51 Business Ideas for Housewives To Make Money

Last Updated on 10 months by Anoob P T

In this post, we are going to look at 51 Business Ideas for Housewives To Make Money.

My mom is a housewife. She’s around 60 years old.

Like most women who grew up in the late 50s and 60s she never went for a job. 

She’s a B’com graduate from that era but my father didn’t let her go to work–she was to take care of home and that’s it. 

She’s an enterprising woman, even now when I talk to her most of her conversations are about how to start a business and make some money on the side. 

“At this age?” I ask?

“Age is only in your mind, teach me!” She responds.

So I compiled a list of business ideas for housewives who want to work from home and make some money. Some of these business ideas require some capital and other need zero capital and zero resources.

I’m listing down business ideas which are actually being used by housewives to make money in my hometown.

Business Ideas for Housewives List
S.No	Business Idea	Investment Required	Estimated Profit	Difficulty Level
1	Soap Making	INR 10,000	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
2	Organizing School Trips	Nil	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
3	Daycare Center	INR 50,000	INR 100,000 per month	Hard
4	Gift baskets	INR 10,000	INR 25,000 per month	Easy
5	Paid to click jobs	Nil	INR 5000 per month	Easy
6	Candle Making Business	INR 10,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
7	Publish Ebook	INR 10,000	INR 15,000 per month	Medium
8	Beauty Parlor	INR 75,000	INR 100,000 per month	Hard
9	Catering service	INR 25,000	INR 100,000 per month	Hard
10	Local travel guide	Nil	INR 15,000 per month	Easy
11	Affiliate Marketing	Nil	INR 15,000 per month	Easy
12	Business Coaching service	Nil	INR 30,000 per month	Hard
13	Event planning service	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
14	Cooking class	INR 20,000	INR 40,000 per month	Medium
15	Wedding planner	INR 50,000	INR 100,000 per month	Medium
16	Interior Designing	INR 30,000	INR 50,000 per month	Hard
17	Sell home-baked goods	INR 5000	INR 15,000 per month	Medium
18	Catering service	INR 10,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
19	Hand-made craft Business	INR 3,000	INR 15,000 per month	Easy
20	Cake Designing and Making	INR 10,000	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
21	Freelancing	Nil	INR 25,000 per month	Easy
22	Blogging	INR 10,000	INR 30,000 per month	Easy
23	Become a Yoga Trainer	Nil	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
24	Language Instructor	INR 10,000	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
25	Teaching Instrumental Music	Nil	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
26	Jams, pickles & sauces	INR 15,000	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
27	Corporate gifts	INR 15,000	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
28	Packing services	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
29	Homemade chocolates	INR 15,000	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
30	Handicrafts	INR 25,000	INR 40,000 per month	Medium
31	Skin and Beauty Spa	INR 25,000	INR 50,000 per month	Hard
32	Virtual Accountant	Nil	INR 30,000 per month	Easy
33	Image Consultancy / Photography	INR 75,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
34	Coaching Institute	INR 15,000	INR 40,000 per month	Hard
35	YouTube	INR 30,000	INR 15,000 per month	Medium
36	T-shirt printing business	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
37	Making handicrafts	INR 15,000	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
38	Career Guidance	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
39	Dance Instructor	Nil	INR 15,000 per month	Easy
40	Social Media Consultant	Nil	INR 30,000 per month	Easy
41	Florist	INR 5000	INR 30,000 per month	Easy
42	Fashion Designing	Nil	INR 25,000 per month	Medium
43	Extracurricular Activities for Kids	INR 5000	INR 30,000 per month	Easy
44	Selling Products on e-Commerce Platforms	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
45	Urban Landscaper	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
46	Maid Organizer	Nil	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
47	Proofreading and Editing	Nil	INR 20,000 per month	Easy
48	Clothing Alterations and Tailoring	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Medium
49	Pet grooming	INR 15,000	INR 30,000 per month	Easy
50	Web Designing	Nil	INR 50,000 per month	Medium
51	SEO Consulting	Nil	INR 100,000 per month	Medium

Please feel free to share with anyone who can use this list of business ideas for housewives and let me know if you need any help setting up the business. If you know of any other money making business ideas for housewives, do share and I will include it in the post.

Note: Some of these ideas might not be feasible till the Corona virus or COVID 19 situation is under control, please stay safe.

51 Business Ideas for Housewives to Make Money

Soap Making

My mom’s friend is running a successful soap making business in my hometown. If you think you cant make decent money out of home-made soaps, let me assure you she is making enough and more to support a small family.

In fact, after starting a home unit for soap making, she even opened a store just to sell her products. This lady sells home made soaps, detergents, all-natural facewash, saree whiteners etc and makes good amount of money.

Capital to start this business: Approx INR 10000

Profit margin: Variable

Category: Product based business

Pro Tip: The easiest way to get customers for this business is by inquiring interest of the neighborhood and make the product accordingly. Having a good networking with local stores will also help get the product early traction.

I’m also adding few videos that will help you understand soap making.

Organizing School Trips

A housewife in my home town makes INR 2 Lakhs a month by organizing school trips for students to theme parks, factories and other places of interest for kids.

She has developed a good network with schools around her area and takes school-kids studying from Grade 3 to 8 on field trips and gets commission. Her scope of commission includes transportation services, food, theme park/factor entrance and other miscellaneous charges.

In a typical school in India, there are four divisions in a grade. 50 kids per division and grade 3 to 8 means a lot of kids. Once the season for school trips ends, she does catering business and keeps her income up.

This is a business idea for housewives who love children and likes planning trips.

As a first step what you will need to do is understand how many schools are in your locality and then understand how they currently organize thier school trips.

Due to COVID-19 outbreak, most of the schools are closed, so this idea might not be the best one to make money this year.

Daycare Center

Daycare is a term which is used for the care given to someone specifically a child, toddler and preschool kids, by an individual person apart from the child’s parents or their legal guardians.

It can be considered as an ongoing service which applies for a specific period of time especially when the guardians have to go for office work.

This is seen as one of the best home-based business ideas especially for housewives and moms, when they are not willing to leave their family behind for some 9 to 5 job and want to be with their own kids too. 

Such home based work allows Indian house wife’s to earn a little additional second income along with spending time with their family while taking care of other toddlers. 

This can be a great business idea for women who are having some experience handling children.

Capital required to start this business:  50000 INR

Profit margin: Variable

Category: Service based business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjGF7-bkswQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR9eVKh695w

Gift baskets

If you have an interest for making fascinating artworks, then this home-based business idea for housewife idea is perfect for you.

You can begin by making a few gift baskets which are fully distinctive and charming, with amazing artwork and additional glitters. 

You can easily create such items at your home and can start selling them within the local market for extra earnings. Having specific marketing skills will help you ear good money especially during festive seasons like Diwali, Raksha Bandhan, Christmas etc.

You can even consider selling such products through ecommerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart etc. or start your own shopify website to sell on your own.

I had a shopify website that sold custom printed Tshirts, I can help you set up your own website. Just let me know if you need any help.

These kinds of sales opportunities can be endless, as people prefer to gift customized things in spite of the common items available being available in gift shops. This small business from home will earn you a nice additional income if you are an artistic, creative and entrepreneurial.

Note” This housewife is making around INR 8 lakhs per month on Flipkart selling handbags. Read her story to get more ideas on how to do it.

Capital to start this business: 10000 INR

Profit margin: 10% – 15%

Category: Product based business

Paid to click jobs

This online job is recommended for everyone especially for housewives, college students, and part-time job seekers.

Having some knowledge regarding internet browsing and basic computer operating skills will be enough to start this business from your home. Many websites are available over the internet to register yourself for availing PTC jobs.

Apart from this it’s joining is totally free and no other special skills are required. You are just supposed to create a free account on such PTC sites, login into them and click over the ads mentioned within your account. 

This simple home business will be responsible for paying you a specific amount of money for the clicks on ads and for viewing ads. Apart from this   you must have a PayPal account for getting paid. 

• Investment: Nil
• Income: Variable
• Category: Service based business

Candle Making Business

In early 70s and 80s people used to live without any electricity and even now when there is no power at my home, I use candles.

Nowadays candles are specifically used in birthday parties, functions, get-together occasions, festivals such as Diwali and the occasional power cuts. 

As candle making is relatively easy and candles are always required in any home, this home-based business ideas can help you make some money just with free time.

In any business the key is to make a product or service better than the competition. One of the biggest problems I faced with any candle is that the brightness was not enough for me. If you can create a candle that offers decent enough light, I’ll be your first customer.

This is also an excellent business idea for housewives as candle making is easy.

Pro Tip: You can go through newspaper’s classifieds section for finding reputable candle making franchise providers within your area. They will be responsible for the supply of required raw materials as well as machines.

• Starting capital: 5000 INR – 10000 INR
• Maximum revenue: 1000 INR per day
• Category: Product based business

Publish Ebook

Thinking about taking your hobby of writing as a business? Go for it!

You can write a story-book, any novel, DIY guide, Tutorial books and much more.

You can then easily publish your own book in digital format [E-book] through any online platforms such as Amazon, Kindle etc. If you go to the Amazon Ebook section, you will find lot of “tiny” books which are more helpful guides that people buy all the time.

You can do research on any topic you might like and just create a book and have it published.

You do not have to write an ebook with hundreds of pages, even a 20 page book that adds value to the reader will sell.

And if you are willing to go with your own blog, you can easily publish your story for a direct selling.

Be advised, selling ebooks is a long term project, you cannot make money overnight by selling ebooks, it requires patience and effort to find the right niche to be successful.

•  Starting capital: Nil

• Maximum revenue: Variable

• Category: Media and Publishing

Beauty Parlor

This can be considered as a best part time business idea for housewives.

When I was in college my friends and when I am now working my female colleagues rely on beauty parlors to look their best.

The beauty of a beauty parlor business is that if you are good at it, your customers will stick with you for many years and you will get good referrals.

You need to have a specialized beautician training before going with this and for this you can go to any available training institutes within your area but this could very well be worth the investment.

Having a 3-month (or) 6-month course would be enough to begin this work. Join any such institute, get trained along with the certification. Then you just have to figure out a suitable place within your locality and you can even open one in your home.

You will have to buy the necessary furniture as well as accessories to start this business.

Pro Tip: You can get additional revenue by selling beauty products that you recommend to your customers.

• Capital to start this business: 75000 INR (Training, Rent, Furniture)

• Maximum profit margin: Variable

• Category: Service based business.

Catering service

Love cooking? Fond of eating? Well, then you can turn this passion for food into a catering service business.

Back in my home town there is a big cartering service that makes a ton of money during festive season.

In Kerala, there is a festival called as Onam and during this festival, there is a special feast called as “Onam Sadya” that is made up on 24 dishes served on a banana leaf.

Now-a-days people do not have the time to make these 24 dishes and many families including mine pre-order these “Sadyas” for Onam.

My mom is a very good cook, still it requires tremendous effort to make a Sadya and a catering service seems like the better option to save time and costs.

For your home based catering business, you can offer your services based on seasons or be a full time caterer. I would recommend you start offering your services for a season and then expand gradually.

In my experience, all housewives are good cooks. They are great at cooking some unique dish and if you can sell this as a service, you can make enough side income.

• Capital to start this business: 10000 INR to 25000 INR

• Maximum profit margin: Variable

• Category: Service based business.

Local travel guide

There is always something exciting about traveling. You get to see new things, meet new people and have experiences that you’ll never forget.

Now a day’s everyone is traveling to some place.

You can easily make good income by just providing the amazing travel guide services for tourists coming to your local area.

You can do this by arranging a hotel for them to stay, a specific plan for the places that has to be visited, and apart from this you can guide them in finding more interesting places as compared to other available guides.

This can be a seasonal business idea for housewives but will provide you with a high-income earning opportunity.

• Capital to start this business: Nil

• Maximum profit margin: Variable

• Category: Service based business.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a good business ideas for housewives as no marketing of products is required and there is no need for a physical store setup.

Affiliate marketing in simple terms is recommending products or services to someone and getting a commission when the sale happens.

Find some genuine affiliate marketing programs and get registered using free account with their business.

For this, you need to research on best-selling products and then can promote them using digital marketing techniques. You will earn a certain amount of commission for every successful sale you have made. 

A computer along with a working Internet connection will be enough to begin this business. If you need any help starting affiliate marketing, do let me know.

• Capital to start this business: Nil

• Maximum profit margin: Variable

• Category: Digital Marketing

Business Coaching service

This business idea can be suitable only for educated housewives who are having a master’s degree or even have some practical administrative experience.

You can easily become a freelance business coach or can even set up a physical office within your locality and you just have to place a display board about the services and offers provided by you.

Your initial and prime duty in this business is to empower small business owners as well as managers in improving the work performance, effective personal development, along with career growth.

• Capital to start this business: Nil

• Maximum profit margin: Variable

• Category: Service based business idea.

Event planning service

This is a small home business idea for housewives which is easy to start, highly profitable and you will also enjoy doing this.

Events that you can arrange are weekend dining parties, business conference, and organization meetings, seminars, birthday celebrations and much more.

Being an event planner will require you to have contacts with lot of local vendors for various services like transportation, food, spaces etc.

Get started by organizing small events of your locality, this will help you to become experienced. Later you can contact to corporate owners as well as other established business firms.

·         Startup investment: 10000 INR to 15000 INR

·         Return on investment: 25000+ INR

·         Category: Skill based, requires creativity.

Cooking class

The next business idea is running a cooking class. You can run a cooking class for college girls or for someone who is passionate about learning the profession. It is a perfect business for converting your passion into money.

You just have to use your kitchen or you can even create a separate space at home including all cooking facilities for starting this home business.

This business idea is going to work for sure as many young housewives are already showing an interest in putting their show uniqueness of cooking in front of others.

Pro Tip: You can combine this idea along with “catering business” or even start a YouTube channel to create additional revenue.

·         Initial Investment: 20000 INR – 30000 INR

·         Expected profit: 40% or more.

·         Category: Service based business

Wedding planner

Weddings are the most auspicious events in anyone’s life. 

People want to preserve this time as the most memorable event in their lifetime.

Women usually have great organizational skills and usually has a strong emotional attachment to friends’ or relatives’ weddings. If you are such a person, consider becoming a wedding planner.

You can begin as consultant providing advise on planning weddings and organize different aspects of the wedding including catering service, arrangement for reception, wedding purchase planning and much more.

Apart from this you can also include video coverage, photoshoot and album making, you can even include the transportation facilities.

·         Initial Investment: 50000 approximate

·         Expected profit: variable

·         Category: Service based business

Interior Designing

If you are passionate about designing a home, office or other workplace then you can begin with this business idea.

You just have to be passionate about design, unique artworks and a sense of interior design language.

You can even take relevant internships and can work with an establishing company for gaining required practical knowledge.

For growing this home-based business, unique creative ideas will not be enough, you will need practical experience which you can get by offering to do interior design work for your friends or colleagues for free.

Interior designing is not just for home but it is also used for commercial purposes like offices, hotels, malls and much more.

I took a real liking for interior design sometime back so whenever I visited a place with good interior design, I used to small talk with the owner on who did the design, what was the cost etc. just for my reference. May be you too can do the same.

·         Initial Investment: 20000 INR to 30000 INR approximate

·         Expected profit: Variable

·         Category: Service based business

Sell home-baked goods

In India, people love to eat and share laddoos, jaggeries, sweets, and other snacks at home especially during festive seasons like Diwali, Pongal, Christmas etc.

Since India has plenty of festivals all round the year, anytime is a perfect time for starting a home-based business.

If you are making such sweets or baked goods for yourself, prepare little extra for selling and try to distribute among local bakeries.

This business idea for housewives is ideal if you have a knack for cooking.

Pro Tip: For any food item, packing is everything. Even for your home made baked good, make sure that you pack it well and that customers find it appealing.

·         Capital to start this business: 5000 INR

·         Maximum profit margin: Variable

·         Category: Product based business idea

Catering

This could be considered an extension of the home based baked goods idea.

You can initially prepare food at home and then can sell it within the local markets. For instance, in Tamilnadu, a number of small home-made food serving hotels sell their foods near highways and in markets.

This small business is often considered as a good start and can be suitable for any people having good cooking skills.

You will even get family help for this business for cooking, preparation of food and packing it suitably with aluminium wrappers. You can easily keep them for display or can sell it to the local shops generating a small profit margin.

Fun Fact: There is a woman in Tamil Nadu that sells Idlys for Re 1. You can read her story here.

·         Investment required to start: 5000 INR–10000 INR

·         Expected Profit margin: 40%

·         Category: Service based business

Hand-made craft Business

This is a business idea for a housewife who is very good with their hands. One of my aunts is an expert in making anything with her hands including pottery and elegant crafts.

I am currently setting up her shopify website to sell online.

You can consider creating fascinating home decor designs using plaster of Paris or even wood. Such a hobby can be transformed into a venture and further could be run being at home.

You don’t require any huge investment for beginning this small business. You just need to have these skills within you and the passion of making crafts.

Hand made craft business include decorative items made using Plaster of Paris such as play dolls, lead casting, sculpture of paintings, sand casting etc.

You can make additional use of chemical color, water color, and oil color to give them look more appealing. The resulting product can be marketed through some local fancy store, specialized dealers, and using direct marketing to earn money.

I can also teach you how to set up a website and sell such products online–let me know if you need any help.

·         Investment required to start: 3000 INR

·         Expected Profit margin: variable

·         Category: Service based business

Cake Designing and Making

One of the best low investment business ideas is designing and making of custom cakes.

There was a bakery in my hometown that was famous for cakes and it ran successfully for many years. It was run by a housewife and her sister.

The secret to their bakery’s success was special birthday cakes that were unlike anything else you would taste. Each of their birthday cakes would be made with a different recipe and even if you order a cake second time, you wouldn’t get the same taste.

I would suggest start baking small cakes and distributing it within local bakeries. If you are finding that people like the taste and your product is in demand, scale up. As with any food, the key is in presentation so make sure you present your cake in the best possible manner.

• Investment required to start: 5000 INR – 10000 INR
• Expected Profit margin: 5% – 10%
• Category: Service based business

Freelancing

Being a freelancer and working from home is definitely a great way to make money.

This falls among highly profitable business for everyone including educated housewives as well as moms.

If you are a housewife looking to start a business, you can choose any domain such as Web Designing, Data Entry, Form Filling, Photography, Content writing much more relevant to your skills and interests.

Freelancing has always seen as a great source for earning some extra income from sitting at home and that is why it is considered as best suitable home-based business ideas for housewives. It hardly matters what your expertise are, you can still find work from home job using freelance sites.

Even I get lot of requests for freelance content writing projects, so if you are a good writer with some samples, do let me know. I will pass on the project to you.

·         Investment: Nil

·         Maximum profit margin: 100% [set your own price]

·         Category: Service based business.

Blogging

Blogging is powerful small business idea any housewife can do from home. You can start a blog on any domain and topic totally based you’re your own interest and passion.

To start this business, register a domain name, purchase a reliable hosting and install WordPress. That it, you just need to have these few things on point and you become a blogger.

As with any business that is easy to start, it is extremely competitive. You blog should focus on quality rather than quantity and attract good users that are looking for reliable information.

In my experience blogging takes a good six months to see some traction and this is a “waiting period” you have to invest time and effort to make any traction from the blog. I will help you start the blog and teach you basics for SEO if you are willing to put in 6 months of effort.

·         Startup investment: Aprox 8100 INR

·         Return on investment: 25000+ INR

·         Category: Skill based requires creativity.

Become a Yoga Trainer

If you believe health is wealth and that you can teach other people to get healthy, you can consider being a yoga teacher. Before you can teach others to do yoga, you must learn the art yourself and practice everyday.

There are many certified yoga teachers who teach yoga as a full time profession and make a lot of money on the side. Certified yoga instructors also have a chance to start a YouTube channel or even make additional income by selling yoga related merchandise.

·         Startup investment: Aprox 1000 INR

·         Return on investment: 25000+ INR

·         Category: Service based.

Language Instructor

Most Indians know more than one language. We’re all multi-linguistic and some people are great at picking up more than one language.

If you are someone who has good grasp on languages other than your mother tongue, then you can consider becoming a language instructor.

Do note, it is easier to make money being language instructor for a special forgeign language such as French or German.

Now-a-days, lot of people want to migrate to Canada and knowing French will be an added advantage.

There is a huge market for this small business as a lot of people need a language instructor who can help them to learn a new language in a specific time period, especially before applying for a resident visa.

·         Startup investment: Aprox 10000 INR

·         Return on investment: 25000+ INR

·         Category: Service based.

Teaching Instrumental Music

I love music, any type of music.

Some people are naturally gifted at playing instruments and if you are someone passionate and musically talented, you can try teaching instrumental music to make additional income.

Now-a-days parents do not mind their kids taking up to extra curricular activities such as playing an instrument as it has the potential to become a profession.

You can begin with a few performances within your locality, or at school or college and apart from this can invite specific people to get involved in your performance. By all such things people will come to know about you and your talent then you can approach them out to teach instrumental music to children as well as youngsters.

Pro Tip: You can start a YouTube channel, upload lessons online or even start an online course to reach a wider audience.

Startup investment: Nil

Return on investment: 20000+ INR

Category: Service based.

Jams, pickles & sauces

If you haven’t noticed it yet, people have become more conscious about their health because of which demand for healthier and non-commercial jams, pickles, sauces and ketchups has gone up.

There are plenty of YouTube channels that recommend to prevent jams, pickles and sauces that are made by large corporations as it has additives and preservatives.

As awareness about healthier choices increase, there is an opportunity to make some extra income by selling home made jams, pickles and sausages.

As with any business in the food sector, you need to start by getting necessary liscenes before commercially selling. What I would recommend is starting off small and testing the market with select products.

Make sure your products are tasty, chemical free, packed well and priced right- you would find customers even in small towns.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 15,000

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Service based.

Corporate gifts

In India you will find a rich culture of corporate gifting. It goes on round the year. Such gifts include pens, wallets, mugs as well as wide range of stuff that can be given to staff including business associates.

Usually, corporate gift items have the company’s name and logo printed on them. With the help of adequate samples as well as genuine contacts, you can get annual contracts and can open such business with low investment.

You just need to have a wide range of products along with their samples in terms to display them to the clients.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 15,000

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Product + Service based.

Packing services

Next on our list of business ideas for housewives is packing services.

Certain business organizations such as small and medium businesses usually do not have any separate department for the packing of their products. They have to hire individuals for this purpose who can be often unreliable.

Although packing services might sound like a simple business, there is a lot of money involved in this.

When I was running my online T-shirt business, I desperately needed someone to help me pack the products but I couldn’t find a reliable partner.

In fact because of the trouble I was having with packing, I was even thinking about launching a packaging start-up for similar entrepreneurs.

To get started with this business, you will need to have adequate packing material like cartons, strapping machines, a few cutters along with some manpower. Once you have enough experience in the industry, you can even make margins on packing material and make additional income.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 15,000

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Product + Service based.

Homemade chocolates

Do you have some skills in chocolate making? Then, with some little investment, you can easily enter within this highly profitable small business idea.

Homemade chocolates are highly demanded and are sold by a number of major pastry shops as well as gift stores.

Home made chocolates are in demand mainly because of two reasons; a the taste of home made chocolate is different from bulk-manufactured chocolate and they contain little or no artificial ingredients.

I would recommend you to start small, make few chocolates and try to distribute with local bakeries and neighborhood stores. If you are able to gain traction, scale up. When entering a competitive segment, always remember to innovate in some way to make your product stand out.

It could be in taste, packing, ingredients or even target audience. Make your home made chocolate stand out and leave the rest to “word of mouth” marketing.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 15,000

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Service based

Handicrafts

Another excellent small business with low investment is selling handicrafts. Usually, handicrafts are made within rural areas and have demand throughout regions.

What I have noticed is that big retail chains that sell such handicrafts charge exorbitant rates for their merchandise, which is actually a lot cheaper when bought locally.

You can become a medium from which people can buy these handicrafts at reasonable rates. You can even set up a shopify website to sell such merchandize and drive traffic to get sales.

Pro Tip: Create a unique collection of decor for office furnishing, customers for office furnishing usually order in bulk and you can make more income from one sale.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 25,000

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Product + Service based

Skin and Beauty Spa

Everyone wants a glowing and healthy skin and a good skin and beauty spa is hard to find in almost all localities.

For women who are skilled in providing beauty as well as skin treatment, then opening a small business for offering this service is an excellent small investment option.

You can even design some unique therapies for glowing skin, anti-aging along with face-lifts. This business can be started from home, and you just have to ample space and some privacy for clients. Offering herbal and natural therapies will help you stay ahead of the competition.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 25,000

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Service based

Virtual Accountant

Next on our list of business ideas for housewives is virtual accountant services.

My mom is a B.Com graduate and she is good with numbers. Even though she was a graduate she never went for an accountant job, she wanted to always take up a virtual accountant job.

This is a good business idea for women who understand the concept of debits and credits and enjoy working with numbers. As a virtual assistant, you will be expected to record the financial transactions of the organization as a freelancer.

You can have a dedicated set of clients which will provide you surety for a steady source of income. You can do this using both modes i.e. online and offline as you can connect to chartered accountants in your vicinity for outsourcing their work to you.

Startup investment: Nil

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Service based

Image Consultancy / Photography

Image consultancy businesses are buzzing high these days among women and housewives across the world.

Task of an image consultant is to help individuals in presenting the best possible image in front of the world by greatly advising them about their physical attributes as well as perceived attributes.

This business idea might require some sort of training and certification before actually beginning your career as an image consultant.

I knew a woman photographer that was making good side income by being a professional food photographer. She worked for a food startup that required new images everyday to be updated for their marketing campaigns.

She used to charge per image and was making substantial income.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 70,000 (Camera + Equipment)

Return on investment: Aprox INR 35,000 per month

Category: Service based

Coaching Institute

Coaching institute business have been around for a long time and they have also evolved with time.

When I was in school, there were many students flocking to attend engineering and medical entrance coaching institutes and they were making good income.

Even though there are lots of institutes, I think it still remains one of the best business ideas for women.

Even in this era of technology, people still believe in physical and face to face interaction of tutors and students. If you are have some prior experience in teaching, coaching, or mentoring in a specific subject, you can start with small tuition classes without any investment.

The business is also scalable because you can convert your home coaching into a coaching institute by just hiring other subject experts.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 15,000

Return on investment: Depends

Category: Service based

YouTube

You might have read about Indian YouTubers making lakhs or rupees in a month just by posting videos on cooking, make up and even pranks.

You can read my post on How to Earn money from YouTube to get started.

Before you dismiss the idea of making money from YouTube as impossible, let me tell you, it is possible and people are making huge amount of money from YouTube.

But, there is a catch–it is not easy!

To be successful on YouTube you need to have patience, originality and most importantly perseverance. I was the founder of a video-focused media startup that raised USD 2 Million (INR 14 Crores) so I know how to make it work.

I’m willing to teach you how to make money from YouTube- just write me an email or leave a comment below with your email address.

Becoming a YouTuber as a woman is definitely a wonderful idea. The chances of a women’s YouTube channel to become successful is high as women audience are more engaged and thanks to cheap internet and penetration of smartphones you can easily build your audience.

Now, here are some things you need to start your career in YouTube: –

1. Camera/Smartphone

2. Internet Connection

3. Video Editing Software

4. Laptop

In addition to these, you also need a passion for making videos and some creativity to present your videos in a unique manner.

T-shirt printing business

Next on the list of profitable business ideas for housewives is T-shirt business.

I had started a T-shirt printing and selling business sometime back with zero capital and sold around 800 T-shirts in a month.

It was operationally very intensive and I could not focus on the business so had to shut it down. But I can teach you exactly how to do it. Just ping me in the comments section.

If you ask me honestly, it is still a great business idea and you can still make it work if you design, print and market your T-shirts well.

If you are housewife looking for a good business idea, I recommend trying this because it is easy and there are even on-demand T-shirt printing and shipping vendors who will do the hard work for you.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 15,000

Return on investment: Usually INR 100 per order

Category: Product based

Making handicrafts

Do you know that Indian exports of Handicrafts to other countries is more than Rs.26,590.25 Crores in financial year 2018-19?

If you like handicrafts, you can enter this business but be warned, this is highly competitive.

If you have the skills making these handicrafts at home and some expertise in digital marketing, you can make a decent side income.

Begin with this on a small scale with very few numbers of multiple products. As you find a wining product, scale up and start making more of the handicraft that is popular.

There is great demand for Indian handicrafts in countries like US, UK and Australia and if you can figure out a means to ship this product- you can earn good side income.

Career Guidance

Education system in India is messed up.

Lot of kids study lot of different subjects in school and then even graduate out of college with a degree they have no interest in and then join any company that offers them a job.

I’m an aircraft maintenance engineer who is now doing digital marketing for a living.

Most kids in India do not get the needed career guidance and you can actually build a business out of this problem.

Career Guidance or Career Counselling business is a profitable business but before you advise others on careers, you should be well-versed with the current employment opportunities, what the future could be and guide your customers (parents of children) accordingly.

As a Career Counsellor, you are required to understand a child’s true interests, potential and future employment opportunities and guide him/her in the right direction.

A normal Career Counsellor charges up to 1500 INR, and if you are good at this job, the satisfaction you get out of helping children and parents would far outweigh the monetary gains.

Startup investment: Aprox INR 15,000 (+time)
Return on investment: Aprox INR 30000 per month
Category: Service based

Dance Instructor

Many women in India attended dance classes when they were growing up.

My aunt was a fantastic dancer when she was young and she still teaches kids how to dance and makes good side income.

As more and more parents encourage their kids to take up professions like singing or dancing, you can easily become a dance teacher and specialise in offering preparation for dance competitions.

You can even start a YouTube channel for the same and increase your reputation and business.

Startup investment: Nil
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 15000 per month
Category: Service based

Social Media Consultant

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, linked in and Pinterest have become highly popular not just for regular people, but also for businesses.

A social media consultant defines social media strategies and creates marketing campaigns to get customers and increase followers.

If you are passionate about social media and spend a lot of time on social media, this could be a great business opportunity.

One of my friends handles social media pages of many businesses and she uses a tool called as HootSuite–which will enable her to post across multiple social media platforms in one go. Such platforms can also schedule posts and it costs hardly $5 or so a month.

Startup investment: INR 10,000 one time
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 30000 per month
Category: Service based

Florist

This is also a great business idea for housewives who want to work from home. All you need is some space and patience go grow flowers.

You can start by researching about fast growing and profitable flowers that will grow in your region and get started quickly. In India flowers are part of every occassion and you would find business almost any time of the year.

Use your networking skills to supply garlands or flowers for functions or even to the nearest temple and you will find customers all the time.

As a perishable product, you need to ensure that you have constant demand before scaling up. If demand is increasing, you can even consider getting flowers delivered in bulk from flower-producing farmers and resell at a higher price.

Startup investment: INR 5,000
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 30000 per month
Category: Service based

Fashion Designing

Businesses centred around fabrics and jewellery will never go out of demand in India. However, you should be warned that making a successful living out of fashion designing requires talent, hard work and persistence.

One of my friends who was into fashion designing once asked me ideas for inspiration. I was out that time eating a paratha and I told her to make design based on the Indian paratha (the round shape). It was for a fashion assignment in her college and believe it or not she won a prize for that design!

Fashion designing only requires you to set up a small corner within your home as a working studio and you can start by dressing and designing your friends, relatives and neighbours.

This will help you to get inspiration for further elevation and apart from this you can get inspired from various success stories.

Startup investment: Nil
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 25000 per month
Category: Service based

Extracurricular Activities for Kids

When I was growing up, extracurricular activities were always thought of as a secondary “entertainment” after completing home work and studies.

Today’s parents are little different. They want their children to be active and excel in other extracurricular activities.  They want reliable teachers to teach their kids skills such as storytelling, DIY crafts, creative writing, painting and spiritual classes.

Usually women tend to have these innate abilities for managing children.

These classes can be easily started from home and along with this the working hours can be highly flexible.

You will have to advertise about your work in your locality and people who are in need for such classes will approach you for their kid’s betterment.

Startup investment: INR 5,000
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 30000 per month
Category: Service based

Selling Products on e-Commerce Platforms

There is hardly anyone who has not bought something online.

I was managing remarketing campaigns for an e-commerce company and the size of the data of people buying products online is just astounding.

Even though you might think it is not worth to start an ecommerce business now because the market is crowded the reality is far from it.

If you have a unique product that is fulfilling the need of a customer and priced right–you can still get sales.

Ecommerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart attract millions of visitors every day and there is great potential to make some side income. Selling on e-commerce websites and making steady income is not easy. However, if you deep dive into it and identify gaps- you can still make a successful living out of it.

You can easily avail vendors for handcrafted items such as soaps, candles and handmade artifacts.

Pro Tip: Check for bad reviews of products you are want to sell. If you are confident about the quality of the product you are selling, you immediately know that you have an audience to buy your products.

Startup investment: INR 15,000
Return on investment: Varies
Category: Product Based

Urban Landscaper

An urban landscape is a type of professional artist who is responsible for turning out your home green by effectively installing beautiful planters. You can consider it more like gardening but with some adequate professional twist.

One of my friends’ manager became very much interesting in growing his own vegetables even though he was staying in an apartment.

He was willing to pay around INR 45000 for someone to come and set up a vertical garden in his balcony so I know there is demand for this profession.

What you need is just some knowledge related to organic gardening, natural pesticides as well as some organic products. There is a huge demand for such professional gardeners in cities and it results in the making of a profitable business idea for women in India.

Startup investment: INR 15,000
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 30000 per month
Category: Service based

Maid Organizer

Next on the list of business ideas for housewives is maid organiser.

In cities like Bangalore, it is very difficult to find reliable help for the home. Most maids either quit or people fire them because of lack of work ethics or language barrier.

I know a housewife in my locality who arranges maids for short term and long term and she is making good side income with just her contacts.

Her USP is that she has contacts with numerous ladies looking for housework and is able to provide maids for people with all budgets.

If you think you can do this business, you are most welcome to try as there is no investment required.

Startup investment: Nil

Return on investment: Varies

Category: Service based

Proofreading and Editing

As long as writing exists, there will be a need for editors.

I started out as writer and became an editor then slowly moved into digital marketing.

Freelance editing and proofreading will not only pay you a decent hourly wage, but it also gives you certain chances to read and know about some interesting topics.

You can find these kinds of jobs which the help of your known sources and even on online work portals. People who offer you such work can be companies, individuals in need of writing, proofreading, and editing services.

You just need to have good written skills to figure out the mistakes within the given matter to generate the most accurate content.

If you are looking to work as a professional editor, you need to ensure that your grammar is impeccable and you work for reliable clients. Do not take up assignments from Facebook groups as they are plagued with fraudsters trying to get done work for free or cheap.

If possible, meet the client, have a video call, get into a legal contract or ask for 50% upfront payment before taking up an assignment. If your client says that they can do none of this–it is best to avoid them.

I get lot of requests for freelance work from home writers and editors, if you need work, do mail me.

Startup investment: Nil
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 20000 per month
Category: Service based

Clothing Alterations and Tailoring

Clothing alterations are also a great way to make some side money. All you need is a sign board that says “Alterations Done Here” and you can start making some money.

Of course, you will need to know basics for tailoring and alterations but this can be learnt very easily.

There is a lady in my hometown that makes about INR 50,000 just by doing alterations and small tailoring work so I know it is lucrative and promising.

Startup investment: INR 15,000
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 30000 per month
Category: Service based

Pet grooming

Now-a-days I find fewer homes without pets.

One of my friends has 2 dogs and a cat and she is always complaining about not finding a good pet grooming studio to keep her pets neat, clean and presentable.

You can help such people out by doing this from home but you need to have a good knack with animals as some pets can become unfriendly with new people around the house.

If you love animals and enjoy befriending and grooming them, this is a great way to make some money.

To start this business you need to undergo pet grooming training and would require to buy some equipment.

Startup investment: INR 15,000
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 30000 per month
Category: Service based

Web Designing

Web designing is a perfect business opportunity especially for those who are having expertise in website designing.

If you know basics of HTML, PHP, graphic designing and copywriting you can even take up projects to develop full websites.

Different aspects of web designing business include web graphic design, interface design, user experience design, web development and search engine optimization.

Acquiring skills to develop a full website will take time, so I suggest starting with just graphic design. There are plenty of online courses that will teach you web designing.

If you are willing to do the hard work, I know a very senior UI/UX designer who can mentor you to learn the craft. He is working full time, so it will not be training but more of mentoring.

Startup investment: Nil
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 50000 per month
Category: Service based

SEO Consulting

As long as Google is there, there would be need for Search Engine Optimization. Good SEO consultants are always in demand and there are many SEO consultants that charge in excess of INR 1 Lakh a month.

Every day millions of websites are created and more of them fails due to lack of knowledge about SEO or internet marketing.

As an SEO consultant you can help individuals and business organizations to achieve higher ranking on search engines and generate revenue.

SEO cannot be learnt overnight, but expertise in SEO will always be in demand.

Startup investment: INR 25,000 (in courses)
Return on investment: Aprox. INR 100000 per month
Category: Service based

If you have any other business ideas for housewives do let me know and I will include them in the article.

Please do share this information with anyone whom you think will use it and if you need any help setting up your business, do let me know I will help in any way I can.

Freqeuntly Asked Questions about Business Ideas for Housewives

What kind of business can a housewife do?

Professional Cooking, Online work, YouTube, Virtual assistant or any kind of business as long as it is generating profit and you can outsource some of the work to other people as you grow. If only you can do all the work, it becomes a job and not a business.

Which business is best for beginners?

Any business that focuses on your own skills is great for beginners. If you are good at writing, start writing. If you are good at being on camera and a good cook, start a YouTube channel. As a beginner, always go for a business that is low on capital so that even if you lose money, risk is lower.

What business can I start as a woman?

As a woman, you might have some specific skills such as cooking, dancing, tutoring or even writing. You can start a business that combines your skills and market demand to create a successful business.

Which job is best for housewife?

Any sort of online work is great for a housewife because you can work as per your schedule and get paid decent amount without travel, meetings which generally interferes with family time.

What is the best business for ladies?

Ecommerce, writing, YouTube are good businesses for ladies to start with.

How can I start a service business with no money?

You do not need money to start service business, you just have to get clients. Once you have clients, hire freelancers to get the job done.

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