Top 38 Home Business Ideas UK: Work from Home Guide

1.  Graphic designer

Graphic designers are continually being sought after by start-ups looking for business cards, logos, brochures, and the likes. You can get gigs from Upwork, Freelancer, or PeoplePerHour.  Graphic designers get paid per hour or based on the project at hand. Usually, their hourly rates range from £11-£25*.  Quick tip: build an impressive profile so that prospective clients can gather as much about your experience and skills as possible.

As a graphic designer you can also support book publishers, with at least 100,000 self-published books on Kindle alone!

Books often need illustrations, drawings, and cartoons as well as a front and back cover designs and the graphic designer creates individualised visual designs, images and covers. Large and small companies spend huge sums on brochures and other marketing materials. If you can promote such services too, you could increase your income.

To market yourself, you could either bid for jobs on freelance sites or set up your own website and approach clients via email or social media marketing with the help of visually based apps such as Instagram and Snapchat to share your work. A website certainly offers many benefits to showcase your work by displaying case studies, client reviews and much more. After you’ve set up your own website, you can also run Google Ads or Facebook Ads to target certain groups more effectively.

2. Photographer/Photo Editor

Photography is a passion-driven venture. However, some agencies like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, FotoMoto, and so many more are willing to pay money for exemplary images. You can also opt to become a wedding and events photographer, charging clients for your services. Your home can double up as your processing and production studio.

Your job as a photographer is to showcase your work, ideally on your own website. It’s advisable to have a portfolio of previous assignments you’ve worked on before. With the help of tools like Adobe Illustrator, Visme, Stencil, and Venngage, you can edit and optimize photos and images for multiple use such as websites, brochures, marketing or personal use.
Bloggers, travel companies, food companies, marketing corporations are only a few of the long list of people who would be more than interested in purchasing your photos or images or book you as a photo editor for their projects.

If your images are popular and sought after, you can also sell them on stock photo sites like iStockphoto and Shutterstock. How do you earn money here? Once you upload and register your pictures, they send you royalties each time a third-party licenses your photos. This can create a useful side income.

3. Animator

Animation is a lucrative venture, but it requires specialised skills. From designing TV and video graphics to creating animated characters, Gifs, cartoons, emojis – freelance animators are some of the best paid remote workers. Upwork is a great site where you can pitch for gigs from clients looking for your services. Besides, you’re able to meet a community of animators and exchange ideas, see what others charge, and so on.

Animators can earn anything from $38,520 (£18,000) a year to $115,960 (£36,000+)* a year, depending on how much the client or employer pays. Possible projects could include working for the motion picture industry or computer systems design companies.

You will require a degree or an HNC/HND in animation. Many universities and colleges in the UK or e-Learning platforms offer courses in animation and other relevant art and design courses.

4. Videographer/Video Editor

You can start your videography career by simply filming short clips and promotional videos for companies and freelancers. A freelance videography business is when an individual operates a filming service, whereby clients are served on contractual basis without any commitments as a permanent worker. Most clients will want to see past experience with video production, so you can begin by covering non-commercial events, like family weddings, to build up your portfolio.

Here are the fundamental skills you will need to get started:

• Computer literacy
• Drawing skills (Animation)
• Creativity & imagination
• Film-editing skills
• Ability to use a variety of cameras
• Familiarity with graphics software

If you want to become an outstanding videographer, you should use the latest state-of-the-art digital cameras which require extensive training as well as the specialized software you will have to deal with to enhance your videography.

The video editing can be done in the comfort of your home, but you will need good equipment.

Firstly, you’ll need to research which tools and equipment you will require for the videography services you will offer. To start with you can rent them from commercial services but factor the rental cost into your budget so you’ll still make a profit. The most important items to have are a high-quality video camera and microphone, with additional videography equipment such as lighting equipment and camera support.

As a video editor you’re using software such as Adobe Premiere or Final Cut to fine-tune your footage.

The best place to promote your freelance videography business is online, so make use of freelance websites to get gigs and be actively promoting your home business via your own website and social

5. Art Seller

Etsy works like other online marketplaces with the difference that you can only sell your own, handmade art pieces here. Whether you are gifted artistically yourself or sell art for other artists you know, on this platform people from all over the world can see and buy this work. This could also include creative letters, invitations, get well soon cards and wedding cards designed in a unique way, called calligraphy art, which can be performed by hand or using software. Checkout their calligraphy section where you can exhibit your and others’ work. Or have a look at Amazon Individual Seller Plans where you can sell as an individual up to 40 products per month for a very low fee of not even £1. This is one of the best ways to earn from home without making much of a financial investment to get started, however the income can vary greatly.

6. Online tutor

Online tutors offer their skills to online students located thousands of miles away sometimes. Some e-tutor sites will pay you handsomely to teach students via distance learning. You can earn around £20-£30* an hour as an online tutor here in the UK.  Just be sure to invest in superfast broadband and good software tools because most of your tutoring lessons often require video conferencing and voice calls via Skype or Zoom.

Tutoring is not only a lucrative but deeply satisfying profession. You could work by yourself from home using a generic whiteboard like Cisco Webex or work with a company like Tutor.com, which provides its own whiteboard and tutor management system. Demand for e-tutoring of subjects like Maths, English, coding, and science is growing around the world and once you’re established you can even set up your own online tutoring business.

Whether you are an academic, a coach, or someone with good knowledge about something, you can monetize this by offering to tutor people online either via your own website or by joining other platforms like Chegg Tutors, offering private tutoring. If you find that where you live has a high demand for private tuition services, you can target clients close to your residence.

You can create an additional income by creating online courses that you could sell either via your website or e-Learning platforms like Udemy, where more people can find you. A well-packaged course or e-book serves as another stream of passive income and would give you more financial stability. See how you can become an online instructor at the SeekaHost University.

7. Language teacher

English is one of the most spoken languages across the world. Millions of people seek to learn English, how to speak and write in English.  Unlike online tutoring, some English learners don’t even want papers and certificates; they just need to learn from a native speaker in England.  Craigslist is one of the easiest places to find people from across the world looking for online English lessons.

Non-English-speaking countries often teach English at schools as an additional language. Naturally, many students look for additional learning support, ideally with a native speaker. If they are

scheduled to migrate soon to live, study or work in a country where English is the main language of communication, then they will need to prepare for English tests.

To become a language tutor, you need to be fluent in the written and spoken target language and have at least passed an academic language test like TEFL. Having teaching experience is a plus of course. You can offer to tutor your students virtually and charge for your services either via your own website or e-tutoring platforms like CheggTutors. You can make a decent living with online teaching, if you have enough students paying fees. On average an online teacher makes up to £2000* per month, but this can vary a lot.

8. Music teacher

Music teachers teach students how to play musical instruments, sing their vocals, compose and write songs, etc. If you have any of these skills, you can make money from home offering music lessons. To start with, create a YouTube channel and post videos showcasing your genius in music. Link it to your tutor website so that anyone looking to learn can find and contact you directly.

YouTube is one of the best platforms for learners to learn music; every music teacher ought to have a channel and a website. On top of that, you can also advertise your services on music tutor platforms like MusicTutors. This is especially convenient for students young or old who have to travel far to get to the music teacher. So, if you are good at playing multiple instruments and are patient with kids and adults, then setting up a music tutoring business is for you.

A music teacher can earn an annual income of £19,000 to £42,000* depending on hourly rates, qualifications and expertise as well as range of services to offer.

9. Online course instructor

MOOCs or massive open online courses have become extremely popular, especially with e-Learning becoming a growing trend. You can offer your online courses on distance learning platforms like  Coursera, EdX, Udemy and for more specific niches you can publish them on platforms like SeekaHost University.

You need to be an expert in a subject to publish a course made of 10-16 lectures and coursework. Alternatively, you could set up a website and provide your own class, as does Neil Patel, the guru of digital marketing.

The challenge is that even as an expert in a subject matter you need to carve out a niche for yourself as the online learning market is very competitive already. Hence why this avenue might proof challenging to earn a stable income rather than a side income.

If you manage to get hired as a course or training instructor by schools, colleges or universities, you can expect to earn an annual salary of £35,000 to £90,000*. Therefore, it’s worth investing in your online career now to display your instructor and training skills.

10. Child Day Carer/Childminder

Are you a stay-at-home mum looking after your little ones? Or do you have some childcare experience and love looking after kids? Then you could consider offering childcare or day care services from your home. You’ll already have most of the equipment needed to accommodate children aged between 6 months and 4 years, if your own children are that age or older. And you’ll never go out of business as someone somewhere always needs help with their children.

You’ll need a childcare foundation degree or comparable qualification and you will have to register as a childminder with Ofsted. But once you’re all cleared, you will be able to start offering your childminding services via your own website or childminder listings like ChildCare to earn money while caring for kids in the comfort of your own four walls while still being there for your own family. It’s the perfect side income strategy as usually childminders only earn an annual income of £15-20,000*.

11. Freelance writer

Are you good with words? Can you write a compelling story that will get readers glued from start to end?  If yes, then you can earn very good money as a remote writer. Popular writing sites like TextBroker, Greatcontent are a goldmine for avid freelancers. As a freelance writer, the secret to excellence lies in submitting top-notch content that’s free of plagiarism and glaring grammar errors.  On YouTube you’ll find dozens of tutorials on how to become a freelance writer, but right away you should set up your own website and establish your name on the web. On there you can showcase your brilliant writing skills and case studies. And you can get started from home.

You’ll be sure to find clients in no time as there is an endless list of people who have sites and blogs. To scale a blog, they often require additional writers to cover topics of interest and post as frequently as possible to keep their websites relevant and updated.

If you’re also good with SEO to create articles that rank on search engines, then blog posting is certainly for you. Try sourcing for blog writer positions on sites like Freelance writer or Upwork, and get published on high authority websites to enhance your portfolio here. With enough experience you can expect to take away an hourly pay of £20-30*, but this can vary depending on what your clients can afford to pay.

12. Copywriter

All of those websites with pages after pages of text started from a blank screen. Someone had to create compelling copy. This is what a content writer or copywriter does. From taglines and captions to five thousand word buying guides – it is all in a day’s work for a content writer.  With experience, you can quickly graduate to freelancing in report writing and other corporate gigs that pay better. Or you can build your own copywriting business, serving many clients with business websites and blogs. You might also compose ad copy or emails for marketing purposes – the opportunities are endless.

A copywriter can make anything ranging from £18,000 to £37,000 p.a.*.

13. E-Book writer

Amazon’s Kindle platform has made it easy to publish your book at near-zero cost. From horror to how-to guides and everything else under the sun – if you know a subject matter, and have a good story to tell,  you can write and self-publish an ebook and monetize it. e-Books can earn you rich dividends if they top Amazon bestseller lists. Of course, this will take time and an investment in advertising, but once you’ve established a fan base and preferably also your own website, you would have created a solid passive income stream, bringing money in while you’re sleeping. However, this shouldn’t be your only source of income as on average e-book authors make around £10,000* per year, if they sell books on a regular basis.

14. Academic writer

Thousands of university students write essays, research papers, and dissertations each year.  There’s a lucrative industry for professionals who can help such students write their papers. There are numerous academic writing accounts like WriterBay, Uvocorp, Essay Shark, Writerslab where academic writers get paid per page, up to £12 for a 250-word page. An experienced writer can handle up to 8 pages a day, providing you with a daily income of nearly £100*. As you won’t really have any expenses for writing academic essays apart from your Wi-Fi cost and maybe some software subscriptions, this home business provides a decent return for never having to step out. However, you must demonstrate excellent academic writing, grammar and spelling skills that you can prove to have been graded highly.

15. Proof-reader and editor

Once a writer has submitted their work, proof-readers and editors have the final task of going through that content, looking for grammar, factual, and other errors. Writers benefit a lot from proofreading and editorial services, which are high in demand especially as more people consider self-publishing. Students in school write essays that need editing. Magazines, newspapers, bloggers, authors are other examples of people in need of such services. If you have a keen eye, know your grammar, and are an excellent editor, Contena is one of the places you are guaranteed to find plenty of people looking to pay for editing and proofreading services.

Editors in the UK can earn as much as £27,845* per year. You will be able to work from home as long as you’re meeting your targets and obligations, offering you flexible hours and hardly any extra expenses. But you are required to demonstrate a solid grasp of language skills and you have to be an ace in grammar and spelling and show experience of writing world-class content. Some freelance platforms might ask you to pass some tests first before being able to advertise your editing services.

16. Translator/Interpreter

Many people grow up speaking at least two different languages fluently as a native speaker. If you’re one of them, you can become a translator or interpreter. To start with you can register with a translation services agency, but you will have to prove your language skills and experience of translating or interpreting and any relevant qualifications you hold. Obviously, adding your CV to your LinkedIn profile helps immensely, but creating your own website where you can nicely showcase your previous work and projects will certainly score bonus points in this competitive field. The beauty of the modern world of translation is that you can become a translation project manager overseeing

• Market research solutions such as survey translations, transcription services
• Digital tasks like website translations, SEO language support, social media content translations
• Interpreting services such as voice over services in a foreign language, audio translation services

To get a better idea of what you can offer as a freelance translator or interpreter, compare what such agencies like LanguageConnect or TranslationServices24 offer and try to make your services even more niche so that you don’t have to compete with the big players.

Set up your own profile on translation services platforms like Translator’s Base to increase your reach. It’s all about doing the market research and differentiating your services so that you meet the needs of your target audience. People who know sign language can also offer translation or interpretation services online.

On average a translator can earn anything from £18,000 to £53,000* p.a., depending on their qualifications and expertise as well as hourly rate and workload. So, if you have what it takes and you enjoy working from home all day long, this is for you.

17. Transcriptionist

If you have a very attentive ear rather than being a talented wordsmith, providing a transcription service could be the right career path for you as it never goes out of demand. Freelance transcription enables you to workday and night providing this service from your computer or laptop wherever you are.

A transcriptionist’s salary is generally around £12* per hour, while an advanced transcriptionist earns around £20* per hour. Depending on your specialist knowledge you can obtain a certificate or degree in legal or medical transcription.

Via online platforms like TranscribeMe you can get started to see if this is for you by obtaining your first few projects before jumping into starting a transcription business of your own.

18. Scriptwriter

Film, Media and TV industries are always on the lookout for creative scriptwriters who can help compose new TV show formats or film narratives. Even music videos require written scripts these days or YouTube productions, if advanced. If you have a passion for drama, literature, digital storytelling and providing entertainment to an audience as well as experience of script reading or writing script reports then you can start to promote your services online on sites like Craigslist, Glassdoor, Indeed, to mention a few. If you get a few projects assigned, you should build your own website and showcase these case studies to demonstrate your portfolio. As a scriptwriter, you must be prepared to give up the copyrights to all scripts you’ve been paid for; you can’t use the same content for different clients.

If you’re new to this industry you can take free screenwriting courses to figure out whether this is a future career you can see yourself pursuing. Financially you might struggle in the beginning only earning £18,000* a year, but once you’ve made it you can take home up to £80,000* p.a.

19. Chef

If you’re a great cook who makes delicious and tasty meals and love to share your recipe ideas, this is for you. You can start your TV show on YouTube or Facebook live where you showcase your cooking skills. Who knows, someone may hire you to prepare a meal for their event or party and pay you for that. You could also sell your recipes to your followers in the form of eBooks or via a food blog.

With commitment, you can run a successful home cooking business right from your own kitchen.  If you abide by the health and safety laws and provide useful information about nutrition, the science of cooking and baking and how to make the most of modern kitchen appliances your home business will thrive. You can earn from online advertisement through YouTube and your own blog, you can become an affiliate marketer for cooking products and appliances, and you can obviously also become a food consultant.

Considering that a normal chef working in a restaurant or hotel on average earns between £30,000 to £60,000* a year, this can be a very lucrative and convenient home-based option, if executed well.  You may have to gain knowledge about digital marketing to maximise your home business revenue, taking courses like the Blog Profits Blueprint for example.

20. Yoga Instructor

Over 300,000-450,000 people practice yoga across the UK. This number keeps growing and if you develop a fascination for it and are super bendy at the same time, why not take a yoga instructor course and get started? Yoga has numerous health benefits as seen here.  As a Yoga Instructor, you can build your own following and fan base, if you know how to market yourself and provide yoga with a twist, like BohoBeautiful doing yoga in scenic destinations around the world, selling yoga and pilates programs and subscription schemes. As you can see, you’d need to build your YouTube channel and have an e-commerce website to sell your yoga guides.

The other option is to convert one of your spare rooms into a Yoga room and use it to train a few students, if you have the space at home. You can charge them on an hourly, weekly, or monthly basis.

Whatever option you choose is right for you, flexibly and on your own terms you can accumulate an hourly income of £9-£35* on average. Say you’re a stay-at-home-parent who just wants to earn additional cash while staying fit, this home business would provide the perfect opportunity to tick those boxes.

21. Fitness Instructor

Keeping fit is vital for the health and wellbeing of the individual and many prefer to do home workouts rather than heading to the gym, especially if they are remote workers. There are thousands of people who work out regularly each day. Some are looking for a trainer to motivate them, guide them, and suggest the best training regimen. As a fitness trainer, you could record your training sessions and tutorials and avail them at a small fee to those that need them. With superfast broadband, you can easily stream your training sessions and reach thousands of people in real-time or via your YouTube channel. You could even do it with your partner like HASFit, a popular fitness trainer couple on YouTube.

As you can see, it is possible to be a fitness coach online. If you have a certification in fitness coaching, you can create exercise schedules and provide demonstrations over Skype or social media like Instagram with live feeds. Additionally, you can design diets and act as a guide on someone’s weight loss journey. As you advance and grow your online fitness business, consider getting the necessary licenses and accreditations to work professionally.

The toughest challenge probably lies within establishing your brand in this competitive industry. Normal gym or freelance fitness instructors earn around £10-£20* per hour so you could start out with that while building your online presence. You can find fitness trainer jobs on platforms like LeisureJobs and test the waters here first. But at the end of the day it’s all about networking and marketing yourself.

22. Dance instructor

Dancing is dynamic and different segments of society have different preferences. From the recent moves to the old school moves of the 80s when Soul music carried the day; people are always looking to learn and perfect their moves. You can use your home as the practice area where your students come for training sessions. Don’t forget to share videos of your dance training sessions; it’s easier attracting new learners if they see that you’re having fun and are good at what you do.

Dancing shouldn’t be something you only do for fun whenever a new song comes around. Plenty of people are choosing to dance instead of going to the gym to stay active and fit. Turn that guest house or spare room into a dance studio and start marketing your classes to people in your neighbourhood. Craigslist is a good platform; it’s free and here you can advertise your services from the comfort of your home.

23. Webcam model

Modelling is a career path for the petite and big sized body shapes, which are all sought after by fashion designers, online fashion brands and even tv shows these days. Many social media influencers promote fashion as well. The beauty of this kind work is that everything will be provided for you: the makeup, clothes and shoes, jewellery – whatever you are going to showcase. Some popular job sites for online models in the UK include StarNow and you can browse through it to see the variety of modelling opportunities there are.

Some people may also consider performing erotic dances and moves for clients on their webcam. A client pays for your live entertainment session via video chat and this can be very lucrative as some popular models charge up to £100* an hour. However, an average model earns up to £44,000 a year. But the plus side is that you don’t need any qualifications to get started, just the looks that somebody out there is desperately seeking. Check out this step by step guide on how to get started as a webcam model, and work out which avenue would be the best fit for your future.

24. Pet Walker/Trainer/Groomer

There are around 11 million households in the UK that own pets. In other words, almost 44% of homes have pets! Dog walking is a thriving industry, which gives you the freedom to do your daily walk and earn money. You can get started by advertising your services on popular sites like BorrowMyDoggy or Gumtree to see if this is for you. Dog walking will require prior experience with handling dogs as well as a passion for dogs, but if you bring that to the table you could even extend this career into becoming a pet trainer, which will require more in-depth training via online courses. Obviously, you’d have to head out and meet the pets, but online you could provide pet training tutorials for pet owners, guides and advice. That way you’d create different income streams and wouldn’t solely rely on the income as a pet walker or trainer. Again, having your own website would be crucial for this venture and with that you can create your very own pet training online business.

If you’re more of a beauty type, then pet grooming might be for you. From washing and giving haircuts to pets or trimming their nails, pet grooming is a perfect way to make an extra coin here in the UK. You can convert a part of your home into the pet grooming salon, which is especially convenient if you have pets yourself. Clients will book appointments via your website and bring their pets over so all you do is style them from home. You can watch YouTube tutorials on how to perfectly groom pets; clients will be more confident entrusting their pets to you if they learn that you’re knowledgeable so do your homework first before offering pet grooming services.

You can earn around £10* per hour initially, but if you manage to create additional products to sell, it will all add up to a convenient income from the comfort of your home.

25. Virtual assistant

Virtual assistants are much sought after on sites like Elance, Virtalent or Zirtual for example. You need to be very organized and able to pay attention to details at all times.  Most of the roles of a virtual assistant are administrative tasks and as such, can be done remotely from the confines of your house. Like we mentioned earlier, you’ll need a very reliable and stable internet connection when working as a virtual assistant.

You might work for a busy business owner or doctor setting up appointments, scheduling their meetings, and arranging their travels. Other tasks might include checking and answering emails, preparing PowerPoint presentations, doing research or helping plan events. All the work is done online through collaborative software such as Zoho. If you have been a secretary before with good communication and organising skills, this is for you.

A VA job would earn you an average of £15* or more per hour initially. However, if you add up your virtual assistant gigs and showcase them on your LinkedIn profile or own website, highlighting your case studies and specific strengths, then surely you can climb up the ladder and become a senior virtual assistant or even a manger of several assistants. And all of that from the comfort of your own four walls.

26. Social media manager/consultant

Celebrities, start-ups, and major brands all have a robust social media presence. They often employ agencies and individuals to manage these social media accounts.  As you become more proficient in managing social media accounts, you can also start offering online marketing services like Facebook Ad campaigns.  Employers on sites like CareerBuilder and Flexjobs are continually looking for individuals that can work remotely as social media managers, so this could be a great starting point.

Your task would be to plan and maintain a social media content calendar and engage on behalf of the business on social media.  No special qualification is required, and a working knowledge of the leading five platforms is enough, however, many businesses expect to see proof of your skills via other social media profiles you have managed. Most employers will also ask for experience with social media management systems like Hootsuite and creating and running paid ads.

With approximately 3.484 billion social media users in the world and a growing number of registrations by 9% every year, there is an obvious future demand for social media managers. Creating visually and verbally engaging and attractive media posts can be a lot of fun, but you’ll also have to have an eye for trends, data analysis and ad copy to help any business grow. You could be working for actresses, entrepreneurs, musicians, and celebrities and offer to maintain their social media fan pages. This option is good for you if you are good at networking on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites. Wondering where to source for artists looking for someone to help maintain their fan pages? Fiverr would be a great place to get started.

Alternatively, you could advise a business about how to create a social media marketing campaign as a social media consultant. It will be your task to set up social media accounts, plan a regular number of posts, design types of posts, the nature of the content, keywords, and other details to lead a business to more online success. You would have to investigate how much this will cost the business and plan according to their budget for the exercise. It is an exciting and dynamic field and is evolving rapidly.

Starting at the bottom, you could earn around £20,000* p.a., but there’s no limit to what you can earn at the top as big companies will pay huge sums for top-notch social media marketing. You could even start your own social media management agency and hire staff to do the “dirty work” while you manage and delegate all operations. Again, this could absolutely be executed from your comfy couch at home.

27. Event organizer/planner

If you are excellent at planning and executing people’s visions and ideas, you can try this one. No need to hire an office, you can do most of the brainstorming and administrative tasks from your home. You can start small by helping organize children’s parties, graduation parties, before finally taking on bigger gigs like organize weddings or a fundraiser. Event planners can organize entire events without leaving their home as all you need is a phone and a computer. Call distributors and suppliers, hold talks with the hosts, schedule and search the internet can all be managed virtually. Once you build a website and name for yourself as a top event organizer, you can turn this into a lucrative home venture.

If you have a degree in tourism management, hospitality or other related courses, this is an opportunity you should certainly explore. And even if you don’t, you can take a look at some event manager or planner jobs and what skills and experience is required. Many online courses now provide different event planner diplomas, which you can equally complete at home in your own time. It’s certainly worth investing the time as event planning can on average rake in £30,000* per year, but if you focus on the luxury niche, you can score much higher revenues.

28. Host/Hostess

Do you have a spare room in your home that you don’t use much? There’s always someone who’d do with a short-term let for a fee of course. Popular sites like Airbnb have made it easier for homeowners to make that extra coin by renting out their space.  It could be a basement room, a spare bedroom, a boat. Oh, and your car too; you can rent out your car for a day, a week, or even a month.

Have an extra parking space you hardly use? Clothes you never wear? Bikes you never ride? Or instruments you never really play? You’d be surprised to know that someone somewhere is willing to pay you to use those items you never use. Consider posting your stuff on sites like Craigslist to find people in your area willing to rent them for a few hours.

You can go even further and host home parties at your abode to generate more money. Add a stand full of kids’ toys, party treats, clothes, jewellery and more pretty stuff that party guests will purchase. Invite your friends and tell them to bring friends over. Because the more people that show up, the more likely you are to make more sales. Clever ha?

Depending on how you decide to run this home hosting business or home rental business, you can create several income streams, but it’s hard to determine an average annual income for this type of business. That’s why it is worth analysing which items are worth renting out. Car rentals can be lucrative, but your insurance needs to cover all eventualities so you might pay more. So, do the maths before randomly offering hosting or rental services from your home.

29. Accountant/Bookkeeper

Are you a certified and accredited accountant? You don’t have to wait for employment; you can start offering your services remotely from your house! As a freelance accountant, you can take advantage of the latest accounting software to help individuals submit their tax returns or file payrolls.  Many SMEs across the UK are constantly looking for accountants. Build a nice online profile and take constant refresher courses to stay on top of your game.

Small and medium businesses require bookkeeping services as well. With software apps like Quickbooks and Microsoft Excel, you can offer bookkeeping services on the side or in addition to accounting services. These are tasks that no business owner wants to deal with and they’re happy to pay a good price for passing the bucket. On average an accountant earns an annual income of up to £50,000* p.a. Many employers encourage home office schemes these days, but if you really want to be your own boss and oversee your workload, then you should go it alone. If your online business runs very well, you can hire assistants and scale it.

30. Stock Trading

To start out you need to invest a few £100 and do a course in stock trading. But you could leverage it to earn over a hundred thousand quid a year like a 16-year-old who turned £150 into £60,000 . How does it work?

You need to be good with numbers and learn about the basic principles of stock trading. There is no need to sign up for a course right away. There are plenty of free courses available on e-Learning platforms and hundreds of free PDF e-books available on sites like Investopedia. Then try your hand at trading using stock market games. Use the trading simulator that the London Stock Exchange hosts for free.

It is best to take a 90-day certification course to understand the ropes fully and buy stocks cheaply and sell them at a profit. If you excel at this, you might become a Forex trader and buy and sell foreign exchange. It is similar in concept, but you need more capital of about £50,000 to start. But when you’ve made significant profits from your home office, that shouldn’t be a problem. Choosing this home business is certainly not for the faint-hearted. Only go for stock trading, if you can stomach big losses and keep calm when taking huge risks. There are no guarantees, hence why it is tough to estimate an average income.

31. Insurance Representative

To work as an insurance representative or agent, you must be licensed (you can nowadays gain this through online courses, studying remotely). Insurance companies keep looking for licensed insurance reps to sell policies, address client issues, file claims and solve complaints from home. Insurance agents make sure policies stay up-to-date and make amendments to the policy as life or legislation changes. An insurance agent works with property and casualty, life, health and long-term care insurance policies. In the beginning you’d probably earn between £17,000 to £33,000* per year. As a freelancer, you could work for several insurance companies and choose your projects wisely only working the hours you want for the pay you seek. This career certainly enables you to keep a healthy work-life balance, earning from home.

32. Software and App Developer

The original online job or career! If you know C+, PHP, Java, HTML, Ruby, why not become a software developer or consultant? You would have to plan and execute projects in a time-bound manner. There are at any time at least a thousand projects open on freelancer platforms like Upwork. After six months, when you have acquired an excellent reputation, you could start your own company and hire talent. You can teach yourself many skills through online courses and showcase your successes on your own website. People want to see what you can do so don’t hide your skills. Pursuing this career will certainly be a step in the right direction with an average annual salary of £22,000 to £50,000* and a growing demand for software and app engineering and development soon worldwide.

33. Web Designer

This is for IT gurus and coders who can design websites. You can also learn to code online for free and start your own web design company. As a web designer you set up and design web pages for clients. Depending on the complexity of the website, e.g. including e-commerce functions, animations etc., this can be a demanding job, requiring you to pay attention to detail as your clients will want their website to look exactly as they envision it. Basic SEO skills and frontend and backend database management skills are equally important to become a top online address for web design. Teach yourself how to create web pages from a MOOC or browse through CodeAcademy free tutorials. Initially, you can build a portfolio with case studies you’ve worked on, whether they’re sites on Wix, Weebly, or with a WordPress host like SeekaHost. It’s beneficial to have experience using various platforms, so experiment and learn for at least three months before starting your own home business. Read more about web designing and how you can become a web designer on our web design blog, which by the way was designed by ClickDo’s senior web designer Kasun Sameera and his ClickDo team.

Freelance web designers can earn a good income either by working on projects through popular hiring sites like Upwork and Freelancers or by advertising their services via their website on Google or Facebook. A web designer in the UK can earn up to £41,000* a year in employment. If you’re not a risk taker, you could first work for a company to have a regular income while building your home business on the side until it’s established and bringing in sufficient funds.

34. Software/Website and App Tester

App or website developers or companies will pay you if you install their app on your phone and use it for testing purposes. A company like Google will pay you a fee for every month their app is installed on your phone. Other sites offer you prizes or rewards for simply downloading and testing their app.

Some of these sites include:

• MobileXpression
• ShopTracker
• Nielsen Mobile Panel

Website developers want to know if their site is functional and aesthetically appealing, if it’s easy to navigate or what changes you would recommend improving the user experience.

If you have an interest in testing websites and apps and you develop analytical skills to scrutinize the designs, themes, and functions, then someone out there is more than willing to pick your brain and pay you for it. To test websites and start making money online, join renowned services like

• WebUsability
• TestingTime
• User Conversion
• intellizoom
• PingPong

With enough experience as a tester and a good know-how, you can promote yourself as a skilled and reliable website or app tester and charge your own fees. In general, a software tester can earn up to £36,000* p.a. So, it’s your call whether you want to go it alone or be employed. Whichever option you choose, you can rest assured that it can be done from your own residence without having to step outside.

35. Tech Support Specialist/Consultant

If you’re a geek obsessed with computers and other tech gadgets, a tech support specialist post is one of the best ways for you to earn money from home. Non-profit companies, start-ups, and corporations are all businesses that often hire remote tech support specialists to deal with technical issues, glitches and other concerns for immediate troubleshooting and technical guidance. For more in-depth information about the role and requirements read the technical support specialist job description and earnings information here. In the UK you can earn up to £58,000* in a year as a technical consultant in employment. But if you’re already experienced and well established, you can start your own tech support agency and hire assistants to deal with clients, whereas you delegate and organise conveniently in the background from your sofa.

36. SEO Consultant

SEO or search engine optimization is a field that will be required by anyone wanting to optimize their website for top rankings on search engines. Therefore, it is an SEO consultant’s key role to get a client’s websites to rank higher in a search result. There is also a market for specialized forms of SEO, such as for Amazon product pages. A course in the basics of SEO to get you acquainted with the subject could start you right off. SEO tools such as Yoast help SEO consultants automate manual and repetitive aspects of their work, but you need to learn how algorithms work and data analysis is another major aspect of this work.

See how the #1 SEO Consultant in London works daily, including some case studies, on his SEO agency’s website ClickDo and find many valuable tips to start your own SEO consultancy online and be your own boss. In employment an SEO specialist would make around £37,000* a year, but you can ask Fernando about how much more you could make as a top independent SEO consultant and you won’t be disappointed. Plus, you can lead the digital lifestyle like he does.

37. Business Consultant

Do you boast extensive knowledge in operating a successful business yourself? Can you advise business owners about etiquette, body image, accounting, or other areas of their business? If so, you can approach companies with the necessary certifications and proof that you already have through your own experience and studies.

Many business owners or young entrepreneurs might experience trouble in some areas of expertise, and they may book a consultative meeting with you. It may be hard for starters, but as time goes by, you get more clients and build a good reputation. However, you will need a business consultant website where you showcase your own business successes and lessons, client reviews and case studies. People won’t just book you like that.

Just look at how business mentor and coach Neil Franklin does it as a former successful UK entrepreneur and see the opportunities for your own business consultancy home business. In employment a business consultant can earn up to £66,000* annually and more, depending on the company’s budget. So, if you want to aim high and feel you’ve lots of value to offer to the big business players out there then get started with your consulting services from your business throne at home.

38. Health Consultant

Healthcare consultants analyse and optimize management of healthcare institutions and are usually employed by the healthcare industry. They examine different aspects such as efficiency, profits and structure of the organization and offer steps or methods of improvement. To get started with this career you at least need to hold a bachelor’s degree, though a master’s degree is generally preferred.

However, many senior doctors who already had the overall responsibility for the care of patients in hospitals take this career path before retiring. They would already have completed a minimum of six years training in their speciality area to gain a certificate of completion of training (CCT) and would be listed on the GMC’s specialist register. Clearly, this business idea would only be suitable for established medical specialists that can offer healthcare consulting at a high level. Based on the expertise required, it is an impactful, well-regarded, and lucrative career path with an annual salary of up to £104,000*. So, if you’re already in the field of medicine, gain those additional qualifications and get ready to earn comfortably in the future by consulting healthcare organisations from your home.

39. Dating consultant

Online dating has transformed dating as we know it. Are you good at giving relationship-related advice or dating tips that can help lovers spice up their love life? You can earn good money as an online dating consultant, if you start by having a blog, a YouTube and social media channels that provide dating tips, advice and answer your target audience’s questions. Make your readers subscribers to your blog newsletters and grow your fan base. Email them your consultant materials regularly or offer them eBooks on dating. You could sell your own or other’s books via your website to earn a commission as an affiliate.

Dating consultancy can be easily combined with offering counselling services, if you have a psychology, counselling or mentoring diploma or certification. Wherever your strengths lie, whether advising on communication skills or confidence building, there are many avenues you can take. Focus on what you enjoy doing the most and best. For more information about how to become a dating coach and what you should bring to the table to be successful with this business, read this dating coach guide here. People are willing to pay up to £100* and more per hour for a reputable consultant, so if you can convince them to hire you, you’re certainly on an upwards trajectory.

40. Virtual Consultant

Virtual consulting is a lucrative career solution for different professionals in various niches and industries. If you already have a business or are an upcoming professional in different fields like accounting, finance, management, photography, video editing, and music editing, you can offer your expert services to businesses. Virtual consultants are also known as tele-consultants and work remotely.

Software developers, game developers, website developers, and app developers are reaping the benefits of virtual consulting. A lot of designers including fashion designers, interior designers, landscape designers, and multimedia designers are offering their services as freelance consultants to clients from across the world. Whether you opt for a project-based job aka the online gig job, or a full-time job, the growing global demand for freelancers is sure to offer bountiful opportunities to you in the virtual world. As you already saw in the above examples, the pay can greatly vary, depending on the industry, demand and expertise level.

See more remote working jobs and freelance gigs in this guide for inspiration.

41. Motivational speaker/Life Coach

In an era where business meetings are being held online and streamed live in the form of video conference calls, your skills as a speaker are quite an asset. You may be called upon to make a presentation via video conference, on behalf of a brand or company or be interviewed by customers. Speakers need to be very flexible, confident, and able to read the mood of their audiences. You may be booked for company retreats, team-building events, or other types of corporate events and people may approach you and ask you to coach them personally. Being a life coach requires prior experience and expertise.

The better you are at offering advice and effective solutions to people’s life and work issues, the quicker you will become a household name. Soon you will offer your life coaching or motivational services from your home office to people all over the world. The business of personal coaching or life coaching is currently booming. Most of your client interaction will happen through video chat via Skype or Zoom, rarely is a face to face consultation needed. We recommend to get a certification in NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), so you can become a life coach and prominent speaker in a few short months. It’ll will pay off as at the top end a speaker or life coach can earn £100*+ per hour plus all the passive income from guides, books, courses etc.

42. Social media influencer

Do you have a massive following on Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter and other social media platforms? Well, you can monetize your popularity through brands and businesses. You can review products and services, share your experiences and feedback with your followers and be an online marketer so to speak. Social media influencers support a company’s brand awareness and get paid for that.

You could look at it as a particular type of blogging and vlogging where you nurture a loyal audience base by creating valuable content around your niche. The upside is – you can earn handsomely by landing promotional deals for companies. But the prerequisite is that you are popular on social media and have an extensive fan base of at least a few thousand. Many people underestimate how much hard goes into building that following and you will have to develop internet marketing skills too. Becoming and remaining an influencer is a full-time job as you must be regularly present on many different online channels, providing entertaining content.

You will be a sought-after influencer if, besides a large following, you also create quality posts that elicit visible results and show consistency. To embark on this venture, it is important to have a good smartphone or camera to take quality photos and videos with for your posts. Currently, there’s no average pay available for this career as it’s still relatively new and developing. It’s comparable to a celebrity career, where you earn through endorsements, tv shows etc. and the income highly varies.

However, marketing gurus have estimated that as many as 57% of businesses are planning to increase their budget for influencer based marketing in the year 2020. So, what are you waiting for? Start small and over time you might be the next big thing on social media.

43. Blogger/Vlogger

Bloggers regularly write and post content on trending topics they’re passionate about. As a successful blogger, you must strive to build a robust following and have your blogs read or shared as much as possible. Only then will you earn money via affiliate marketing, product promotions, hyperlinks, guest posting, and so on. There are many affordable and reputable web hosting companies in the UK that can help you to set up your first blog post.

YouTube videos are a popular source of information and entertainment and that’s why vlogging is equally popular. Blogs require a lot of attention from readers whereas Vlogs are easier to take in. You could discuss about anything from lifestyle to yoga to calculus, and if you have a charismatic voice, writing style or presence, your audience will grow. The sole investment is a camera or smartphone that can be bought for as little as £300 plus the initial fee for the domain registration and web hosting.

You might ask yourself how to start a blog and it’s far less complicated than you might think. In this guide we’ve already made many recommendations for most home business ideas to set up a website. Starting a blog is equally important. Begin by choosing a niche on which you will base your blog. Anything from travel, fitness, health, finance, technology, cooking, you name it. Don’t worry if you have no prior experience in blogging, there are reputable trainers in the UK like the ClickDo Blogging experts who can take you through the A to Z of blogging.

Blogging has been around for twenty years and produced several millionaires that might have just spent a week or so creating a top-notch WordPress site. You can choose to set up your blog on many blogging platforms like Wix or Squarespace. If you use WordPress, you can find many useful tutorials, tips and guides on the SeekaHost WordPress website. Several free online tools such as Grammarly and Scribens would check your work for basic proofreading errors to ensure the high standard of your blog. If you need more guidance then the SeekaHost University has the perfect blogging online course.

Setting up your own YouTube Channel is fairly easy, but there are things to consider if you want to become a successful vlogger. Check YouTube channel set up tutorials and get started. You can either try to teach people how to do or make something or post vlogs, pranks, or comedy videos. Video gaming has also become a very lucrative vlogging avenue.

To receive any income from YouTube, you need to have at least 1000 subscribers and a total of 4000 hours of view time in a year before you can get significant pay-outs regularly. You may also get companies to endorse you in exchange for a few mentions or adverts on your YouTube channel. There are billions of people watching all kinds of YouTube videos each day and they can spread extremely quickly via social media channels. You can tap into this viewership by posting content that isn’t limited to a geographical area and by researching your target audience and what they are looking for.

Again, it is hard here to estimate an income amount as it varies hugely and very much depends on how you utilize your blog or vlog. As an Amazon Affiliate you can earn 4-8% commissions for every sale through your website for example and there are many other ways you can monetize a website, which you can learn more about here. Below are some examples of famous bloggers and vloggers so that you can gage what is possible and you will hopefully be inspired. You can also find listings of top bloggers in different countries on the SeekaHost Blog.

44. Food Blogger/Vlogger

Many local joints and food companies will pay you as an influencer to rate their coffee, pizzas, salads, and other meals on their menu. All you have to do is register and be their customer. After all, you can’t rate food you haven’t eaten, right? You can rate their service, the experience, the quality and make suggestions on things that they can change. In exchange, you get free meals or earn a couple of pounds per rating. If you’re really big, restaurants and food producers will pay for mentions on your blog/vlog or social media channels and you can set the price. Read this list of the best food bloggers and see how versatile food blogging can be, ranging from sharing recipes to introducing new food produce.

45. Travel Blogger/Vlogger

It’s nice to know that you can get paid simply be traveling the world and sharing travel advice, inspiration and ideas for money. Travelers and regular vacationists trust opinions from experienced holiday makers as an alternative to using travel agencies. If you travel regularly, speak various languages and are a master of finding great holiday deals and destinations then you can leverage your knowledge by acting as an online travel agent and advisor. You can focus on different angles like traveling alone or as a couple or eco-friendly traveling. Just follow your passion! Check out this list of the best travel bloggers out there to be inspired.

46. Fashion Blogger/Vlogger

If you love experimenting with clothes, accessories and enjoy posing as a model in front of the camera then fashion blogging and vlogging could be for you. You would share the fashion brands you love and how you combine them, accessorize them and match them with your lifestyle. You can focus on eco-friendly fashion, luxury fashion, sports fashion or whatever you love to wear. It’s obvious where you can make money here: being sponsored to wear certain brands and mentioning them in your posts to create more awareness. As an affiliate you’d also earn commissions. If you manage to amass millions of followers you yourself would become a superstar and celebrity that is featured in tv ads and shows, magazines and even fashion shows. See yourself doing that? Then get onto building your fashion blog and/or vlog, your Instagram profile and YouTube channel and rise to fashion stardom, cashing in big time. See how these trendy fashion bloggers do it here and work out your unique profile.

47. Podcaster

Podcasts are some of the best avenues to explore if you are great at sharing stories. Do you find that your voice and tone is popular with people? Are you an excellent interviewer, able to bring stories to life? Or maybe you easily captivate people with your words? Then you should start recording your own podcasts and either focus on relevant current affairs, interviewing politicians, experts in the field or thought provokers or tell funny, tragic and entertaining stories or even perform plays with a group of people.

Once you have built a large following, companies will pay you to mention their brand, products or services in your popular podcasts. You’ll need to invest in high quality equipment like headphones, microphones, computers and cameras. Learn more about well-known Podcast Hosting platforms to start off and get more exposure. And look at this list of the richest podcasters to date, check their podcasts out and develop your own million dollar podcast business plan.