Business

Ten great businesses you can run from home

Start your own cleaning business

My all-time favorite start your own business is the cleaning business model. This is by far the most accessible business of all, as you can start it with nothing other than your enthusiasm and willingness to work hard. To begin with, you don’t even need to invest in cleaning products or equipment as you can ask your clients to supply them. And if you think that a cleaning business is a dead-end business opportunity, think again. Some of the world’s most successful franchise operations are cleaning businesses.

Turn-key cash business

A turn-key cash business is one where your business is cash positive. For example, you go and do the work and get paid in cash at the end of the job. So you don’t have to worry about waiting for days or even months before you get paid. Of course, as your business grows, you will have to organize an invoice system where you charge your clients on a weekly or monthly cycle, but initially, with this business model, you can generate instant cash. Depending on your circumstances, this might be very necessary.

No initial capital outlay

This is the great benefit of starting a cleaning business – you don’t have to have any money to hand, so if you’ve just been made redundant, lost your life savings, or, however dire your circumstances are, you can start this business without requiring lots of cash.

Not having to do any cleaning yourself

The success of this particular business will very much depend on you not doing any cleaning. So instead of recruiting and building up a reliable and honest team of cleaning staff to tackle all those cleaning contracts, you’re going to go out and win.

Running it from home without the need to rent or buy additional premises

Being able to start and build a business that you can run from your own home means that you won’t have to share your hard-earned revenues with landlords who will charge you rent and local authorities who will set your business rates. Working from home also means that you can tailor your business around your family commitments and so on.

Start your own gardening business.

I started my first gardening business when I was thirteen and returned to this type of business when I found myself in a personal and financial crisis in my thirties. I haven’t looked back since. With an estimated whopping 60% of UK residents seeing gardening as a chore, you can instantly see the potential market for a professional gardening company. The gardening business model is similar to the cleaning business model; however, it has one marked difference. With a gardening business, you have to like gardening and be knowledgeable already. If you feel your existing knowledge isn’t up to it, don’t worry. You can study, take short courses, and so on.

How much money do you need to start?

If cash is a huge problem, you could initially start by offering your services as a gardener where you supply the labor and expertise, and your clients provide the tools and materials. However, fairly soon, you will need to think about getting your tools and equipment as you can then charge more for your services and specialize in whatever area you’re most interested in.

How easy is it to start?

Thankfully, not too easy! I say that not to put you off in any way, but of all the business models I recommend in this chapter, I believe a child-minding service is the most responsible of businesses. Therefore it’s only fitting that this kind of business will require you to be registered, have some degree of qualification, and be subject to official, outside scrutiny.

Summary

The first thing to note here is that you can sell anywhere in the UK that you wish to, but you may have to register in some areas (or possibly all areas, depending on what the Home Office is currently planning to introduce). Somewhat bizarrely, some areas such as Kent require you to register, while others don’t. The only reliable way to find out is to check with the local council’s trading office on where it is you’re planning to sell.

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