TOP 10 HOME BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Are you one of the many people searching for a hot home business opportunity? Then this list of the best home business opportunities based on current and future trends may be just what you’re looking for.
I say «may be» because these home business opportunities are not suitable for people who are looking for «a money-making machine» or who «want to make money in their sleep» or any of those other phony promises.
Nor are these home business opportunities for people who expect to just make an initial investment and then just watch the money roll in. Successful home businesses are real businesses. To turn a home business opportunity into a success, you need to be prepared to work at it and have the appropriate knowledge and skills that you need to run any business.
But those caveats aside, here are what I think are the best home business opportunities — best because of their potential right now and because there’s going to be a even greater demand for these products and/or services over the next few years.
1) Home Renovation Services.Home renovation services are hot, hot, hot — and there’s no sign of this trend slowing down. On the contrary, as the population ages, even more people are going to want to make their homes more livable by investing in the home renovations they need to stay where there are. The best home renovation to focus on for the long-term? Bathroom renovations.
2) Pet-Based Products.Is there anything that indulgent pet owners won’t buy for their pets? If you can come up with a product for dogs or cats that you can produce in your home, you’ll have a real winner of a home business opportunity on your hands. From designer collars to «organic» pet foods, the sky’s the limit.
3) Catering Services.Think dinner for eight. Not just delivered, but served. Catering services aren’t just for big parties any more. Career couples are having almost every social occasion catered, and busy families who are tired of living on take-out are spending more on having food brought in. If you have a knack for planning and preparing nourishing, appealing food and can deliver it hot, this is the home business opportunity for you.
4) Cleaning Services.Along the same lines, there’s currently a heavy demand for cleaning services, and the demand for domestic cleaning services will only increase. If you’re good at organizing and comfortable with the thought of running a crew, this home business opportunity has the potential of turning into something big.
5) Fall Prevention Products.Did you know that falls are the leading cause of fatal injury among elderly American and Canadians? And did you know that the death rates from falls among older men and women have risen sharply over the past decade? Now what if you developed or distributed a product related to helping seniors prevent falls? Think of the growing size of the potential market!
6) Wedding Consultant/Planner Services.People are still getting married. In 2009, 6.8 people per 1,000 married in the United States, meaning there were 2,080,000 marriages. And these numbers refer only to the traditional kind of marriage; there’s also a growing demand for gay marriages, providing even more opportunities for wedding-related businesses of all kinds. If you are good at planning and have a mind for details, becoming a wedding planner could be the home-based business opportunity you’ve been looking for.
7) E-commerce.E-commerce sales rose 14.8% in 2010, totaling $165.4 billion. That alone says that more people than ever are shopping online. And ecommerce is an ideal home business opportunity. One of the main barriers to operating a successful e-commerce business is finding the right product or products to sell; the other is providing the kind of online environment that will make people want to buy from you rather than competitors.
8) In-Home Beauty Services.This home-based business opportunity combines two trends; the insatiable demand for services that make people look and feel younger and better and the growing desire to have those services delivered. And why not? Having someone come to your home and cleanse and tone your skin and do your makeup is the height of luxury. And caring for and making up the face are only two beauty services you could offer to provide; manicures, pedicures, massages and acupuncture could also be provided to people in their homes – or in yours.
9) Sewing and Alteration Services.Sewing is on the way to becoming a lost art as more and more people find they have less and less time. But as not everyone is the regulation size, the demand for other people to provide these services will only increase. If you’re really skilled, tailoring is another good home-based business opportunity.
10) Life/Business Coaching Services.Coaching has been hot for a while now, but I think this new industry will continue to grow. Remember when everyone had or wanted a personal fitness trainer? Now everyone has or wants a personal coach. If you have the skills and training necessary, this is a great home-based business opportunity because it can be done remotely as well as in person.
And a last tip — Most of the home-based business opportunities on this list call for specialized training or skills. If you don’t have the specialized training or skills needed for a particular home-based business opportunity, you can still «be a part of it». Find a person with the appropriate training or skills and invest in his or her business. Being an angel investor can be rewarding in so many ways.
IV. PRODUCTS AND BRANDS
Products
I. Study word combinations and examples with ‘product’ and find their Russian equivalents.
| product | catalogue (BrE) catalog (AmE) mix portfolio | a company’s products, as a group |
| line range | a company’s products of a particular type | |
| lifecycle | the stages in the life of a product, and the number of people who buy it at each stage | |
| positioning | how a company would like a product to be seen in relation to its other products, or to competing products | |
| placement | when a company pays for its products to be seen in films and TV programmes |
II. Match the sentence beginnings (1-7) with the correct endings (a-g). The sentences all contain expressions exercise I.
| 1. Banks are adding new types of accounts | a) product life cycles are so short that product launches are very frequent. |
| 2. Apple is going to simplify its product line | b) its product positioning in relation to Psion’s existing hardware products. |
| 3. Consumers have mixed feelings about supermarkets | c) it changed its product range towards more expensive cars. |
| 4. When BMW bought Rover, | d) of cigarettes in movies. |
| 5. The new law will ban product placement | e) extending their product portfolio into financial services. |
| 6. Following the launch of the Series 5 laptop, consumers were slow to understand | f) and deliver fewer but more competitive models. |
| 7. With this type of equipment in the US, | g) to their product mix. |
Goods
Goods can refer to the materials and components used to make products, or the products that are made.
Here are some examples of these different types of goods:
Consumer goods that last a long time, such as cars and washing machines, are consumer durables.
Consumer goods such as food products that sell quickly are fastmoving consumer goods, or FMCG.
Which of the words from the passage about goods applies to each of these products?
1. microwave ovens
Brands and branding
A brand is a name a company gives to its products so they can be easily recognized.
This may be the name of the company itself: the make of the product. For products like cars, you refer to the make and model, the particular type of car, for example, the Ford (make) Ka (model).
Brand awareness or brand recognition is how much people recognize a brand. The ideas people have about a brand is its brand image. Many companies have a brand manager.
Branding is creating brands and keeping them in customer’s minds through advertising, packaging, etc. A brand should have a clear brand identity so that people think of it in a particular way in relation to other brands.
A product with the retailer’s own name on it is an own-brand product (BrE) or own-label product (AmE).
Products that are not branded, those that do not have a brand name, are generic products or generics.
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19.1 Find expressions in A and В opposite ‘with the following meanings.
1 . Someone who buys food in a supermarket. (3 expressions) – customers, buyer, purchaser.
2 . All the people who buy food from a particular supermarket chain, from the point of view of the chain. – customer.
3 . Someone who buys the services of a private detective agency. — clientele
4 . All the people who buy the services of a private detective agency, seen as a group. (2 expressions) — client base, clientele.
5 . Someone who sells goods or services. – Seller.
6 . Someone selling a house. (2 expressions) – seller, vendor.
7 . Someone buying a house, (2 expressions) – customer, buyer.
8 . Someone who sells hamburgers to tourists outside the Tower of London. – Vendor.
9 . Someone whose job is buying tires for a car company. (4 expressions) – buying manager, purchasing manager, buyer, purchaser.
10 . Someone who uses a computer, even if they have not bought it themselves, but their company has. (2 expressions) – end-users, customers.
19.2 Complete the TV reporter’s commentary with expressions from C and D opposite.
In China, all economic activity used to be controlled by the state. Prices were fixed by the government, not by buyers and sellers in the market (1) economy. But in the last 20 years there has been a series of market (2) reforms that have allowed people to go into business and start their own companies. Markets (3) prices are determined by what buyers are willing to pay, rather than by the state. There are still state-owned companies that lose a lot of money. Until recently, they have been protected from market (4) pressures, but market (5) place will eventually mean that they close down. Of course, the market (6) economy has its losers: those without work, and victims of crime, which used to be very rare.
20.1 Use the correct form of the words in brackets to complete the sentences.
1. European films do not export well: European movies barely penetrate (abandon/corner/penetrate) the US market.
2. In the 1970s, Kodak cornered (corner/enter/leave) the instant photography market, until then it was penetrated (abandon/dominate/penetrate) by Polaroid.
3. The Hunt brothers tried to fix silver prices and to corner (comer/enter/leave) the silver mark driving out (enter/drive out/monopolize) all competitors.
4. In the 1940s, MGM had monopolized (abandon/get out of/monopolize) the market on film musicals. But by the late 1950s, Warner Bros had also started buying film rights to musicals.
20.2 Replace the underlined expressions with expressions from В opposite. You may need to add a verb in the correct form.
I’m Kalil and I’m marketing manager for Crazy Cola in a country called Newmarket. In this market, we (1) sell more than any other cola )) are market leader. In fact, we (2) have 55 per cent of the market )) have the highest market share. (3) Sales are increasing )) Market growth foots up from seven to eight percent per year. There are two main (4) groups of users )) market segments; those who drink it in cafes, bars and restaurants, and those who buy it to drink at home. Of course, many users belong to both groups, but this is our (5) way of dividing our consumers )) market segmentation.
20.3 Read this description of a language training market. Answer the questions.
In Paris, 500 organizations offer language training to companies. However, 90 percent of sales are made by the top five language training organizations. The market is not growing in size overall. Organization A has 35 percent of the market, and faces stiff competition from B, which has about 25 per cent of the market, and from C, D and E, who each have 10 per cent, but who are trying to grow by charging less for their courses.
1. How many competitors are there in this market?
There is approximately five hundreds organizations offer language training.
2. Is competition in the market strong?
The competition is strong among five biggest organizations.
3. Who is the market leader?
The A company is the market leader, because it has almost 35 percent of the market.
4. Who are the two key players?
The A and B companies are the two key players on this market.
5. Who mainly makes up the competition, from the market leader’s point of view?
The C, D and E companies, who each have 10 per cent, but who are trying to grow by charging less for their courses, make up the competition, from the market leader’s point of view.
6. If one competitor increases its market share, can the others keep their market share at the same level?
No, because they automatically lose some percentage of the market.
21.1 Look at A and В opposite. Read the article and answer the questions.
1. Which of the four Ps are mentioned here?
Such Ps, as product and promotion are mentioned in this article.
2. Does the author think the four Ps are a complete definition of marketing? No, because the author focuses on two of Ps.
3. Does the author think that marketing is only for marketers?
On the author’s opinion, the marketing is too important to leave it only to the marketers.
21.2 Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) with the correct endings (a-e). The sentences all contain expressions from C opposite
1. Farms are now more market-oriented
2. Since the 1980s, Britain has had a much more market-led
3. Many market-led growth businesses,
4. Lack of investment and market orientation
5. American TV is a market-driven industry,
a. such as Microsoft and Sony, are in several markets at once,
b. and the audience decides the direction it takes.
c. led to falling sales and profits.
d. and less dependent on government money.
e. approach to economics.
1. Farms are now more market-oriented (d) and less dependent on government money.
2. Since the 1980s, Britain has had a much more market-led (e) approach to economics.
3. Many market-led growth businesses, (a) such as Microsoft and Sony, are in several markets at once.
4. Lack of investment and market orientation, (c) led to falling sales and profits.
5. American TV is a market-driven industry, (b) and the audience decides the direction it takes.
22.1 Match the sentence beginnings (1-7) with the correct endings (a-g). The sentences all contain expressions from A opposite.
1. Banks are adding new types of accounts a. product life cycles are so short that product
2. Apple is going to simplify its product tine launches are very frequent.
3. Consumers have mixed feelings about b. its product positioning in relation to Psion’s supermarkets existing hardware products.
4. When BMW bought Rover, c. it changed its product range towards more
5. The new law will ban product placement expensive cars.
6. Following the launch of the Series 5 laptop, d. of cigarettes in movies,
consumers were slow to understand
7. With this type of equipment in the US, e. extending their product portfolio into
f. and deliver fewer but more competitive models.
g. to their product mix.
1. Banks are adding new types of accounts (e) extending their product portfolio into financial services.
2. Apple is going to simplify its product line (f) and deliver fewer but more competitive models.
3. Consumers have mixed feelings about supermarkets (g) to their product mix.
4. When BMW bought Rover, (c) it changed its product range towards more expensive cars.
5. The new law will ban product placement (d) of cigarettes in movies.
6. Following the launch of the Series 5 laptop, consumers were slow to understand (b) its product positioning in relation to Psion’s existing hardware products.
7. With this type of equipment in the US, (a) product life cycles are so short that product launches are very frequent.
22.2 Look at the words in В opposite. Which applies to each of these products?
microwave ovens – consumer durable
cotton – consumer durable
cars – consumer durable
soap powder – FMCG
22.3 Complete this marketer’s description of his work using expressions from C opposite.
TEXT 1. Introduction to Marketing Research.
1 Translate the sentences that follow paying attention to the words and phrases in bold
1. The dissemination of questionnaires to all the participants of the conference took almost 10 minutes.
1.Management employed marketing research to help promote their products and services.
2.Quick dissemination of surveys to all the managers is a pivotal issue.
4. Hard statistics show that in many countries there is a glass ceiling and women cannot gain promotion.
5. Focus groups offer several advantages over other data collection techniques.
6. Focus group participants knew about the annual trade show but were ill-informed about outer association benefits.
7. Following the group discussion the moderator analyzes the conclusive results.
8. Everybody knew about a prospective offer, yet nobody was happy about it.
9. The CEO’s permission enabled us to conduct the surveys in England.
10. The sample size was to be discussed with a HR-manager.
11.Our boss generates clever ideas, which yield insights into ways of solving company’s problems.
12. These are very valid reasons why we should ban tobacco advertising.
13. This offer is valid for purchase till May, 15. It was urgent for us to generate as many ideas as possible as to how to conquer me target market overseas.
16. To gain a general impression of the market qualitative research is a priority.
17. Conclusive findings can become hard statistics only if the sample size is represented by all social groups.
18. Coca-cola is going to sample all its consumers in order to tailor some new approaches to its advertising.
3. Match up the words and phrases with their meanings.
a) having some foundation; based on truth; legally acceptable
b) a set of questions on a form, submitted to a number of people in order to collect statistical information
3 hard statistics
c) to test a small amount of something in order to get information about the whole thing
d) encouragement, advancement, incentive
e) spread of information
f) to work out/ design specifically
g) chairman of the meeting
h) to provide information/truth/ideas about smth
i) reliable statistical information/data
j) a group of people brought together to give their opinions on a particular issue or product, often for the purpose of market research
4. Go back to tire focus vocabulary entry with the headword promotion, look it through again, then do the following assignments: a) answer the questions; b) say/write it in English:
a) 1. What do you think people usually do to get promotion?
2. Who has the right to promotion?
- In what cases is it impossible to gain promotion?
- What is the name for the obstacle for promotion for some
people, especially women, that prevents them form reaching the most senior positions in a company or organization?
- Have you ever been promoted?
- What are the ways of promoting goods and services?
Give an example of a recent successful promotion of some company or product.
Almost all the vehicle’s companies are the present successful examples og goods and services promotion.
b) 1. Колеги поздоровили нового директора з його нещодавнім підвищенням.
2. В країнах східної Європи жінкам дуже важко отримати підвищення, це все завдяки «скляній стелі».
In Eastern Europe, women are very hard to gain the promotion, all due to the «glass ceiling».
- Нове мило компанії «Савон» рекламується наразі на ринку миючих засобів.
New soap of the «Savon» company currently has been advertising in the market of detergents.
- Незважаючи на те, що його рекомендували до підвищення, він так і не зміг його отримати.
Although he was recommended to get the promotion, he was never able to get it.
5. Компанія наразі займається рекламою здорового способу життя.
The company is currently engaged in promotion of healthy lifestyles.
5. Match the verbs in column A with the phrases in column B.
1. to yield a) a marketing program
2. to gain b) consumer needs
3. to generate c) prices
4. to tailor d) the insights
5. to identify e) promotion
6. to lead f) the percentage of people
7. to set g) the opinions of a large group of people
8. to determine h) insights
9. to sample i) a good income
10. to enjoy j) a discussion h
Exercise 1. Fill in the blanks with shop(s) or store(s).
1. They went to a furniture shop to look for a new dining table while in London they could probably find a wider choice in one of the big store.
2. She lives in a village near Manchester and works there in a shop.
3. What time do the shops open in England? — Usually at nine o’clock.
4. She used to do most of her shopping at a supermarket in the centre but when she ran out of something unexpectedly she went to the general store on the corner.
5. Some streets in London have mainly one kind of shops. For example, Bond Street has a lot of jewellers’ shop and Charing Cross Road is fool of book shops.
6. Small shops often cannot compete with supermarkets and department stores and go out of business in die USA.
7. Nowadays we observe a rise of the boutique, a small shops selling fashionable clothes at moderate prices in an informal atmosphere.
Task X. Learn the key words and read about retailers. Make a list of in-store and non-stare retailers. Write a two/ three-sentence abstract of ‘In Store Retailers’
In-store retailers maintain permanent locations where merchandise is regularly on display and available for purchase. The evolution from ancient market place to the modern city plaza mall has happened. There are a lot of organizations nowadays, such as: Department store, Shopping malls, Enclosed malls, Neighborhood shopping malls, Community shopping malls, Regionally shopping malls, Convenience stores, Superstores, Supermarket, Hypermarkets, Discount store, Warehouse stores, Scrambled merchandising, Specialty stores, Chain stores, which are differ by scale, location, variety of goods and services. But all of them have the common aim – TO SELL.
Task 3. Answer the questions.
1.What is the difference between a supermarket and a hypermarket?
2.How does a department store differ from a supermarket?
3.What is a difference between a shop and a store?
4.Where is a general stores usually located?
5.What is an US analogue for British general stores?
6.What are the main features of an American mall that distinguish it from a supermarket?
7.What categories of buyers do the closed-door discount stores serve?
8.What kind of Ukrainian retailers acts as the scrambled merchandisers?
9.Where merchandise in packing cases on pallets is sold?
Task 4. Render the text into English
According to the standards, supermarket is a store that occupies the area over 2 thousand square meters, offering over the 15 thousand of the product titles. These centers are actively retail market in Ukraine.
In Kiev, the largest retail networks of stores are:Billa, EoroMart, FOZZY Group, Furshet, Rainford, MegaMarket, Spar, Metro, Velyka Kyshenya. Each of these retail brands has numerous of shops, stores, hypermarkets and city’s plaza malls.
Also, Ukraine’s largest retail stores and household goods are: Nove Liniya, Epicenter, Decor-Service, Standart, Agromat, Best Line, BudMaks. All of them propose wide range goods and services for building and reconstruction, and many other household goods.
Another important non food segment is the electronics. And it is the most consolidated. The share of modern networks specialty stores in total retail electronic goods and appliances is 50%. The leading networks of specialized shops in this segment are: Foxtrot, Russian group of companies Eldorado, Electroland, Domotehnyka, etc.
Task 5. Answer the questions.
1.What is similar and different between street vendors and door-to-door retailers?
2.What sort of merchandise is offered through mail-order retailing?
3.How do die vendors usually employ their representatives who use a party format for retailing?
4.What are the strong and weak aspects of retailing with the vending machines?
5.How is a toll-free telephone number used for sales through cable television?
Task 6. Rearrange the alphabetical list of retailing businesses according to their sizes or any other logical layout.
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