As you are choosing the best home based business ideas for you, it might be a good idea to look around and see if there are any similar businesses ideas in your area. Maybe your idea is so unique that no one else has thought of it before.
In the beginning, it’s not necessarily to start with a genuine idea for a first business, it’s smarter to find and existing home business idea and duplicate it.
In the last few posts I told you about my "real" secrets to success.
And to tell the truth... you don't even have to be *that* good to make money from home…lots of money.
"And to tell the truth... you don't even have to be that good to make sales and make lots of money..."
And...
"Even if your marketing and sales messages stink, you can still make a ton of money if you do just ONE thing... ONE thing that 99% of all business owners NEVER do, or if they do it, they do NOT do it correctly."
Let me give you a bit of background here because I think you may not understand the full implications of what I will reveal to you without it.
How I Found My Best Home based Business ideas
First, when I was getting started in business I tried just about anything (legal) to make money.
Several years ago I tried selling some audio tapes from a famous audio program publisher. It was the best home based business ideas that I started with. Or it seams like that. The programs were great! I loved them. I was able to get them wholesale if I purchased them in lots of 3 or more.
I put together a catalog and sent them to about 500 business professionals in my area.
What happened?
Nothing.
Not a single call. Not a single sale.
Ok... "no problem", I said, "I'll try something else".
Copy a Business Idea That Someone Else Had
I was traveling down town and stopped in a little crafts store. The store had these really cute wooden rabbit toys that had wheels and were on the end of a stick that you could use to "walk" your rabbit. When you walked your rabbit, the wheels moved the hind legs up and down just like a real rabbit!
I thought that was a really cute toy and it was really fun “walking” your rabbit around the store.
I bought one.
I took it home and thought about it for a while and decided to copy the “the business idea” ... but instead of a rabbit I made “ducks”... they had little “flaps” on the wheels were the feet should be and when you “walked” them they waddled just like a real duck!
I took them to a little crafts and gift store in my area and showed them to the owner.
He loved them!
He placed an order for 50 that same day and he said, if they did well, he would order more. I told him that I appreciated his order and that I would be back in one week with his ducks.
I didn't even get a deposit! I was too excited I guess and forgot... I was thrilled!
Wow... an order for 50, my first day!
I was so excited I went straight home and, after the excitement had dissipated, I thought about it for a minute and realized how long it would take me to make 50 of these “walking” ducks!
How would I EVER fill this order for 50 ducks in only a week!
It took me the better part of a day just to make ONE!
Ask Experts When Confronted With a Problem
Now I was only 18 or 19 years old at the time and quickly went to the only person I knew who was the least bit mechanical or handy - my father.
I said, "Dad, the good news is I sold 50 of these! The bad news is - how am I going to make 50 in a week? It took me all day just to make one!"
He thought about it for a while and said, "Well, the first thing you need to do is to make “templates” for all the components that make up one “duck”. Then, instead of cutting one part at a time, cut 50 of each part at one time."
Made sense to me... I made the templates, cut out 50 pieces of each part at one time instead of one at a time, and I got the entire order completed on time!
I delivered the ducks to the store and when the store owner saw them he was very happy! As I was unloading them out of my car he had sold 2 of them to people in his shop before I finished setting them up!... Good home based business ideas make money!
He came over to talk to me and said, "Listen, I have a another store too. I'd like to place an order for 100. How soon can you get them to me?"
Create a System to Help You achieve Your Goal
If you don't have a system working for you, you're not only behind the times but you're behind the competition for sure.
Now that I had a “system” in place for making them I said, "One week". He paid me for the 50 ducks I delivered that day and gave me a 50% “deposit” on the 100 to be delivered in one week.
Man! I made some real money in business! This was great!
I went home excited again... but then it occurred to me, "If it took me a week to do 50, even with my home business system, how will I possibly make 100?"
Again, I went to my father for advice. He thought about it for a while and said, "I was at this workshop the other day where they employ handicapped people. This shop had wood-working tools and maybe they could cut the pieces you need in their shop, then all you would have to do is assemble and finish them."
Wow...what a great idea!
Hire Workers as Necessary!
I went to the shop and asked if they did any outside “contract” work. They did!
I showed the shop foreman my “templates” and gave him the dimensions of the pieces and he said "no problem". He quoted me a price and it was very reasonable so I gave him the order.
Within 2 days he delivered all the pieces I needed to assemble 100 complete ducks!
Within 7 days I delivered all 100 ducks to the store.
Again, the owner was thrilled and paid me the balance of the order on the spot.
He said he already sent 30 or so ducks he had from last weeks order down to his second store and they sold out within 2 days!
One of the buyers was the Chief Medical Officer! The store owner said the Doctor kept it in his office and walks his “duck” as a way of reducing stress in his job.
Great business idea I thought!
Over the course of the next year I sold thousands of ducks in my area to people who used them as gifts and “stress reducers” in their offices.
What's my point?
Here I was a 19 year old kid and I had an entire home business built in a few weeks time because I:
- Found the best home based business ideas and Took action
- Was bold enough to start actually selling the product
- Asked other people what to do when I got stuck
And you know what, I didn't have to write a sales letter and I didn't know a thing about “marketing”.
But I had a “hot” product and a market that was ready to buy it.
Find a Hot Market And Step in Front Of It
Give people what they want not what you think that they need!
So what's the... "ONE thing that 99% of all business owners NEVER do, or if they do it, they do NOT do it correctly."?
They don't sell what people want.
They sell stuff that no one wants just like I did when I tried selling those audio programs.
Now you can twist and turn and change your marketing message so that your product is better positioned, but listen up:
If no one WANTS it, it isn't any good. Stop selling it and find something else to sell that's better!
That's what I did - I stopped selling the audio programs and found something better!
The only way to tell if someone wants what you're selling is to get it in front of as many people as you can WHO ARE LIKELY prospects, for as little money as possible, and see if they buy it...
If they DON'T... then move on and sell something else.
Let me repeat that,
"If enough real potential prospects see your product that you have accurately described how it will benefit them and they still DON'T buy your product... then move on and sell something else!"
There are some things that people just do not want, and you may have one of them ;-)
Life is too short to sell things no one wants...so move on and sell something they DO want.
The best home based business ideas means that your business can be extended, potentially without limit. And that means the difference between creating a business that will provide you with a modest living and one that will provide you with a long-term stream of income.
