How about another great home business idea? One that is rewarding in more ways than just the profit (and there is lots of profit potential!). An antiques business is full of opportunity to learn, make friends and earn some serious coin. It is also one of those great businesses that can be as little or as large as you want or need it to be.
The skills required are some knowledge of antiques and the antiques trade, the eye for a bargain and maybe some handyman skills if you plan on doing some restoration. Because the market is so broad its often best to specialize in one area of the business. This can also be a smart idea if you are keeping this to very much a work at home business and so have limited space. You can then become expert in your particular field very quickly.
The market sectors range from the obvious to the obscure but no matter how obscure, someone is looking to buy the pieces and someone else is making a mint by serving the sector. This might seem obvious but you would be surprised how many enterprising souls start their antiques business in say furniture or porcelain where there is much less opportunity to break through successfully as sectors like those are very crowded and thus competitive. Best to find yourself a less crowded sector like antique toys and dolls or other specialty.
You can source your goods from house clearances, deceased estate sales, advertisements and notices in local newspapers and boards and of course by word of mouth. Your sales can be by private sale through classifieds, markets or of course auctions including online auctions like ebay. You don t have to be a dealer of course, there are many interested folk doing very nicely out of restoration for example, so if you don t fancy the dealing part of the business that might be an avenue for you.
Most who get into antiques actually thrive on the thrill of negotiating a purchase or a sale and are always on the lookout for a bargain either way. You want to buy at as low a price as possible while selling as high as you can to maximize profit. This is where specialization can be particularly handy. A good knowledge of the subject to hand will allow you to spot the bargain. It is even possible to get bargains from long established traders if you know more than them about a particular item.
You can also make good money teaching others about antiques either at community college type classes or on a website, you are not likely to be short of an audience as the interest in antiques seems universal and millions of people are looking online for information on antiques.
Possibly the greatest thing about the business though is the ability to choose just how deeply you want to get into the antique business, a little or a lot, some extra cash or a whole living, its all completely up to you.
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