8 Need a Business Idea

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 nine-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 homebased 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
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. 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.
3. BOAT CLEANING
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
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.
To learn more about this business idea, check out Start
Your Own Cleaning Service.
7. COMPUTER REPAIR
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
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.