LAST YEAR, HOME BASED BUSINESSES REPRESENTED 12% OF ALL BUSINESSES IN THE UNITED STATES.
You know that I am a fan of small business, and a successful entrepreneur. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that I am also a fan of home businesses. Although there are only two broad home business categories, those which sell ‘services,’ and those which sell ‘products,’ the viable home business opportunities are unlimited!
First, let’s talk about some of the types of home business opportunities which sell products. You can decide to sell products which you create/make yourself, or you can buy products from someone else, and re-sell them. You can launch a successful home business venture selling products which you make yourself, if you have a unique product or a niche product. If you have a unique product or line of products, you can notify potential customers about your ‘one-of-a kind’ products through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You may also decide to design a website, use local consignment vendors, trade shows, and online sources such as eBay, Craigslist, or Amazon Auction to sell your products.
You may choose instead to launch a successful home business venture, by building an online re-sale home business. You may decide to find your products at yard sales and consignment shops, or decide to purchase them wholesale, or decide to work with a drop shipper (usually a larger company, which will ship their products to your customers, using your business name). Once you determine how your products are supplied for your home business, you must then decide what your best online resale options are for your products. Are you going to sell your products from your website, or on eBay, Amazon Auction, or Craigslist?
In order to have a successful home business which sells products, you must have a well thought out marketing plan. If you do, there is no limit to how many products you can sell a year, and of course that equates to cha-ching at the cash register!
Second, there are home business opportunities which sell services. Some of the most successful ‘service provider’ home business opportunities are computers, virtual assistant, bookkeeping, consulting, coaching, teaching, catering, and event planning; to name a few. You may be interested in these facts about service based businesses. Persons, who are web designers, software support gurus, and transcriptionists, are some of the highest paid hourly home business freelancers in the computer services business. You may also be surprised to learn that the virtual assistant business is a 130 billion dollar industry. Last but not least, event planners typically incur some of the lowest start-up costs when launching a small business.
I could go on and on. The home business industry is booming! The key is to find your personal niche or a passion area in which you have specialized knowledge or skills, and then dream up an idea, outline a one, three, and five year business plan, and if the concept is viable…go for it!
The best advice I can give you is to due diligence before you start any type of home business. Many home business owner wannabes consult with a business coach to tap into their skills, expertise, and advice before taking off on a tangent, to make sure that they don’t make some of the common mistakes first time business owners make when starting out. It is also important to have a great lawyer and a tax advisor to teach you the basics about forming a business entity, and how to handle sales tax, licensing, business taxes, and other typical start-up issues. So what are you waiting for? Get busy pursuing your dream, you’re not getting any younger!
Tagged: Entrepreneurs Home Businesses
