If you are looking for the Best Business to Start, my first suggestion as a professional business coach that has had hundreds of clients through the years is to develop that question. Lets start here:

“What is the best business to start for me.”

There are literally thousands of types of businesses to start, and it is important to narrow down the possibilities in your research. Here are a couple of questions to zero in on that quickly:

#1. Do you have $25,000.00 or more available to start a business?

#2. Do you want to work from home?

By answering these two questions, you have begun on the path to discover your true options. For the purpose of this article we are going to assume that you don’t have large start up capital and that you would want to work from home - this would be by far the largest demographic. (If this is not true for you, I would suggest you seek expert advice in your home town, not on the internet.)

Warning: Be aware in your research that many business opportunities claim to be “home” businesses, but are really “run around to meetings and lunches” businesses.

Now we can narrow down the question to:

“What is the best business to start for me that I can do at home and get going for less than $_______?

Although we have narrowed down things greatly, there is still thousands of choices out there, so lets continue. We are narrowing your research based upon YOU. So, lets talk about YOU. Are you bringing any skills or experience to the table in which to start your own business? Have you started or run a home business before?

Again, this article is going to take you as reader down a “funnel” that the largest numbers would fit into. If you don not have strong entrepreneurial skills or successful experiences, you will need training - so lets embellish the question:

“What is the best business to start for me that I can do at home and get going for less than $_______, and provides the training that I need to be successful?”

Warning: Be cautious of those biz opps that claim no skill or experience is needed. YOU are looking for legitimate business, not a money game or a lottery ticket.

Great - now we are getting somewhere. There are several ways we could go from here,, but another great divider is those that like to spend time on the computer and internet, and those that really aren’t into that. Most of my clients are internet oriented so we will add that. (If you are not, my suggestions is that you analyse your current skills and research a service you can do out of your home: accounting, word processing, craft creation that could be sold on eBay or flea markets, etc. The list is endless and obviously would need to be something you enjoy doing!) No matter what path you choose, if you do not enjoy, it is not worth it, no matter how much you make!

So lets further develop our question:

“What is the best business to start for me that I can enjoy at home, and get going for less than $_______, involves mostly using the computer and internet, and provides the training that I need to be successful?”

The further we get down this funnel, the narrower it becomes, but that is the purpose, for YOU to come up with a shorter list of the best business to start for YOU. Another filter, as with many as we begin the finer tuning here, has to do with your personality and preferences. A big one is relational.

Do you enjoy helping and communicating with people, or do you prefer your tendency towards liking to work alone? If you enjoy working alone and communication or camaraderie with others isn’t important to you, the best business to start for you would probably be in the area of using a developed computer skill that you can hire your services out. (Ex: Learn how to write resume’s for people for a fee.)

Most of my clients, although they have found a home business, they still enjoy the “virtual” environment of having team mates and associates. If this is true for you, you can add to the question again:

“What is the best business to start for me that I can enjoy at home, and get going for less than $_______, involves mostly using the computer and internet, and provides the training that I need to be successful, and I can enjoy the journey with others doing the same thing?”

In other words, is there a team or organization that provides all that? Another factor that often comes up in this process is selling. Most of my clients hate selling - in the old stereotypical sense. I do also. But here is the bottom line - almost all of the businesses you can start using the above parameters involve sales or marketing in the broader sense. Even if you are a self proclaimed loner and want to do a service by yourself and never communicate with anyone - you will still need to learn how to market yourself and your service online - and it is jungle out there.

Warning: Many opportunities will claim that no selling or marketing is needed to join their company. If that is really true, than why do they need you? Think about it.

The pace of the changes on the internet is accelerating greatly. What you learn this year, if you put it aside and decide to start after the holidays, you will need to start all over again - and that is OK. The point I am making is that most business opportunities are operating under old school paradigms that don’t work anymore. So make your research very current in your quest for your best business to start.

We trust this funnel has helped you down the road a bit. We’ll add to the question from the last discussion here,. The journey is worth it as you down the road further and find the best business to start for YOU:

“What is the best business to start for me that I can enjoy at home, and get going for less than $_______, involves mostly using the computer and internet, and provides the most up-to-date attraction marketing training available that I need to be successful (with no stereotypical selling involved,)- and that I can enjoy this journey with others doing the same thing?”

Now that you have a focused question, you will find your research much more meaningful.

Curt Johnson, or Coach Curt, provides coaching and mentoring to the at home business industry.