Running a home based business doesn’t suit everyone, so before you get all excited about the latest home business opportunity you’ve found please take a moment to browse through the following list of pros and cons of running a business from home.

Pros:

You get to spend more time with your family.
It’s a great way to bootstrap [...]

A couple of weeks ago we held a naming ceremony for our baby boy. Something we thought would be quite easy to arrange after all it’s hardly a new idea, or so we thought. It turns out that it is less common that we thought - apart from the couple who gave us the idea [...]

Many businesses try (and fail) to be all things to all people. Most successful businesses have a real understanding of what is special about them – what their Niche is. Niche marketing is all about narrowing your focus… specialising… establishing yourself as the expert in a tightly focussed range of products or services.
Niche
Compact Oxford English [...]

Seth Godin today wrote about the wilful waste he encountered at a hotel recently:

When I walked into my hotel room the other night, I was amazed to discover that no less than 18 lights were on (all traditional bulbs) and that the heat was set on three different thermostats to a toasty 75 degrees in [...]

A reader asks:

Hi I’m thinking of starting a business but I’ve not got much money so I was thinking of working from home to start with. But I’m worried, can you work from home and look professional?

There are some business that obviously can’t be run from home and you certainly would not be considered a [...]

Far too often the small businesses and start-ups that I meet are so focused on why they can’t do what they want (usually its one of more of no money, no time, no expertise) that they forget to look at how they might be able to actually execute their business ideas.
Sure the proactive ones have [...]

If you do then pop by the Union Square Ventures blog where they’ve announced they are hiring. They describe their ideal candidate as having:

Strong analytical / quant skills.
Excel wizard.
Strong internet technology experience, prior programming experience a plus.
Net-native: deep understanding of Internet origins, trends, and solutions. Strong online presence a plus.
Strong personal skills, great oral communications [...]

A reader asks:

You keep mentioning Dragons’ Den, I’ve figured out that it’s a TV show, but what does it have to do with Business Opportunities and Ideas?

Dragons’ Den is a TV show on which entrepreneurs and want-to-be entrepreneurs, who have what they believe is a good, viable and potentially very profitable business opportunity or idea, [...]

A reader asks:

Can you tell me how to go about finding business angels to invest in my business?

Your first option is to search Google for business angels and then to work your way through the results. Most of the results you’ll find will be for sites that will allow you to submit a summary of [...]

A reader asks:

I’ve got a great idea for a business but it would require the development of a computer program in order to work. How do I go about getting someone to design a program for me and how do I know they won’t just make it for themselves and steal my idea? Also where [...]