5 online business models for womens in business in 2025
Once you’ve made the decision to work from home, the next choice involves exploring online business models to find the right idea. This is the first step to becoming a Woman in Business.
Which is right for you will depend on factors that include the amount of time and money you want to invest, the flexibility of your schedule and how much structure you desire. You can pick between several basic at-home business models, including these:
1. Working Freelance
Freelancing is one of the most flexible and accessible online business models for women starting out. In this model, you run a business as a sole proprietor offering a service on your own. Women with a range of skills will find this a great fit: graphic artists, writers, programmers, accountants and virtual assistants can all easily create a freelance business.
Going it alone means that you have to come up with your own leads and clients and manage your own deadlines and finances. But, you get the freedom to structure your business the way that you want and allows you to keep a bigger share of the profits.
I work with a range of freelancers on a daily basis from virtual assistants, social media managers, book keepers, graphic designers and web designers spread from India to New Zealand and the USA. If you have the right skills and professional business manner there is loads of clients out there just waiting for you. As your scale your own business you will no doubt find yourself needing to hire freelancers to help YOU!
Some great freelancer websites where you can advertise your talents (or find freelancers to hire) include freelancer.com, Upwork.com and WritersAccess.com.
2. Start a Blog
If you have a keen area of interest or skill, blogging is one of the most powerful online business models to launch your brand.
While it takes time to create lots of valuable content and a loyal audience, blogs have great potential to turn into a steady income. And blogs don’t have to be only written – you can video them if you prefer. Video’s tend to get a lot more engagement on social media as well.
Ways you can monetise your blog include selling paid advertising space on your page, affiliate links to other businesses, products or courses that pay you commission. Commission is whenever someone clicks through or purchases, and turning your blog post content into an e-book or online course.
Blogging is a great, low cost business to start. My tip though is to really narrow in on your area of focus. Don’t cater to everyone with a travel/beauty/health/business blog but rather a niche such as a blog on gardening for small yards, pet grooming, Cruise ship holidays, or island destinations (for example). Niche is king here!
3. Start an e-commerce site
Sell things directly on your own website or through a retailer like Amazon, eBay or Etsy.
If you are a crafter or artist, this can be a great way to generate steady income from your work. Many people also find wholesale deals, then split up items to sell
You don’t have to create your own products to sell either, you can sell other people’s products buy placing wholesale orders with them.
An even better option is drop shipping where you don’t actually buy the stock or take physical possession of it. But rather act as the middle man making a commission on each sale and forwarding the order to the manufacturer who will take care of shipping.
When investigating opportunities to sell items online, make sure to consider all of the costs involved. Weigh items to estimate postage. Look at fees charged by sites where you list your goods. When pricing items for sale, you’ll need to ensure that your costs are covered while still providing a worthwhile profit.
4. Write an e-book
Writing an e-book is one of the most accessible and scalable online business models available today.
It’s been said before that everyone has a book in them and rightly so as everyone has a story or skill they could share that is valuable to other people.
An e-book can consist of as little as 30,000 words and can easily be self published this day at a very low cost. With the likes of Amazon and Kindle you can reach an audience very quickly.
I attended a mastermind retreat with a group of talented women a few years ago. In the group was a lady in her 70’s who wrote an e-book on building WordPress websites many years ago. Today she was still making a great income from many years later. She had loads of affiliate links within her book to things such as plugins and themes, which she still continues to make a handsome profit from
5. Membership Sites and Online Courses
If you have a unique passion or specialized knowledge to share, membership sites and online courses are two of the most powerful online business models available today.
Membership sites work well for niches ranging from hobbies like doll collecting to health, investing, or even business skills. Members typically pay a monthly subscription in exchange for exclusive content delivered via videos, articles, forums, or webinars.
To be successful, this model often requires you to create a high volume of quality content consistently—especially in the early days before you’ve built a large community.
Building on this idea, creating an online course allows you to package your knowledge into a step-by-step program you can sell again and again. Courses can be delivered via platforms like Teachable, Kajabi, or Thinkific, and are especially effective when marketed to your existing email list or membership base.
Personally, I love doing online courses and have completed many over the years. The fact that most offer lifetime access is a huge bonus—I revisit the materials whenever I need a refresher.
Running your own online course or membership site from home gives you freedom, flexibility, and recurring income. And for any aspiring woman in business, choosing one of these online business models could be the game-changer you’re looking for.
