What home business ideas can you start that will really pay? Every business is or can be a home business today. Are you going to start one with average income potential?
Or, the ability to scale it to become a hot startup worth 9 or 10 figures with a great business model?
Home-based businesses can be just as profitable as those with the largest office spaces and warehouses in the most prime commercial destinations. There can also be a lot of scams. There are a lot of ads and promises about making money from home. MLMs have been a notorious stain on the reputation of working virtually for years. Yet others are making six and seven figures working from home. A few are building billion-dollar businesses from home. In fact, many of our greatest startup success stories started in garages, basements, bedrooms, and kitchen tables. It’s all about how big you are thinking.
Most businesses work from home and remote working gigs don’t pay a lot. Yet, if you can start your own home business and scale it, you can make just as much, if not far more than at a corporate job. Plus, you get all the benefits of being your own boss and being self-employed.
What qualifies as ‘really pays’ can be subjective. It has been considered that $75,000 per year is an average living wage in many areas. In California and New York, Business Insider says you need to earn $100,000 a year to live.
We’ve selected these home business ideas with high-income potential, which can also be scaled as real businesses and not just a side hustle or job.
1. Consultant
Whatever your expertise, there is probably a way to turn that into a consulting business. Convert your previous role and career into being an independent consultant who can freelance and help other professionals and businesses. You can charge monthly retainers, by the hour, and even create digital products.
2. Trainers
This is also a huge category, to which you can apply many talents, past roles, and passions. It could include personal fitness training, life coaching, and training on specific skills. This can be packaged and sold as virtual tutoring online, rolled into digital products like video courses, or could be delivered in-person one-on-one or in groups, or even, to large crowds at live events.
3. Investor
If you have the capital to invest, or at least have access to funding and capital partners, you can make money investing from home. You can invest in public and private stocks, real estate, and much more. You could even become an angel investor or fund manager and invest in other startups yourself.
4. Finance Broker
One thing that is always in demand is money. Even during the COVID-19 crisis and stay-at-home lockdowns, loans were in high demand, and those brokering and providing them were very busy and making plenty of money. This is easily a seven-figure a year business.
5. Business Or Website Flipper
Everything is online today. Some of the most successful individuals and businesses over the past century have been those who have bought and flipped or specialized in business turnarounds. This is so much easier and faster to do today. Domain names can be cheap to buy. They can also sell for millions of dollars. With a few tweaks to an old domain, it can be brought back to life with plenty of instant customers. Then, keep it for an ongoing income, or sell for a cash payout.
6. Insurance
Insurance agents can be well-paid. It’s something that can be turned into a startup business, offering many types of insurance as well. Perhaps, you see an opportunity to disrupt this space and provide better coverage, with optimized rates and superior service.
7. Freelance Coder
There are those who know how to code well, and everyone else. It’s one of the most in-demand skills today. That is unlikely to change, even once computers and AI can auto-write much of their own code. It’s the ability to create something. Everyone else building a successful business today needs coding in some form or another. There are lots of companies that talented coders can go work for. Yet, going freelance could offer more income security and freedom, and certainly, much better pay than most startups can offer.
8. Affiliate Marketing
The one biggest challenge every other business and home business owner struggles with is the ability to reach customers. If you can help them bridge that gap you can be well paid. Even without creating your own products, having to provide customer service, or needing to ship anything or hold any inventory. There are thousands of these opportunities out there. Find those which fit your personality and network best.
Summary
Home businesses have clearly gone from fringe side hustle to the way to create and run most businesses today. The income potential is uncapped. How big you can think is the only limit on what you can do with it. It would be very helpful to define this in your business plan. Below is a video where you can learn how to write a business plan.
Hopefully, this list can be a good starting point for quickly transitioning to being your own boss if you need to restart or augment your income. Or, take some time to explore your experiences and how you can apply them to create a really big business.
Some of these ventures can be started for next to nothing. If you want to get really big and may need capital, consult a fundraising expert or M&A consultant.
Alejandro Cremades is a serial entrepreneur and the author of The Art of Startup Fundraising. With a foreword by ‘Shark Tank’ star Barbara Corcoran, and published by John Wiley & Sons, the book was named one of the best books for entrepreneurs. The book offers a step-by-step guide to today’s way of raising money for entrepreneurs.
Most recently, Alejandro built and exited CoFoundersLab which is one of the largest communities of founders online.
Prior to CoFoundersLab, Alejandro worked as a lawyer at King & Spalding where he was involved in one of the biggest investment arbitration cases in history ($113 billion at stake).
Alejandro is an active speaker and has given guest lectures at the Wharton School of Business, Columbia Business School, and at NYU Stern School of Business.
Alejandro has been involved with the JOBS Act since inception and was invited to the White House and the US House of Representatives to provide his stands on the new regulatory changes concerning fundraising online.
