Being financially resilient is a benefit to men and women. However, it is more important for a woman to be financially independent so that she can remove herself from bad situations, whether they are at a current job or at home. When financially independent, especially in a poor economy with increasing inflation, you also bring more money into your home. If your spouse should unexpectedly lose his job or get sick, you can carry the financial burden until he starts working or recovers from an illness.
Business Ideas That Are Cost-Effective to Start
Being financially independent also allows you to spend more time with your family, especially when you choose to start a business. A new small business also allows work for others in your community. Finally, when you diversify income sources, you are not stuck with one career that may crash during bad times.
1. Internet Marketing
If you are a great writer and have an imagination, you could start a business providing marketing for businesses. With internet marketing, you might write blogs, web pages, social media posts, white papers and more. This is often a research-heavy job, so having excellent research skills is a must. Clients might also ask you to come up with a marketing ploy or require you to use spreadsheets and graphics in your post. Opening your own blog is also a creative option to achieve a significant side income.
This is a job you might start while you are still working at a regular job, as it does take some time to find clients. However, if you do not work, you’ll have plenty of time to build your client base. Once you have clients, set aside a couple of hours every day to hunt for new clients.
2. Selling Boutique Handmade Goods
Many people choose to have a side hustle that also reflects their passion in interests, and gives them a creative outlet. If you are handy with handmade crafts, selling these goods in addition to your day job can give you a steady source of additional income, as well as the added joy that lies in practicing your craft. And if the business picks off, you can always allocate more time to it, or even turn it to your full time job.
If you have some hobbies that you think could become a business, there are a lot of guides and tutorials available to help you make them a reality. For example, how to start a candle business.
3. Interior Design
For those women who have a knack for designing, starting an interior design business could garner you a good paycheck. As with other careers, you can have as many clients as you can handle. However, unlike a virtual legal assistant or accountant, many of your clients are one-time clients unless they have a lot of money and are always redesigning their homes. It’s a fun job, and you get to spend others’ money.
Depending on how much you want to travel, you could procure clients in your city, state, or even across the country.
4. Accountant or Tax Expert
One career that most people need is an accountant. Most people with businesses, including small businesses, need accountants because of the complexity of the tax laws. Even some who do not have a business would rather have an accountant do their personal taxes. You’ll stay busy throughout the year and probably have more than you can handle during the two tax seasons – the regular tax season in April and the late filings due later in the year.
Because this is a career you can do online, you don’t have to stick to clients in your immediate vicinity. This opens many doors for someone with experience as an accountant.
5. Event Planner
You might be great at organizing events. Not everyone is. When someone has a large event, such as a wedding or a graduation, they need help planning the event. You can make a career out of planning events for those who don’t have the time or the knowledge to plan a successful event.
If you like traveling – and have the ability to travel – you don’t have to limit yourself to your local area. You can advertise across the state or even the United States.
6. Clothing Boutique
If you have a great sense of fashion, you can make a great living by starting a clothing boutique. If you start it online, you only need money for your inventory, marketing and shipping. When it becomes successful, you could open a brick-and-mortar shop or continue growing your online business.
An online clothing boutique doesn’t limit you to your city or county. Because shipping is usually quick and with several methods of shipping, you can target the entire United States, or even the world, if shipping worldwide isn’t cost-ineffective.
7. Business Coaching
Not everyone can develop a great idea and turn it into a business. Some have a brilliant idea but don’t know how to get started. And some would love to start a business but are unsure whether their idea is good or don’t have an idea to start with. A business coach could help these people get started with a new business.
Many people have some business background but not enough to succeed immediately. A business coach can help them learn how to run their businesses. This is another position where you can have as many clients as you can handle. As one client stops your services because they are no longer needed, you’ll have another to fill that spot. In many cases, you can even do this job completely online with video conferencing and emails.
8. Website Design
If you have web design capabilities, you can make a lot of money doing website design. Many businesses need a website but only have a basic understanding of creating a website. They might want something more robust than the cookie-cutter sites offered by domain registration sites. And, this is a job where you can take clients from all over the world – not just in your local area.
9. Remote Customer Service
You can provide customer service for many businesses right from your home. You can function as an answering service when the business is closed, or you can provide a full host of customer services online or via telephone for your clients. You might answer questions, set appointments, call customers or clients, or do any number of activities for a business.
If you decide to work as an answering service, you can purchase software that allows you to handle phone calls from many clients, take messages, and digitally forward those messages to your clients.
Choosing the Right Path
How do you know which is the right path for you to choose? Choose an area where you have some experience or something that is easy to learn. You could more easily learn retail skills for a clothing boutique than the legal skills needed to start a virtual paralegal business. This is not a comprehensive list, either. You might have a skill that is not on this list. Turn it into a business.
Make sure you choose a career that you like, as you will spend a lot of time building the business, especially at first. Choose something that you know you can do forever. And ensure that it is something you can do to make money. For example, someone who is fast at crocheting could make large afghans and sell them for hundreds or even thousands. However, do the people in your area have the funds to make such a large purchase? And you must also consider the time you put into a piece versus the amount you will get for it by comparing an hourly rate to the sale price.
You should also consider if the career you choose requires continuing education. If you are able to take the time to get the continuing education without compromising your business, then you should choose that path. Continuing education is a benefit for you, as it shows your customers that you care about them enough to learn how to best meet their needs.
Start by researching your skills to see where you can best use them in starting a new business and becoming financially independent.