Can Your Home Become a Business?

In today's economy people are searching for ways to make a few extra dollars. Some, especially widows and single moms/dads, are in need of creative ideas to make ends meet.

We all know the normal ways of making money at home. Home based businesses are perfect for moms and/or dads to earn a living while raising children.

Basic home-based businesses include:

Bookkeeping/Accounting/Tax Preparation

Medical/Legal Transcription

Babysitting

Freelance Writing/Editing

Freelance Marketing/Promotion

Self-Employed Hairdresser

Massage Therapist

Catering

Tutoring or Music Lessons

These are just a few home-based businesses but depending on where you live and the size of your house, there are several other ways you can earn money with your home-ventures where your home becomes a business.

#1: Rent a room. Many widows, single women & men can't afford the cost of rent plus utilities, especially those newly single (divorced/widowed). If you live in a college town, students make good house mates. Turn a master bedroom suite into a honeymoon or couples retreat.

#2: Love arts & crafts? Turn a living area into a storefront to display and sell your items. This works especially well if you have bay windows or some other attractive feature.

#3: Have lots of extra bed/bath rooms? Turn your home into a Bed & Breakfast or place of Retreat. Church groups, writers, artists, musicians, stressed-out families crave peace and quiet, more so if your home is in the country, rural area or on/near a beach.

#4: Own a ranch? Large or small, guest ranches are a great way to turn an ordinary home into a business venture.

#5: Have a large yard, patio and/or outdoor kitchen? Offer to host wedding receptions, office/graduation parties, etc. If you love to cook and entertain, providing food and music increases your usefulness and profitability. A swimming pool can be utilized also to provide paid lessons or afternoon fun for a limited number of people.

#6: Turn a large garage into an efficiency apartment or two and rent it out - this is sometimes preferable to having people live in your house.

#7: Convert your garage into a shop and build things...yard art, furniture, etc. then sell these items OR create a game area for individual parties.

Of course for all of these businesses you'll need to apply for appropriate licensing and insurance and naturally you'll want to implement safety measures if you are accepting people into your home or on your property. But by putting a little thought into your own dreams, desires and needs can open up a whole new world to you in terms of earning a few extra dollars.