20 Business Ideas for Stay-at-Home Parents
Looking for a new way to make money from home? Here are 20 businesses that you can start with very little money.
Just because you're staying at home watching a little one doesn't mean that you can't find a lucrative gig. If you find the right small business idea, you can earn a comfortable living from your own home.
Related: 20 Business Ideas You Can Start With Less Than $10,000
There are great stay-at-home business opportunities that you can do full-time, from offering social media management or web development services to getting into real estate with platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo.
If you're looking for a new way to make money, but your lifestyle keeps you out of an office, here are 20 businesses with low upfront costs that you can start from home. All you need is a great business idea, some hard work, and a strategy.
College Application/Financial Aid Planning Consulting Business
A financial aid planner helps parents get the lowest possible price for their child's college education, thus saving them money. Tapping into financial aid resources is not just about being smart. It is about being aware of the resources that are available. This business involves advising parents and high school students on selecting a college, filling out the application and financial aid forms, providing tips for writing the college essay, advising parents about tax implications on college savings plans, and negotiating the best possible financial aid package when a college offer is received. A sound knowledge about higher education institutions and a thorough understanding of financial aid options are important. Market your services in high schools, libraries, private tutorial centers and universities.
Tip: Have a good understanding of different financial programs like Byrd Scholarships, Stafford Loans, private and federal grants, and PLUS Loans. Also be current with college savings plans including 529 plans, Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, the Uniform Gift to Minors Act, and Charitable Remainder Unitrusts.
Read This: Start Your Own College Planning Consultant Business by Entrepreneur Press and Eileen Figure Sandlin | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble
Consignment Shop
Talking about wearing "pre-owned" clothing has never been a popular coffee table discussion. Times may be changing, though. Recycled clothes are back. The recession has led consumers to save their bucks by buying "gently used" items. Consignment items also work will as an online business.
As a consignment shop owner, you don't pay anything for your inventory until it is sold, which makes this business ideal for the startup entrepreneur. Take clean, well-cared-for items and display and merchandise them online or at a physical location for the owners, splitting the profits when you make a sale. Many times, the profit split is either 50/50 or 60/40, with the higher percentage going to the consignment shops.
Tip: The key to a successful consignment shop is a pleasant atmosphere. Make it clean, fresh and fashionable.
eCommerce
Gently-used items are not the only thing you can sell online. Here are a few types of eCommerce businesses you can start from home as a parent:
Dropshipping
A type of retail fulfillment where the store doesn't keep products in stock. Instead, when a customer places an order, the store purchases the item from a third-party vendor and has it shipped directly to the customer. This eliminates the need to invest time and money into stocking inventory or storing goods.
Online Subscription Boxes
With subscription boxes, customers can subscribe to receive a box of pre-chosen items each month. This is an ideal business for parents interested in curating unique products and building relationships with their customers.
Digital Products
Selling digital products such as ebooks, videos, audio files, and more is an excellent way for parents to use their knowledge and skills to make money. You can create your own business dedicated to writing content for influencers or ghostwriting for bloggers.
This business model can even allow you to transition into digital marketing — with some luck (and high-quality hard work), you could even become a business owner of a successful digital marketing firm.
Niche Products
A niche product caters to an incredibly specific customer base and solves their problem. If you have a unique idea that solves a real-world problem, this could be the perfect type of business.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writers can write articles on any topic, from horse training to buying an RV. A good way to start is by writing about subjects in which you are already an expert. The Writer's Market lists guidelines for thousands of publications.
Ghost writing is a good pursuit for freelancers looking for money and willing to forgo a byline. Websites are always on the lookout for quality freelancers, too. Create a website to promote your freelance writing business.
Either way, freelance writing can be a great home business idea and evolve into various work-from-home career paths. For instance, a client may want to bring you on as a virtual assistant to help with bookkeeping and memo-writing as a result of great copy.
Additionally, you could start your own blog and transition into the influencer market, getting income from affiliate marketing programs, starting a podcast, and running an online store using Shopify integrations or low-cost sites like eBay or Etsy.
There are many ways freelancing can turn into a full-time job, making it one of the best small business ideas. Since the pandemic, more homeowners than ever have broken into freelancing. As long as you have an internet connection, you can start freelancing today.
Tip: Your initial queries are likely to get rejected many times. Cultivate a stoic resilience to rejection.
Read This: Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business and More: Copywriter, Proofreader,
Gardening Business
Herb farms are one of the fastest-growing industries. Medicinal herbs, herbal teas, culinary herbs, and herbs for candles and aromatherapy are just the tip of the iceberg. A solid working knowledge of growing herbs is essential.
Flowers used to scent potpourri, soap, candles and fragrant concoctions require just a few square feet of growing space. Most of your product preparation can easily take place in an average-size kitchen equipped with no more than a shelf, stove and counter work space.
Becoming a gardening teacher is a creative way to make money from your green thumb. Offer gardening seminars in your backyard, community colleges, recreation centers and local nurseries. Offer a class each month on a different aspect of gardening, including planning flower beds, learning about perennials, preparing the soil, creating an English garden, bulb planting, and the like.
Growing orchids can be a lucrative business if you are willing to spend time and considerable effort. Although they are typically grown in tropical areas, orchids can also be grown as houseplants or in greenhouses.
Tip: Through gardening, you can branch off to floral arrangements and market your products to local inns, hotels, wedding planners, churches, roadside flower sales and florists.
Gift Basket-Making Business
From corporate parties to baby showers, holidays and birthdays, gift baskets can be tailored to suit the taste of anyone. Gift basket entrepreneurs need a flair for the creative and the design ability to buy gifts and tuck them into baskets, decorative tins, boxes or bags. Attractive packaging is an important part of the gift basket business. You can't just throw some objects together and stick on a bow.
Market your gift baskets by taking photos of them. Prepare a brochure listing the contents of each basket and its price. You can sell your baskets online, to corporate offices, through mail order and in local shops.
Tip: There is a large, untapped market for merchandise with university and sports team logos on them. You will first need to get approval from the university's licensing department to make gift baskets that have merchandise with their logo.
Read This: Start Your Own Gift Basket Business and More: Special Events, Holiday, Real Estate, Corporate by Entrepreneur Press and Cheryl Kimball | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble
Graphic Design
Duties of a graphic designer include designing flyers, informational pamphlets, product catalogs and advertisements. Graphic designers also consult with printers or publishers to identify the best choice of paper, cover stocks and printing processes for any given assignment.
Market your services to ad agencies, publishing companies, small magazines, corporations, product manufacturers and individual entrepreneurs.
Tip: Good listening skills are essential to running a successful graphic designing business. You need to understand completely what your clients want.
Read This: Start Your Own Graphic Design Business by Entrepreneur Press and George Sheldon | Amazon | eBooks.com | Barnes & Noble
Grant Writing Business
The grant writer is the vital link between a funder and a grant seeker. Grant writers work as independent contractors, full- or part-time development officers, and freelancers. Nonprofit organizations account for the largest percentage of grant seekers.
Grant writers can apply for a myriad of categories of funding, including project grants, general operating grants, endowment grants, restricted grants, startup funding, matching grants, and challenge grants. Some websites that will help you start researching funders are www.fdncenter.org, www.tgci.com and www.fundsnetservices.com.
Tip: This is a field that you can learn on your own and offer your services for a handsome fee. Very few nonprofits require certification from their grant writers.
Home Health-Care Agency
An 80-year-old wants to live in his own home but has trouble bathing, fixing meals and cleaning the house. As a home health-care business, your responsibility is to send an employee to assist with the daily tasks of living.
Home health care is a rapidly growing business with today's skyrocketing costs of assisted living facilities and live-in nurses. Find out the legal requirements to run a home health-care agency in your area. Always be up to date on the laws for administering any kind of medication. Advertise your services at local community centers, rehabilitation centers, doctors' offices and hospitals.
Tip: You need top-notch people skills and an instinct for determining which caregiver to pair with which client. Most importantly, you must have a knack for hiring employees with monumental patience.
Mobile Spa Business
Bring the spa experience to your clients via a mobile day spa. Mobile spa treatments can be offered in homes, offices or hotels. A mobile spa offers facials, massages, bridal hair and makeup, body treatments, manicures and pedicures. Mobile spas have low startup costs. There are no ongoing costs like those involved in operating a storefront operation such as rent, utilities, maintenance and insurance. Massage therapists, manicurists and hairdressers can run a successful mobile spa business.
Market your business to clients who are working from home and do not have time to go to a spa, older folks who cannot leave their homes, working professionals who want a break during a high-stress period, and clients who are not physically able to get themselves out of the house due to illness.
Tip: Carry a mobile retail shop with skin-care products and accessories such as herbal neck wraps, spa slippers and ointments for your clients.
Medical Spa
Check with the medical board in your state to determine its position on medical spa treatments. Opening a medical spa can be a sensitive issue in certain areas of the industry because there is controversy in the field. Next, determine which type of medical spa you want to start. Popular medical spa treatments include Botox, laser hair removal and anti-aging skin-care services.
Tip: Always have an attorney review documents before signing any contracts.
Music for Kids
Music is an important part of early childhood development. Market your musical skills at day cares, kindergartens and preschools. Call day-care directors, school principals and teachers. Sometimes you may have to schedule a free first performance to get paid for ensuing performances. They like to see how the kids interact with your music before scheduling you on a regular basis.
Tip: Make your performance interactive and not a mere display. Get the kids involved.
Paper Shredding and Recycling Business
Many businesses -- such as banks, financial institutions and medical facilities -- are required by law to protect the confidentiality and security of patrons. Many businesses have an overload of documents that, for security reasons, cannot be thrown in the trash. Hiring a papershredding service is an investment for them. A mobile document shredding service goes to its clients and shreds their documents on-site, then removes the shredded paper and takes it to a recycling center.
Tip: Aside from shredding paper documents, a paper shredding service can offer the ability to destroy hard drives as well, along with other media such as CDs and DVDs.
Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business
This is a great job for animal lovers who enjoy getting paid for caring for and playing with other people's pets. Dogs and cats are the most common pets that need care when owners are away, but you will occasionally be asked to take care of rabbits, hamsters, birds and tropical fish.
Dog walking can bring in good cash, especially if you market your services in retirement communities, where many residents may lack the energy and motivation to take their pets for their daily walks.
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