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Our Favorite 50 Business Ideas for Women Entrepreneurs
Hello! 👋 I’m so excited to share our list of 50 amazing business ideas for women with you today. Hopefully one or more ideas will spark something within you and lead to a wonderful new business venture. 💡
What got me interested in this topic? One word: balance!
Balance is hard! We hope these business ideas will help you make more money on your own terms.
As a wife and mom I often feel like I am pulled in a million different directions. In my perfect world I aim for all of the following: 🎯
- 👫 Be a good partner to my spouse
- 👩👧 Be a loving and present mom
- 🦋 Have a social life and meaningful friendships
- 👩💼 Build a satisfying career or small business
- 🧘🏽♀️ Make time for mental and physical help
- 🧹 Contribute to the work of the household
Do I succeed at hitting this target? Not too often! Sometimes it’s easy to feel defeated, throw up your hands, and resign yourself to a fate of always feeling stressed and short on time. 🤷♀️ Can anyone relate to this feeling? 🙋
Business ideas for women that help you live your best life.
I know firsthand how powerful starting a business can be. That icky feeling of always being out of balance led my husband and I to start our own business. We started with a few thousand dollars and a $300 laptop and in short order it grew to a 7-figure business which we ultimately sold (you can read more of our story here).
Our success was a true blessing and opened my eyes to the life-changing power of starting a business. That journey has given me incredible passion and energy to help other women as they start their own businesses. Hence today’s post covering business ideas for women!
What types of business ideas will we cover today?
I created this list with the intention that every woman would be able to find something that resonates with her unique skills or passions. Here just a few examples of the types of business ideas for women we’ll cover:
- 🏡 Home based businesses
- 📷 Businesses to let your creativity shine
- 🚀 Lucrative businesses that could grow to 7-figures
- 💻 Online businesses
Of course these ideas alone won’t automatically give you flexibility or make you wealthy. Success is 10% idea and 90% execution. You’ll still have to hustle and use your creativity and smarts if you want to build a great business. But remember all that hard work is worth it; an investment in yourself could be life changing. It was for me and my family and I wish the same for you. Here’s to your success! I am pulling for you. 😃
Legit Small Business Ideas For Women
There are literally millions of jobs in the world. My challenge was to narrow it down from all different possibilities to a well curated list of fifty amazing business ideas for women. I’m not talking about getting a job at your local fast food restaurant or movie theater. Nothing wrong with those jobs but my guess is you’re not reading this article to learn about a job like that.
The fifty ideas below are ones that:
a) you can start as a new business on your own or
b) you can independently make a second income
Every one of the business ideas for women on this list means two critical criteria:
- Flexible – Like most women, you are busy. For a business to make the cut on this list it needs to have the ability to flex it to your schedule. With these business ideas you won’t be beholden to working a certain schedule or even number of hours. That will be your choice.
- Fun – Everything on this list of business ideas for women has the potential to be a blast if it’s something that inspires you. If you’re going to make the trek into one of these opportunities, it’s going to take time, and potentially money, so it better be fun!
Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Review these 50 Business Ideas for Women
Before you move forward with determining your chosen business idea, I recommend you take a look in the mirror to answer some important questions about yourself which can help you filter through the 50 business ideas.
The two Rs: Resources & Risk
Among the key questions to ask yourself as you choose what type of business to pursue are your situational tolerance for spending time, money, and taking on risk.
- How much are you willing to invest in terms of both in time and money?
- How much risk are you willing to take on?
There are business that are:
- High investment AND high risk (both in terms of time and money) with the opportunity for higher reward, or
- There are businesses that you can do very well with but aren’t as intensive in terms of time and money
You know yourself best, so you can decide where you fit best. Both have their pros and cons, ultimately it comes down to you.
What makes you, you? Make a couple of lists
- What are your interests? Know yourself and the territories that you gravitate towards. After all, fun is part of our criteria for these ideas to be successful so make sure that any idea you choose to pursue matches something that you are interested in doing.
- What are your current skills? Of course you can learn new skills, but starting from a place of both confidence and existing expertise will set you up to be more successful right off the bat.
- Why are you looking for business ideas? For example, do you want to be an entrepreneur? Are you looking to change the world, to contribute to society? Are you a mom raising children looking for schedule flexibility? Or, are you simply hoping to supplement your family’s income with a small side hustle? By determining your motivation you can help zero in on the right idea for you.
Top 50 Business Ideas for Women Categories
You’ll notice we’ve grouped our ideas into various categories. Which categories call out to you or match your interests and skills? If so click on the category and I’ll take you to that portion of the list. Otherwise you can scroll through the full list below to see what pops!
- Food
- Design
- Art
- Product Development, Curation & Sales
- Homemade Goods
- Events & Travel
- Real Estate
- Writing
- Marketing
- Public Life
- Education
- Language Fluency
- Technology
- Administrative Computer Work
- Sharing Economy – rent your own stuff
- App-Based Gigs – drive or deliver
- Health
- Caregiver
- Animals
- Personnel
- Organization & Cleaning
Business Ideas for Women, at Home
Many women prefer to work hours that you choose, from your own home or location of your choosing. Of these 50 business ideas for women, many score high on our “Business Ideas for Women at Home” meter. That score is included under each idea.
Top 50 Business Ideas for Women, by Business Category
With your answers to the questions above ready to go, you should be ready to browse our list. I recommend you review these in full, making note of those that are most intriguing. Once you’ve had a chance for them all to soak in, go back through on the ones that peaked your interest in more detail. Do a little side research on those that still sound like fun. If you are feeling like an idea could be the winner, build an outline of what it would entail for you to bring it to life.
FOOD
#1. Caterer
Do you love to entertain? Love to cook? Do your friends and family always complement your ability to cook delicious, good looking meals for large groups? If so, have you ever considered starting your own catering business?
As a caterer, you’ll work with party throwing clients to plan and execute meals for their parties and special events. The flexibility with this idea comes in that you can decide which jobs to take and which to skip. Make sure you’re cognizant of the hours and days you’re willing to put in. Depending on the jobs you pick-up, the hours could be long and late.
Hot Tip: Start small with lower risk, lower stakes test runs for people you know, and be patient. As you have successes, the word will get out from guests of the events you’ve catered.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 4 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $200-$1000+ per event
#2. Home Chef
If cooking and teaching are two things you love, becoming a home chef could be the right idea for you. This can include a variety of money-making endeavors; here are just a few of the many options:
- Demonstrate cooking at dinner parties when a host is looking for something different than the same old dinner party.
- Help busy families with a week full of meals by travelling to their homes to prepare the dishes and leave in their freezer. All that’s left for them to do is heat and serve.
- Prepare meals for special occasions or dinner parties and sell them to customers who are looking to impress their guests but aren’t cooks themselves, or don’t have time to do the work. Again, they just heat and serve.
Very similar to catering, you’ll want to think about how you’ll build your customer base in the beginning. You can start with small, lower stakes jobs with friends and family, and if things go well the word will get out from the guests at those events. This is the kind of new business happy customers love to tell others about.
- Potential $ Opportunity: $20-$40/hour for events, or $200-$300 for a family’s meals for a week
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 3 out of 10
#3. Cake/Pastry Maker
If you are a woman who loves baking, and have an ability to make not only delicious, but also beautiful desserts, consider turning your hobby into a business.
Among this list of business ideas for women, this idea would be rewarding if it’s something you love to do. It would be fun, and you’ll get to be part of some of the most special occasions and moments in your clients’ lives.
The business is great because special occasions happen all year long. On the flip side, it can be particularly demanding especially during the holidays when there are many orders coming in at once. Since you’ll run the business though, you can decide when to stop taking orders.
Hot Tip: Think about renting kitchen space at a commercial kitchen. You can lease their large-scale equipment, work near like-minded foodies, and have plenty of space to create your masterpieces.
- Potential $ Opportunity: $40-$350/cake
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 5 out of 10
DESIGN
#4. Interior Designer
Creativity and eye for design are must-haves for anyone interested in going into Interior Design. If you love designing your own home or helping friends and family design theirs, this could be a lot of fun, especially considering you can make your mark without spending your own money.
Of course, being able to understand your client’s preferences and translate them into a beautiful end result will be paramount, so ask around to see what those close to you think about your ability to do that successfully. It’s always helpful to get a frank perspective from those who know you best before you take the leap.
Hot Tip: You can start out of your home, but if you end up growing to the point that you have many clients both residential and commercial, it may help to build your brand by having a well-designed office of your own that you can invite clients to for consultations, to view samples of your work, and to house the fabrics and materials they’ll want to preview for them to choose between.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 6 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $25,000-$90,000/year
#5. Seamstress
Finding a great seamstress can be hard, so if alterations is something you do well, there’s likely an opportunity for you to build a business in your local area.
If you like sewing beyond alterations and like to use those skills for more creative work, you could also consider a broader business that includes clothes design consulting, embroidery, custom tailoring, clothes-making, and even costume design.
Hot Tip: This is another business that will spread well through word of mouth. Ask your happy customers to leave you reviews on Google, Yelp or Nextdoor if it’s popular in your community.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 8 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $11-$19/hour
#6. Personal Stylist
If you love clothes, love style, and love to help people, this idea could be for you. It could be incredibly satisfying to help someone build their confidence from helping them to dress in a way they feel good about.
This is one of the ideas that you can come at from multiple angles:
You could start your own independent soup-to-nuts personal style consultant business; build a website, advertise, maintain a library of example ideas, visit clients’ homes, and help curate style for your clients by using what they have in their closets and shopping for new pieces
Another option is to become a personal shopper; you could do this on your own independently, or for a specific retailer like a department store
Hot Tip: If you prefer not to start your own thing and would rather work for a personal styling company with plenty of flexibility, check out Stitch Fix. For each “fix” you’ll use client-completed style profiles which include their needs and budget to select clothes and accessories that you recommend for their profile. The pieces you curate will then be sent to the client to try on and choose what to keep. It’s all done online, from your home or anywhere you have an internet connection.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 4 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: Ranges from independent consultant: $20-500/hour to an opportunity like StitchFix: $14-$15/hour
ART
#7. Graphic Designer
In the world we live in, where visual technology is embedded in everything we do, there is always a need for good graphic designers. Everyone from start-ups to stable companies could be a client opportunity. If this is an area you know, or if you have an eye for aesthetics and are willing to learn, it could be a great opportunity for you.
To start:
- Build your portfolio. Consider taking on early jobs for little or no pay in order to build great examples of your work which you can showcase to paying clients later on as they are searching for a graphic designer. The more work high quality work you do, the better and bigger your portfolio, the more you can charge.
- Consider an online course like those offered through Coursera. There are also freelance sites where you can start getting projects of different scales, in specific areas of graphic design. These sites can make your work available across the globe, to a truly scale-able market of potential clients with all different kids of needs.
Hot Tip: Check out Fiverr, UpWork, 99Designs and HireMyMom. We’ve successfully used Fiverr & UpWork ourselves for a multitude of projects as customers, and have found it to be a seamless and credible experience.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $20-$40/hour
#8. Photographer
Is photography something you enjoy doing in your free time? Do you often get complements on your photos? You could make a great living by monetizing that skill.
It was years ago when I was shopping for a wedding photographer that I realized how well a photographer can do financially in one night. Capturing the most special moments or phases of life is something many people are willing to pay a lot for.
Of course, you’ll need a great camera and everything that goes with it.
As you get started:
- Similar to graphic design, you’ll need a portfolio so again consider providing your services at low or no cost to stack up examples of your work across a wide variety of people, settings, and situations. Also include any existing personal photos that could work.
- Create a website and post your portfolio there so it’s easy for clients to browse, and also add new images as time goes on.
- Define your niche. You might prefer to shoot weddings, families, or even homes for real estate listings. Recognize that whatever you prefer to do might take a specific skill, so take some time to hone it. For example, photographing infants is more than just taking a great shot — you’ll also need to take on the role of baby whisperer to make sure the baby cooperates for the best photos. YouTube videos can be great tutorials to help you calm a crying baby and simultaneously position him for a photo keepsake your client family will have for a lifetime.
Once you’re ready, you’ll want to get the word out about your business so start your own Facebook and Instagram accounts. You can use paid advertising early on, targeted at the types of audiences locally in your area that you want to shoot.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score:1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: Average $30,000-40,000 but could be $70,000+
#9. Jewelry Maker
At the crossroads of art and fashion, comes jewelry making. As a jewelry maker, you’ll want to refine your personal style and decide what you want your ‘brand’ to be about. This could be a certain focus material, design aesthetic, type of jewelry, etc – whatever it is, makes sure it’s your own.
Creativity is a must-have-skill for this idea as is an interest in reading up on and staying on top of the latest fashions. You’ll want to make sure you know the latest trends in jewelry, as you can infuse them into your work so that your pieces are relevant for today.
In the beginning, you can sell your jewelry on Etsy online, you can sell at local art fairs or events, and work on selling in to local retailers. All of these ideas give you the opportunity to test the market’s interest in your pieces and also to start building your brand. If you have particularly interested buyers, you could create custom pieces at their requests.
Hot Tip: Once you’re ready, consider launching your own Shopify site and for many direct to consumer small business, targeted digital ads via Facebook & Google are a good investment to drive buyers to your website.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: Average $20,000-$30,000/year, but could be $60,000+
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, CURATION, & SALES
#10. Amazon FBA
At WeathFam, we could talk about Amazon FBA all day. It’s where we got our start in entrepreneurship. It’s not easy, but if you can crack the formula it can be very lucrative, super flexible, and a ton of fun.
For starters, you’ll need to determine your product idea for which there is not unreasonable competition and where a sizable market exists. You’ll then need to source your product, build amazing product listings, drive traffic to those pages, and then of course manage your inventory. For more information on Amazon FBA, check out how we did it here.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: Millions $$
#11. Gift shop owner
If you want to get out and be with the public, have always wanted to have your own retail space, and can imagine curating a haven of gifts for customers looking for something fun and unique to bring as hostess gifts or other gifting occasions, think about starting your own shop.
Sometimes I’ll be in my town and see an open store front and daydream about doing this myself. If that’s something you’ve done as well, maybe now is the time to take the leap.
You’ll need to stay on top of trends in gifts, tchotchkes, and know the categories of items that your local market likes. Then find suppliers you trust, but try to limit the number of them otherwise it could get complex to manage your inventory efficiently.
Hot Tip: Beyond selecting the right products, the two most important factors for success will be location and market awareness. The decision of where to locate your shop is critical. You want to be in a location that your customers are visiting for other reasons and then decide just to pop in and see what you have at your store. Those pop-in customers will be very important to your success. You can build awareness by marketing at local events, in local Facebook groups, and through local advertising like in newspapers, journals, or through social media.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: Average $50,o00/year but as much as $150,000+
#12. Drop-shipper
A drop-shipping business is where you can sell goods to a customer via your own online store without holding any inventory yourself. Here’s how it works:
- A customer buys an item from your online store at full retail prices
- You then forward the order to a supplier, but you only pay them the wholesale price for the item
- Lastly, your supplier ships the product directly to your customer under your business name
- The difference between the retail and wholesale prices is your profit. If you do this many times over, the profit can add up.
You will have plenty to do including setting up your online store, building customer awareness of it, and handling customer service. However, you don’t ever need to front the cost of inventory or deal with storing or managing it, or ship products to your end consumers.
There’s a lot to consider about drop-shipping. As you get started, begin with this criteria:
- Find a profitable niche where there is sufficient demand for your product
- Understand your competition and try to make your products advantaged
- Find a supplier that makes quality products and is reliable to deliver
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: Varies but not uncommon to see drop-shippers make $50+ per day
#13. Kids product rentals
Rental businesses can be a great business opportunity. As the sharing economy grows, there is a trend of consumers shifting from owning to renting. People with hustle and creativity can make money taking advantage of this trend.
My husband and I have done the kind of travel when you lug all of the equipment you need for a baby or toddler and packing and carrying it all can be overwhelming – and that’s in addition to the hard work it takes to care for our little guy on an airplane.
Instead, the last couple of out of state trips we took, we decided to leave our gear at home and rent a car seat, stroller, pack & play, even some toys. The companies we rented from delivered the supplies directly to the house and set them all up. Clean, in great shape, and truly a huge stress relief. I’ll never pack up our pack & play for a long haul trip again. It was truly an amazing stress relief for travelling with a two year old, and an all around great solution for a traveling family.
You have options:
- We used Babys Away which is available in 35 states. You could open up a branch where there isn’t a location.
- There are other companies like it you could join or start your own independent local rental company. For example, when I had a friend come visit us in Minneapolis and needed some extra gear for her daughter, I found a local company with a similar business model and had a great experience renting from them.
Maintaining your products, keeping them clean, and getting the word out will all be important for the success of a rental business.
I included this idea on this list of top business ideas for women because rental prices can be as high as 50% of the cost of an item, so with just two customers renting a product, you’ll make your money back and then start banking profit.
Kids product rental is a great idea for moms with kids who know these products well, but we also have a WealthFam article you can check out on a variety of other rental business ideas, which might spur some additional inspiration.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 7 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $35+ per day
HOMEMADE GOODS
#14. Sell on Etsy
Do you sew? sculpt? design? weld? If you have any of these or other art skills, and can imagine making them into a product that you think other people would buy, Etsy is the best place to sell them.
Once your product is defined, you know how you’ll produce and ship them, and great photos of the product captured, you can open up your shop. It’s very easy to set-up, you don’t even need a business license to begin. As part of the bio for your shop, you’ll want to explain who you are and the types of products you sell in your online Etsy store.
With your shop set-up, you’ll then build your product listings.
Hot Tip: Make sure to use your product listing pages as marketing vehicles, explaining the details of what you sell and include as many photos as possible for a buyer to truly visualize your products without seeing them in person.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $50-$2,000/month
EVENTS & TRAVEL
#15. Wedding Planner
Is there any more joyous celebration that needs significant planning than a wedding? Event planning lovers have an opportunity to make the magic happen for a client on one of the most monumental days of that person’s life.
This is an idea that we recommend you first gain experience before you go all in. Even if you are an experienced event planner, if you’ve never planned a wedding yourself, try to start small by helping out friends or family and see how it goes. If it’s successful, meaning both the couple and you were happy, consider taking on some smaller clients for low cost as you ramp up.
After you have some weddings successfully executed under your belt, you can start to expand. Just don’t go too be too fast – it’s an event you don’t want to be in over your head for since it’s a once in a lifetime day for your customers.
Hot Tip: Consider what it would be like to employ a team. Depending on the type of weddings you end up planning, you may be able to do it solo, or for larger scale events, you likely need some additional help from employees.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $1,500-$10,000/wedding
#16. Kids Birthday Party Planner
Is there anything more fun for a kid than celebrating their own birthday? If you are a kid at heart and love to plan events, you could make a business out of planning children’s birthday parties. You can plan around a theme, and then design everything around it.
I was just at the cutest part for a three-year-old-boy. The theme was construction and dump trucks: “Dump Everything, Emerson is 3”. They served snacks out of upside down construction hats, they had little pictures of the birthday boy’s face on construction workers printed everywhere from the invitation to the food signs, and of course plates, napkins, cupcakes, favors all matched the theme.
I’m sure planning that party took plenty of work, but you can imagine going much more all-out. You could be charged with taking on heavy coordination to hire talent like a clown or a magician, managing finding, renting, and setting-up a space, and leading invitations and the guest list.
- Potential $ Opportunity: $200-$1000/party
#17. Games Rental
Many people have parties or family gatherings when the weather is nice and want to provide some fun and games. However, it often isn’t worth buying and storing all the equipment for a handful of uses. There are lots of these types of gatherings, but most people only host one or two a year.
That’s where you can come in, as a rental service for outdoor games. Check-0ut our article on rental service businesses, outdoor games is just one of the 27 ideas.
The games we recommend you start with are:
- Giant Jenga
- Cornhole (aka ‘bags’)
- Bocce ball
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 7 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $50+ per day
#18. Travel Agent
If you love daydreaming about travel as much as I do, love to plan trips, are a great salesperson and are very organized, the top idea for you within this list of business ideas for women could be creating your own travel agent business.
Before you get started:
- Determine what area of the world you’ll want to focus in on and then make sure you’re an expert on it in terms of culture, destinations, activities, sightseeing, dining, etc.
- Decide who you are going to target as your clientele. Will it be budget travelers, luxury travelers, corporate travelers, families, site-seeing groups, etc? Zero in on what your focus will be.
- You may want to invest in continuing education or certification to stay-up-to-date on both technology and trends in travel. Building expertise and then keeping up with it will be critical.
Hot Tip: Building connections in the industry and at the part of the globe where you’re going to focus will go a long way. In order to help your clients build their perfect trip, you can leverage your connections to get them a better deal or special passes or reservations.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 6 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $10,000-$60,000/year
REAL ESTATE
#19. Rental Property Owner
“Passive Income” is a buzzword these days. It means money that keeps growing, even when you sleep, take a vacation, or are sick. Sounds nice, right? These passive income opportunities are likely some of the most appealing within this list of business ideas for women.
One popular way to make passive income is to own rental properties. Especially if you have a strong interest in real estate.
Here are a few important considerations:
- This idea takes upfront investment because you need to buy real estate in order to start renting it out. This means you’ll need cash in order to pursue it.
- You’ll need to educate yourself on real estate, the market, and build a pro forma to understand the potential for profit for a given property.
- Once you own a property, it may already have renters with signed leases or you may need to solicit new renters. You’ll need to keep them happy by ensuring the building is in working order.
- You can do the handy work yourself or outsource it to a property manager. Which you choose to do, should be dependent on your profit margin between your mortgage and the rent you’re charging. If it’s thin, you don’t want to also have the expense of a property manager, or you might be left with nothing to keep.
Hot Tip: Before you get too far down this path, make sure you know how much total capital you have to invest today and what you expect in the future. In order to make good money over time, you’ll typically need multiple properties throwing out profit rather than just a single investment.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 6 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: A very wide range dependent on each property and the scale of your portfolio
#20. Realtor
If you love real estate, love building relationships, are a natural salesperson, and are comfortable wearing many hats, becoming a realtor could be an interesting avenue for you to pursue.
A realtor has many jobs in one. You will prospect leads, develop relationships, manage those contacts, deal with passionate buyers and sellers, and like many entrepreneurial ventures, manage your own administrative work.
Before you can begin, you’ll need to pass a licensing exam. With your certification complete, you then can act as a real estate agent on behalf of a broker. You’ll be paid a commission for the real estate you help your clients buy or sell.
Hot Tip: If you want to become an independent agent, or have other realtors eventually work for you, you’ll also need to become a real estate broker which entails passing a second exam for your Real Estate Brokers license.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $30,000-$100,000/year
WRITING
#21. Blogger
Blogging can come naturally to a natural writer. If you love to write, have a topic you’d love to write about that has a breadth of things to cover, and you’re savvy on the internet, you could be an excellent blogger.
To get started, build a website. We recommend using WordPress.com and begin writing articles about the topic you want to focus in on. It could be fashion, cooking, winter sports, soap operas – you name it – do whatever you have a passion for, as long as there’s a significant amount of search volume about it. You can use a tool like kwfinder.com to do research and analysis to understand the amount of search volume that exists for your topic and specific search terms.
There’s a learning curve, so be patient with yourself because it will likely take time to gain and grow your site traffic. Once you have enough content and traffic though, your earning begins.
Hot Tip: As a blogger, the opportunity to make money is all about the ads and affiliate programs so you’ll want to learn all about how you can monetize your site via both paths.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $1,000-$100K/month
#22. Freelance Writer
Another option within this list of business ideas for women for a writing lover is to become a freelance writer, which is less of a commitment than creating your own blog. Instead, you simply get paid to write, typically per word.
Big companies, small companies, magazines, blogs – anything that has written content – could be on the hunt for a great freelance writer, so good writers will be met with plenty of demand to keep yourself busy.
One way to stand out could be to focus in on a genre of technical writing like medical, legal, or finance. If you build expertise in a particular area, your writing becomes more valuable to anyone looking for that kind of writing.
To get noticed, search for Facebook groups and websites like Fiverr, Upwork or Hire My Mom where people are always hunting for freelancers.
Hot Tip: Pick one of these websites to start with and try to stack up the volume of business so that you are collecting reviews. Of course if they’re good that will make your writing more appealing to potential clients who would not only select you, but also pay more.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $0.25-$0.50+/ word (one-4000 word article could be worth $2000). That’s quick and easy money for someone who loves to write!
#23. Proofreader
If you love to read, and often find yourself catching errors that other people might not notice, you could make an excellent proofreader.
Proofreading is the very last stage of writing. It requires looking over the content for grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors, so that the final product is polished and ready to go.
If you’re interested in getting started, you can join Upwork for free to connect with potential clients. Start applying to gigs that interest you when you see them posted and then Upwork takes 10% of your earnings.
Hot Tip: Like any freelance gig you’re delivering via a site that has reviews, it might take some time for you to build credibility and get up the the price you’d like to ultimately charge for your proofreading skills. However, if you’re patient to build your brand with several good reviews, you’ll be able to take on new jobs anytime you like.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $20-$40/hour
MARKETING
#24. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when a business compensates you for driving visitors to their website who make a purchase. You can think of it as a commission for your sending the business a sale.
There are many ways to become an affiliate marketer. You’ll need to use an online vehicle to suggest and link customers to websites that offers affiliate programs. Do this via your own website or social account so that you can reach an audience and then refer them to buy the product.
Hot Tip: Create a ‘review’ website and monetize via the Amazon Associates program. Have you ever visited thewirecutter? They review all sorts of different products and make money from affiliate marketing. You can build you own mini Wirecutter type site deep within a given niche. As you get traffic you can monetize with Amazon Associates.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $100-$2,500/month
#25. Social Media Manager
Businesses recognize the need to have a social media presence to connect with their target customers, but many don’t have the expertise to do so well. That’s where you come in.
If you haven’t managed social media ever before, there is no shortage of free resources available to teach you how. There are books at your local library, marketing blogs, video tutorials – you name it, but you’ll need to sift through what is most useful to you.
Hot Tip: Like many of these business ideas for women, with this idea it will be worth spending a good amount of time building your craft, because doing this well is harder than it looks.
Once you’re ready to start, you’ll want to get a few jobs under your belt to build out your portfolio just like any other freelance work. Don’t be afraid of starting small and doing jobs for little or no cost. Having the examples in your portfolio will payoff in the long term.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $250-$4,000/month
PUBLIC LIFE
#26. YouTube Personality
If you can build a significant following on your YouTube channel, you can leverage it for profit. There are many businesses that are looking to reach their target audience via YouTubers.
To get started, first identify what type of content you are going to focus on and how you’ll connect with your audience. Once you know the videos you’re going to make, you’ll need the right equipment – a camera (you can use your iPhone), and you’ll likely want to invest in a microphone and good lighting kit which is even more important than a great camera.
Hot Tip: In the beginning, practice, practice, practice. Don’t worry about being perfect, just get comfortable behind the camera. You’ll also want to edit your content, which you can learn from a plethora of online resources available for free if you search for them.
With content decided, your supplies purchased, and a video personality you feel good about, you’ll also need to do whatever you can to drive your videos to appear at the top when someone searches on YouTube for your type of video. You can optimize toward’s the search algorithm by publishing videos frequently and also optimizing for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Stay up-to-date on YouTube’s algorithm and learn what works. This could include everything from using your video title to include the best keyword to encouraging likes and comments on your videos, to using your video thumbnails to attract people to click on your video.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $100-$5,000/month
#27. Influencer
An influencer is a person who uses social media to share ideas, recommendations, and opinions on brands or products, which in turn has the opportunity to influence their audience of followers.
The beauty of an influencer is anyone can do it because people are looking to follow regular people they can relate to. You’ll need to be someone who can build a trusted relationship with the people that follow you, and then leverage your authenticity and authority to engage your audience.
As an influencer, you’ll want to ensure you can hang your hat on your “thing” that you’ll be known for. Maybe it’s that you’re a mom of young kids, it could be fashion, it could be about keeping your home organized – whatever you choose, make it your central focus which should dictate your content focus.
Hot Tip: Do lots of research before you get started including on building your following and finding brands to sponsor your posts. You’ll need to have a fully flushed out plan in order to monetize your influencer position.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $100-$5,000/month
#28. Life Coach
If you are someone whom your friends and family regularly turn to for advice, consider turning it into a money-making venture. Life coaching is one of the ideas that makes our list of top business ideas for women.
Think about the areas you know most about, as you could consult clients on any topic that has a scaled need. It could be careers, nutrition, parenting, stress management — the list is endless for areas where others are seeking guidance.
If you excel in something, it could be an opportunity to build a business leveraging that talent as a service by sharing it with others
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $25,000-$80,000/year
#29. Voiceover Artist
You’ve heard voice-over artists’ voices a million times on TV commercials, radio ads, cartoons, and game show intros. There are so many places that someone who is talented in using their voice can do so.
If you have a consistent voice, are good at articulating your words, and even get compliments on the way you speak, this could be an interesting route to pursue.
Hot Tip: Like the jobs in the Art category of this business ideas for women list, this is another idea for which you’ll want to start building up your portfolio to share with perspective clients. As you gain experience and build up your portfolio, your rate should also increase.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $20-$300/job (typically about an hour)
#30. Comedian
There are many different types of comedians, from sketch to stand-up to improv. What they all have in common is that they are of course all funny.
If you have a skill in making people laugh, like go get up on stage, and watch to have the most entertaining job among all of your friends, you could be the next Amy Poehler.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t say caveat that this idea is far from one of the easier among this list of business ideas for women, but you can start and get feelers for it by taking a class at a local comedy shop doing the type of comedy that interests you. For example, The Second City in Chicago, Toronto, or LA.
See how it goes, and take the time to test your funny bone as well as your confidence in front of an audience. If it goes well, there are likely shows you can try to audition for at your school. If you start getting those jobs and making your audiences laugh, the momentum will build.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $30,000+/year
EDUCATION
#31. Online Tutor
If you love to teach, consider doing it on your own schedule, online. There several companies that have platforms you can use to share your knowledge across any subject you can imagine from your own home.
Wyzant, for example, offers you the opportunity to offer lessons in any subject you can imagine. You don’t need to have previous teaching experience.
- Potential $ Opportunity: $12-30/hour
LANGUAGE FLUENCY
#32. Translator
Translators convert written information from one language into another language. If you are multilingual, this could be a great option for you.
Like other freelance work a’la freelance writing and graphic design, translation can afford you the flexibility to make your own schedule and work from anywhere, anytime. It’s also great if you prefer to work on your computer vs work directly with people day-to-day.
Keep in mind that beyond knowing two or more languages, being a well-paid translator takes patience to build up knowledge and references/reviews. Just like other freelance gigs, for beginners we recommend you get started on a site like Upwork, Fiverr. As you gain experience, consider Translator Cafe.
Hot Tip: You’ll want to focus in on types of content that you’re familiar with, because translation can be very difficult if it’s a topic area that you don’t know well, especially for more technical writing.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $0.10/word in the beginning to $0.40 for more experienced translators, depending on the language pair
#33. English as a Second Language Teacher
ESL is a great option for someone who is fluent in English and enjoys teaching. It’s especially helpful if you also speak the other language that the people you’re teaching speak.
There is a need in communities across the country to help non-native English speakers learn English, so while you could do it in person locally, you also have the option of signing-up for one of these online options and work from home. Check out Qkids, VIPkid or or Italki. Each one connects English instructors online with students who want to learn English.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $15-$20/hour
TECHNOLOGY
#34. Virtual Assistant
In today’s online world, so many things can be done virtually. You could work for clients to do things like email and calendar management, arrange travel, data entry, editing work – you name it, anything that can be done virtually, could fall under the umbrella of the services that a VA could offer.
One of the appealing things about becoming a VA is the variety. One day you could be doing social media management, the next day customer service; it all depends on the needs of your client.
You could do VA work for a company OR you could go out on your own. You can also list your services on any of the freelance sites I’ve talked about elsewhere in this article – Upwork, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour. Also check out TaskRabbit which connects people locally, but have begun offering remote work as well.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $15-20/hour
#35. App Development
Do you have a knack for coming up with big ideas? Are you looking to create something new and groundbreaking?
App development would give you that chance. First, of course you’ll need your idea. Then, do some research to understand what like it already exists and consider how yours would be different and incrementally better.
Depending on how advanced your app is and your skill level in areas like programming and development, as well as graphic design because you’ll want your app to look good and be a great user experience, you may need to enlist freelance experts for support.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $100,000+
ADMINISTRATIVE COMPUTER WORK
#36. Data Entry
Data Entry does not take much training and can be a good option for someone looking for a very flexible schedule within this list of business ideas for women. While you’ll be able to bring in some cash, Data Entry probably won’t make you rich.
Hot Tip: Make sure any website you work for is reputable, as unfortunately there are a lot of scams out there. You can also start smaller with freelance work. There will be Data Entry projects to pick up on sites like UpWork & Fiverr.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $10-$18/hour
#37. Bookkeeper
If you love to manage your own finances and have enjoyed doing it for a business before or think you would like it, bookkeeping is an idea to put on your radar. Every business needs bookkeeping, and so there are many places to look for bookkeeping opportunities.
You don’t necessarily need a college degree, but you will need strong math and computer skills, need to be well organized, have great attention to detail, and have experience working in accounting software and managing spreadsheets. It helps if you have a love for accounting.
Hot Top: Getting certified is recommended. You can do that through the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $35,000-$50,000/year
#38. Transcription
Being a transcriptionist offers awesome flexibility as you can do it from anywhere with a computer and a WiFi connection. If you enjoy typing and are fast and accurate, this could be for you.
TranscribeMe is a great place to start.
You’ll need to state by taking the Transcriber Training Program and then can work as much or little as you’d like.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $15/audio hour
SHARING ECONOMY
#39. Rent your own assets (AirBnB, Turo)
By now you’ve likely heard of or used AirBnB, It’s a shared economy website that makes it easy to rent out your home or part of it to travelers looking for a place to stay in your local area.
You control the available dates, the price you charge, and the rules for your house.
If there are times of the year that you’re out of town or not staying at your home, or even have an open room while you are there, AirBnB makes it easy for you to make money off of that unused space.
Among this list of business ideas for women, this qualifies as a passive income option, as you’d be making money while you’re not actively doing any work.
Hot Tip: You can also share your car. WealthFam has a whole article on how you can do that through Turo.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $200-$10,000/month
APP-BASED GIGS – DRIVE OR DELIVER
#40. Driver
You’ve likely been a passenger in a ride sharing service like Uber or Lyft by now. I ride them a lot, and every time I’m in one, I like to talk to my driver to understand how he or she feels about their work, and generally they are very positive and happy to have such a flexible way to make income.
If you enjoy driving, are 21+ with at least one year of driving experience, can pass a background check, and own a car made in the last decade, you are eligible to drive with one of these companies.
As a driver, you get to call the shots. You can drive anytime you wish for as long or as little as you’d like.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $100-$2,5000/month
#41. Delivery (Meals or Groceries)
If you’re like me and wouldn’t be 100% comfortable inviting strangers into your car, here’s another business idea for women where you can still leverage your car to make money. You can do so by either grocery shopping or picking up meals for people and delivering them to them.
I love to grocery shop, and think that working for Instacart or Shipt could be a lot of fun. You simple receive an order from a customer, go to their chosen store, pick-up each item the customer selected, and drop the bags from your shopping trip off at the customer’s preferred location.
The other option outside of groceries, is to deliver take-out meals from restaurants that a customer orders to that customer’s preferred location. DoorDash and UberEats are just two of the popular services out there.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $100-$500/week
HEALTH
#42. Fitness Instructor
If you love fitness and are always at the gym taking classes, transitioning to fitness instructor may be one of the most appealing of these business ideas for women.
If you’re interested, first figure out the program that you love most. Is it yoga? kickboxing? dance? Take that class as much as you can to become an expert in it.
When you first start out with your own classes, you’ll simplify things if you choose a pre-choreographed class like Zumba because it takes the stress out of creating a routine that you know will motivate a class full of people to work hard.
You can also get a certification in that specific program, like Orange Theory for example. Some of these certificate-required-workouts will require an in-personal training over a weekend, with ongoing education required.
Hot Tip: After you know what you want to teach, have become an expert in it and have your certificate, if there’s a specific gym you’d like to teach at, find and connect with the Group Fitness Instructor there. They’ll tell you if there are opportunities for training that would benefit you and what it will take to become an instructor at that gym.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $20-$45/class
#43. Nutrition Counselor or Writer
This idea does require expert knowledge, but if you have that, it’s a good one to consider as it’s very much on trend which translates to a strong, viable market.
Requirements to be a nutritionist vary by state. You’ll generally need a Bachelor’s degree in a related field, to have passed a certification exam, and to have completed a relevant internship.
You’ll likely want your Registered Dietitian Nutritionist-RDN credential. This extra credential gives you credibility beyond just telling stories how you’ve used diet to transform your life or others.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 4 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $30,000-$80,000/year
CAREGIVER
#44. Childcare Provider
Caregiving for children is an opportunity to both start a new opportunity and make a difference in kids’ lives. 0-5 are the most critical developmental years for a child, so if you take this on you’d be taking on a big responsibility to provide the kiddos with nurturing, love, and learning. If that speaks to you, this option might be a great fit.
Regardless of how small or large you plan for your childcare business to be, you’ll want to understand licensing requirements before doing anything else as they are specific to your local municipality.
You’ll also want to consider what it will take to insure your business. Start thinking through your overall business plan, including your policies and procedures for both kids and their parents.
Hot Tip: Check out Brightwheel to simplify the administrative work. It is a childcare center management software, which will do everything from collect tuition to help you stay in touch with families.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 5 out of 10 (this all depends on if you choose to set-up your daycare at home or not)
- Potential $ Opportunity: $30/child/day+
#45. Companion for the Elderly
An opportunity that not only will keep you busy, but is an opportunity to bring light to someone’s life is to become an elderly companion or caregiver.
This idea will fill your cup up, caring for people that likely need and often welcome the companionship. It’s been my experience that the people in the generation you’d be caring for, will also provide you back with some of the richest wisdom you might ever hear.
Hot Tip: Organizations like the Red Cross offer training programs for you to learn about the basics of senior care and the skills to do the job.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $10-$20/hour
ANIMALS
#46. Pet Sitter / Dog Walker
If you love animals and want to make money out of spending time with them, consider joining Rover, a service from which you will “get paid to play with dogs.”
Rover service connects dog sitters or walkers to dog owners. You decide what services you’d like to offer including dog boarding (the most lucrative), dog walking, dog sitting, or house-sitting. You also set your own rates and Rover takes a cut.
Once you have your account set-up, local dog owners will reach out to you.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 5 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: Top sitters make $450/month
#47. Pet Groomer
Pet lovers commence. Beyond dog walking, pet grooming is a great option on this list of business ideas for women who are also animal lovers and want to interact with many different animals and send them back to their owners feeling fresh and smelling good.
If you decide to start your own pet grooming business vs working for an existing one, consider how you can differentiate and be creative about it. I remember when I was growing up, our dog groomer had a truck with all of the equipment she needed in it, so she could groom on site in front of our house.
Hot Tip: It’s not a bad idea to complete some on-the-job training by apprenticing with a groomer who has experience doing this work. You’ll start out to learn the trade, including learning how to wash, trim and style dogs as well as how to keep them calm.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 3 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $14-$18/hour
PERSONNEL
#48. Headhunter
Headhunter represent companies to find talent for them to hire. This is a dynamic job and can only be done well by a true people person. If you love meeting and talking to new people, it could be a great option.
To be successful, you’ll need to be able to make the connection between the skills and experiences that an employer is seeking and then find candidates that will be a good fit, plus help to sell them on the job.
Typically, headhunting is compensated on commission. You earn for every candidate you place into a job you’re contracted for. So the more jobs you fill, the more you’ll earn.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 10 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $50,000-$150,o00/year
ORGANIZATION & CLEANING
#49. Home Organizer
Do you love organization? Is Marie Kondo your hero? Does your idea of a perfect weekend include labeling bins in your pantry or looking at photos of well organized closets? If so, you can use that skill to help customers organize their spaces too.
The goal of your work will be to organize your clients’ spaces, in a custom way that works for the person or family that lives there. In order to provide true value, you’ll also want to help them build a plan for maintaining the organization and avoiding clutter.
This is a service you will want to build awareness for on social media. Create a Facebook and Instagram account and consider paid advertising on both platforms.
Hot Tip: Another idea for more organic information sharing is to create a Facebook group about home organization. You can share ideas there, and invite others interested to do the same. You’ll essentially be sponsoring authentic conversation for sharing tips about the topic.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $40-$150/hour
#50. Home cleaner
There are always people looking for help cleaning their house. For someone who enjoys cleaning, think about if it’s something you might enjoy.
A small cleaning business won’t take a lot of money to start. One way to make your company stand-out is to find a niche like green cleaning. While it won’t be for everyone, it could be a differentiator for your service vs others in your area. It may also allow you to charge your clients a premium for the unique benefit you’re bringing vs the average cleaning service.
Hot Tip: Nextdoor is a great vehicle to get the word out about your business. You can buy online advertising, but also ask happy clients to share their satisfaction with your work on it. Their referrals will be like gold for this kind of business.
- Business Ideas for Women at Home Score: 1 out of 10
- Potential $ Opportunity: $100-$200/job
Other Job Ideas for Working Moms
More generally, there are a couple of honorable mentions that you should check out. These are female-created & run, female focused jobs sites that have plethora of opportunities.
- The Mom Project: This site is designed for moms who are looking for opportunities to stay active in the workforce. All of the job postings are for employers who are committed to “designing and supporting a better workplace.”
- Hire My Mom: This site was built with women seeing flexibility in mind, and it’s super easy to apply for jobs.
Which of These Business Ideas for Women Speaks to You? There’s No Better Time than Today to Get Started
As a woman, you thoughtful perspective, critical eye, and savvy mindset are competitive edges. There is a vast landscape of business ideas for women for you to choose from. I hope this list has you inspired to figure out your next adventure!
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