Side Hustle Options: Making Money with Essential Oils

Can you make money selling essential oils from home? Yes. Aromahead graduates do it as side income, and some grow it into a small business. The work takes a few shapes. Some graduates make products to sell. Others teach classes, work one-on-one with clients, or write for an online audience.

How graduates make it work

Jennifer Cakus built Lilac Dreams, a line of lip balms, body butters, massage oils, and inhalers. Tricia Ambroziak formulates for a salon apothecary. Christine Glaser has sold natural products online since 2013. Three graduates, three paths.

Curious about the full range? We keep a longer list in What kinds of Careers in Aromatherapy are out there?.

Sell blends and products you make

Most side hustles start here. Graduates make aromatherapy inhalers, room sprays, lip balms, body butters, and more.

Jennifer runs Lilac Dreams alongside her job. Craft fairs and farmers' markets are where she sets up her table, and she has fun doing it. Word of mouth brings most of her customers. She also runs a shop right on Facebook. The business is her side hustle for now, and it is there as extra support if her job ever needs it.

Christine started her online business in 2013. She made products for her family first, then listed them on Etsy because she already knew the platform. Success did not come overnight. It took years of hard work before the business turned a profit.

Her early shop carried whatever she felt like making, with no market research behind it. When she narrowed to a skincare line for expectant and new mothers, sales changed dramatically. A niche sells. A catalog of whatever you like does not. It is worth finding out which ideas sell before you make stock in bulk.

Kits count as products too. A lip balm kit, bath salt kit, or body scrub kit bundles the oils and carriers so customers can make their own.

For more directions, see 7 Ideas to Start Your Own Aromatherapy Line. Christine's full story lives in How to Start a Natural Skin Care Business.

Retail single oils and hydrosols

Maybe you would rather sell oils than make products. Some graduates import single oils from small-scale farmers and distillers, then retail them alongside hydrosols. Pure oils carry their own label rules. The label names the Latin botanical name, the country of origin, and the plant part.

You do not need your own storefront, either. Spas, massage studios, and health food stores all stock retail products, and a local shop is often happy to carry something made nearby.

Teach classes

If you love explaining how to dilute oils safely, teaching might be your path. The formats are flexible. Hold a safety workshop at a health food store. Offer a meditation and aromatherapy class at a yoga studio. Host make-and-take parties at your kitchen table, where everyone blends something to bring home. An after-work lip balm class works too.

Teaching fits a side hustle, a transition into semi-retirement, or a remote job.

Your own education comes first, though, because a teacher needs to understand safety, chemistry, potential drug interactions, and how many drops to use. Every drop counts. Our Teacher Training Program supports new instructors with done-for-you lesson plans, teaching tips, and advice on pricing and marketing their courses.

Consult and formulate for clients

Some graduates work one-on-one. Janine Voort runs a business called Lavandula, where she consults with clients and blends for each person with the skills her certification training gave her. Classes are next on her list.

Tricia's path began with friends asking for custom blends. Word got around. Then she met a hair salon owner at a networking event, and now she is the aromatherapist and formulator for Be Kekoa Apothecary. She teaches classes and gives private consultations as well.

A certified aromatherapist reads the person before blending anything. Condition, age, level of health, medications. Janine put it well:

There are many factors to take into account to ensure that the oils are right for your unique make-up—your condition, your age, your level of health, your lifestyle, and your medications…

Janine Voort, Aromahead graduate

Training matters in ways customers never see. Janine once found a lip balm for sale that contained bergamot, an oil so phototoxic it can burn skin in sunlight. A trained formulator would have caught that before the balm ever reached a shelf.

Credentials change how customers see you, too.

Having those beautiful words, ‘Certified Aromatherapist,’ behind my name provides a trust factor to my audience. The credentials allow me to speak as an authority and also to charge accordingly.

Christine Glaser, Aromahead graduate

Write and teach online

Maybe you would rather type than blend. A blog, a YouTube channel, or a podcast lets you share recipes and research with people you may never meet. The income arrives later, once people trust you, through affiliate links, sponsored posts, advertising, and products of your own. Building a following takes time and persistence, and it rewards the writers who keep showing up.

Labels and the law

Before your first sale, learn the label rules. The FDA puts aromatherapy products in one of two buckets, cosmetics or drugs. Your label wording picks the bucket. Say that your balm soothes joints rather than treats arthritis, or that it may help someone relax rather than cures insomnia. Words matter. A product marketed to treat or prevent disease is a drug, and that brings a different set of requirements.

Cautionary lines belong on the label too, so keep the bottle out of reach of children, state that it is for external use only, and keep it away from eyes and mucous membranes. A clear label is often the first impression a customer gets of your business, and it builds a reputation for quality and accountability.

Handmade products list every ingredient with Latin names, state the amount of product in the bottle rather than the bottle size, and carry your business name. Add your website, too.

One more thing. These rules hold in the United States. Every country has its own version, so the safest habit is to avoid medical claims everywhere.

We go much deeper in How to Label Aromatherapy Products (safely + legally).

What it takes

Start with education. The Aromatherapy Certification Program runs 235 hours of coursework. Of those hours, 159 go to essential oil study and 76 to anatomy and physiology. Pricing products and legal basics are part of the training, so you graduate knowing how to charge and what to avoid.

A mentor helps more than any blog post can. Misinformation about essential oils spreads easily online, and plenty of DIY recipes are not fit for resale. Christine's advice is to spend a few days learning the vocabulary of the industry, then choose a mentor with experience and credentials.

Last, name your target market. Expectant mothers. Massage therapists. Parents who want to use oils safely with their kids. Whoever they are, know them before you make a thing.

Common questions

Do you need a license to sell essential oils?

The rules depend on what you are selling and where. In the United States, federal regulators sort aromatherapy products into cosmetics and drugs, and the claims on your label decide which one applies. Every country has its own version of these rules. What stays constant is the advice to avoid medical claims.

Is selling essential oils worth it?

Christine spent years building her business before it became profitable, while Jennifer runs hers as side income alongside a job that has seen budget cuts. Neither happened fast.

Where should I start?

Get educated first, so your products are safe and your labels are accurate. Learn the labeling rules next. Then choose a niche you can name and find out what that market wants to buy.