Business Opportunities Weblog

January 14, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

BusinessWeek.com:

Is this the year you’ll to start a small business from your home? If so, what opportunities provide your best bets for success? Menlo Park-based Homestead Technologies, which helps entrepreneurs design and maintain their Web sites, has come up with a list of the best home-based business opportunities for 2007.

We looked at the business areas where there’s a lot of spending going on and the areas that are hugely popular right now. We also looked at commonly held “pain points” for consumers, and trends where there are markets breaking out. We also looked at how difficult it is to get started, in terms of experience, education, and money. For instance, we feel that one of the best opportunities presenting itself for the home business market is being a garage organizer.

Another one is a niche market created by the eBay phenomenon. There are more than 700,000 businesses selling on eBay, and many of them recognize that they would be more successful if they had access to market research like pricing strategies, shipping information, and product analysis.

Home-based entrepreneurs who have some experience with eBay themselves could provide educated recommendations to these sellers or would-be sellers on a consulting basis. It’s a classic business-to-business niche, but with an application in a new and growing marketplace.

A similar idea would be doing specialized outsourcing jobs. They could specialize in business functions like sales, customer service and support, human resources, recruiting, accounting—any competency that they have and that a small business cannot afford to build in-house, or chooses not to establish in-house.

Related to that idea is another outsourced service: doing background checks for employers who are considering potential hires. Small businesses with limited resources understand that pre-employment screening is becoming mandatory because of security concerns and issues like workplace violence. But they don’t have a human resources department that can do this.

The tutoring market alone is around $4 billion annually, so home-based businesses that create products or services aimed at educational companies should find a lot of customers. Schools long ago reduced art budgets, but parents are recognizing that creativity and innovation are important skills for their kids to have.

Photo by Garage Solutions Inc..

In Ebay & Online Auctions, Niche, Work at Home | 1 Comment