Starting Your Business: Just a Few Ideas, Part 2

Here's Part 2 of my Business Ideas Article.  I hope it will help to inspire you.  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for a guest post from Christy Strauch.

7. Make gift baskets. This is a similar business idea to the flower and wreath business, and it could be a good seasonal business to supplement your flower or craft business. The best times to sell gift baskets are around Valentine's Day and Easter; however, if you plan to make a lot of sales, then you need to start taking orders in advance so that you will have time to make the gift baskets and so you can get the word out and make plenty of sales to make the effort worth your while. If you get a lot of customers you might also consider taking orders for Mother's Day and Christmas baskets.

8. Make money in sales. You can make money by selling used items from around your home or selling items from a wholesale website. Use websites like ebay and upillar to reach customers. Or you can sell items at a yard sale, a consignment shop, your own website website, or flea market booth.

9. Accounting/Consulting/Data entry. If you have previous office or business experience, try contracting yourself out to small businesses. Small business owners often need part time help to do accounting, data entry, filing, marketing, and other administrative tasks. This is another idea that does not require a lot of start up money, and you can earn a decent salary even if you only have a couple of clients. This kind of work also does not require a lot of time away from home generally.  You can often find jobs online.  There are websites out there that specialize in placing virtual assistants in data entry and customer service jobs.  Just be sure to do your homework to avoid scams.

10. Telemarketing. If you look in the paper or on the internet you will find plenty of jobs for telemarketing sales and making calls for collection agencies. This kind of work is not for everyone, but if you have a good phone voice and you enjoy talking to people, this is a good stay at home job.

11. Baking/Catering - If you enjoy cooking and baking consider running your own baking and catering business. This venture can be as small or as big as you like. You can bake an occasional cake or pie for a friend or family member who is having a party. If you are a skilled cake decorator you can earn money by making wedding cakes, or you can go all out and cater for entire events, providing appetizers, main courses, desserts, and anything else you wish to offer. If you have a friend who enjoys cooking or baking this would be a good business to go into with a partner. And you can earn a good wage just by catering to a couple of events each month.  There are also several good bake shops on etsy, if you wish to go that route.

12. Tutoring - Tutors can potentially earn a very good hourly wage. If you have expertise in a particular subject, and especially if you have a degree and enjoy sharing your knowledge with others, you should try being a tutor. Often you will find that people you already know have a child that needs to be tutored, or they know of someone who is looking for a tutor. You can also put your name on tutoring lists at schools and local agencies that provide tutoring services or you can sign up at tutor.com. This is a great job that can take up as little as an hour or two of your time each week, and you can work with kids of all ages or adults in college.

13. Professional organizer/Decorator - If you are good at organizing items in your home, you can get certified and become a professional organizer or decorator. In this type of home business people pay you to come into their home as a consultant and get it organized and uncluttered or decorated. As a professional organizer you could also host organizing parties where you introduce and take orders for new organizing products.

14. Fortune/Network Marketing- There are lots of networking marketing companies out there.  Some are good. Some are not so good.  My husband and I are involved in a company called Fortune.  Unlike other marketing companies there's no selling involved or quotas.  Fortune pays you to purchase your own cell phones, internet, satellite tv and other products from yourselves (rather than purchasing at Best Buy or Wal-mart).  And they have an extremely generous pay plan.  (In fact if you have cell phone or internet at your house, you're already doing Fortune....you're just not getting paid for it.)  So if you're interested in that, I'd be happy to give you more information.  Other well known marketing companies include Avon and Mary Kay. My stepmom actually got started in Mary Kay a couple of months ago, and she seems to enjoy it.  And there are a lot of lesser known companies that sell scrapbooking supplies, jewelry, and more.

15. Workshops/Ecourses - If you have expertise in a particular field or you have a marketable skill, then you can make money from teaching others what you know. You can make money by creating and selling an ebook or ecourse. You can hold online workshops and webcasts. Or you can have workshops and conferences offline at a your local civic center, library, your home, or another venue.

As you can see, there is a wide range of opportunities out there for people who would like to start a home business. All it takes is one good idea, and some research and initial planning, and you can begin building your own home business and becoming financially independent.

I originally wrote this article in 2008.  Though I tweaked it a little, I'm sure there are a lot of new opportunities in 2010 that are not included in this article.  If you have anything to add to the list, feel free to comment.
-Jerri