Over the last decade, high-speed internet, a proliferation of applications and devices, and changing mindsets about the nature of work have made working at home a reality for millions of people across the world. According to studies, about half of all-American employees work from home. The same study also found that over 50 million Americans work independently as freelancers. With substantial similarity in the Venn diagram of home-based entrepreneurs and workers, the numbers show that starting a home-based business is not just a trend, it is a new reality. With that in mind, we have consolidated a list of popular home-based business ideas you can start while you are working a fulltime job.
The dream of working at home and being your own boss is very much alive and go together in the modern workforce. It is now possible to start almost any type of business from home instantly, albeit with different degrees of experience and investment.
Starting a Home-Based Business is Easier Than you Think
To start a home business, you do not need a lot of money- just passion, energy, and the drive to be successful are enough.
Some of the easiest business ideas to start with include bicycle rentals, trading used boats, publishing maps, and trading used boats. These are great examples of businesses that can be started easily. You can start small, even part-time, and then slowly you can grow at your own pace. You can gain profit even with a small home-based business. And if you want you can then grow it into a huge enterprise. Thus, even if you do not have much savings or experience, you too can start your own home-based business and become successful.
With so many home business ideas in the world, it can be hard to come up with the right business idea you should spend your time on. So, let us find out which is a good business to start.
Popular Home-Based Business Ideas
Selling on eBay- Believe it or not, eBay is now more than 2 decades old, but it is still the most sustainable platform for setting up a home-based business online. Big success stories have been around for several years, but there is a huge amount of competition on the site. This is not a business for the lazy. eBay sellers must respond to customers politely and quickly, and ship items fast. A seller’s success is in eBay users’ hands after all; a negative seller rating can sink an eBay business before it is started. Sellers also need to explain themselves with eBay’s return policies, which tend to concentrate on making the whole experience better for purchasers but not for the sellers.
Perhaps most significantly, though, would-be eBay entrepreneurs need to concentrate. Simply throwing junk products online will not work. Sellers must know what they want to sell and how they are going to sell it to their audiences. Again, competition is rising, so research, preparation, and strategy are important.
Bicycle repair- This is one of the popular home-based business ideas. In several parts of the country, this business tends to be temporary, but you can find a way to success around that. Take a storage unit on rent and store people’s bicycles during the winter after you do a tune-up and any kind of repairing work on them. If you want to cater to the Lance Armstrong wannabes, you can have a business throughout the year. These road race riders are training through snow, dark of night, and sleet. Some of them work on their own bicycles, but most of them do not, so it is a great business opportunity for you. And if you keep your store open on Saturdays, then you will get a group of enthusiasts visiting you for discussing cycling.
Business Plan service- This is one of the best start-up business ideas with a lot of expansion possibilities. Offer a business plan, including market research, the business plan narrative, and financial statements. You should plan your fee around the main one that the client will want and offer others as an add-on service. You can provide an electronic file to clients and ask them to take it from there, or you can keep the business plan on file and provide the service of tweaking it whenever required. You must have business plan samples to show clients and ensure you have your own plan among them.
Start a blog- Do you think blogging is no longer a viable source of income? If so, then you must think again. Blogging statistics show that tens of thousands of bloggers are earning huge profit by writing content on different topics as home cooking, scrapbooking, film, travel, business, finance, lifestyle, etc. Do you know what is the best part? It does not cost much to blog. More and more people are growing their blogs into 6-figure businesses thanks to a combination of email subscribers, blog sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and several other revenue streams. Your first step in starting a blog is to handle the technical side of things and then understanding what your audience wants to read and finding out ways to attract those readers.
Home Bakery- The only thing which is better than the lovely smell of grandmother’s chocolate-chip cookie baking is watching money coming as customers orders those delicious treats. Home baking is one of the popular home-based business ideas which involves doing what you are possibly doing a lot of, anyway, if you love baking. You possibly have all the equipment and expertise you need to start.
But be careful. Foodservice even a food delivery service, which is the most likely situation for home bakers, as opposed to setting up a store-comes with built-in risks. Prepare yourself and go through your local insurance obligations. And do not start out by making one or two treats. Remember, consistency is important than variety as far as a baking business is concerned.
Social Media Specialist- Everyone is on social media. This is both a blessing and a curse for the person who is going to be a social media specialist. On one hand, every company that sells anything must have a social media presence, so the market for professionals is huge. However, there is no scarcity of social media experts or people who consider themselves social media experts.
How can you earn a living as a social media expert? Continuous practice. Build an audience for yourself before providing your services to others. Determine your target area, build your own online presence in that community, and start contacting social media exclusively. Twitter is a great place to start. Keep moving out content and getting it to the right users, and you will find a way to get yourself appointed in this universe.
Cleaning service- Being one of the popular home-based business ideas, you can take this business in many directions. If you want to work during this time when nobody else does, then you can focus on office customers. You can focus on retail businesses and keep your clients clumped into one or two blocks. Restaurants need thorough cleaning daily and can be a great source of steady customers. Perhaps you would be more interested in the house cleaning work. There are many times with cleaning services that you do not have to spend a lot of money on marketing or advertising as your customers will come to you by word of mouth.
Dog walking- Dog walkers take pooches out for their regular constitutional one or more than one time a day, either individually or in small groups. In some cities of the United States, like New York, dog walking alone can be a profitable business. But it is actually pretty common for dog walkers to offer extra services, including feeding and playing with pets, bringing in mail and newspaper, and switching lights on and off.