Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2023. Its title and framing target 2023, and item 14, which speculates about events moving to the metaverse if it takes off, was written in January 2023.
These are some business ideas for women that can be started without investment and aren’t difficult to get off the ground. Although we call them businesses for women, the truth is that both men and women can launch them. We’ve simply taken into account that women dominate this kind of venture.
And as we always say, these businesses can be as simple or as complex as you want to make them. In the end, it’s your creativity and vision that will determine whether it’s just one more way to make money or a big company with great potential.
See also: How to start a business from scratch: the unconventional guide
See also: 37 small businesses with low investment and high profits
1. Influencer management
Although there are already agencies specialising in representing YouTubers and Instagram influencers, this sector is open to individual entrepreneurs. All you need are the skills to act as a go-between for brands and the influencer in question. You can start with small accounts, and from there on it will be your attitude that determines how far you go in the sector. You might even end up building your own big influencer management agency.
2. Selling clothes, or your own line of clothing and footwear
At first glance, creating your own line of clothing or accessories may seem too complicated. It isn’t. The hard part is making it work. We recently shared the story and process of entrepreneur Candice Bernardoni, who created her own shoe brand. With her ups and downs, she eventually succeeded. Here’s how she built her own shoe business and everything she learned along the way.
Home-based businesses for women
3. Opening your own beauty salon
You can run this business from rented commercial premises or from your own home. The good thing about this business idea for women is that it doesn’t require a large investment, especially if you work from home. Another advantage is the wide range of services you can offer and the many beauty products you can sell. Once the business is up and running, in addition to the sales in your own salon, you can also create a second line of business online to sell your own products. Here are another 20 business ideas you can start from home without commercial premises.
4. Mobile hairdressing and hair styling
It’s increasingly common for clients not to go to the hairdresser, but for the hairdresser to come to the client’s home. This has become especially popular with hairdressers who specialise in weddings, who visit the bride’s home on the wedding day to style her hair and even the bridesmaids’. However, both mobile hairdressing and mobile beauty services work for any client who doesn’t want to waste time leaving the house.
5. Relaxing massage and aromatherapy
This business is easy to start from home, because all you have to do is set aside a room and fit it out to offer these services. If you add the services from the previous business ideas, you can also sell beauty products and offer other services such as nails or facials.
6. Yoga and meditation, one of the businesses most often chosen by women entrepreneurs
Many women’s living rooms end up becoming a space for practising yoga or meditation, a service that is increasingly in demand for the benefits it brings clients. And the best thing about this business idea is that you can start without any money, so you could say it’s all profit from day one.
7. Express clothing alterations
Although there are companies devoted to this niche (though not as many as one would like), many people look for someone to alter a suit or a dress at the last minute or at the weekend. And they need someone to do it NOW. Knowing that this kind of service exists can give people peace of mind. And obviously, just like 24-hour locksmiths, simply because you’re doing alterations outside working days, you can charge more.
8. Writer or copywriter
This is a good job that can be done from home and is ideal for a woman who is looking after her children. Nowadays many websites need writers, and so do many brands. One example we can point to is the entrepreneur who came to earn up to 950 dollars an hour writing. She specialised in advertising copy. If you like writing and you’re good at it, this can certainly be a profitable business for women who don’t want to leave the house.
Business ideas for women that serve other companies
9. Editing and proofreading
Companies often need someone who specialises in reviewing texts. Sometimes, behind a body of text of 80,000 words or more, someone has to correct the errors. This task is usually outsourced, because the person who writes a text isn’t always the best person to correct it. You can start by offering your services on freelance platforms and, from there, gradually build up a wider client base.
10. Graphic design
If you’re good at graphic design, it’s a great business in itself these days. Clients range from companies looking for their own designs to authors who need someone to design their book covers. The good thing about this business idea is that you need no money at all to start, and you can do it from home.
11. Content creation
Whether we’re talking about written or audiovisual content, demand for this service keeps growing, because both brands and individuals want to speed things up by outsourcing content creation to someone else. If you specialise in a particular subject, this business idea may be for you. On the other hand, if you’re good at editing, more and more brands, and even YouTubers, are looking for people to handle their editing.
See also: Other ways to make extra money from home without investing
12. Brand ambassador
So far we’ve talked about creating businesses to help others, but in this case the “influencer” is you. Being a brand ambassador can be a very lucrative business. Obviously, you need to already have a sizeable following, although you can start with smaller brands until your accounts grow.
13. Social media management
This is essentially the good old community manager role. Companies, and even individual accounts with large followings, are still looking for people to handle their social media, interact with users and keep the content coming.
14. In-person and online event planning
If until now the big business has been planning in-person events, it’s time to start specialising in online events. There are already people who handle this kind of planning to make sure that when a brand or an individual gives an online presentation, a large number of users are connected. If the metaverse does take off, event planning would end up moving there too.
15. SEO consulting
More and more women are going into SEO. Every company wants its website to rank well in its field, so they don’t skimp on these services. And what does a company want when it spends money on search rankings? It wants the money to be well invested and it wants results. So if you’re a woman who is passionate about SEO, there’s a business where you can get started as an entrepreneur.
See also: 17 businesses to start in a small town
Service businesses for women
Home services
16. House cleaning
This is a classic, but that doesn’t stop it from being a simple business that works, and not only for homes, because you can also offer it to companies. Setting up your own cleaning company is cheap, and if demand grows, you can gradually hire more staff.
17. Interior design
This business idea is growing more and more in low-cost interior decorating, that is, decorating a home so it looks luxurious but using inexpensive products. Success as an entrepreneur in this business depends on your creativity and good taste.
18. Lawn and garden care
Although this market has been dominated by men, more and more women are working in outdoor decoration and garden and lawn care. Here too, you can start the business on your own and gradually shape it into a company specialising in this sector. As summer approaches, this business tends to be very profitable.
Personal services
19. Personal shopper
Basically, spending other people’s money by the handful. The personal shopper has emerged in Spain, although often disguised as an image consultant, a role that in turn ends up being a personal shopper too. Surprisingly, the clients who most often hire a female personal shopper are men. After all, who better than a woman to advise a man on how to dress to look more attractive?
20. Photography business
From being a photographer specialising in events, corporate photos, weddings, baptisms and first communions to specialising in dating-profile photos or personal portraits. You can find out more about how to make money with photography.
21. Personal assistant or virtual assistant
Sometimes, for various reasons, an executive may need a personal assistant to help them get through the work, although virtual assistant work is becoming more and more common, and it can be done from home. Once again, you can offer these services on freelance platforms, which lets you make yourself known and then gradually grow your client list.
22. Home organising
This business is in strong demand in the United States, where people who want to work from home in particular often get advice from experts on how to organise their home so they can separate family life from work life under the same roof. In other cases, people simply want someone with an eye for organising a home. Women are taking over this kind of business, I suppose because they have a greater capacity for organisation than men.
And those are some of the business ideas for women that can be started easily and with hardly any investment.
We recently published an article with several business ideas to start in 2023 that are as original as they are potentially profitable.
See also: 20 small business ideas you can start today
Featured image: Brian Miller, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
