Did you know that 42% of small businesses are started by women? But wait—it gets better! Female business owners break the glass ceiling by earning more revenue and growing businesses faster than men. That’s why we created a list of the best business ideas for women.

These business ideas cover the full span of the U.S. economy, showing that the ladies can do anything men can do—and often, they do it better! 

3 Best Business Ideas For Women

#1. Real estate

If you want to pick up on strategies and methods to get into the real estate business, watch how Thach Real Estate Group became a successful business through the learnings and experience of the founder, Thach Nguyen.

Two of the largest real estate companies in the U.S., Howard Hanna and Perry Homes, are owned by women. If you have financial resources, investing in real estate is among the best business ideas for women who want to grow their company to 7 figures and beyond.

Multi-unit residential properties are among the most reliable recession-proof investments available. That’s where Emma Powell built her company, which today manages more than 300 units and earns revenue of over $25,000 a month. Listen to her podcast interview below to hear how she got started in investing: 

#2. Restaurants

Opening a restaurant is a risk, but it’s one that can pay off big time. The female-owned Panda Express chain of restaurants had revenue over $4.5 billion in 2022, for example. The industry as a whole was projected to reach $997 billion in 2023, so there’s plenty of revenue to go around in this industry. 

For those who don’t have the financial resources to open a brick-and-mortar business, food trucks are great business ideas for women. Jen Gustin started Boss Mama’s Kitchen to break free from her corporate job and become her own boss. Two years later, she was named Food Truck of the Year by South Sound Magazine. Hear how she grew her business in this video:

#3. Human resources

When Janice Bryant Howroyd started her human resource management company, she only had $1,500 to her name. Now, it’s a $2.5 billion firm with more than 17,000 clients around the world. 

What makes HR one of the top business ideas for women is that it’s always in demand. Every company needs employees to function, and managing that team is a challenge for many entrepreneurs. If you excel at communication, leadership, and organization, you can make a good living helping them solve that challenge. 

Jessica Miller-Merrell started her HR firm, Workology, in 2005, and has gained national recognition, being honored by Forbes as one of the top recruitment resources. Hear her story and advice in this podcast:

3 Manufacturing Business for Ladies Ideas

#1. Build custom sheds

If you’re looking for fun business ideas and love building things, a small business making custom sheds can be a great way to earn money. While you will need some construction knowledge and permits, the licensing requirements are less stringent than with full home construction, giving it a lower barrier to entry. 

Susan Frair drew on her expertise in sales when she started Shed Gal, and in a few short years, grew to the number one shed dealer in the state of Washington. You can learn more about her business model and how she finds business opportunities in this video:

#2. Make your own beauty products

The manufacturing segment of the beauty industry is massive, valued at $49.7 billion in 2022. There are still plenty of underserved niches in this market, too, and if you have ideas for products to fill them, it can be a very lucrative business idea. 

Charmaine Nicole started her small business, Black Hair and Skincare, based on her own struggles to find beauty products designed for people with alopecia. She’s grown it not just into a successful business, but also a community for people of color around the world. Learn how she started and grew her business in this podcast interview:

#3. Start your own shoe or clothing line

The fast pace of change in the fashion industry is both a challenge and an opportunity for female entrepreneurs. On the negative side, it can make sustaining your own business a challenge. That said, the fashion world is always looking for what’s next, and that makes a clothing or shoe line good business ideas for women able to anticipate these trends. 

Afshan Abbas was inspired to start a new business, Fuchsia Shoes, after buying a unique pair of artisan shoes in Pakistan. That proved to be a lucrative business venture, especially once she partnered with online influencers. Hear her full story in this video:

3 Online Business Ideas for Women

#1. Start an online store

Selling products through an online store is one of the easiest and most affordable online business ideas to start. It can be a very profitable business idea, too, especially if you have digital marketing skills or a large social media presence. 

As far as what you can sell, the options are just about endless. Jewelry, custom apparel, and home decor are popular niches, especially for those who enjoy productive crafts like knitting and woodworking. 

Jazmin Richards, for example, started making clean-burning candles for her own use. She turned that into an online store, Blk Sunflower, and made $300,000 in her first 18 months. Hear how she grew her business in this video:

If you’d rather not deal with inventory, a print-on-demand store can make an excellent small business for women. Kerry Egeler from The Shirt School shared his advice on starting a custom apparel business online in this podcast: 

#2. Make and sell online courses

One advantage to online courses is that they’re a mostly-passive source of income once you make and release them. Because of this, an online course is one of the best online business ideas for women who are parents, students, or otherwise can’t always devote full-time hours to a business. 

The biggest challenge with an online course is that you have to put in a lot of time to make it before you can start earning revenue. People who already create educational content have an advantage here since they can repurpose blog posts, lesson plans, or other materials into their courses. 

For more advice on how to make money online selling courses, check out this podcast interview with Jacques Hopkins. He turned his hobby playing piano into a very lucrative business idea:

#3. Social media management

Social media marketing has become the go-to way for both online and brick-and-mortar business owners to connect with customers. Many small business owners don’t have the time or skills to effectively use social media for their small businesses, though, or the budget to hire an in-house social media manager. 

This makes opening your own digital marketing agency a good business idea for a business woman who has social media management skills and experience. With a 2022 market size of over $193 billion and an annual growth rate of 19.4%, there is ample profit to go around in this industry. 

The biggest challenge of opening your own business as a social media manager is often finding clients and building their trust. Jason of Socialistics shared how he started and grew his marketing agency in the video below:

3 Best Small Business Ideas from Home for Ladies

#1. Photography business

Have you ever wanted to turn a hobby into a lucrative business? Check out how Korbin and Whitney started out, turning their passion into a business they find enjoyment in doing.

There are a variety of ways to start your own photography business from home. You could convert a spare room into an in-home portrait studio, provide mobile photography services for events, or work with other small business owners to help them make marketing materials and promote your brand. 

If you’d rather set your own schedule, a photography business can also make money online by selling prints or print-on-demand products in an online store, taking on freelance clients, or selling stock images to websites like Shutterstock or Getty Images. 

The variety of potential revenue streams is one reason it’s among the best business ideas for women at home who have an artistic eye and photography skills. As you gain skills and grow your brand, you can even make money sharing those skills through a coaching business or online course. That’s how Katelyn James Photography makes a mostly-passive 7-figure revenue with her photography business. Hear how she did it in this podcast interview:

#2. In-home childcare business

Offering childcare services is an excellent way for moms and caregivers to become small business owners. As more companies call their workers back to the office, babysitting and childcare services are increasingly in demand, especially in urban areas with a high number of potential customers.  

The advantage of an in-home daycare, as opposed to a nanny or babysitting service, is that you can watch multiple kids at once, expanding your potential revenue. 

#3. Wedding planning business 

If you excel at organizing parties, meetings, and other gatherings, event planning is a great business idea to pursue. Wedding planning specifically is one of the most profitable business ideas in the event planning niche, with a market value of around $900 million in the U.S. in 2022.

While people of any gender can work in event planning, the majority of wedding planners are female entrepreneurs. Not only is this an easy small business idea to start from home, it also has low startup costs and ongoing expenses, with typical profit margins of up to 90%.

These low costs are one reason it’s among the top home business ideas for women who are skilled planners and communicators. Since most weddings take place on the weekend, it’s also among the best side business ideas for ladies looking to make extra money to supplement a full-time job.

3 Self-Employed Ideas for Females

#1. Freelance writing business

Freelance writers can make money in a lot of ways. The type of content you write can range from a blog post or news article to an entire book. The flexibility freelance writers enjoy makes it a great side business idea, as well as a potential full-time job. If you’re skilled with grammar and detail-oriented, you can expand your services with a freelance editing business.

It also doesn’t cost anything to become a freelance writer, and you can start your business online from home. This puts it among the most popular small business ideas for girl students, as well as an affordable online business for women with a strong command of the English language.

#2. Graphic design business

For visual artists, doing freelance graphic design work is a great way to make extra money, and is among the best home business ideas for ladies with artistic skills. People and businesses who need logos, website graphics, and other images often hire freelancers on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. Create an account, and you can start making money right away.

You don’t need to take on clients to start your own business in graphic design, either. Another option is to sell products featuring your designs. That’s what Vlad Kuksenko did when he started his 7-figure Etsy shop TagPup (see his story in the video below):

#3. Data entry

You don’t need much to offer data entry services—just some basic computer equipment, an eye for detail, and decent typing skills. The low barrier for entry and flexibility of the work are ideal for women seeking home-based small businesses they can easily fit into their life.

12 Unique Business Ideas for Ladies

#1. Interior design

Interior design is among the best small business ideas for women who don’t just have an artistic eye but are also able to bring other people’s creative vision to life. Making connections with other local small businesses is often the best way to grow a business in this niche, so it’s a great small business idea for creative women who excel at networking.

#2. Virtual bookkeeping business

Keeping track of financial transactions is critical for a small business, and virtual bookkeepers help business owners to do so. While you will need strong math and accounting skills, you don’t need to be licensed as a CPA to start. 

That lower barrier to entry, along with the flexibility and low startup costs it offers, is why a virtual bookkeeping business is among the top business ideas for women who are mathematically-minded.

#3. Resell shoes or vintage clothes

If you have a knack for finding the best items at thrift stores and garage sales, reselling is one of the small business ideas you should consider. 

All you need to get started is knowledge of fashion trends and brands and a minimal budget to get your first items. You can reinvest the profit from those sales to grow the business further. Sneak City started this way, with just $50 and working out of a garage. Now they’re a thriving brick-and-mortar business with multiple storefronts. They shared their story in this YouTube interview:

#4. Professional organizer

Being a professional organizer is among the best business ideas for women who have both right-brain and left-brain intelligence. 

Organizers help others to declutter and order their homes, offices, or other spaces, improving their clients’ mental health along the way and giving them tools to maintain the system you help them establish. To do this, you need a lot of empathy and strong communication skills, along with analytical, problem-solving, and spatial reasoning skills.

Since you’ll work in the client’s space, this is among the top business ideas for women at home, and it also offers a low start-up cost and high flexibility. The biggest challenge is often establishing your reputation to build a client base. If you’re a strong marketer or networker, that can be an advantage for growing your new business faster.

#5. Start a farm

People don’t think of farming as a lucrative profession, but the truth is the median household income of farmers was $92,239 in 2021, higher than the American average. Roughly 89% of farms in the U.S. are small businesses, so there’s a lot of room in this space for future women entrepreneurs who want to work the land for a living. 

Marion Acres started from scratch in 2012 as a way for two families to grow their own food. It’s now a thriving chicken farm with its own market and processing plant. You can see how they got started in this video:

#6. Dropshipping business

Dropshipping is an ideal way for women entrepreneurs to make money online and set their own schedules. In a dropshipping business model, the things you sell are stored and shipped from elsewhere, giving it very low start-up and ongoing costs.

The flexible time commitment of dropshipping makes it a great way to start your own online business while still working a full-time job, and it can bring in enough revenue to serve as your sole income stream if you have the time to commit to it. 

Heather Johnson started her print-on-demand dropshipping business to make extra money when her hours were cut during the pandemic. In a few short years, she’s grown it to $15,000 a month in revenue. Hear her story in this interview:

#7. Open a bakery business

Like other businesses in the food industry, opening a bakery can be a big investment, but with an equally big potential payoff. It’s among the best small business ideas for women who love to bake and love interacting with people.

There are many niches you can choose as a bakery, too. Some focus on treats like cupcakes and pastries, while others make bread and other baked goods to sell to restaurants and stores.The right niche for you will depend on both your interests and your local market.

#8. Personal trainer

The fitness industry is large and growing, projected to reach a total market value of $5.77 billion by 2027. This makes a fitness training business a great small business idea for female entrepreneurs who are passionate about exercise and health. It’s also a potentially profitable business, with the average independent personal trainer earning just over $54,000 a year in take-home income. 

A personal trainer business has very low upfront costs, in part because you don’t need your own brick-and-mortar storefront. You can open a home-based studio if you have the space, or offer mobile services, working with clients in their homes. You can even offer remote services with video conferencing, or in an online course that can serve as an extra passive income stream. 

In this interview with Bedros Keuilian, see how this self-made entrepreneur went from eating from bins to making $200 million a year with his franchise Fit Body Boot Camp and business coaching company Empire Systems.

#9. Home, office, or Airbnb cleaning business

Cleaning is one of those things every home or business needs but most people don’t like to do. This makes it a perfect business idea for women business owners who enjoy bringing order to chaos and don’t mind getting their hands dirty now and then. 

Chris Mondragon started Queen Bee Cleaning with about $5,000 and now teaches other business owners how to do the same in his 7-Figure Cleaning Business Blueprint. You can see what a typical day in his life is like in this video if you’re curious about the day-to-day of starting your own business:

The variety of cleaning jobs available is another reason this is a great business idea. Chris gets a lot of his revenue from cleaning Airbnbs, in addition to his residential cleaning clients. If you’re not sure which niche to choose, do some market research on the services already offered in your area to see where there’s a gap you can fill. 

#10. Life coach

A life coach helps their clients overcome challenges in their career, relationships, or other areas of their life. That makes it a very rewarding career and the best business for women who love helping others thrive. If you’re the person your friends always turn to for advice, becoming a life coach is a natural way to start your own business sharing that problem-solving talent with others. 

#11. Laundry business

Laundry is a universal chore, but not everyone has the equipment at home (or the time) to do it themselves. A laundry business provides a useful service that’s consistently in-demand, making it a great choice as a woman-owned small business. 

Opening a laundromat does require more up-front investment than other options on the list. On the plus side, though, it has potential to be a mostly-passive income stream with the right team. Hear how Rosie Wash Express Laundry started and grew her laundromat business in this interview:

#12. Baby equipment rental business

Baby equipment is expensive—which makes it even more frustrating considering how quickly they grow out of it. A rental business lets you help parents get high-quality equipment for less. It’s among the best business ideas for parents because you can make money from items your kids have outgrown rather than letting them sit unused. 

FAQs About What is a Good Business to Start for a Woman

What is the best business for a woman to start?

Great new business ideas for women can come from any industry. According to the most recent data, the most popular entrepreneur ideas for women are in retail (26%), health, beauty and fitness (17%), and food and restaurants (14%). That said, though, the number of female-owned businesses is growing across sectors, and any of the business ideas for a woman on this list can be a great choice for the right entrepreneur.

What percent of women own businesses?

49% of startups are women-owned, but only 7.1% of the female population are business owners. (We calculated this figure using the number of female-owned businesses divided by the number of women in the population.)

Meanwhile, 10.8% of men are small business owners.

How to start a business as a woman

UpFlip’s ultimate guide on how to start a business is an excellent resource that answers this question step-by-step.

Where can I find women in business scholarships?

There are several organizations that offer scholarships for women in business. This College Guidepost list of 16 national business women scholarships is a great place to explore your options.

What is the best way to get a business loan for women?

The Small Business Administration has women-owned business loan resources that you can explore. You can also get advice on finding and obtaining start-up business loans for women in this podcast interview with National Business Capital founder Joseph Camberato, whose company has helped entrepreneurs secure more than $2 billion in funding:

Which Business Idea Will You Choose?

Ladies, y’all are doing phenomenal at raising the bar, creating a more compassionate business culture, and driving success in business. 

It doesn’t matter what business you choose to enter—you are more likely to find success than men.

Keep doing what y’all do well, and, hopefully, we’ll get the better world many of us are trying to build. I hope whatever industry you choose, you make it better for everyone. 

Which of the small business ideas for women will you choose for your next business venture?