10 Easy Ways to Start a Home-Based Business
As a stay-at-home parent, it’s often times impossible to get and keep a 9-to-5 job. This doesn’t mean that you should make coupon clipping your favorite activity, though. Here are several proven home-based business ideas that don’t require a large investment.
- If you love baking stuff, homemade cookies can be quite profitable. Share some tasty samples with a few local stores owners, and see what they think about them. Then, if you’ve got a green light, you will only need to pack your products in an attractive way and they’ll sell like… cookies!
- Having a data entry job may sound boring, but it’s an activity that can be done whenever you’ve got a few minutes of spare time. The pay isn’t always great, but if you put in enough effort, you can earn at least a few hundreds of dollars per month.
- If you are a crafty person, making greeting cards may prove to be both fun and profitable. But don’t start creating cards that nobody will want to purchase! It’s best to do your research first. Chat with specialized shopkeepers, and find out which cards sell best. Then, start designing those hot selling cards, but add your own twist to the process. You could design birthday cards using only black and white colors, for example.
- Some stay-at-home moms earn hundreds of dollars per month by filling in Internet surveys. In a nutshell, you are given a website page address, and you have to visit it and answer several questions. Most companies will pay you a few dollars per survey, but make sure that you are working with a reputable company, which doesn’t just use your services, and then refuses to send you the money. Simply Google “company name review” and see what others have to say about it.
- It’s easy to sell things online these days, and one of the best sites that allow you to do that is eBay. Start selling by getting rid of stuff you don’t need anymore – or you’ve never used! Then, if you discover that you’ve got what it takes for this business, try your luck with AliExpress, picking products that can be shipped straight to your customers. Many people have made millions by simply selling products that have been imported from China. Who knows, you may be the next millionaire on the list!
- If you’ve learnt a foreign language, many people may be interested in your services, but they don’t know that you exist yet! Fortunately, there are several established translation sites, which can put you in contact with people looking for translations.
- Most people have a very busy schedule these days, and some of them value their time much more than their money. This explains why many professionals choose to hire virtual assistants, who will help them take off some pressure and buy them time by answering phone calls, reading and replying to their emails, scheduling meetings, keeping their calendars up to date, and so on. You will only need an Internet connection to start doing this activity.
- Few moms are web designers, but trust me – it’s an easy to learn job. All you need is a good eye for design! Then, pay a few dozens of dollars for a web design course or – even better – take a free course online. The best part is that you can start finding customers by asking your relatives and friends, and even advertise your services in a local magazine.
- Speaking of magazines, if you know your grammar and have a bit of talent, you can write articles for various publications. The pay ranges from $20-$400 per piece, and a couple of well-written articles can help you attract many more customers.
- Have you ever heard of Clickbank? It’s one of the biggest digital marketplaces out there. Create a free account, and then look for products that you can promote on your blog. Yes, even on a blog from this list of free blogs. Anytime people click your dedicated link to the digital product (known as an “affiliate link”) and purchase it, you can earn some money. In fact, if you are an expert in your field, you could even create your digital product and sell it using one of Clickbank’s vendor accounts.