2.What would you like to do?

Choosing the right business will depend on your particular situation. You need to decide how much time you want to spend working, how much flexibility you need, how much money you are able to raise, how much you want to earn in the short and longer term, what you really want to spend your time doing and whether you can meet your financial objectives while doing it.

Generate extra money quickly

If you need to make money quickly, then you may find Money Magpie’s list of ideas very useful. With your lifetime of experience you could, for example: be a tutor; run an ironing service; become a consultant. You could earn spare cash by joining a focus group, becoming a market researcher or house sitting. If you have a hobby like baking or gardening, you could turn it into a business and you can earn good money by dog walking or renting out your spare room, garage/parking area or garden.

Entrepreneur handbook lists 100 business ideas you can start today which you might find helpful.

Run a lifestyle business

Wikipedia defines a lifestyle business as “a business set up and run by its founders primarily with the aim of sustaining a particular level of income and no more; or to provide a foundation from which to enjoy a particular lifestyle.” If you are considering a lifestyle business, then you may find What Is a Lifestyle Entrepreneur and How to Become One by The Balance Small Business helpful.

Run an equity business

Allbusiness.com explains that “an equity business is one where the owner intends to build real assets with a growable, tangible value that can be bought and sold — either as shares or the entire business. Success would be defined as the increase in value of the business over time.” If you want to set up and grow this type of business, then you will need lots of energy, commitment, capital, support from your family, self confidence and persistence.

Do you need to be passionate about your business idea?

YES: “I’ve been an entrepreneur for 30 years, and I’ve created several successful businesses. How did I become successful? The number one thing that drove my business success was passion.” Mike Kappel, CEO Patriot Software LLC.

NO: “Ask yourself why am I starting a business? Is it to pursue your passion, or to make money? If you’re chasing your dream and your enthusiasm outstrips your talent or the marketability of your particular passion, you might be setting yourself up for failure. Do what you love might actually be the worst possible advice you can follow.” Mark Daoust, Quiet Life Brokerage. Read more here

SORT OF: “Money alone will not give you the life you want and also passion alone will not make a successful business…Combining your skills and passion with a basic understanding of business is the best way to form a profitable venture that you can enjoy for years to come.” Martin Huntbach, HuffPost

What if you don’t know what you want to do?

If you search on ‘ideas for a business start up’, you will find hundreds of ideas from which you can make a shortlist of ideas that interest you. The next step will be to evaluate them in terms of your preferred lifestyle, and, of course, business viability. Nolo offers an interesting scoring system that takes lifestyle factors such as your interests, goals, motivation, work style, where you want to live, and your skills and then adds in further considerations such as the number of customers you will need, the time it will take to serve them, how you will be able to compete to attract them and whether you can finance your new business. The article can be found here.

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