Business Ideas » Can Work from Home

Starting Your Own Lampshade Business

Joel Beck — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:36:05 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Are you wondering how to obtain small business financing so that you can turn your dream business into a reality? Would you like to know the best ways to obtain small business loans? Or maybe you want to know more about angel investors or venture capitalists. We highly encourage you to read our review of three solid resources that can help you with your new business financing in our article, Small Business Financing: How to Obtain the Capital You Need to Start Your Business.

Business Overview:

Starting your own lampshade business is a great way to use your creativity to make beautiful home accessories that will sell for major profits. You can easily run this part-time business from the comfort of your own home, working as much or as little as you wish. All you need is some fabric, decorative trim and either a sewing machine or fabric glue. If you don’t know how to make a lampshade, it’s quite simple, and plenty of instruction abounds on the internet. It can be as complex as taking the time to create a template to as simple as purchasing inexpensive lampshades and covering them with unique fabric and adding more lavish decoration. This may be a good way to start out with this business idea, at least until you get more comfortable with making shades from scratch. If you plan to sell your lampshades online, you’ll need to have a robust website that shows your designs and lets customers order and pay online. If this piece of the business is not in your comfort zone, you can always hire a professional to design and develop your website for you. This will be a good investment that will allow you to make sales 24 hours a day, even when you’re not working. You could also sell on websites like Etsy. You’ll need to have a good stock of lampshades to ensure timely delivery to your customers. You could also offer custom lampshades to customers who wanted to use a special photo for their personalized lampshade. In this case you would need a method of transferring a photo to fabric. Another way to personalize your products is to allow customers to send you a piece of fabric (that matches other items in their house, for example) that you would make into a custom shade. Your website would explain all these options and give a pricelist that reflects different sizes and styles of shades. Be sure to check with local shipping companies to get the best prices on shipping your shades and don’t forget to include shipping costs into your price structure. Finally, you can advertise your business on home décor websites and put ads in your local phone book if you plan to sell locally. As business picks up, you will need to decide whether to take your business full-time and add more items to your inventory.

A Day in the Life of a Lampshade Business Owner:

Since this is a part-time business, you will work as much or as little as you wish. When you are working, you will spend some time working on lampshades, building up your inventory. You will take photos of your new designs and post them on your website. You will check your orders and prepare items to ship out in a timely manner. If you offer custom orders, you will want to contact your customers to discuss those projects.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals looking for unique, handmade lampshades.

What You Need to Start:

Some knowledge of how to make lampshades
Fabric
Decorative trim
Fabric glue
Sewing supplies
Website (if selling online)
Computer with finance software

The Good:

People are always looking for unique decorative items for their homes and offices.
Materials are inexpensive.
Your return on investment will be high.
You can easily run this business part-time and from home.
The start-up costs are low.

The Bad:

It can take some time to hone your skills at making lampshades.
You need to be patient while you build up your inventory and build your website.

Resources:

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How to Start a Cruise Travel Planning Business

Joel Beck — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:40:33 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

Learn how to start a cruise travel planning business if you’re looking for a way to provide a valuable service to travelers wanting a fun and relaxing vacation. Perhaps the best aspect of running a cruise travel business is that you can operate it from home. You can do all your work by email, phone and by performing internet research. This type of online business idea requires a certain amount of dedicated time each day. A cruise travel planning business is a great part-time business that you can devote as much or as little time to as you want. And if you need some help getting your business going, there are franchises available. Franchises usually take more start-up capital but they come with a proven business model as well as marketing assistance and ongoing support. If you’re not looking to buy a franchise but you already own an online travel agency or tour guide business, adding cruises to the vacation packages you offer will bring in customers looking for an all-inclusive option. Cruises are more popular now than ever since they give travelers so many alternatives from 3-day cruises to 2-week cruises to cruises around the world. Travelers can leave from a port near their hometown, which cuts down on airfare costs making cruising a more affordable option for many people. You’ll find that business ideas like this one that offer many different pricing options will widen your customer base and earn you more profit.

A Day in the Life of a Cruise Travel Planning Business Owner:

Your day will begin by checking email and voicemail messages inquiring about your services. You will spend your day talking with customers and potential customers and arranging cruise travel for them. You will also spend some time exploring new ways to market your business.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals looking for excellent cruise planning services.

What You Need to Start:

Marketing plan
Franchise or experience in the travel industry
Website
Computer with finance software

The Good:

Cruises are a very popular travel option.
You can easily run this business part-time and from home.
Franchises are available to help you get started.
Franchises in this industry are relatively inexpensive.
You can scale up your business as needed by hiring other travel planners to work from their homes.

The Bad:

Competition is high; you’ll need to set yourself apart to earn a good profit.
You must have some experience in the travel business (or be able to invest in a franchise).

Resources:

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How to Start a Jingle Writing Business

Joel Beck — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:31:33 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

Attention musicians: if you’re looking to start a fun part-time business that you can run from home, learn how to start a jingle writing business. Many business that advertises on television or radio have a catchy jingle associated with their product or service. And in these days of internet marketing, businesses include jingles in their online ads as well. These tunes are short songs, usually 30 seconds or less, that directly promote whatever the business is selling. They are designed to help potential customers remember a product, service, telephone number or web address. The better the hook in a jingle, the more likely it is that people will remember it (and even gets it stuck in their heads – which is what a business wants). If you are a singer or songwriter, adding jingles to your repertoire is a great way to start a small business and earn some extra income. Writing can be done from the comfort of your own home and you can work as much or as little as you like. Before you start writing, research what businesses in your area might need a jingle for their advertising. You can do this by contacting the businesses directly or viewing their current ad campaigns. You could write a jingle first, then present it to the business and try to sell it or you could sign an agreement with the business first, then draft one or more jingles for them to use. If you don’t play an instrument, consider teaming up with a pianist or guitar player. You can write the songs and your partner can compose the tunes. As you can see, this is one of the more unique business ideas available but it is perfect for a musician or songwriter looking to start a business.

A Day in the Life of a Jingle Writing Business Owner:

Your day will begin with a check of any ongoing projects. You will spend some time writing and try to finish jingles you are working on. You will contact local businesses to try to sell your jingle writing services.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be business owners or advertising agencies looking for catchy jingles for ad campaigns.

What You Need to Start:

Musical talent and the ability to write catchy jingles
Digital recording device
Computer with digital editing software
Finance software
Transportation (to meet with customers at their places of business)

The Good:

The demand for catchy jingles will always be high.
You can be paid upfront and work out a contract where you’re paid every time one of your jingles plays.
You can work as much or as little as you want.
This business can easily be run part-time and from home.
You are likely to get repeat business if your jingles increase your customers’ sales.

The Bad:

Competition can be high; you must be talented in this area in order to be successful.
Work will not be steady and will depend on what businesses need jingles for ad campaigns in your area.

Resources:

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How to Start an Upholstery Business

Joel Beck — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:17:55 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

Learning how to start an upholstery business is the perfect part-time job for an entrepreneur who enjoys working with fabric to beautify a piece of furniture. The term upholstery applies to any fabric used to cover chairs and couches as well as seating and other surfaces on boats, cars and airplanes. While boats and cars typically are upholstered with leather or vinyl, home and office furniture is upholstered with softer fabric and uses foam for cushion. If you do not have any experience, an internet search for "start upholstery business" will turn up plenty of results that can help you get started. You do not need a storefront for your business but you will need a workshop area large enough to work on several pieces of furniture simultaneously. You will also need some special tools and equipment as well as a stock of commonly used supplies. Look online for upholstering kits that will come with all the tools you’ll need to get started and add items like screwdrivers, drills and pliers to make sure you’re able to make most repairs. Customers will typically supply the fabric but you should have a relationship with an upholstery fabric supplier so customers can purchase fabric through you if they choose. Business ideas like this one are great part-time ventures as you can take on as much or as little work as you feel comfortable with. If you will only work on items on the weekends, be sure to give your customers an accurate turnaround time. However, if your full-time business is furniture repair, adding upholstery repair to your list of services will greatly increase the value of your business and will build your client list.

A Day in the Life of an Upholstery Business Owner:

Your day will begin by checking on your current projects. You will work on items and either deliver them yourself or notify your customers that their items are ready to be picked up. You will spend some time marketing your business by distributing flyers around town.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals or office managers who need furniture items reupholstered or need upholstery repair.

What You Need to Start:

Upholstery skills
Upholstery tools and supplies
Work space
Marketing materials
Computer with finance software

The Good:

Upholstery services will always be in demand.
Start-up investment is relatively low.
You can easily run this business part-time and from home.
You can charge top dollar for excellent work.
You are likely to see repeat and referral business.

The Bad:

There is plenty of competition in this industry; you will need to position yourself correctly to gain some of the market share.
You need to have some training with upholstery before working on other people’s furniture.

Resources:

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How to Start a Judgment Recovery Business

Joel Beck — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:35:49 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

If you’re looking for a highly lucrative but largely untapped business opportunity, you should learn how to start a judgment recovery business. Every day civil judgments are being awarded in courts all over the world, but what many people don’t realize is that 80% of all judgments awarded in courts are never paid. What this means is that when one person (the plaintiff) sues another person (the defendant) in a small claims court, and wins the case, 80% of the time they never receive the money awarded. The reason this happens is because courts cannot collect the money for the judgment winners; the collection of the money awarded is actually up to the judgment winners themselves. Many powerful enforcement tools are available to the winner to help them collect their winnings, yet most judgment winners do not know how about them. Therefore with no pressure to pay up from the courts, the defendants, in 80% of the cases, are able to walk away without ever paying the judgment. With a judgment recovery business you help judgment winners to collect the debt that is rightfully theirs by utilizing the various collection methods available. In most countries the defendants’ wages can be garnished, property can be taken and sold, bank accounts can be frozen and turned over, drivers’ licenses can be suspended, and much more. With this business you will make full use of the array of enforcement tools available to help your clients to get their money. Having done so, you then charge your client a percentage of the money won. The percentage charged by judgment recovery specialists varies, but successfully retrieving an awarded $6,000 USD for your client could easily earn your business as much as 50% ($3,000). Therefore you can potentially make huge profits if you target higher-end clients seeking to retrieve big money awards. Indeed, the profit making potential behind this business idea is truly huge because judgment recovery is a largely untapped service. Despite recent figures showing that $200 billion USD (including $41 billion USD in uncollected child support payments) is owed in the USA alone, judgment recovery is a fairly low-competition business. Many entrepreneurs haven’t yet realized or tapped into the potentially massive opportunity presented by the mass of unpaid debt that is currently left outstanding. Therefore, if you start this business it is unlikely that you will face much competition, at least locally. What’s more, you can easily run this business from the comfort of your own home, and you can do so safely and with peace of mind because the actual garnishing of money from defendants will be done for you by local sheriffs or levying officers. You will contact these authorities and utilize them for your client to help them obtain their winnings, but you won’t have to personally confront defendants in order to do so. So if you’re looking for a lucrative and freedom-enhancing business opportunity, this could well be the business for you.

A Day in the Life of a Judgment Recovery Business Owner:

As a judgment recovery business owner, your day will begin with a check of your schedule to review which cases you have to work on today. You will then set out to recover the debt owed by the defendant to your clients. To do this you will make use of one of more of the various methods available to you. For example, you can have defendants warned that their wages may be garnished, that their property can be taken and sold, that bank accounts can be frozen and turned over, and that their driver’s license can be suspended (among other possible measures). If such warnings were to prove ineffective, you would set about actually enforcing these measures in order to obtain the owed money. While you will be taking action to retrieve money for judgment winners from defendants, it is important to know that you will never have to personally confront defendants. Instead, you will be contacting the local sheriff’s departments, or levying officers, and they will do all the garnishing for you. Having successfully collected the money on behalf of your client, you will then charge your client a percentage of the money won.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals who have won lawsuits, but have been unable to collect the money owed to them by defendants.

What You Need to Start:

Training in judgment recovery (courses are available locally in most places)
Access to a local courthouse so that you can go through civil records for a list of potential clients
Access to public records databases to help you locate and assess a debtor’s assets
Accounting software
Business license

The Good:

You’ll be helping judgment winners to retrieve money that is rightfully theirs.
There’s a huge market of potential clients for this business—80% of all judgments awarded in courts are never paid.
Despite the huge market, this business is relatively uncompetitive.
Due to the huge market and relative lack of competition, you can potentially make huge profits if you target the right types of clients.
You can start this business at a low cost.
You can start and run this business from the comfort of your own home.

The Bad:

Starting a judgment recovery business will require you to invest in training in judgment recovery methods and procedures.
You will need to be very proactive with your marketing, as many potential clients won’t know that judgment recovery services even exist.

Resources:

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Starting a Custom iPhone Applications Business

Joel Beck — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 21:41:30 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

Starting a custom iPhone applications business can be a lucrative choice for any creative person looking to cash in on the hugely popular iPhone. Since its introduction in 2007, demand for iPhones has risen sharply. As the popularity of the iPhone has grown, so too has the demand for iPhone applications. Considering the popularity of the iPhone and of the Apple brand itself, this is a trend that is unlikely to change. The premise behind this business idea is simple; you create customs applications for use on Apple’s iPhone, which people then pay to download. Simple as this is, your ability to cash in on it is limited only by your imagination because people will pay for all kinds of iPhone applications. For example, popular applications include applications that give ideas for dates, provide locations of local pizza restaurants, give tarot readings, and help with monthly accounting. The chances are that if you can come up with an idea for an application that you would find interesting, useful, or funny, then many other people probably would too—and would happily pay for it. This is an ideal online business idea if you’re a creative person. What’s more, you can start this business at virtually zero cost as there is a range of free software available which you can use to turn your ideas into real iPhone applications. Alternatively, if you’re willing to invest a little further there are more powerful paid programs you can purchase and use to develop your applications—or you could pay an iPhone application expert to do it for you. Having developed your applications, all you then need is a website to sell them on. You can also list your applications on the Apple Store website. Considering that the average iPhone application sells for $3.87 USD, if just one of the iPhone applications that you develop was to become even slightly popular you will have a very successful business. All that’s needed is the creativity and a commitment to succeed.

A Day in the Life of a Custom iPhone Application Business Owner:

As a successful iPhone application business owner, you will have several popular iPhone apps selling online and generating you a very nice residual income. Looking to expand your business and further increase your profits, you’ll begin a typical day by brainstorming ideas for new iPhone applications to create. You’ll then choose the best application idea from your list, and you’ll go ahead and create it. In doing so you may use software to develop the application yourself, or you may hire a freelancer to develop your application for you. Finally, you’ll upload you new application to your website (as well as to apple’s iPhone applications store) for it to be purchased and downloaded by iPhone users around the world.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be owners of Apple’s popular iPhone.

What You Need to Start:

Software with which to create your iPhone applications (alternatively, you could hire someone to develop your applications for you)
Creativity and an awareness of current trends
Computer
Website to on which to sell your applications
Business license
Financial tracking software

The Good:

The iPhone is hugely popular, as is the demand for iPhone applications, and this is unlikely to change anytime soon.
The average iPhone application sells for $3.87, USD so just one moderately popular application can generate impressive profits.
You can start this business at little to no cost.
You can start and run this business from the comfort of your own home.
You can run this business part-time as an additional revenue stream.

The Bad:

You will need to be patient and persistent, as it may take some time for you to hit on a popular application idea.
Your profits may not always be consistent, as the popularity of some of your trend-based applications may be short lived.

Resources:

Start This Business Today:

To start a custom iPhone applications business today, we recommend you purchase How to Make Money with iPhone Applications. This complete guide will teach you how to build custom iPhone apps, the best ways to price your iPhone apps, where to sell your iPhone apps, how to get your app listed in the iPhone Store, and much, much more. For more information, or to purchase this HIGHLY RECOMMENDED guide, click here.

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Why You Should Consider Starting a Payroll Service Business

Joel Beck — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:14:35 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

Starting a payroll service business is the perfect opportunity to help businesses operate effectively while working as your own boss from home. Paying staff correctly and on time should be one of the most important priorities for any business owner. Attracting and retaining quality staff is a challenging process, and any failure to pay staff on time and in the correct amount can put a business at risk of losing valuable talent. However, payroll accounting can be complicated and confusing—which can increase the chances of mistakes. In addition, business owners are faced with a wide array of responsibilities as part of the day-to-day running of their businesses, and many find the weekly or monthly task of payroll accounting to be an unwelcome burden. With this business idea, you help to take weight off of business owners’ shoulders by doing their payroll accounting for them. Learning how to start a payroll service can become a very profitable venture for you, as many businesses prefer to outsource certain areas like payroll and customer service due to a lack of personnel. In order to get started you’ll need to have the bookkeeping skills and patience to process payrolls correctly which, due to the complexity of payroll accounting and variances in local and national laws, will require you to have completed training programs on payroll accounting by professional organizations in your country. Thankfully, there are many training programs available for you to take, and most can be completed fairly quickly and at a relatively low cost. Once you have the necessary skills, the start-up costs for this business are very low and you can easily start and run this business from the comfort of your own home. You will need to invest in payroll accounting and processing software, and you will need to market your services effectively to attract clients. Having done so, you should start to see steady profits reasonably quickly. This is because once acquired, so long as you continue to provide an accurate and quality service, the majority of your clients will continue to use you and your payroll accounting for years to come.

A Day in the Life of a Payroll Service Business Owner:

As a payroll service business owner, you will spend a typical day efficiently working to ensure the accurate and timely processing of your clients’ payroll accounts. To do this you’ll use your payroll accounting software, and accurately account for the payment of each member of staff on your client’s payroll. You will then process the payment (or have it processed for a specific date), print out payroll statements, and forward them on to each staff member (and to your client). Of course, you may decide to hire your own staff to process your clients payroll accounts for you. In this case a typical day would be spent marketing your business to attract new clients and further increase your profits.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be businesses that want to outsource their payroll accounting.

What You Need to Start:

The skills and patience to process payroll correctly
Training on payroll accounting by a professional organization in your country
Payroll accounting software
Computer
Printer
Business license
Marketing (online, flyers, ads, word of mouth, etc.)
Financial tracking software

The Good:

You will be taking care of one of the most important areas of your clients’ businesses for them.
You can gain the skills you need to start this business relatively quickly and inexpensively.
The start-up costs for this business are low.
You can start and run this business from the comfort of your own home.
Most businesses choose to outsource their payroll accounting, so you can potentially make great profits with this business.

The Bad:

Unless you love numbers, payroll accounting can become somewhat repetitive.
It may be a while before you start to see good levels of steady profits as building up your client base can take some time.

Resources:

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How to Start an Alteration Business

Joel Beck — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:25:17 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

If you have a passion for sewing and enjoy helping people look better in their clothes, you should learn how to start an alteration business. Having experience in alterations, perhaps working for a tailor shop, will help immensely when you open your own shop. If you know how to sew but aren’t skilled in altering clothing, you can attend classes or learn from books the different areas of expertise you’ll need to open an alterations shop. You will need to know the basics like how to hem pants and skirts as well as more advanced projects like working with seams and zippers. An alteration business is one of the many business ideas you can operate from home if you set up your space properly. You’ll need an entire room dedicated to your business, preferably in the front of your house, as well as a dressing area for your customers. This can be a walk-in closet, bathroom or just a corner of the room with a curtain. You will also need a raised platform, full-length mirrors and a large table on which you will mark and cut fabric. Be sure to stock up on sewing notions like thread, pins, buttons, and zippers. Of course you can make a quick trip to the local fabric store for more unique supplies but having a good stock of notions on hand will ensure a faster turn-around time for your clients. Depending on your experience, you may choose to focus on a specific niche such as wedding gowns or suits. Once your business model is established, print up some fliers and distribute them around town. Concentrate on areas your target market frequents like clothing stores or dry cleaners. Also place an ad in the phone book to attract new business. As business picks up, you could recruit other home alterations experts to work from their homes. You would then need to work out a pick-up/delivery system to get the items to their homes and then back to you for clients to pick up. To really boost customer service and increase profits, consider offering delivery of altered items to the customers’ homes or offices. If time allows, you could do this yourself or you could hire a service to handle it for you. You’ll find that once you get a few customers, not only will they give you their repeat business but they’ll tell their friends and you’ll start to see plenty of referral business as well.

A Day in the Life of an Alteration Business Owner:

Your day will begin by getting to work on any alterations you need to finish up. Unless your customers schedule appointments, you will spend your day helping walk-in customers. You can choose your own hours and operate this business part-time but you will need to have set hours that your business is open and be available to help customers during those hours. You will likely work on projects after your shop closes for the day.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals in need of expert alteration services.

What You Need to Start:

Sewing skills
Marketing materials
Dedicated area in your home to serve as your shop
Platform
Full-length mirrors
Sewing machine
Sewing notions
Computer with finance software

The Good:

There will always be a high demand for alterations services.
The start-up investment needed for this business is low.
You can easily run this business part-time and from home.
This business is easily scalable so you can add alterations experts to work for you as business demands.
You can offer additional services like pick-up and delivery to boost profits.

The Bad:

Competition is high in this industry.
It can take some time to attract your first few clients.

Resources:

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How to Start a Cooking School: Large Scale or Small

Joel Beck — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 03:09:43 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

Attention foodies: if you love to cook and enjoy teaching others your craft, you should learn how to start a cooking school. Learning to cook is very popular today as seen by the boom in television programs that teach the inexperienced home cook how to cook like a restaurant chef. You don’t have to have skills of a restaurant chef to run a successful cooking school, however. You only need to have a passion for food and a love for passing that passion on to others. Being able to cook a lovely meal for a friend or loved one is an empowering and rewarding skill to have. Individuals take cooking classes to learn proper techniques and gain knowledge they can take back to their own kitchens so they can cook for themselves and others. Couples enjoy taking cooking lessons so they can share a hobby and have more fun in the kitchen. When starting a cooking school, you should consider what type of school you will operate. There are so many choices, it’s important to have a business plan to help you focus your efforts. You could choose to run your cooking school out of your home and just offer classes to a few people at a time. People will pay extra for these “private” lessons and they will enjoy the personalized attention. You could hold your cooking classes at a local established business like a specialty grocer, gourmet shop or wine store. If you enjoy teaching a large group, you could lease out the commercial kitchen of a catering company or college during their slow time of year. You should research cooking classes that are already offered in your area then figure out a specialty that is not currently available. You could offer classes in a certain ethnic fare, baking or grilling. Before you open for business you need to be sure to have the proper certification for the safe handling of food and beverages. Neglecting to get this certification can result in huge fines. Next you’ll need to market your business around town. Advertise with flyers posted at grocery stores, specialty food shops, wine stores, in parks, etc. You may find that this is one of the most popular business ideas available and with great skills and a fun teaching environment, you might soon have to find a larger space and hire a staff to help handle all your students.

A Day in the Life of a Cooking School Business Owner:

You will begin your day by checking your schedule and appointments. If you hold classes at your home, you will go to the store, buy items you’ll need for class and return home to prepare your kitchen for your students. If you hold classes away from home, after your trip to the store, you’ll set up in the wine shop, culinary school kitchen or where ever your classes are being held that day. You will greet your customers, collect payments and proceed with the class. At the end of the class you and your students will enjoy a meal to taste all the recipes you made during the cooking session. At the conclusion of the session you will distribute business cards and encourage your students to spread the word about your business and to come back themselves for another lesson.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals looking to gain cooking skills they can take home to their kitchens.

What You Need to Start:

Cooking school business plan
Marketing plan and materials
Cooking skills
Kitchen (home or elsewhere)
Cooking materials (pots, pans, utensils, etc.)
Ingredients
Food handling certification
Business license
Insurance
Staff (optional)
Computer with finance software

The Good:

Cooking classes are fun and exciting.
Start-up costs are relatively low.
You can choose to offer classes for as many people as you choose (and have room for).
You are likely to get repeat customers and referrals.
It is rewarding to pass along your passion to someone else.

The Bad:

There are likely plenty of cooking schools in your area so you’ll need to offer something unique to set your business apart.
If you are not properly certified to handle food and beverages, you could be fined.

Resources:

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Preserving History: Start a Furniture Restoration Business

Joel Beck — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:36:05 +0000

Looking for Capital to Start Your Business?

Business Overview:

If you like working with your hands and appreciate the value that a piece of furniture can have, you should start a furniture restoration business. That value may be monetary in the form of an investment such as an antique Chippendale chair. Or the value may be sentimental in the form of an heirloom rocking chair used to rock several generations of babies to sleep. Being able to keep a piece of furniture in its original condition ensures years of use and/or preservation and the ability of the owners to pass it down throughout the years. If you are a talented woodworker or seamstress, operating a furniture refinishing or re-upholstering business is something you could successfully do from your home. Business ideas like this one are great part-time ventures that let you do what you love while earning a secondary income. The only thing you’ll need, other than excellent repair skills and a few tools, is a large area in which to store items while you work on them. Furniture items can be quite large (think chests of drawers and chairs) so you’ll need a storage area which can be in your home or garage. If you already operate a home repair business, adding furniture restoration to your list of services would bring in more customers and keep your part-time business busy. This is also a good business opportunity for a partnership in which one person does the wood repairs and the other handles the upholstery repairs. You could choose to specialize in certain types of furniture – antiques, contemporary pieces or just chairs. You need to be familiar with how to properly estimate a job since most customers will request estimates before letting you do the job. If you run into a problem along the way, call the client to discuss the higher costs before proceeding. If your estimate was firm but you realize while you’re working it will cost quite a bit more, sometimes it’s wise to just absorb the costs in the interest of customer service. Be sure to take before and after photos and post them on your website, or if you don’t have a website, put them in a portfolio to show to prospective clients. Market your business around town by putting fliers in local antique stores and resale shops. Consider buying items to refinish and sell. You could do this by placing ads online or selling on your website. There are many options available to an entrepreneur with excellent woodworking skills looking to put a little time and care into a furniture restoration business.

A Day in the Life of a Furniture Restoration Business Owner:

If you have items needing work, you will continue to work on them. You will take calls from potential customers and will offer estimates to individuals who bring items by for you to assess. If you choose to buy items to fix up and sell, you will spend some time looking for pieces in garage sales or at auctions.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be individuals needing expert furniture restoration services.

What You Need to Start:

Woodworking and/or upholstery skills
Space to store furniture items
Marketing materials
Portfolio with before/after photos
Website (optional)
Computer with finance software

The Good:

Start-up investment is low.
Return on your investment can be quite high.
It’s rewarding to restore an old piece of furniture to its original condition.
You can easily run this business part time and from your home.
You can choose to buy items, repair them and sell them.

The Bad:

You must know what you’re doing in order not to damage furniture.
It can take some time to build up your client list.

Resources:

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