If you can still hear the rattling of the cans behind the car, it means you’ve made the greatest step in your life. You got married. Although the wedding itself and everything that led to it was challenging, the real challenge is just starting now.
The wedding is a communion and an eternal tie, but also a huge responsibility. Couples can make it way easier if they work together as one, as any fitting couple should do. Both partners need to get jobs so they can support the marriage. But then again, why not work together, as owners of a small business?
All you need is determination and a few small business ideas for couples and you won’t need to go anywhere at 7 in the morning, because you’d be working from the comfort of your home. Let’s face it: it’s hard to leave your other half behind each day for at least 8 hours.
Working from home would solve that problem. Although it will be difficult at first, it will certainly pay off in the long run. Implement the following tips for starting a small business as a couple and you’ll never need to leave each other’s side again.
What business to start as a couple?
That depends on what you were trained to do and what your hobbies are. If both of you are interested in the same things, you’re already halfway there. As you’ll see in this article, you’ve got plenty of options, so you just have to choose the one that fits you best.
Small business ideas for couples in 2017
- Content writing company
If you’ve got a penchant for writing, establishing a content writing company can get you incredible profits. It’s a business that never goes out of fashion; quite from the contrary.
Given that everything is gradually moving in the digital environment, this field is gaining more notoriety and writers are sought like water in the desert. Definitely something you should consider if you want a steady source of income that doesn’t come by doing physical work.
- Open a grocery store
You can open it in an unused space in your house. It’s really not that hard as it seems. You don’t even need to have any experience. If it makes it any easier, you can always hire a vendor. A grocery store is supper effective, ROI-wise, if there are no other stores in the area. And even so, if you start selling products that cannot be found at your competitors, you’ll still become the leader in the business.
There are quite large communities in which there’s a scarcity of grocery stores. One would need to walk a few miles to the closest one. If you happen to live in such a community, open your store in a strategic point, somewhere in the middle of it, so everybody starts going there.
- Furniture restoration business
Restoring second-hand furniture is entertaining and profitable. There are many couples that do this and they’re making a living out of it. That means you can do it too. You can find furniture for some prices that would make your jaw drop.
It’s the end result, however, that is absolutely mind-blowing. You can transform the ugliest chair or table in a state-of-the-art piece that could sell for thrice the price you’ve bought it for. You need some minimal carpentry skills and money for lacquer and paints.
Start hunting for used, old furniture at garage sells and flea markets, and you’ll be amazed of what some people throw out and the price they ask for those things.
- Graphic design company
Just like content writers, graphic designers are widely sought by myriad companies. Do you know how to use Photoshop or even better, both of you work as a graphic designers? Perhaps you should consider opening your own business.
Graphic design is one of the most profitable jobs at the moment and some of the people who work in this field earn more than IT engineers. Moreover, if you start a graphic design company as a couple, you’ll make sure that you earn precisely what you deserve. There will be no boss to underpay you.
- Bakery or pastry shop (or both)
Your wife is probably a sweet tooth and she spends her leisure by baking the most delicious pies and cakes ever. Why not harness that culinary talent and open a pastry shop? Here’s an idea: sell pastry products for diabetics, too.
You’ll get tons of customers, because there are not many bakeries or pastry shops that care to make products for people who cannot eat sugar. They’re not as tasty, that might be true, but as long as it brings you a good monthly salary it’s certainly an idea you should try out. Consult with your wife and see if she agrees.
- Open a farm
A farm is quite difficult to maintain, but hey, once you’re into agriculture, it’s the closest thing to being your dream job. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of funds, especially if you don’t have any land to farm.
If you do decide that this is what you want to do, make a plan and try to assess – roughly, at least – what the entire cost would be. If it’s feasible and you’re sure you can get your money back (plus decent profit each month), then go for it wholeheartedly.
- Open a cleaning company
If you’re one of those couples with OCD and you can’t sleep knowing that there’s a stain on the carpet in the kitchen, a cleaning service is the best option in this list of business ideas for couples.
You can earn fortunes by offering cleaning services. We all know that there are hundreds of families that cannot possibly find the time to keep their houses clean at all times. And that’s where the cleaning couple comes in handy. You can make fortunes and that’s not even an exaggeration.
- Translation services
Do both of you know more than your native language? You don’t even need to start a business per se, you could perform as freelance translators and you’d still make a lot of money. Now, it depends on what languages you know.
Some are paid better than the others. Translating to and from exotic languages, for instance, is a potential goldmine. Apps like Duolingo, for instance, have made it so much easier for people to learn a second language. If you only know your native language but you’re eager to learn another one, installing such an app is highly recommended.
- Start a recycling company
Recycling is a lucrative business and the world truly needs more companies in this field. Not only you’ll be making your contribution to saving the world, but you’ll also make tens of thousands of dollars per year.
All you need to do is gather trash like bottles and cans (and pretty much anything else that can be recycled) and sell them.
- Explore the artistic market
Do you have a passion for drawing, painting, photography and music? You could sell your work for some surreal sums. For instance, photographs can be sold on stock websites hundreds of times. If you play an instrument, you could start selling your music.
Same goes for paintings. Art isn’t as profitable as other things, but at least you’d be doing something you like. If both you and your spouse have a distinct artistic talent, don’t waste it. Earn your bread with it.
- Start an editing and proofreading business
If you think that you won’t be making enough money to live on, think again: imagine if you had a book per week to edit or proofread. 2 per week, since there’s two of you. That translates as some serious income.
There are plenty of writers who don’t have time to proofread or edit their work so they outsource the task. You only need to advertise your business. You can do it on freelance websites. As you might expect, you can do editing and proofreading with a computer and a connection to internet, you won’t need to move around all over again.
- Offer private lessons
This may very well be the most academic job in this enumeration of home based business ideas for couples. Offering private lessons is an option when both partners have a thorough understanding of a particular matter.
There are uncountable parents that subject their children to private lessons so that they can eventually master what they’re not particularly good at prior to taking those lessons. You’ll surely find such cases in your proximity so become professors!
- Establish a daycare center
This works perfectly when the couple is always at home, i.e. unemployed or already working from home. If you’re parents, then you definitely know how hard it is to have things done when you have to take constant care of your children.
Well, other parents are in the very same situation. Do you love children and spending time with them? Putting the foundation of a daycare center is the answer to the question that’s been chewing your mind: “How to start a business as a couple?”
- Open a catering business
Catering is and will always be a worthwhile business; everybody loves food, but unfortunately catering services are so expensive that not many people afford them. Study your competition and perform catering for a lower price than they do.
You can rest assured that people will go to you instead of others, especially if your wife is a fine cook. In the meanwhile, you could take care part of the customer service part. Even if you cater within your community only, you’ll still be making a decent living, at least in the beginning. After a couple of years, you’ll be the catering magnates of your city/village.
- Start a counselling company for young couples
You know better that anybody that marriage is not always candy floss and flowery meadows. Other couples, however, are hit with anxiety because they feel that they don’t have what it takes to keep that marriage alive.
Both you and your husband can offer them valuable advice, because you’re more experienced. There’s no better source of encouragement than a pair of people who has been through the same problems.
This will not only bring you a monthly income, but will make the bond between the two of you even stronger.
- Start a web developing company
If you have a history in IT and you’ve worked in the field before (or you do it as we speak), you should consider starting your own company. Yes, at home. One of you could take care of the developing process while the other one takes care of everything pertaining to the graphic design part.
Needless to say, web design and web developing are paid really well, so don’t waste your talent in a company that pays you a fraction of what you’d get when working with your husband/wife from home.
- Rent out unused space with AirBnb
Do you live in a touristic area? If yes, you could potentially sit on a goldmine. Work with AirBnB and offer accommodation to tourists for a slightly lower price than hotels. Thousands of people worldwide do this for an additional income.
Instead of cramming unused space with stuff you don’t use anymore, make a living off of it. Word will go around that you’re a good host, and clients will keep pouring on.
- Create and sell blogs
Blogs can potentially bring you fortunes. All you have to do is to grow them up and have a certain number of followers and subscribers on each. After that, they can be sold for really appealing sums of money.
It takes time to do it, but it doesn’t require as much involvement from your part, so you and your husband can do something else when you’re not writing. 10 hours a week of working on the blog would suffice. The same thing goes for Facebook pages: if they have compelling content and thousands of likes, you could get purchasing offers.
Learn more about this field. This “training” shouldn’t take more than a week, since there is a huge amount of information on how to make money with blogs and Facebook pages.
- Open a carwash
Everybody needs to wash their cars; if there’s no other carwash open in your proximity, then doing it could prove to be more profitable than you’d think. Buy a hose, soaps and sponges, advertise your services and in maximum 2 days, you’ll start having customers.
There’s no need for a special space. You can do it in front or in the back of your house or in front of your garage. And this works both in summer and winter, so you’ll have a constant income.
- Work as couriers
The costs of starting up a business as couriers is: 0. You must have cars and that’s it. Couriers travel a lot, so you’ll definitely enjoy yourself, too, while earning enough money to put food on the table without twisting your spine with physical work.
Of course, you’ll need to advertise your services online, to make sure everybody in your community knows they can count on you whenever they need to send or receive something.
It’s a really nice way of combining joy with work, especially when you’ll have to travel a lot. And here’s another idea: pile your money together and buy a minivan, so you can do this all together.
How much time does it take to start a business?
That depends on what kind of business you want to start, obviously. Some can be spearheaded in as much as a week, some other ones take a few months of planning. These 20 ideas we’ve presented you can be implemented in a short period of time, with minimal resources (besides the farming business).
It all boils down to how urgently you want to create it.
Are there any other alternatives?
Of course, business always evolves, so you can make a business out of whatever you want as long as it provides you enough money to live on. Nowadays, everything can be sold via the Internet, be it gift baskets, pottery, handmade jewelry and whatnot.
If none of the above are appealing to you, you have a lot of other options. You just have to search for or come up with them.
Conclusion
When a couple has decided to start a business, you can rest assured that it’s tight and unbreakable. It’s certainly not an easy task, but the perks surely make up for that. These 20 ideas should be more than enough to get the wheels spinning in your mind.
With all these being said, review each idea once again and see which suits you, as a couple, better. Remember that the sky is the limit. We hope you’re successful in all your endeavors. Now get down to business, stop wasting precious time.