18 Small Business Ideas From Home For Ladies
There are many ladies, especially stay-at-home moms who are jumping off the cliff to start their own small businesses, and they’re making some good money.
The main reason why many people shy away from starting a business is that they always think they have to reinvent the wheel or create something that has never been done before – but that is far from the truth.
You can pick a business model that others are using, tweak one or two things to make it better and you can claim it as your original model.
There are many small business ideas that you can work on to see success so in this post, we have selected the best small business ideas that ladies can start from home.
In fact, working from home is amazing: you don’t have to worry about commuting, peak hours, being away from your family, being stuck in a cubicle from 9 to 5 – Monday through Friday, etc.
If you crave time, location, and financial freedom, these ideas could help you achieve exactly that. Maybe you love your job but want to start a side hustle to amplify your income, the ideas in this post can also help you.
Small Business Ideas For Women At Home
If you’re a lady and want to start your entrepreneurship journey, here are some of the business ideas available for you:
1. Launch a Blog
Launching a blog is one of the best small business ideas for ladies who want to work from home simply because it’s easy to start and can also be operated on a part-time schedule.
There are recent rumors that blogging will be dead but I am sure that even with the availability of AI and Chat GPT, writers and blogging will still be needed because AI tools cannot write with human experience. Therefore, you have to consider starting a blog. Here are a few benefits of having a blog:
- A blog can generate money passively. But this requires hard work and consistency to get there because my blog made only $274 in the first year even though I was posting an article at least once a week.
- You can build a reputable brand that will impact the world.
- A blog is an asset that can be sold later for thousands of dollars, if not millions.
- You shall connect with so many amazing people.
- You will learn valuable skills that you never would’ve learned.
Personally, I always look at my blog and feel happy that I started it because there’s so much I’ve learned. Before I started, I did not know how to create a website on WordPress, write and edit blog posts, do SEO, install website plugins, build relationships with other bloggers, and many more.
But I’m getting better every day. So if you put the earnings and the asset you’re going to build with the blog aside, there are so many valuable skills you shall learn that can be offered as a freelancer to amplify your income.
Basic things you need to start your blog
- Choose a niche (eg. Personal finance, grilling, recipe, cooking, home decor, etc)
- Get hosting and domain name (use Bluehost because you get the domain name at $0 for the first year – you only pay for hosting at $2.95 per month).
- Buy a WordPress theme. The best are Generate Press, Kadence, Divi, and Astra. But you can get a free theme if you can’t afford the premium version.
Once you have these set, you must start posting content right out of the gate. You can read the full blogging guide I wrote on how to start a lifestyle blog. Even though it’s about lifestyle, you can relate it to other niches.
2. Bookkeeper
Another small business idea that you can start from home as a lady is bookkeeping. As a bookkeeper, you shall keep track of financial transactions, monitor payroll data, prepare financial reports, calculate interest charges, and everything in between.
The good thing about bookkeeping is that you can work on your terms. I know a lady who started bookkeeping with no prior experience – and she’s now doing very well with her bookkeeping business.
Because of the flexibility of the work, she was able to move to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to spend a whole year there while working from her laptop. So if you want location freedom, bookkeeping is a good business to start.
According to PayScale, bookkeepers earn $19.44 to $25 per hour – but you can expect $100+ per hour once you learn the ins and outs of the business.
If you’re wondering how you can start your bookkeeping business, I recommend Ben Robinson’s Bookkeeping course for you. He is very experienced and has trained thousands of bookkeepers.
3. Transcribing
If you have good listening and typing skills, you can start a transcribing business from home. This is another best small business idea for ladies because they get the opportunity to work from home while spending time with the family.
Transcribing is not something complex: you accept audio and video files, listen to them and write down or type the speech correctly. You may also write down the conversation in an interview and in meetings.
Transcribing from home can fetch you between $20 and $30 per hour. You can get clients on high-paying platforms like;
- Rev
- TranscribeMe
- GoTranscript – and many others.
If you don’t know where to start, you can take the Transcribe Anywhere course. This is a mini-course to teach you the nuts and bolts of the transcribing business. Rather than learning from trial and error, you can fast-track your process by taking this course. In all – if you want to type from home and earn money, this is a good business to start now.
4. Online Tutor
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You can start an online tutoring business from home and make money every month. If you’re a native English speaker, you can start teaching kids in China, Korea, Spain, and other countries. Websites like VIPKid, iTalki, and Preply are some of the platforms you can join to teach English online.
However, to teach English online you first have to get an English teaching certificate (TESOL or TEFL), a bachelor’s degree in any field, and a computer with a reliable internet connection. This business can earn you around $40,000 per year.
If you’re not a native English speaker, that’s not the end, you can teach others any skill or craft you have – including drawing, painting, playing the piano, etc. Other Academic subjects like mathematics, history, and science can also be taught by you online.
5. Proofreader
Naturally, ladies pay much attention to details making proofreading one of the best small businesses for ladies. If you are good at spotting grammatical errors, typos, punctuation mistakes, and misspellings when reading, you can start a proofreading business from home to offer your service to businesses, news publications, bloggers, social media influencers, book writers, and many others.
These clients always hire proofreaders to reread their articles and written documents to fix possible errors before publishing them – and this ritual is very important because posting an article full of mistakes can easily make customers see them as unprofessional – and this can hurt their reputation.
Take the Proofread Anywhere course to kick-start your proofreading journey. Once you’re done with the course, you can join platforms like Gramlee, Proofreadingservices.com, Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr to offer your services.
Proofreaders make an average of $24.87 per hour, according to Indeed. But you can earn more than that after you have gained much experience.
Also, proofreading has categories – you can proofread fiction books, nonfiction books, blog articles, resumes, or essays. If you specialize in two or three of these categories, you will get many clients and this may hopefully amplify your earnings.
6. Beauty and Skin Care Business
Image Source: Pexels
You can also launch a beauty and skincare business from home – this is another best small business idea for ladies. The beauty and skincare industry is largely dependent on females since they form the larger percentage of consumers.
But surprisingly, only 29% of these beauty and skincare businesses are owned by females. To increase the numbers, you have to start your own skincare line.
By the year 2026, the skin care industry is expected to be worth $200.25 billion. So the future is bright for this industry, and you’d get your share of the pie if you start your business now. Who knows? Your brand can be the next Avon, L’Oréal, or Estée Lauder.
How to get started
If you have what it takes, you can manufacture your own skincare products from home. But you have to make sure they meet legal requirements set by FDA. You can read the Good Manufacturing Practices provided by the FDA.
However, if you can’t manufacture your own products, you can pick a manufacturer from the pool. You can order your skincare products from big brands like Alibaba, GDMI Inc, Genie Supply, Botanic Beauty Labs, and Schwartz Natural Cosmetics. Once you’re done, you can create your skincare store on an online platform like Shopify.
7. Interior Design
If you have a high sense of observation, imagination, and creativity – you can be an interior designer. You can bring colors and shapes together to create nice indoor spaces for people.
To become successful with your interior design business, you first have to build a portfolio to show people that you’re capable. So I suggest that you start with your own house, design the place, talk to your family and friends, and design their spaces as well.
After that, you can take photos of the design and post them on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook page, and also on your website. If your designs are catchy, many people will be knocking on your door for your service.
Interior designers make about $60,000 per year – but how well you market your business will determine how far you can go, because I know some interior designers who make six figures every year.
8. Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is another business you can start from the comfort of your home. To get started, you first have to get certified as a massage therapist in your region or state. After that, you can market yourself to get clients.
You can focus on massage therapy for stress relief or injury recovery – you can also do both. Massage therapists charge about $38 per hour. If you’re good with your hands and know how to give soft touches, starting a massage therapy business can be a good move.
9. Home Cleaning
If activities like dusting, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, washing, and cleaning come naturally to you, get paid to do that by starting a home cleaning service.
After tidying the house and surroundings of your clients, you can fetch some cool money. According to Indeed, home cleaners earn an average of $535 on the low end and $1,074 on the high end every week.
The good thing about starting a home cleaning business is that you can work part-time, so you can make this a side hustle.
10. Real Estate Agent
Image Source: Pexels
You can join a real estate brokerage or local agency to assist clients to get good deals when looking for properties to buy, sell, or rent.
However, to become a qualified real estate agent, you must get certified. Therefore, you must study to write the real estate exams in your state. Once you write the exams and pass gracefully, you will be handed the license to operate.
This is one small business idea you can start as a lady. As a real agent, you work on your own schedule so you can spend enough time with the family.
On average, real estate agents receive a 6% commission on each deal they close successfully. But according to Indeed, agents earn $93,984 per year on average – that’s some cool money.
11. Start a Laundromat
As a matter of fact, not all households have a washing machine – and for those who have, not all of them are willing to spend time washing their bulk clothes since a single washing machine cannot handle more clothes at once.
If you start a laundry service, you can get laundry done for people in your vicinity. Apart from laundry, you can sell things like dryer sheets, soaps, detergents, stain removers, laundry bags, and even snacks and beverages – for waiting customers.
The laundry business can be launched right from your home in the meantime, but once you get many customers, you can choose to start a laundromat. For a laundry business, making $3,000 to $5,000 per month is totally feasible. After you’ve gotten many loyal customers, you can expect even more than that.
12. Start a Home Bakery
If you love baking – create a baking business from home and make tasty treats like cupcakes, bread, cookies, granola, bagels, doughnuts, and pie.
Before you start, make sure that a home bakery is legal in your region, state, or country. You can visit your state’s Department of Health website to confirm that under the “Cottage Food Laws”.
Once you know that it’s legal to start a home bakery, you can get your business licensed to commence operation. Make sure you tell people in your area about your bakery business – you can even introduce “free tasting” or “buy one, get one for free” just to lure them in.
If you market your business well, you should receive weekly earnings of $1,500 to $5,000.
13. Become a Housesitter
Some of your duties as a house sitter will be to take care of your hosts’ pets, water their flowers, turn their lights on and off at the appropriate time, check their mail, take care of their garbage disposal, and protect their properties.
House sitting is one of the quickest small businesses you can start to make money. If you live in a city, you can housesit at people’s houses while they’re on vacation or at work. Search for housesitting opportunities on Care.com, it’s one of the best sites for housesitting jobs.
House sitters earn an average of $51,777 per year according to Zippia – with an hourly rate between $25 and $45.
14. Daycare Director
If your house has enough space to accommodate kids, you can start a home daycare to take care of kids when their moms leave for work. If you have kids, this can be a way to allow them to socialize with other kids in the environs.
As a daycare director, you can earn about $42,000 per year. So if you love spending time with young ones, this is another small business you can start from home.
15. Yoga Instructor
Image Source: Pexels
If your passion for yoga is profound, you can start a yoga studio right from home to teach others how to do it. Initially, you don’t need a vast space to do this business – a small space in your home will be okay.
It’s always advisable that learn the ins and outs of running a yoga business – as well as getting certified. Both of these can be accomplished at a reputable institution like Yoga Alliance.
According to Glassdoor, yoga instructors make between $38,000 and $98,000 per year. So expect some good money. Later when your home studio can’t accommodate your students, you can find a new studio at the perfect location to expand your yoga business even further.
16. Amazon FBA
Unlike Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime and Fulfillment-by-Merchant which require that you pack and ship products to buyers yourself, Amazon FBA takes those responsibilities off your shoulders. If you never knew, Fulfillment by Amazon or FBA is a selling option available to sellers on Amazon.
You can ride on Amazon’s reputation to make money this way. With FBA, Amazon takes control over packaging, shipping, and everything in between when someone purchases any of your products. So if you want a small business that you can start from home as a lady, consider Amazon FBA.
17. Freelancing
Freelancing is another business you can start from home. All you have to do is to join platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer to offer your skills. Here are some of the skills you can offer as services to earn money:
- Graphic Designing
- Virtual Assisting
- Video Editing
- Ghostwriting
- Copywriting – just to name a few.
The good thing about freelancing is that you work on your terms – you can work at 2 am, 10 am, 11 pm, or anytime that works best for you.
If you have to skill to sell as a freelancer, I suggest that you pick one and learn – because it can really change your life.
18. Life Coaching
What are some of the experiences you have gained in life? You can become a life coach to guide or counsel people who are experiencing what you’ve experienced already.
If impacting lives is something you love, life coaching is a business you can start from home as a lady. With life coaching, you can have group sessions or 1-on-1 sessions with your clients or protégés.
There are many great courses on Coursera that you can take in case you’re interested in becoming a life coach. Life coaches earn good money – you can charge $60 to $250 per session, which is usually an hour.
Manuelo is an entrepreneur and a personal finance nerd. He is the founder of Dollars And Freedom. An expert in side hustles, online gigs, and everything about making money. His works have been featured on major financial publications, like Business Insider, GoBankingRates, Investopedia, Entrepreneur, and more. When he’s not busy with his blog or writing for others, you’ll catch him hanging out with loved ones or reading books on stoicism and self-development.
Having numerous avenues for generating income can be overwhelming, especially if you're unaware of the most effective methods to begin earning. Here are some exceptional side hustle ideas that can help you start earning money.
