The Best Home Based Business Ideas Come From Identifying, Then Filling A WANT
February 21, 2008
Ready, Fire, Aim! This is how most people start a home based business. This is how most people start any business; how most companies launch a product. This is how I did things when I first started along my entrepreneurial path, and let me tell you, it is one of the most expensive and important lessons you can learn. You have probably heard, “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.” It’s true, and if you are even thinking about starting a business, you better remember it.
So where do you start? A business plan, right? Wrong! This is very important, and I will get into that later, but the place to start is your idea to start a home based business in the first place (or any business for that matter). Let me tell you about one of my flops.
I was about 25, and I moved back to New Orleans to pursue a business opportunity that eventually fell through. I had just sold my first company, and I was rich. After paying off a bunch of debt, I had about $10 thousand in the bank! Listen, when you’re 25, and that is more money than you have ever had before, you think you’re rich. I put the whole thing into spray mace (pepper-spray) distributorship. This is a self defense spray, and since New Orleans had such a high crime rate, and was at the time, the murder capital of the US, I thought I had a no-brainer here. I was very wrong. [Read more]
Another Hot Market For Your Idea To Start A Home Business: The Pet Market
January 7, 2008
If you don’t have a pet, you may not be aware of how enormous the Pet Industry is. Even if you are a pet owner, you may not know how much money Americans spend on their pets each year. According to a BusinessWeek cover story from August 2007,
- Two-thirds of US households, 33%- 71 million homes, have a pet.
- This is up from 64 million, 10% just five years ago
- Americans spend $41 Billion a year on their pets - that’s billion- with a “B”
- This has doubled in the last ten years
- Spending is expected to hit $52 billion (a 25% increase) in 2 years.
Some more telling statistics:
- 42% of Dogs share a bed with their owners
- 30% of pet owners buy their pet birthday gifts
- 31 million dogs & 39 million cats received holiday presents last year
Has this got your attention yet? [Read more]
One of the Hottest Markets For Your Idea To Start A Home Business: The Senior Market
January 1, 2008
I am sure there will be thousands of articles about predictions for 2008, but that is not going to stop me from adding my two cents. I am going to talk a lot about having multiple streams of income as I guide you along your path of entrepreneurial success. You need to have a main business, sure, but you must also have multiple source of “passive income”. These are little ventures or projects, that take some work in the beginning, but then generate income over time with no more work on your part. A How To book or e-book, sold through a website, is a great example of passive income. This is that, “Make money in your sleep,” thing you hear so much about. So from time to time, I will suggest a Hot Market that you should consider starting a business, or at least a sideline in. [Read more]
