More and more people making the decision to work from home. There are literally thousands of possible ideas available, many with very affordable startup costs.

Direct Sales

There are hundreds direct sales company options to choose from. Whether you love jewelry, home décor, cooking, crafts, pets or clothing, there is a direct sales company for you. Typically, all that is required to begin is the purchase of a “Starter Kit” of products and paperwork and acquaintances who are interested in hosting parties.

Personal Shopper

If you love to shop, this job is for you. Many people don’t have the time or desire to shop and will gladly pay someone to do it for them. Offer to shop for everything from groceries to gift items, on a weekly or biweekly basis.

Lawn Care

Lawn care services might include mowing, sidewalk and driveway edging, raking leaves, pulling weeds and lawn irrigation. You can start out small with just a push mower and a few other inexpensive yard tools.

Pet Sitting

Pet sitting services can typically be provided in your own home or the home of a client. You can specialize in taking care of just dogs and cats or offer to care for birds and exotic animals as well. Some pet owners may require that you be bonded.

Personal Chef

If you love to cook you can provide generalized cooking and baking services or target a favorite niche, such a vegetarian, Chinese or low-carb menus. Typically, cooking in someone else’s home does not require licensing.

Web Design

If you love to create web pages, this is a home business that requires very little in startup funds. In addition to creating web sites, you can also provide clients with banners, logos and graphics.

Senior Care Services

With the increasing number of seniors who want to stay in their homes, a senior care service is typically a lucrative home business. Not only that, helping these folks with the tasks of daily living can be personally rewarding, as well.

Affiliate Marketing

If you love sales and the Internet, affiliate marketing might be just what you’re looking for. There are millions of products to choose from and several ways to market them. Companies pay you a percentage of each item you sell.

Tutoring

Turn your knowledge into income. Individuals seek tutoring services for everything from music lessons to crafts to cooking to general educational topics. You can choose to offer services at your home or the home of a client.

Cleaning service

There will always be the need for cleaning services. You can offer to clean homes, commercial buildings, attics or garages. Typically all that is required to get started is a wide variety of cleaning products and the physical ability to perform the job.

Starting a small business… just the thought conjures up a diverse assortment of ideas. To some it might embody a dream of dreams, and to another a trial of trials.

Whatever one’s opinion of starting a small business, the value of such a venture can be seen in the countless examples, worldwide, of individuals from all walks of life and all backgrounds creating something from nothing but… an idea.

Made in the image of God, we humans find substantial satisfaction in doing the things that He has done, namely, creating something. While it’s quite apparent we can’t fabricate out of nothingness because we are not God, we can take from what already exists and fabricate something of value, unique to us alone. Perhaps the doing so is the closest thing to “creation” we can actually achieve.

Consider a painting. Be it the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or the work of a carnival portrait artist, a painting is a creation of and unique to a particular artist. There will never be, and can never be, another painting just like it. As such, the painting is an emanation of the painter, of his or her very person.

In like manner, starting a small business is a creation of a person, often only one. It may be an international franchise selling a common product, or it may be boutique business serving a rare clientele, or any variation thereof, but if it is a small business directed by one’s goals and work, it is a by-product of that one person.

Starting a small business is an opportunity created by the economic system called capitalism. Since capitalism is most clearly defined by the private control of markets and profits, small businesses run by individuals cannot thrive outside of some variation of capitalism. We owe thanks to the wonderful (but not flawless) system of capitalism which gives us Westerners the opportunity to start a small business our own way and with our own efforts.

And thereby benefit from our own profits.

The benefits, in both money and enjoyment, are tremendous and often lifelong. But as in all good things worth achieving, the process entails a lot of work and sacrifice of time and personal resources. There are millions of people who plan to start their own business or simply wish to do so someday, but only a comparatively few achieve it with success.

Why is this?

To put it simply, starting a small business requires not only work and sacrifice and commitment, but a substantial amount of research. Many people desirous of being an entrepreneur have little understanding of what it really takes; and if they do, they believe they can get by okay without all the preparation and groundwork. The proof of this can be seen in the numbers… most small business startups fail in the first year. But there is the other side of the coin…

Many people starting a small business have done phenomenally well. Yes, they probably hit a few bumps in the road, and took a few shots on the chin, but the difference between the successes and the failures was not passion or intellect, nor the lack thereof. The difference was planning and determination.

So, to be successful in a small business startup, what exactly does it take?

To learn more about the productive path to success, check out this informative article: How to Start a Business