The internet has opened up a whole new world of opportunity. For those of us with an idea and the willingness to work hard, it is a great way to earn a significant amount of income from the comfort of our home. If you are looking for a way to earn money and still enjoy life, here are 10 of the best home based businesses for making money online that you can start today.Best Home Internet Business # 1 – Affiliate MarketingAn affiliate marketer is the internet version of a commissioned sales person. You make money selling products and services for other business owners. As you can imagine, this can be very lucrative and entrepreneurs have been known to make 6 to 7 figures promoting other people’s stuff.Best Home Based Business # 2 – Consulting/CoachingPeople are always looking for ways to improve themselves. Whether it is to have a better business or a better body, someone will pay you to help them get results. This is one of the best home based businesses for people low on funds. If you have the expertise, all you need is a website and you’re ready to make money.Best Online Business #3 – Website FlipperA website flipper is similar to a real estate flipper. They create a website and then sell it to someone else for a profit. You do need to have a bit of technical know-how and a little patience but if you pick a good domain name and get a lot of traffic, you could make a lot of money.Best Home Business # 4 – CraftingOne of the top home based businesses for creative types is to sell crafts online. Consumers love the charm of handmade products. So if you have a knack for crafts, you can turn your hobby into a profitable business doing something you love.Best Home Business # 5 – eBayThis down economy has everyone pinching pennies and many people are turning to online auction sites to find great deals on the things they want. From games to designer clothes to even cars, if you’ve got a product to sell, you can make good money selling it on eBay.Best Home Internet Business #6 – Freelance ServicesBusinesses are downsizing and laying employees off to save money. But since there is still work to be done, many businesses are turning to freelancers to fill in the gaps. Writers, artists, computer technicians; if you have a skill then you can make money with a freelancing business.Best Home Business # 7 – Virtual AssistantA virtual assistant is equivalent to a freelance secretary. You help your clients with a variety of tasks such as answering calls and making travel arrangements. The internet makes it easy to complete the work assigned to you from the comfort of your home and you can pick and choose the projects you want.Best Home Business # 8 – Shop to Earn Shopping PortalThe Shop to Earn Shopping Portal is a group of big name retail stores who pay you to shop. You earn money, in the form of cash back, each time you or someone you refer makes a purchase at the website. The convenience of internet shopping coupled with the ability to make money even when you are not actively working on your business makes this a great home based business for the stay at home parent.Best Home Based Business # 9 – Citizen JournalistMore and more people are turning to the internet for information about what is going on in the world. This home based business is perfect for writers who have a knack for reporting. You make money by generating advertising revenue on a news portal that deals with national news or even just what is happening in the local community.Best Home Business #10 – InfopreneurPeople are starved for information. With the cost of production and the time it takes to get it to the marketplace greatly reduced, it is easier, now more than ever, to publish a book giving readers the information they crave. And with the invention of the Kindle and the Sony Reader, you don’t even have to put your writing in book form to get it in the hands of readers.Choosing one of the 10 best home based businesses to get started with is only the beginning. The real challenge comes in building a successful business. For help with that, you’ll want to seek out experienced entrepreneurs who can give you tips and tools that will get your business off the ground and making money.
A Few Problems Facing Small Business Startups
It is a well established fact that most small business startups fail within the first two years. Why is this and what preparations can be made to avoid this pitfall?First of all is the shortage of startup capital. It is probable that anyone over 40 years old has tried to start up some type of small business. Since most of them do not have a lot of money to start with many try to start a new business and hold onto a regular 9 to 5 job which is too demanding and hard for most people. The obvious solution for this problem is to look ahead at this need realistically and in some way arrange to have the backing and support to last for at least one year or until there is enough income from the business to make it self supporting.Another common problem with a new small business startup is lack of knowledge. Here we consider a carpenter, or any other craftsman or trade. He/she may know their trade well but be lacking in the necessary business acumen of getting the required license or permits, knowing who to call when something is needed, knowing any hazardous materials regulations, knowing shipping and marketing and advertising practices and so on. The best solution for this is to get to know someone who is already established in business and be able to draw from their knowledge about some of these problems.Another very common problem facing a new startup is the staffing of QUALIFIED help. There has been many a failed attempt to start a small business that failed simply because the owner could not get, and keep, good help to work with him/her. Among the various crafts and trades this may not be much of a problem because the craftsmen generally know the other craftsmen of the same craft that are in the same general area. A bigger problem might occur when the business may need more specialized skills that may be hard to find. The solution to this is to consider the staffing needs ahead of time and ensure that there is a sufficient pool of workers to be able to maintain an adequate stall or postpone any attempt at startup until you can be confident of having the people needed to do the work.Some Availabe ResourcesThe government’s Small Business Administration (SBA) has reams and volumes of printed materials and online help sources to help guide anyone in what they might need to startup a new business. Besides the printed and online materials available there are often counselors and agents that will gladly offer to assist anyone in finding out what help is available through the agency they work for. Many times there may be outright grants or very low interest money available to help them get started.The colleges, schools and technical institutions in the area are also very good sources of help and information. Most of these schools will have several people, professors, teachers, administration and staff members that gladly help people in this way. These teachers will also know the businesses and people that can be a tremendous help to someone just getting started.A Few Problems Facing Small Business StartupsMore Available ResourcesAlmost every town and community has a Chamber Of Commerce that has some members of the chamber who are always looking for ways to attract new businesses to locate in their community. Thse people are a good source of help and should not be overlooked. Many times the community will offer incentives to induce companies and businesses to locate in their community. This can be very beneficial to the new business, especially if it is known that the business is looking for a good place to go. Neighboring towns will try to outdo each other in offering incentives to persuade the business to choose their community instead of a neighboring town. The incentives may be tax breaks, available property, labor supply or practically anything else that might be appropriate.Another very important aspect is the availability of good roads, airports, railroads or sea-going avenues of traffic and transportation. After all. It is not very good to have the capital needed, the facilities to build a product, the knowledge staff and supplies to build it and then not be able to get your product to the market in a timely manner. For this reason anyone wanting to start a new business must consider the market for his business and the availability of good transportation facilities.These Times, They Are A Changing.The days of the small family owned business has just about gone. It used to be that a family might own the same business for many generations and do very well with it. There are still many small family owned wineries in the north central part of the United States and they seem to be doing well. Nevertheless, these small family owned wineries do not compare in any way to the huge wine orchards in California and the Napa Valley wine orchards.This same scenario applies to other types of small family owned business. In Kentucky, Ohio and other coal mining states there are still small family owned mining operations going that provides a stable livelihood for the families that own the mines. Much of the material discussed earlier in this article do not apply very well to these types of small family owned businesses.ConclusionsIt is apparent from theses comments that starting up a small business from scratch is very risky and challenging. To start out with the knowledge beforehand that the odds are very high against a new startup being successful is a daunting challenge itself. Therefore anyone wanting to start a new business should very seriously consider each of the problems presented here and consider what solutions he/she may have to apply in starting up the business. If it then seems that they can make the startup work and build a strong business then they should go for it and do it. But if the startup fails then do not give up and quit. Just consider that you are still in good company because almost every other person that has tried has also failed a few times before. Keep in mind that as long as you are still trying then you are not a failure… yet.
Starting Small Businesses Has Never Been Easier
I believe that it’s easier to succeed with small businesses than ever before. There are more opportunities for entrepreneurs to start small businesses today than at any previous time.
Here are some good reasons for why I believe this is true.
A) With the increase in population comes an increase in opportunities for small businesses.
Generally, a sparse population requires a small business owner to provide a wide variety of goods or services to survive. With a denser population, the small businesses can still survive by providing a very narrow range of products or services.
For example, in a smaller population a small business which provides gardening services would probably need to offer many things. Services could include general garden maintenance, planning, tree felling, lawn cutting, vermin control, pond planning and maintenance, hard landscaping etc.
With a bigger population a small business could thrive perfectly well by providing just one of these services, as there are more people who will need it.
B) The costs involved in starting and running small businesses has never been so low in proportion to income.
Technology has replaced many of the things which people used to do, and technology does the job a lot more cheaply.
Today it’s possible to reach literally millions of potential customers around the world very cheaply.
For example, only a few decades ago the cost of mailing to thousands of households was prohibitively high. Unless you had a very good product or service which sold well, a small business just wouldn’t risk it.
Another example, business premises security used to involve security guards walking around checking that all was well. Now a good security system can be bought for less than 1 week’s pay for that security guard, and it will work 24 hrs per day for years, for no pay.
C) Because modern life is so complex today, small businesses and individuals are open to new ideas, products and services like never before.
This creates a huge market for training courses, information provision services, educational aids, specialised products and services, novelties, etc.
With this great diversity come great opportunities to combine different products and technologies, thus making whole new areas of business possible.
For example, you can combine a low-light camera with wireless communications and a bird box. This means a nest may be watched remotely on a television or personal computer screen.
Another example would be to combine voice-chip technology with passive infrared technology to make it sound as though you have a huge dog indoors whenever anyone approaches your house.
In our recent history, these opportunities just didn’t exist.
D) It may not feel like it, but many people today have a lot more leisure time and a higher disposable income than in any previous age.
This spare income (and with the current attitudes to loans, a little more besides) tends to get spent on sports, games, hobbies, crafts, amusements, entertainments, holidays and weekend breaks etc.
This creates many opportunities for the entrepreneur to start up small businesses to satisfy all this extra demand.
E) To thrive in a modern society you need to have a lot of different skills.
Nowadays people cope with a variety of complex tasks. They buy and use a wide range of consumer equipment, fill out many forms, and communicate with all kinds of people from all walks of life (often from different countries and cultures). They also do difficult transactions like house purchasing, and so on.
All this is a long way from the average people who were around just a few hundred years ago. Many were farm labourers who could barely read or write and never travelled more than a few miles from home.
So now, the pool of potential business people is far greater than ever before. If a person can live well in a modern society, they already have the abilities they need to start up a small business enterprise and succeed.
The good news also is that if you lack a certain skill which your small business needs, then you can probably employ someone with that skill far more easily than ever before.
F) More people have access to money than ever before.
Until the late 1960s, most people were paid weekly and spent money as they earned it.
It was normal among manual workers to run right out of money around the time of their next pay packet, which often contained notes and coins!
Today most people have many bank accounts (with overdrafts) and access to credit cards, which alone have spending limits equal to a half or full year’s income.
Savings and share holdings are greater than ever before. A large proportion of the population can raise money on their house and if they don’t mind paying a high interest percentage, they can borrow with no security at all.
A great variety of people and institutions are now willing to lend money for good small businesses proposals.
With access to credit, you can buy the product, ship it to the customer and get paid before you have to pay for the goods which you sold. This just wasn’t possible until very recently.
G) Advice, courses and books about starting small businesses are within easy reach of everyone.
Researching your chosen business area has never been easier with the Internet so readily available.
Not so long ago, you would have needed to buy many books and read them all to get the specific information you required. Now you can ask a search engine very specific questions and get very specific answers, almost immediately.
This frees up small businesses and enables them to be far more productive and enterprising.
H) If you start a small business today you have an immense amount of technology available to you.
Computers, printers, copiers, audio and video recording and playback equipment, telephony and the internet are all easily available to any entrepreneur wanting to get started in a new small business enterprise.
Not long ago, the average multi-national company lacked the computing, communicating and printing power available to the ordinary person today.
You can probably think of at least 6 different ways to get a simple message to someone on the other side of the world. 5 of those messages would typically arrive less than 1 minute after you sent them.
Just 100 years ago, (and remember mankind has been around for about 3 million years) this same message would have involved horses and steam ships and would have taken months.
This massive improvement in technology (especially in communications and information) has really opened up the field to the individual who wants to go ahead with a new small business venture.
I) Small businesses starting up today have far more choices available to them.
In previous times, it was quite common for there to be only a few companies that they could go to, to buy business supplies. Whatever business you care to name, you would not find many suppliers of the materials needed to conduct that business.
Unless your business is in a very specialist area, you will now find you can source your supplies from a great many firms. This in turn drives your costs down, as you can shop around for the best deals.
For example, there used to be very few ways to get your goods delivered to your customers. Nowadays you could chose from literally hundreds of different carriers.
New companies can chose anywhere in the world to set up their small businesses, or indeed where to place any part of their business.
I know of a successful paintball company, which operates in the UK in summer. But when the business falls off due to the cold winter, they find new customers by simply moving the company to Brazil, and then return the following spring.
They also take advantage of the cheaper labour in Brazil to manufacture the paint balling equipment, and when back in the UK use the greater expertise in the UK to program their systems.
Not so long ago this flexibility of operating a small business would have been totally impractical.
Conclusion.
There are far more opportunities to start small businesses than ever before and entrepreneurs who do start new small businesses at home are more likely to succeed.
There are more potential customers, it costs less to start up and you have more choice over the kind of business to go into. Other benefits are a more skilled and educated workforce, and easy access to financial support.