Working From Home

And you'll almost certainly need public liability insurance for whatever you do.

Paula8 First thing is doing something that has a gap in the market and that you will enjoy,it is so easy to be at home and say "I don't feel like doing that to-day".
I do outside catering which happened just by chance when I did the catering for my DDs friends wedding as a present for the couple getting married.At the reception I was asked to cater for other functions and it has snowballed from there,I do a maximum of 6 a month and also have picked up the contract from the Local Council for catering at their monthly meetings.I needed to get my self on a Hygiene Course and have my kitchen passed by Enviromentel Health to check I had correct fridge storage etc.
Also make sure you make the tax man aware of you are doing and keep your records up to date.

There are always the perennial kind of jobs like stuffing bumff into envelopes for mailshots - but they pay peanuts and are terminally boring.

Domestic cleaning?

Children's party-planning?

Do you have any teaching experience - home tutoring?

Gardener?

Dog-walking?

Do bear in mind that starting a business from home is not an instant way of earning money.

First you need something that you can "sell".

You need to set yourself up to carry on the business. some things need gualifications, some planning permission, and everything needs cash to start the ball rolling.

Then you need to publicise it, which will take either more cash or a lot of legging it round doors and notice boards with flyers, or both.

when the customers strt appearing - in dribs and drabs, usually at inconvenient times - you can't ease up on the publicity. If they thought you were good, they might tell their friends, but only one in a hundred of thoe friends will become a new customer. You have to keep plugging.

You will also have to keep regular and accurate accounts, because HMC will be after you for tax at some point, and if you have no records they will assuime that you have been coining it in.

Can you do all that?

I have no idea what sort of thing you have in mind, and whether low-key or ambitious. When I retired from a demanding job as a Hospital biomedical scientist, I was worried that I would be bored so decided to set up a business looking after pets and gardens in the owners' absence, either at holiday time or during their working day. As it happened, I found that I was far too busy enjoying life to start it up!
DD2 trained as a dog groomer, which she does in a summer house set up relatively cheaply in her garden. She has more customers than she can cope with. People always seem to manage to find money to spend on their pets.
I hope you come up with something to suit - good luck.

After I decided that I could not do social work for the whole of my career without going round the bend, I worked from home s a photographer. Went along to local college and did a qualification and took it from there.

What are your skills/talents/qualifications? What experience do you have? And do you have capital to invest in starting up a business? These plus others are all questions you need to ask yourself. Then look for what you consider to be "gaps in the market" i.e.things for which there might be a demand but where other people have not cornered that market first! I would be very interested to hear your ideas as I expect many ofus have had the Laura Ashley/ Cath Kidston/ Cambridge Satchel " kitchen table" dream or dreamt of being another JK Rowling writing our best-seller in our local Starbucks or Costa's!!