If you're looking for more control over your time and talent, there's never been a better time for a woman to start a home-based business.
For the past two decades, women-owned companies have been growing nearly twice as fast as those owned by men, at a rate of 42 percent, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research.
As a result, lenders, business vendors, and women's support networks are springing up to provide the contacts or training you might need. But that's only part of the story.
Home-based businesses for women now make terrific sense because of two little words and one huge advantage: online resources.
Fueled by affordable technology and the desire to balance work and personal lives, including care of the family and kids, more and more women are setting up home-based shops.
You can, too. Below are a few ideas for startups that resonate today. They share the theme of being service-based businesses. That's because a service business requires little startup costs. You don't need to worry about shipping or returns (though you can still be a retailer; see No. 2 below). Service businesses also rely on freelance or virtual skills, so you can ramp up or down with ease.
Here's advice about the businesses to start now, from women who are there and doing it.
1. Design Web sites. Today, every business needs a professional domain name and a Web site—that is, an online brand. New owners can quickly set up a site with Office Live Small Business.
Once the site is launched, owners typically need a Web designer or IT architect to customize the online look and feel, and messaging. Owners will also benefit from capturing customer personal data and purchasing history. Such site analytics can help owners better market online and evaluate user traffic. Web designers with the latest programming skills are definitely in demand.
To get started with a Web design consultancy, register your services on the Office Live Small Business Partner Directory. You can also publicize your offerings at local women’s business associations and your nearby Small Business Development Center. Advertise in local newspapers or professional magazines, or on small-business blogs.
2. Operate an online boutique. The mother of two young girls, Lydie Thomas runs an online shop called Artchestra.com, from her Alameda, Calif., home. She offers original handmade jewelry, artisan crafts, and home accessories created by U.S.-based artists. "My business consists of a computer, a printer, and a file cabinet," she says.
Thomas posts images and descriptions of the pieces on her Web site, but the products remain with the artists. "If a sale occurs, the artist ships it directly from his studio and I take a commission on the sale."
With Thomas handling customers, transactions, marketing, and scouting for offerings, the artists can focus on their work. "Having an online business makes it easy to manage your time," Thomas says. "Working hours can be when the children are in school and after their bedtime.
Tip: For more about strategies for work-at-home moms, visit Mompreneurs Online.
3. Cater to pets. The pet business is booming. About $41 billion was spent on pets and their care in 2007, reports the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA). A whopping 63 percent of U.S. households, or 71 million homes, own a pet.
Home-based businesses for pets suggest a range of services, including boarding care, grooming, dog-walking services, training classes, sales of pet accessories, health insurance (a growing niche for pets), and/or premium foods. (Set this up as a third-party vendor, as in No. 2 above, so you don't have to handle shipping.)
4. Become a virtual assistant. "It used to be, 'What is a virtual assistant?' Now it's 'Who is your virtual assistant?'" says Diana Ennen, who’s been working from her home in Margate, Fla., since 1985. "I've coached hundreds on starting a virtual assistant business."
Depending on your skills, as a virtual assistant you can handle all or some tasks of running a business, including marketing, bookkeeping, daily operations, travel arrangements, maintaining an appointment book, setting up conferences, word processing, writing, and other needs.
To learn more, visit the International Virtual Assistants Association.
"VAs work globally," Ennen says. "Therefore, the sky is the limit for getting clients." Also, startup costs are extremely low. The main thing needed is a good computer, printer, high-speed Internet connection, software, and the right skills.
5. Arrange parties. Cheryl Carter's home-based party-planning business in Akron, Ohio, has been so successful that she's just begun to franchise her concept.
"Everyone is a customer," she says. "We work with grocery chains, day-care centers, assisted living facilities, zoos, and the list goes on." One-third of her business is built on birthday parties and the rest comes from corporate clients. Carter says holiday parties in December 2007 racked up $30,000 in sales.
To make the parties energetic and fun, Carter hires and trains college students with majors in theater or early childhood, paying them about $25 an hour. Flexible schedules and weekend work suit student part-timers.
Carter's just-launched franchise package, including costumes, is priced at $25,000 (see mypartyforaliving.com). She says she's already sold one.
Tip: If you are considering buying a franchise, see our Franchise Opportunities section at Office Live Small Business.
6. Become a personal matchmaker. "As a second-generation Indian-American raised in the U.S., I have a unique perspective," says attorney Jasbina Ahluwalia, who left her practice to launch Intersections Matchmaking from her home in Palo Alto, Calif.
She specializes in time-pressed professional clients. "While my clients come from a variety of cultural backgrounds, my perspective on the immigrant experience allows me to relate firsthand to clients from non-U.S. backgrounds," she says.
According to Ahluwalia, successful personal matchmaking involves the ability to: (1) engender trust; (2) maintain relationships with people suited to the clientele; (3) establish rapport with a wide variety of people; (4) use intuition, experience, and psychological insights, and (5) deeply understand a client's needs and wants about a significant other.
Her low startup costs included a certification course with the Matchmaking Institute, and legal expenses to incorporate the business and create client contracts.
7. Set up a tutor referral service. Across the country, families are spending millions of dollars on supplemental education to give their kids a competitive advantage. But it's hard for working parents to find reputable tutors with polished credentials.
That's what motivated Laurie Hurley to launch her Home Tutoring Business. A mother of two teens who works from her Newbury Park, Calif., home, Hurley finds qualified tutors and matches them with students who need one-on-one, in-home tutoring.
She suggests these tips to make a referral service work:
With inexpensive technology and reliable ways to collaborate online, home-based businesses are an increasingly attractive option for women.