Home-Based Business Ideas for Moms

Narendra Kumar

13 Nov, 2019

Home-Based Business Ideas for Moms

Motherhood is a precious time in the life of a woman – the majority of women look forward to donning the role of a mother at least once in their lifetime. Motherhood comes with responsibilities – the new-born baby being the center of existence for the mother. Generally, working mothers go on extended leaves or leave their work for some time to take care of their little ones. Financial independence, however, is something that all educated women want in this era. Hence, working from home-based business or doing part-time/ full-time business based at home has now slowly caught up with the Indian women.

There are different ways moms can develop a good source of earning from a home-based business. Some of the low investment options are:-

1. Candle making – candles have always been in demand. From being a necessity to transforming into luxury, they add a sense of sophistication to the home. One just needs to attend some training on making candles and start work.
2. Cake Making – cakes will never lose their charm. If you are creative enough this home-based business can be started from home.
3. Cooking classes – for women who are exceptionally good at cooking can start these classes from home. They can organize classes in separate batches for women, kids, men etc.
4. Tailoring – mostly women love to dress up and design clothes for themselves or others. With a basic knowledge of tailoring, you can start this business. You need to buy a professional sewing machine and hire a minimum one experienced tailor to work with you.
5. Content writing – one of the best things to do if you have the knack for writing. It requires minimal investment.
6. Daycare – you can start in small ways from home if taking care of kids fascinates you. You need to spend money on basic infrastructure and also hire maids for help and cooking. However, once the business grows you would have to lease a place to accommodate the kids and that would come with more investment and permissions from local authorities.
7. Tuition classes – if teaching is something you like, you can start with fewer students in the locality that you stay and slowly expand.
8. Beauty parlor – for this business you need to train as a beautician. Not only theoretical you also need to be trained practically before starting out your own work.
9. Data entry work – many companies hire freelancers to update their backend data. If you are good at typing you could try your hand at this.

Marketing the business through social media^[1], word of mouth and traditional methods of marketing like newspaper inserts and kiosks should suffice to start picking up the business initially.

What are the Necessary Legal Compliance to Start these Home-Based Businesses?

1. Company registration for your business with the government irrespective of whether you are starting out on a small scale or big is the pre-requisite. Registering gives your business legal identity and hence is very important. For accepting payments and giving invoices you need to have the letter of incorporation from the ROC as the first step.
2. With the incorporation done, get the MSME Udyog Aadhaar number. Like the personal Aadhaar card, this has become imperative too for small and medium scale enterprises. Not only do you get benefits from the government it also is another way of communicating that you are conducting a bona fide business.
3. GST registration is required if your business has the potential of earning more than Rs. 20 lakh annual turnover and 10 lakh in special category states or if you are selling your product and services in other states or if you plan to sell online. Even if not, GSTIN can be applied on a voluntary basis as it provides various benefits like claiming the input tax credit, etc.
4. Operating a few of the businesses above might require the Trade License from the municipal corporation especially if starting from an independent premise/leased shop.
5. For the cooking and cake making business, necessary permission like FSSAI license from FSSAI (Food Safety Standards Authority of India).
6. For daycare, parlor and tailor shop where staff would be required to be employed, you would require to register under the Shop and Establishment Act. Also, employee benefits like ESI and EFP registration are required against a threshold limit of employees.