Looking for a great home business idea during this coronaries pandemic? Worry no more, I have put together these 20 business ideas that will help you start and grow a successful business at the comfort of your home.
- Many of the best small business ideas during the pandemic involve an online business model.
- Choose a business idea that you are knowledgeable and passionate about.
- Before starting a business, determine if there is a demand for what you want to provide.
- This article is for anyone looking for an idea to start a home business.
You know you want to start a business, but you’re having a tough time articulating your idea. If you want to become an entrepreneur, it’s important to start with a great business idea. All you need is a bit of inspiration. It all starts with an idea that has room to grow over time.
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If you are thinking of starting a business in 2023, it is critical to take the new normal into account. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much about how people consume products and services. While starting a retail business or restaurant might have been a good idea previously, you might be best served to reconsider those thoughts until you see how the next year plays out. Instead of some more traditional businesses, think about those that can support how people are now living their lives.
This list of business ideas includes 21 great types of business to help you find success in 2023 and beyond. If you find an area you want to pursue, be sure to review the steps for how to start your own business.
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Below are 20 great small business ideas to do at home during Covid-19
If you’re ready to run your own business, consider any of these great business ideas.
1. Consultant
If you are knowledgeable and passionate about a specific topic (business, social media, marketing, human resources, leadership, communication, etc.), starting a consultant business can be a lucrative option. You can start your consulting business on your own, then grow your business and hire other consultants over time.
2. Online reseller
Those passionate about clothing and/or sales may want to consider starting an online reseller business. Although it takes a lot of time and dedication – and an eye for fashion – this is a great idea that you can start as a side hustle and turn into a full-time resale business. You can start by using online store websites like Poshmark and Mercari to sell your unwanted clothing, eventually expanding to your own resale website.
3. Online teaching
The demand for online education has opened up a wide possibility for entrepreneurs to start their own ventures. Since this is an online business idea, you can choose any subject you are knowledgeable about and teach a course regardless of your location. If you don’t have advanced knowledge in any particular subject, you can always consider teaching English as a foreign language online to students overseas.
4. Online bookkeeping
As with education, technology allows many bookkeeping services to be performed online. If you are an accountant or bookkeeper who wants the freedom and autonomy of running your own business, you can take advantage of modern technology to start your own online bookkeeping service, taking on other companies as clients.
5. Medical courier service
If you have a reliable vehicle and good time management skills, you may want to consider creating your own courier service – more specifically, a medical courier service. As a driver, you would be responsible for transporting medical items like lab specimens, prescription drugs and equipment. The healthcare industry is expanding, which is great for medical courier service job stability. You could start your courier business on your own or hire other drivers to work for you.
6. App developer
If you are knowledgeable and experienced in technology, you may want to consider a career in app development. Smartphones have become an everyday accessory for many Americans, which has increased demand for mobile apps. Similarly, virtual reality software has become popular in recent years, so there is also a demand for VR app development.
7. Transcription service
If you have a good ear and can type quickly, a transcription service is a great business idea that allows you to work from home with a flexible schedule. Medical transcription services are especially needed as voice recognition technology proliferates for healthcare provider dictation. If you’re not looking to start all at once, or if you have a day job you would like to keep, for the time being, you can accept as few or many transcription jobs as you’d like. To boost your business prospects and justify charging more, consider becoming a certified transcriptionist and delving into a few specialties.
Medical transcriptionists typically charge 6 to 14 cents per line of transcription, which can quickly add up. The typical turnaround time for a transcription job is 24 hours, so it’s important to stay on top of the jobs you accept. However, the flexibility to accept only a few requests to get started means you can scale up as you are ready, making transcription an easy service to start up slowly. Best of all, there is very little startup cost and overhead. You simply need a computer, the appropriate software, and a secure messaging service.
8. Professional organizer
Looking for a business idea that can really “spark joy”? Professional organizers, like Marie Kondo, help people declutter and minimize for a living. In an age of materialism, many people are desperate to downsize and take control over their possessions, rather than letting their things possess them. Minimalism is becoming extremely popular, but people often find it hard to part with things they’ve owned for a long time. Part of being a professional organizer is helping clients develop a system for downsizing and keeping things that way.
If you’re a highly organized person who enjoys making spaces functional and comfortable, you might be good at coaching others to do the same. People will pay you to help them devise a method of minimizing their possessions and then maintaining an organized space. To promote your business, ask if your clients will let you take before and after photos of the areas of their homes you’ve organized, and use those to create a portfolio that you can put on social media to attract more clients.
9. Freelance copywriter
If you’re a natural wordsmith with a bit of marketing knowledge, you can establish yourself as a freelance copywriter. Whether you write blogs, web content or press releases, plenty of companies will pay for your services. You can increase your value by bringing SEO knowledge to the table to help your clients craft a strategy to attack specific keywords that their target audience is already using in their online searches. Most freelance copywriters charge $40 to $50 per hour, but those with expertise in a given vertical could charge even more.
Freelance copywriting is a great business to run, because as long as you have an internet connection, you can work. It’s a business that you can operate from the comfort of your own home, or even from the road if you travel. If you establish a large enough network and gain referrals from satisfied clients, you could even make freelance writing your full-time job.
10. Translation service
According to research from IBISWorld, the translation services industry saw a decline in 2020, as did many industries; however, it is projected to rebound nicely in 2023. That projected growth isn’t surprising, as the internet has opened up entrepreneurs in other countries to English-speaking markets and vice versa.
This trend has created an opening for multilingual speakers to offer specific services, such as document translation and the translation of website information into languages for use in other markets. If you know multiple languages, carving out a niche in the translation services industry could be a successful endeavor.
11. Digital marketing
The importance of the internet grows with every passing day, making it harder all the time for businesses to cut through the clutter and properly market themselves. Digital marketing services are always in demand, and many small and midsize companies would rather outsource it than establish a costly in-house team. If you’ve got chops in SEO, content marketing, pay-per-click, web development, or social media management, you could have a business opportunity that allows you the freedom to work from home.
Digital marketing is an important part of a brand, so it’s critical for you to respond to developments in your clients’ marketing strategies. Social media management entails watching for comments and messages around the clock, not just scheduling posts in a “set-it-and-forget-it” mindset. If you enjoy strategizing and implementing plans meticulously, digital marketing could be the right business for you. You may also consider becoming an affiliate marketer, which is another form of digital marketing.
12. Buy products in bulk and sell them online
Many businesses center on the simple concept of importing products in bulk and selling them individually for a profit.
Maybe you recently traveled abroad and came across unique products that aren’t readily available in your market, but that you sense an appetite for. Or maybe you’ve zeroed in on a niche market and know the perfect way to serve it.
Either way, if these products are relatively easy to store and ship, you may have some solid home-based business ideas on your hands.
You can even initially use your home as a showroom to sell locally, giving you the option to expand with additional storage space and employees as you validate your idea and sales start to ramp up. This is how Artemis Design Co. got its start.
“I was living in the south end of Boston, and I had my living room just full of these products. I would have people come over if they wanted to look at something or try something on, and that’s how I made my first sale.” Milicent Armstrong, Artemis Design Co.
13. Grow an online audience you can monetize
monetize your audience like an influencer as a home business idea If you’re a content creator, have a sizable online audience already, or have always thought about starting your own blog, YouTube channel, Instagram account, or podcast, then you can potentially grow and monetize your following using any of the previous ideas on this list.
Andrew Finn co-founded Wait But Why, a blog-turned-business. After amassing more than 371,000 subscribers and millions of visits, they created digital content products tailored to an already loyal audience. Today, Wait Buy Why is a full-blown ecommerce site with digital and physical goods for sale.
Jordan Ferney, founder of Oh Happy Day Shop!, also built an audience via blogging and later turned it into a full-fledged home-based business. She designed her business around her life and being able to spend time with her family and now sells products on her ecommerce site.
Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark used Facebook groups to develop and nurture a community around their podcast, My Favorite Murder. This group of Murderinos, armchair investigators who are true crime fans, grew to more than 200,000 members before the podcast sunset in 2018. My Favorite Murder then created its own paid community, the Fan Cult forum, charging members an annual fee. Capitalizing even more on its fandom, My Favorite Murder also launched an ecommerce site with branded merchandise (it also sold event tickets there).
You can also explore becoming an affiliate—selling other products or services for a commission—or accepting payment for sponsored posts to give brands a chance to connect with your audience.
Building a loyal audience requires patience, consistency, and focus. This isn’t the easiest way to start a home-based business, especially not in the short-term, but if you’re able to build a following around something you love it can be one of the most fulfilling and enduring, giving you the flexibility to pursue multiple revenue streams at once.
The potential to monetize your audience often depends on the niche you choose to serve. If you’re starting from scratch or are in the midst of growing your own audience, be sure to check out the following guides to learn how to best grow and monetize the most popular channels:
13. SEO Consulting
Speaking of the internet, maybe you’re not a social media expert—but you are a pro at SEO, or search engine optimization. If you’ve got loads of skill and experience in getting websites to rank highly on Google (as well as Bing) and understand how to turn searchers into customers, then there are plenty of companies willing to pay handsomely for your help.
Whether it’s by editing metadata tags, regularly updating the company blog, or searching for smart keywords to rank highly on, a good SEO consultant working with a solid SEO strategy can drastically change how a company’s website appears to search engine users—and just a few positions on Google can make a huge difference in traffic numbers. In short, you could have a big impact on a business’s bottom line, which means this online business idea is in high demand.
14. Freelance Coding and Web Design
Notice a trend yet? Lots of jobs you could be doing in an office for one company, you could also be doing for a bunch of different clients whenever and however you want.
If you’re a software engineer, the perks of working at a startup or tech giant are pretty sizable, but if you’re more invested in flexibility, diversity of projects, taking on work at your own pace, and the freedom of being your own boss, then freelance coding is one of the greatest online business ideas from home around. Whether you’re into web design—an especially popular freelance coding category—or another kind of software development, it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to find clients you’re interested in helping out.
Plus, you can double down as a software consultant as well, offering your critical eye and expertise without necessarily coding.
15. Online Fitness Trainer
“Online fitness training” might seem like an oxymoron, but it’s a real industry—and if you’re invested in online business ideas, then don’t overlook it.
If fitness and health is your passion, then serving as a fitness trainer to clients could be a fulfilling career. However, you should keep in mind that training people online is much more difficult than being right there with them. Without a lot of experience as a trainer, you might even come across as untrustworthy to potential customers.
There’s always the opportunity for you to travel to clients locally instead of running a completely online business, but that might not be up your alley. Or, you could offset your lack of a personal presence with a stronger focus on nutrition education.
16. Ecommerce Store
One of the most common online business ideas around, starting an ecommerce store is relatively easy and cheap—at least when compared to opening up a brick-and-mortar store.
If you’re handy or creative, you could craft your products and sell them on sites like Etsy, Amazon, or eBay, straight out of your home. The biggest challenge would be getting discovered, depending on your niche and how viral your products are. But thankfully, there’s tons of advice available to help you out, from pricing your work properly to taking the best photography possible.
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17. Internet Domain Selling
Dealing in internet domains is like buying and selling real estate—except you can do it from your computer at home.
Here’s the low-down: some internet domain names are more popular, sought-after, and valuable than others. Successful internet domain name flippers buy high-value domains for cheap at online auctions after lots of forethought and research, then sell to the biggest bidder for a nice profit. For example, www.hotels.com was sold for $11 million in 2001.
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In order to make a living off of domain selling, you really need to dedicate your time, energy, and attention to the market. You can’t just buy domain names randomly, or you’ll be left with a handful of websites that nobody wants.
Instead, you’ll have to research the SEO optimization of the sites you see on auction, predict which companies and industries will be looking out for new domains, and get creative with out-of-the-box names that you can buy for little but turn around easily. Plus, patience is a virtue: it can take months, or even years, to get the right price for some domains you’ve purchased.
But the perk of this online business idea, of course, is that it’s 100% online. It’s just you, your computer, and your hard work.
18. Stock or Foreign Currency Trading
Like internet domain name selling, stock trading could be a casual online hobby—or a career. If you’re willing to put in the time and you’re talented at carrying out deep research and predicting trends, you could turn this side hustle into a full-time gig.
Operating as a pattern day trader requires you to keep $25,000 in your account at all times[2], though, so if that barrier to entry is a bit too high then you might want to consider trading on foreign exchange or currency markets instead.
All that said, stock trading won’t offer you as much flexibility as many of the other online business ideas here. Although you can work from home and be your own boss if you trade stocks or foreign currency on your own dime, it’s still a high-commitment job with long hours and a steep learning curve. You’ll need to put in the time to understand all the different trading requirements, systems, and regulations you’ll be interacting with.
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19. Podcasting
10 years ago, many people didn’t even know what a podcast was—but now, the podcast industry has exploded, with newspapers, radio stations, and even regular, everyday individuals getting in on the trend. If you have a good story to tell or something you feel like you could talk about on a frequent basis—that people would want to listen to—you might think about podcasting.
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Podcasting, of course, can be done from anywhere, provided you have the right audio equipment. You can then upload your content to various podcast apps, websites, and market your business on social media.
20. Digital Advertising
Are you familiar with the world of “cost per click” and the ever-changing Facebook algorithm? If you have experience with the inner workings of advertising online (or are willing to learn)—from websites to social media platforms to email campaigns—you might consider starting this online business idea from home.
As a digital advertising consultant, clients could hire you to monetize their online platforms and manage the whole of their advertising campaigns. Although this space is constantly evolving, it has progressively become more and more important to businesses—especially those who mainly operate online. You can offer your advertising expertise from anywhere and work with clients exclusively via email or phone.
This article originally appeared on Efogator.com and was republished with permission.
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