Too many people never get beyond thinking about how to start a home business. To start your own small business requires action.
The first action is to create or choose a business idea. This first step is often an obstacle that is never overcome because people do not know how to go about looking for business ideas.
This article speaks to these people. It is about how to find ideas for your own business.
How to start a home business – open your eyes and you will see real opportunities
Real business ideas are all around you – all the time. You just need to become aware of them. If you are thinking about how to start a home business, you will become more aware of them.
You will find ideas for a business in your
- back yard
- basement
- living room
- kitchen
- children’s room
- garage
You will find ideas in your car, in the stores you visit, in the meals you eat, in the movies and TV programs you watch, in the homes of your friends, in the newspapers and magazines that you read. Ideas for a business are everywhere. You just have to open your eyes to see them.
How to start a home business – begin by looking at your hobbies and interests
The best business for you to start would be a business about something you enjoy.
Chances are that you have spent many years working at a job that you may not like – just to earn a living. You may
- be working longer hours than you wish
- be experiencing unwanted pressure and stress
- look forward to Fridays, beginning on Monday at 9AM
- spend a part of Saturday and Sunday dreading Monday at 9AM
What do you think work would be like for you if you were your own boss and your business was about the things that you really enjoy?
Look closely at the areas of your hobbies and interests. Find problems that people have in these areas and solve them. How would that be for a business?
How to start a home business – You dont need to invent a new product
Look at how you can turn an existing product or service into a new product or service. This is where most ideas for new business come from. There aren’t that many newly invented products and services.
- landline phones gave rise to cell phone businesses
- desktop computers gave rise to laptop computer businesses
- laptop computers gave rise to hand held technology businesses like Blackberry and PalmPilot
- supermarkets gave rise to home food delivery businesses
- car washes gave rise to mobile car wash and car valet businesses
- sit down restaurants gave rise to fast food and “take out” food businesses
Make a list of the stores you visit offline and online. From what did each of these businesses evolve? Make a list of all of the services you utilize. From what did each of them evolve?
How to start a home business – are there services you can provide that people dont want to do?
It seems that people are busier today than ever before. Issues surrounding work – life balance are more prevalent than ever. This opens an opportunity to start service businesses that customers
- dont have time to do
- dont want to do
- dont know how to do
- cant do
- cant find others who do it
- cant find others who do a good job
Some examples of services that can become a business are dog walking, care for the elderly, care for the young, tutoring or coaching of a skill you have, carpentry etc. Millions of business owners profit by selling routine and sometimes unglamorous services such as window washing, car repair, sandwich making, building maintenance, house cleaning, and plumbing.
The business you start now can become another business tomorrow
One of the fastest growing business types today can be categorized as the information business. Today people are hungry for information – particularly information about how to do things.
If you already have a skill that you think people would like to learn, you can teach them that skill through seminars, lectures, coaching, books, courses, e-books, e-courses etc. If you do not feel that you already possess such a skill, you may soon have it after your new business has been up and running for a while. Your new business could morph into an information business that helps others to do well in their own similar businesses.
Don’t give up on starting your own business because of a half-hearted attempt to find an idea for your business. You can and will find the idea if you systematically look for it.