Business Overview:

Starting a social media management business is the perfect way for Internet savvy entrepreneurs to put their skills to work for other businesses. If you are unfamiliar with the practice, social media is the broad term used for social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as blogs and other Web communities. In today’s technological environment, it is crucial for businesses to use these outlets to market their goods and services. In a recent report , over 90% of surveyed businesses used social media marketing and one-third of these businesses said that social media helped them make sales. Other advantages of social media marketing reported by these businesses include an increase in web traffic and sales leads, a rise in search engine rankings and a drop in marketing expenses. As you can see, this business idea is hot right now and there’s no better time to jump in and help struggling businesses take advantage of this technology. There are several different services your business can offer. You could offer consulting services that would analyze a company’s current social media presence and offer recommendations for ways to improve their marketing efforts. You could create and implement a new social media marketing campaign for businesses who either don’t have a social media presence at all or need improvement. Finally, you could offer evaluation tools that would effectively measure a new marketing campaign. Since these social networks are entirely online, you can operate this online business idea part-time from your home, unless you prefer to build it up into a full-time business venture. You will, of course, need to have experience with social networks and be able to show your clients measurable improvements in order to be successful in this business. But with a few happy clients under your belt, your client list will grow and you soon may need to hire additional staff to help you with your efforts.

A Day in the Life of a Social Media Marketing Business Owner:

Your day will begin with a check of Facebook, Twitter and any other blogs you and your clients are involved with. You will monitor and record any comments and follow up on any message board threads your company has an interest in. You will search for individuals and businesses to follow and become fans of. You will spend a portion of your day marketing your own business, which you can also do on social media networks. You will also market on different industry websites and in publications. If you have a staff working for you, you will coordinate their efforts and check in on their progress.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be business owners and marketing managers of both small and large firms who need your expertise and recommendations on how to better their businesses using social media.

What You Need to Start:

• Expertise in social media networks and marketing
• Computer with high-speed Internet access
• Financial software

The Good:

• This type of service is in very high demand today.
• You can easily run this business part-time and from home.
• This is a great way to stay current with the latest social network inner-workings.
• It is rewarding to help businesses become more successful.
• Your schedule is flexible; you don’t have to work regular business hours.

The Bad:

• You may find yourself working irregular hours to stay on top of the social network scene.
• You will need to get a few small clients on your list before any larger firms will hire you to handle their social media.

Resources:

• Word of Mouth Marketing Association
• International Social Media Association
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Public Relations Specialists
• Wikipedia on Social Media

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Business Overview:

If you’re looking for a lucrative and unique business consider opening a leather shop. For some aspiring entrepreneurs, opening a boutique business is appealing, but they want to be able to cater to male as well as female customers, which is why a leather shop is the end to their search for the perfect business. If a leather retail business sounds like something you’d be interested in, you should know that you can, of course, have a physical store but you can also completely run your shop online. You also could combine the best of both worlds and have both a storefront and an online store as well. It’s a truly flexible business idea. There are many advantages to having a storefront for your goods. Customers can see and touch your merchandise; they can also try on clothing items before purchasing them. However, many consumers today want to shop and buy online and take advantage of excellent online customer service when it comes to questions and returns. However, when you’re just starting out, you might want to focus on one or the other until you have more time and manpower to help handle the demand. Next you must decide what type of merchandise you will offer. The world of leather goods includes everything from clothing items (jackets, boots, pants, belts) to office supplies and accessories (portfolios, journals, desk pads, briefcases), to fashion accessories (handbags, wallets, luggage). If you run an online-only business you will need to either have a climate-controlled warehouse for your goods or to set up all your items so that they will be drop-shipped and you won’t need to actually carry any inventory. Finally, once you’ve decided on a storefront or website and selected what merchandise you will carry, you’ll need to market your business. The type of store you have will determine where and how you advertise. If you have a storefront, you should advertise locally in newspapers, magazines and local online publications. If you decide to run with this as an online business idea, you should advertise on websites catering to your target market whether that be motorcycle enthusiasts, those looking for office supplies or individuals in the market for luggage and accessories. The good news for this business is there will always be a demand for leather goods. And the variety of items you can offer is virtually limitless. It’s the perfect opportunity to start your own business and help individuals find high quality leather pieces to enjoy.

A Day in the Life of an Online Leather Shop Owner:

If you operate your leather shop exclusively online, you will begin your day by checking any new orders. You will check your inventory for these items and arrange shipment. You will need to answer any customer questions regarding sizes, returns, exchanges, etc. via email or phone. You will discuss new items with manufacturers and distributors and arrange for delivery to your home office. You will need to keep a close eye on your inventory to ensure your stock keeps up with your orders. If you have a storefront, you will begin your day by checking to see everything is displayed and priced properly before opening for business. You will likely have a staff to help you so you will need to let them know about any new merchandise that has arrived and how you would like it priced and displayed. You will spend your day helping customers find just the right item for their needs. At the end of the day you will close your store and assist your staff in readying it for the next business day. Whether you have a physical store or an online store, you will need to tally the day’s sales and take a look at your bottom line.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals looking for high quality leather items. These items could include clothing, accessories or office supplies.

What You Need to Start:

• Storefront or website
• Merchandise
• Storage space
• Business plan
• Marketing plan
• Staff (for physical store)
• Computer with high-speed Internet access and financial software

The Good:

• Leather goods are always in high demand.
• The mark-up on leather goods is high which means a hefty profit.
• You will be aware of all the latest trends in leather goods.
• You are likely to get repeat business if you offer excellent customer service.
• Operating this as an online business gives you the flexibility to work from home.

The Bad:

• The startup cost for this type of business is high so it could take some time to turn a profit.
• You have to keep a close eye on your inventory so you don’t have too much costly merchandise just sitting in storage.

Resources:

• United States Hide, Skin and Leather Association
• Leather Association
• Leather Industries of America
• Leather Apparel Association
• Wikipedia on Leather

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Business Overview:

Starting a Braille transcription business is the perfect opportunity for an entrepreneur to provide a valuable service to the visually impaired community. Braille is a system developed in 1821 by Louis Braille that helps the blind read and write by feeling a “code” of raised dots. There is a huge market for transcribing standard texts into Braille. Unlike standard transcription or even more specialized medical transcription, which turns audio files into electronic text files, with Braille transcription you will typically take an electronic text file and create a Braille electronic file, although smaller publishers may want you to produce a physical product that will be mailed back to them. If they want a hardcopy you will need to obtain a Thermoform printer. If you already know how to transcribe into Braille, you can start accepting jobs immediately. However, if you are not familiar with this process, you can easily hire Braille transcriptionists to work for you. You may also choose to be trained and become certified. The genres of publications that need to be transcribed are endless. A few examples of materials your business could transcribe are fiction books, children’s books, textbooks, books about health issues, and even magazines. Part of the Braille transcription process involves writing descriptions for the images on the page. Few people realize that there is quite a demand for mathematics Braille transcription and even for musical scores to be transcribed into Braille. Contacting publishing companies directly to see if any new publications have come out that they need transcribed is a great way to get started in this business. These companies will mostly likely send you a digital file which you will then transcribe and, depending on their process, either mail back the physical Braille version to them or send it to them in an altered electronic format. To make this business idea a success, you will need to not only provide excellent service but it’s important to price your services competitively. The American Council of the Blind provides a list of transcribers online. Getting your business on this list would be a great way to reach out to the Braille community. It’s also a great way to contact other transcribers to see how their businesses work and what rates they charge. Since you don’t need a storefront to transcribe and most of the communication is done via the Internet, this is the perfect online business idea for someone who wants to work from home. You can also start this business part-time and ramp up to full-time as demand rises.

A Day in the Life of a Braille Transcription Service Business Owner:

Your day will begin by checking on any new orders. You will contact the clients to discuss their needs and deadlines. Next you will continue to work on any ongoing projects ensuring you are completing work on time. If you have a staff working for you, coordinate their projects and check in on their progress. If you don’t have any projects lined up, you will need to spend your day contacting publishing houses and advertising in publications and on websites that cater to the visually impaired community.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be publishers who need their publications transcribed into Braille. You might also have an occasional individual who needs your transcription services.

What You Need to Start:

• Ability to transcribe text to Braille
• Staff of transcribers (if not doing the work yourself)
• Transcription software
• Thermoform printer (optional)
• Computer with high-speed Internet access

The Good:

• You can easily run this business from your home, part time.
• It’s highly rewarding to help people gain access to literature.
• You can hire transcriptionists to do the work for you.
• You can charge top dollar for high quality transcription services.
• The demand will always be high for this type of service.

The Bad:

• Since this is such a specialized skill, you will need patience when looking for a staff (if you are not a Braille transcriptionist yourself).
• This is a highly competitive business that may take some time to break into.

Resources:

• New York Institute for Special Education Blindness Resource Center
• National Braille Association
• American Council of the Blind
• Braille Authority of North America
• Wikipedia on Braille

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Business Overview:

If you’re looking for a way to express your creativity while owning your own business, learning how to start an engraving business could be the answer. Engraving is very popular these days for many different types of people. Businesses need logos engraved on promotional items to give away at trade shows or to give to employees as gifts. And of course, engraved items like picture frames, jewelry and clocks make terrific gifts for friends and family. Engraved items such as flasks or beer glasses are popular gift ideas for groomsmen; engraved jewelry is a good gift for a bridesmaid. Schools and athletic organizations always need trophies to give away as awards. And with today’s technology, you can start a laser engraving business out of your home with minimal investment. All you need is a computer with design software, a laser engraving system and some room for storage. A laser engraver can be as small as a standard printer and can be purchased for as little as $1,600 USD, perhaps even less if you find one used or wholesale. You will need to do some research on this important piece of hardware before making your purchase though. The type of engraver you need will depend on what types of materials and designs you will be working with. Not all engravers work with every type of materials, so be sure to define the types of products you want to be engraving before you make this purchase. Before you start your business, you need to decide if this will be strictly an online business idea or if you will also operate out of a storefront. An online-only engraving business can be a huge success so you don’t need a storefront unless you choose to have one. If you decide you do want a local presence, it doesn’t mean you can’t also have an online component to your business. You can also look into purchasing an engraving franchise. This option will be more costly up front but it will come with all the equipment and supplies you need to get your business going. Once you have decided where you will operate, you need to market your business. Take out ads in your local newspaper and magazines (wedding magazines, kids magazines, etc.) if you decide to have a storefront business. You can set up a booth at trade shows also. Consider professional trade shows targeting businesspeople and wedding trade shows targeting brides and grooms. You’ll also want to do some online marketing to draw in those customers looking for engraving from someone who offers top quality work. The great thing about this business idea is that gift-giving occasions happen throughout the year so demand for your engraved items will continue year-round. And you are likely to get repeat business if your products are of high quality and you offer excellent customer service. You may even need to hire a staff to help you handle the demand.

A Day in the Life of an Engraving Business Owner:

Your day will begin with a check of any new orders. You will get started on those orders and get them out to your customers as soon as you finish to ensure on time delivery. If you have no new projects to work on, you will spend your day marketing your business online or in area publications. If you have a staff working for you, you will coordinate their projects and check in to make sure they are completing work on time. You’ll want to keep a close check on your inventory to be sure you always have enough items to engrave. You may also spend the occasional weekend at a tradeshow if you decide to expand out from a strictly online presence.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals or businesses looking for high quality engraved items to give as gifts.

What You Need to Start:

• Engraving business plan
• Storefront (if not operating from your home)
• Engraving machine
• Computer with design software
• Materials to engrave (frames, clocks, flasks, jewelry, pens, etc.)
• Website (if this is an online business)

The Good:

• You can easily run this business from home.
• This business can be run exclusively online.
• Demand for engraved gifts will always be high.
• Cost for materials is relatively low; you can charge top dollar for quality engraved gifts.
• You can work when you want; you don’t have to maintain standard business hours (if you work from home).

The Bad:

• It can take some time to become skilled at designing and engraving.
• You need to be patient while your customer list grows.

Resources:

• International Engraved Graphics Association
• Awards and Recognition Association
• Wikipedia on Engraving

Technorati Tags: engraving business plan, start an engraving business, starting a laser engraving business

Business Overview:

Learning how to start a logo design business is an ideal online business idea if you are a graphic designer looking to go out on your own and be your own boss. Graphic design is a broad category of the design business but if you choose to focus your talents solely on logo design, you can create a specialized service and build up your reputation among online businesses. This business can be run exclusively online, but if you’d like you can also go after local clients. If any of them have outdated websites or no websites at all, you can contact them and offer your services to create a logo for them. You can also work with your local chamber of commerce. This is a good way to find new businesses and contact them directly. New businesses may not have the budget for a top dollar logo but that will work to your advantage because you will be able to build up your portfolio and make a small profit to start. Once you have a few clients on your list, you can market your business to larger companies who are looking for topnotch logos—and are willing to pay for it. The more experience you have, the higher price point you can set for your work. And because the startup capital needed for this business idea is so small, you will make a good return pretty quickly. Soon you may find that you need to hire additional logo designers to help you handle the number of jobs coming in.

A Day in the Life of a Logo Design Business Owner:

Your day will begin with a check of any ongoing projects. You will work on those projects with a close eye on deliverable deadlines. You will contact the client throughout the design process to make sure you are still on the same page with what the client wants. If you do not have any jobs on the horizon, you will spend your day marketing your new business locally and online. If you have a staff working for you, you will check their progress with any projects they’re working on and assign them new projects.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be business owners looking for high quality, competitively priced logo designs for their websites and print media.

What You Need to Start:

• Computer with excellent software design programs
• Graphic design experience
• Marketing plan
• A web site
• Staff (if desired)

The Good:

• You can easily run this business part time.
• Start up costs are minimal.
• You can charge top dollar for high quality logo design (once your portfolio is large enough).
• You get to use your creativity to help others’ businesses.
• You don’t have to work in an office 9-5; you can set your own hours and work from home.

The Bad:

• It can take patience to build up your client base.
• You will need to be sensitive to your clients’ needs even if they have a hard time expressing them clearly.

Resources:

• The Professional Association for Design
• Graphic Artists Guild
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Graphic Designers
• Wikipedia on Logos

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Business Overview:

If you are an expert in your field or have specialized knowledge and want to start a business, you should consider learning how to start a membership site. There is a huge market these days for subscription-based websites that offer valuable information on a wide variety of subjects. People will pay a monthly fee—month after month, often for years—to have access not only to the information you provide, but also to be able to interact with other people on the site. To get started, you’ll need to decide what type of content you will provide. It could be video training or written articles on the subject that you are an authority on. You could also hire someone to write them for you if you’re not an expert on that particular niche. You could offer weekly or monthly conference calls to your members as part of their membership. People love to watch a good interview, so you could find experts in the field you are focusing on and interview them and then post the recording—either video or MP3. Most membership sites have forums so that members can interact with each other and give one another the support they need. Here are just a few ideas for membership sites: weight loss, parenting, technical assistance, health issues, dating, etc. If you are a technical support specialist during the day, consider starting a membership site that helps people with computer and software issues. If you are a registered nurse who stays home with your children, you could start a site addressing general health questions that new mothers often have with their first baby. If you know what it’s like to be a single parent desperately needing support, you’ll understand the value of a membership site. As you can see, the options are unlimited as far as what subject you can offer your valuable advice and training on. Perhaps the best aspect of this business idea is that you can do it entirely online. You don’t need a storefront or even business hours. You can work on your website as much or as little as you want and you can easily keep your day job while you ramp up your member list. If you aren’t familiar with how to start a membership site, you should know that this online business idea can be started with very little financial investment and very little technical knowledge. Free software can be found online that will help you get your website up and running. Then you will need to set up a payment page to handle subscription payments. Next you will need to market your new site. Start by spreading the word to friends and family. Frequent non-membership site forums that are focused on your topic of choice and leave helpful comments in response to questions asked there. You could also advertise on a website where your target audience spends a lot of time. If you’re looking for people with health concerns, you could advertise on health-related websites. As word of mouth grows about your site, the more subscribers you will get.

A Day in the Life of a Membership Site Business Owner:

Your day will begin by checking on any new subscriptions. You will check to see if any members have any questions or concerns that need addressing. Once your administrative duties are taken care of, you will get to work writing content for your website. If you have a staff working for you, you will coordinate everyone’s efforts to ensure no one is duplicating work. You will also need to make sure subscription payments are going through as they are supposed to.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals looking for high quality information, support and advice on various subjects.

What You Need to Start:

• Expertise in a particular subject—or to be willing to hire or interview others who do
• Computer with high-speed internet connection
• Financial tracking software
• Website

The Good:

• This is a great way to run a lucrative business from your knowledge.
• Helping people with their problems is highly rewarding.
• Start-up costs are low.
• If your site offers valuable information, you can charge more for subscriptions.
• You can operate this business part-time, at any time of day or night.

The Bad:

• It can take some time to get your first few members.
• You need to do some work to get your site populated with important information people will pay for.

Resources:

• Online Publishers Association

Technorati Tags: how to start a membership site, start a membership site, starting a membership site

Business Overview:

If you love the freedom of the open road and want to be your own boss, learning how to start a trucking business could be the answer you’ve been looking for. Trucking is a huge industry and there is always room for another fleet on the road. This is why starting a trucking business is a terrific business idea in any economic environment. However, it takes more than a CDL (commercial driver’s license) to be a successful driver and business owner. You also need some experience and, perhaps more importantly, you need to know all the tips and tricks and behind-the-scenes information from seasoned drivers to be successful and happy on the road. Happiness is the ultimate goal and that can be hard, even if you’re making a good living. Learning how to handle the stresses of the road and knowing how to balance demands of work and family can be the difference between just having a successful business and being a happy and successful business owner. But before you start your own trucking business, you do have to have a CDL and some training. This training can be obtained at various trucking schools; costs vary and range between $2,000 USD (if you are being trained by a trucking company to work for them after training) to upwards of $20,000 USD. You should be able to find a quality education, however, for around $3,000 – $5,000 USD. If you already have your CDL and are trained as a professional truck driver, all you need is some experience and you’ll be ready to start a trucking business of your own. Soon you will be able to add drivers and trucks to your fleet. Ultimately, you may even be able to stay home with your family while concentrating on marketing and managing your trucking business.

A Day in the Life of a Trucking Business Owner:

Your day will vary depending on what type of load you’re carrying and how far you’re going. Typically though, you will start your day by checking your load and mapping your route. You will spend your day driving, enjoying the open road and the beautiful countryside. If you’re picking up or delivering a load, you will coordinate with the warehouse (or other type of facility) to arrange pick-up or drop-off times. Being on time is crucial in this business so you will pay close attention to your mileage for the day to ensure you are on schedule to your destination. If you have a fleet of trucks working for you, you will spend your day communicating with your drivers and your pick-up/delivery sites to ensure loads are picked up and delivered on time.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be companies who need large products (or a large number of smaller products) transported a long distance.

What You Need to Start:

• CDL (commercial driver’s license)
• Training
• Trucking business plan
• Truck
• Fleet (if desired)
• Laptop computer (to use at truck stops with their Wi-Fi service to check for new shipments you’ll need to transport)

The Good:

• Owning a trucking business is a wonderful way to be out of an office and on the road.
• There is a great amount of freedom in the trucking business.
• Your trucking business can be quite lucrative.
• If you own your own fleet, you can have them do the driving and you can manage the business from your home most of the time.

The Bad:

• The hours can be long and the conditions difficult.
• It can be expensive to get your CDL and trucking education.

Resources:

• American Trucking Association
• Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
• America’s Independent Truckers’ Association
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Truck Drivers
• Wikipedia on Truck Drivers
• National Association of Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools

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Business Overview:

Opening a formal wear rental store is one of the better business ideas for anyone who wants to make a profit helping others look their finest. As a formal wear rental store owner you’ll hire out clothing for special occasions. The occasions will vary, but the most common ones include weddings, fine dinners, proms, formal garden parties, and so on. Many people prefer to hire the formal attire for these types of events because the type of formal clothing worn to most special occasions (such as tuxedos) is not worn very often. Therefore it’s usually much more cost effective for most people to rent rather than buy their formal clothing. This is why opening a formal wear rental store represents a potentially profitable opportunity. By offering outstanding customer service, you can build up a solid base of repeat customers who will return to you for their formal wear needs each time they have a formal event to attend. By working hard, keeping your customers happy and providing an excellent all-around service, you can certainly build up a successful formal wear rental store which generates a very respectable profit.

A Day in the Life of a Formal Wear Rental Store Business Owner:

As a formal wear rental store business owner, you will open up your store at around 9 a.m., allowing 15 minutes to set up your shop beforehand. Throughout the day customers will enter your store or telephone your shop to hire or inquire about renting formal clothes. Based on their needs you will help them select the ideal formal attire, and you will take their measurements–waist size, inseam, collar size, and so on–to ensure that the formal clothing fits them perfectly. You will also receive hired clothing back from happy customers, which you will then either clean yourself or arrange for it to be cleaned by an associate, so that the clothing is returned to a pristine condition ready to be rented out again to someone else. A typical day would end around 6 p.m., when you would close your shop after ensuring that everything is tidy and in order, ready for opening again for business the next day. You may also hire staff to serve customers and to open and close your formal clothing store for you. In this case you would oversee the general smooth running of your store, actively keeping an eye on the latest formal wear trends and updating your clothing line to ensure that your rental shop continues to offer the best and most up to date range of formal attire to your customers. You’ll also want to attend to your finances every day, being sure your books are balanced and the numbers are in the black.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be people looking to hire formal clothes for a special occasion. Such occasions may include weddings, proms, formal garden parties, and so on.

What You Need to Start:

• A storefront
• Inventory (tuxedos, prom dresses, etc.)
• A business license
• A business plan
• Financial tracking software
• A good eye for detail so that you can help your clients look immaculate

The Good:

• Renting formal clothing is more cost effective and preferable to most people compared to buying formal attire.
• There are always going to be formal events for which people will need to hire formal clothes.
• If you’re reliable and you provide high quality customer service you can build up a solid and profitable base of repeat customers.
• It can be very rewarding–you will be helping people to look their absolute best on some of the most special and memorable occasions of their lives.
• Your customers are usually very happy to be coming into your shop since they’re preparing for a special day.

The Bad:

• Building a solid reputation and a reliable base of repeat customers is paramount to making this business profitable–so you must offer excellent customer service to stand out from competitors.
• It may take some time for you to see profits as building up a solid customer base can take time.

Resources:

• International Formalwear Association
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Clothing, Accessory and General Merchandise Stores
• Wikipedia on Formal Wear

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Business Overview:

Opening a lighting store could be a profitable business idea for an opportunity—savvy entrepreneur. By opening a lighting store, you will sell interior and exterior lighting products. Upgrading or replacing light fixtures has recently become one of the most popular forms of home improvement for many homeowners because it’s a type of improvement that is fairly inexpensive, and that can have a beneficial effect on the appearance of their homes. Therefore if you approach this business in the right way you can definitely cash in on this trend and earn a respectable profit. You are likely to face competition, so you will need to ensure that you offer excellent products and fantastic customer service to make your shop stand out. Potentially you could also seize the opportunities offered by established stores in your community that sell related products by forming a joint venture with them. For example you could form a partnership with a furniture store or paint and wallpaper store, and attach your lighting shop to their store—thus saving floor space and taking advantage of your partners’ existing reputation and clientele. This is an approach that could work particularly well because lighting stores typically don’t require a lot of floor space. Whichever approach you take, opening a lighting store can definitely be a successful and nicely profitable venture so long as you’re creative and committed to making your store a success.

A Day in the Life of a Lighting Store Business Owner:

Lighting stores usually operate within typical retail hours, so as a lighting store business owner you will usually open up your shop around 9 a.m.—having arrived 15 minutes or so early to get set up. Throughout the day, customers will enter your shop and you will provide an excellent service, helping them find the right interior and/or exterior lighting products for their home or office. Your day will typically end at 6 p.m. when you would ensure that your store is clean and tidy, before shutting up ready to open again for business the next day. Other typical daily activities would include monitoring your inventory and placing new orders whenever stock levels ran low. You’ll also be monitoring your finances on a daily basis. You may also hire staff to serve customers and to open and close your lighting shop for you, as well as to assist you in the general maintenance and smooth running of your shop. In that case part of each day will be spent managing your employees and training them well. This will enable you to attend lighting trade shows so that you can keep up on the latest trends and offer your customers the most cutting edge lighting to be found.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will typically be homeowners looking to improve the appearance of their homes by purchasing new interior and/or exterior lighting products. Your customers may also be people looking for lighting products to make similar improvements to their offices or other types of buildings.

What You Need to Start:

• Business plan
• Marketing plan
• Storefront
• Inventory (interior and exterior lighting products, shades, a wide variety of bulbs, etc.)
• Staff
• Computer with finance software

The Good:

• It’s definitely a potentially profitable opportunity—upgrading interior and exterior lighting has become one of the most popular forms of home improvement.
• You don’t need much floor space to open a lighting shop—so the start up costs are lower than for other retail business.
• It’s excellently suited for forming joint ventures with other more established and related shops—you could share floor space with a furniture or painting and decorating store, for example.
• The demand for interior and exterior lighting products is always going to be there.

The Bad:

• It can be competitive, so you’ll need to be creative and offer excellent customer service to stand out against bigger and more established lighting stores.
• It may take a while for you to see profits as it can take time to build up your reputation and client base.

Resources:

• American Lighting Association
• The Lighting Association
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Retail Salespersons
• Wikipedia on Light Fixtures

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Business Overview:

Attention dog lovers: if you love showering puppies with praise and are looking for a great business idea, consider starting a doggie daycare business.  A doggie daycare is a pet sitting business, and the idea behind it is simple: you take care of multiple dogs at once throughout the day–and generate a great income doing it. Due to work commitments many dog owners worry and feel bad about being unable to exercise, socialize, pamper and generally look after their dogs as much they would like to. This is the problem that your doggie daycare business will help solve. During the day you look after the dogs by playing with them, walking them, and giving them attention. As such, a doggie day care business will be a very rewarding business because you’ll know that your services help put worried dog owners’ minds at ease, while at the same time giving their dogs a better quality of life by providing them with the attention and activity that they need during the day. Added to this, a doggie day care business can be very lucrative. Owners will typically pay $30 USD or more to have their dogs looked after for a day, and most dogs will come at least 2 or 3 times a week, which means you can count on a steady, consistent clientele. You also don’t need much start up capital as you can start a doggy daycare business at a low cost. While you could definitely run this by yourself as a one-person business if you so desire, you could also expand your business and increase your revenue further down the line by hiring people to help you take care of more dogs. Of course, by hiring people you could also run this business without looking after the dogs yourself. Because you will likely have many dogs, it would be wise to rent or purchase a building specifically for your doggie day care center. If you just want to watch after a few dogs, you could run this business from home. However, if you’re looking for a large-scale business, you’ll want a place for the dogs to gather that’s not in your home. All in all, starting a doggy daycare business offers a lot of flexibility, and represents an excellent business opportunity for anyone who wants to help make the lives of other people and their dogs happier, healthier and more enjoyable.

A Day in the Life of a Doggie Day Care Business Owner:

As a doggie day care business owner, a typical day would start at around 7 a.m. Usually your clients will drop their dogs off on their way to work. By 9.a.m, when most people will be at work, you will be in charge of looking after multiple dogs—perhaps 5 or more. Throughout the day you would exercise the dogs, give them lots of attention, feed them, and generally pamper them and keep them happy and active. The owners of the dogs would then return to pick up their happy pets after finishing work, which will usually be between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. You’ll then want to clean and sanitize the building in preparation for the next day.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be dog owners who, most typically, will be people who are working the majority of the time during the day and are concerned about leaving their dog alone for a large amount of time. They will be people who care a lot about the happiness and fitness of their pet, and want someone to help put their mind at ease, and ensure that their pet is kept active and happy throughout the day.

What You Need to Start:

• A love of dogs—and the ability to control them well
• Advertising—flyers, magazine, newspaper, online
• A location for your doggie daycare business (this could be your home, or you could rent out a larger space)
• A business license
• A doggie daycare business plan
• Business insurance
• Financial-tracking software

The Good:

• If you love dogs you’ll be around your favorite pets all day.
• It’s very rewarding–you’ll be putting worried pet owners minds at ease and adding to the happiness, fitness and general quality of life of their dogs.
• It can be very lucrative—you can charge $30 USD or more per dog per day.
• Most dogs will come at least 2 or 3 times a week—meaning you can count on a steady, consistent clientele.
• You can start this business at a low cost if you operate it out of your home, though the cost will be considerably higher if you choose to rent or purchase a building.

The Bad:

• You may have some dogs and clients that are difficult to work with.
• It may take some time for you to build up a big and consistent client base.

Resources:

• Pet Care Services Association
• National Association of Professional Pet Sitters
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Animal Care and Service Workers
• Wikipedia on Dog Daycare

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