If you’re itching to get productive, be creative, and start a business, hold onto that motivation. An entrepreneurial spirit can get you far. However, you may still be lost about where to channel that drive, and that’s okay. If there’s nothing you’re particularly passionate about making, you can still find the answer by researching consumer trends. Anywhere you notice avoid is a place where your new product can make its mark. If you’re starting a home business, a few of these ideas can help you decide what to make and sell online.
Cosmetics
Beauty is a $532 billion industry with plenty of room for specialized products that can set you apart from the crowd. If you’ve never been able to find the perfect eye shadow, for instance, you can make your own. Other people are probably looking for the same thing, too. Crafting lip gloss is an easy place to start, with its basic ingredients you can customize. Focusing on self-care products, such as bath bombs and body scrubs, is another great idea. Remember: If Kylie can do it, you can, too.
Gift Baskets
Nobody has time anymore to pick out baby gifts for showers or send holiday treats to business associates. If you’re a great shopper, you can help a lot of people with baskets for every occasion. In a similar vein, subscription boxes that deliver themed products—such as clothes, toys, or snacks—are on the rise. You can start with smaller boxes every other month as you build your customer base. It’s best to learn by trial and error before you sink too much money into inventory.
Wooden Toys
If you have a knack for woodworking, there are plenty of consumers who are looking for old-fashioned toys to engage with their kids. Handmade wooden items are more thoughtful than mass-produced ones and can fetch higher prices, too. There never seem to be enough masculine gifts for men, either. Something as simple as an engraved box for storing watches could lead to even more lucrative opportunities.
Holiday Ornaments
Talk about perennial demand: Every year, people are looking for small, unique gifts, and every year they pack temporary Christmas stores to snap up ornaments. It can be tricky to depend on one time of the year to make sales, but if you want to keep your business authentically homemade, that gives you 11 months of crafting bliss to create your inventory. You can miniaturize anything and make it festive, and no matter how specifically detailed you to make your ornaments (take, for instance, some unicorns in lederhosen), someone out there is looking for one.
The drive for starting a home business can be just as important as what you make and sell online. Put your DIY skills to work, and keep overhead low by using your home as your headquarters before you grow your business. Retail empires have to start somewhere.
