Are you looking for a work from home job or work at home business ideas?
If so, then I have a great list of free resources, such as courses and guides, that will help you find the best option and learn how to get started. Plus, all of the courses and guides in this article are free!
If you’re looking to make extra money, or even a full-time income, working from home is a great option. There are lots of realistic home business ideas that allow you to work on a flexible schedule.
In fact, around 50% of U.S. businesses are home based, and that number is expected to grow well into the future.
But, many people don’t know what kind of options are available or how to get started with their in home business ideas.
This article is a good starting point because I’m going to tell you about different home based business ideas and link to free courses, workshops, and guides that will help you kick off each of these ideas.
There are lots of valuable paid courses out there, but if you’re not sure about an idea, you might not want to spend hundreds of dollars on a course. That’s why free courses and guides are a great way to start.
You can learn more about each of these small business ideas, learn some of the basic skills, how much money you can earn, and more. You get to test these ideas a little bit before you invest a lot of time and money.
No matter what kind of business you decide to start, I think you’ll really enjoy starting one from home.
I have been working from home for over a decade, and I wouldn’t change it for anything! I absolutely love and enjoy running a business from home.
It has allowed me to travel full-time, save enough money to retire early, love what I do each day, and more.
Many people love running home based businesses for those reasons, but it also cuts your commute, allows you to earn money in your spare time, be your own boss, work on a flexible schedule, and more.
So, to help you get started, today I will explain some of the best small business ideas from home and which free online courses can help you get started.
Here is a quick list of the free work at home courses and resources I’m sharing:
- Earn Money Selling Printables free training
- Community Card Playbook
- How to Make Money with Print-On-Demand Free Workshop
- How To Make Money With a Dog Bakery
- How To Start a Blog Course
- Build A Voiceover Action Plan From Scratch Minicourse
- Start Your Virtual Bookkeeping Business
- General Transcription Mini-Course
- Become a Proofreader 76 Minute Webinar
Below, I will be diving deeper into what each option is like, as well as more information about each of those free resources.
Best Home Business Ideas
Below are home business ideas and the free courses and resources you can use to get started.
1. Sell printables on Etsy.
Are you looking for a smart home business idea that allows you to use your creativity? Are you wondering “What can I sell from home to make money?”
If so, I recommend checking out this option. See, creating printables on Etsy can be a great side hustle because you just need to create one digital file per product, which you can then sell an unlimited number of times.
Printables are digital products that customers can download and print at home. Examples include grocery shopping checklists, gift tags, candy bar wrappers, printable quotes for wall art, and patterns.
I recommend signing up for the Earn Money Selling Printables free training. You’ll learn printable ideas, how to get started on Etsy, and how to actually make sales.
Related content on successful home business ideas:
- 12 Passive Income Ideas That Will Let You Enjoy Life More
- 15 Of My Best Working From Home Tips So You Can Succeed
- 15 Outdoor Jobs For People Who Love Being Outside
- 24 Of The Best Work From Home Jobs & How To Avoid Scams
2. Start a direct mail business.
Starting a direct mail business is an interesting way to make money from home by helping local businesses advertise.
With this business, you create large postcards that feature ads from local businesses, such as plumbers, real estate agents, dentists, and landscapers. Each business pays to have their ad on the postcard, and you mail it to thousands of homes in the area.
You make money by charging businesses for their ad spots and keeping what’s left after paying for printing and postage.
I recently interviewed Rachel and Dalton, a couple who have made over $100,000 in revenue from their direct mail business. They typically charge businesses $150 to $300 per ad spot, and they say they can make around $1,100 to $3,500 in profit from a single postcard mailing.
One thing I like about this home business idea is that you don’t need a storefront or a bunch of inventory. You can find advertisers, create the postcards using a tool like Canva, and work with a printing company that handles the mailing for you.
You can also start with very little money because you can collect payments from the different companies before paying for the printing. Of course, you’ll still need to find businesses willing to advertise, and your income will depend on how many ad spots you sell.
You can learn more about Community Card Playbook here and sign up for their free mini course.
Recommended reading: How To Make $1,000+ With a Direct Mail Side Hustle
3. Start a print-on-demand business.
Starting a print-on-demand business is a way to make money from home without having to keep inventory or ship products yourself.
With print-on-demand, you create designs that can be printed on products like t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, candles, journals, and more. When someone buys something from your online store, a print-on-demand company makes the product and ships it directly to your customer.
You can sell your products on sites like Etsy, and you don’t need to be an expert graphic designer to get started. Many people use beginner-friendly tools like Canva to create their designs.
One thing I really like about this home business idea is that you can start with very little money. You don’t need to buy a bunch of products upfront or have boxes of inventory sitting around your house.
I actually interviewed a woman named Emily who started selling print-on-demand gifts on Etsy in 2023. She focused on products like personalized candles, mugs, and journals, and she earned an average profit of $7,500 per month just one year later! Of course, not everyone will earn this much, but I think her story is a fun example of what’s possible.
I recommend signing up for her How to Make Money with Print-On-Demand free workshop. In this workshop, you’ll learn how Emily made $500,000 in revenue in two years selling gifts, the best types of products to sell to maximize your earnings, and how to start this side hustle on Etsy.
Recommended reading: How I Make $7,500 Monthly Selling Print-On-Demand Gifts
4. Start a dog treat bakery business.
If you love dogs and enjoy baking, starting a dog treat bakery could be a fun home business idea!
With this business, you make homemade dog treats and sell them to pet owners. You could sell treats at farmers markets, local pet stores, community events, or even online.
I’ve bought plenty of homemade dog treats over the years for my own dogs, and I think this is such a fun way to make money from home.
You can make treats using dog-safe ingredients like pumpkin, oats, and peanut butter (just make sure the peanut butter doesn’t contain xylitol, which is toxic to dogs). You could even make special treats for birthdays and holidays.
To get started, you’ll want to test recipes, figure out how much your ingredients and packaging cost, and check your state’s rules for selling homemade pet treats. You can then start promoting your business on social media and to local dog owners.
You can learn more about this topic at How I Make Up to $4,000 Per Month Baking Dog Treats (With Zero Baking Experience!). Plus, you can sign up for this free training workshop that will teach you how to start your own side hustle baking and selling dog treats.
5. Start a blog to work at home.
For obvious reasons, blogging is my favorite on this list of profitable home business ideas.
It is a business that allows me to travel full-time, have a flexible schedule, earn somewhat passive income, and more.
Blogging changed my life for the better, and it allows me to earn thousands of dollars a month, all by doing something that I love.
My blog was created on a whim as a way to track my personal finance progress. And when I first started my blog, I honestly didn’t even know that this was going to be one of the best small business ideas out there. At least that’s been the case for me!
You can easily learn how to start a blog with my free How To Start a Blog Course.
Here’s a quick outline of what you will learn:
- Day 1: Reasons you should start a blog
- Day 2: How to determine what to blog about
- Day 3: How to create your blog (in this lesson, you will learn how to start a blog on WordPress – my tutorial makes it very easy to start a blog)
- Day 4: How to make money blogging
- Day 5: My tips for making passive income from blogging
- Day 6: How to grow your traffic and followers
- Day 7: Miscellaneous blogging tips that will help you be successful
6. Become a voice over actor.
A voice over actor is the person you hear but rarely see on YouTube videos, radio ads, explainer videos, corporate narration, documentaries, e-learning courses, audiobooks, TV commercials, video games, movies, and cartoons.
My friend Carrie Olsen replaced her salaried day job to become a full-time voice over actor. People are constantly asking her how she got her start and how they can too.
So, she created Build A Voiceover Action Plan From Scratch Minicourse — This free course will help you learn about becoming a voice over artist, even if you’re brand new!
7. Start a bookkeeping business.
A bookkeeper is someone who tracks the finances of a business. They may handle payroll, billing and invoicing, etc.
You don’t need to be an accountant to start a bookkeeping business, and there are courses that can help you learn the skills you need.
Ben, from Bookkeeper Launch, helps people get started as bookkeepers even when they don’t have any experience. Ben is a CPA who founded his business after realizing that many businesses needed better bookkeepers.
Start Your Virtual Bookkeeping Business will teach you more about running your own virtual bookkeeping business. You’ll learn:
- Is a bookkeeping business for you?
- What exactly is a bookkeeping business? What kind of work do they do?
- How much money can you make as a bookkeeper?
- How do you find clients?
I recommend signing up for this free training on how to become a bookkeeper, find high-paying clients, and avoid mistakes. You can sign up for free by clicking here.
8. Transcribe audio or video content into text.
Transcription is when you turn audio or video content into a text document. You listen to what’s being said and type it up.
There are many businesses looking for transcriptionists too – since general transcriptionists convert audio and video to text for virtually any industry, there really isn’t a typical client. Some examples include marketers, authors, filmmakers, academics, speakers, and conferences of all types.
How much you earn as a transcriptionist depends on your experience, the type of transcription work you do, and how quickly and accurately you can complete each project.
You can learn more in the Free General Transcription Mini-Course. In this course, you will learn what it takes to become a transcriptionist, how much money you can earn, how you can find jobs, and more.
9. Become a general proofreader.
Proofreading is a flexible home business idea that’s great for people who enjoy reading and have a good eye for mistakes.
Proofreaders look for punctuation mistakes, misspelled words, lack of consistency, and formatting errors.
You take content that other people have written and then go over it with a fine-tooth comb. You might be proofreading blog posts, print articles, academic articles, website copy, ad copy, books, student papers, emails, and more.
In one year, my friend Caitlin made slightly over $43,000 by being a freelance proofreader.
Caitlin put together a FREE 76-minute workshop, where she answers all of the most common questions about becoming a proofreader, and she even shows you how to use the most popular tools used by proofreaders around the world. You can sign up for free here.
Related content: 20 Best Online Proofreading Jobs
What is the best home business to start? What are the most successful small businesses?
As you can see, there are plenty of different home business ideas out there, and this list is only scratching the surface. There are full-time home based business ideas, and then there are part-time business ideas.
The best business home based ideas are going to be different for everyone.
I would think about what kinds of things you’re good at, what interests you, the skills you already have, etc. That may narrow the choices down some.
But, what I love about the home business ideas on this list is that the free courses and guides listed mean you can learn more about any of them without a big investment. You can explore ideas without feeling like you’re wasting your money.
I’ve been running my own home business for over a decade now, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I love having a flexible schedule, being able to work from wherever I want, and getting to do something I enjoy.
If you’re interested in starting a home business, I recommend picking one or two ideas from this list and checking out the free training. You don’t have to spend a lot of money right away, and you may find a business idea that you really enjoy!
What home business ideas are you interested in?
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