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WAH Business Options - Part 3

Making It (and Selling It) Yourself

If you have a particular skill and can produce something in which others would be interested, that can become the foundation of your work at home business.

Those who sew may be able to make sellable clothing items. Crafters and artists might be able to produce some marketable items, too. Jewelry is another example.

If you have the skill to produce a winning product, you will just need to add an ability to sell the end result to the mix in order to succeed.

Flea markets, craft shows, eBay, your own website and a host of other options (including traditional local retail stores) might be perfect spots to offer one's wares.

There are production costs and supply costs, so the enterprise isn't overhead free. However, raw materials are often cheap and a handy person can turn a few bucks of this and that into a finished product worth several times its component
parts.

Avon Calling!

No, you don't necessarily have to sell makeup of skin cream to pull this one off. If you did, you wouldn't even have to do Avon (Arbonne, Mary Kay and a host of others are available, too).

You could sell Tupperware. Vitamins. Soap. You name it.

There are hundreds of companies offering everything from candles to adult "party favors" via a sales force recruited from the ranks of the work at home population.

You join up, you sell, and you recruit others to sell. Then, you profit.

It's often called multilevel marketing, and its an industry rife with controversy, converts, doubters, true believers and no matter what you think about it, it continues to grow each and every day.

The systems are different based on the company. Some require a larger initial investment than others. Some focus on product sales and others are more concerned with "downline recruitment."

There are countless people who join up and never recoup their initial investment. The argument is whether that is due to problems with the multilevel marketing structure and is reflective of an industry designed to ride on the back of those at the bottom of the pile or if its because it takes a certain combination of chutzpah and talent to make the business work.

MLM is a big deal. From candy bars to prepaid legal services, there is an opportunity meeting anyone's interests. The trick to making it work is being able to sniff out the rats and invest your time (and, yes, some of your money) with a winner.

There are NO Limits!

This list of possibilities could literally go on forever. If you can do something or make something and can find someone who wants or needs it, you have a possible business.

The question becomes whether you can make or provide enough to make it profitable, whether you can find a large enough potential market and whether you can persuade that market to take action.

That dusty piano in the corner might just become the spot for some of the best introductory piano lessons in town, once you brush up on your skills and do some research on instruction.

Your great aunt keeps making those wonderful scarves and they just pile up. What if you offered to go fifty/fifty with her and sold them on eBay?

Have you noticed how many baseball cards keep showing up at those local garage sales. You can get them for pennies a stack. What could you sell them for?

You were the editor of the high school newspaper, made the Dean's list twice on your way to an English degree and still secretly wish you could be a writer. Why not do it? A career as a freelance journalist or a ghostwriter might be a few keystrokes away.

That first ashtray you made for your mother in second grade out of clay wasn't much to look at, but you sure got good at making ceramic vases and pots during that college class. How much would clay, slip, a wheel and renting some kiln space really cost? And what could you get out of your efforts?

A big garden is beautiful, but you can only eat so many of your bumper crop of tomatoes. What does it take to get a table at that popular downtown farmer's market, anyway?

You get the idea. If you can do something--anything--that others want, you can turn it into your own business.

Remember when we said creativity was at the heart of work at home success. This is a perfect time to use that character trait! Brainstorm scores of options, then start investigating them until you find something that fits your needs, skills, interests and provides an opportunity for success. You might be selling your barbecue recipes online or framed prints of your photos at the art show. Who knows?