Work At Home Income
There are many types of areas you can focus on when starting your home based business, below are just a few of the main money earners.
COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
Computer programmers make their living writing the step-by-step instructions computers use to perform their tasks. Relatively few freelances write machine code (the deepest level of instructions used by computers for their internal operations). Most home-based freelances are applications programmers. They help their clients customize standard 'off-the-shelf' programs so that they meet the specific needs of the business concerned. Most freelances have a particular area in which they specialize, e.g. accounts packages or databases. Some freelances possess specialist knowledge of one or more computer languages, e.g. C++ or Visual Basic.
The computer industry is booming at present as businesses become aware of the many benefits computers can provide (not to mention the need to avoid falling behind their competitors). If you have skills in this field - and especially if you live in a well-populated urban area - you should have little difficulty in finding potential clients.
COMPUTER TRAINING
In recent years computers have begun appearing everywhere: in homes, in schools, in business and in government. The pace of change has been so fast that many people have found they need help getting up to speed with the new technology. An opportunity has therefore opened up for freelance computer trainers who can run courses and provide instruction on a range of subjects, including:
- Introduction to computers
- Word processing
- Desktop publishing
- The internet
DIY AND ODD-JOBBING
There are many little jobs which need doing around the modern home, from replacing tap washers to putting up shelves, not to mention the nasty ones like cleaning out drains and gutters. While many people are willing and able to do these jobs for themselves, others (including many older people) are not, and are happy to pay someone else to get them done.
Although this is usually thought of as a man's business, there is no reason why a competent woman should not do it. Many women, especially the elderly, are unsure of inviting men into their homes but would be happy to engage a female DIYer.
The more tasks you can tackle, the more work you will get, and you might even like to offer an all-in service. For instance, spending a half-day in someone's home and doing all those little jobs that aren't worth a special visit, such as rewiring plugs, dealing with dripping taps, or replacing a cupboard hinge.
There are some tasks which you should not do unless you have the proper qualifications, such as rewiring a house, and some which you are forbidden by law from doing without the relevant qualification, such as fixing gas appliances.
EVENT PLANNING
This is a business which can cover anything from organizing a son or daughter's 18th birthday party up to major corporate hospitality events with several hundred guests. For private customers, the event will be associated with a birthday, anniversary, wedding or some other celebration such as passing final exams. For corporate customers, the event might also be an anniversary (e.g. of the company's founding). It could just as well be a new product launch, a corporate hospitality event such as a sales conference, an annual general meeting, an incentive event for successful salespeople or a prize jaunt for competition winners. Your customers will be people or businesses who have neither the inclination nor the time to do their own organizing. For corporate customers, it often costs less to use an event planner than to get their own staff to do the necessary work.
This can be a seasonal business, so it is wise to offer planning for a wide range of events to keep you busy throughout the year.
FOOD PREPARATION AND SALE
There are many possibilities in the food and catering business. They include specializing in wedding cakes; cooking for dinner parties, cocktail parties or directors' lunches, either in your own kitchen or your customer's; and selling home-made cakes and preserves on a market stall. Most of the well-known specialist jam and preserve companies started this way and grew to the stage where they operate from small factories and sell their products directly to retailers. In general it is best to concentrate on some sort of specialty such as cordon bleu cookery, canapes or finger food for parties, wedding/birthday cakes, or the new growth areas of vegetarian and organic food.
GARDENING
If your garden grows better than that of any of your neighbors, you might consider using your 'green fingers' as the basis for a profitable business. Chances are that if you're a keen gardener you already have most of the equipment you need, so all you will require is some method for transporting this and you're in business. Another attraction of gardening is that, once you have built up a group of clients, they will want you back at regular intervals to keep everything looking spick and span.
There are various types of gardening service you could operate. At the most basic, you could simply offer a lawn mowing service-many older people and busy couples appreciate being relieved of this routine task. Alternatively, or in addition, you could offer a garden upkeep service. This would include such tasks as weeding, planting (and plant selection), pruning, sowing, digging, sweeping and tidying, and so on. There is also a steady demand in suburban areas for people who can make a neat job of trimming hedges, conifers and other small trees.
If you are more ambitious, you could also consider offering a garden design and landscaping service. This type of work is better paid and can be highly creative and fulfilling. However, you will need a good knowledge of garden design and planting, and some artistic skills or aptitudes.
One drawback of gardening is that it is a seasonal activity. It is impossible to work in very bad weather, and clients will generally not expect to see you in the depths of winter. Because of this, many gardeners have another source of income to help see them through the darker months, e.g. 'odd-jobbing' or general building work.
INTERIOR DESIGN
Interior design is one of the growth areas of the new millennium. With the high cost of buying and selling property, more and more people are deciding to redecorate or re-model their homes instead. Many people decide to tackle the work themselves, but around one in seven gets help from an interior designer. In addition, a growing number of businesses want their premises to be given the 'designer touch'. All this adds up to good news for people with the aptitude and skills to become freelance interior designers.
The work of an interior designer generally begins with a meeting to discuss the client's requirements and measure and assess the space available. The designer then spends some time developing a design which incorporates such elements as color scheme, carpets, curtains, textiles, blinds, shelving, paint finishes, furniture, loose covers, and so on. He or she expresses these ideas to the client in the form of plans and sketches. Once approval has been obtained, the designer may then supervise the implementation of the design, engaging painters and decorators, carpet-fitters, builders and other craftsmen as required. Designers may also perform some of the actual physical work themselves.
INTRODUCTION AGENCY
Introduction agencies provide a popular means for unattached people to meet others of like mind. At one time agencies suffered from a certain stigma, but with soaring divorce rates and the increasing isolation of modern life, their role in society has become increasingly accepted. Running an introduction agency today can be a profitable and highly fulfilling home-based business.
Agencies fall into three broad categories. The first type uses computers to match members, generally on the basis of a questionnaire which they fill in. Clients are given printouts of around six other members with whom they may be compatible, and left to make contact for themselves. The second type circulates lists of members, including brief details of their age, background, interests, etc. These are sent on a regular (say, monthly) basis, and again members are left to make contact with other members themselves. And the third type arranges personal introductions. In this case, new members are normally interviewed by the agency owner (or a member of their staff) and assessed for compatibility with other people on the agency's books. Some agencies combine two or more of these services, perhaps offering a basic computer dating service and a more personalized (and expensive) 'gold service' with introductions arranged in person.
LIFE COACHING
Life coaching involves helping people achieve success in their personal and professional lives. This sometimes entails face-to-face meetings, but in many cases is done by a series of regular phone calls. Life coaching is not a form of therapy or counseling, but rather a method of personal development. Coaches help people first to understand what they want from life, and then direct and support them as they formulate and follow a plan to achieve their goals.
PHOTOGRAPHY
There are two sorts of photography for money. The first is where you are commissioned to produce prints of your work which you sell to the people in the pictures or the owners of the items portrayed. The subjects could be wedding pictures, studio portraits, or even photographs of people's houses, cars or animals. This type of photography is known as social photography.
The other sort of photography is where your work ends up in newspapers, magazines, on the internet, or perhaps as posters or postcards. Newspapers generally require black-and-white prints, whilst most magazine and other publishers prefer color transparencies (or, increasingly these days, digital images). What you sell is the right to reproduce the picture, not the ownership of the picture itself, which remains yours. You can sell this right for any given picture many times over.
Whichever type of photography most appeals to you, it is best to have a specialty. This is partly because you will learn what sort of pictures sell best and how to take them, and partly because most people, whether private individuals or professional editors, prefer to use a specialist photographer.
WEBSITE DESIGN
Website designers design, produce and maintain websites. Their work involves combining technical, writing and design skills to produce attractive-looking web pages which show their clients to good effect and help them sell more of their products and services.
Website designers advise clients on the best way to promote themselves via the net, and show them examples of what can be done. In consultation with their clients, they decide on the general approach to be taken. Clients provide at least a rough draft of the text they want on their site and any artwork or photographs. Website designers then create the sites on their computer, using programs specially designed for this purpose. Once clients are satisfied with their sites, the designer makes the necessary arrangements to publish them on the world wide web.
As well as creating and publishing sites, website designers also often assist clients in promoting them, e.g. by ensuring that they are listed on all the leading internet 'search engines'. Finally, they may retain responsibility for revising and updating sites (for which they receive an additional fee).
