Home is where the heart is and more frequently, the business is. The appeal of operating a home business is tantalizing to millions of cube workers who want more freedom and control over their lives.
According to American Community Survey data by the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans spend more than 100 hours commuting to work annually. Nationally, the average daily commute to work is about 24.3 minutes in 2003. This is greater than the 80 hours or two weeks of vacation time taken by workers yearly. No wonder the appeal of commuting to a home business is widely appealing.
Older but growing home business opportunities offer startup entrepreneurs the chance to enter a proven industry and spend less time and selling skills to educate the market. While a newer home businesses opportunity has greater need to educate the market but the higher profit potential and reduced competitive landscape can be enticing for new startups.
Here what's hot for home business opportunities in 2007:
1.Pet Sitting: Imagine the perfect home-based business where you get paid to walk and enjoy the companionship of pets.
A pet is often the "children" of the family in more homes today as Americans spend more than $34 billion a year pampering their pets.
Darlene Ehlers of Pampered Pets Home Care in Blue Jay, Ohio and Pet Sitter of the Year couldn't imagine the potential of a home-based business opportunity. "I started as a part-time business and never dreamt it would be a full-time business. It just keep growing and growing," says Darlene.
With busy work schedules and the choice of leaving their "best friend" in a kennel, more and more pet owners are hiring the services of a pet sitter to walk the dog and provide companionship while at work. With the current dog and cat population in the U.S. at 135 million, according to The Pet Food Institute, this is one home business that should purr for years to come.
2. E-Bay Aftermarket: Small business is big business. It's the reason why big corporations have entered the game with increased focus over the last few years. One new niche market created is from the E-Bay phenomena. Over 700,000 businesses use E-Bay as a marketplace to connect with consumers. Home-based entrepreneurs who provide services to this market will be well positioned in 2007.
Small business needs services to compete in the growing E-Bay market. Helping companies conduct market research, pricing strategies, shipping, and competitive analysis in the E-Bay market will be a niche business at home with very few commuting hours.
3. Home-based Debt Collection Agency: Debt has become a way of life for many Americans. According to the Federal Reserve Board, consumer debt is at a record high of $2.03 trillion as of 2004 and continues to grow. All the outstanding, unsecured debt has become a multi-billion dollar business for the 6,000 plus debt collection agencies.
"In debt collection as well as starting any home based business, you will need to continue to educate yourself on laws pertaining to debt collection and small business, especially home based. Some laws are specific to home based rather than an office based business," says Michelle Dunn, author of "Starting a Collection Agency." Dunn tells those considering starting in the collection business to gain outside experience even a part-time job as a collector.
4. Children Arts Education: The growing mantra of companies today is innovate or die. In a global village with short product cycles and intense cost competition, ideas and creativity are the competitive advantage for American companies. While innovation is the driver of competitive advantage, the future lays in the next generation of workers; our kids.
Daniel Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future" reveals the need for our next generation to be right brainers or highly creative. "These people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share its greatest joys," states Pink. Research firm Eduvenutres pegs the tutoring market alone at $4 billion dollars.
Home businesses creating products and services to the creative generation will reap big rewards in the years to come.
Companies like Texas-based KidzArt provides creativity-oriented educational programs to this market. Mother Shell Herman saw the early need in 1993, when schools were reducing art budgets and America lacked a national arts program. Today the company has over 58 franchisees and is growing yearly.
5. Garage Organizers: It would seem in the booming interior design and home makeover industry that every space of the house has been covered. The last frontier in the home business is the garage. A Harris Interactive study indicated almost 40% of Americans rate their garage as the messiest room in the house.
As Americans continue to consume more products than ever, the garage often becomes the cluttered space in the home. Enter the garage organizer who puts the clutter away and gives homeowners a peace of mind. The number of garage organizers is pegged at 500, double the rate of 2000, according to the National Association of Professional Organizers. Just as organizing closets was the next big thing in the 80's, the messy garage is the final space to clean up.
6. Background Checks: Hiring employees used to be a simple matter of a call to a few references. Today, employers find the task of finding a skilled workforce more challenging following security concerns and workplace violence. So companies are turning to background checking for pre-employment screening. Over 96% of HR professionals report that their companies do background checks of new hires, up from 66% in 1996 according to The Society for Human Resource Management Workplace Violence Survey.
Small businesses with limited resources are turning to background check companies to handle investigation, due diligence, and understand legal requirements. This business is ideal for startups who want to operate from the home and provide a vital service to companies.
7. Specialized Coaching: The coaching market has boomed in the recent years including specialized areas such as life, spiritual, corporate, relationship, and business coaching. As with any industry experiencing fast growth, new markets open up providing opportunities to those aware of the changing conditions.
Brad Sugars CEO of Action International, the franchise with over 900 business coaches sees the qualities of a good coach as, "a previous business background, a level of common sense of running a business and the people skills. Coaching is a person-to-person activity and the skill set of communicating people is essential."
According to Sugars, coaching is the hottest home business opportunity because of "the massive media recognition, business owners see it not as a luxury but a necessity, and there is more professionalism in the business."
8. E-Learning: With sky high fuel costs and limited employee time, many companies today have turned to web based learning for education and training of their workforce. IDC forecast the E-Learning market to reach $13 billion in 2007.
With advances in new web application tools such as podcasts and video blogs, development costs will decrease over time. Corporate training via the Internet is a must have for companies competing in a rapidly changing global environment. Meeting the needs in subject areas such as management skills and technology training, will place home-based entrepreneurs into the profit center of this industry.
Inc 500 company TrainingPro provides e-learning courses compliance to the loan and mortgage industry. Founded in 2000, the company has posted revenues of $5.8 million and 834% growth rate. Using the web provides the business with an information hungry market that wants to learn anyplace and anytime.
9. Specialized Outsourcing: Outsourcing is an integral part of life as a small business even before the term was widely spread. With limited resources and a focus on core competencies, companies serving the small business outsourcing market are in a solid position. While it seems big corporations are better suited to reach this market, small business owners trust and enjoy doing business with other small business owners.
Specializing in a business function such as sales and offering to serve to the business market is the best way to go for a small firm. New York-based Corporate Rain Inc. helps companies in the sales area. The company has grown from $10,000 a decade ago to millions today.
10. Scrap Booking: In today's easy to save and store digital age, consumers have been building a large photo library. One booming business capitalizing on this growth is the scrap booking industry. As one of the fastest growing areas of the craft industry, scrap booking accounts for over $3 billion a year in revenue.
Opportunities abound for the home-based entrepreneur as a professional scrapbook artist, workshop teacher, or a direct sales rep.Publisher Creating Keepsakes estimates the business is beyond fad and bigger than the golfing industry with 26.3 million American households scrap booking versus 23.7 million golfing households. This home business opportunity is well-positioned for the future.
Running a small business from the home will continue to be appealing to employees who crave independence, no commuting time, and flexibility. Turn your home in to a business.
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