Home based business models

[Patrick Bridger]

Hi all,

For the past year I’ve been thinking about leaving my current job and starting my own business. I’m a very self-disciplined person and with my experience and degree in business think if I put my mind to it I could successfully manage my own business and work from home.

However, I haven’t yet decided what to do yet so was wondering what people think are good areas to launch into at the moment and any examples of business models?

I appreciate any and all advice / ideas. Many thanks

 

[Mark T Jones]

Hi all,

For the past year I’ve been thinking about leaving my current job and starting my own business. I’m a very self-disciplined person and with my experience and degree in business think if I put my mind to it I could successfully manage my own business and work from home.

However, I haven’t yet decided what to do yet so was wondering what people think are good areas to launch into at the moment and any examples of business models?

I appreciate any and all advice / ideas. Many thanks

If you can do it with a desk/computer/phone, you can do it from home.

What are your skills/experience/interests?

 

[Avilon]

I would do a job in advertising,

... wondering what people think are good areas to launch into at the moment and any examples of business models? ...

I would do a job in advertising, suitable for working from home and everyone needs it.

 

[MBE2017]

I would look at offering a local service of some sort, but a lot depends on what you like to do, and are prepared to do to make a living. To use a sales analogy, you don’t have to like what you are selling, only your client does.

Why based locally? On the web, this is about your only real advantage. I believe a couple of forum members have dog walking businesses for example. This means they are only competing within 5-10 miles from their homes normally I would think. Now if I wanted to have someone sell advertising remotely, I can use several countries with hundreds of quality contacts for $5-10 per hour.

A woman I was talking to now specialises in end of let cleans, extreme cleans. Each takes several hours, a few run into days. Anyway, best of luck.

 

[WaveJumper]

Experience in what

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

If you can do it with a desk/computer/phone, you can do it from home.

What are your skills/experience/interests?

This. You need to draw upon experience and interests that few others have, otherwise you'll never begin.

 

[catshill]

Find something that does not feel like work when you do it.

 

[Avilon]

Find something that does not feel like work when you do it.

Is that not a bad advice ? The life wont happen the way your ego wants, lots of the time. And also when what you love becomes your job, it wont be something you love as much as before.

 

[Patrick Bridger]

I would look at offering a local service of some sort, but a lot depends on what you like to do, and are prepared to do to make a living. To use a sales analogy, you don’t have to like what you are selling, only your client does.

Why based locally? On the web, this is about your only real advantage. I believe a couple of forum members have dog walking businesses for example. This means they are only competing within 5-10 miles from their homes normally I would think. Now if I wanted to have someone sell advertising remotely, I can use several countries with hundreds of quality contacts for $5-10 per hour.

A woman I was talking to now specialises in end of let cleans, extreme cleans. Each takes several hours, a few run into days. Anyway, best of luck.

Thats great advice thank you.

 

[Patrick Bridger]

This. You need to draw upon experience and interests that few others have, otherwise you'll never begin.

And that’s the thing that I find the hardest, trying to find a niche or something I can do better than the majority of others.

 

[japancool]

And that’s the thing that I find the hardest, trying to find a niche or something I can do better than the majority of others.

Never mind doing it better. Start off by doing it less worse than the competition.

 

[WaveJumper]

I am now wondering what a business degree actualy teaches you, is it worth the money

 

[Socio South West]

If you can do it with a desk/computer/phone, you can do it from home.

What are your skills/experience/interests?

Don't worry about past experience and skills - enjoy the challenge and stimulation of a vertical learning curve.

Take it from me, it's amazing what you might discover about yourself!

 

[catshill]

Is that not a bad advice ? The life wont happen the way your ego wants, lots of the time. And also when what you love becomes your job, it wont be something you love as much as before.

Having spent time working for myself, doing something I really enjoy is far preferable. I appreciate that it’s a luxury that others may not be able to adopt and that over time the enjoyment factor may diminish but I still think it’s a worthy goal.

 

[HFE Signs]

You really want to be an expert in your field or find a gap in the market for something

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I am now wondering what a business degree actualy teaches you, is it worth the money

A business degree is a very good thing to have if your entering the corporate world
Running a business with a business degree makes very little difference as the university did not teach you how to work 20 hours a day requiring double the money than you actually have in liquid funds and it does not develop the character required
If anybody is in doubt just watch the UKBF videos everybody on there has had a dose of what we have had!

 

[MBE2017]

And that’s the thing that I find the hardest, trying to find a niche or something I can do better than the majority of others.

You do not need to re invent the wheel, you just need to do it as well, preferably better, quicker, more reliably, maybe cheaper or more expensively.

As an example, I was watching a video about a young UK based guy last night who runs a lead generation business. He has done so well, and has so many good testimonials after 4 years, that he now he closes most deals, and has introduced something most would never consider or should I say could afford to do.

He pitches his lead generation business and at the end offers a full money back guarantee if the client does not achieve the agreed ROI. Basically their clients make money or pay nothing. He gets paid in advance, and most his clients gain £40-50k per month of business. He is now pivoting his business to getting paid per sale, normally £150 per sale, for the UK home improvement market.

I reckon he is turning over £40k per month in commissions, with the recently payment per sale being introduced that will increase significantly, most clients will earn him £5-8k per month, he normally has 30-40 per month atm.

Who say there is no money in lead generation? Most people doing this work on it as a job and get paid £9-15 hr.

 

[DoolallyTap]

DO NOT leave your job until you have proved your plan works. Ask yourself, how much cash do I have? How much cash am I prepared to loose? Asking others what to do is the Holy Grail, if they know a real winner they won't tell, if they come up with ideas, ask why they are not doing it themselves.
What experience? and a business degree, why are you asking others?

 

[Socio South West]

DO NOT leave your job until you have proved your plan works. Ask yourself, how much cash do I have? How much cash am I prepared to loose? Asking others what to do is the Holy Grail, if they know a real winner they won't tell, if they come up with ideas, ask why they are not doing it themselves.
What experience? and a business degree, why are you asking others?

I will agree to disagree with the statement about not leaving your job.

Having a job as well as a start up business brings a lack of commitment to the business owner, and after the initial adrenaline rush phase of launching passes the graft begins.... and it is then that commitment is needed, and not the distraction and apparent comfort of a 9-5 paid job. ( I am assuming a 'sensible' scale business, and not a back bedroom envelope stuffing sort of business here)

In setting up the business provision has to be made for this period before cash really gets flowing.

In leaving employment, make sure you do on good terms, so that if it doesn't work out, the transferable skills that you have are verifiable when you approach other potential employers.

 

[DoolallyTap]

I will agree to disagree with the statement about not leaving your job.

Having a job as well as a start up business brings a lack of commitment to the business owner, and after the initial adrenaline rush phase of launching passes the graft begins.... and it is then that commitment is needed, and not the distraction and apparent comfort of a 9-5 paid job. ( I am assuming a 'sensible' scale business, and not a back bedroom envelope stuffing sort of business here)

In setting up the business provision has to be made for this period before cash really gets flowing.

In leaving employment, make sure you do on good terms, so that if it doesn't work out, the transferable skills that you have are verifiable when you approach other potential employers.

If a person has plenty of capital for the new business and enough cash for living until the business plan starts showing a profit and there is good cashflow, then, leaving a job and committing to the new venture is the best way forward. But, so many people leave the job without much of a plan and then wonder what happened. Yes, leave the job but only if you are absolutely convinced the new venture will work from day one.

 

[Uwe (Invoiceberry)]

And that’s the thing that I find the hardest, trying to find a niche or something I can do better than the majority of others.

What's your current job? What are your hobbies? In what area of your business studies have you succeeded?

This post might be a few years old, but it still stands the test of time: https://www.invoiceberry.com/blog/100-great-business-ideas-you-can-start-on-today/

Cheers!