1. ACCOUNTANT
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Create a flier outlining your services. Before you do that,
you need to know what those services will be. Do you want
to simply do bookkeeping for a small business? A more
involved level of accounting would be do actually work up
balance sheets, income statements, and other financial
reports on a monthly, quarterly, and/or annual basis,
depending on the needs of the business. Other
specializations can include tax accounting, a huge area of
potential work. Many business owners don't mind keeping
their own day-to-day bookkeeping records but would rather
get professional help with their taxes.
2. BICYCLE REPAIR
In many parts of the country, this business tends to be
seasonal, but you can find ways around that. Rent a storage
unit and offer to store people's bicycles over the winter after
you do a tune-up and any needed repairs on them. If you
want to cater to the Lance Armstrong wannabes, you can
have business all year round. These road race riders are
training through snow, sleet and dark of night. Some of
them work on their own bicycles, but many of them don't,
so you can get their business all year. And if you keep
Saturday shop hours, you can be sure you will have a group
of enthusiasts coming by to talk all things cycling.
3. BOAT CLEANING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Boats that are hauled out of the water for the winter or even
just for mid-season repairs will need the hull cleaned. And
depending on the type of boat, it is a good time to give a
major cleaning everything else too--the decks, the sleeping
quarters, the head, and the holds. Start by approaching
homes that have a boat sitting in the yard. Or you could
market your services to the marina to contract you to do the
boat cleaning it offers to customers.
4. BUSINESS PLAN SERVICE
Has expansion possibilities
Offer a soup-to-nuts business plan, including market
research, the business plan narrative and the financial
statements. Plan your fee around the main one that the
client will want and offer the others as add-on services. You
can give clients an electronic file and allow them to take it
from there, or you can keep the business plan on file and
offer the service of tweaking it whenever necessary. Have
business plan samples to show clients--and make sure to
include your own!
5. CHIMNEY SWEEP
Learning to be a chimney sweep may mean nothing more
than apprenticing with someone already in the business. By
becoming a chimney expert, you can combine a chimney
sweep business with a chimney inspection service--
covering more than just whether or not the chimney needs
cleaning but whether the chimney is in good working order
or in need of repair.
6. CLEANING SERVICE
There are many directions you can take this business. If you want to work during hours
when no one else does, you can focus on office clients. You can focus on retail
businesses and keep your customers clumped into one or two blocks. Restaurants are in
great need of daily thorough cleaning and can be a great source of steady clients. Perhaps
you would be more interested in house cleaning. Many times with cleaning services you
don't have to spend lots of money on advertising or marketing because your customers
will come by word of mouth.
7. COMPUTER REPAIR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Study the main types of software that system users will want--word processing, photo
manipulation software, mail merge, spreadsheet, design and especially security software.
Investigate all the components--monitor types in all their varieties; keyboards, from wired
to ergonomic to wireless; mouse types; as well as peripheral components like printers and
scanners. Become completely familiar with all the ISPs (internet service providers)
available in the market area you plan to cover. Establish yourself as the guru who can
meet the needs of the personal computer user, the small business or a larger corporation.
8. CONSULTANT
Has expansion possibilities
To be a consultant, you need to have an expertise in something so you can market
yourself as an advisor to others looking to work in that area. Perhaps you managed
several large warehouses in your career with a drugstore company, you did all the
marketing for many years for a large shoe manufacturer or you set up a chain of beauty
supply shops or take-out restaurants. You can use this experience to help others do
similar things without making the same mistakes that you made along the way.
Related: More Business Ideas for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
10. EBAY ASSISTANT
Do you have items lurking around your household that you could sell on eBay? Figure out
your asking price and decide whether to auction it or put it in your eBay store. Then decide
if you want a minimum bid and how long you want the auction to last. You will want to
establish a PayPal account to use for transactions. The eBay website provides all the
information you need to know to get up and running with an eBay business.
From Editorial Services to Household Organizer
11. EDITORIAL SERVICES
Has expansion possibilities
Here are some of the editorial services you can provide from the quiet of your own home:
Copyediting. This is where fact checking takes place, and where grammatical, stylistic
and typographical errors are caught.
Proofreading. This is the last stop for a "finished" piece. The proofreader makes sure
the copyediting changes have been properly made and no new errors are created in
the process.
Indexing. There are indexing courses available and you can get indexing software.
Developmental editing. A developmental editor works with a manuscript on big-
picture things like organization and content issues.
Book doctoring. This is an editorial service provided for manuscripts written by
experts. They create a manuscript as best they can and then a book doctor puts it
into publishable shape.
Ghost Writing. As a ghost writer, you actually do the research and write the book and
someone else's name is attached as the author.
Copywriting. Also known as business writing, this is writing that promotes a product
or a service.
Book writing. Do you have an expertise in something professional, such as
accounting or interior decorating? Or personally, like knitting? Why not write a book
about it?
Magazine article writing. Magazines and newspapers are a great way to get your
writing published before tackling the daunting task of writing a whole book.
Web page content provider. Providing content for a web site is a good way to make
some money writing.
12. ELECTRONICS REPAIR
Has expansion possibilities
This business is similar to the computer repair business, but you will take on all sorts of
electronic equipment besides just computers. With smaller electronics, you will need to be
prepared to have customers bring their repair projects to you, as you would have difficulty
recovering the cost of driving around picking up broken equipment and returning it. You
may also want to encourage people to give you their old electronics so you can use them
for parts.
13. EVENT PLANNING
Has expansion possibilities
One of the first things you need to do is visit every potential event location with which you
plan to work. Work with the marketing manager to tour each site and learn what is
available at each location. Start a database that will allow you to sort venues by varying
features--the number of people each site holds, if there is AV equipment available on site,
will you need to arrange for rental chairs, etc. Then when you are beginning to plan an
event with a client, you can find out what the key parameters are for the event and easily
pull up the three or four sites that meet the basic criteria. and engagement parties, etc.
14. EXPERT WITNESS SERVICE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
One way to make money in this field is by being an expert witness yourself. If you have an
expertise that could be useful in legal cases, you can market yourself to attorneys to act as
an expert witness. Another way to be active in the expert witness field is to play a sort of
matchmaker, matching attorneys up with expert witnesses for their cases--either for the
defense or for the prosecution. Expert witnesses for big money cases can be expected to
fly anywhere to testify. There's no reason your database of witnesses can't be from all
parts of the country.
15. FINANCIAL PLANNER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
To start, you should go through the certification process so that you can label yourself a
CFP (Certified Financial Planner). Your certificate shows that you have expertise and
credibility, and this differentiation will help people choose you as their financial planner.
For more information and details on certification, click here. http://www.cfp.net/become/
Steps.asp
16. FLEA MARKET
Has expansion possibilities
People love to spend weekends rummaging through tables full of other people's unwanted
items, looking for treasures. Make sure to change your layout and put new stuff out for
sale often. You want people to come back time and again to see what's new. You don't
even have to have that much new stuff to make things look new. Just moving an item
from a table to the top of a bookshelf might get it noticed, even though the item has been
in your inventory since you first started having sales.
17. GOLF COACH
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Let the local public courses know about your coaching business. Cultivate relationships
with the staff and encourage them to recommend you as a coach. Another place to look for
customers is the corporate world. Golfing is a game that business people use to develop
relationships outside the office. You do need to be a better than average golfer to develop
a reputation as a golf coach. You also need to be a good teacher, know how to be
motivational and be willing to work with many different types of people.
18. HOME ENERGY AUDITOR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
All homeowners are always on the lookout for ways to save on their utility bills. You can
come to their aid by providing them with an audit of their house and giving them a
breakdown of how they could accomplish real savings in heating, cooling and electrical
use. You can go one step further and do the implementation and installation of some of
your suggestions in their home yourself. Do a complete appliance audit, with efficiency
ratings and calculations based on the age of the appliance. And don't forget the water
heater!
19. HOME INSPECTION
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
In order to be successful, you will want to establish contacts with real estate agents who
can recommend your services to customers. The home inspection field is one where you
will need to do constant updating of your education and knowledge. New products are
constantly coming out on the market--if you only know about decks made of wood, you
will not know how to inspect and assess the new materials on the market, such as
composites that are made to look like real wood. Also keep apprised of all safety updates
of materials and issues with things like off-gassing, carbon monoxide production, and
other chemical precautions.
20. HOUSEHOLD ORGANIZER
Has expansion possibilities
You can choose either to do the organizing work or to come in to a home and consult on
the things the homeowner could do to better organize. Have a portfolio of different
organizational scenarios in different rooms in the home and talk with the homeowner
about the style he or she likes. Create checklists and questionnaires to understand how the
family uses the home. Are the kids wildly busy with after-school activities? Or are they
usually home after school and want access to their toys? Do they share rooms? All of
these things will help you tailor an organizing plan and become the family hero.
From Import/Export to Solar Energy
21. IMPORT/EXPORT SPECIALIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
If you don't already have work experience with importing and/or exporting, you will have a
longer learning curve. You can start by learning the basics and hosting educational
sessions to teach others what they need to know to get started in import/export. That
alone would probably gain you your first couple of clients. If you keep going with
educational seminars and expand your reach to outside your immediate region, you could
probably develop a sufficient and ongoing customer base very quickly, but be careful not
to outpace your learning curve!
22. INTERIOR DECORATOR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Market your talents to building contractors. People purchasing new homes can often be
overwhelmed with the choices and possibilities in home decorating. Design some
questionnaires for each major element and each major room in the house. Find out how
the homeowner will use the home--are there children? Pets? Does the woman of the house
wear high heels? Do the home's residents neglect to remove shoes? How will each room
be used? Where might task lighting and ambient lighting be most appropriate?
23. JEWELRY MAKING
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
There are many different ways of getting into the jewelry business and many different
types of materials with which you can work. Working in metal will probably require the
most in the way of specific tools. You need to be able to heat the metal to manipulate it,
and you need metalworking tools to cut and engrave it. But there are many other materials
that you can work with to make jewelry--glass, plastic, beads, feathers, even wood, to
name just a few.
24. MARKETING COPY WRITER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
If you can write copy that gets people excited about purchasing what your client has to
sell, you can make good money in this business. Unless you are highly experienced from
working in the copywriting field, take a course. There are online courses or classes at
community colleges and universities that can give you a leg up in getting savvy at writing
copy for brochures, catalogs, advertising and, of course, marketing copy for the web.
25. NOTARY PUBLIC/JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
In most states in the U.S., a notary public is a state officer who is authorized to witness
and attest to the legalities of certain documents by signature and stamping a seal. Most
states require that you pass an exam and a background check. It costs very little to
become a notary and your income from notary work is negligible. A justice of the peace
typically performs wedding ceremonies. States have varying rules and procedures for
becoming a JP and performing services. Becoming a JP and/or notary public does not
cost much money. And it is not a big moneymaking venture! Many states set the fees you
can charge for JP services. JPs can add additional fees, and often do, including travel and
hourly rates for additional meetings such as rehearsals, other prep time and any special
requests.
26. PERSONAL CONCIERGE
This business is for someone who is supremely efficient and has the ability to make things
happen. People who hire you will expect things when they want them and you need to be
able to come through with not only what they want, but with a personal touch and a smile
on your face. The most likely clients for a personal concierge service are top executives
who find themselves at the office by 7 a.m. and are there most nights until 9 p.m., leaving
them very little time to do all those things that often need to be done during those very
hours.
27. PERSONAL TRAINER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Advertise your services in places where everyone goes, like restaurants and grocery stores.
Having a website is a good idea--people want some privacy in their decision-making
when it comes to getting fit. They can go to your website and determine if your approach
to personal training is an approach that would work for them. It is important to emphasize
the safety aspect of using a personal trainer. You can help clients get fit and avoid injury.
28. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
Your job, in the case of rental units, will be to make sure the property is running smoothly.
For seasonal properties, you will most likely spend your management time making sure
the property is ready for seasonal visits and well-maintained when no one is around. If the
owners go away for six weeks in the winter, the property manager makes regular checks
on the property. You will be the contact number if the security system operator needs to
contact someone about a breach in security.
29. SMALL ENGINE REPAIR E
xperience, training or licensing may be needed
Most community colleges offer some level of engine-repair courses. Another way to learn
would be to take a part-time position at a repair shop or a rental facility where you could
learn on the job, although you will want to be open about your plans. You should be
prepared to work on push-behind lawn mowers, riding lawn mowers, generators, garden
tools such as rototillers and edgers, chainsaws, wood chippers and snowblowers. You
need to decide whether you'll want to take on bigger jobs, such as tractors, snowmobiles
and ATVs; space may be your decision-maker.
30. SOLAR ENERGY CONSULTANT
Experience, training or licensing may be needed
Has expansion possibilities
As a solar consultant, you can basically conduct a home inspection and give clients a
report on their solar options for their particular home and site. This can range from full-
fledged general solar installations that generate electricity to simple solar walkway
lighting. You might want to start by working in a solar products company to become
knowledgeable in the solar energy field. However, to be a consultant, it is often best not to
be affiliated with any one company or product and be able to recommend products and
options across the field of solar energy.

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