In responding to the numerous demands we have gotten over times concerning business ideas, I decided to put these together for you all.
Today, tens of thousands of
people are considering starting a home based business, and for good reasons. On average, people can expect to
have two and three careers during their work life. Those leaving one
career often think about their second or third career move being to their own
home.
People who have been part of the traditional eight-to-five work force and
are on the verge of retiring from that life are thinking of what to do next.
The good news: Starting a home based business is within the reach of almost
anyone who wants to take a risk and work hard.
$1,500 or less to start up
1. ACCOUNTANT
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Create a flier outlining your
services. Before you do that, you need to know what those services will be. Do
you want to simply do bookkeeping for a small business? A more involved level
of accounting would be do actually work up balance sheets, income statements,
and other financial reports on a monthly, quarterly, and/or annual basis,
depending on the needs of the business. Other specializations can include tax
accounting, a huge area of potential work. Many business owners don't mind
keeping their own day-to-day bookkeeping records but would rather get
professional help with their taxes.
2. BICYCLE REPAIR
In many parts of the country,
this business tends to be seasonal, but you can find ways around that. Rent a
storage unit and offer to store people's bicycles over the winter after you do
a tune-up and any needed repairs on them. Like in the USA, If you want to cater to the Lance
Armstrong wannabes, you can have business all year round. These road race
riders are training through snow, sleet and dark of night. Some of them work on
their own bicycles, but many of them don't, so you can get their business all
year. And if you keep Saturday shop hours, you can be sure you will have a
group of enthusiasts coming by to talk all things cycling. In Nigeria economy now, this helps majority of people who know how to thread their needles.
3. BOAT CLEANING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Boats that are hauled out of the
water for the winter or even just for mid-season repairs will need the hull
cleaned. And depending on the type of boat, it is a good time to give a major
cleaning everything else too--the decks, the sleeping quarters, the head, and
the holds. Start by approaching homes that have a boat sitting in the yard. Or
you could market your services to the marina to contract you to do the boat
cleaning it offers to customers.
4. BUSINESS PLAN SERVICE
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
Offer a soup-to-nuts business
plan, including market research, the business plan narrative and the financial
statements. Plan your fee around the main one that the client will want and
offer the others as add-on services. You can give clients an electronic file
and allow them to take it from there, or you can keep the business plan on file
and offer the service of tweaking it whenever necessary. Have business plan
samples to show clients--and make sure to include your own!
5. CHIMNEY SWEEP
Learning to be a chimney sweep
may mean nothing more than apprenticing with someone already in the business.
By becoming a chimney expert, you can combine a chimney sweep business with a
chimney inspection service--covering more than just whether or not the chimney
needs cleaning but whether the chimney is in good working order or in need of
repair.
6. CLEANING SERVICE
There are many directions you can
take this business. If you want to work during hours when no one else does, you
can focus on office clients. You can focus on retail businesses and keep your
customers clumped into one or two blocks. Restaurants are in great need of
daily thorough cleaning and can be a great source of steady clients. Perhaps
you would be more interested in house cleaning. Many times with cleaning
services you don't have to spend lots of money on advertising or marketing
because your customers will come by word of mouth.
7. COMPUTER REPAIR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Study the main types of software
that system users will want--word processing, photo manipulation software, mail
merge, spreadsheet, design and especially security software. Investigate all
the components--monitor types in all their varieties; keyboards, from wired to
ergonomic to wireless; mouse types; as well as peripheral components like
printers and scanners. Become completely familiar with all the ISPs (internet
service providers) available in the market area you plan to cover. Establish
yourself as the guru who can meet the needs of the personal computer user, the
small business or a larger corporation.
8. CONSULTANT
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
To be a consultant, you need to
have an expertise in something so you can market yourself as an advisor to
others looking to work in that area. Perhaps you managed several large
warehouses in your career with a drugstore company, you did all the marketing
for many years for a large shoe manufacturer or you set up a chain of beauty
supply shops or take-out restaurants. You can use this experience to help
others do similar things without making the same mistakes that you made along
the way.
9. DOG BREEDER
Experience, training, or
licensing may be needed
Pets are phenomenally popular in
the U.S. While many people are willing to adopt from animal shelters, others
are looking for a specific breed. Purebred dogs are more popular than ever and
can command large sums of money. But becoming a dog breeder is serious business
catering to savvy consumers with high expectations of their pet purchases. You
will need to establish yourself as a conscientious breeder who cares about the
health and welfare of the animals you bring into the world.
10. EBAY ASSISTANT
Do you have items lurking around
your household that you could sell on eBay? Figure out your asking price and
decide whether to auction it or put it in your eBay store. Then decide if you
want a minimum bid and how long you want the auction to last. You will want to
establish a PayPal account to use for transactions. The eBay website provides
all the information you need to know to get up and running with an eBay
business.
From Editorial Services to
Household Organizer
11. EDITORIAL SERVICES
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
Here are some of the editorial
services you can provide from the quiet of your own home:
·
Copyediting. This is where fact checking takes place, and
where grammatical, stylistic and typographical errors are caught.
·
Proofreading. This is the last stop for a
"finished" piece. The proofreader makes sure the copyediting changes
have been properly made and no new errors are created in the process.
·
Indexing. There are indexing courses available and you
can get indexing software.
·
Developmental editing. A developmental editor works with a
manuscript on big-picture things like organization and content issues.
·
Book doctoring. This is an editorial service provided for
manuscripts written by experts. They create a manuscript as best they can and
then a book doctor puts it into publishable shape.
·
Ghost Writing. As a ghost writer, you actually do the
research and write the book and someone else's name is attached as the author.
·
Copywriting. Also known as business writing, this is
writing that promotes a product or a service.
·
Book writing. Do you have an expertise in something
professional, such as accounting or interior decorating? Or personally, like
knitting? Why not write a book about it?
·
Magazine article writing. Magazines and newspapers are a great way to
get your writing published before tackling the daunting task of writing a whole
book.
·
Web page content provider. Providing content for a web site is a good
way to make some money writing.
·
12. ELECTRONICS REPAIR
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
·
This business is similar to the computer repair business, but you
will take on all sorts of electronic equipment besides just computers. With
smaller electronics, you will need to be prepared to have customers bring their
repair projects to you, as you would have difficulty recovering the cost of
driving around picking up broken equipment and returning it. You may also want
to encourage people to give you their old electronics so you can use them for
parts.
·
13. EVENT PLANNING
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
·
One of the first things you need to do is visit every potential
event location with which you plan to work. Work with the marketing manager to
tour each site and learn what is available at each location. Start a database
that will allow you to sort venues by varying features--the number of people
each site holds, if there is AV equipment available on site, will you need to
arrange for rental chairs, etc. Then when you are beginning to plan an event
with a client, you can find out what the key parameters are for the event and
easily pull up the three or four sites that meet the basic criteria; and
engagement parties, etc.
·
14. EXPERT WITNESS SERVICE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
One way to make money in this field is by being an expert witness
yourself. If you have an expertise that could be useful in legal cases, you can
market yourself to attorneys to act as an expert witness. Another way to be
active in the expert witness field is to play a sort of matchmaker, matching
attorneys up with expert witnesses for their cases--either for the defense or
for the prosecution. Expert witnesses for big money cases can be expected to
fly anywhere to testify. There's no reason your database of witnesses can't be
from all parts of the country.
·
15. FINANCIAL PLANNER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
To start, you should go through the certification process so that
you can label yourself a CFP (Certified Financial Planner). Your certificate
shows that you have expertise and credibility, and this differentiation will help
people choose you as their financial planner.
·
16. FLEA MARKET
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
·
People love to spend weekends rummaging through tables full of
other people's unwanted items, looking for treasures. Make sure to change your
layout and put new stuff out for sale often. You want people to come back time
and again to see what's new. You don't even have to have that much new stuff to
make things look new. Just moving an item from a table to the top of a
bookshelf might get it noticed, even though the item has been in your inventory
since you first started having sales.
·
17. GOLF COACH
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
Let the local public courses know about your coaching business.
Cultivate relationships with the staff and encourage them to recommend you as a
coach. Another place to look for customers is the corporate world. Golfing is a
game that business people use to develop relationships outside the office. You
do need to be a better than average golfer to develop a reputation as a golf
coach. You also need to be a good teacher, know how to be motivational and be
willing to work with many different types of people.
·
18. HOME ENERGY AUDITOR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
All homeowners are always on the lookout for ways to save on their
utility bills. You can come to their aid by providing them with an audit of
their house and giving them a breakdown of how they could accomplish real
savings in heating, cooling and electrical use. You can go one step further and
do the implementation and installation of some of your suggestions in their
home yourself. Do a complete appliance audit, with efficiency ratings and
calculations based on the age of the appliance. And don't forget the water
heater!
·
19. HOME INSPECTION
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
In order to be successful, you will want to establish contacts
with real estate agents who can recommend your services to customers. The home
inspection field is one where you will need to do constant updating of your education
and knowledge. New products are constantly coming out on the market--if you
only know about decks made of wood, you will not know how to inspect and assess
the new materials on the market, such as composites that are made to look like
real wood. Also keep apprised of all safety updates of materials and issues
with things like off-gassing, carbon monoxide production, and other chemical
precautions.
·
20. HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZER
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
·
You can choose either to do the organizing work or to come in to a
home and consult on the things the homeowner could do to better organize. Have
a portfolio of different organizational scenarios in different rooms in the
home and talk with the homeowner about the style he or she likes. Create
checklists and questionnaires to understand how the family uses the home. Are
the kids wildly busy with after-school activities? Or are they usually home
after school and want access to their toys? Do they share rooms? All of these
things will help you tailor an organizing plan and become the family hero.
·
From Import/Export to Solar Energy
·
21. IMPORT/EXPORT SPECIALIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
If you don't already have work experience with importing and/or
exporting, you will have a longer learning curve. You can start by learning the
basics and hosting educational sessions to teach others what they need to know
to get started in import/export. That alone would probably gain you your first
couple of clients. If you keep going with educational seminars and expand your
reach to outside your immediate region, you could probably develop a sufficient
and ongoing customer base very quickly, but be careful not to outpace your
learning curve!
·
22. INTERIOR DECORATOR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
Market your talents to building contractors. People purchasing new
homes can often be overwhelmed with the choices and possibilities in home
decorating. Design some questionnaires for each major element and each major
room in the house. Find out how the homeowner will use the home--are there
children? Pets? Does the woman of the house wear high heels? Do the home's
residents neglect to remove shoes? How will each room be used? Where might task
lighting and ambient lighting be most appropriate?
·
23. JEWELRY MAKING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
There are many different ways of getting into the jewelry business
and many different types of materials with which you can work. Working in metal
will probably require the most in the way of specific tools. You need to be
able to heat the metal to manipulate it, and you need metalworking tools to cut
and engrave it. But there are many other materials that you can work with to
make jewelry--glass, plastic, beads, feathers, even wood, to name just a few.
·
24. MARKETING COPY WRITER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
If you can write copy that gets people excited about purchasing
what your client has to sell, you can make good money in this business. Unless
you are highly experienced from working in the copywriting field, take a
course. There are online courses or classes at community colleges and
universities that can give you a leg up in getting savvy at writing copy for
brochures, catalogs, advertising and, of course, marketing copy for the web.
·
25. NOTARY PUBLIC/JUSTICE OF
THE PEACE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
In most states in the U.S., a notary public is a state officer who
is authorized to witness and attest to the legalities of certain documents by
signature and stamping a seal. And today in Nigeria, same type of business seemingly coming up with great yield-return that any man can thrust himself in and be successful. Most states require that you pass an exam and a
background check. It costs very little to become a notary and your income from
notary work is negligible. A justice of the peace typically performs wedding
ceremonies. States have varying rules and procedures for becoming a JP and
performing services. Becoming a JP and/or notary public does not cost much
money. And it is not a big moneymaking venture! Many states set the fees you
can charge for JP services. JPs can add additional fees, and often do,
including travel and hourly rates for additional meetings such as rehearsals,
other prep time and any special requests.
·
26. PERSONAL CONCIERGE
·
This business is for someone who is supremely efficient and has
the ability to make things happen. People who hire you will expect things when
they want them and you need to be able to come through with not only what they
want, but with a personal touch and a smile on your face. The most likely
clients for a personal concierge service are top executives who find themselves
at the office by 7 a.m. and are there most nights until 9 p.m., leaving them
very little time to do all those things that often need to be done during those
very hours.
·
27. PERSONAL TRAINER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
Advertise your services in places where everyone goes, like
restaurants and grocery stores. Having a website is a good idea--people want
some privacy in their decision-making when it comes to getting fit. They can go
to your website and determine if your approach to personal training is an
approach that would work for them. It is important to emphasize the safety
aspect of using a personal trainer. You can help clients get fit and avoid
injury.
·
28. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
·
Your job, in the case of rental units, will be to make sure the
property is running smoothly. For seasonal properties, you will most likely
spend your management time making sure the property is ready for seasonal
visits and well-maintained when no one is around. If the owners go away for six
weeks in the winter, the property manager makes regular checks on the property.
You will be the contact number if the security system operator needs to contact
someone about a breach in security.
·
29. SMALL ENGINE REPAIR
·
Experience, training or
licensing may be needed
·
Most community colleges offer some level of engine-repair courses.
Another way to learn would be to take a part-time position at a repair shop or
a rental facility where you could learn on the job, although you will want to
be open about your plans. You should be prepared to work on push-behind lawn
mowers, riding lawn mowers, generators, garden tools such as rototillers and
edgers, chainsaws, wood chippers and snowblowers. You need to decide whether
you'll want to take on bigger jobs, such as tractors, snowmobiles and ATVs;
space may be your decision-maker.
·
30. SOLAR ENERGY CONSULTANT
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Has expansion possibilities
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Has expansion possibilities
·
As a solar consultant, you can basically conduct a home inspection
and give clients a report on their solar options for their particular home and
site. This can range from full-fledged general solar installations that
generate electricity to simple solar walkway lighting. You might want to start
by working in a solar products company to become knowledgeable in the solar
energy field. However, to be a consultant, it is often best not to be
affiliated with any one company or product and be able to recommend products
and options across the field of solar energy.
·
From Tax Preparer to Graphic Design
·
31. TAX PREPARER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
Most tax preparation franchises offer courses, seminars, and
training to get you ready to work for them. You will learn a lot about tax
preparation while working for them before going out on your own. There is a lot
of educational support out there to learn tax preparation and all its
complexities. And there are lots of individuals and businesses willing to spend
a few hundred dollars a year to have someone else prepare their taxes and keep
watch for tax breaks or tax burdens on their behalf.
·
32. TAXIDERMIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
Today's world of taxidermy isn't exclusive to preserving real
specimens. Taxidermy also refers to recreating a specimen using completely
artificial materials. Taxidermy schools where you can learn the trade are
located almost throughout the country, typically as courses over several weeks
specializing in certain levels of expertise, from beginner to master's level.
Like any enterprise, there are taxidermy conventions that you can attend and
learn about the latest techniques and materials.
·
33. UPHOLSTERING
·
If you have a knack for sewing, upholstery repair might be a
perfect business for you. One of the best ways to learn how to upholster is to
get some discarded upholstered furniture and start tearing it apart. Many books
and some videos are available to help you learn this trade. Often furniture
ready for upholstering will also need repairs. Have a list available of
furniture repair people you can recommend to your customers. Or you can take
the piece in, have repair people you work with do this work for you, and add it
to the overall cost. You can also learn to do this work, especially minor
repairs, yourself.
·
34. USED BOOK SALES
·
Almost everyone has a few boxes of books stashed away in the house
somewhere. Why not make a business out of them? In order to gain
customers--especially repeat customers--you will need to have some regular shop
hours. Make your shop known for something-a specific category (or two) of
books, having some first editions for sale, all paperbacks a dollar and all
hardcovers two bucks, and/or a swap program. Maps, illustrations, postcards,
greeting cards and magazines are good sidelines to include in your shop.
·
35. WEDDING PLANNER
·
You will need to be up-to-date on wedding trends and fads, dress
styles, color trends--almost everything under the sun! Offer your customers an
ala carte menu of services, from helping pick flowers, the wedding gown and
bridesmaid dresses to picking the venue and hiring the caterer. Before you open
your business, shop at all the wedding shops, and even pretend you are a
bride-to-be to see what kinds of services the wedding gown shop provides and
how they treat potential customers. You need to know every detail of the
business to give the accurate impression that you are the go-to person for
anyone planning a wedding.
·
$1,500 to 3,000 to start up
·
36. APPLIANCE REPAIR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
Every household has a number of appliances, large and small. You
can work on your own or on contract with appliance stores to cover their
warranty service calls--or, best of all, you can do some of each. Plan to start
slow and build your customer base on recommendations and referrals based on
work well done. Consider developing relationships with contractors to be the
go-to person to install appliances in newly constructed houses.
·
37. COMPUTER TRAINING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Has expansion possibilities
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Has expansion possibilities
·
If you are proficient in both Macintosh and PC, you should offer
training in both types of computers. You could probably make a living helping
seniors learn how to use the internet and e-mail to keep in touch with their
loved ones, who are now commonly spread around the country. Err on the side of
caution in this business. People do not want to know all the details about what
makes a computer work. If you overload them with information from the beginning
by explaining bits, bytes, and megapixels, they will stick to their paper and
pencil forever.
·
38. DESKTOP PUBLISHER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
You can use desktop publishing software to create newsletters,
magazines, books or even marketing materials. You can create the content for
your desktop publications, or you can pay a writer to create the content for
you. Alternatively, you can advertise your desktop publishing services to
design and create newsletters and books for others with their content.
·
39. FENCE INSTALLATIONS
·
Fences are everywhere. And they don't last forever, so they need
to be repaired and replaced with a certain amount of frequency. The most common
fence material is wood. However, vinyl has become a popular fence choice due to
its longevity and relative freedom from maintenance. Wrought iron is another
common fencing, especially in urban environments. You can have fun shopping for
vintage wrought iron fencing at salvage yards.
·
40. FREELANCE GRAPHIC
DESIGNER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
·
Despite the proliferation of the internet, print media is here to
stay for the foreseeable future! Fliers, newsletters, magazines, information
sheets, letters and advertisements are just a few of the types of print media
that business hire freelancers to create for them. Websites and online advertising
need graphic design services as well. Even if your expertise is only in design,
offer the works for potential clients, including the editorial creation and the
printing and even mailing of the final piece. You can line up regular
freelancers for those parts of the job you can't do.
From Gift Baskets to Rug Cleaning
41. GIFT BASKET SERVICE
Has expansion possibilities
Has expansion possibilities
Finding a niche is the best way
to start out in the gift basket business. Are you a dog lover, horse lover, or
exercise guru who could put together baskets that hold the things that people
with this interest would like? Do you already create a product that a gift
basket could be built around? Have you made your own soaps for the past 10
years? A gift basket that included one or two of your soaps, hand lotion, a
scrub brush and manicure kit could be a lovely basket to receive.
42. GRAFFITI REMOVAL
Create an arsenal of cleaning
products that can clean almost every kind of product (paint, chalk, markers)
from every kind of surface (cement, wood, pavement). The best way to conduct a
graffiti service is to offer a subscription-like arrangement. Once a month or
whatever interval makes sense for your clients, go around to their property and
clean off the graffiti. Charge them a monthly or quarterly fee and make it
simple for everyone--they don't have to think about graffiti, and you just do
your job.
43. HAIRSTYLIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Hair styling is a popular business
that can be quite lucrative. Generally a home based hairstylist business is
likely to be started by someone who has already has a cosmetology career and
wants a change. If you already have your cosmetology training and license, and
loads of experience under your belt working in a hair styling salon, you probably
have a following that will follow you right home without any hesitation.
44. HERBAL FARM STAND
You need to decide whether you
will sell your herbs as live plants, picked or cut in bunches and packed, or
dried. If you plan to market to cooks instead of gardeners, you will want to
sell your herbs either fresh cut and packed in sealed bags, or dried and sold
in baggies. You can also consider a "pick-your-own" arrangement;
however, be aware that herbs are more delicate than most P.Y.O products. You
may save your garden a lot of strife and your plants a lot of wear and tear if
you do the picking.
45. LANDSCAPER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
If you have a knack for this type
of work, a degree won't be necessary. Most people want their yards tidied up in
the spring, their lawns mowed in the summer, their leaves removed in the fall,
and their shrubs and driveways ready for winter snow. You will also want to
offer garden work such as spring planting of annuals and perennials; vegetable
garden preparation, planting and fall cleanup; pest control and watering. You
can offer tree care service. There is plenty to do in the yard that has nothing
to do with plants: stone wall restoration, fencing, irrigation system
installation.
46. MASSAGE THERAPIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
You will want to become certified
in massage therapy to be able to effectively market your services. Courses that
lead to certification include not only information on human anatomy and
physiology and the effects that massage has on both, but also on how to make a
business out of the field of massage. You could do either a certification
program or an associate's degree and stay within the $5,000 scope of this book.
47. MOVING SERVICE
Lots of people who are moving
want to hire someone to do the heavy lifting for them. You can leave the
large-scale, long-distance moving to the big moving companies. Your work can be
the local, moving-across-town or to the town-next-door jobs. These are the ones
that people start off thinking perhaps they could do themselves, and it will be
your job to convince them otherwise. Your signs around town will tempt them to
let you take care of that part of the move, while they are busy taking care of
those other 500 items on their list.
48. MUSIC LESSONS
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
You want to stick to the
instrument(s) you know, but you may be a skilled enough musician to offer
lessons on several different instruments, or those in a particular class, e.g.,
stringed or woodwind.You can decide to take on individuals or classes,
depending on space and availability of instruments. Public schools are
continually reducing their commitment to art and music classes for students, so
you can try to work with the public school system to supplement their efforts
in those areas.
49. PHOTOGRAPHER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Making money as a photographer
can be done in a number of different ways. You can specialize in one area, the
most common being weddings. There are niches you can explore for photography:
portraits of people and their pets, families, and homes; photographs of holiday
events, birthday parties or Christmas cards; the possibilities are endless.
50. RUG CLEANING
You will need to learn how to
work with all kinds of carpet fabrics, from synthetic to wool carpets. Decide
whether you will take on valuable antique carpets and family heirlooms; if so,
you will want to get specialized training in how to handle these carpets and
the specialized ways of cleaning them. Learn how to get tough stains and odors
out of carpets--such as dog and cat odors--and your services will be in great
demand.
From Websites to Pet Sitting
51. WEBSITE DEVELOPER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Many courses exist (many of
which, logically, are offered online) where you can learn the language of
website creation and can learn about the details, like how to set up shopping
cart systems, security concerns, etc. You will, of course, need to learn about
each company you design for. What is the atmosphere of the company that you
need to reflect in the website design--is it wild and contemporary, meaning
brilliant colors and fun graphics? Or will more classic colors like black, navy
blue and maroon be more appropriate?
$3,000 to $5,000 to start up
52. BED AND BREAKFAST
Do you have a room that has its
own bathroom and is private from the rest of the living space? Are you near
attractions such as a tourist area, sports stadium or venue for a large annual
event? Or is your home in the country with spring peepers, summer crickets and
crisp fall nights that could give a city-dweller a weekend of peaceful living?
Say you can rent the room for $150 a night for Friday and Saturday nights 48
weeks a year--that's $14,400 in revenue! Utilize what you have and create a
unique experience.
53. CHRISTMAS TREE SALES
If you want to start a Christmas
tree farm, you need to plan ahead. It takes approximately seven years for a
Balsam fir--perhaps the most traditional Christmas tree--to grow from a small
sapling to a 5- to 6-foot tree. Selling your trees yourself is the best option.
Consumers come to the property, pick the one they want, and you harvest it for
them. The other option is to buy your trees from a wholesaler and sell them
either in your yard or in a vacant lot that you rent from Thanksgiving to
Christmas.
54. DAY CARE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Perhaps you love children.
Perhaps you have children of your own and the idea of taking care of a few more
for part of the day appeals to you. Child-care needs continue to soar in the
United States. Many people prefer the option of their child being cared for in
a home environment while they are at work, opposed to a more institutional-like
setting. These things mean that a home based childcare business can get off and
running immediately.
55. PET SITTING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Starting a pet sitting service
requires almost nothing in start-up costs. You do need some general credentials
that will cost little or nothing to acquire. Your list of credentials should
probably include personal pet ownership--if not currently, at least in the
past--as well as other pet-related experience, including working at a pet food
store, an animal hospital or other animal-related business. You will need to
spend a little to become "bonded." This is known as "honesty
insurance," and ensures your clients that you won't get their house keys
and make off with their valuables (or that they'll get their money back if you
do).
