The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in an era in which more people want the option to work from home. Aspiring entrepreneurs who left their jobs in the midst of The Great Resignation now have an opportunity to capitalize on today’s remote-first work culture with businesses that can be operated fully from home.
If you’re looking for a startup idea that doesn’t require a physical office or warehouse space, here are some options for remote businesses you can start today.
[Read more: How to Start a Fully Remote Business]
Content creation services
With so many businesses operating online, every company needs a digital presence, which means there’s a consistent demand for online content. There are multiple avenues to explore as a remote content creation business. If you’re a talented writer and editor, you can take on copywriting projects for clients who need blog posts, email newsletters, thought leadership articles, social media captions, e-books and other written materials. If you’re better with visual content, you can develop custom images and videos for clients using high-quality editing software.
Translation services
As more and more businesses leverage technology to “go global,” there is a growing need for translation services to help those companies communicate with international customers effectively. This is an excellent remote business idea for anybody who has a background in a variety of languages and understands the basics of marketing and copywriting.
If you are proficient or fluent in a foreign language, you can help businesses reach a wider audience with copy that is customized to their audience, including local idioms and cultural references that don’t always translate perfectly from the original language. Aside from any additional language training, you may want to add to your current knowledge base, the only overhead is investing in a library of reference materials, such as dictionaries and grammar resources.
Virtual assistant
More people are pursuing entrepreneurship than ever before: Census data indicates that new business applications were up more than 20% year over year in December 2021. Those new entrepreneurs often rely on virtual assistants to help them manage mundane but essential administrative tasks like scheduling appointments, billing customers, managing incoming client requests and maintaining databases. This online business idea is ideal for detail-oriented individuals who are capable of processing and organizing lots of information and keeping tabs on multiple tasks at once.
[Read more: Marketing Your E-Commerce Business in the Digital Age]
Entrepreneurs often rely on virtual assistants to help them manage mundane but essential administrative tasks like scheduling appointments, billing customers, managing incoming client requests and maintaining databases.
Travel planning
COVID-19 has made traveling more complicated. When booking trips, people now need to be mindful of local mandates, vaccination requirements and COVID case rates that could delay or interrupt their travel plans. Remote travel agents can help clients research and book COVID-friendly getaways and prepare all necessary health and safety information in one place, taking the stress off travelers.
Personal shopping
With so many options and outlets for online shopping, consumers don’t always know where to start when looking for certain items, like clothing and home furnishings. A personal shopper can help their clients find and purchase items they’ll love while sticking to their budget. Online communication tools like video chat, screen sharing and augmented reality can help you create an immersive virtual shopping experience for your client. Once they decide what they want, you can then have items sent directly to the client’s door.
Consulting
If you have deep experience and success in a specific industry, consider becoming a consultant. Consultants in fields like business growth, sales, marketing and human resources can help clients create an effective roadmap for achieving their goals. Businesses are often willing to pay for expert insights and results — Payscale puts the average business consultant's salary at over $75,000 per year. If you want to leverage your years of expertise in a field while working independently for yourself, a remote consulting business may be the path for you.
IT and web development
According to CompTIA, employment in the tech sector is poised to grow about twice as fast as overall employment in the U.S., with some specific tech jobs growing at four to five times the national rate. The increase of remote employees has contributed to this high demand, so this could be a good business path if you have IT experience. The ability to remotely access PCs and company servers means you can work with clients anywhere in the country or around the world.
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