Home Business Ideas to Make Money Easily from Home (And Where to Sell Handmade Items)
Many people want the flexibility and ease being able to work at home, while maintaining an income with good wages or a business with high profits. Mothers and caregivers, called to their homes and their family may need the extra income or have a few extra hours to take advantage of. Below are some business or money-making opportunities that will allow you to fulfill your responsibilities at home, stay in the easy and relaxing environment that you love, while making money.
Jessicay Haley writes about her inspiring design studio at her home.
My studio is not an exceptional place, in and of itself. It is just four walls with one unimpressive window. But it is significant to me because like most creative people, I often feel that irrefutable draw to create. Since I was young, I always dreamed of a studio... a vibrant, ecclectic space filled with paintings, pottery, and pretty textiles. So, I am very happy to finally have one! Also, it has been a necessary space as my business has grown because it also houses all my inventory {some of it sizable} and gives my staff an organized place to work.
1. Home Business Idea: Where to Sell Handmade Items? On Etsy!
Have a specialty item that you can make at home? Esty is a buying and selling network for all things handmade. Founded in 2005, Etsy quickly soared to the top of the handicrafts market and now has buyers and sellers from over 150 countries, with many new buyers and sellers added daily. Etsy's handmade merchandise often make it to the top of Google search engines.
Items that can be sold on Etsy must fit into at least one of these three categories:
1. Handmade: Goods handmade by you.
2. Supplies: Commercial or handmade crafting supplies.
3. Vintage: Items 20 years or older with vintage appeal.
Several stay-at-home moms have begun listing their handcrafted goods on Etsy and gotten such a positive response that they are now able to get direct referrals and can sell their items outside of Etsy's website as well. Jessica Haley, founder of Mia Joie, used to be a college teacher until she sold a few handmade felt toddler shoes on Etsy. She had such overwhelming delight from her customers, that she has teaching and is now exclusively designing and creating Joy Folie shoes and toddler accessories in her creative and inspiring design studio in her home. Nearly all her products are sold within minutes of first being listed on Etsy. Jessica Haley's blog is a great way to follow her success as a small business-owner who makes money easily from home.
One small down side of listing items on Etsy is that you are charged 20 cents for each item listed, and if your item sells, you are charged a 3.5% sales fee. However, the success rate for handmade items sold is much, much better for Etsy than it is for huge selling networks like Ebay or Amazon. Twenty cents is a small price to pay for excellent publicity and a quick and easy launch into the wonderful world of small home business.
2. Earn Money at Home: Love Dogs? Breed and Sell Puppies from Home
Dog breeding is a rewarding and richly profitable business that is easy to do from home, and can be a great money-making opportunity for responsible kids and teens as well. Purebred dogs that are in high demand as pets or show dogs quickly pay for the breeding costs. They key is to purchase a dog that will fit in with your family as a beloved pet, as well as have a good lineage and be a popular pet or show breed. I have known several young people who have created successful breeding businesses by owning one or two female dogs of their own and mating their dogs with a sire for a small fee. The puppies were easily cared for and given the proper veterinary procedures to make them legally sellable, they were listed for sale and were often claimed and bought by the time the puppies were ready to go to new homes. Depending on the breed of dog and the number of puppies per litter, each litter could easily bring in thousands to ten-thousands of dollars.
Do some research about reputable puppy buy and sell services. Several are available online:
But remember, the best business comes through reputation and referrals!
3. From Home Business Idea: In-Home Tutoring and Music Teaching
If you have special knowledge in an area of academics or know how to play a musical instrument well, you might consider giving lessons or tutoring at your home. Many parents are looking for personalized help for their children who are struggling academically, and will be willing to pay you to spend the time and effort their children need. Many aspiring musicians are not willing or able to pay for music lessons from a high-end music studio, but would love the personalized attention, affordable rates, and home environment of your own in-home music studio. Advertise locally, in your neighborhood or city newspaper, on your neighborhood bulletin board, on craigslist, or at a nearby school. If your methods work and children and parents appreciate what you are doing, you will also receive customers through word-of-mouth.
Long-distance writing and literature courses for all ages are also popular, especially amongst the homeschooling community. The rise of internet technology has made correspondence teaching even easier, as email, chat, skype, web conferences, and free downloadable word processing software is available for your use. Set up a website or blog for your students to check weekly assignments, post questions in the forum, and read articles pertaining to what they are learning. Advertise in national (or international!) educational newsletters and magazines, home-educating publications, or website directories designed to connect students with tutors.
Check out these independent tutor directories: TutorsDirectory.co.uk, and Wyzant.com for independent tutors. Music teachers can become members of their statewide music teachers association or the Music Teacher's National Association, where your name and contact info will be published annually in the association's directory. Don't forget to advertise your services on Craigslist.org, as it is often the first place people check for local tutors and teachers.
Make Money Easily From Home: Freelance Writing Opportunities
If you enjoy writing, researching, marketing, or sales, you should consider trying your hand at one of the many freelance writing opportunities available on the web.
HubPages.com is the website I have been writing for, and I have found it to be a rewarding and easy way to make money from my own home (not to mention-- incredibly fun, too!). There is no cost to sign up, and anyone can publish just about anything under their "hubber" user name. HubPage writers make 60% of all money earned through pay-per-click programs like Google AdSense, Kontera, Amazon, and Ebay. HubPage articles geared toward reviewing or advertising a specific product can feature those products for sale in Ebay and Amazon "capsules" that will give a portion of the sale to you, the writer. The key to making this home business work is to write and publish articles that will get steady traffic from search engines, and to make your content interesting, valuable, and appealing to the public. Also key is to make sure you have optimized each of your pages for search engines to find. Click on this link to find out more about HubPages or to sign up!
Many Opportunities for Making Money Easily from Home!
I hope these suggestions have given you some great ideas about what you can do to make money easily from the comfort of your own home while setting your own hours and doing something you love.
© 2010 Jane Grey
