1 Purchase items in bulk and market them online.
Being home, the basic idea behind many firms is to import goods in large quantities and profitably sell them to customers individually.
Perhaps you recently visited another country and discovered unusual goods that aren’t easily accessible in your market but that you perceive a demand for. Or perhaps you’ve identified a specialized market and know exactly how to serve it.
In either case, if these goods are reasonably simple to keep and send, you might be sitting on some promising home-based business concepts.
Even using your home as a showroom to sell locally at first gives you the option to grow with more storage space and staff when your idea is validated and sales begin to pick up.
2 Sell your own creations
Consider making your hobby of making (or that of someone you know) into a company. You might be able to store and sell your items in your own house, even if you need to manufacture them elsewhere (in a studio, commercial kitchen, or workshop).
When you have almost complete control over your items, you can increase their value, raise their quality, or tailor them to a specific market by focusing on consumer demand.
Selling your crafts is a fantastic way to share your passion with people and earn money, whether you decide to start on a marketplace like Etsy or create your own branded site. Just be cautious of laws governing goods that consumers consume or apply to their skin.
To start a home-based business selling handmade goods, look into these resources:
Ways to market candles
How to launch a jewelry company
Methods for selling makeup online
How to market artwork online
Tips for selling food online
starting a clothes line
Making enamel pins: a how-to
3 Open a drop-shipping business.
We’ve discussed company plans thus far that call for you to store inventory at home. However, there are many internet company ideas to consider that don’t require you to worry about stock and shipping.
These companies use the dropshipping business model, where a third party manufactures, stores, and ships your products on your behalf, leaving marketing and customer support as your main responsibility. An example of a home-based business that makes use of a dropshipper is retailer Subtle Asian Treats.
example of a dropshipping store
You can choose a local or international dropshipping supplier, but it’s important to choose one you can rely on to consistently provide excellent customer service after the transaction. Always use caution to avoid jeopardizing the reputation of your company.
Even Shopify tools like DSers, which streamline order fulfillment, can connect you with suppliers so you can integrate products into your own store.
Dropshipping essentially entails becoming a distributor for another party’s goods, bearing the costs of marketing (both monetary and labor-based) in exchange for the margins earned when a sale is made.
This frequently results in your products being commodities with little room to differentiate your consumer experience. Fortunately, there are a few strategies to remain competitive even when there is no shortage of your items in the market you serve:
Curate merchandise from many sources to build a store that caters to a particular market.
Create value outside of your items to compete by providing high-quality content and customer service.
Choose a poorly served area in the world (be sure to pay attention to your shipping costs).
Reach out to new customers with the same products (e.g., LED shoes can be marketed to music festival goers or runners).
Check out The Ultimate Guide to Dropshipping if you’re interested in learning more about beginning a dropshipping business.
Formatting Icon
Free Webinar: How to Launch a Successful Dropshipping Business
Find out how to quickly import high-margin products into your store and begin selling them.
4 Launch a print-on-demand company.
A print-on-demand business doesn’t require you to keep any inventory or handle any shipment by using a similar dropshipping strategy. Even greater freedom to personalize white label products with your own inventive designs is provided by print-on-demand printing.
Rebecca Lee Funk started the print-on-demand t-shirt company The Outrage from her house, which promotes women’s rights. In honor of former US president Donald Trump, the company contributes a portion of its earnings to Planned Parenthood. Her viral launch campaign made The Outrage an extremely successful online store.
print-on-demand companies
Depending on the supplier you choose to deal with, you can also sell a wide range of other print-on-demand products, including books, caps, backpacks, blankets, pillows, mugs, shoes, hoodies, phone covers, watches, and more.
Many print-on-demand companies concentrate on filling a particular niche or, even better, a shared identity. What inspires people’s passion and makes them proud to share it? Describe yourself.
You can make products for a variety of enthusiastic communities, like gamers, vegans, and pet owners. You can make your own designs if you have the necessary abilities. If not, though, you may always employ the necessary talent.
Take our video course at Shopify Academy for a thorough explanation of print on demand’s operation and how to get started.
Formatting Icon
Course on Shopify Academy: Create a Print-on-Demand Empire
Discover how to quickly set up your own custom-branded t-shirt store. Adrian Morrison, a seasoned Shopify merchant, outlines his framework for establishing and operating a profitable print-on-demand store.
5 provide services online
Even if selling services from home is simpler than selling things, managing your time is a struggle. The adage “time is money” has never been more applicable than when managing a service-based company.
Designers and marketers, for example, may work as consultants or freelancers for other businesses while managing a variety of clients, frequently from the comfort of their own home offices with some travel thrown in. Others might work with appointments and reservations to provide their services to people directly.
Ideas for home businesses based on services include:
independent writing
Online assistance
Designing
SEO guidance
Finding acceptable customers for service-based businesses frequently involves extensive networking and word-of-mouth recommendations, but happy customers are more likely to continue using your services in the long run.
Because of this, unlike a product-based firm, you don’t absolutely need a large customer base to succeed. Depending on the service you’re providing, a small number of excellent clients may be sufficient to enable you to work from home full-time and support yourself.
6 instruct online courses
One of MAPerformance’s founders, Chris Carey, started his automobile parts and services company from the comfort of his own home. He started by providing advice on auto repair and maintenance to online forum participants. People began visiting his e-commerce site to purchase parts once he gained their trust and shown his expertise.
mapperformance
If you possess a teachable ability, you can use it to create online courses in addition to sharing your knowledge in forums to promote yourself. Every valued ability has a market, whether it’s English as a second language, sophisticated marketing, or simple home care tips.
If I Made is Emily Newman’s home-based business where she offers classes to artists. You can opt to offer live or pre-recorded instruction when you teach classes online, giving you the freedom to work from home. For instance, you might charge more for the live classes while offering the recordings at a lower cost to customers.
When I made
That’s what Yegi Saryan, the company‘s creator, does with her enterprise. She transformed her skills into a passive source of income after creating a profitable online beauty firm. Aspiring business owners may now buy lash classes to jumpstart their talents and add it as a service to their company. There are in-person and online classes offered.
beauty of yegi
The size and duration of the class are also options. Think about tutoring, mentoring, or masterminds if you like working in small groups or even one-on-one. Take part in larger training sessions and courses if you enjoy huge groups. Teach for an entire day once, for an hour every week, or something in between.
Not interested in interacting with people? Make a completely downloaded course that can be bought. The material, whether it be a video tour, templates, articles, or how-tos, is all that is required. While guiding students through the content, record your screen and voice using a screen-recording program like ScreenFlow.
Whatever way you look at it, online teaching is a lucrative home business concept because it has low overhead and only needs a time investment.
7 Make your knowledge or service a product.
One of the major drawbacks of operating a service-based business is that you are only compensated for your time, expertise, and effort, as we just described. If I Made’s Emily Newman turned her live sessions’ recordings into digital courses that she packaged and sold for less money.
Making tangible or digital items that bundle your knowledge and streamline or enhance the service you provide is known as “productizing” your service. This can help your organization generate additional cash. You can serve your existing clientele or even discover a new target market in the same area.
In order to establish their home-based business, Gabriella and Andrew Morrison packaged their knowledge of tiny-home living. They run everything out of their cozy, unconventional home while selling designs and courses on StrawBale.com and Tiny House Build.
Here are some suggestions for expanding your own business‘s product offerings:
Courses
Designs
Licensed resources (stock footage, photos, music, etc.)
accessible reports
electronic templates
Merchandise
Ebooks
As you can see, the majority of these concepts include digital media that has been packaged as a product, thus there is no inventory to keep on hand. Using the Digital Downloads or SendOwl apps, you may sell digital goods with ease if you run your home company on Shopify.
app for digital downloads
But in some circumstances, commercializing your expertise is more direct. In this manner, Bullet Journal was created. Ryder Carroll developed his own system for journaling that eventually led to the concept for a home-based business. He now offers actual journals for sale on his website.
7 Build a following you can monetize.
If you produce content, have a big online audience, or have always considered launching your own blog, YouTube channel, Instagram account, or podcast, you may be able to expand and earn money from your audience by implementing any of the suggestions on this list.
In order to provide marketers a chance to engage with your audience, you might also consider becoming an affiliate, selling other people’s goods or services in exchange for a commission, or taking payment for sponsored posts.
Patience, consistency, and attention are necessary to develop a devoted following. This isn’t the quickest or most straightforward way to launch a home-based business, especially not in the short term, but if you can gain a following for something you’re passionate about, it can be one of the most rewarding and long-lasting, giving you the freedom to pursue multiple income streams concurrently.
The niche you decide to target will frequently affect your ability to monetize your audience. Check out the following tips if you’re just getting started or are currently building your own audience to learn how to grow and monetize the most well-liked channels:
How to get paid for Instagram
Making money on YouTube
starting a podcast
ways to launch a blog
How to become financially independent as a writer
8 purchase an existing online store
Consider purchasing an established ecommerce business if you’re more interested in making an investment in a source of income you can run from home or on the go.
Prices vary widely depending on a wide range of variables, such as total income made, prospective profit, assets available (such as an email list or social media following), inventory, and more. Some vendors will even train you in the ins and outs of managing their shop.
Exchange is a marketplace for buying and selling online stores that is run by Shopify. You can search the listings for excellent companies that fit your needs, skill level, and price range.
Perhaps you want to buy a successful company and are prepared to make a larger financial commitment to do it. Or perhaps one stands out to you as having unrealized potential that you’d like to develop.
Switch by Shopify
Just be sure to thoroughly investigate each listing and take into account everything that is being sold. You can be confident that those figures are correct because Shopify allows you to verify revenue and other data. Check out our article Buy a Shopify Store: A Step-By-Step Guide to Exchange for more advice.
9 launch a subscription box company
From 2021 to 2026, the online subscription box market is expected to develop at a 20% annual rate. The adoption by major brands like Sephora and Walmart as well as the creation of new direct-to-consumer brands that target this niche are both results of this industry’s tremendous expansion.
A subscription business can be launched from home. Ashley Reynolds created subscription boxes out of leftover goods to offer on her e-commerce website, Cloth & Paper. You might utilize dead stock if you currently operate a home-based e-commerce firm by doing the same.
This post contains affiliate links.