topic but do not wish to teach online or provide a service, you could package your knowledge and experience into a digital product.
As with drop shipping, selling digital products is an excellent home business idea because there is no need to source or manage inventory or ship products to customers. Additionally, once a digital product has been created, it is free to replicate.
Here are 20 types of digital products that can consider for selling
Courses
Videos
Ebooks
Written templates (résumés, scripts, marketing emails, etc.)
Spreadsheets
Photos
Fonts
Icons
Logos
Graphics
Illustrations
Animations
Graphic templates
Overlays
Editing presets (for videos, images, or audio)
Software
Online tools
Membership sites
Audio (music, samples, podcasts, etc.)
Research (statistics, reports, etc.)
Take, for instance, Gabriella and Andrew Morrison sell courses and house plans to help people build tiny houses on their website Tiny House Build.
10. Build An Online Following That You Can Monetize
If you enjoy producing content, you could build an online audience around a specific topic or niche and monetize it.
If you’re interested in this home-based business concept, you must select a method for building an audience. Now, there are numerous ways to build an online following, including:
Grow an Instagram following
Build a YouTube audience
Create a blog and grow your readership
Grow a Twitch following
Build a TikTok following
Once you have gained relatively a large following or plenty of website traffic, how can you make money? In essence, there are three ways to monetize an online audience:
Brand sponsorships: Get paid to promote a company’s products (also known as ‘influencer marketing.’
Affiliate marketing: Promote a company’s products or services and earn a commission.
Sell products: Create and sell physical or digital products to your audience.
For example, Adam Enfroy built a blog that reviews many software products. In the image below, you can see his blog post reviewing the Shopify platform:
