I was inspired by Jennifer Wolf’s recent blog post “Will you be making any homemade gifts this year ?”  Jennifer mentioned that she’ll be making a no sew fleece blanket for her son. I have plans to fill mason jars with the main ingredients for cookies myself and decorate the lid nicely. In all honesty, I thought if I did this, I may not have to bake Christmas cookies, but I don’t think I can get off that easily.

I’m curious what is your idea for home based businesses ? Seriously, send me your ideas! I have a girlfriend who makes the no sew fleece blankets as well and they’re always personalized for whoever she’s giving them to and really so nice. I’ve told her she could sell them.

If you have a nicely packaged gift, craft or food item you can sell it. Consider doing a little advertising in local shops, asking them to place your item on a visible counter with a few business cards. And friends and family are always good sources of advertisement along with trade shows. You may think this is a lot of work to sell something that requires a lot of your effort for little in earnings, but that’s how most major businesses have started off-in a garage or basement-not in rented out office space.

And if you don’t have anything you could make and give or sell, consider supporting others who do. You’ll help a legitimate business grow and get a well-crafted gift to give.

With the versatility the Internet offers Home Based Businesses for Women are more common and easier to find than ever. Traditional businesses such as selling cosmetics and cookware are really great options for many women (or men), but can feel stifling if you can’t attract enough prospects. That’s where the Internet becomes so useful. Not only is your outreach potential greater if you are selling a product or a service, but the types of businesses you can work for from home is limitless.   

An alternative idea I came across on Internet Based Moms is working as a personal shopper. As a personal shopper you are paid for the actual shopping bit, but primarily you are being paid to research products, services, deals and prices. Your shopping know how is valuable to your customers.  Sites such as Wishabi and Design Sponge will be valuable to you as you stay on top of current trends and hot products.  

Some valuable qualities to possess as a personal shopper are communication, creativity, and organization. Most people will run their own errands, but when you find the right gift or product for the right price for your client, they will think they can’t live without you. That is your goal.  

Clearly, as women, we have many talents and skills that are valuable. Your job now is to package your particular skills into a business and sell yourself. Your imagination will accommodate your goals, so dream big.   

When starting any business, even a franchise, there is preparation work to be done. Naomi Dunford from Get Entrepreneurial wrote a fantastic article on ten ways to get your business off the ground. These don’t really seem like options to me, but rather steps to take. I was thrilled with #2 on her list.

Step two states you need to do a little in-house analysis before you take the leap. The four areas that Dunford covered were analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Some may think you are being pessimistic if you’re going to dig up all of the dirt on your company-things that may not even have occurred yet, but in reality, he (or she) who fails to plan, plans on failing. This also goes for researching a business opportunity that someone else is offering. Work at home truth offers some valuable tools for weeding through the muck in home business opportunities.

As far as our steps are concerned, knowing your strengths will allow you to focus on what your business will do best, what will be your competitive edge. It doesn’t have to be something amazing, but something your competition isn’t doing or a product that is original to your company.

No one likes sharing their bad qualities with anyone, but as far as planning goes, this isn’t something to publish, just get it down on paper and determine if your weaknesses will be deal breakers or things you can improve upon.

Knowing your competition (your threats) will keep you ahead of the game. Seeing where and what your competition is doing will not only give you an idea of what the market is like for your niche, but also give you an acute awareness of how those similar businesses run things.

And lastly, analyze your opportunities. Getting a true picture of how your niche is doing-what business is like out there-how and where you can fit in will ultimately be a guide for how you run your business.

Take advantage of this planning stage. It can be tweaked as you go along, but the more information you have before startup, the faster you’ll see success.

Once you’ve identified the home business opportunties that you will pursue, keep in mind how you want to be perceived by your audience and the ways to accomplish that goal.

 Your business name and even logo will tie in directly with how your business is identified, who uses your business and even who’s talking about your business.  Now your name will not make or break your business, but you need to be recognizable, easy to remember and have a name that briefly tells others what you do.  For example, if you saw Sanitray Tortilla Factory as the name of a restaurant, you would consider why they used “sanitary” in their business name. Was there an issue in the past with their restaurant not being sanitary? I think you see my point. See some other not so clever names here. Other businesses, such as Improved Results, deliver the right message immediately. The name tells you what they do and the product they’re offering you. 

 Small business expert, Darrell Zahorsky, lists the 10 commandments of a great business name.  He offers a great starting point for identifying how to choose your business name. A few we’ve already covered, but in general he states you need to keep it simple.  Make it easy to spell, easy to remember and of course make sure it’s available. Starting off on the right foot will set the tone for a successful business. 

Gone are the days of working an unfulfilling nine-to-five office job! Now, I am the boss of my very own scrapbooking business. I scoured the internet for work at home business opportunities. There were so many to choose from. I was determined to find a work at home job that I was passionate about. I stumbled upon a scrapbooking business online and decided to create my own. My work at home business meets all of the criteria I had for a work from home job opportunity. I set my own hours, I am my own boss, I work from home and best of all I am doing something I am passionate about. Creating memories for families that will last for generations is the best job in the world!

What are you hobbies and interests? I have discovered that the key to having a successful job at home is to do something that you love to do. I think there are a ton of jobs that will give you a business opportunity work at home small business. I feel if you are creative you can come up with something that not many people are doing and also have job satisfaction in the process.

In my opinion, if you can find something that other people donʼt like to do you can make money doing that. In a small business, I think you can be the judge of what you want to spend your time and energy on. Personally I have learned that to have job satisfaction, you need to work on something you are excited about. I believe that you have to find your niche and go for it!

Starting a small business…ahh. I wanted to do this for so long and really had no clue how to get started. I have found that networking with others is key. I began to talk with my friends and shared that I wanted to start a business at home work ideally. One of my friends told me about a man she met from our church who desired to hire stay at home moms and provide income for those of us who had sacrificed our careers to be at home with our children. What a cool thing!

I have been so blessed to have this opportunity to begin working from home and at the same time start a business. It has been the answer to prayer and dreams to help our family out financially. For me, the work from home business gives me everything I am looking for: freedom, flexibility, income and the ability to learn new skills. I would suggest doing some social networking with others who are in the same boat as you. I needed a change in my life and working from home has been a wonderful thing. I am sure you will find it rewarding as well!

Have you ever thought it possible to start a home based business online? I have and I did. I believe the internet is holding the key to a vast amount of great options for those of us who want to work from home.

I have been very fortunate to find an opportunity to work from home. I have learned that I need to balance my home life and my work life. It is very doable. I love the fact that I can be flexible with my time. I can spend as little or as much time on my home business and I have the freedom to spend special time with my family. I love not commuting and spending tons of money on gas. I am so happy to be able to work from home.

Doing business online has created a neat niche for me. I don’t have any paperwork since all my work is done on my computer and I receive all my work via email. I love having my business in a virtual environment. Hope you are able to find your niche in the online world as well.

I was considering working from home but just wasn’t sure if it was for me.  I have done so much research and finally came to my conclusion.  I will give it a go.  So many at home jobs are out there and available on so many subjects.  The one common thread was to take something you are passionate about like a hobby and turn it into a money making business.  My hobby has been making gift baskets for my family and friends for holidays and birthdays.  I have decided that is the route I am going to take.  I love seeing all the different variations I can put together and the look on peoples faces when I give that gift to them.  I am working on all the details now as well as reading all the personal information and tips that I can get.  I believe in this idea and am giving it my all.  I know that if you want anything bad enough, it can happen and I will make my home business happen for me and my family.

It’s been such a busy week! I just finished up a big work project and not only did I learn a ton of new stuff, but I also made really great money too! It’s so rewarding to see concrete results of my hard work.

I’ve also been helping my sister set up some advertising for her new at home business. She is an amazing baker and really gets so much satisfaction out of bringing her customers pleasure. She finally has her own business and is living her dream. I’m so happy for her!

The internet has so many choices as far as an at home job! It’s so exciting and almost overwhelming but I’m so happy to have found a home business for myself.

I need to run, there’s work to be done and money to be made.