Did you know that women own 39% of all businesses?
Between them, they earn $2.7 trillion in annual revenue and pay the salaries of 12.2 million workers.
If you’re looking for the best small business ideas for women, it’s worth drawing inspiration from these success stories. In 2023, over half of women-owned businesses fell into one of the following four categories:
- Professional, scientific, and technical services
- Administrative, support, and waste management, and remediation services
- Healthcare and social assistance
- Other services, such as pet care, dry cleaning, and hairstyling
Ready to dig deeper?
Take a look at 50 great small business ideas that can help you smash the glass ceiling as a female entrepreneur.
50 small business ideas for women
There are plenty of small business ideas to consider, ranging from babysitting to ecommerce. Because of this, some of them might not suit your needs or fit in with your lifestyle.
Whatever the specifics of your situation, here’s a closer look at many tried-and-true small business ideas for women…
1. Online tutor
When trying to decide what kind of business to start, it’s useful to run through your personal interests, skills, and experiences.
Maybe you used to work at a school or college and enjoyed it. You don’t need to apply for an in-person job at an educational institution in your town or city. Instead, you could become an online tutor and teach remotely via video calls.
Be careful to pick a suitable online platform for the subject you wish to teach. For example, if you want to teach English as a second language (ESL) then VIPKid may be a great option.
While VIPKid specializes in ESL education, you could also teach a much wider range of subjects on Whop. Here, you can easily open your own online shop — a ‘whop’ — before using the platform’s Video Calls app to provide one-on-one classes.
Meanwhile, by adding Whop’s Chat app, you can help your students to better acquaint themselves with each other — and, indeed, their tutor.
2. Online courses
One problem with online tutoring is the time you would have to spare to do it. This wouldn’t be ideal if you already have many pressing responsibilities, like an existing job or family commitments.
By putting together an online course, you can prepare all the required educational materials and then leave people to buy them from you. This can be an excellent form of passive income, where something you create makes you money while you sleep.
It’s easy to create and deliver online courses by using the Courses app on Whop. Adding the Files app to your whop will let you provide downloadable worksheets as well.
3. Personal trainer
It was hard to ignore the excitement surrounding online fitness classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, many people recognize how beneficial it is to be able to work out without having to leave the house.
The global online fitness market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.7% between now and 2032. Are you fit and active? You can capitalize on this by selling fitness programs online, e.g. through a subscription model on Whop to earn monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
4. Yoga instructor
Do you practice yoga? If so, have you considered becoming a yoga instructor? Making the transition from student to teacher is easier than you might think.
You can start by obtaining an accredited National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) certificate before deciding where and how you will work.
One option is to teach in person at a studio with strong transport links, e.g. roads and transit routes, to the wider local area. That way, it would be practical for many of your prospective students to physically reach the studio on a regular basis.
If you can't find a suitable location for a brick-and-mortar yoga business, holding virtual classes would be the ideal solution.
A bonus? You could do it right here on Whop thanks to our Video Calls app.
That way, your classes would be available to yoga enthusiasts right across the world. This could help you to increase your potential to earn — especially as you can keep up to 97% of the revenue you make on Whop.
5. Nutritionist
If people aren’t careful what they eat, they risk undoing much of what they gain from physical exercise. You can get this point across to people by working as a nutritionist.
With an accredited diploma in nutrition and dietetics, you will be qualified to provide personalized advice on what foods and drinks your clients should consume.
You can work with clients by providing one-on-one coaching sessions. You can do this remotely by holding video calls on Whop.
You could also sell ebooks on nutritional matters, too. Consider starting an online community where people looking to improve their eating habits can gather, give each other advice, and cheer each other on.
6. Coaching
It’s important not to confuse coaches with mentors, who target different issues. A coach can show their clients how to improve various aspects of their personal and professional lives.
A coach generally works by asking questions and creating actionable plans. Which type of coach you should consider becoming will depend on where your specific expertise lies.
Life coaching entails helping clients to alleviate struggles in their personal lives. Meanwhile, financial coaches provide tips on subjects like budgeting and investment.
With Whop’s 1-1 Coaching Calls app, you can sell time slots on your calendar for one-on-one coaching sessions.
7. Consulting
Many companies ask outside consultants to help them meet measurable goals. Maybe the company wants to enlarge its profit margin or has a tough legal battle on its hands. These are situations where you might be able to come to the rescue.
Consulting can sound a lot like coaching. Usually, though, the latter entails a more personal relationship with the client.
What disciplines are you an expert in? Marketing? Public relations? Health? You can choose any of these niches for your consultancy business.
8. Social media management
Another thing you can consult on is how companies use social media to engage with their (potential or actual) customers.
Alternatively, you could directly handle social media accounts on behalf of clients. For this work, you can use a wide range of social media management apps, including Buffer and Hootsuite.
You might have already established a strong social media presence of your own that you can advertise and use as proof of your skills. If this is the case, then businesses will be biting at the bit to get you to run their social media.
9. Digital marketing
Social media is one of many services you could provide as an all-round digital marketer. It’s common for digital marketing companies to offer…
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
However, as you would be covering many different bases here, you might prefer sticking to just one — especially if you are new to digital marketing.
If that is indeed the case, many whops can teach you about digital marketing - take Ad's Mastery for example.
This whop teaches you everything you need to know about ecommerce, paid ads, and closing—helping you scale a business through digital marketing to 5, 6, or even 7 figures!
10. Web design
Web design is another one of those services often offered under a digital marketing agency’s extensive umbrella.
Still, some businesses in need of a website might prefer to source its design from a company specializing in this kind of work. After all, as a web designer, it’s important that you know your stuff — including how to implement:
- HTML and CSS
- JavaScript elements
- ‘Responsive’ web designs that translate well to smartphone screens
You should also be familiar with web design tools like Photoshop and Figma. If the latter name doesn’t ring a bell, this whop can teach you how to use Figma effectively.
11. Blogging
This might be one of the least expensive small business ideas for women. At home, you likely already have (or have access to) many of the tech solutions you would need as a blogger.
Writing doesn’t exactly require a pricey, high-end PC — you could even do it from your smartphone! You would need a blogging platform and web hosting — but it’s possible to use both free of charge, via something like Google’s Blogger website.
Choose a profitable blog niche (but make sure it also genuinely interests you) before monetising digital products, e.g. newsletters and courses, inspired by your blog’s content.
12. Copywriting
Blogging in a personal capacity would give you free reign to touch upon issues where you have personal experience. If you are female, these subjects might include motherhood and navigating the gender pay gap.
Copywriting differs from personal blogging in that, with the former, you will be writing each piece to a specific brief provided by a client.
Whop is an exciting place to start a copywriting business. You can launch it as a whop and pick and choose which copywriting solutions — e.g. website copy, ad text, slogans, and taglines — to offer.
13. Technical writing
The key to getting work (especially during times of economic turmoil) is being willing to take on jobs other people would find too daunting. One classic case in point is technical writing.
Many ordinary folks couldn’t tell you that Python is a high-level programming language, let alone how to use it. Meanwhile, other people might mistakenly think ‘RAM (random-access memory)’ just refers to a Daft Punk album.
Do you know the ins and outs of technical matters and how to convey them in ways that would be easy for laypeople to follow? If you do, you could make you a strong candidate for technical writer positions.
14. Tech support
On a similar note, tech-savvy women could become tech support professionals. In this line of work, you would be assisting people with troubleshooting awkward problems they have encountered with hardware or software.
To start your own tech support business, you could open a whop and then add apps to it. Whop’s Chat app would let you and your customers send messages back and forth, while the Video Calls app will come in useful, too.
15. Writing and publishing ebooks
You’ve now got the perfect excuse to finally finish writing that novel you’ve been working on for years — you can publish it yourself!
You can sell that novel online as an ebook. Your first thought might be to release it on Amazon. However, on that platform, there’s a ‘race to the bottom’ where readers can struggle to sort the good from the… not so good.
On Whop, it’s easier for high-quality publications to get the attention they deserve. Here, you could also offer non-fiction ebooks alongside supplementary materials, like downloadable worksheets to go with educational books.
16. Ghostwriting
Selling highly acclaimed ebooks could lead you to become a big-name author or a respected thought leader in your area of expertise.
What if you enjoy writing but want to avoid attaining any kind of celebrity status? You could go down the route of writing material that gets published under other people’s names. This is known as ‘ghostwriting’.
There’s evidently a large market for ghostwriters, as they have reportedly written 70% of traditional publishing houses’ published books.
17. Proofreading
If you are an experienced writer, you likely proofread your work. It’s surprisingly easy even for good writers to overlook errors — like typos, bad grammar, and misplaced punctuation in their own content.
Fortunately, it can be a very different matter when you are looking over other people’s written work. That’s why proofreading can make one of the best small business ideas for women skilled at putting words in the right order. It always pays to have another set of eyes on the work.
18. Translation
Do you speak more than one language? Perhaps you were raised in a bi-lingual home. If so, many businesses are looking for people capable of translating text into other languages for them and they pay big bucks for it.
AI apps and programs are still a long way off from being able to capture that authentic, natural way of speaking that only humans fluent in a language can replicate and understand.
19. Transcription
Many organizations can also find themselves with audio or video recordings they need to convert into written text. In theory, AI can do this job — but in practice, it can misinterpret particular words and terms, especially obscure jargon.
When transcribing, you need to be able to listen very closely to every word of the recording you hear. Not everyone has the patience or attention to detail to do this, which sheds light on why you can make good money as a freelance transcriber.
20. Social media influencer
When you see the term ‘influencer’, you might initially picture celebrities using their social media clout to promote beauty products.
However, being an influencer doesn’t have to be quite this starry or glamorous. ‘Nano influencers’ can have as few as 1,000 social media followers.
Also, influencers can differ significantly in what types of products they specialize in publicizing. For example, travel influencers can advertise vacation packages, while fitness influencers might highlight new dumbbells, swimming shorts, and the latest protein powders.
21. Affiliate marketing
This ties in well with working as an influencer. Once you have built up an established following on your social media channels, you can add ‘affiliate links’ to future posts.
When clicking one of these links, the user will be sent to a product listing on another brand’s website. If the visitor then uses this page to buy the product, you will be paid a commission.
Affiliate Academy and Affiliate Marketing University can educate you on how to maximize your affiliate marketing gains.
22. Esthetician
As an esthetician, you can run your own salon administering a wide range of skincare and beauty treatments — such as waxing, facials, and hair removal.
To learn how to obtain an esthetician license, reach out to your state’s board of cosmetology. The board’s name will depend on the state.
For example, the South Carolina Board of Cosmetology is… well, the state board of cosmetology for South Carolina. You can find more information about that on their website.
23. Make-up artist
If you have long been passionate about beauty, you might already have a deep knowledge of different make-up products. This could extend to knowing which products should be used with which skin tones.
In a career context, being skilled at applying makeup can hold you in better stead than holding a makeup certificate. Nonetheless, you could set aside time to earn one at a beauty school, since such a certificate would look good on your company’s website.
24. Cleaning
Cleaning your home is one of those tasks you simply can’t afford to skip — certainly if you want to prevent germs and bacteria from spreading. Leaving them to fester instead would bode badly for your health and that of anyone else who lives there.
Since loads of people will be in this same situation, starting a cleaning business can be a no-brainer. Whether you opt to clean homes, workplaces, or both, remember to get hold of the right gear — like mops and brooms — along with business insurance.
25. Handywoman
From time to time, you have probably asked a handyman to take on small jobs that would cost to much to get in a tradesman to do. Handyman services can include…
- Assembling furniture 🛋️
- Cleaning windows 🪟
- Installing electrical light fixtures 💡
- Hanging pictures, e.g. paintings 🖼️
You can offer all these services and more — like tiling, carpentry, and minor plumbing and electrical work — as a handywoman!
As for how you could offer them, consider doing so through the online marketplace TaskRabbit.
Spending a lot of time in other people’s houses could give you larger ideas for how to improve their interiors. This could all inspire you to go into…
26. Interior design
Enjoy dressing up your home? Often hear visitors complimenting its colors, lights, materials, or other internal features?
Going into interior design can be one of the most delightfully surprising small business ideas for women.
Why exactly? Because these days, you can provide interior design consulting services online — without needing to turn up at any properties in person. So, you could even do it from a laptop while relaxing poolside at a Magaluf resort!
27. Travel agency
While on the subject of sunning yourself in an exotic overseas locale, is that something you like to do a lot? If so, becoming a travel agent could give you the invigorating feeling of going on vacation even when you actually aren’t.
Your day-to-day work as a travel agent will involve researching destinations, planning itineraries, booking tickets, and reserving hotels on your client’s behalf.
28. Photography
Do you often travel? Maybe it’s just a way of life for you, or you already have a job that takes you to foreign retreats.
As you journey, you can occasionally spot breathtaking sights you become eager to photograph. Think the likes of ancient temples, tumbling waterfalls, vibrant cityscapes… you name it.
Photography works well as a remote side hustle, as you can make money from contributing photos to image repository websites like Shutterstock. If you travel, you can sell your images of ancient temples, tumbling waterfalls or vibrant cityscapes.
Social? Why not combine both skills and take photographs at weddings and events to capture special moments for your clients.
29. Jewelry brand
“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” Marilyn Monroe famously sang. Certainly, the idea of selling jewelry pieces (diamond or otherwise) could appeal if you routinely make them as a hobby.
It’s up to you whether your business creates entire jewelry pieces or instead just designs them, outsourcing the production part to other companies.
Either way, you can have fun thinking up quirky new ideas for jewelry. For example, why not offer spooky jewelry especially for Halloween?
30. Candlemaking
There are many physical items you could make and sell, but few of them would be able to hold a candle (ahem) to… scented candles.
Many mainstream brands offer candles in traditional scents like jasmine, citrus, and lavender. Imagine, though, holding a candle to your nose and getting the distinctive whiff of, say, white chocolate, a buttery croissant, or a dusty old book…
Candles with scents like these can stand out when listed on online marketplaces like Etsy.
31. Selling on Etsy
Candles are far from the only things you can offload on this popular ecommerce platform. You can sell plenty of other handcrafted items, too — such as bowls, handbags, cushions, and rings.
It’s also possible to sell downloadable products — like templates, guides, checklists, and worksheets — on Etsy. However, it’s not exactly the best place for them.
When you sell a digital product on Etsy, the platform’s transaction and payment-processing fees can eat nearly 10% of your revenue.
In contrast, when a shopper follows a direct link to your whop and then buys something from it, Whop will only take a 3% cut.
32. Vintage reseller
Some vintage pieces you purchase — like furniture, ornaments, and collectibles — can be worth a lot more than what you actually pay for them.
So, it’s worth scouring charity shops and local yard sales for old items you would hopefully be able to resell at a profit. Whop provides a gateway to reselling communities that could help.
Take account of what’s currently ‘hot’ (or likely about to heat up) in the market. Are your target customers showing an increasing interest in a particular historical period? Are pieces of certain aesthetic styles now rising in value? Keep your eyes out for them when thrifting.
33. Amazon store
One problem with trying to sell products online is that it can be tricky to tell exactly where you should try to sell them. Some ecommerce platforms are more suited to particular product categories than others.
This can be problematic when you are finding your feet as an entrepreneur and struggling to decide which types of products to specialize in selling.
Given that it caters to a staggeringly wide range of demographics, Amazon is a promising place for a beginner to start an ecommerce business.
34. Run an online store
One drawback of selling items exclusively through Amazon is the lack of control you would have over your storefront‘s appearance and functionality.
It’s like the online equivalent of renting a retail unit in a shopping mall where stifling rules limit the in-person customer experience you can deliver.
You can give yourself more freedom by using a free ecommerce platform — like Shopify or WooCommerce — to build an online store from the ground up.
If you want to sell digital products, it will pay dividends for you to find an ecommerce platform specializing in this area. Whop is an excellent example.
After registering an account with Whop, you can specify your online store’s name and branding and what type of product you will be selling. Once you have marked your Whop-hosted online store as published, it will be live on the platform’s Discover page.
35. Dropshipping
When planning to sell goods online, there’s always the question of ecommerce fulfillment. How are you going to make sure physical items people buy from you reach them as soon as possible without incurring damage?
What if you aren’t experienced with storing, picking, packing, and shipping products? Relax, as there are suppliers ready to do all this for you. That’s the core principle behind dropshipping.
36. Selling digital art
If you love creating art, you might do it the traditional way — by putting a paint-coated brush to paper. Sadly, making a decent living in this way can be a non-starter, as it can take days to produce each artwork piece.
Hence the rationale for switching to a digital canvas. These days, devices like the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil enable artists to unleash their imaginations straight onto the screen.
As it’s easy to speedily produce multiple copies of the same digital artwork, selling art digital art can be much more profitable.
37. Graphic design
Promotional materials with funky graphics can capture attention much easier. Many organizations ask graphic designers to provide them with logos, web graphics, packaging designs, and so on for their brands.
As with other creative fields, making it in graphic design entails not only skill but also being in the right place at the right time. That’s a good reason for you to join whops like TheVisionaryClub, where you can meet experienced graphic designers.
You never know which of the connections you form in such communities could help your graphic design studio land its next big client.
38. Print-on-demand
Did you know that the print-on-demand (POD) industry’s value is expected to surpass $39 billion by 2031? It’s time for you to see what all the fuss is about.
Compared to many other small business ideas for women, POD carries some of the lowest entry costs. Signing up with a POD service like Printify or Printful will let you sell physical products sporting a design of your choice (or creation).
A massive advantage of POD is that you don't have to hold any inventory. Instead, when a customer places an order with you for a particular item, you will simply arrange for a supplier to ship it.
The genius of POD is that you only need to buy stock when a customer is waiting for it. So, you can strip financial efficiencies out of your business, as you won’t risk leaving yourself with stacks of goods left unsold.
39. Podcasting
As a woman, you are bound to be familiar with situations many other women have run into in the past. So, why not talk about those subjects on a podcast?
As found by research, 45% of women listened to podcasts monthly during 2024’s first quarter. That’s a meaningful rise from 39% the year prior.
As for what to discuss on your own podcast, think about what interests you personally.
Here are some tips if you still can’t quite decide on a podcast niche.
40. Voice actress
Even just appearing on podcasts as a guest can be worth your while. If people keep saying you are “so nice to listen to”, a career in voice acting could be an option.
You could provide the vocal accompaniment to many different things. Imagine narrating a commercial for cough drops or reading out a Regency romance novel for the recording of its audiobook version…
Once you have developed your voice to ensure it can switch fluidly between many different styles, get a demo reel professionally recorded. Next, take this reel with you as you build connections within the industry or start freelancing on platforms like Upwork and Fiverr.
41. YouTube channel
One reliable way to earn money is to teach people things they would struggle to learn through many alternative means.
This might sound like a strong incentive for you to start blogging — but some things aren’t easy to explain just with text and pictures. On occasion, you need a visual component as well.
That’s why you could make a good living from making YouTube video tutorials. YouTube Shorts (videos of up to three minutes) can work surprisingly well by forcing you to get straight to the point. The YouTube Portal whop shows how to film them.
42. Video editing
Some people are adept at filming raw footage but not at synthesizing it into a coherent, self-contained video that tells a story.
For those people, there are video editing professionals. If this falls into your skillset, why not market yourself as a video editor.
After completing a few video editing projects, see if you can include examples of this handiwork in an online portfolio. You could assemble it on a popular video-sharing site like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.
Later, you can show this portfolio to people when seeking further video editing work.
43. Virtual assistant
As a company grows and sees its workload grow with it, there’s the danger of some ‘small’ but important tasks falling through the cracks.
As a business owner, you might one day have to work hard to prevent yourself from running into that same trap. In the meantime, why not reach out to other (and longer-established) businesses by offering them your services as a virtual assistant (VA)?
Your duties as a VA can include:
- Scheduling appointments 🗓️
- Making phone calls ☎️
- Sending emails 📧
- Arranging flights, hotel rooms, and other travel essentials 🏝️
- Bookkeeping 🧾
If you are in a romantic relationship, a VA business can prove an especially good one to run with your other half.
44. Run an online community
If you know many dos and don'ts of physical exercise, why not launch a fitness community online? Love knitting, reading, or trading? You could run communities for all of those too.
Whop’s Forums app is great for sparking online discussions and sharing your expertise — no matter what kind of online community you want to start.
45. Personal chef
Enjoy making many different meals? Do friends and relatives often comment on how delicious this food is? Start selling your delicious recipes and food!
This is one of the most practical ideas for a small business for women who love cooking and live in major cities. In such a place, you can quickly travel to deliver food to professionals who lack the time to prepare their own tasty, nutritious meals.
46. Daycare
If you have kids of your own (or simply a motherly personality), you could rejoice in providing daycare services.
Parents who need to commute to work could choose to leave their dependent children with you beforehand. They could then remain safe and content with you during the workday before their parents eventually return to pick them up.
47. Laundry cleaning
Some people lead such busy lives that they are always fighting to free up more time in their packed schedules.
This opens up opportunities for you, as high-flying professionals could be inclined to get their clothes and linen washed by laundry businesses while they are busy with other things.
By starting such a business yourself, you could also catch the eye of hotels and B&Bs eager to outsource laundry cleaning duties.
48. Sewing and alterations
Of course, being fascinated by clothes doesn’t necessarily mean you would be salivating at the prospect of washing them.
You might actually prefer the style aspect of clothes — in which case, getting to sew and alter them could be perfect for you! You would be taking readymade clothes and tweaking them to suit the intended wearer’s preferences.
49. Wedding planning
It’s bewildering how much is involved in planning a wedding. Once you’ve got a budget for it, you need to decide on a venue and find (and hire) the right suppliers.
There’s the big matter of timekeeping as well. Naturally, you must establish what date the big day will fall on. Then there’s the question of what exact times, on that day, the ceremony and reception will happen.
This is a lot of work, which is why many soon-to-be-wed couples ask wedding planners to help them prepare for their nuptials.
50. Sell digital products
Still indecisive about which type of business to start? Keep in mind that your business can cover many more bases than you might have accounted for.
Hence, it could help if you just think of a general theme for the business first and go into specifics later. You can then see which of those ideas work and which don’t.
It’s quicker and easier to experiment when you sell digital rather than physical products. This article highlights many examples of the former — including ebooks, online courses, online communities, and podcasts.
Sisters are doin’ it for themselves on Whop
If you want to sell digital products, you can sell them on Whop. It takes less than ten minutes to set up a whop and tailor it to integrate it seamlessly with the rest of your business. Here’s a video tutorial on how to do it…
Whop is the ideal birthplace for your small business, as you don’t have to pay any upfront monthly fees to join. Many of these 50 ideas could be executed right here.
Whop is also packed with resources to help you flourish as a businesswoman. Become a member of the Baddies in Business Club (itself women-led) to benefit from weekly coaching sessions and personalized corporate advice.
So what are you waiting for? Start your own business venture with Whop today.
