Business Overview:

If you’ve been looking for a lucrative business that you can easily start up at home, considering a sewing machine repair business. With millions of sewing machines in use, the demand for repair is constant. In addition, most machines need to be serviced once a year, even if no repair is needed. This can lead to a constant stream of business right to your front door. Best of all, it is not difficult to learn how to maintain and repair sewing machines, and no special tools are needed. It is quite easy to start this business up on a part-time basis and move it to full-time as you build your client base, which often happens quickly through word of mouth.

If you take a sewing machine repair course it’s important that you know what to look for. You don’t want to take a course that will only teach on how to repair one brand of sewing machine. You want to look for a sewing machine repair school that covers the basics that apply to all brands so that no matter what type of machine is brought to you the repair is within the scope of what you have learned. You also want to locate a course that will teach you how to attract your first customers.

A day in the life of a sewing machine repair business owner:

A typical day will start out with you determining which sewing machines you want to repair and maintain that day. You’ll need to know what dates you promised the machines to be ready for each customer and prioritize them according to those dates. Many sewing machine repair business owners like to do the tune-ups first as they take the least amount of time, and then they move on to the machines that need repair. Your day will also include having people drop off their machines and getting an estimate from you. Other customers will be stopping by to pick up and pay for their repaired sewing machines. As your business grows you may choose to hire other sewing machine repair people in which case you will be determining their priorities for work each day.

The Good:

• It is extremely easy to learn to repair sewing machines.
• This business is ideal to run out of your home.
• Sewing machines need yearly tune-ups even if they don’t require repair.
• No special tools are needed which keeps your start-up costs very low.
• There is high demand for sewing machine repair services.

The Bad:

• Once you’ve mastered sewing machine repairs, you may find the work repetitive.
• Many people find it preferable to replace their sewing machines rather than repair them if they bought a low-end model.

Resources:

• Sewing Machine Trade Association
• A1 Sewing Machine Specialists

Technorati Tags: sewing machine repair business, sewing machine repair course, sewing machine repair school

Business Overview:

If you’re thinking of starting a bookkeeping business, it’s important to know the strategies for running a highly profitable service. Owning your own home based bookkeeping service can easily be started on a small, part-time basis and then be increased in size until you have a staff of bookkeepers working for you. Because nearly all businesses require bookkeepers, your bookkeeping business plan should target small, medium, and large-sized companies. Many businesses now outsource their bookkeeping as a way to trim costs and keep personnel overhead low which makes this a great online business idea. Every financial transaction that happens in a business must be recorded, which is why bookkeeping services are in such high demand. Owning a bookkeeping business commands respect. While certification is not required, it is available in the form of becoming a Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB). With the advanced software packages that are now available, many bookkeeping business owners no longer require certification of their bookkeepers because the software now tracks much of what the bookkeeper used to be responsible for knowing. If you’re looking for fast entry into owning a business, consider starting a home bookkeeping business.

A day in the life of a bookkeeping business owner:

A typical day may start with organizing the day’s work by determining the order to work on each client’s finances. If you are doing the work yourself, you will then spend time working with the financial information, entering it into the appropriate software, and sending requested reports to your clients. If you have a staff working for you, then you would assign them their work for the day or the week. Part of each week will also be spent invoicing your clients for payment, answering any questions they have, and obtaining new clients for your new business idea.

The Good:

• This is a highly professional business that commands respect.
• Nearly every business requires bookkeeping services.
• The owner of a bookkeeping business has a highly flexible schedule.
• Increased earnings are available for those that want to obtain certification.
• Easy to start as a home-based business.

The Bad:

• The financial and tax regulations change every year, requiring an update in software on an annual basis.
• In difficult financial times, many small businesses close so the bookkeeping business owners may lose some of their smaller clients.

Resources:

• American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers
• National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers
• National Bookkeepers Association
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Bookkeeping (Wikipedia)

Technorati Tags: book keeping business, bookkeeping business plan, home based bookkeeping business, home bookkeeping business, starting a bookkeeping business

Business Overview:

The battery reconditioning business is an eco-friendly, “green” business with six-figure income potential. This little known niche business is becoming more in demand as consumers are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious. Automobiles have rechargeable lead acid batteries in them. Often when a battery “dies,” the owner buys a new battery. However, by reconditioning their “dead” battery, you can save them 50% of the cost of a new battery and even offer them a warranty. You can also offer to recondition Ni-cd and Ni-mh batteries, expanding your business potential. If you want to help people with their batteries, business will be great for you. The basic skills to run your own battery business consist of learning how to recondition rechargeable batteries, how to rejuvenate dead batteries, how to measure a battery’s charge capacity, how to revert a reversed cell, and understanding why batteries need to be reconditioned. These are all very simple concepts to learn and for just a few hundred dollars you can quickly have your own battery reconditioning business up and running.

A day in the life of a battery reconditioning business owner:

Your day may start out with customers bringing batteries to you in the morning. You will let them know the approximate time they can pick up their reconditioned batteries and what the cost will be. You will then spend your day reconditioning the batteries, or overseeing workers if you hire others to do this work for you. As the day progresses customers will drop by to pick up and pay for their reconditioned batteries. You will perform weekly inventory checks on your supplies to be sure you keep everything in stock that is needed to recondition the batteries.

The Good:

• The start up costs are low.

• It is easy to learn the basics of battery reconditioning.
• This business can be started on a part-time basis and move to full-time gradually.
• This business is easy to operate from your home.
• The overhead is low and the profit margin is high.

The Bad:

• The work is repetitive in nature.

• It can take some patience to build up your client list.

Resources:

• How Batteries Work
• Battery Information

Technorati Tags: batteries business, battery business, battery reconditioning business

Business Overview:

There’s great money to be made starting a lawn care business with nearly unlimited potential for growth. While you can start small with very low startup costs, this is an easy business to expand. You can initially focus on homeowners’ lawns with your lawn mowing business, but for maximal growth you will eventually want to move into providing landscape management services to commercial businesses. Between office buildings, apartment complexes, and banks there is limitless growth potential. You will initially see to it that the lawns are kept manicured, but if you want to diversify you can gradually move into other aspects of the business. Most small businesses want someone to care for their entire landscape, including the plants and shrubbery around their buildings, in addition to seeing that their lawn is kept trimmed. This business offers the aspiring entrepreneur the opportunity to participate in many aspects of the business world such as finding new clients and supervising the people you hire to ensure they perform the highest quality of work. If you want to have a team of people working for you, following your directions because you’re the owner of the company, give serious consideration to starting a lawn mowing business.

A day in the life of a lawn care business owner:

When you initially are starting a lawn care business, you may spend a fair amount of time attracting new clients to your business. Once you are well established you will spend part of each day assigning your crews to their different work locations, overseeing their work, and handling any problems that arise. As your business continues to grow you will need to be hiring new work crews and purchasing new equipment. You will also spend part of each week billing your customers and handling the financial side of your business.

The Good:

• It is very easy to start a lawn care business, with minimal startup costs.
• This is a recession-proof business. Businesses still need lawn service even during economic slowdowns.
• There is unlimited earning potential since you can continue to expand your work crews and equipment as much as you’d like.
• You have control over your time with full flexibility for when you want to work and how large you want to grow your business.
• If you love to be outdoors you can keep your hand in the actual work being done.

The Bad:

• This business is seasonal if you live in a Northern climate.
• Regular maintenance is absolutely required on all equipment to ensure minimum equipment failure.

Resources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Professional Landcare Network

Technorati Tags: lawn care business, lawn care business opportunity, lawn mowing business, starting a lawn care business, starting a lawn mowing business

Business Overview:

If you love to decorate and have a great eye for design, consider starting a home staging business. As a professional home stager, you will help realtors and home sellers bring in top dollar for the homes they are selling by decorating and staging their homes so that they show well to buyers. While home staging as a business is fairly new, it is a rapidly expanding market as sellers are realizing the high impact a well-staged home has on potential buyers. A good home staging business plan includes detailing how to attract clients to your services and outlining the best ways to improve a home showing on a restrained budget. No certification is needed to be a topnotch home staging business owner and it provides a great outlet for creativity. If you enjoy decorating, are good at multitasking, and want to control your own schedule, this may be the perfect business for you.

A day in the life of a home staging business owner:

The best part of being a home staging business owner is that there is no typical day. On some days you may be meeting with potential clients to explain your services and pricing. Another day may find you meeting with clients to explain what you are proposing for their home or shopping for products that they will need. You may find yourself having several days in a row where you are actually implementing your design ideas in the homes of your clients. Each day is as varied as the homes you are staging.

The Good:

• The ability to create your own schedule and work independently.
• Very low startup costs.
• Fantastic creative outlet for those that love to decorate and design.
• Wide variety of tasks and objectives to meet every day.
• Home staging pays well, usually based on an hourly or daily basis.

The Bad:

• Home staging is a fairly new business concept and no long-term trends are available yet to predict how recession-proof this business may be.
• Some clients may have restricted budgets requiring extreme creativity to accomplish what they want without buying many new decorative items.

Resources:

• International Association of Home Staging Professionals
• Real Estate Staging Association
• Home Staging (Wikipedia)
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Article on Home Staging

Technorati Tags: home staging as a business, home staging business, home staging business plan, home staging business training

Business Overview:

If you’ve been thinking of starting a daycare in your home, you’ll be pleased to know that the demand for daycare services continues to rise. With so many parents working outside the home, opening a daycare is a service that multitudes of families will be grateful for. Many parents have grave concerns about the quality of childcare that is found in larger facilities, and they often prefer a small, home-based daycare business where they know their child will receive plenty of specialized, one-on-one attention. Because of this, it’s a great time to create a daycare business plan if you love children and want to work at home. The startup costs are low and the rewards of impacting a child’s life are great. While most states require home-based daycare businesses to be licensed and some require the staff to be certified, the application process is usually quite simple. You can contact your local municipal office to determine their exact requirements.

A day in the life of a home-based daycare business owner:

There are several types of daycare. If you choose to have an all-day program, then your day will start quite early because parents need to drop their children off before they go to work. Your day will be spent overseeing the children, monitoring any staff people you have working with you, and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of every child in your care. On the other hand, you could decide to have an after school program. In this situation your workday will not start until after school was finished. That might be at noon if you are accepting kindergarten-aged children or mid-afternoon if you are only accepting children older than those in the first grade. Part of your day might also be spent interviewing the parents and children that want access to your daycare, to educate them about what it is you do and to see if their child would be a good fit in your program.

The Good:

• Very low startup costs.
• There’s a very high demand for this service.
• Great satisfaction in impacting a child’s life.
• You can customize the business so that you work with the age group you want to: newborns, toddlers, preschoolers, or a mixture.

The Bad:

• Most states require a daycare license, though it is not difficult to obtain.
• You may have some children that need more discipline and guidance than you feel comfortable providing and conflict may arise with the parents.

Resources:

• Child Day Care Association
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Childcare.gov
• National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
• Child Care Aware

Technorati Tags: daycare business, daycare business plan, daycare license, how to open a daycare, opening a daycare, starting a daycare

Business Overview:

Expectant moms want to hire a pregnancy planner to help them with all the details surrounding having a new baby. A baby planner comes alongside a soon-to-be mom to help with items such as preparing the nursery, planning the baby shower, ordering birth announcements and baby-proofing the home. As a woman is planning for a baby, she often becomes overwhelmed with the myriad of details that need to be attended to. That’s when she begins to look for a baby concierge. Some baby planners offer assistance even after the baby is born. They know that new moms often need help finding good childcare, determining which type of bottle to transition to if the new mom is heading back to work, and what diaper service to use. It’s easy to encounter information overload in the world of baby products, which is why so many women are now relying on a pregnancy planner. They want someone who will sort through all the details and help make the decisions so that they can relax and enjoy the pregnancy. That’s the job of a baby planner.

A day in the life of a baby planner business owner:

As a pregnancy planner, you will spend part of your day attracting new clients through advertising your services. This business idea will have you on the phone at times, discussing what services your potential clients need and giving them estimates. You may then spend time doing research on products that your existing clients are interested in. Some days will find you meeting with your clients to present the information that they have requested.

The Good:

• This is a budding industry that is positioned for huge growth potential.
• You will be working with people who are in one of the most exciting and joyous stages of life.
• There is almost no overhead required for this business.
• It’s a perfect business for a stay-at-home mom, offering a high degree of flexibility.
• You will be helping people greatly reduce their stress level so that they can enjoy their new baby.

The Bad:

• In difficult economic times fewer people will utilize this service.
• Some expectant first-time moms will be difficult to work with.

Resources:

• National Baby Planner Association

Technorati Tags: baby concierge, baby planner, baby planners, baby planning, planning for a baby, pregnancy planner

Business Overview:

A Christmas decorating business is a highly profitable, high-demand business with low overhead. The most precious commodity in today’s busy world is often time. Because of this many homeowners are very willing to pay someone else to put up their Christmas lights every season. In addition, business owners know that a well-lighted seasonal storefront can increase foot traffic and spending so they also are willing to pay to have their Christmas lights put up. This holiday decorating business often requires the client to pay 50% to 100% of the cost in advance, and there is very little overhead required. Best of all, you will have many repeat customers from year to year, minimizing the amount of time you need to spend on attracting new business.

A day in the life of a Christmas decorating business owner:

Your day will be broken down into several components. You will spend part of your day attracting new clients. Once word of mouth spreads, this will be minimized, but in the beginning you will need to spend time obtaining new customers. Then you will need to go to the potential customers’ homes and businesses in order to give them an estimate for the work they want done. If they accept your bid, you will collect your deposit and put the job on the schedule. Another part of your day will be spent seeing that the actual lighting work is performed at each client’s home or business. This may mean hiring the right people to do the job, training them, and checking up on their work until you know they are fully qualified to do the job without your oversight.

The Good:

• Repeat customers often schedule a year in advance.
• The decoration business makes people feel really good about the services they paid for.
• It’s very easy to hire others to do the actual work because it requires a low skill set.
• Low overhead.
• High profit margin.

The Bad:

• Unlike a traditional home decorating business, it’s a seasonal business.
• This is not a recession-proof business.

Resources:

• American Holidays Decorators Association
• Wikipedia on Holiday Decorations

Technorati Tags: christmas decorating business, decoration business, holiday decorating business, home decorating business

Business Overview:

The medical transport business is absolutely immune to the state of the economy, which means you can succeed as an entrepreneur right now. As the elderly population grows, the need for this business idea is rapidly expanding. A non-emergency medical transportation business is also known as an ambulette service. Many people need help with transportation to and from a wide variety of medical services such as doctor’s appointments, nursing facilities, and hospitals. Some of these patients may be in wheelchairs or on stretchers, while others may simply be frail and need a little extra help. You do not need any life-saving training to own this business. You are there to transport people, not to provide any medical care. There’s no need to put a hard sell on your services in the medical transportation business because many facilities will be contacting you. That’s how high the demand for services is in this industry. The satisfaction of owning this business is immense. Not only is it financially rewarding, but you also you will feel great knowing that you are helping people every day.

A day in the life of a medical transport business owner:

You will find your day filled with variety. Part of each day will be spent on the phone scheduling the pickup and delivery times of the patients. Some of this phone contact will be with the patients while other contact will be with the facilities that are serving them. Some days will be spent interviewing and hiring new drivers and then training them according to your specifications. The financial side of this business includes invoicing your customers, receiving their payments, and tracking the financial data.

The Good:

• This is a highly rewarding business due to how much you are helping people.
• Part of your payments will come from the Department of Social Services for transporting Medicaid patients.
• No hard sell is needed because this service is in such high demand.
• Growth opportunity is immense as the elderly population keeps increasing.
• Stable business no matter what the economic conditions may be.

The Bad:

• Juggling of the schedule may be needed on very busy days.
• Inclement weather in Northern climates may make it difficult to meet scheduled appointment times on those days.

Resources:

• Community Transportation Association
• National Resource Center for Human Service Transportation Coordination

Technorati Tags: medical transport business, medical transportation business, medical transportation business plan, non emergency medical transportation business, start medical transportation business

  Business Overview:

If you’ve been thinking of starting a commercial cleaning business, you may be surprised to learn how quickly your income can grow. Starting a cleaning business can be done very simply. You only need basic cleaning tools as you begin with your first few clients. You also only need a small amount of time. Many people choose to keep their daytime jobs while they start an evening cleaning business. You can target office buildings in the beginning, and then decide if you’d like to expand into more complex cleaning services as your business builds. When you start a cleaning business you will need to have a few key pieces of information. You’ll need to know how to estimate the length of time it will take to complete a job and what cleaning tools will be needed. You also will need a service agreement to be signed between you and your client so that you both are very clear about what the services are that you are agreeing to perform and what the payment is for those services. Once you have these few key pieces of information you will be on the fast track to owning your own commercial cleaning business.

A day in the life of a commercial cleaning business owner:

Each day can vary greatly as the business owner of a commercial cleaning business. Some office complexes like their spaces cleaned at night after everyone has gone home while other may prefer the cleaning to be done very early each morning. It is likely that part of one day each week will find you taking care of the financial side of the business, from sending out invoices to depositing payments received. If you decide to expand your business and have people working for you, then you may spend part of your day in scheduling the employees for where they are to work, as well as interviewing, hiring, and training new employees.

The Good:

• Income potential is only limited by how many accounts and employees you choose to have.
• This business can easily be started on a part-time basis.
• Startup costs are extremely low.
• Office cleaning is a necessity that nearly every office complex requires.
• Financial security in having your income come from several different sources.

The Bad:

• Physical work is required in cleaning commercial spaces.
• Work is repetitive in nature.

Resources:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• National Cleaners Association
• Global Cleaning Association
• The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association

Technorati Tags: how to start a cleaning business, how to start your own cleaning business, start a cleaning business, starting a cleaning business, starting a commercial cleaning business