15 Awesome ideas for a home-based business

More and more pet owners are treating their pets like mini me’s. Nothing is too good for the family pet.  “Gourmet doggie treats” is becoming a growing business in the pet food industry. This gives rise to an excellent business idea for a home-based business “Gourmet Doggie Treats”. Many pet owners are more than willing to pay a premium price to please their pooch, so you can be assured you will be handsomely rewarded in this business, pet owners are just as concerned about their pets dietary as any parent is about their own child's diet. Going into the production of gourmet dog biscuits is an easy business to start, it requires little start up capital, just yummy recipes. You could do a little research and formulate a unique recipe for doggy biscuits based on healthy, organic/ natural and tasty ingredients. This business could be really fun you could use fun shapes and molds to make your range of biscuits.  You could sell your wares to pet stores, on line (EBay), market stalls and so on, there are numerous places where you could sell this type of product.  Even better, this type of business will really boom as word of mouth spreads about your delicious doggy treats! 

The application of ceramics lends itself to many household items such as planting pots, picture frames, plates, vases decorative tiles ornaments and so on.  If you have a creative flair then this may well be the business for you. You could either set up a studio at home or hire the facilities, some studios who offer short courses also offer the availability of their facilities for a small fee. One of the best features of this business is you can either make and or decorate ceramic products and literally sell them to many different types of customers. You could sell ceramic products to: various boutique stores, B&B’s, hotel chains, souvenirs/ tourist shops, restaurants, gift stores, nursery stores, on line, home ware stores, baby stores ... the list just goes on and on.  You could even product partner, with another business, i.e. selling your product packaged with the product of another business. Show Mummy the Money, details how you could effectively market this type of business to ensure business success.  A fantastic feature of this business is you can charge a premium-selling price for your product.  Customers recognize a unique hand crafted product will always be relatively more expensive than a mass-produced item.

These days’ businesses need to compete on more than just the merits of their product or service to “woo” and retain their client base. Client Relationship Management, (CRM) is a service that has be borne out of the growing competitive business environment in which most businesses now operate within. Its long known in the business world it costs more to earn a new customer than it does to retain a current customer.  CRM gives rise to a great idea for a home-based business tailored to those Mums who enjoy organizational and administrative based work. Many businesses would ideally love to out source CRM activities such as sending out monthly newsletters, coordinating marketing campaigns, dealing with customer feedback forms and so on.  There are very few business servicing the needs of small businesses in this area, therefore competition is low for this type of business.  A great feature of this business is you can literally target any business with a customer, from doctors, dentists, accountants, photographers (portrait and wedding), plumbers, trade businesses to hairdressers.  In addition this business requires hardly any set up costs, you basically need a computer and a great sales pitch to take to your potential customers. 

Love flowers well why not consider starting a business which deals in flowers.  A wedding florist is an excellent business for a home-based Mum.  It requires very little by way of “set up costs”, perhaps you may need to do a short 12-week course in floristry, but best of all its all weekend work.  Your success in this type of business will depend on your ability to design and construct splendid floral arrangements add to this a high level of customer service, and you could well be operating a real little money earner in no time.  The wedding industry is very much referral based, in Show Mummy the Money I will show tips and tricks on how you can generate referrals and promote this type of business to ensure your business has the best opportunity for success.

Photographs  - this subject alone generates at least 3 exceptional ideas for a Mum who wants to start a home-based business dealing in “photos”. If you have a keen eye for photography you could consider putting this talent to use and sell the credible photos you have taken.  You could sell photographs to large photo libraries; there are a number of these on line.  You could use your own photographs to create greeting cards, calendars and so on to sell in card and paper stores, souvenir shops.  

If you are able to restore photographs you could set up a business offering this type of service.  The potential of this business is unlimited consider the large number of photographs taken before the digital camera was introduced.  There would be a huge number of customers out there with precious photographs in need of a little TLC. You could also offer services such as creating photo montages, imagine how many parents would love to have their child’s first 5 years of life pictorially displayed in one picture, or what a great present a montage would make for a 50th birthday. Montages are easily created in any photographic software package such as Adobe Photoshop.

Finally if you are a keen "scrapbooker" then why not use this skill to start a home-based business. You could offer to take customers photographs and preserve them in a handcrafted book.  One of the best features of this business is there are many time poor parents who lack the time and talent to create their own scrap books for their children, however they are more than happy to pay good money to have some one else do it for them.   So if you already have skills in the field of scrap booking then why not capitalize on your talents.  

Once again all of the above ideas require very little by way of start up capital.  Promoting and marketing your business will be the key to the success of all 3 ideas, Show Mummy the Money the money can show you how to develop an effective marketing to attract customer to your business. 

We live in an information hungry society demand is particularly high for “How to information”. Information is power so if you have valuable information then why not un-leash the power and enter the world of self-publishing.  Through the use of PDF’s you can effectively sell your information on line without even considering the need for a printer.  E-books are gaining more and more acceptance, people are happy to purchase information through e-books as apposed to a physical hard copy from a bookshop.   This is fantastic news for Mums looking to start a business by simply selling the information they have attained, learned or experienced. Information which is sellable includes expert information, how to information, DIY guides, instructions, recipes and so on.  If you think you cannot make money out of selling information consider the Australian Lady of Clean who has made a small fortune selling her secrets to cleaning up stains and spills.

To start this business you will need a site to sell your information.  You will need to drive traffic to this site, Show Mummy the Money, details how you can market and promote your product or service to potential customers. This is an excellent business concept it requires little start up capital and furthermore once you have enough traffic frequenting your site you could consider earning additional profits by selling advertising space on your website as well.

This is a very traditional business concept.  However with a little modern creativity you could well have a business specializing in unique and creative gift baskets and or hampers.  This is a brilliant idea for a Home-Based Business, particularly if you can differentiate the contents of your baskets from the competitors.  You can sell gift baskets to retail boutique stores, on line, large corporates.  Research the current market find out what is already on offer, what could you do differently. For example taking into account the community’s acceptance of alternative medicine then perhaps you could team up with a naturopath to create a range of gift baskets with certain remedies to aid a number of conditions, i.e. “after birth survival kit”.  Alternatively if one of your baskets was full of yummy goodies ideal for a picnic then you could consider advertising through a boutique food store, leave one of the hampers on display.  You could even arrange with the food store to stock some of their products in the baskets in exchange for shop space.

If you have decided to pursue the “corporate market” then I would strongly suggest you speak to such businesses especially if they give their employees the traditional hamper at Christmas time.  You need to find out what they would want in a hamper that they could give to their staff and what would they expect to pay for a given number of hampers.  Once you have ascertained how you could fulfill the needs of the target market then I would put together a powerful marketing campaign and start to approach various businesses with your range of Christmas hampers.

8. Hand Made

In the past couple of years there has been tremendous growth in the number of boutique baby clothing stores stocking an array of designer labels demanding extreme prices for their product.  So how can you gain access to this market – easy…. if you can knit, you might like to consider starting a business selling hand-knitted clothing and crafts.  In Europe hand knitted products are extremely popular, simply take a look at the Danish site, Mormor. I suspect it won’t be long till Australia follows suit, as we do with most overseas trends. Ideally you need to design “knitted products” with a little modern flair and creativity, the cable knitted tops of the eighties definitely won’t cut it.  In addition packaging and presentation will also be key in this type of business, you need to remember the customers of boutique stores buy on presentation (packaging) as well as product characteristics and features.  You could also sell knitted craft wares online (EBay), through party plan, and at local markets. 

Quilted products are in high demand and they certainly sell for a pretty penny.  If you have an interest in craft and quilting you could take advantage of current demand and start a business in quilting.  Ideally you will need to be able to quilt however if you can’t the good news is you can certainly learn the necessary skills through a short course or sewing classes.  There are a range of products which can be quilted such as, bed linen, blankets, mats, bags, table settings (placemats, napkins…), cushions, wall hangings and so on.  In fact you could specialize in one area, i.e. children’s bedroom décor, you could create packaged décor in themes such as butterflies or fairies for girls.  Quilted products certainly sell very well through boutique baby and giftware stores, however you could also offer to personalize your products with a child’s name and sell on line.  You may wish to sell through party plan, or at your local market. When developing your product I would strongly suggest you follow the guidelines recommended in Show Mummy the Money, you will need to create a product that appeals to the selected target market.

Another option to consider… if you have exceptional quilting skills you could start a business conducting classes and teach your skills to other keen quilters. 

Over the past few years there has been an amazing growth in the market for premium soaps, bath bombs, body washes, exotic lotions and creams, some come with a wonderful combination of unusual herbal collaborations, others are characterised by fresh luscious and aromatic scents. Overall we simply love to smell nice this same concept could very well apply to clothing. Premium laundry detergent is a market waiting to be tapped.  You could start a business by developing your very own range of unique laundry detergents, including a certain detergent designed to match the demands of a particular fabric, i.e. wool, silk.  There are a number of ways you could sell this product, obviously if you wanted to go national you could sell your product range to a supermarket chain.  Alternatively you could sell this type of product, online, in boutique clothing stores, to retailers of manchester/ linens, through party plan and so on.

The key to this business is developing and packaging the product.  This concept has already taken off in the US, you may like to visit The Laundress, to see a couple of ladies who have already achieved remarkable success with this business idea.  Imagine using a laundry detergent, which eliminated the smell of in grained sweat with the crisp fresh aroma of a well-known perfume.

Where is a huge market for “kids craft”; in particular craft based activities for children aged 5 – 10.  Many parents struggle to find “worthy and educational” craft based activities to keep their children entertained. Generally speaking there are a number of inferior “craft based projects” available in large toy department stores, however these can be cheap and nasty.  A couple of Mums in the UK have developed a business with the aim of effectively addressing this demand with premium well thought out crafty products which are in themselves projects, this business is rightly called The Little Experience.  If you are interested in kids craft you may like to consider emulating the success of The Little Experience, here in Australia.  This type of business has enormous potential, many parents are time poor and simply don’t have the time or energy to run around various shops gathering the necessary equipment and materials so their child could construct their own toy doll, for example.  Crafty Kids Products/ Projects could be sold through party plan, on line or in premium toy stores.  This type of business is perfect for an at home Mum, its simply a matter or buying stock in bulk and stocking the kits for each project.

  

Handbags are an accessory that will never date. They are a girl’s only means to carry all that important “stuff”. You may wish to consider establishing a business that makes and sells some sort of bag.  You could even consider specializing in a certain type of bag i.e. nappy bag, evening bags, cocktail party bag, and everyday bag...  Conduct your own market research sit at a large shopping centre and observe people using their handbags this may provide you with the inspiration to design a completely new and innovative solution for a handbag.  Handbags are a great product to start a business with; handbags can be sold through all distribution channels.  There is a large target market for handbags, nearly every female and these days this includes teens and young girls all use some form of handbag.  You could source brand name handbags and re sell through “EBay”, since users of EBay will generally search for a product based on its brand name.

If you break the concept down, people are buying a means to carry their personal effects this is the main purpose of the bag.  Therefore the market could include males, it could cover persons looking for an alternative way to carry; a lap top, a mobile phone, a purse a wallet, diary, P.D.A, school books, groceries.  It may be as simple as entering the market with a new and innovatively designed bag that holds such items in a more efficient and effective manner.

You only have to look at the types of bags the general public use to see there has already been some new and innovative designs penetrating the market for bags; for example, the “bum bag”, a small pouch that straps around the waist and hangs over the tummy area, or the one strap over the shoulder / across the chest bag, and or the plastic “grocery” bag now replaced by material/ calico bags.  To succeed in this business, think outside the square; consider the follow sites, where bag manufacturers have developed innovative bags using unique materials: Rag Bag , Ecoist , Feuerwear , One Day One Bag.

An events coordinator is someone who organises various events on behalf of another person, group of persons and or organizations.  Corporate businesses in particular use the services of event managers and coordinators as they don’t have the time or resources to arrange one off events such as product launches, annual end of year party, business anniversaries or milestones and so on.

A business specialising in events management and or coordination is essentially a business based on the core skill of organization. If you are an organiser at heart, this may well be the business for you.  To succeed in this line of business familiarise yourself with the top venues, reception centres and restaurants in your state. Know what’s hot in town and what’s not in order to be able to pitch a high-class experience, fresh suggestions and creative ideas to your clientele.  Potential clients would expect you to be able to provide all sorts of fresh, creative and unique ideas for their events and celebrations, it is very important for the success of your business that you ensure you are able to respond quickly to the clients needs.

One of the greatest features of this business concept is its not restricted to business clientele, you can offer to organise all kinds of events, such as wine tours, adventure weekends, you may even consider specialising in birthday parties for all ages.  It would be a good idea to source out the competitors and find out what they do and don’t do, is there a niche in the market where could you effectively enter and successfully fulfil the needs of a certain segment of the overall target market.

An events management business would certainly be a fun business to get into as you would be able to organise fabulous parties using some one else’s money, what could be better. 

If you are a bit of a wiz in the kitchen then perhaps a catering business is for you. If you were going to operate from home you would need to read up on the food preparation and handling regulations, obtain such advice from your local council.  Nevertheless there is another way…you could consider serving a niche market within the catering industry, termed “in-house“ catering.  This is a new form of catering service and is fast becoming more and more popular with those holding intimate dinner parties ranging from 8 - 15 attendees.  

Here whats involved, you go to the client’s house where the party is being hosted, you cook the meals for the guests, usually its like a smorgas board and you need to cook the desired number of dishes and the guests help themselves.  You are of course required to bring the ingredients and in some cases the cooking appliances such as a roasting pan and so on.  

This form of catering is becoming very popular as it saves the host from having to run around all day preparing for the night and the food is served hot and fresh.  In house catering is a fantastic business for an at home Mum, much of the required work is evening based, in addition once you have established a reputation you will be stunned how quickly your client base will grow.  Lets face it if we have eaten well we usually make a point of remembering when, where and most of all by whom.