The Small Business Administration calculates that small businesses make up 99 percent of all firms and employ half of all private sector employees. Our area needs small businesses to start and prosper, but where are the good business ideas?
StartUp Nation is a website/community devoted to helping entrepreneurs start and run their own business (www.startupnation.com). Each year they ask their on-line community to vote on the best home-based businesses, and here are a few of their 2010 winners which may generate some ideas for local entrepreneurs.
The top 2010 vote getter was CurlyQ Cuties, a Texas-based business started in 2008 by a stay-at-home mom . It allows its customers to design their own plush toy on-line, including color and customized design which can be seen on their website as the toy is constructed. Their product line ranges from tooth fairy pillows to build-your-own monsters. All products are hand-made in Texas and shipped within two weeks of being ordered.
A company called Blank-Label won the award for most innovative home-based business. Blank-Label, based in Boston and started by a 20-year-old entrepreneur, is a website that allows men to design their own dress shirts by choosing from over 40 fabrics, different colors, and an individualized selection of pockets, cuffs and buttons. Blank-Label was started in 2009 and is now generating six-figure revenues while challenging the assumption that apparel must be mass manufactured overseas. In addition to being recognized by Start-Up Nation, Blank-Label is getting a lot of love from the press, with write-ups in The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, and Fox News website, among others.
Garden Tool Company is a 2009 start-up that won the Boomers Back in Business award. Started by a husband who was laid off and a wife tired of a slowing real estate business, the two saw a need for quality garden tools that would last longer than one season. They seek out the highest quality garden tools available, sell them over the Internet, and distribute from their 1,100-square-foot home in Colorado with a focus on outstanding customer service.
Check out StartUp Nation’s website to read about more winners, including their “wackiest” home business, My God Designs, a business formed by two friends who wanted to express their faith by designing a line of T-shirts. You can link to each of these businesses from the StartUp Nation site.
Common themes from StartUp Nation’s list of 2010 top home-based businesses? These companies have succeeded by putting a new twist on existing ideas, not by coming up with the next high-tech device. Garden tools and dress shirts are not sexy, yet they can be interesting and fun. These companies have developed their niche and avoided competing strictly on price, and they have minimized their start-up costs by working out of the home. Good lessons for anyone interested in starting their own business in 2011.
Do you have a business question or topic that would make a good column? Send your ideas or questions to me at jeff.neuville@b-assistnc.com and share your business experience with others.
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