When asked what I do for a living, one of the things I tell them about is this blog. Once I’ve explained what the blog is about I’m often asked what I think are the best home based business ideas, usually because they’ve "been thinking about starting my own business for years, but can’t think if the right business idea".

Well to be honest if you’ve been thinking about it for years but taken no action, then it’s not identifying ideas for a home based business that’s stopping you. Becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business is about attitude and determination, not having a good business idea. What determines success in business is the quality of the execution, not the quality of the idea (unless it’s a truly awful idea).

Besides the best thing about starting a business from home is the low (often zero) start-up cost, so start a business, ANY business based from home. Start it part time and just accept that you’ll make mistakes, however as your costs are low those mistakes should be cheap. Then after you’ve been "in business" for a while you’ll get to know which business ideas work for you and which don’t.

So keeping all of that in mind, what do I think are the best home business opportunities and ideas?

• Anything Internet based, if you browse through my list of Internet business ideas you’ll find that the majority can be run from home and most of them can be started for less that £25 (I’m assuming you have access to a computer and Internet connection – which given you’re reading this blog seems likely). The posts about starting a blogging business and starting an ebook business are particularly relevant if you have a hobby or area of expertise that you can build on.
• Becoming a consultant, requires little more than a computer, some business cards and a skill to offer your customers. Assuming you already have the skills and computer you could be up and running for little more than £25 – possibly even less if you grab some free business cards – although I’m not a fan. If starting a consultancy from home takes your fancy then you might want to read through the post Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Consultancy first and then either read Smarter Consulting or Starting And Running A Successful Consultancy
• Selling on Ebay. You can sell just about anything on Ebay, it’s cheap to get started and you’ll learn a lot about writing promotional content and customer service which you can then use to grow the business or to start another business later.
• Providing a service – Hundreds of small businesses are run from home offering all sorts of services from virtual assistants to copywriters to web and graphic design.

If non of the above takes your fancy then have a browse through the home business ideas articles and see if any of those takes your fancy.

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