Top Ten Business Ideas

The entrepreneur who would like to start a home based business has a lot of choice. Sometimes too much choice.

The following listing contain some of the obvious and hopefully some of the not so obvious ideas for home based businesses:

1. Dog walking services
2. House sitting for folks lucky enough to be vacationing in the sun during the winter, or for those folks who have accepted short term work out of province. 
3. Specialty baking. (In an approved kitchen) This can include health foods, decadent treats for you or for your pooch, or full course meals for the time challenged working parent.
4. "Go fors" Errand providers. This can work very well in an area where there are seniors or physically challenged individuals who need just a bit of extra help with grocery shopping or picking up perscriptions. 
5. Event organizer.  This works best if you specialize in a niche market, maybe tradeshow production or maybe specializing in wedding planning. 
6. Writer or artist.  These require alone time to create and then the finished products are marketed.  Know your markets and be prepared to work as hard at the selling part of the business as you do at the creative side. 
7. Bookkeeping services for small businesses or non-profits who do not have the work or budget for a full time staff member to complete the essential bookkeeping tasks. 
8. Teach, talk and train. Be a facilitator and presenter on a topic you are knowledgeable about and have interest in. 
9. Provide administration support services to businesses with employees on vacation of sick leave. Operate your own temporary staffing agency...with you as the only staff. 
10. Offer contracting or design services for the home construction industry. 

As with any business idea, you must do your research and make sure there is a demand for the services you will be offering. Meet all the legal requirements and enjoy what you do. 

Ten Ways to Keep a Meeting on Track

We've all been to them, meetings that go on and on, and nothing seems to get accomplished. The following guidelines will help you organize your meetings, whether they are staff training sessions or client  presentations.

1. Know what the primary purpose of the meeting is.  The good old days of long lunches and chats is gone. Productivity is key. Even brainstorming sessions need structure to have maximum effectiveness.
2. Have the right players involved in the meeting. A common problem is having too many people or even worse, not having the key decision makers involved when they should be. 
3. Have an agenda. And stick to it. Pace the meeting so the last five minutes are not spent trying to cover three or four important topics. Start and end the meeting on time. Don't insult the people who arrived on time by waiting another few minutes in case someone else is planning on attending.
4. Allow time for discussion on key points but clearly show the amount of time allocated and stick to it
5. Reduce reading time during the meeting by distributing materials a couple of days before the meeting, and explain to the attendees that the expectation is that they will prepare by reading the materials.
6. If a meeting is going to last several hours, schedule short health breaks. 
7. Provide non alcoholic drinks and low sugar snacks
8. Have someone take notes of the discussions.  Distribute the typed version of the notes if appropriate.
9. Have the tools needed. Check the laptop and projectors to make sure they work prior to the presentation. Chose an appropriate room (not overly large or so small it is cramped)
10. Ask for feedback, on how you did and on the material presented.