Working from home has been a viable option for quite some time, but it gained mainstream attention during the pandemic. Since everyone is forced to do their jobs at home, people realized that earning from the comforts of their house, even while wearing pajamas, is possible and efficient. This shift has led to a significant change in how we perceive work-life balance, productivity, and earning potential.
Home-based online businesses have become increasingly popular due to their flexibility and low overhead costs. Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent who is looking for more income, a student who wants to save for tuition, or an employee who is trying to escape the Singaporean rat race, there are numerous options to explore.
Here are some home-based online businesses you can start in 2024 and their potential salaries or earnings per month according to Indeed and Glassdoor.
1. Virtual Assistant (VA) Business
A virtual assistant’s job is to handle all kinds of different small tasks as well as large projects. Tasks as simple as booking flights to as complex as team management, VAs can assist clients with the work that needs to be done. To start your VA business, you must identify your strength or your niche. Here are some of the in-demand niches in 2024 based on LinkedIn:
- E-commerce: tasks include order processing, customer support, inventory management
- Health and Wellness: perfect for people who have a medicine or health background; tasks include customer support, appointment setting, wellness coach support
- Digital Marketing: encompasses content creation, SEO, social media marketing, email marketing
- Tech and Software: tasks can be customer support in troubleshooting, software updates, managing subscriptions
- Real Estate: you can be asked to do to appointment scheduling, managing property viewing, transaction, customer communications, promotions
- Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: tasks include managing wallets and administrative support to projects
- Finance: support accounting, bookkeeping, invoice management, report generation.
Anyone who has administrative skills can work from home as a VA. Moreover, if you want to earn more, VAs schedule can be flexible to work for one company or more than one client.
2. Graphic Design Business
Photo by George Milton from Pexels
Are you an artist? Add that creativity to having experience using design softwares like Adobe Photoshop or Canva, then you can start a graphic design business at home.
Gone are the days when designers were required to work in the office and just work in front of a computer. With the high demand for branding needs, plus various opportunities coming from foreign clients, you can now be a designer from anywhere in the world. Here are some of the tasks a client may ask of you to do:
- Brand kits (company logo, letterheads, website visual assets, etc)
- Marketing images
- Other visual templates
With the rise of design AI, it is also important that graphic designers in 2024 must know how to leverage the tool and even complement their skills. Many are fearful that AI may steal their job, but remember, AI is still a tool. It all boils down to how a person will use it for their advantage.
3. Video Editing
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
Similarly in the graphic design business, if you are creative, but are expert in video editing softwares like Adobe Premiere, After Effects, or even Capcut, you can start a video editing business.
Part of the marketing efforts of a company is to release informative videos. Most of the time, they publish product guides in motion. These companies also have their own social media accounts. They regularly post promotional videos, product reviews, and even vlogs.
Aside from the companies, video editors are in high demand now in the content creation industry. In the early days of Youtube, a content creator who mainly shoots footage is also the one editing. But now, many Youtubers are outsourcing their video editing efforts to rapidly and consistently release content and to mainly focus on creation, collaborations, and the business side of their online presence.
4. Digital Marketing
Nowadays, most businesses have their own online presence. Almost all have their own social media accounts and websites. Therefore, digital marketing has become popular to widen a brand’s reach and improve engagement to its customers.
Some businesses opt to have their digital marketers outsourced to probably cut expenses. With the promise of lower overhead costs, remote digital marketing has become in-demand.
However, digital marketing is an encompassing business for it has different branches that serve a particular purpose. If you have a background in marketing and are multi-skilled, this field may be for you. You can offer the following services:
- Market research
- Lead generation
- Content creation & Copywriting
- Social media strategy
- Email marketing
- SEO
- Customer support, and many more
5. Domain Flipping
If you’ve ever thought about investing in real estate, then you may be interested in buying and selling domains. Just as in real estate, there are some domains that are more popular and valuable than others. You could easily purchase these domains at auction for low prices and then sell them to the highest bidder for a nice profit.
This business takes a significant amount of time and attention to what is going on in the market. It also takes a certain amount of SEO research. By knowing how well-optimised the site is, you will be able to better predict which niches and companies will result in the highest profits.
For some domains, it can take several months, or sometimes years, to get the price you want. However, the benefit is that it can all be done online and from the comfort of your home.
Earning Potential: varies depending on the demand of the domain
6. Photography
Perhaps you are someone who enjoys traveling. If so, then an online photography business may be ideal for you. You can document your journey in the form of photos and then sell them online. You could create a website or store that is specifically dedicated to your photography.
You could also sign up for a website that will sell your images for you. Sites like Shutterstock and iStock allow you to list your images for a certain price. When it sells, you earn a commission. If your images are especially good, you may be invited to join exclusive websites where commissions are higher commission rates.
You can also do event photography, especially in the wedding industry where photographers are in high demand. You can also explore product shoots. Many businesses, especially startups, invest in good product photos as their marketing asset.
7. Tutoring
Is there a subject that you are particularly knowledgeable about? Do you have the standardised tests and scores to prove it? Do you get satisfaction out of seeing people achieve their goals? Well, you may be the ideal online tutor. If you’re someone who enjoys helping people solve problems, then you can share your knowledge with clients over the phone or video chats.
Work with your clients to ensure that they know all of their testing materials inside and out. The better their test results, the better your reputation and the larger your clientele. You can either charge per session, per package, or per hour. Your fees will be based on your reputation. And the more you can charge per hour, session, or package.
To advertise your online tutoring services, you can tap your social media network or invest in ads. It will be also helpful if you have a website where you can display your credentials, academic achievements, and schedule.
8. Stock Trading
If you enjoy predicting trends and performing deep research, then you will probably love stock trading. Depending on the type of trading you’re interested in, it may require that you keep a certain amount of money in your account at all times so in some cases. And this means that it could require a significant initial investment.
Unlike the other businesses mentioned on the list, stock trading is not as flexible. While it does give you the ability to work from home, it will take a considerable amount of commitment, long hours and it comes with a huge learning curve. You’ll need to understand systems, trading requirements, and regulations. However, if you can get over the initial hurdles, it can really pay off.
Earning Potential: varies
9. Web Developer
Since many businesses have their own websites, web developers are always sought after. Web developers design, code and modify websites– from their layouts to their functions. And they do all of this according to the specifications of their client. Their top priorities are to ensure that the site is visually appealing sites, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.
This position gives you the ability to be creative, conceptualise and design websites from start to finish. It also gives you a large amount of flexibility and you never stop learning. So if you are interested in creating the ultimate user experience and have, or are willing to learn, the technical skills that this position requires, then the position of a web developer may be perfect for you.
10. Transcriptionist
The demand for transcribers who can convert recorded speech in podcasts or video into text documents is at an all-time high. Trade associations, law firms, courts, and other businesses that operate globally regularly require this service to communicate effectively with their business partners and clients.
Fill this gap by starting an online transcription company today. To streamline your work, invest in reliable transcription software such as Express Scribe, Inqscribe, and oTranscribe.
Medicine is one of the fields where transcriptionists are sought after. This position requires you to listen to recorded medical dictation and transcribe it to text. So if you are interested in getting experience in medicine or would be willing to do certain programs and get certification, then the position of medical transcriptionist is for you.
11. Travel Agent
Though vacationing can be a relaxing time, making plans for your vacation can be very stressful. This is why many people choose to enlist the help of a travel agent. Even more convenient, many choose to work with online travel agents.
As an online travel agent, you will simplify the process for your customers. You will help with travel plans such as booking their flights, cruises, hotels, and rental cars. If you have experience planning tours and are well-organised, then consider becoming a travel agent.
12. Bookkeeping
It’s very important that companies keep a close eye on all of their finances. And in many cases, this will require the expertise of someone who is familiar with accounting processes. A lot of business owners prefer not to handle this task on their own so they employ a bookkeeper. Bookkeepers are responsible for recording business transactions. They record things such as purchases, sales, collection of accounts receivable, payroll, payment of bills, etc.
This online position requires that you have knowledge and experience working with accounting software. So if you are organised, are interested in accounting, and have administrative experience, consider becoming a bookkeeper.
13. Print on Demand (POD)
The Print on Demand (POD) business is something worth exploring. You don’t need to have any printing equipment to start a T-shirt printing business in this era. Thanks to POD websites like Shopify and TeeSpring, you don’t even need to keep an inventory of the shirts you designed.
Speaking of which, you don’t also need to have excellent design skills to start a T-shirt printing business, although it does help! There are lots of shirts that have just one word printed on it, and they’re selling like hotcakes.
POD stores often have a platform where you can design your T-shirt and then retail it from your account. If people like what they see, they will click to purchase. That’s when these POD business’ in-house factories will start printing using their state-of-the-art technology, accompanied by their logistical process, to deliver the T-shirt to the buyer.
Many POD stores have expanded their range of products beyond T-shirts. You can even start customising caps, mugs, tote bags and also face masks!
There are success stories of people becoming millionaires after starting a print on demand (POD) business. However, the journey to such success doesn’t come overnight.
Firstly, you have to think of a specific market or niche to serve. Unless you have a big operation, you cannot be tackling every single market.
Following which, you will need to think of how to reach out to your target market. You may need to spend quite a lot on marketing on Facebook ads to attract buyers. The top POD sellers have admitted that marketing on Facebook ads is a trial-and-error process.
Not all marketing Facebook ads campaigns will succeed during the first try, which means you will have to set aside a budget for your marketing needs. Otherwise, you have to build up a social media following before you can witness some sales success. It may sound tedious, but once you’ve acquired a loyal following, it will be easier for you to sell anything, not just T-shirts!
Most importantly, do get lots and lots of education on how to create a successful print on demand (POD) store. There are several YouTube channels, such as Wholesale Ted and Joe Robert. They provide valuable tips on how to succeed in this business.
Earning Potential: Varies
14. E-Book Writing
If you have some knowledge to share, why not compile it into an e-book? E-books are a new way of reading. They are accessible anywhere, and can also be updated regularly, unlike paperback versions. This trend is here to stay.
People are always craving for new information, be it health, relationships or even how-to-guides. If you know how to compile the top online businesses to start, you can also organise them into an e-book.
Wait a second. Bye guys! I’m off to start my e-book business!
Of course, I’m just kidding. It isn’t a one-step-to-profits business. Like the Print-on-Demand business, you have to do your research. For that, you need to identify your target market and find out what sort of information they need. Remember, you’re building up a following here with this business. If they like your first product, it’s easier to sell them the second, and this can be a source of passive income.
Write the e-book once, market it, then witness the unlimited sales potential.
There are lots of sites where you can market your e-book. Of which, the most popular platform is the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. Other platforms include Blurb, Tradebit, Lulu and Scribd.
Besides writing and then selling your e-book online, you can always approach big corporations or coaches. They often publish e-books and other free downloadables for them to build a pool of new clients. Yet, they may not have the time to write them.
Earning Potential: Varies
15. Voiceover
Photo by ANTONI SHKRABA production
If you have the chops for acting and imitating accents and characters, voiceovers can be a fun and fulfilling business!
There is a demand for voiceovers locally and internationally. Aside from commercials and animation programmes, there are lots of corporate training videos that require a friendly voice to guide them through the learning journey.
If you intend to start a voiceover business, be prepared to set aside around $300 for a quality microphone that cancels out all ambient noises. You will also need to learn how to edit your demo reel on Audacity, which is a free software for sound and music editing.
16. E-Commerce
There is an abundance of platforms where you can sell items to people around the world. No longer you need to bear the costly overheads of a brick-and-mortar, you can just list your products for an affordable monthly fee or even free!
However, bear in mind, you’ll have to source the inventory and ship it to the platform’s warehouse before you can start retailing it. Sourcing for your items also means that you’ll still have to set aside costs for it. Besides, you would also have to invest in time and even money to learn how to get your products out to your target audience.
Yet, before you start doing all of these, you’ll have to do lots of research on the kind of products you wish to sell. It’s pointless purchasing loads of products when no one’s buying. Here are some platforms where you can sell your products:
Singapore’s Best E-commerce Platforms To Start An Online Business
- Shopee: Shopee’s payment platform and extensive listings (which include information about the item’s condition, number in stock, shipping options, and estimated delivery time) are among the most advanced aspects of the app.
- Carousell: In terms of buying and selling products online, Singaporean’s go-to is Carousell. To sell your things on Carousell, there are no fees, and the process is as straightforward as it gets. If you want to increase the amount of traffic to your Carousell account, you can also purchase boosts. Through the app, you may communicate with potential purchasers and work out a deal on pricing and terms.
- Lazada: In 2012, Lazada was established with the objective of becoming Southeast Asia’s Amazon.com. Alibaba bought the firm for $2 billion after it had been successful for four years. A number of new markets have recently added Lazada to their list of service areas. As of writing, Lazada is the biggest direct competitor of Shopee.
- Amazon Singapore: Entrepreneurs and small enterprises may now access millions of clients across the world because of Amazon’s global reach. As a result, even the smallest companies can compete with some of the most well-known household names. Amazon is a cost-effective option to start a new business or expand an existing one online by selling products. To begin selling, all you need is $29.95 per month (excluding GST).
- Amazon Singapore: Be aware that Amazon charges a fee for each product that is sold on the site, just like Shopee and Lazada. Fees for additional services will be levied if your items are handled by Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon service.
Singapore’s well-developed transportation system ensures that parcels are delivered on time to customers via a number of reliable courier companies. A multitude of courier services are available to customers who need their domestic orders delivered the same or the next day.
Earning Potential: Varies
17. Dropshipping
If you don’t want to be weighed down by the inventory costs, you can try dropshipping. This is a fulfillment process where a customer orders a product from a retailer, who then transfers all the customer’s details to their supplier. The supplier will then ship the item directly to the customer on their behalf.
There’s no inventory, and your focus is just on marketing the supplier’s products to their target customers. Without an inventory, you are also free to capitalise on trends and festive seasons to sell different products.
However, dropshipping isn’t free of issues. Keeping track of the inventory can be challenging since you’re not the one shipping out the item. Customers are prone to order out of stock items, especially if the product gets popular overnight. If the supplier messes up during any stage of the logistical process, your reputation will be on the line.
You’ll also have to be patient with earning big bucks during the initial phase. Dropshipping is a very competitive business, and it’s possible that you may have to lower your price to stay in the game.
Earning Potential: Varies
18. Fitness Instructor
This is an opportunity to fuse your passion for health and wellness with making money. You don’t have to be physically present with your clients as you coach them. There are also other ways you can package your yoga, pilates or weight lifting training programme and sell it. You can do Zoom meeting workout sessions or Video-on-Demand.
Additionally, you can create recipe books and Facebook fitness groups, and include them as part of your package. The realm of fitness is ever-changing, which means you can be creative to start your fitness trend and franchise it out!
Earning Potential: Varies
19. 3D Printing Service
3D printing technology has, over the last couple of years, gained massive traction. The beauty of this business idea is that it cuts across all industries as entrepreneurs and marketers look for 3D printed marketing materials.
You need a robust and responsive website that the clients can access and use to submit their 3D printing orders. Invest in the new generation 3D printers to deliver the services promptly. Invest in an ad campaign, social media marketing, and content marketing to get the word out about your business.
More importantly, you need to consider where you will store and ship the products to clients. Make sure that you also get a comprehensive insurance policy to cushion you from losses and other unprecedented occurrences such as machinery breakdown.
You could also collaborate with intermediary websites that link 3D printing companies with clients to avoid the time spent in negotiations. Treatstock is one of the companies that use this strategy to generate revenue.
Earning Potential: Varies
20. Digital Product Store
Are you good with excel sheets? Do you know how to optimise a résumé? Or do you have a teaching background? Why not create grade school sheets?
Selling digital products is now gaining popularity. You can meet people’s needs by making a digital product and selling them online. You can sell templates or worksheets that are highly demanded by your network.
Thousands of job seekers are looking for professional CV templates to stand out from other job seekers. Many homeschooling parents are looking for supplemental worksheets. Also, many businesses are looking for invoice, cash flow, or balance sheet templates.
The beauty of this business idea is that you don’t need a warehouse as the products you sell are in digital format. All you require is a website and robust digital marketing strategies to reach out to the target audience.
Earning Potential: Varies
21. Start a YouTube Channel
YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. Millions of people spend hours every day watching videos on the platform. Unknown to most people is that you can make money by creating compelling and informative videos and posting them on this platform.
To do this, you will need first to create a channel and select a niche that resonates with your audience. It’s best to choose a niche that you are most conversant with and is less competitive.
YouTube will pay you based on the number of people who watch and click on the ads played at different intervals of the video. Some renowned YouTubers earn more than $20,000 per month from the platform.
If you are successful, you will also get brand endorsement deals that further increase your monthly earnings. The secret is to make sure that you generate content relevant to the audience, top-quality videos, and optimise the videos for YouTube SEO.
22. Online HR Consultancy
As an online HR consultant, you will be helping businesses relate better with their employees and uncover their full potential. Some of your responsibilities include:
- Creating and implementing talent management programmes
- Structuring promotion guidelines
- Explaining legal aspects of employment
- Creating a healthy work-life balance
- Benefits and Compensation management
Earning Potential: Varies
23. Invest or Trading Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies have redefined and reimagined how people across the globe transact. Since 2017, the industry has grown exponentially, as evident from the many decentralized applications and decentralised products such as liquidity pools.
Trading in cryptocurrencies is lucrative since thousands of people buy new digital assets using fiat currencies online daily. As a cryptocurrency trader, you will take advantage of fluctuations in market prices to various cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ether to profit.
You could also join a liquidity pool and become an arbitrage trader. This form of trading entails buying tokens from the pool when the prices are low and reselling them at an exchange at a higher price. Remember that the market is highly volatile, so study the trends before trading to avoid incurring losses.
Earning Potential: Varies
24. Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate Marketing revolves around the concept of promoting products of other people through an affiliate network. You can earn a commission from the products bought because of your marketing efforts.
This principle is based on revenue sharing. You don’t have to worry about maintaining your products inventory or shipping products. Every product has its unique link tracking back to the website account of the affiliate partner.
The customers are taken to the partners shopping cart for check out. After the purchase is recorded, you will be given a commission varying depending on the affiliate partner. This can range from five per cent to fifty per cent. Your only role is handling the marketing for your prospects to buy.
Big e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada have affiliate programs. They give around 4% commission per completed transaction or product.
4 Things to Consider Before Starting a Business
While having the autonomy of running your business as and when you like is enticing, this is just the icing on the cake. There are lots of hidden trade-offs that are not seen by regular non-business owners. The journey to get to your dream life will take lots of sacrifices. Hence, before you jump into the entrepreneurship bandwagon, you have to consider lots of things.
1. Why do you want to start a business?
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.” ― Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Whatever you do in life, you have to be clear about your end goal. Starting a business is no exception. Be thoroughly honest with yourself. Are you starting a business because:
- You don’t like to be trapped in a 9-5 job you dislike?
- You want to make lots of money?
- You like to manage your own time?
- You don’t like the politics in your office?
- You want to pursue your passion?
- You have an idea which you believe could revolutionise an entire industry?
- You identified a target group of people who are underserved?
Defining your goal is an essential step to last you for the entire entrepreneurship path. Whenever you encounter setbacks and lose motivation, you have to relook at your goals again to remind yourself why you started the business in the first place.
This brings us to the next point.
2. Are you aware of the personal sacrifices of running a business?
“Starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss.” – Elon Musk
We will not sugar-coat this at all. Several YouTube videos and ads sure make the entrepreneurship life look easy. But there are several shadow aspects of entrepreneurship that people rarely discuss.
Many business owners sacrifice their time with their loved ones, which may severely affect their relationship. There are also startup founders struggling with their mental health.
This is why we suggested that you consider what your ultimate goal of starting a business is. You have to weigh between your goals and the sacrifices you will have to make to find out if you truly want to jump into the chasm of entrepreneurship. For example, you have identified the reason for starting a business is because you want to make lots of money.
Ask yourself, are you willing to:
- Have lots of sleepless nights because there’s a severe tech glitch in your app?
- Deal with lots of uncertainties of your business when there are no customers in the initial months?
Experience lots of burnouts as you may be handling several things at a go? When you’re working in a company, you’re just focusing on a single department. However, if you are running a startup, you may have to wear different hats. You may have to take on the role of the purchaser, marketer, after-service support personnel and more.
- Take time out of your social life just to focus on this business?
- Deal with lots of rejections and possibly ridicule from people?
- Face the reality that pursuing your passion may turn out to be a tiring process instead?
- Have several potential disagreements between you and your partners?
- Invest part of your savings into the business, aka bootstrapping?
- Stay in your full-time job or get a part-time job to tie you and your company through financially during the teething phase?
This can be very tiring for many.
3. Continue to take up more courses and sharpen your skills?
If you can’t deal with any of the above, you may need to relook at other ways of earning more money, working at your own time, pursue your passion, etc. There are ways where you can achieve these goals while staying in your job.
For example, offering ideas that will help your boss and the company to earn more money or proposing a work-from-home arrangement with a list of deliverables on specific dates. As for pursuing your passion, there are many ways you can continue doing what you love without turning it into a business. Sometimes, that could be a blessing in disguise!
While the entrepreneurship journey may lead to a fulfilling life of prosperity and even fame, you have to also put up with the potential inconveniences during the initial phase. Knowing these possible sacrifices can also prepare you mentally to have a smoother transit into the realm of running a business.
4. Does your business solve problems?
There are lots of issues with the mantra “pursue your passion”. Passion is an emotion. It comes and goes, and it’s very hazardous for a business, which requires a solid foundation. You can’t just change the product or service you’re selling just because you’ve lost interest. This overused slogan has another issue – it is self-serving.
Businesses exist not to serve you. They exist to serve others. That is why there are several cases of starving artists. They are not producing the art that people want. They are just doing it to satisfy their internal needs.
When you start your business, you have to identify a group of people whose current needs are not met. For example, working mothers who have no time to exercise or students who don’t wish to pay extravagant fees for overseas education. With a target market and a unique problem that they face, you can work backwards and come up with a product or service to match their needs. When that happens, you’re able to earn the money you need to pursue the things you want.
That’s not the end of the story. You need to have a sizable target audience who desperately needs the solution you’re offering. If the size is too small, you may have to readjust your product or service for a broader audience or find an entirely different market to serve. Otherwise, with a modest profit margin, your business may not sustain in the long run.
Once you manage to serve a target group of people, you also need to figure out how to scale up your business to stay competitive in the market. To expand your business, you can provide other related services that may benefit the same group of people.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it hard to start an online business?
Establishing any business may be difficult at first. Do not expect high returns at first. High income and acquiring clients may make time. But if you can persevere and just keep working at it, you’ll see results.
Do I need to set up a company to sell online?
Before beginning operations, it is advisable to incorporate or register your business.. This step is vital because the type of business structure you pick will determine your ability to raise capital, exposure to liability and your taxes.
What business is good for beginners?
The following is a list of online businesses that you can start with minimal money:
- Online Drop Shipping
- Affiliate Marketing
- Blogging
- Online Video
- Information Products
What business can you start in 2024?
- Coaching and Consulting
- Virtual Assistance
- Online Content Creation
- Digital Marketing Services
- Trading, etc
What can I sell online in Singapore?
Nowadays, you can sell almost anything. But to help you find the right product to sell, here are some tips:
- Identify your strengths or interests
- Identify your target market
- Find a gap or need in the market
- Know how to differentiate your product or service
