Are you eager to try out the work-from-home life? Looking for the best online business ideas from home?
Maybe the pandemic has left you feeling like you need to try something new, perhaps your regular job has become more about going through the motions than doing something you love. Regardless of the reason why, there is a lot of appeal to starting an online business of your own.
It’s not without its struggles – but all good things come with a little hard work. But now that you’ve decided you want to start your own business what are you actually going to do? There are great online business ideas from home out there, and the good news is that we have a fantastic selection that you’re going to want to look through for inspiration.
Best Online Business Ideas From Home
Here is a quick overview of what we think currently are the best online business ideas from home. Continue reading to find out more about each idea, and make sure to check out our other resources to help you start with your new online business life.
- Selling handmade items
- Bulk Buying And Reselling
- Drop Shipping
- Print-On-Demand
- Purchasing An Existing Online Business
- Subscription Boxes
- Online Teaching And Tutoring
- Service-Based Businesses
- Monetizing Online Followings
Selling Handmade Items
If you’re a creative person, this can be a great way to make some extra cash – or turn into a full-time gig. There are countless handcrafted items that you can make and sell, but some of the most popular (and successful) are:
- Candles
- Greetings Cards
- Jewellery
- Art
- Clothing
- Baked Goods
- Knitwear
- Furniture
- Plush Toys
It’s certainly not limited to these categories either. If you can craft it, the chances are there’s a market just waiting for you to find it. Selling your crafts is easy as well when you use websites such as Etsy or Shopify to list them. You can also set up your own website, but platforms like this are the best place to start.
Bulk Buying and Reselling
This is a pretty simple concept, but it can work very well if you’re looking to start a solid business. Once you have found your product and your niche, it’s all about buying the items in bulk at wholesale prices and reselling them at retail. It’s standard practice, and one that can leave you rolling in cash, but there’s always a risk with the reward and you have to make sure that you organize shipping as well.
Drop shipping
This is the option you go for if you don’t have the space or the funds to start up a business that uses bulk buying options. You can work from anywhere and the items are shipped from a warehouse when someone buys them.
You don’t need to purchase or store the items, it works on the kind of basis where you sell something and get charged the wholesale price for that item so that you can still make a good profit without the hassle of shipping and organization.
There are also loads of tools that you can use to make drop shipping easier. Things like Oberlo can be linked with Shopify to make the process nice and smooth. It’s so easy to get started with drop shipping as well, and with minimal costs for starting up, you don’t have to worry about risks.
Print-On-Demand
This is pretty similar to drop shipping, and it works with printed goods such as:
- Apparel
- Footwear
- Jewellery
- Homeware
- Art
- Electronics
Essentially, you sell the customizationz, your customers buy them, and then you get the benefit of having these items shipped out without needing to hold the stock in your home. This is becoming an increasingly popular form of customization sales, especially for streamers who want to sell merch without the massive costs.
Purchasing an Existing Online Business
People sell their businesses all the time, and for a whole host of reasons. If you want to take away the hassle of starting from scratch then buying a business that already exists can be a good step forward.
Start with looking at website opportunities as Flippa or Empire Flippers.
Subscription Boxes
This is such a popular business model, but why? Well, who can resist a surprise? Subscription boxes generally have a theme but the exact contents are unknown until you open them. It’s exciting, and that’s what makes it such a successful route to take. You just have to make sure that your box actually contains items that are worth it to your customers – and great pricing.
You can sell pretty much anything you want to in a subscription box, and they appeal to a whole range of ages and genders. Even pets have them, and this has been a wildly popular trend for quite some time now. There’s plenty of room in the market, you just have to make yourself stand out and make your boxes too tempting to resist.
Online Teaching and Tutoring
Honestly, this is such a rewarding path to take and it can pay pretty well as a side hustle too – let alone doing it full time. There are plenty of websites out there where you can register as a tutor or teacher, and while some require you to have specific degrees this is not the case for every company offering these services (although many prefer it).
You can teach any subject that you like, and many platforms give you the choice to offer web tutoring, in-person tutoring, or both (client choice). It makes things a lot easier for you, and you have access to a whole host of students that are looking for help – whether they are in school and trying to get their grades up or adults who want to boost their knowledge and education.
Service-Based Businesses
Digital services are a need that never runs out, and there are loads of different things that you can offer. Web design, graphic design, content writing, SEO work – all of it is valuable and has a market demand. You just need to make sure that whatever sector you decide to work in, you do an excellent job and one that will have customers not only coming back but also referring you.
Monetizing Online Followings
Something that has definitely become more popular in recent years, being able to monetize an online following is a pretty big deal. Not only that, it can become very profitable as your audience grows and you gain more support and sponsorship deals. Platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok are the best places to do this.
Not only can you make money from streaming and uploading videos, but as your following grows there will also be a demand for merchandise. You can create this (perhaps using the customized drop shipping option previously mentioned, eh?) and your following will be happy to purchase it. All you need to do is build that trust and reputation with the fans.
To Conclude
There’s so much choice and variety, you really are going to have a tough time trying to decide what you want to do when you are looking to find the best online business ideas from home.
If you’re still struggling to decide, we have some other great online business guides you can check out including the easiest online business ideas to start as well as the most unique online business ideas (coming soon). Or why don’t you checkout our selection of articles about online business ideas.
What did you think of our selection here? We’d love to know if you’re going to be taking any of these routes and how your new business is doing. We love hearing about your journey, so join in the discussion in the comment section below.