10 business ideas for women

Wanting to start your own online business but not sure where to start?

 

Here are 10 business ideas to get you started, even if you have no business experience!

 

I often hear women talk about their dreams of creating a business but are unsure of where to start. It seems that overwhelm prevents them from even starting! To help you navigate your options, here are my top 10 business ideas for women!

In this article, I’m going to focus on online businesses. They excite me so much and I’d love to inspire you to create a business that also gives you the flexibility to work from anywhere. Each tip can be used to create a business but your business could also involve a number of them. These are just ideas to get you started!

This post contains affiliate links. This means that when you purchase some of the products in the post, I will receive a commission. This occurs at no extra cost to you.

 

My top 10 business ideas for women

 

1. Blogging

My top business idea for women is starting your own blog! It’s one of the easiest ways to get started but it can take time to create an income from it. There are millions of blogs out there about any topic you can think of. When coming up with your idea, think about topics that you love and ones that you regularly help others with.

Maybe you’re a keen sewist and often help others on their journey to create their own clothes? Or perhaps you love homesteading and have a wealth of information to share? Or you love creating parties, that could very easily be turned into a blog. There are really so many ideas out there!

You might be wondering how people are making money from a blog, after all, they are essentially offering their knowledge up for free. Well, it’s entirely possible to make money from blogging! There are so many ways to do it. In fact, each tip here could be incorporated into your blog. Keep reading and think about which income streams you could add (HINT: it may be more than one!).

Setting up your blog is actually relatively easy, even if you aren’t tech-savvy! Of course, you could outsource it if funds allow but technology does make it easier to create your own these days. I strongly recommend using WordPress.org as your platform. It’s free to sign up but you will need hosting. I highly recommend Siteground, it’s who I use for all of my blogs!

Now that you have your website set up, it’s time to make it look presentable! There are plenty of free themes but if you can, I highly recommend the Astra theme. It’s super fast and it’s amazingly easy to use. Even with no website design knowledge, you could make a good looking website.

Courses to help you

1. Launch Your Blog Biz by Create and Go

 

2. Freelancing

Do you have a service that you can help other businesses with? Maybe you can take your corporate job and turn that into a freelancing career? Offering a service is probably the fastest way to earn an income in a new online business. The downside is that you are still trading hours for money but you do have control over what you’re charging. That’s a bit different from your corporate job!

Some of the most common services include social media management, Facebook ads, copywriting, creating sales funnels, graphic design, becoming a virtual assistant and web development.

This is how I started earning money online. I created a social media management business specialising in health and wellness businesses. Here’s my story on how I did it. It’s a great way to get started!

Courses to help you:

1. 30 Days or Les to VA Success – How to become a virtual assistant – Horkey Handbook
2. Become a Social Media Manager – Liz Benny

3. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you get paid to promote other peoples products and services. The amount you get paid can vary a lot but there are some really great affiliate programs out there! It is possible to earn up to 50% of a sale, that blows my mind really! The thing with affiliate marketing though is that it takes traffic to earn an income. Having said that, I earned my first $50 commission within one month, with 1000 page views and 30 people on my email list with The Inspired Boss!

The thing I love about affiliate marketing is that it is truly passive. You set it up and then your only real job is to increase traffic to your site and promote the products through social media, email marketing and blog posts.

Wondering how to get started?

I suggest starting with brands that you know, have used and you often recommend to others. Google those brands + ‘affiliate program’. You might find that they have their own affiliate program on their site or they might belong to a larger affiliate program. If they have their own one, go ahead and sign up if not, don’t be shy to email them and ask! I have found that some businesses have them but don’t advertise them on their website.

Other affiliate programs are ShareASale, Commission Factory and Awin.

Once you have your affiliate link, make sure you use it! If you don’t, you won’t get paid! Another tool that I find really helpful in affiliate marketing is the Pretty Links plugin. It takes a long crazy URL and makes it pretty.

Courses to help you:

1. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing by Michelle from Making Sense of Cents. This is the best affiliate marketing course I’ve seen, hands down and is an absolute must!
2. Paid By Pintere by House of Brazen.

4. E-Commerce Site

There are two types of products that you can sell in your e-commerce shop, they are digital products or physical products. Digital products include ebooks, printables (diary, wall art etc) or courses. Physical products are obviously actual items that you will need to send or drop ship (when the item is sent from the manufacturer or fulfilment centre) to your customer.

E-commerce is the most popular business model and there are women out there absolutely smashing it! The downsides are the initial outlay for physical products and the need to be able to store and physically send a product. For those reasons, I’d definitely explore dropshipping, in particular with Amazon. They are obviously a well-loved brand and have systems that are crazy efficient. They also handle the customer service side of things making it extremely simple!

Courses to help you:

1. The Selling Family Free Amazon Boot Camp course

5. Digital products

Digital products (including e-courses and ebooks) are another way to create an income for the information that you have to offer others. Your products could be sold to individuals or businesses, the options are endless! Again, think about something that you are often helping others with. This could be anything from decluttering your home through to creating social media strategies and everything in between.

For course creation, a really easy platform to start with is Teachable. They have a free option which is an added bonus when starting out. The other thing I love about Teachable as a student is that all my courses are in the one spot! I’m the worst for losing login details, or actually just forgetting about a course altogether! Creating the content is the part that will take your time. After you’ve chosen your topic, you’ll need to start planning out the course content and modules that you’ll need to create. This might be in the form of text or videos or a combo of them both.

Ebooks can be created in Word, Canva or InDesign. You don’t need to get too technical with it! I love the idea of ebooks because they are easy to create and whilst they are a lower price point, they are easier to sell. I think ebooks are the perfect place to start for new bloggers and business owners!

In the meantime, place an opt-in form on your website so you can start collecting emails of those that are interested. This will really help you when you’re ready to launch!

Courses to help you:

1. Ebook Bestseller Bootcamp by The She Approach
2. Create a Kapow Course – Liz Benny. If you’re serious about course creation, this is the course you need!

6. Directories

These style of businesses have really been gained momentum recently. The way they work is that you choose a niche and then list businesses that are in that niche on your website. You make money by charging them a monthly fee or an affiliate commission to have them there but you can also bring in revenue with sponsored posts on the blog, your socials or in your email marketing.

As your audience grows and engages with you, the more value you’ll be able to give your vendors and the more you’ll be able to charge them. As a consumer, I love directories because I can see everything in the one spot and discover new brands that I may not have heard about otherwise.

Directories are really a win-win-win situation!

Courses that help you:

1. Business Jump Starter by Nat at Business Jump. Nat is the queen of the online directory and her course gives you everything you need to know to get your business up and running!

 

7. Membership Sites

Memberships are along a similar line to e-courses, except your customers pay a monthly fee to be a member. It’s a great way to create reoccurring income, meaning that you know what you’ll be earning each month.

To start a membership you need to have your idea and a website. (If you don’t have a website, then I’d suggest using Siteground, WordPress and Astra Theme) You can then use a plugin like Restrict Content Pro to create your membership area.

When you’re first creating your membership site you’ll need two pages on your website, one for new members to subscribe and a page that is only accessible once they become a member that hosts your content. These are both straightforward to set up.

Then comes the real work! You’ll need to create content. It isn’t as much work upfront as creating an e-course is but you’ll need to be adding more content on a regular basis. In addition to that, many sites have a dedicated Facebook group, sometimes as an added bonus with live workshops as well.

The sky is the limit with the type of content that you can offer your members and each niche is unique so it really comes down to what your audience wants.

Courses that will help:

1. Tribe Hub – they only open once a year

 

8. Coaching

Coaching is all the rage at the moment! There are so many areas that you could coach others in, including health coaching, business coaching, life coaching or even sex coaching. Think about areas that we might need help in and I’m sure there’s a coach for it!

There are a number of programs out there but it really depends on the area that you want to specialise in as to which course you could take. Do your research and choose one that resonates with you!

Courses that help:

1. Integrative Nutrition – becoming a nutrition coach.

 

9. Network Marketing or Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)

I know that MLM businesses get a bad wrap but I do honestly believe that they do because there are some not so great business owners creating businesses with them, like all businesses.

I must admit that in the past I had some real blocks around them but my views have changed! You’ll be happy to hear that I have seen some women create amazing businesses for themselves being involved in MLM companies. When they truly stand behind their products, they create businesses that give them the freedom and lifestyle that they had dreamed of. Loving the product is one of the most important aspects of building your business!

It is entirely possible to build a business with an MLM almost solely online. Of course, you could have a combination of ‘real-life’ and online but don’t feel like you have to bombard your family and friends to be successful! Check out this post where I show you how!

The benefits of an MLM is that the products are already created, you usually receive promotional material to help you share the love and the entry price is usually low (although this does create more competition). On the flip side, you don’t have the flexibility to change prices, create sales or alter the products.

 

10. Teach English online

Lastly, I’m going to mention teaching English online. If you feel like all the other options are overwhelming and you just want to start somewhere, then this might be an option for you. There are plenty of opportunities to teach English online. Every company requires different qualifications but there are a couple that doesn’t require anything other than being a native speaker. The con is that the pay isn’t amazing but it’s an easy start.

One last thing, this course by Tara Gentile on Creative Live is an amazing all-rounder when starting a business. Tara is a business strategist and takes you through step by step on creating multiple income streams. She’s a wealth of knowledge and an amazing businesswoman.

So there you have it, my top 10 business ideas for women. It is entirely possible to create an income that gives you the freedom to live a lifestyle you crave.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now’ – Chinese Proverb