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Home Based Business Opportunity: Researching the Market 

Home based business opportunity: Analyzing the market 

Your home based business opportunity has to be founded on sound market analysis in order to be successful.  After analyzing yourself and coming to an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, you must then be ready to analyze your home based business opportunity for its viability.  What needs to be accomplished in this stage is to research the market needs which then you need to translate into business opportunities. 

Home based business opportunity: Your target market 

In order to have a viable home based business opportunity, you must analyze the population in your target market.  Look at all of the demographic variables such as their age, average income, geographic location, and prevalent lifestyle factors.  The lifestyle will include such things as work, transportation, family size and structure, as well as many of their leisure activities.  This population will comprise your potential customers, so it's important to know as much about them as possible.  You can find some of this information online, or sometimes at your City Hall, and in the reference section of your local library.  You may also be able to get some assistance from the Service Corps of Retired Executives (S.C.O.R.E.), who are retired executives who frequently can be helpful in teaching you how to do this type of research for your home based business opportunity. 

Home-based business opportunity: Looking at lifestyles and opportunity 

When considering your home-based business opportunity, you must look at the lifestyles of people in your potential service area, and at their apparent needs.  For example, working women would have very different needs than when you're considering an elderly population as your target market.  Really pinpoint exactly what the needs are related to your target markets lifestyle.  Then, you need to look at how these needs are currently being met.  Does it seem likely that they are being met adequately?  In what manner?  Is there a demand for a service or product to answer these particular needs?  The answers to these questions will all help to determine the viability of your home based business opportunity.  In order to define these needs, and the related products or services to meet them, you must ask yourself the following questions:  

What or where is my market?

What is the size of the market?

Who is presently servicing this market?

How are they providing these products or services? 

The viability of your home based business opportunity will be dependent upon the answers to these questions.  You should then be able to select products or services with the greatest demand and that you are willing to provide.  Always be sure to base your decision about your home based business opportunity on market size and need rather than strictly on your own personal preference (However, personal preference is important also.).  If you love to crochet or paint salt shakers but there is a very limited market for these products, or phenomenal mass-market competition, these will not be good products for basing your home based business opportunity upon. 

Information from Run Your Own Home Business by CoraLee Smith Kern and Tamara Hoffman Wolfgram 

Webpage and additional information by Paul Susic MA Licensed Psychologist Ph.D. Candidate CEO/President Susic Psychological Consulting P.C.