Top 5 Small Business Ideas for stay-at-home folks

Are you a stay-at-home kind of a person? Are you a single mother or a stay at home dad? Have you always wanted to start your own home based business and be an entrepreneur? Or are you just looking to make some extra bucks by doing something on the side? Well, there is good news! According to a recent research, 52% of companies in the US operate as home businesses. So if you were to start your own business and that too from home, what could it be?

Well, here are some business ideas for stay–at-home people:

– Virtual Assistant

As the name signifies, Virtual assistants (VA) provide a great range of “virtual” services to other businesses including general administrative, customer service and over the phone technical support from a home office. Such virtual assistants are growing in popularity all around the world as many companies are looking to cut cost and outsource administrative functions. So if you are disciplined and organized with some background in administration or customer service, then this might be for you. Sign up on website such as ODESK, GURU or Elance and get connected to potential businesses for virtual work or connect with local association or agencies that can help you get started and connect you with clients.

– Freelancing

Freelancing is by far the most popular and the easiest way to get started as an independent professional. It offers a huge amount of flexibility and freedom, and can be started with little or no cost. The key is to present yourself professionally and be sure you are legally set to work as a freelancer. Many freelancers get their start by approaching a former employer or customer who could benefit from their services, then branch out as their portfolio and reputation grows. So whatever your skills might be – content writing, web design, graphic designing, video editing, online marketing, tax advisor, or photography – freelancing could be the most satisfying and rewarding method of doing business and helping people.

– Paid Blogger

It is true! You can make money blogging. Choose an industry that interests you and start a blog about it. Pose yourself as a specialist in that field and offer online paid consultation. You could also be asked to blog on other BLOGs as a guest or paid blogger. If you start a BLOG, your income generation opportunities can come in the form of affiliate marketing and advertising on your BLOG/website or from companies who ask you to review and blog about their products. The key here is to keep abreast with all the current social media and search engine optimization trends and be through with your industry.

 – Sell stuff online

If you have access to a wide range of products that you could sell, then consider starting an online store on eBay, Etsy or Amazon. Many people start by selling products that they personally own or have picked up at a junkyard or an auction. Or, a better way to do it would be to buy products on wholesale or just adopting a drop-shipping model. The objective is to find products that are in high-demand and not readily available from other sources. With the coming of e-commerce website, online selling is catching up and is becoming an easy platform to make money.

– Start a food business

Food business is demanding but has great rewards to offer. Before you start a home-based food business you will need to understand the rules and regulations that govern the production of food for public consumption in an at-home environment. In countries like India, providing healthy home cooked food to daily office goers is a BIG business. Many housewives cook daily meals and deliver fresh and hygienic food to offices. Unlike traditional catering business, which involves investment and infrastructure costs, such home cooked meal supply business can be started from home and if done correctly, can prove to be a long lasting and profitable venture.

#Etsy #amazon #GURU #blogger #VirtualAssistant #ODESK #Elance #homebusinesses #stayathome #eBay #smallbusinessideas #CustomerService #Dabbawala #onlineselling #smallbusiness #foodbusiness #stayathomedad #Freelancing

Leave a Reply