Yes, ladies and gentlemen, times are changing. More and more people are finding the need for cash to support their growing lifestyles. Combine this with an uncertain economic situation and the need to generate additional income arises. To combat this situation, an increasing number of people are starting and running a business from home.

A complete list for a home based business would be endless. The top 10 home business ideas contained in this article are those considered by the author because they are popular, competitive, have relatively low start-up costs, and provide the potential for growth.

1. Online business
As one of the top 10 home based business ideas, the list of online businesses is possibly limitless. However, consider some of the following: Financial Markets Trading, Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing, eBay Selling, Web Design, and Desktop Publishing to name just a few. Due to the popularity and accessibility of the Internet, more and more people can do it.

2. Franchises
This involves different types of business arrangements. Perhaps the most common type involves purchasing a license to sell a product in a particular geographic region. An example of franchises are carpet cleaning, printing, and retail franchises.

3. Consulting
This will involve a specialized skill set. For example, engineering, accounting, teaching a school or university subject. This could be done from home or may involve traveling to your clients’ homes. Alternatively, you can visit businesses and help them in some specialized area.

4. Health at home
Visiting seniors in their own home and providing non-medical assistance, from shopping to cleaning. More and more older people want to stay at home. So as one of the top 10 home business ideas, you would be providing a valuable service.

5. Physical trainer
To do this, you would have to travel to visit your clients at their homes or in a corporate environment, that is, at their workplace. You could work together with a beauty and hair consultant, a fashion expert, and a nutritionist and sell a complete package to your clients.

6. Use an older skill set
Make a list of previous skills you acquired during your working life, and apply those skills as the foundation of one of the top 10 home-based business ideas. For example, if you were a mechanic, you might consider a car, lawn mower, or appliance repair business. As a mother, your organization skills would be very good, so look at party or birthday planning or event planning.

7. Specialized Coaching
Specialized knowledge is required in any business and as a consequence, in areas such as life, relationships and business coaching are available. As in any industry, new markets open up, providing opportunities for those who are aware of changing conditions. Remember that being a coach is a people business and good communication skills are absolutely necessary.

8. Internet-based teaching
Provide teaching via the Internet. This should be a must for listing as one of the top 10 home-based business ideas. The reason is that with skyrocketing fuel costs and limited employee time, many companies today have turned to web-based learning for the education and training of their workforce. This could take the form of you producing videos on how to play chess to teach cosmology or teach leadership to senior management. The sky is the limit.

9. Outsourcing
As a business becomes established, it can be more cost effective to outsource even specialized tasks. Having outsourced as one of the top 10 home based business ideas, you will be in a strong position to grab a piece of this market. If you specialize in a business function like sales, marketing, or accounting (to name just a few), offer these skills to the business market, both large and small. You could act as a subcontracting broker and find people to do the work for your clients and take a percentage of the fees.

10. Property Acquisition Consultant
You can do a variety of things with real estate consulting as one of the top 10 home based business ideas. As a real estate consultant, you will find residential and commercial properties for both individuals and large corporations. You would not need specialized knowledge, but it would be necessary to reach an agreement with your clients and the guidance of a lawyer would be advisable.