Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the times they are a changing. More and more people are finding a need for cash to support there ever increasing lifestyles. Combine this with an uncertain economic situation and the need to generate an additional income comes to the fore. To combat this situation an increasing number of people are starting and running a business from home.A complete list for a home based business would be endless. The 10 best home based business ideas contained within this article, are those considered by the author due to them being popular, competitive, relatively low start up costs and providing the ability for growth.1. Online business
As one of the 10 best home based business ideas, the list for an online business is possibly limitless. However, consider some of the following: Trading the financial markets, affiliate marketing, network marketing, eBay selling, web design and desk top publishing, to name but a few. Due to the popularity and accessibility of the internet more and more people are able to so.2. Franchising
This involve different types of business arrangements. Perhaps the most common type involves buying a licence to sell a product in a particular geographical region. An example of franchises are carpet cleaning, printing and retail franchises.3. Consulting
This will involve a specialised skill set. For example engineering, accountancy, teaching a school or university subject. This could be done from home or may involve travelling to the home of your clients. Alternatively, you could visit businesses and assist them in some specialist area.4. Home health
Visiting elderly people in their own home and providing non medical assistance, from shopping to cleaning. More and more elderly people want to stay in their homes. So as one of the 10 best home based business ideas, you would be providing a valuable service.5. Fitness coach
For this you would have to travel to visit your clients at their home or in a corporate setting, that is, at their place of work. You could work together with a hair and beauty consultant, fashion expert and a nutritionist and sell a complete package to your clients.6. Use a Previous skill set
Make a list of previous skills that you acquired during your working life and apply those skills for the basis of one of the 10 best home based business ideas. For example if you were a mechanic you could look at a business of repairing cars, lawn mowers or household appliances. As a mom your organisational skills would be very good, so look at party or birthday planning or event organising.7. Specialized Coaching
Specialised knowledge is required in every business and as a consequence, in areas such as life, relationships and business coaching are available. As in any industry new markets open up, providing opportunities to those aware of the changing conditions. Remember that being a coach is a people business and good communicating skills are absolutely necessary.8. Internet based teaching
Provide teaching over the internet. This should be a must for inclusion as one of the 10 best home based business ideas. Reason being, with sky high fuel costs and limited employee time, many companies today have turned to web based learning for education and training of their workforce. This could take the form of you producing videos about how to play chess to teaching cosmology or teaching leadership to senior management. The sky is the limit.9. Outsourcing
As a business becomes established it can be more profitable to outsource even the specialised tasks. Having outsourcing as one of the 10 best home based business ideas, you will be in a solid position to take a share of this market. If you specialise in a business function such as sales, marketing or accountancy (to name but a few) offer these skills to the business market, both large and small. You could act as an outsourcing broker and find people to do the work for your clients and take a percentage of the fees.10. Property acquisition consultant
You could do a variety of things with property consulting as one of the 10 best home based business ideas. As a property consultant you would find residential and commercial properties for individuals and large corporations alike. You would not need specialised knowledge but you would need to enter into an agreement with your clients and the guidance of a solicitor would be advisable.

Marketing includes matters such as pricing and packaging of the product and creation of demand by advertising and sales campaigns. There are other options, of course, like product creation, resale rights marketing, joint ventures and the likes, but they are merely secondary to the above.

If you take the freelance route, it is important to ensure that all rights to profit from the final product, or any materials produced in its making, remain yours. Bookkeeping, physical product creation or delivery of goods can be done better with specialized help. Determining the purpose of the product is vital in niche product creation.

Implementation of Methodology – The choice of implementation of Six Sigma methodology depends on whether development is required on existing processes (DMAIC) or on new process/product design creation (DMADV). Determining what you really want to sell, something that you can be relaxed selling is the first step at the creation of a niche product. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts; to complete turnkey solutions, there is no excessive need to worry about spending time on the actual product sold to the customer.

For instance, you should be prepared to either perform yourself or to subcontract the completion of the following tasks:- Product idea research (are there any existing products or patents already existing for this idea)- Product specification document training (what it will do, how it will look, how will it be powered, and how the user will interface with it)- Marketing study (what it will be named, who would buy this, how much would they pay, how will we get customers to purchase the product)- Schematic or electronic circuit design process- Creation of a bill of material or BOM and an approved vendor’s list or AVL for each component in the design, preferably with multiple sources identified, with a BOM and AVL for each assembly level in the product- Printed circuit board layout design process (single sided board, double sided board, or multilayer board; size of the PCB; board material)- Mechanical packaging design with user interfaces (displays, buttons, switches, key. This removes all product creation costs from your budget as a marketer.

No other database of affiliate programs offers such a possibility for profit on either the affiliate side or the product creation site. Your chosen niche should allow for the creation of more than one product or service.

There are several marketing strategies that are necessary in the creation of a successful e-commerce web site – Email marketing (broadcasting) of prospects/customers – Effective use of auto responders (generate automatic email messages) – Online Newsletter – Online Form / Survey to capture your prospect’s email address – Electronic Product Delivery (if you sold a digital product) – Advertisement (Ad) Tracking – Back End Sales – Affiliate program etc.

It’s well accepted that small businesses form the backbone of the United States and world economies. In recent years, no part of the small-business sector has grown as dramatically as home-based businesses, which now comprise 52 percent of all small businesses and annually contribute $300 billion to the United States economy.A survey of home businesses conducted in 2008 by the Cleveland-based Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), revealed that 79 percent of the surveyed companies had annual gross revenues in excess of $51,000. A report by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) points out that 25 percent of home-based businesses had an annual gross income of between $100,000 and $500,000, and in 2000 there were 20,000 home businesses grossing more than $1 million.Many successful home businesses have never moved away from their home base, while others, such as Lillian Vernon, Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, Google, Bonne Bell, and Xerox began in the founder’s home, garage, or basement and grew into mega-corporations.The COSE survey found that home-based businesses create jobs beyond just employing the owner. Almost one-half had at least one employee, and 17 percent employed three or more workers. The survey revealed that most home-business owners are dedicated people who enjoy the benefits of working from their homes and want to continue to do so, dispelling the myth that running a home-based business is a stopgap measure until one finds a “real” corporate job.Until just a few years ago, there was a stigma attached to home-business owners. The sense was that the businesses were temporary or “play” businesses. But with the proliferation of both virtual employees and home businesses, such biases are seldom heard today.Practically any kind of business can be operated from a home – if the house is big enough or the business is small enough, and providing that local regulations permit it. I have consulted with single practitioners sup-plying consulting services, with photographers with in-home studios, with printers running presses in their basements, with light-bulb distributors whose garages are full of inventory, with a garment manufacturer staffed with almost a dozen people working in her basement, and with companies whose offices are in the owner’s homes but which have plants or warehouses in industrial parks.Whether you are expanding a hobby into a business, starting a consult-ing service, or want to establish a manufacturing or distribution operation, operating your business from home can provide a lifestyle that will be the envy of your friends.For an ambitious young person, an employee weary of punching a time clock, a worker who has lost a job, or a retiree seeking a second career, the lure of entrepreneurship can be mighty tempting. The lowest risk way of starting a business is at home which can often be accomplished with just a small investment. What is required is a marketable idea fueled with passion and nurtured by a dedicated and determined owner exercising good business practices.