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What are some of the cheapest startups with the best profit that you can literally run from home ... mail order business, pooper scooper business, E-business?
It's competitive, but you can be a printing or promotional products broker (many people do both together). You do not need to carry any inventory, start up costs are low, it is business to business sales so your weekends and holidays are free, plus once you have a client they typically will keep reordering. The residual part of the business is the best part, you just get an exact repeat order via email and the only effort you need to do is to send a purchase order to your vendor. Profit margins depending on what part of the country you are in tend to be 30-40%.
The downside is dealing with multiple vendors, getting accounts set up with multiple vendors and dealing with client supplied artwork is a major headache. The other big hurdle is lots of competition. For some reason the last couple of years have seen a big increase in the number of small part-time brokers, especially in promotional products.
I am always suspect regarding any cheap turnkey work-from-home business startup solution marketed as having the best profit potential. You should be too.
If you want to work from home that's fine and dandy, but you better do your own research. Serious research (not just posting a broad question to a forum like this) regarding what you want to sell and how you're going to sell it, as well as figure out what competitors you'll have, and what the demand really is and will be short, medium, and long-term. What will you be offering that others will not or cannot? I think it is just baloney to believe that anyone can just one day start making a lot of money doing anything, much less do something work-at-home which also makes a lot of money.
There are success stories to be had for sure, but I know for each success story there are at least 100 failures - in my own social circle I know of a lot of such failures. For each success story, that person figured out something before others did, worked their butts off, and showed a great measure of business acumen and self-discipline. Sit down and analyze your passions, knowledge-level, and capabilities to rationally to figure out if you have what it takes before you start on something like this.
Most people aren't cut out for entrepreneurism, and a whole lot more really believe they can spend $1-20k of saved up cash and suddenly/miraculously have a turn-key business solution placed into their hands... those people always seem surprised when they have a rude awakening and realize that they've lost their savings.
Please be smart about this folks. Even if you have cash burning a hole in your pocket right now, do some research before making the entrepreneurial leap, and then create a real business plan. Do the work yourself rather than trying to find a turn-key solution to buy and you'll be much better off long-term.
I used to work for a company that sold business supplies to small start up companies (we got referrals from local banks), so I got a pretty good sixth sense about what companies were going to succeed. Most successful start-ups stayed in the same industry that they were currently working in, I worked with a bunch of construction companies and guys that were supervisors would go off and start their own company. Restaurants and retail were black holes for people's money, took a lot of cash to start up and most failed within a year or two.
MLM and other "business opportunities" did not generate any income for anyone other than the owners. I sold computer checks to a couple of companies whose name you would recognize and they would order a lot of blank checks. The reason why is because they were printing lots of payroll checks for $3-$10 to the people that signed up for their programs.
Your best bet is to start small and part time if possible, then when you know if your business will succeed take the big leap of faith and go full time.
I used to work for a company that sold business supplies to small start up companies (we got referrals from local banks), so I got a pretty good sixth sense about what companies were going to succeed. Most successful start-ups stayed in the same industry that they were currently working in, I worked with a bunch of construction companies and guys that were supervisors would go off and start their own company. Restaurants and retail were black holes for people's money, took a lot of cash to start up and most failed within a year or two.
MLM and other "business opportunities" did not generate any income for anyone other than the owners. I sold computer checks to a couple of companies whose name you would recognize and they would order a lot of blank checks. The reason why is because they were printing lots of payroll checks for $3-$10 to the people that signed up for their programs.
Your best bet is to start small and part time if possible, then when you know if your business will succeed take the big leap of faith and go full time.
I beg to differ. I have been in MLM for over 13 years part time and have always made money. Not TONS of money, but enough to keep me in it. Also, how about office cleaning, or model home cleaning? How about construction clean up? I know a lady that makes $100k per year doing this, she subcontracts it out and does some of it herself. If you have a vaccuum cleaner and some cleaning supplies you're in business. Any legit business oppty you have to work at. I have a regular job and do my MLM on the side. It's just fun for me and it's a very well known "tupper" type of container if you know what I mean
I beg to differ. I have been in MLM for over 13 years part time and have always made money. Not TONS of money, but enough to keep me in it.
The reality is that You are in the vast minority of people who buy into MLMs.
MLMs are simply legal scams, a fantastic way to both separate others from their money as well as a system which encourages anyone who buys in to do so of their own friends and family as well. Most everyone knows this, but in case anyone who visits this site without the requisite knowledge or experience to know this to be true, I am replying directly to your comment.
MLMs have been discussed in many previous threads on this and hundreds of other online forums, don't waste our time with claims of them being wonderful money-making opportunities - most everything you will ever read on MLMs will be negative except for a small minority (primarily made up of people who own them or who have recently joined them). MLMs are financial reallocation schemes, from the have-nots to the haves.
If you want to open up a new thread on the benefits of MLMs, please do so, but it is quite frankly pathetic to taint a thread on entrepreneurism with discussion about them.
Last edited by belovenow; 04-30-2008 at 08:10 AM..
One of the MLM companies that I sold computer checks to is a well known MLM that advertises a lot on late night television. I knew the people in their accounting and payroll department very well and they told me that the average commission check for people in their organization was about $5 per month. It was a great deal for me, the more people they signed up the more money I made selling them blank payroll checks.
One interesting business that I ran across in the past was a guy that was a caretaker for vacation homes. He had about 200 houses that he kept an eye on and when the homeowners planned a visit, they would call him ahead of time to make sure the house was clean, utilities were on and if needed to stock the pantry with a few items. He had the keys to the houses and would sub-contract out most of the labor intensive jobs like cleaning and landscaping.
Another business that was unique that was home based was a company that acted as an employment agency for off duty cops. If you needed an off duty cop for traffic duty, event staffing or security you could just call this company. In the past most of this work was found by word of mouth and unless a company knew some cops, it was tough to find cops to work at your function.
"don't waste our time with claims of them being wonderful money-making opportunities - most everything you will ever read on MLMs will be negative except for a small"
I never said they are wonderful money making opportunities. Re-read my post. I said I have made money, not TONS of money, but a profit nonetheless. Furthermore, I went on to suggest other legitimate business opportunities for the opening post.
Sheesh!!
What are some of the cheapest startups with the best profit that you can literally run from home ... mail order business, pooper scooper business, E-business?
After doing serious research this is what I came up with. cleaning service, bookeeping, pooper scooper, landscaping, in-home daycare are all low cost businesses you can run from your home. I just started a cleaning service. Im printing fliers this weekend and hitting the pavement to hand them out to any business (restaurant, daycare center, realestate agents who need help cleaning foreclosures that previuos owners have trashed) who will listen. So there are good businesses u can run from your home, just do your research! good luck
Starting a daycare is one of the easiest businesses to get into. You don't have a high startup cost. You need to be sure that if you go this route that you get the proper forms for the parents to fill out, especially if you plan on taking the kids to the park or pool.
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That site could help with any forms, but I found the one for childcare liability risks. Also I have read a fun idea. You could go grocery shopping for people.. They tell you what you need and you charge a certain percentage of their grocery bill. I believe it was a suggested 12% and add the price of gas to go to and from. You would be an independent contractor either way, and you would be responsible for your own taxes. It really a matter of using your imagination. There are alot of oppurtunities out there. The reason that I suggest childcare is that I am always on the lookout for good childcare deals. I currently am paying 120.00 a WEEK at my local daycare center. It is hard to find people that know what they are doing. If you get a chilcare certificate, and get the parents to fill out forms protecting yourself it will show people that you are a professional. It will make parents respect your services and knowledge of the business, and lead to good referrals which are the life source of continued business... the kids grow up and you'll need new ones. If you have a WIC in your community that is a perfect place to put an add. They usually have a bulletin board that you will be able to post your service. No matter what you decide.. GOOD LUCK!!
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