11 Business Ideas that can be leveraged from home using your Computer, Telephone and Internet

Idea No 11

Be a Specialist (e)Retailer - Selling homemade organic beauty products or customized T-shirts bearing a badge or picture isn’t a weekend hobby business anymore. In the current age of e-commerce and easy Payment Integration on small websites through PayPal, its relatively easy for small retailers to capitalize on the power of the internet to sell and market their products and to add up to their current income flow. Moreover you end up addressing a global audience and not just your local market. To make things even better, you can always sign up with Google Adwords and serve ads to the target audience that you choose. For as little as $10 a day as your advertising budget, you can get started.

Idea No 10

Be an Inspiration Speaker – Private Businesses and even Government agencies are constantly looking for new sources of inspiration for their work force. As far as you are concerned, no special education required, all that you need to have is confidence, good speaking abilities and ability to put across your message clearly to your audience. Set up a little website for yourself, get hold of a camera and record some of your good talks and put them up on YouTube. Sign up with a web conferencing service provider like GoToMeeting and start having your sessions over the web. However that could pose a little challenge initially, but then you have to get started somewhere. Parallely also hit your local market and start up with some Free no –obligation sessions. If the crowd loves you, you will have a fan following.

Idea No 9

Be an HR Consultant – Sign up on all possible Social Networking, Job related and people related web sites. Build your friend / contact network and collect as many resumes possible. After this contact some local / international HR / Recruitment Companies (via phone or email) and let them know what you have. Out of 10 you contact, I am sure 2 would be keen to avail your services. You can also take a different route here. Contact your local consultants and propose to them that you can source valid profiles for their requirements using the sources that they use (mostly that would be a login id and password for a Job Portal). Search diligently for some time, call the prospects and manage logistics remotely for them. If you think you are more capable than just this, you can always start a blog on ideas and advise for companies on creative ways to retain their talented employees.

Idea No 8

Be a Solo Specialist Practitioner – If you have spent a considerable time on learning some special skill (like dealing with Visa Matters, Patent Filings, Company Incorporation Services, Accounting etc) you can always start offering this service again. While doing so try to be inexpensive and good at your services. Remember, that you don’t have the additional cost of maintaining an Office and paying salaries to your staff. So be sure to pass this same cost benefit to your customers as well. Let me give you an example. I know a friend here whose previous full time job at a company was all about doing Company Incorporation and related Services. He now successfully runs a similar service from his home at 1/10th the price of what his previous company whom he worked for use to charge. All he bills his new customer is the relevant legal cost involved plus some amount for his time spent. That’s all. He has now branched out further and is also doing accounting and book keeping services for a few of his clients.

Idea No 7

Be a Ghost Writer for someone – If you are good at writing, then penning lines for someone else is a good way to earn money and have a reliable steady cash flow for yourself. You can register at websites like Guru, Elance, GetaFreeLancer (do a Google search for freelance writers; you will find many places where you can advertise your services). You can work on multitude of things ranging all the way from writing articles for websites, creating newsletters, write news items to maintaining someone else’s blog. You can do anything and everything that involves writing. So this one would definitely have a lot of scope.

Idea No 6

Be a Call Center Representative – This kind of work is ideal for stay-at-home moms, retirees and even students on Vacation. As more and more people are now seeking home based work opportunities, firms, big and small who had been off shoring such jobs are now instead filling it up with inshore customer reps. Set time schedules are maintained and based on that, incoming support calls are diverted to your home number. All you have to do is be patient and attend to calls sincerely and help your customers peacefully deal with their problems. Google around for this, I am sure you would find something that suits your needs.

Idea No 5

Be a Hotel or Airline Reservation Specialist - With an additional phone line, a computer, and an Internet connection, you could be booking travel reservations from your home for airline companies and hotels. In case you are not aware, for several years now, JetBlue Airlines reservation agents have been home-based. If you think you are capable to take more risk, you can always start up a home based Travel Agency. All you would need per added person is a Computer and a Telephone connection. Actually even an telephone won’t be required, you can always buy phone numbers from Skype and also make inexpensive outgoing calls using SkypeOut.

Idea No 4

Be an Independent Financial Analyst - Many people who start home-based businesses usually continue doing what they had been doing in their corporate job, but on a consultant basis -- and Financial Analysts are no exceptions. If you have the skill set to crunch numbers and present it in a way that is accessible to the public, you may be just as happy doing that at home as you would be in the office. I know a friend who is a specialist in Stock Market Investments and is now running several individual investment funds from his home. All he does is convinces people from his friend network to invest in his funds. Of course there are risk factors involved.

Idea No 3

Be a Graphic Designer / Freelance Programmer – There are hundreds of websites added to the internet on a Daily basis. Small and Large businesses are using the internet heavily for their brand building activities. This said, there is always demand for compelling graphics on website and ads. Likewise the skills required to develop web applications are also in demand. Go to Guru, Elance and GetaFreelancer, you would get an idea as to what I am talking about.

Idea No 2

Be a Medical Transcription and Billing Specialist – If you have some know how about the US Healthcare Industry, then you have loads of opportunities to work from home as a home-based medical transcription and billing specialist. You have the option to do work for independent physicians, or for larger medical firms that provide you with the necessary electronic programs to complete the work. Often though, the job requires additional educational training because of legalities with medical insurance. I personally know at least half a dozen people who are doing this work from home. However this can be a little taxing initially, but once you get a hang of it, things would be a lot easier.

Idea No 1

Be an Internet Marketing Specialist – Internet as a network is growing day by day and so is the number of people actively using it for their needs. Internet Marketing is a growing field and it’s something that every online business would need in times to come. Gain some skills on Internet Marketing like using Google Adsense, Google Adwords, Google Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics initially. It would give you a fair idea of what Internet Marketing is all about. Learn about SEM, SEO, PPC and CTR’s. Then start this off as a business for yourself. As usual you might have some challenges initially, but if you are a quick and smart learner, it won’t be hard for you to master it. I personally know a few people who have mastered this as a skill and are doing this as their full time home based work.