A home business is a small business

Small business

A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...

 that operates from the business owner's home office. In addition to location, home businesses are usually defined by having a very small number of employees, usually all immediate family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

 of the business owner, in which case it is also a family business

Family business

A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being....

. Home businesses generally lack shop frontage, customer parking and street advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 signs. Such businesses are sometimes prohibited by residential zoning

Zoning

Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...

 regulations.

The prospect of working from home has gained credibility over the years. Home offices can now compete with small commercial businesses and save on rent in the process. Faxes, high speed internet connections, dedicated home telephone lines, and cell phones help to make a home-based business a reality. Earlier home businesses had been where families lived on the second floor of their house while converting the first floor into a store, whereupon close of business they would secure the first floor and retire to the upper floors. This type of home business is still done in some rural areas.

Home based business

The concept of homebased business, as opposed to the previous terminology of "cottage industry", first appeared in 1978. The phrase was coined by Marion Behr, the originator of a study to find out what businesses women throughout America were carrying on in their homes. The preview edition of Enterprising Women[1] wrote about the search to gather information pertaining to home workers throughout the nation. Numerous magazines [2][3] and organizations helped to disseminate information regarding the study. Ultimately 40,000 letters were received, many indicating the problems the respondents experienced while carrying on businesses from their homes. The problems were analyzed and confronted in two ways. In 1980 the National Alliance of Homebased Businesswomen was founded to combat the isolation expressed by the respondents as well as to fight the laws which made conducting their businesses difficult.[4][5][6][7] Then Women Working Home: The Homebased Guide and Directory by Marion Behr and Wendy Lazar was published.[8] It contained the stories of many women who ran home-based businesses throughout the country in many diverse fields, as well as information on business formation, conduct and compliance with the law. It sold 50,000 copies. During this time many national magazines wrote about these issues.[9][10][11][12][13] At the White House Conference on Small Business in 1986, one of the major resolutions was a recommendation favoring lifting restrictions on home-based business.[14]

Expanded Home based businesses

Numerous businesses, initially started as home based, have expanded to become significantly larger operations. These include such businesses and people as:

Apple Computer, started by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from Steve's garage

Hewlett-Packard, whose original location is now a museum, the HP Garage

Hurricane Electric, California based ISP backbone provider

Southwest Technical Products Corporation, founded by Daniel Meyer

James Avery Craftsman, Christian themed jewelry maker

Genuine Scooters, Chicago motorscooter manufacturer

Amigo Mobility International Inc, Michigan based mobility scooter manufacturer, founded by Allan R. Thieme

Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning, founded by Tony Chachere

Lindos Electronics, British audio quality measurement equipment manufacturer

Marion Cox, NASCAR car owner/designer

Ausenco Vector, California civil engineering firm

Rembrandt Group, South African tobacco conglomerate founded by Anton Rupert

Koorong, Australian Christian bookstore chain

Joel L. Malter, coin and antiquities dealer

Real Goods, California solar energy installation company and green business retailer

Endress+Hauser, instrumentation company based in Switzerland

Press-A-Print, US printing company

Perdomo, Florida cigar distributor

Robert A. Kleist and Gordon Barrus, inventors of the Line matrix printer

Borland Software, California software company founded by Philippe Kahn

John P. Moon, engineer working with magnetic materials
iiNet, Australian internet service provider

J. C. Bamford, UK digging equipment manufacturer started from a rented garage

FLEXcon, Massachusetts Pressure-sensitive adhesive film manufacturer

Holiday Magic, multi level marketer started from the purchase of another home based business

Amazon.com, internet retailer founded by Jeff Bezos

See also

• Telecommuting
  Telecommuting
  Telecommuting or telework is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links...
  
  
• Work at home parent
  Work at home parent
  A work at home parent is an entrepreneur who works from home and integrates parenting into his or her business activities. They are sometimes referred to as a WAHM or a WAHD ....
  
  
• Work-at-Home scheme
  Work-at-home scheme
  A work-at-home scheme is a get-rich-quick scheme in which a victim is lured by an offer to be employed at home, very often doing some simple task in a minimal amount of time with a large amount of income that far exceeds the market rate for the type of work...
  
  
• Homebased business
• Micro ISV
  Micro ISV
  A Micro-ISV , a term coined by Eric Sink, is an independent software vendor with fewer than 10 or even just one software developer...