When you think about starting a business, you may think of renting real estate, commuting, or hiring employees. However, in today’s home-based business, there are many ways to stay at home and work as an entrepreneur. In particular, the impact of the new coronavirus infection is significant, and even in 2021, there are days when we cannot go out. There is an increasing demand for work that can be done at home.
Some of the methods I’ll show you today may require you to have a room at home to store your items, but you may also be able to run your business entirely online. Now let’s see how to start the work at home !
What is home work? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Work from home is a business that starts, manages, and operates a business based at home. In some cases-especially if you sell online and don’t have inventory, you don’t have to be tied to your home as you can manage it on the go. It is also possible to make money. In some cases, working from home is started as a side business, and in other cases, it is started as a main business.
First of all, I will tell you the advantages and disadvantages to consider whether home work is suitable for you.
merit:
- It can be a potential tax deduction because it does not cost like a warehouse rental fee.
- You have the option of selling the product locally or overseas
- Flexibility in work-life balance (ideal for parents who want to work from home or retirees)
- As a family business, families and spouses can spend money
With the threat of new coronavirus infection approaching, you can work without going outside (no need to commute on a crowded train!)
Demerit:
You may have to make changes to your home space for your business (for example, inventory storage, home office, equipment storage, etc.). Whether or not you can do these things without disturbing your life will be a challenge
- You must follow all business-related rules (for example, if you’re thinking of selling food, you’ll need to rent a commercial kitchen, or you’ll need a license or permit to keep inventory).
- You may need to rent additional space or hire employees
- Working from home gives you freedom, but it’s also lonely and can be difficult if you like being surrounded by people.
Recommended ideas for home business that can be started today
1. Purchase products in bulk and sell them at an online shop
Many companies focus on the simple method of importing goods in bulk and selling them for profit.
Perhaps you happen to find an attractive product on the go and find that it’s not yet sold in the market. Or maybe you’ve been hooked on a niche product and found it perfect for sale.
In any case, if the goods are easy to keep in stock and transport, the idea of working from home comes to mind. For example, glasses that block blue light are small enough to be stored at home.
You can also turn your home into a showroom. It seems that Artemis Design Co. started in that way. When ideas bounce and sales grow, you face the option of expanding with additional storage space and employees.
2. Sell handmade products online
If you’re making something yourself (or knowing someone like that), you might want to turn your hobby into a business . You can store and sell it at home, even if you make it elsewhere, such as in a studio, commercial kitchen or workshop.
If you can control almost every aspect of your product, you will be able to improve quality in a more cost-effective way or serve specific customers to meet market demands.
Whether you choose to start in a market like Etsy or create your own branded shop , selling handmade products is a great way to make money alongside your hobbies. However, please be careful as there are rules regarding products that you ingest or come into contact with your skin.
The following are examples of handmade products that can be sold.
- Candle
- jewelry
- Cosmetics
- Art
- Food
- Clothing
Best of all, you don’t have to be overwhelmed by making products, so when you’re ready to scale, you can establish a process of increasing production and hire employees. It’s a great way to grow from a small start.
3. Start drop shipping
The two home-based work ideas I introduced earlier were businesses that required merchandise to be stored at home, but there are also online businesses that can ship merchandise without having to leave it at home.
These businesses use a drop shipping model , where a third party manufactures, stores, and ships the goods on your behalf. Marketing and customer service are our greatest responsibilities.
4. Sell original goods
Some people may think that it is difficult to sell original products, but in today’s world , you can easily sell original products by using a service called on-demand printing . This model also does not require you to store or ship the item yourself. On-demand printing gives you the flexibility to commercialize your own creative designs.
Another feature is that we can sell a wide range of original products. With books, T-shirts , hats, backpacks, blankets, pillows, mugs, shoes, hoodies, cellphone cases, watches, and more, there is a wide variety of products available to each supplier.
5. Sell services and expertise
Selling a service may be easier than selling a product. But the challenge here is to allocate a limited amount of time. “Time is money” is never true when running a service-based business.
Creative professionals, such as designers and marketers, often travel away from their home office because they have many clients, such as freelancers and consultants for other companies. You may also be moving around to provide individual services based on appointments and reservations.
Some ideas for service-based home business include:
- Individualized instruction
- Freelance writing
- Personal training
- Virtual assistant
- Dog-walking
- marketing
- design
Service-based businesses require a lot of networking and word-of-mouth referrals to find the right clients, but service-satisfied customers will have the opportunity to repeat their business as repeaters.
