Home Business

House Cleaning Could Be Great Home Business

House cleaning could be a great home business or home based business requiring very little to start and with plenty of growth potential.

A Clean House is a sign of a wasted life
Originally uploaded by krisandapril

Brett Krkosska of HomeBizTools explains how demand is growing for this working from home business opportunity and reviews steps to take when trying to enter the business.

According to Krkosska, a U.S. demographics survey shows more than half of all two person housholds include two wage earners.

That statistic rises to 76 percent when considering only two person households in which couples have a high school graduation or higher.

The  numbers reflect a potential market of those in need of house cleaning services because of the amount of time involved away from home working.

For more on how to create a small residential house cleaning business and perhaps someday grow it in to a commercial cleaning and janitorial empire, read Krkosska's post "How To Start a Residential House Cleaning Service" at Home Biz Tools.

What Do You Need To Start a Home Business? Not Much

What do you need to start a small business, especially if it happens to be a home business?

Home Office #2
Originally uploaded by rintakumpu

Not much, says Dane Carlson, founder of the Business Opportunities Weblog Network.

In fact, one of Dane's suggestions in a famous blog post he once published to some scathing criticism (and some resounding praise) is working from home.

Don’t rent an office. Work from home. It won’t require a first, last and security deposit. Plus, it’s tax deductible.

Other things you don't need when starting your home based business, according to Dane:

• An attorney
• An accountant
• A bank account
• Even a business name

Think Dane's brilliant...or out of his mind.

Read more of "20 Things Not To Do Before Starting A Business" at Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog and be sure to check out some of the many comments or leave your own.

Home Business Revolution

You say you want a revolution. Well, that's exactly what home business offers.

As of 2003 according to Erica Orloff and Kathy Levinson, authors of The 60 Second Commute: A Guide to Your 24/7 Home Office Life an estimated 60 million people were working at home at least one day a week

Home based business offers some obvious advantages:

• Low overhead as far as office and business related costs compared with owning or leasing business property.
• More control over the work environment including more flexibility of schedule and more potential time with friends and family
• Lower overall costs for everything from gas to eating out or on the road to the amount you spend on clothes for work.
• Less regulation since in many communities home businesses either don't require any or can effectively fly under the radar until you have your business up and running

You'll also find challenges if you are just getting started but as John Lennon once sang, "It's Gonna Be Alright."

For more resources, join us on our Linkedin group or on Facebook, and tell a friend.

Getting Press for Your Home Business

It's every home business owner's dream. You call your local newspaper or TV station, tell them about your new work from home business and instantly you're inundated with positive press.

The Gentlemen of the Press
Originally uploaded by StormyDog

Local reporters call you to ask you how you got started, photographers snap pictures of your products and your new home office and local a local television crew visits you to do a story on the services you provide.

Media coverage is rightly coveted by small and medium sized business owners of all kinds as an inexpensive way to promote your products and to gain outside credibility for their brand.

They hire PR people to pitch stories to the press, struggle to find news worthy angles that will get them or their products and services covered in a positive light and hold press conferences for the media to announce any new development in the hopes it will be covered.

But experts insists the key to get your business the free publicity you desire is by finding a niche and becoming a trusted media source on topics within that niche giving you ongoing publicity for years to come.

Learn "5 Ways to Gain Free Publicity and Exposure for Your Home Business" in this article from Home Business Magazine.

Work Life Balance in Your Home Business

Attaining work life balance is always a challenge with your home business.

But Jodi L. Diehl of Sunfrog Services suggests some great tips for keeping the world of business and the world of homelife seperate when working from home.

Worklife Balance
Originally uploaded by Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline

Some of Jodi's key suggestions involve:

• Keeping home and home office clearly seperate
• Never mixing home with business activities.
• Always making clear delineations between work and family

In the more traditional workplace, there is always the challenge of bringing the office home with you.

With a home based business, IT's ALREADY THERE!

Don't succomb to the temptation of intertwining your personal and professional lives just because your commute to work involves a short walk down the hall.

Keep your personal and work life separate with these important tips.

For more details, read Jodi's post "Separating Your Home From Your Successful Home Business" at R144.com.

Tips on Home Business Regulations

When it comes to home business regulations become aware of what your community requires before getting started and avoid running the risk of getting shut down instead.

The Office(at home)
Originally uploaded by Fabio Bruna

One great source of information is HomeBizTools.com with many informative tips on getting into home business.

According to the Website, some simple requirements may include:

• A business license
• Quarterly federal income taxes
• Unemployment taxes and
• Complying with any zoning requirements

Many communities in the U.S. remain fairly lenient about regulating home businesses, especially those that do not require any client or customer visits to the home or require any special approval like food preparation.

If you work from your lap top from where ever you happen to be, it probably isn't necessary to check on local zoning and ordinances.

For more information read the article "Making Your Home Business Legal" from the HomeBizTools.com Website and browse through the other resources you find there.

What Jerry Springer teaches home business owners about branding

What can trash talk show host and now Dancing with the Stars performer Jerry Springer teach home business owners about branding?

Bear with us here. This won't be as weird as some of the shows (see the tamest clip we could find from YouTube on this page.)

In a recent interview with personal branding expert Dan Schawbel at the Branding Blog, Springer says his career can best be seen as a case of classic branding. How?

Springer explains:

• Find a niche. Springer's show exploited a niche rarely if ever explored by any talk show host before
• Stand out. The show, of course, did this not simply because of its outrageous content but because it was the only show attempting to be so outrageous, "silly" Jerry calls it.
• Create a product people want. Critics may argue that controversy alone contributed to Springer's success but in the end without customers who wanted his product, he insists, this success would not have been possible
• Target your audience. Springer and his team only focused on promoting their product to a receptive audience who they believed wanted to see it and did not bother targeting those who would not initially be interested in the product

Are we suggesting the key to branding your new home based business is to be as outrageous as Springer?...er, no. But make your home business stand out in its own way, occupy a special niche and target those who will appreciate it.

For more, read the complete Jerry Springer interview on The Branding Blog.

Home Business: Find Your Passion

When searching for home business ideas, be sure to find your passion.

In his post "Starting a Free Online Business" Randy Duermyer, Home Business guide for About.com, suggests matching your interests with demand.

wanna feel the passion?...have a seat
Originally uploaded by frerieke

Consider some basic interests that might be turned into an effective home based business:

• Number crunching, preparing financials researching and sharing tax and financial advice
• Buying, selling and researching antiques, collectibles or other rare or unusual items
• Internet research, writing and sharing of information on a variety of topics
• Writing, laying out and creating ebooks or self published books or information on a variety of topics
• Graphic art and design using desktop publishing software or HTML and other hypertex programming language used for Web design.

Picking a business based on an idea for which you have great aptitude and passion will help you stay focused, not lose momentum and hopefully create a successful work at home business in the process.

For more ideas on choosing a business idea that fits your passions see Yolanda Nichole's post "How to Exploit Your Passion as An Entrepreneur" At eHow.com.

Tips for Working From Home

Just like working in a cubicle, working from home requires some adjustment.

Home Sweet Home
Originally uploaded by jaaron

BootStrapMe.com, the guide for bootstrap business startup online, has some tips for the newly minted work at home professional or home based business owner.

Whether working at home or in the office, it helps to remember that business is business and key decisions will help you save money and increase efficiency no matter where you earn your daily bread.

Key things to remember:

• Keep a low profile. While home business is still not too heavily regulated in the U.S. at least, it's best to avoid local problems by staying below the radar especially if your business doesn't require an outside office
• Stay small. Even if your business begins to expand, don't rush to hire that first employee. If it requires moving to an office overhead on your business could dramatically increase and having an employee in your home creates another set of issues (See point one).

For more tips on starting and running your home business, read "Five Tips When starting a Business at Home at BootstrapMe.com.

Give Your Home Business a Fitness Workout

Give your home business a fitness workout and see the results in a healthier, happier company.

Mass fitness
Originally uploaded by zhushmanson

Fitness professional and business owner Michele Silence insists keeping your business fit is no different than toning your body to keep it healthy and starts with a few basic steps.

Some of Michele's basic tips for a healthier business in the coming year include:

• Taking responsibility
• Putting in the time
• Staying positive

Remember, ultimately the success or failure of your home business is up to you, so don't blow it. If you want a better, more successful home business put in the same effort you would on a happier, healthier you.

Read more, from Michele's post "Health and Fitness - A Fitter Business in 2010" at PowerHomeBiz.com.