5 of the most profitable home businesses

Dropshipping is a retail fulfilment method where you don’t keep any products in stock but buy them from a third party (ideally a supplier or wholesaler) to ship it to the customer only once the customer has placed their order with you.

• How you’ll make money from home: 
  Since you won’t have any overhead costs for storage or stocking up on inventory, it’s easy and cost-effective to set up a dropshipping business. Finding the right supplier here is key. Ideally, you want to get your items directly from source so that you can charge your customers a competitive price and still make a comfortable profit for yourself.
• How to get started:
  All you need is to find your supplier(s) and set up your own ecommerce site, either on a pre-existing marketplace like Etsy or by using ecommerce platforms like Shopify to create your own website.

If you have a particular skill and interest set (such as in fashion, IT or nutrition), you could start a business as a professional blogger.

• How you’ll make money from home:
  In today’s world, internet influencers can make huge amounts of money through advertising and marketing through their blogs and social media accounts. Once you have established a following for yourself online, then you can start to connect with online marketing companies and brands who want to up their publicity and target your blog’s audience. For example, a well-read blog like Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert makes sizeable sums from ‘affiliate links’ for third party products – receiving a commission every time someone makes a purchase having clicked through from the link. 
• How to get started:
  To get started, you simply need a blog site and to open social media accounts so you can build your reach and following. It’s also a good idea to start a YouTube channel. Then, all you need to do is come up with some unique content that your followers will love and start contacting other businesses.

Whether you’re a qualified teacher looking for some extra income or simply an expert in a certain area, then tutoring online can be a great way to earn money from home.

• How you’ll make money from home:
  Depending on your relevant qualifications and experience, online tutors in the UK charge anywhere between £10-£50 per hour. Be sure to take a look at other online tutors similar to yourself in order to determine a competitive rate.
• How to get started:
  To get started as an online tutor, it is recommended to sign up to an agency or online forum. Be mindful that these services do often come with a fee for tutors, so prepare to factor this into your hourly rate.

Virtual assistants can offer a variety of services without ever leaving the house. From data entry to email outreach to brand marketing through social media, the only limit is your imagination when it comes to thinking of services you could provide.  

• How you’ll make money from home:
  As a virtual assistant, you could make anywhere between £10-£30 per hour. Since life as a virtual assistant can be so varied, you may want to consider setting up a pricing structure to cover hourly rates, per-project rates and monthly retainer rates and then bill accordingly.
• How to get started:
  We highly recommend that you start by identifying your niche, such as social media or admin. The next thing to do is to get yourself a professional online presence and start marketing yourself to potential clients.  

Pet sitting and dog walking means that you will temporarily take care of someone else’s pet for anywhere between a few weeks to a few hours when they need you to. If you love animals and taking long walks outside, then being a pet-sitter or dog walker could be ideal for your home business.

• How you’ll make money from home:
  The average rate for a pet-sitting job is about £10-15 per night, and the rate for dog walking is usually minimum wage per hour. Offering an optional service for an additional charge, such as a doggy wash or grooming session, could help your business stand out and bring in a little extra cash too.
• How to get started:
  You can either choose to advertise your pet services yourself locally, or you could join an online platform like Holidog. The most important thing is to ensure that, if you don’t own your own home, you have permission from the landlord to keep pets in your home.