In this article, we will take a look at the 12 most profitable businesses to start from home in 2024. We will also study examples of out-of-home businesses for further understanding.
Entrepreneurs Making a Living from Their Homes
Freelancing has altered the landscape of work and entrepreneurship. As of 2023, 64 million people in the US were engaged in freelance work. Ali Rahmon is a Syrian refugee, residing in Romania and working as a graphic designer. On June 5, Business Insider covered Ali Rahmon’s journey as an entrepreneur. Ali Rahmon shifted to Romania in 2014 and pivoted his freelancing career to create design templates for clients in web and 3D design. After 2 years of consistent hard work, Rahmon then chose sports templates as his niche. He made a professional website using $2,000 from his savings using WooCommerce to showcase his work. The site was launched in February 2016 and after a few weeks, Rahmon decided to enhance his presence on the internet using social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. His social media accounts linked back to his website. He also hired influencers on YouTube to promote his work. After a year of working towards his goal, ESPN reached out to Rahmon for a custom design template offering him $2,500 for the project. In 2020, he started to experiment with TikTok to grow his popularity. His content started getting engagement from NBA teams, contributing to his success. After establishing a strong online presence, Rohman started to earn somewhere between $10,000 to $15,000 per month.
Providing virtual fitness training services is another great business idea that can be started from home. On December 9, 2020, Business Insider quoted the story of BreeAnna Cox who made $450,000 a year as an online personal trainer. Cox is the founder of BodyByBree and has been working in the personal training business for more than 14 years now. She also published a range of podcasts on her website that talk about the physical and mental well-being of individuals. She also owns a BodyByBee training application that comes with a 14-day free trial. Cox’s 100% online business grossed over $450,000 in 2020. As of June 12, BreeAnna Cox has over 104,000 followers on Instagram.
The keyword “affiliate marketing” had a global search volume of 744,600 in the past 30 days, as of June 12. People were also curious to know what affiliate marketing is, garnering 22,200 in global search volume. 5,400 searches prompted search engines to understand how to start affiliate marketing and 2,900 searches questioned the legitimacy of it. 27,100 searches came from the keyword, affiliate marketing programs, and 22,200 searches were in favor of Amazon’s affiliate marketing program. Such explains why affiliate marketing is considered to be a popular business idea. On May 17, 2023, Business Insider brought Bruce Paulson’s story to the limelight. The freelance SEO specialist made $203,000 in revenue from affiliate marketing in 2022. Before stepping into affiliate marketing, Paulson had been running an SEO agency since 2015. While he did have clients, growing his business was quite a challenge. In 2020, he ventured into affiliate marketing and learned how to build affiliate websites. He would get a small payout for every purchase of a product or service he recommended. He currently has six websites and plans to grow his business even more. He typically earns somewhere between 3% to 10% in commissions for every sale.
Is Upwork the Best Freelancing Software?
Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) is one of the best freelancing platforms in the world. The platform is functional in more than 180 countries across the globe and offers over 125 categories of work to freelance workers. The company celebrated a milestone in the first quarter of 2023, logging over $20 billion in lifetime freelancer earnings, doubling from $10 billion within three years. In the first quarter of 2023, the company’s clients reached 872,000, up 5% year-over-year. The company currently has the lowest take rate in the industry at 17.7%, strengthening its ability to produce opportunities for the platform with strong monetary returns.
Analysts and investors like the stock. In Q1, the number of hedge funds that held stakes in UPWK was 31, with total stakes amounting to $284.61 million. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group grew its position in UPWK by 318% in Q1. Moreover, The median 1-year price target for the stock implies an upside of 77.24% from current levels of $10.72 and the stock has a consensus Buy rating.
Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) is making strides in product innovations, AI, and Machine Learning, increasing its gross sales value (GSV). The company reported 70% year-over-year growth in GSV in the AI and machine learning subcategory during the fourth quarter of 2023, and 50% year-over-year during the first quarter of 2024. Upwork’s Freelancer Plus subscription, comprising AI-backed tools and features to enhance skills and visibility, had more than 100,000 active subscribers in the first quarter of 2024, driving 76% growth in revenue. Overall, innovation and investment in new products have been a primary driver of Upwork Inc.’s (NASDAQ:UPWK) financial success in 2023. The company hopes to keep the trend alive for the coming year.
The company is in the right direction when it comes to leveraging AI to its benefit. On April 30, Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) reported interesting updates to its AI segment helping businesses and freelancers hire and work more efficiently. Uma is Upwork’s Mindful AI, developed using leading large language models. Uma is capable of enhancing the hiring and working process for businesses and freelancers, helping parties discover each other more efficiently. The tool can power Upwork’s Best Match insights feature, which is available in beta. The feature allows businesses to find the right person for jobs instantaneously based on client reviews and the skills required. Uma is also capable of conversing with clients and freelancers on Upwork.
Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) is part of the industry that is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.5% and reach $14.39 billion by 2030, as per estimates by Grand View Research. We think UPWK may be worth exploring while it’s trading at 2 times its sales, lower than its 5-year average P/S ratio of 6x. Over the past 5 years, Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) has grown its sales by a CAGR of 22%, and analysts anticipate a further 13% growth in sales in 2024.
While we acknowledge the potential of Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
Let’s now discuss the most profitable businesses to start from home in 2024.
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Our Methodology
To gather a list of the 12 most profitable businesses to start from home in 2024, we consulted threads on Reddit and over 10 rankings and reports on the internet. We picked the business ideas that appeared in 50% of our sources and then ranked them.
At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
12 Most Profitable Businesses to Start from Home in 2024
12. Virtual Fitness Training
Virtual Fitness Training ranks 12th on our list of the most profitable businesses to start from home in 2024. Budding entrepreneurs can set up social media accounts on Instagram and TikTok and post fitness training videos and tips regularly. Once an audience is garnered, fitness influencers can then start online fitness consulting and one-on-one training sessions. As mentioned above, BreeAnna Cox, an online fitness trainer and the founder of BodyByBree made $450,000 in 2020 from online fitness training.
11. Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is another great business idea that can be started from home. Freelance writers on Upwork can earn somewhere between $15 to $40 per hour. Freelance writers can also opt for one-time projects and earn somewhere between $40 to $200 for a project. A Redditor, Resumes-by-Hedy, runs a freelance resume-writing business from home and charges between $90 to $140 per project, making over $3,400 per month.
10. Online Bulk Selling
Budding entrepreneurs can also start selling items in bulk through online stores. According to Jungle Scout, sellers on Amazon make at least $1,000 in sales every month. Popular “super sellers” are also able to make $100,000 every month in sales. On average, 40% of sellers on Amazon make between $1,000 to $25,000 per month in sales.
9. Social Media Influencer
Social media influencing is one of the most profitable business ideas to start from home in 2024. According to Business Insider, Achieng Agutu, a 26-year-old influencer on Instagram with over 488,000 followers made over $1 million in her first year as a content creator. Nano and micro influencers are trending and in demand from large companies. A nano influencer, Jour’dan Haynes claimed to earn $600 per post.
8. Online Tutoring
Online tutoring is another great business idea to start from home in 2024. Online tutors can make effective use of tools like Google Classroom, Google Meet, and Zoom to run online classes for free. Budding entrepreneurs can set up online academies and hire professionals to tutor students from across the globe.
7. Dropshipping
Dropshipping ranks seventh on our list of the most profitable businesses to start from home in 2024. According to Shopify, an e-commerce entrepreneur spends almost $40,000 on their business in the first year of operation. Dropshippers may have to wait for 10 to 15 months to start making $2,000 in monthly revenue.
6. Affiliate Marketing
Becoming an affiliate marketer is another great business idea to start from home in 2024. According to statistics by Glassdoor, an affiliate marketer may earn somewhere between $58,000 to $158,000 per annum. Affiliate marketers are usually entitled to additional pay in the form of cash bonuses, commissions, tips, and profit-sharing schemes.
5. Virtual Event Planning
A virtual event planner is a popular business idea to start from home in 2024. Virtual events such as webinars, online conferences, and sessions require adequate planning and management. Virtual event planners take care of setting up sessions, sending invites, setting up a ticketing system, and managing attendees.