The Home Zone

Home sweet home. It's where you eat, sleep, hang out and relax. If you're smart, it's also a place where you can make money--lots of money. That's because these days, you don't need a fancy office or storefront to get started in a profitable business. All you really need is a good idea.

And by starting from home, you avoid the hassles of space-leasing, high overhead and daily commutes. If you like the idea of the homebased lifestyle but don't have an original idea for a business, one way to get started is by buying a business opportunity.

Business opportunities are companies that provide varying levels of products, assistance and training to help you launch a business. The listing on page 47 features 507 business opportunities you can run from home.

What's it really like to run a homebased business opportunity? To give you an idea of the wide variety of opportunities that exists, we've put the spotlight on four entrepreneurs succeeding with three very different companies.

This article was originally published in the September 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: The Home Zone.