Taking the First Step: Finding a Work From Home Business Idea That Works for You

Feb

Taking the First Step: Finding a Work From Home Business Idea That Works for You

Archived in the category: work from home

The prospect of working from home encompasses a wide spectrum of ideas. In reality, if you know what you are doing and do the necessary research, you could turn just about anything into a business. The key to success is to find the business idea that works for you.

If you are the kind of person who gets cabin fever easily and who needs to interact with others, you may think that no home business idea will suit your personality. That’s not true. There are a host of ideas that incorporate using your home as a base but that allow you to interact with people at the same time. You could start a party planning business. You can field calls and do your party planning from home, but still meet with clients and visit venues and vendors. You get the best of both worlds!

For those who are a little more introverted or whose lifestyle dictates they work solely from home, there are a host of work from home business ideas to try. If you have a particular skill (financial planning, for example), then you can translate that skill to an at-home business. If your home is set up such that you could have a separate area for your clients, then that is ideal. If not, however, then you may run the risk of appearing unprofessional if your clients are subjected to tripping over your two-year-old’s toys while trying to plan for their retirement!

There are several things to keep in mind when deciding what kind of work from home business idea will translate into professional success for you. Ask yourself the following:

* What are my interests? If you aren’t interested in what you’re doing, then you won’t be successful. This is particularly true when there is no one looking over your shoulder to make sure you do the work. If you hate animals, then don’t be a dog walker. If you are passionate about paper and ribbons, then consider a gift-wrapping business.

* What are my marketable skills? For your home business to be successful, you need to consider your skills. There is no point in starting a business if you don’t have the skills necessary to make it work. Don’t start a catering business if you can’t boil water! You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you don’t have the know-how to actually bring the idea to life then it’s not the right opportunity for you. Move on to something else.

* What are my lifestyle needs? Do you need to be able to work only when your children are at school? If so, then party planning won’t work since it will require a lot of evenings and weekends. Do you want to keep a day job while trying to make your home business work? You’ll need something that allows you to work after hours, so anything that involves calling other businesses is probably not the best idea. Perhaps something like creating gift baskets might be better because you can assemble them one evening and deliver them the next or on weekends. Maybe you want to do something entirely online. That’s a 24-hour-a-day idea!

When devising the perfect work from home business idea, you need to keep the above questions in mind. There is no point in brainstorming ideas that don’t fit your abilities, schedule, lifestyle or interests. Any business that grows out of those ideas will likely have a short lifespan. You want your business to have staying power, so make sure your business idea is one that fits who you are and how you live.

Dominic Boykin
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/taking-the-first-step-finding-a-work-from-home-business-idea-that-works-for-you-707019.html

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4 comments for “Taking the First Step: Finding a Work From Home Business Idea That Works for You”

Douglas D

I need advice on hiring a Home Renovator?
Yesterday I met with a representative of a home renovator (he claimed he was the owner) to discuss our plans to replace our kitchen.
1) he was late for the appointment, his office called at the time of the appointment to say he would be delayed about 20 minutes. He arrived 45 minutes later
2) I observed him pull into our driveway, but instead of getting out of the car and coming to the door, he sat out in the driveway talking on the phone for another 10m minutes. When I saw him finally get out of the car and move toward the front door, I went to greet him, but he remained at the foot of my door step still on the phone for another 10 minutes, which I found rather annoying.

Finally he came up to the door and knocked which I further found annoying since I had already given up on greeting him at the door, and had gone back to my own business, but I dropped what I was doing and let him in to proceed with the meeting
He apologized for being late, I said that it didn’t bode well with me that he come more than 45 minutes late for a first meeting. He said something about at least he had his office call to let me know.
I thought that calling at the time of the meeting is bad enough but to still be later than your new ETA isn’t right either, I was mad but I dropped it.

So we went into the kitchen, exchanged some ideas, he gave me a quote based on what we discussed, it seemed pretty fair to me, but my wife wasn’t there so I asked for another meeting at a time than she could be there. We agreed on this comming Sunday morning at 10:00a.

Now I want to cancel the meeting and forget about hiring him.
I feel that part of the reason for this is because I was angry at him for being late, but I was EXTREMELY put off about what he had to say when I brought up the subject of references.
In a nutshell he said he would provide me with references if it meant the difference between getting the job or not, but he hated to have his good customers bothered with reference calls.
Please understand, he went on quite a bit on this subject giving examples to support his threory that references are a bad idea. I got the sence that it was as if he was trying to beat out a raging fire.
Again I let it drop, and at the end of the day he walked out the door, and I had only his business card in my hand. No written quote, no references.
BTW, I did a quick check at the local BBB website and found no data on his company name. They have no complaints registered withing the last 36 months, but they are not members either.

The thing is, in the past I have done all of the renovations on my own, but I was younger then. (I will be 59 this January 2010).
I completely renovated our main floor bathroom about three years ago. I didn’t find it particularly challenging. The hard part was deciding on the tiles for the floors, and the walls, and I had the entire project finished in about 30 days start to finish.
But this time our plans include some skylights, and changing the staircase to the basement. These are things I haven’t done before, plus I have lost some of the fire in my gut that drives me on these tasks.
But to make matters worse, this guy I spoke to yesterday said that they don’t do skylights (they do everything else) plus he tried to talk me out of the changes to the staircase, I think he didn’t want to take on that work either.
I have spoken to two other renovators, but this latest guy is the first one I gave any serious consideration to. But now I am thinking I would rather just do it myself, and hire someone else to come in and do the things I can’t manage on my own.
I wonder if I am just getting cold feet on hiring someone, and putting the whole project in their hands. I hear so many horror stories about projects gone wrong, or they take all the money but don’t finish the job. I have so little to go on without references from this guy, and so far everyone I have called have failed to provide me with a single reference.

Any thoughts, opinions, comments, personal experience is welcome.
Thanks in advance.

February 27th, 2010 at 6:03 am

Drewfuss

I can see both sides of this, As a remodeler myself, I know that it’s tough to balance actually doing the work with the selling/quoting part. Most of us wear all the hats. worker, salesman estimator accountant. If he had some crisis come up on another job, I can understand him being on the phone, since if he just told them to wait, he could have workers waiting at the job costing him money. On the other hand, you certainly have a right to expect someone to be reasonably on time and ready to talk to you, since your time is valuable too. If he’s had a bad experience with something like skylights leaking and ended up costing him a big headache and loss, that too is understandable if he wants to avoid doing them again, However, If he’s advertizing as a general remodeler, he should be equipped to do pretty much everything. As regards the references, I think he has a valid point there too, since past customers are busy people too and don’t want to be answering calls every day. perhaps a book of photo’s of past work, or written letters of recommendation would work better. You are better served to ask friends and neibors who they have used and are happy with. that’s the kind of referral that counts.
If there are several things he doesn’t want to tackle, it does seem that he is lacking in experience.
In summary, I would say go with your gut! if you feel uncomfortable dealing with this person, then dont. Even if he is reputable, if you are not compatible personality wise you will have a hard time dealing with him and probably wont be happy with the end result. You need to find someone who you feel that you can trust.
References :
Builder/remodeler for about 15 years

February 27th, 2010 at 11:05 am

Do it right

You’ve been a hands-on do-it-yourselfer in the past.
Your best bet to be completely satisfied with what you want done is to become one again.
I’m an avid DIYer myself and hire pro’s (by the individual trade) when needed. I always get permits, and have never been disappointed.
If you can’t do the work yourself…start with a recommendation by the local building inspector. They know who the real pro’s are.
References :

February 27th, 2010 at 11:07 am

pickmefirstplz

he treats you like this and he does not have your money think about how you will get treated if he does get your money
References :
p

February 27th, 2010 at 11:09 am

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