There's no place like home

No Place Like HOME

by Lisa Welko, Certified Franchise Consultant

Home-based franchises offer essential services and a great office environment: Your House. Which ones are the most lucrative?

When you hear the phrase “home-based franchise,” you might picture waking up, grabbing a cup of coffee and sittingat your desk in your pajamas. In fact, your usual dailyrituals—dressing, hair-combing, showering—might feel kindof optional. But while some businesses offer work-at-homeopportunities, most home-based franchises offer servicesperformed out in the community, where clothing is definitelyrequired. With the right opportunity, however, franchiseowners can enjoy the advantages of working from homewhile trimming the cost of overhead. On the following pages,we list a few industries that let you manage a franchisefrom your kitchen table, bedroom, or wherever you feel likesetting up shop.

Lucrative home-based businesses

Senior Care

Thanks to those baby boomers, the number of American senior citizens is growing. In fact, approximately 10,000 people will turn 65 every day for the next 20 years. This means a demand for more senior healthcare—and more home healthcare. The global home healthcare sector could see revenues reach $300 billion by 2020 according to www.franchisehelp.com. This makes non-medical home healthcare the best franchising opportunity within the senior-care industry.

Home Improvement

“Nesting is investing” according to a report by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. With today’s hectic schedules, homeowners often prefer to have professionals tend to their home-improvement needs. That’s why so many professional services— property restoration, painting, windows, deck expansions, kitchen and bath overhauls, you name it—are taking off. Statistics show home-improvement franchises are a $300 billion market, which is only expected to grow.

Property Management

Business is booming in the property management arena, one of the fastestgrowing industries in the country. More than a third of residential housing in the U.S. are rentals. Each of those rentals needs a property manager—someone to find and screen tenants, collect rent, enforce lease agreements, handle maintenance and accounting, among other tasks. Sound interesting? With the ratio of renters to buyers on the rise, this $69 billion industry should continue to grow.

Pet Care

Americans love pets. According to the American Pet Products Association, 68 percent of U.S. households, or about 85 million families, own a pet. Baby Boomers are launching their adult children into the world and replacing them with dogs and cats, while Millennials are adopting and spoiling them. This makes for a booming business opportunity—Millennials could be your customers for decades. Niche or specialty pet-care services are the best opportunities—think in-home training, mobile grooming, dog walking, and pet-sitting services. The Census Bureau projects faster- than-average growth for various parts of the industry through 2020.

Estate Moving

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American moves more than 11 times in his life, a plus for the moving and estate sales franchise industries. If that weren’t enough, with more than 15 million Americans caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, family members often have to move mom or dad to assisted-living facilities. Estate movers, offering moving, storage, estate sales, and cleanout services, handle the details and reduce huge amounts of stress for these families.

Cabin Fever

Buying a home-based franchise? Prepare for the challenges. Here are a few tips to stay productive and avoid feeling stuck in the house.

> Have a separate office space for work. This will help you focus on work and avoid distractions, like that dishwasher that no one has bothered to empty, or the laundry that’s piling up.

> Set a work schedule. Having a set routine will help you keep your work life separate from your home life. Build in some leeway for unexpected meetings and appointments.

> Invest in local marketing. Your home is not storefront, so you’ll need to advertise to get the word out about your business.