Who is Starting a Business Based at Home?

A Home Business Article Contributed by Elizabeth Fox-Wise

Every Day We Hear about an Increase in the Numbers of People Starting a Home Based Business.

The statistics are in, American's most booming growth in business is those based at home! Every day, at a staggering rate, more and more American's are leaving the masses of traditionally employed and joining, what used to be the few, as home based business owners.

The introduction of the Internet into America's homes has created a business world where a business which is based at home can now compete with one which has large headquarters in major cities. This incredible technology and the effect that it has had on communications has expanded the realm of home based business.

Traditionally Typical Home Based Business Owners Were Young Females Raising Families

In the not so distant past, when considering a home based business possibility you were limited to selling goods such as cleaning products or make up or providing domestic services such as house cleaning or child care. Furthermore, home based businesses rarely generated more than a part time income.

For these reasons, the majority of home based business owners were young women with young children at home. Home business owners almost always had a spouse working outside of the home and providing the main source or income, and benefits, for the family. The home based business owner was seeking only to supplement the family income through the home based business.

Today's Home Based Business Can Be Almost Anything It Wants to Be!

Technological changes and advances in our society have led to incredible strides in communication. As a result, remote means of conducting business have become pervasive in almost every industry. Unless you are looking to open a restaurant or some other type of business where your customers absolutely have to come to you (like a hair stylist) then chances are good that business could be based at home! And in some cases, even if your customers do have to come to you, if your home is in the right area, your business can still be home based!

This most recent economic downturn that America has gone through, is different from those of the past. You know, the recession that wasn't a recession but turned out to be a recession after all? Millions of people have already lost their jobs and more are being reported every day. However, unlike recessions of the past, this time the jobs being lost are not factory workers being laid off and waiting for a call back to the factory. The majority of jobs lost this time are coming from middle level management.

These displaced workers are well educated, ambitious and successful. And many of them are using this opportunity to start a home based business, often doing whatever they were doing in the work force. Therefore, the types of businesses being run as home based are expanding daily.

That is not to say that there are not still a lot of successful home based businesses which are selling cleaning products or providing child care services, because there definitely are.

However, this does mean that when thinking of a home based business idea, today's technology and acceptance of home based businesses, allows you to think "way out of the box".