Home Based Business Opportunities

There Are Two Types of Home Based Businesses

You may be looking for home based opportunities, but are you clear about what type you want? There are businesses that can be run from home, but still require you to go out to make a sale. These include services like office cleaning and dog walking. You don’t need a separate office or storefront location, but you do have to work outside of the home.

Then there are the home based business opportunities that are not only based at home, but can actually be run without leaving the house. Let’s take a quick look at both.

Home Based Businesses

It is nice to work from home for a variety of reasons. Even if you have to go "out in the field" to provide the products or services you sell, you still get to be home more than if you had a separate storefront or office. That means more time with family, and also means lower overhead costs. Some of the businesses that are (or can be) home based include:

Window cleaning services

Carpet cleaning

Small baked-good businesses

Delivery services

Handyman services

Though there are some product sales businesses that can be run from the house, it service-based ones that are the most common.

Home Based and in the Home

The other type of home based businesses are those that can be run from home and allow you to actually stay in the house every day. The advantages of this type are obvious. Lower costs are common, time with family is a given, and even those who have physical disabilities can operate a business from the house. This type can be further divided into internet-based and offline business. The latter includes:

Daycare

Writing for magazines

Renting rooms in your house

Telephone consulting

Customer service contracting

There are many other possibilities in that category as well. But the home based business opportunities that are most exciting to myself (and many others) are those that involve the internet. The advantages are many, including no direct contact with customers, the ability to run the business from anywhere in the country (and possibly the world), and the fact that you can often choose your hours. Some examples:

Selling e-books online

Running informational websites and getting paid for the advertising

Recommending the products and services of others for a commission

Writing articles and ages for webmasters

Selling products online (there are hundreds of businesses in this category alone)

Blogging and selling advertising on your blog

The list goes on, and most of these types of home based businesses give you the ultimate in flexibility and freedom. This page could have been written whenever I felt like it, for example, and from an internet café in France if I wished. And yes, I do make a good living at this.

Our Other Home Business Pages

Examples of both types of home businesses are found throughout this site. Here are some of the pages that cover them.

Best Home Business Opportunity? - This page is all about our own business, and yes, it is home-based. In fact, I am sitting here in my pajamas (sweats actually) as I write this. It's a quick overview of what we do and the advantages of informational websites as a business model for making money online.

Ready to Be a Blogger? - A page with an article by a guy who does a couple hundred thousand dollars annually with his blog. Although I've never had much luck with my own blog (The New Ideas Blog), I love the basic idea. Again, this has all the advantages (ease of maintenance and residual income, for example) that our business has.

Money Making Hobbies - A quick look at how hobbies can be turned into businesses. Many can be done from home, of course.

Treasure Hunting - This covers a lot more money-making activities than you might think. Metal detecting and diamond-hunting in parking lots are just the start. Although you don't get to stay home for these, you do get to operate without an outside office or job to go to.

Playing With Money - This is a fun page that covers several ways to make your money work for you, and I don't mean making a few percent per year in a bank. These are plans that can either be done at home or at least using your house as your office.

Residual Income - I explain why residual income is so valuable, and cover several ways to generate it. Home business opportunities are included in the examples.

Of course, there are also many service businesses that can be operated from your home. These include everything from resume-writing services to window washing and dog-sitting.

Finally, there are many home businesses covered in the Unusual Ways (To Make and Save Money) Newsletter.