For many home shoppers, especially young buyers on a tight budget, extra income can go a long way in making homeownership more affordable. If you have a particular area of expertise, hosting paid events or workshops from your home can create a steady stream of additional income. Music lessons, fitness instruction, or cooking classes are opportunities to build community and a small business while boosting your bottom line.
What are your strengths?
Before launching a workshop or event business from your home, consider that a successful home-based business starts with knowing your strengths. What hobbies, passions, or professional skills do you enjoy sharing or discussing with others?
Maybe you’re a whiz in the kitchen, or you’re frequently asked for gardening advice. Perhaps you have decades of career insights and skills that can be shared in a workshop. Almost any “how-to” skill that can be demonstrated or taught has the potential to become a paid event or workshop.
Homeowners are discovering that opportunities to create at–home workshops are virtually endless. Some popular and profitable options include:
1. Crafting
Popular with everyone from young children to retirees, DIY crafting can include candle-, soap-, or jewelry-making, seasonal holiday décor, knitting, painting, or ceramics. Classes can be customized for groups and repeated on a seasonal basis.
2. Cooking, baking, and meal prep
Kitchen skills for kids, teens, and adults never go out of style. Workshops might be tailored to specific techniques, like how to make sourdough bread, macarons, or decorate cakes. You might create a series on the basics of French cooking or how to host a dinner party. Similarly, busy households may benefit from sessions on how to meal plan or batch cook.
3. Fitness and wellness
Qualified instructors may offer weight training, dance, pilates, yoga, meditation, or breathwork classes from a spare room, backyard, basement studio, or converted garage. A one-time clinic can cover a special topic, while weekly sessions will help build a client base.
4. Home, garden, and auto
Teach others practical skills, such as how to do basic home repairs, caulk a tub, paint a room, or safely use power tools. Likewise, gardeners can show would-be green thumbs how to plan and plant a native garden, compost, or build a raised bed. Those with car knowledge can host workshops on the fundamentals of car maintenance and basic repairs.
5. Professional or educational skills
Turn years of career knowledge into a workshop on tax prep, estate planning, or a small-business guide to social media management. Guide others through the college application process, or host a creative writing workshop. Organize a lecture series with guest speakers, authors, or experts in a particular field. Teach others how to get the most out of their smartphone or take better pictures.
Set up your business
Before you start advertising your events or workshops, ensure that you’ve followed state and local guidelines for registering and licensing your business and that you’re compliant with ordinances, safety regulations, and health codes.
Work with an insurance professional to secure the right type of liability coverage should an accident occur or someone injure themselves while on your property.
Create the right space
Consider your available space and what activities you can reasonably accommodate. Although you need to host guests safely and comfortably, you don’t need a state-of-the-art kitchen to teach a cooking class, for example.
If you can modify a space to better accommodate your business idea — such as soundproofing the garage you’re planning to use as a mini studio — it could be well worth the investment, especially if the converted space is a desirable feature should you sell your home in the future. The space doesn’t need to be perfect, just safe, clean, and welcoming.
Price your workshops
Several factors will affect your event pricing, including the cost of materials, group size, the length of the workshop, your geographic location, the value of your expertise, and the cost of your time.
Research comparable workshops in your area, and consider your pricing strategy carefully. Pricing too low can undercut the perceived value of your offerings, but be careful of pricing too high, which can be a barrier for some people. People are paying for both your expertise and the experience itself.
Gift certificates, especially around the holidays, are a good option for people who prefer to give experiences rather than material goods as gifts.
Marketing your event
There are many low-cost methods to promote your event and attract attendees. First, blitz the details of your event to local community calendars and event websites, and post in neighborhood apps and social platforms.
Create social media accounts for your business and offer early registration access to your followers. Post regular updates of your latest offerings, encourage followers to tag your workshops, and post reviews.
Build a simple, professional-looking website, and maintain an email list. Send newsletters to keep your followers up to date with your latest offerings and provide promotions, discounts, and coupon codes.
The advantage of hosting at-home workshops
Unlike some other side hustles, hosting paid events and workshops from your home allows you to control your schedule and the environment. The versatility of the setup allows you to host as frequently as you like, while maximizing the value of the space you already own.
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