15 Lucrative Businesses You Can Start from Your Backyard

A backyard can mean different things to different people. A backyard is a great place for comfortable hosts to meet friends and family on warm summer evenings.

A backyard is a great place for the avid gardener to grow the prized zucchini and the largest squash in five city blocks. For kids, the backyard is a great place to play soccer or catch factory moths. For dogs, the backyard is a great place to hang out after a big meal.

No matter what your backyard means to you, you probably want it to mean something and you probably want it to stand out. Need a business idea you can start part-time from your backyard? Want to earn extra income from home? If you nod in agreement, read on this (pink) pimple is for you:

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet with just one source of income. Thus, more and more people are investigating the possibility of starting their own extra-income businesses. Most of these part-time endeavors can be started and operated from the comfort and privacy of the home.

However, before you start, the first thing you must do is do some basic market research. Find out for yourself, first-hand, just how many people in your area are interested in your proposed product or service, and would be “willing to stand in line and pay money for it.”

This is known as defining your market and pinpointing your customers. The more precise and detailed your plan; covering all the bases relating to how you will do everything that needs to be done, the easier it’s going to be for you to attain success.

It pays to lay it all out on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can see everything before you start, the better your chances for success.

Have you always wanted to work at home using your backyard as an office but never had a clue of a profitable money-making idea to pursue? Well, I advise you to read on because one of these 15 money-making ideas can be your blueprint for success.

Here are Lucrative Businesses You Can Start from Your Backyard

Laundry/ironing service/clothes cleaning

Everyone has dirty clothes for laundry and ironing, but many of us do not have the time to do it all. This is where you would come in and make money by doing all the laundry and ironing for other people. 

More and more adults are in the workforce, leaving less and less time for the necessities in life to be done right or even done at all.

If your backyard is large enough to store all the clothes, sort the clothes, and start making money, then this business could just be for you.

Firewood Delivery Service

With the price of both fuel and oil rising, many people are turning back to wood stoves and fireplaces to cook their food. Wood is easy to burn and is less expensive compared to oil and gas.

If you have access to any type of timber, woodland, and trees, you can make your backyard a cash cow, providing chopped and split wood to those who are using wood for cooking.

You need a few things like a chainsaw, ax, and ropes, but these are rather minimal compared to what you can be making. You will be responsible for cutting; if you are not strong enough, you can hire somebody to do this for you. You will deliver wood to houses and retailers.

Hand-Made Carton Production Business

It is fantastic to know that the everyday carton you see lying fallow by the roadside can be turned into wealth with your bare hands. A carton can also be called a box.

Cartons create impact and visual interest through print, color, surface design, and shape.

There are two types of carton packages, they are heavy and light packaging cartons your customers are cosmetic shops, pharmaceutical fast food, supermarkets, cottage producers, Distillers, beverages companies, etc.

You do not need to fear competitors who produce with the machine. Just concentrate on servicing SMEs that are gradually emerging worldwide. The capital needed to set up a handmade carton business could be as low as $120.

Horticulture / Gardening Business

Horticulture is the study or practice of growing flowers, fruits, and vegetables. It also involves the use of iron rods in the garden.

The soft aspect has to do with the plants themselves and it varies. It involves the growing of lawns, and plants, planting hedges, orchard plantations, etc. The good thing about this business is that you can start with whatever you have.

You can start with $2,500, $1,250, or $500 or less. You can even start with zero capital. You can start by planting grasses or plants in a very small portion of your home.

Nurture it well. Before you know it, people are admiring it and are asking you if you can do it for them.

You can also start by doing it for free. Tell them to give you three months. By the time they see the outcome, no matter how small they will be forced to give you something and even give you more jobs and contacts.

Rabbit rearing

The domestic rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, are prolific breeders, which produces large quantities of tasty meat. Their rate of production is faster than that of pigs, goats, or sheep.

Rabbits have a very short gestation period between 26 and 34 days and can rebreed immediately after giving birth.

A breeding doe (Female) can produce at least 5 litters per year, with an average of 6 kits per litter; if well-managed under simple conditions. With simple 15% mortality at most, about 25 of the kits will reach 3kg within five to six months.

Party Equipment Rentals

Renting party equipment has become a big business, particularly in many big cities. Public address systems, Canopies, chairs, stage platforms, ice blocks, drums, cooking utensils, table cloth, and other party equipment are in hot demand by party organizers.

Your initial step is to find out the fees charged for items and for how long. Then you should investigate the cost of making or buying some of these items.

All you need to do is to get in touch with the event managers in your area and make sure you inform your neighbor that you offer such services

Fish farming

Over the years, quite a few people have made fortunes from fish farming, as the population is swelling and protein needs are far outstripping the available supply.

Food is always a winner if done well. Fish farming is a sure bet business if you put the right structures in place. More and more people are turning to fish for its low-cholesterol protein.

All you need to do is to get a space in your backyard or construct tanks, buy fingerlings for between $0.04 to $0.08 and feed them for 4 to 6 months, then sell from between $0.5 to $4 depending on weight and size.

You should be able to monitor the tanks for hygiene issues because if it is not managed well, it could wipe out your investment.

Herb farm

Herbs are tremendously popular these days; from the smallest shop to the largest discount warehouse, you will find medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, herbal teas, baths, candles, and aromatherapy essences.

You can start small, grow your herbs in a large backyard, or rent inexpensive land. You will need a solid working knowledge of growing and nurturing herbs.

Your customers can be wholesale distributors buying for health product manufacturers, grocery chains, and restaurants, or you can sell directly to these businesses yourself.

Chalk production

The chalk manufacturing business is very lucrative in many countries in Africa, Asia, and South America today because the market is large and the supplies are few.

Chalk is used by government and private schools, Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Colleges of Agriculture, Schools of Nursing, etc.

Very few existing chalk producers today hardly produce standard chalk because they lack the expertise. You can do this business right from your backyard. It can be a one-man business, a family business, or a large enterprise.

Set up a small poultry

Poultry is a business you can start from your backyard with 50 to 500 birds, with between $245 to $745 depending on the cash at hand. These amounts include the cost of birds, the pen, feed, and medication.

Get somebody who is experienced to help you set up the pen. You can source wood directly from the sawmill to lower the cost.

Waste Management in poultry is very vital; if not properly handled, it will affect the growth, production, and bird performance.

Whatever aspect of poultry you intend to go into is profitable. A single bird can give you an average of 730 eggs within 2 years before you sell it off for say $1.3 or $1.5.

Grasscutter farming

Grass-cutter is the second-largest rodent and it is endemic in Africa. It breeds successfully in captivity and is capable of reproducing twice a year with litter sizes varying from two to six.

They are primarily vegetarians and can be raised to maturity entirely on fresh grasses. They prefer plants with high moisture content and soluble carbohydrate.

Field studies reveal that they do not burrow so they may be caged or reared in a fenced pen on the ground. Grass-cutters are worth considering for husbandry in humid forests where poor grazing and harsh environment limit conventional livestock performance.

Liquid air freshener production

A liquid air freshener is a product that plays a strategic role in homes, offices, etc. Its demand cuts across sex, age, groups, and social strata.

This product can be prepared from your backyard as all the chemicals involved are user-friendly. Machines are also not required when producing on a small or medium scale. All the chemicals required are locally available all year round.

It is also heart-warming to know that production technology is a very simple one. This product that has 80% water content has a high-profit yield.

There are high-quality and well-designed plastic containers that will give the product an irresistible finishing touch and they are all locally available.

Snail farming

Snail meat has been severally affirmed as a very safe and nutritious delicacy. The best period to commence snail farming is the rainy sea

son, you can start with about 50 – 60 snails to have a good knowledge of how snail breeding works. Make sure you go for fully matured and big snails; the African giant snails are recommended.

You can get these snails from the market throughout the country, or from snail farmers. 

Snails are sold in bunches of 20 pieces each and the price depends on the size- the bigger ones are sold for between $0.003, and $2 – $7.5 per bunch. It is better to buy the big ones because they can hatch after about 35 days on location. About $25 should get a new entrant started in the business.

Ice block production

The ice block sales business involves the use of a deep freezer to make an ice block in plastic containers or polythene bags.

The business involves the production of solid ice blocks by putting clean water in any small container to make different sizes of ice blocks available to consumers of different categories.

This business thrives well in areas where there are incessant power outages, and also in over-populated places like motor parks, marketplaces, schools, and commercial and business areas.

Any place where there are human beings and activities that demand cooling off either by a bottle of cold soft drink or a sachet of pure water.

 A lot of manufacturers of these pure water machines are partnering with some financial institutions and are presently providing financial assistance to interested investors.

Plantain chips

Succeeding removing the skin, unripe fruit can be sliced (1 or 2 mm thick) and fried in oil to produce chips. If the chips are made from sweeter fruits, they are called ‘Banana chips.’

They can also be sliced vertically to create a variation known as Plantain strips. Just make sure you put your label. The more you produce, the more money you make.