When thinking of starting a profitable business, you usually think about renting a commercial space, going to the office or managing employees.
But with the rise of profitable new home-based businesses, more and more entrepreneurs are finding ways to take advantage of remote work to satisfy their desire to do business at home.
Home management of some profitable businesses can go as far as requiring the transformation of a room into a mini-warehouse for product storage, while other profitable businesses can be fully managed online over the internet. But in general, it is possible to work from home and start a profitable business by exploiting one’s own space and existing resources.
Creating a profitable home business: advantages and disadvantages
To work from home, full-time or part-time, you need to start a business using your own house as a base of operations. Some manageable home businesses, especially online sales that do not require the management of large product inventory, can even be managed from anywhere without having to stay at home at all times.
Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to consider when deciding whether or not a home-based business idea is right for you.
Advantages:
- Less overhead (such as storage costs) and tax deductions that can be made.
- The ability to sell products and services nationally or internationally.
- An ideal work-life balance for a parent or retiree who stays at home.
- The possibility of starting a family business that your spouse or other family members can incorporate as needed.
Disadvantages:
- The need to convert some spaces in your home to meet the needs of your home business (for example, creating a home office, installing equipment or inventory stores). The challenge is to make these changes without disrupting your life in your personal space.
- You must comply with the regulations for the activity you want to start (for example, you may need to rent a commercial kitchen if you intend to sell food products or obtain a permit to stockpile of products).
- If your business grows quickly, you will be forced to rent additional space and hire employees.
- Work at home Internet gives you a lot of freedom, but it can also be a source of loneliness. You may have difficulties if you like social contacts.
8 profitable business ideas to start today
While there are many approaches to starting your home business, here are some of the most accessible ideas for starting a profitable business yourself:
Buy wholesale products to resell
Many entrepreneurs are focusing on a simple concept of importing wholesale products and reselling them individually to generate profits.
You may have traveled abroad and discovered unique products that are not yet available in your market, even if they are needed. Or maybe you are targeting a particular niche and do you know the ideal products to serve your community.
Anyway, if these products are relatively easy to store and ship, you could have a profitable business idea in your hands. The anti-blue light glasses, for example, are quite compact and durable to be stored at home.
Some spaces in your home can even serve as a showroom at an early stage if you sell locally, allowing you to validate your idea before renting new storage space or recruiting new employees.
Testimony of a contractor on this subject:
“When I started my business, I turned my show into a showroom to present all my products, people came to see the items or try them out, and that’s how I made my first sale.” Milicent, Artemis Design Co.
Sell homemade products
If you are a craftsman or a handyman, you can convert your hobby into a professional hobby. And even if you have to create your products elsewhere – in a studio, a commercial kitchen or a workshop – you can probably store them and sell them at home.
By controlling virtually every aspect of the products you sell, you can optimize quality, tailor them to a target audience, based on market demand, and create more profitable margins.
Whether you choose to start in a market like Etsy or create your own ecommerce site, selling your home products lets you share your passion with people while making money. Be careful, however, about the regulations governing the manufacture of food and dermatological products.
Here are some handmade products that you could sell:
- Candles
- Jewelry
- Beauty products
- Works of art
- Foodstuffs
- Clothing
Be aware that making handicrafts should not intimidate you. Once you are ready to evolve, you will be able to establish a process and hire new employees to help you in production.
Start a profitable dropshipping business
So far, we have discussed business ideas that require you to stock product stocks at home. But there is a whole category of online shops that you can run without having to manage inventory or process order shipments.
This type of business is based on a business model called dropshipping, in which a third party manufactures the product, stores it, and forwards it to your customer on your behalf. giving you enough time to focus on marketing and customer support.
Your dropshipping provider can be based in your country or abroad. It is important to find a reliable supplier to offer the best possible experience to your customers. Always do enough research not to risk damaging the reputation of your e-commerce dropshipping site.
There’s even Shopify Apps like Oberlo, who can put you in direct contact with suppliers to import products into your own store while simplifying order processing.
Dropshipping is essentially about becoming the distributor of third-party products and bearing the marketing costs (time and money) to receive a commission on every sale you make. Sometimes, the limitations of this model and the fierce competition in this area may prevent you from easily differentiating the products you are selling or customizing the customer experience to your liking. Fortunately, there are many ways to stay competitive even when you offer products that are not lacking in the market where you are active:
Select multiple products from different vendors to create a shop that serves a well-defined niche.
Compete by creating quality informative content and providing customer service that creates value beyond the products you sell.
Target an area of the world still underserved (pay attention to shipping costs).
Target a new audience with the same products (for example, LED shoes might appeal to people attending festivals or joggers).
If you’d like to learn more about creating a home dropshipping business, be sure to check out our portal for this business model: dropshipping with Shopify.
Start a profitable business of “Print On Demand”
Very close to the dropshipping model, an on-demand printing company does not require you to stock or ship the products yourself. Print On Demand even gives you more flexibility to customize white label products with your own designs and designs.
And you can sell a wide range of products depending on the supplier with whom you choose to collaborate: books, t-shirts, hats, backpacks, blankets, pillows, cups, shoes, sweatshirts, phone case, watches, etc.
Several “Print On Demand” eCommerce sites serve a well defined niche, or a community centered on a shared identity. What is passionate about people? What content do people share most? Ask yourself these questions too. From pet owners to vegans to video game enthusiasts, there are many communities of passionate members for whom you can create products.
If you have design skills, you can create your own designs. If not, you can always call on the talents you need online and ask for help from a virtual assistant.
To learn more about how “Print On Demand” works and how to create a profitable business in this space, check out our dedicated portal on this topic: Print on Demand with Shopify.
Sell your services or expertise
A profitable service delivery business is even easier to start at home than a buy / sell business, the main challenge being managing your work time. It is in this business model that the saying “Time is money” becomes important.
Creators, like designers or marketers, often work as freelancers or consultants for other companies, juggling with multiple clients. Some creations often work remotely, away from their home office and sometimes even from anywhere in the world. While others operate by appointment and provide their services directly to individuals.
Some profitable service delivery activities that can be started from home are:
- Freelance copywriting
- Marketing accompaniment
- Web site creation
- Fitness training
- Virtual assistance
- Private lessons
While service delivery companies require word of mouth and a high dose of networking to acquire qualified customers, if customers are satisfied, they will continue to use your services over time.
For this reason, you do not necessarily need a broad portfolio of customers to create a profitable service delivery business, as it would be for a buy-sell business. Depending on your service offering, a handful of high-value customers may be enough to support you while running a profitable business from home.
Develop packages focused on your service offering or your expertise
As we have just mentioned, one of the main disadvantages of running a service delivery business lies in a remuneration strictly based on your working time, your skills and your efforts.
Developing packages that focus on your service offering or expertise can add additional sources of revenue to your business. The approach typically involves creating physical or digital products that combine your expertise and streamline or complement your service offering. Once these packages are created, you can promote them to your existing customers or even find a new audience to target in your niche.
Here are some product ideas to consider when making a service delivery business profitable:
- Training
- EBooks
- Audiobooks
- Downloadable reports
- Downloadable templates
- Design templates and templates
As you can see, most of these ideas are based on downloadable digital product packages online, which means there is no stock to stock at home. If you manage your home-based business using the Shopify platform, you can start selling digital plans today using these applications: Digital Downloads or SendOwl.
Build an audience that you can monetize
Are you a content creator? Do you have an online audience already established? Or maybe you’ve always wanted to create your own blog, YouTube channel, Instagram account or podcast? In these cases, you can probably create an audience and monetize it using one of the approaches mentioned above.
In addition, you can also consider exploring affiliate models by selling third-party products and services on a commission basis. Or explore the influence model, accepting payments from brands that want to reach your audience through sponsored publications.
Building a loyal audience requires patience, and a good deal of focused, regular, long-term effort. This approach is not the easiest way to start a profitable business at home. But if you can create an audience around one of your passions, you will have the privilege of truly flourishing in what you do: having a profitable and sustainable business and the ability to simultaneously explore multiple sources of revenue.
The monetization potential of your audience will often depend on the niche you choose to serve. If you are starting from scratch when creating an audience, be sure to check out the following guides to understand how to take advantage of the most popular marketing channels and establish your presence there:
Buy an existing e-commerce site
Finally, if you want to invest in a source of income that you can maintain at home or even when traveling or traveling, you may want to consider buying a well-established e-commerce site.
Prices can vary considerably depending on several factors. total revenue generated, gross profit generated, available assets (e-mail list, social audience, etc.), product stocks, etc. Some sellers even accompany buyers after the purchase until they become familiar with the management of the acquired e-commerce site.
Exchange is a marketplace owned by Shopify, created to facilitate the sale and purchase of Shopify e-commerce sites. You can view ads for e-commerce sites that fit your budget, level of experience, and needs. Perhaps you want to buy an e-commerce site that has already proven itself and that you are willing to invest a lot. Or maybe you want to identify a site for sale with untapped potential that you want to develop.
Just be sure to rate each ad and consider everything that is included in the sale of the site. Because store revenue and other data can be verified through Shopify, you can rest easy when using shared data.
Find a profitable business idea that meets your expectations
A profitable home-based business is ultimately a new, user-friendly business model in which technology brings you closer to your suppliers, employees and customers. This type of business gives you the opportunity to start small, grow quickly and invest conservatively, especially when you can reduce the cost of renting an office.
As you would if you were about to start another type of business, think carefully about your goals, what motivates you, and the types of tasks you are interested in to create a profitable home-based business that matches your needs. expectations.
Also published on Medium.