6 Home-Based Business Ideas for the New Normal

Online teaching

Difficulty level: Easy

Online teaching grew in popularity years back because of the need for foreign students to learn English, but now, there are many other things you can teach in an online class, depending on your subject area expertise or interests. Here are some areas to explore:

• Arts and crafts like paintings, fashion accessories, or home décor
• Book writing
• Yoga
• Music lessons

Many educational institutions have pivoted to homeschooling, so you can also set up an online tutorial to help students with their daily assignments in reading, science, and math.

To kick off your online teaching business, start with a small group of students first, such as those in your family or circle of friends. Then, you can request them to refer your services to those in their own circle until your class grows.

Here’s the kicker: You’ll need a fast and reliable Wi-Fi connection to hold classes smoothly. You don’t want to leave your students hanging during a lesson when you suddenly get disconnected because you’ve run out of data.

Online selling

Difficulty level: Easy

Online selling is probably the most common business during this time of the COVID-19. You just need to decide on the product or service that you want to sell, source for affordable suppliers near your area, and upload pictures of your offerings on your social feed or chosen marketplace or platform.

If you plan to be a reseller, you don’t have to worry about where to get your supplies since the main seller will provide you with the products.

The most saleable things include:

• Food items
• Ready-to-wear clothing
• Gadgets
• New normal essentials like alcohol, hand soaps, face masks, and face shields

Once you start selling, you’ll need the services of a delivery partner if you’re not up to delivering the orders yourself. Try out multiple delivery providers, and then pick 1 to 2 regulars based on affordability and reliability of service.

Here’s the kicker: You have to carefully weigh your options on which payment method is the safest for you and your customers to avoid potential disputes or dubious transactions. Do your due diligence on the pros and cons of using cash, bank transfers, or digital wallets.

Check out PawnHero’s other articles on online selling here!

Vlogging

Difficulty level: Easy to difficult

Vlogging is blogging using video format, and it’s been trending on social media because it can be educational and entertaining at the same time. In fact, some of the internet sensations today started as vloggers.

You don’t need to spend on expensive equipment to use for your vlogs, although a decent video camera and some nifty editing skills (if you choose to do that yourself).

You can make content that will be available for everyone (even non-subscribers), but since your goal is to earn from vlogging, make sure that you have a YouTube channel where your followers can subscribe for a fee to get exclusive content. You can also get paid from ads once you reach YouTube’s benchmark for the number of subscribers and views.

Thinking of what to vlog? Here are some ideas:

• Your own story or daily life
• Product reviews
• Trending topics related to the new normal like gardening, biking, or telecommuting

Here’s the kicker: Your content has to be really awesome to stand and attract viewers. You have to get people to like and share your content to make money from it.

Freelance services

Difficulty level: Easy to difficult

This is similar to online selling, except you’re providing professional services to customers or clients. Perhaps they need a content writer, website developer, video editor, and so on.

To be able to offer a wide range of services, you’ll need a small team of members with relevant skills. For example, you can offer a marketing package and have someone in your team handle blogging, social media marketing, and email marketing.

Here’s the kicker: You’ll need to build your website to make it easy for you to be found by potential clients and make yourself more marketable to them.

Digital printing

Difficulty level: Easy to difficult

Digital printing refers to the process of printing digital files or images on a variety of media like photo paper, stickers, tarpaulin, textiles, plastic containers, and the like. Think of printing designs on a T-shirt or umbrella for corporate giveaways.

This business typically requires laser, ink-jet, or large-format printers, so you’ll need some funds. Start looking for loan options, such as those offered by banks or pawnshops in the Philippines.

On the plus side, you can easily find business customers and gain returns quickly. You can start with those engaged in online food selling who are looking for someone to print their stickers or labels.

Here’s the kicker: You’ll need to have background knowledge in the printing industry, such as how to operate large-format printing machines, where to source materials, or which printing medium is best for specific projects. You can sign up for trainings to know these things.

Business consultancy

Difficulty level: Easy to difficult

As you get the hang of running a business, you can take things to the next level by teaching other people how to start their own ventures, too. By this time, you’ve acquired first-hand experience in business management, and it will just be a matter of applying it in another business project that will pay you to do it for them.

Here’s the kicker: Potential clients need to see your credibility as an adviser for their business. You may want to request past or existing clients to share their success stories on your website as a testimonial to your expertise.