Some business people are too busy to answer their own phone calls; therefore, answering service businesses are gaining on popularity. If you want to work from home and you have plenty of time on your hands, answering service business might be just the job you want.

-Answering phones for somebody else can be very easy. All you have to do is learn about a person for whom you are going to answer calls and start answering calls immediately.
-Answering phones is a perfect for people such as stay at home mothers or people who do not have many responsibilities and who can answer a phone at any time they are required to do it.
-Answering service business is easy to set up. All you need to have is a phone line, which you already probably have. If you plan to start a larger answering service business, you might want to invest some money in a few telephone lines, switchboards, fax machine, billing software, etc. However, this business is not going to cost you a fortune, especially if you decide to work from home.
-People who might need your services are lawyers, doctors with small practices, contractors, sales people, and any business person who needs to answer his phone calls.
-Once you decide to start your answering service business, advertise it on your local newspaper, in your local telephone directory, take advantage of mailing lists, business forums, and business cards. You can advertise anywhere where you could get potential customers.

While starting a business is generally not an easy thing, it is a lot harder to start it in unstable times and in down economy. You will have to be especially careful while planning your online business in tough times. If you invest too much money in it or if you decide to spend too much money on unnecessary expenses, you risk having losses. Careful planning is important as well as following a few steps:

-Whenever it is possible, always look for ways to save money. Try working from home instead of renting an office. That way you can dramatically reduce the costs of running your business. You will only have to pay your bills once if you decide to work from your home office.

-If you employ employees or if you have partners in your business, decide carefully how much you are going to pay them. Be honest with them and remember to be fair. Explain to them why you cannot pay them as much as they want if this is the case.

Getting the right business finance can be worthwhile. By business finance, I mean anything from taking a loan, obtaining a grant, or receiving some money from your family members. Here are some things you might wish to ask yourself before asking for money. Asking these questions will ensure that you are going to ask the right people.

-Try to figure out how much money you wish to raise for your business. If you want to raise plenty of money, your family members or friends might not be willing to help you. If you want to raise a little, your friends might be very helpful.
-Decide for what purpose you wish to raise the money. Depending on this, some companies or individuals will be more likely to grant you the funding.
-Specify how much it is going to take you to pay the money off. You will need to know it in case you apply for a loan or in case your business does not succeed.

Many people sell items on eBay and make a large profit doing so. For some of these sellers, eBay is the only source of income. You can sell items on eBay in at least two different ways: you can sell them on auctions, or you can open an eBay store and allow customers to buy items from you on a regular basis. If you have access to products you can obtain at a good price, I suggest that you start selling them on eBay. Maybe somebody in your family manufactures shoes you could sell on eBay or somebody in your neighborhood offers goods at discounted prices. The best thing about eBay is that you do not have to work a lot. If you want, you can download a program that will list your items multiple times automatically over and over again. You can make a profit while you are sleeping or while you do something else than selling.

If you do not have a product to sell on the Internet, it is a good idea to sell the products of other people. For many people, this is a perfect idea to start a new business. If they do not have any ideas to create their own products, they can always help others sell their products and earn commissions. Selling other people�s products has many advantages, but also some disadvantages. I would like to mention a few of them in this post:

-Selling other people�s products is relatively easy. All you have to do is to set up a website, do some marketing and promotion, and everything is ready to launch. Very often, you will not be required to invest any money in your business, especially if you plan to sell digital products such as games or music.
-By selling other people�s products, you avoid being responsible for their products. If a producer of that item fails to deliver what he promised, you are not going to be responsible for it as you are only a reseller.
-You do not have to worry if the manufacturer of products you sell goes bankrupt. Of course, this will mean the end of your business, but you can always move on and start making money with a new product manufactured by somebody else.
-The thing that you might not like about selling other people�s products is that you will always know that somebody is using you to make money. Usually, commissions in affiliate marketing are far from being impressive. Knowing that the manufacturers of products you sell make a lot more money than you can push you into deciding to create a product of your own.