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Are you dreaming of quitting your 9-5 life and starting your own business? You’re not alone. Half of all millennials are planning to start a business in the next three years.
More and more smart millennial women are beginning to understand the benefits that come with self-employment. The possibility of working whatever hours of the day you wish and in whatever city or country you want is a very appealing option for many young women.
Owning a business allows you to be in charge of your schedule, travel when you wish and enjoy a work-life balance like no other.
As well as the lifestyle benefits, becoming an entrepreneur allows you to grow your income in a way that’s usually impossible to do in a typical office job career. When you have your own business, there’s no limit on how much money you can make as long as you work hard to achieve your goals.
We’ve rounded up the 25 best small business ideas for women in 2020, enjoy!
The 20 Best Small Business Ideas In 2020
1. Start A Niche Blog
In 2020, blogs are still a lucrative way to make money online. Blogs make money via four main income streams – affiliate marketing, advert income, sponsored content and selling online courses.
The key to a successful blog is choosing the right niche, finding the balance between a niche that you find interesting whilst also finding a topic that is easy to monetize.
Check out this Free 2020 Guide on How-To Start A Successful Blog for more information.
With my exclusive BlueHost link, you can get started on your business today for less than $3.99 a month.
2. Yoga Teacher
Starting a fitness side hustle is a really popular way to get started being self-employed because you can do it alongside your current job. Then when it starts to take off, you can transition smoothly to being a full-time business owner. Successful yoga teachers can make up to $200 per hour with a full class of students.
If you love yoga and already take classes, it’s not difficult to become an accredited yoga teacher with an online course. Check out the Internationally Accredited Diploma in Yoga Training
for more information.
3. Flipping Clothes
The premise is simple; source clothes in thrift shops and then resell them online via platforms such as eBay or Poshmark. Once you’ve built a following online you could then sell the clothes from your own website. This is exactly how the Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso got started. Proof that if it worked for one millennial woman, it can work for you!
My very own sister is the owner of successful clothes flipping business, earning a full-time income all while working from home, she opened up a Shopify store to sell directly and cut out eBay.
10 Best Reseller Business Ideas In 2021
4. eCommerce Store
If you want to skip eBay and go straight to owning your own eCommerce business then that’s fine too. You can build a following using social media to drive customers to your store.
Shopify is offering free trials at the moment if you open an online store with them!
Check here to see if your chosen domain name is still available using this cool free name checker tool from Bluehost.
5. Freelancing
Freelancing is a fantastic idea for women who are interested in owning a small business that has very flexible working hours.
Freelancers typically work for online businesses that outsource a variety of jobs such as graphic design, web development, social media management, copy writing and many more.
You can get started even if you have no experience on sites like Upwork or Freelancer. Check out this free 2020 guide on how to get work on Upwork with no experience.
Most freelancers start out charging lower hourly rates ($15 per hour) to gain experience. But, once you have some experience under your belt, there are plenty of freelancers who charge $100 per hour.
Related: How To Create The Perfect Upwork Profile
6. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you help promote a company’s product or service and when you make a sale, you receive a commission. It is one of the ways the main ways that bloggers make money but you don’t need a blog to get started with this business idea.
Once you’ve cracked the affiliate marketing code and learn the best strategies, you can expect to make thousands of dollars a month in passive income.
To learn about affiliate marketing, I studied an affiliate marketing module included in a blogging course. Read my review on the affiliate marketing blogging course and if it’s worth the price.
7. Photography
Maybe you’re more of a creative type and would like a small business that aligns with your passions. What about becoming a professional photographer?
Like many avenues, it’s a lot easier to become a successful photographer if you learn how to market yourself on Instagram. Be sure to niche down as well – you could become known for being the best dog photographer in your area, or the best professional food photographer!
Well-known photographers can charge thousands of dollars for one day of shooting so this could be a side-business that you only do on the weekends while still making serious money!
Related: Learn How To Be A Photographer
8. Teaching English Online
You don’t need to come up with an innovative idea to start your own small business. All you need is to fill a service that is in demand. And right now, there are hundreds of millions of people across Asia who are keen to learn English.
You could start your own online tutoring business. VIPKID is a great business to get involved with while you are learning the ropes. They pay up to $20 an hour and all you need is a bachelor’s degree, find out how to apply to VIPKID.
9. Eyelash Extensions Business
You can charge up to $150 per client for eyelash extensions making this a very lucrative small business. And it’s a business with low start-up costs too as you can have people come to your home or you can visit clients in their homes too.
Yris Palmer, the founder of Star Lash, started out doing eyelash extensions in 2015 and is now a successful multimillionaire!
10. Create An Online Course
The global online education market is expected to explode to $133 billion by 2023! As more and more people turn to online businesses as their source of income, the demand for online education will grow as well. Some online course creators make over $100,000 a month selling their courses!
You don’t need to be a professional teacher to create your own course. All you need to do is teach something that other people want to learn.
This is what Avocadu founders, Alex and Lauren, did with their online yoga course. And now they make over $20,000 a month selling the course.
If selling online courses sounds like an attractive business idea for you, then check out Alex and Lauren’s course where they teach others how to create and sell products.
11. Sell Digital Products
You don’t only have to create courses to start an online business, if you’re a crafty woman with an eye for design, then you could create printable products like passion planners or calendars. Then you can sell your digital products online through Etsy or even with a Shopify store.
Sarah Titus makes over $300,000 A MONTH with her Shopify store.
Sign up for a free trial with Shopify!
12. Life Coach
Lots of millennials are struggling with direction in their life, but if you’re a focused woman who is passionate about motivating others then what about starting a Life Coaching Business?
The first step would be to design your own website to market your services, Bluehost have a great deal on domain names and hosting services with super affordable prices from $3.99 a month for your very own website!
Check here to see if your chosen domain name is available for taking with this cool name checker tool.
If you have no idea where to start building a website but would like some help, check out this great online course WordPress for Beginners: Create a Website Step by Step.
13. Consulting Business
A great small business idea for professional women would be starting a consulting business in your industry. You go into companies and help them solve business problems as a freelance consultant.
A consulting business can make serious money too, Katrina is a business consultant advising service providers on how to structure and market their businesses to maximize profit. Katrina made $70,000 in 2019 while traveling the world as a digital nomad and plans to make $120,000 in 2020!
14. Become An Influencer
In 2020, YouTube is considered a legitimate way to make money as an online business. And you don’t need serious equipment to get started, all you need is a cellphone to start recording videos and you’re off!
Grace Beverly started by sharing her day-to-day life in college, and over a few years, built a successful personal brand from which she launched three complementary businesses. And she’s only 24!
15. Event Planner
15 years ago, it would have been impossible to become an event planner as a small business. But, with the rise of technology, you can easily start a remote event planning business from your home!
Related: Learn How To Be An Event Planner
Related: 5 Tools You Need To Start Your Remote Business
16. Air BnB Host
Even if you don’t live in a famous city bustling with tourists, you could still make money renting out your spare room to people traveling for business or visiting relatives in your city. Air BnB is an easy way to make an extra $1000 monthly, not bad for a small business!
Find out if you qualify to be an AirBnb Host.
17. Virtual Assistant Business
Beginner virtual assistants normally charge about $15 per hour to their clients, but this can quickly rise to $50 per hour within a year.
There are some virtual assistants who have turned their small business into 6 figure income. How do they do this? By niching down.
If you are organized then a virtual assistant business could be for you, choose an industry to specialize in and position yourself as an expert.
Related: How To Start A Virtual Assistant Business In 2020
18. Parking Space Rentals
Calling all the millennials interested in passive income. Buying parking spaces and then renting them out on a monthly basis is the ultimate in low-maintenance passive income sources! And one thing’s for sure, it’s a whole lot cheaper and easier than starting a rental property business.
19. Selling Hand Made Jewelry
There’s something so satisfying about making something with your hands. That’s probably why lots of millennial women are becoming part-time jewelry designers in their downtime.
It’s easy to do as well, you order the materials online, make your beautiful pieces of jewelry, then market them via Instagram before selling online with Etsy or your own Shopify store!
20. Web Developer
Perhaps you’ve got a mathematical mind with an eye for detail. If that’s the case then a web development business would be a fantastic option for your small business idea in 2020. Web developers design and create beautiful, professional websites for businesses.
It’s not hard to start either, you can either become an expert in WordPress or learn responsive web development online using free resources such as FreeCodeCamp or even YouTube.
Check out this affordable online course on that teaches you how to be a web designer!
UX & Web Design Master Course: Strategy, Design, Development
Final Words On The Best Small Business Ideas
For Women
This list was designed to open your mind to the world of online business opportunities that could help you to leave behind the 9-5 lifestyle and live life on your own terms as a self-employed bad a**!
Related Resources:
Free How To Start A Blog Guide
Bluehost Web Domain Name & Hosting
Create & Go How To Create & Sell Online Courses
