Five Novel Ideas for a Home-Based Business

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(Steve Adcock, Pixabay)

23 August 2017. The days where one had to get up and go to an office or some other workplace are behind us. People are increasingly finding ways to earn some extra cash on the side or even their main income from unique home-based businesses.

At times, it takes some trial and error to find one that is ideal for you. Beyond making some money, you also want to do something that you don’t dread.

The best of these ideas are based on providing services that people need. If it is not a hands-on sort of business, even better.

Rent out your RV

RV owners live and love their pride and joy. Most can barely imagine sharing it with someone else. There may be times of the year where you are not using your RV, for one reason or another. You may be traveling or doing non-RV sort of things.

According to Outdoorsy, during peak periods of the year, people would pay you handsomely for the use of your RV. In addition, you can screen your applicants before renting out your RV. There is also that insurance available to ensure your peace of mind.

Rent out your driveway for parking

Yes, this is actually a thing. People struggle to find parking in most areas. Depending on where you reside, there may be a market for renting out your driveway for parking.

Drivers would happily pay a reasonable parking fee to park in your driveway or in your garage, rather than having to pay exorbitant fares to the city or some parking lot.

1. Your target market is usually people traveling for a few weeks. They would rather leave their car where someone would watch over it.
2. If you live near an airport, the market is even bigger. Airport parking fares for prolonged periods can be quite expensive.

You would need to get the driveway covered by some CCTV cameras. Start placing your listings on sites such as Craigslist.

eBay Neighborhood

Although this program is closing. There is still some time for you to make some extra cash off it, and build contacts that can make this a long-term business.

The idea behind this is that not everyone has the time, skill or desire to sell on eBay. Some people have the stuff to sell, but for one reason or another, they won’t do it themselves.

How it works:

• You register on the site as a seller
• Buyers in your area find and contact you
• You meet and survey the stock
• You handle the listing and selling side of things
• Items sell, and you get paid.

Garage share

Small businesses, especially the ones that trade online need somewhere to keep their stock. While they are still growing, they want to keep their overhead costs as low as possible.

Renting some space out in your garage can help a small business, and earn you some extra cash.

The approach to this will be similar to that renting the driveway out. List it on Craigslist, or another similar site. Those who want it will get in touch with you.

Your part is to do your due diligence of making sure that you are not storing illegal things.

Run a laundry service from home

This is not a gory as it may initially seem. Not everyone has a washing machine or the time to do their own washing. The key to succeeding in this one is to make sure that you do not offer more than you are comfortable with dealing with.

Here are a few tips:

• Ask customers to separate their colors before delivering the clothes to you, or they will incur an extra fee.
• Don’t offer ironing, if you are not interested
• Washing and drying services are enough.

Final thought

Your vision should always be to be able to grow the business to a point where you have a steady stream of customers. Although, you should always plan for growth and invest the needed time in your home-based business.

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