3 Simple Business Opportunities Review
The economy is booming in a lot of ways, but it's been hard on small businesses and startups. One of the reasons for this, is that the market is saturated with new products and services; making it incredibly difficult for startups to get a foothold in the marketplace.
There are, however, some initial opportunities for the intrepid entrepreneur — you just have to know where to look. One business idea that is often overlooked, is the home-based business. With about a third of the workforce employed in sales and services related to the home, it should not be surprising that with a good idea, you could be able to earn a healthy income. The key thing to remember is that it's not going to happen overnight; you will need persistence and hard work.
Here are three simple ways:
1. You can start in your own home, or move into another person's home as an employee.
There is probably a vacancy at the moment in your house. The idea is that you want to work from home, so if there isn't anything at all, try to set up your business from scratch. It will be a trial-and-error process, but it's worth it! You can get together with a friend, or neighbor for example and see if there are any vacant rooms in their homes or gardens that you could use. What about looking for empty rooms and properties for sale? You could always take possession of an apartment in one of the large cities and set up a virtual office in one of the vacant bedrooms. This would certainly be more convenient than commuting back and forth to work each morning.
2. You can provide a service.
A lot of people want to set up a business in their home because they don't feel comfortable using their home address for business correspondence. This is especially true for those with neighbors sharing the same suite of offices in an apartment building. The thing most people overlook, is that no matter where you work from, companies prefer to do business with others when it's convenient for them. If you are prepared to "offer a service" instead of trying to sell a product, you will find that there's plenty of demand out there for you.
3. You can sell your home (or vacation) time as an employee working from home.
In an economy where millions of people are working part-time, or holding down two jobs, you need to find a niche that is largely untapped. One of them is the option to work from home. A lot of companies are turning toward this kind of work because it saves on office space and employee benefits. The same benefit applies for you; all you have to do is find a company that feels that they can save money by hiring you instead of an office-based employee.
There are plenty of opportunities available if you know where to look, and what kind of business works best in your neighborhood or town. You don't have to invest a lot of money to start, so keep your eyes open for an opportunity that presents itself, and you could be on your way to setting up the perfect home-based business!
Source: 3 Simple Business Opportunities Review
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_K_Edmunds
by Kaitlyn Haines on July 22, 2012 6:00pm
Title: Fences as Good for Business as Privacy in U.S. Suburbs
Stephanie Strom | The New York Times | Sunday, February 16, 2013 at 6:00 AM EST
In a new survey of home buyers, builders and remodelers about the coming year, respondents expect a home's biggest impact on the environment will be to reduce heating and cooling costs. Nels Johnson/For The New York Times
From front yards to backyards to parking lots, Americans are fencing in their private property like never before. Though people do not like neighbors looking over their shoulders at their houses or dogs running through the yard, they have found fences useful in other ways.
"The most interesting thing to me is that property value is the No. 1 reason people are building fences now," said Mark Caress, who started in the fence-building business in 1979 and owns Caress Fence & Deck, a company in Apple Valley, Calif., with 10 employees.
The 36-question survey of 852 homeowners, builders and remodelers was conducted by Parade Publications for The New York Times.
One of Mr. Caress's recent customers was a family that lives about 45 miles from the coast but has two rescue dogs that bark at any movement outside their one-story stucco house. "In California we have rattlesnakes," he said. "They didn't want the dogs to go after them."
Such concerns are part of what is driving the national fence boom, which has been taking place for about a decade.
In 2003, just under 17 million miles of fencing were sold nationwide, compared with nearly 18 million miles in 2012, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And that does not include the estimated 21 to 30 million miles of chain-link fences installed each year in backyards and along property lines nationwide. The bureau's data do not include the cost or size of the fences sold.
"People are using fences as climate control," Mr. Caress said.
Many people have built fences around swimming pools to keep pets and toddlers from wandering into the water.
"In California, where we live, they have a lot of rattlesnakes in the backyard," said Donna Sims, a 59-year-old retiree who lives with her husband in Dana Point, Calif. "So yes, we have a fence with very high hedges on each side so no one can see any of us."
Shelia Abner, 47, a hospital worker who lives alone in Villa Park, Calif., said she had taken out two mortgages and refinanced twice to help pay for her pool and then her fence around it four years ago.
Conclusion: There are a lot of reasons people use fences.
New homeowners who bought their homes in the last year and expect to acquire a fence over the next year said they did so because they have children or pets (or both), need to keep people away, do not like their neighbors' dogs or they value privacy. Property values were cited as a reason by just over half of buyers in 2012 and 2013.
"We moved here one year ago," said Wendy Hemingway, 45, who lives in a custom-built house with her husband and three children in Fenton, Mo., about 15 miles west of St. Louis. "When we moved here we built half an acre of fence around our property.